Fun at Grandma and Grandpa's

At the end of June we took our first of 3 summer trips to see Grandma and Grandpa. This time we went so we could overlap with Katie and Brad coming to visit from Texas. We got there a few days before them so we could have a slightly quieter house, before it got super crowded. Part of the reason it is so crowded is that my sister Meghan and her family just moved back to Pennsylvania and are living with my parents till they can get settled in a place of their own. It might make things a little crazy, but it also makes them awesome since it means we have friends to play with during the day. There were a couple times where I ended up having to watch all 7 kids for a couple of hours and I will admit I needed  Pepsi Max to make it through, but the kids had a blast. King is absolutely obsessed with his new cousin Sammy. He wants to hold him all the time and if he isn't holding him he wants to be sitting guard next to him. King can be our little stinker sometimes, but he is so sweet when it comes to babies and I kind of feel guilty, cause that ship has sailed at the Brown house.

My parents yard is awesome, so the kids spend a lot of time out there in the kiddie pool and playing with the house.

Netta really wanted me to get this picture of her after my dad sprayed her with the mister on the house and she had little bubbles in her hair. The girl is always ready to strike a pose.

Meghan's boy Timmy is a beast and when he wants to hug you he will hug up and then take you down. For some reason he really liked hugging EZ and he kept pinning him to the couch.

 When he wasn't hugging EZ, Timmy and Conrad were watching movies in the back room. They each had their own little folding chair and they would just sit back there so nicely. In fact it was the best way to keep them from fighting over other toys.

Of course we had to go to Kennywood at some point this summer and this trip worked out the best because they had buy 1 get 1 free days. My dad was able to take some time off from work to head there early with me so my older kids could ride a lot and then Meghan and her family, my mom, and Katie and her family joined us later. We all started in Kiddieland, but poor EZ is too big for a bunch of rides in there now.

Luckily, my friend Erin from high school lives right by Kennywood and she was able to join us as well. It was so cute to watch Conrad and her son Lux ride the rides together.

Because she was there with me it gave my dad a chance to take EZ by himself to ride the biggest rides. Then they came back and got Netta to ride the big, but not biggest rides. I love that EZ is over his fear of rides and Netta has never had any. These pics of the kids on the whip are always the best.

I love getting to catch up with Erin and I also love the fact that we both still look like we are 12.

My dad snapped this picture of the kids with the Kennywood mascot. King was not enthused as usual even though he was actually having fun. I am so grateful we are able to drive to my parents house now and we will be keeping the Kennywood tradition alive!

Our trip almost got extended when there was a huge storm in Michigan that knocked the power out for 2 1/2 days. I was glad I was at my parents and poor John just had to sweat it out. Luckily, the power came back on the day we had planned to head home. We were luckily that the storm didn't really damage our home, but we did find some sweet hug branches impaled in the ground. Not sure this is what I had envisioned our Michigan summer being like.

Beginning of June and Oops Some Forgotten May

When I posted about Netta's birthday party, I forgot about 2 picture gems that were on John's cell phone. Here is one of King and EZ at the carousal during Netta's party. The best part was John's description of it on Facebook: "Chief Sullen Monkey & Brave Cocaine Wolf about to ride the Silver Beach Carousel" 

He also captured this great one of Netta while we were making her cupcakes: "Netta found the Michelangelo's David apron you (Lexi) gave me years ago and she couldn't stop laughing about it showing his "nips and nuts". I didn't even remember I had it. Father of the Year right here." Now all the kids keep asking me why I am posting this gross picture online.

Now on to June. After we got back from Virginia Beach we had no food so Netta and I went on a little mommy-daughter date for lunch. She is now obsessed with this Salted Caramel Rootbeer. It was actually awesome, but at $2.50 a pop it is definitely a special treat.

Netta is always my little model and was very excited to have her picture taken with this lighthouse art. Downtown St. Joe is covered by lighthouses by various artist as part of campaign to save the real lighthouse in town. We love all these different art themes they have running throughout the year downtown.

The kids had their last day of school on June 5th. As always I was beyond ready to not have to be rushing out the door every morning. Both kids did a great job adjusting this year, although we did have a little incident with Netta towards the end of the year. I am still not sure why it started, but she began telling lies at school, especially lies about little boys to get them in trouble. She got in a bit of trouble and her teacher was nice but firm and I think it caused a weird reaction out of Netta. After we came home from the beach she started crying all the time and confessing all her past sins no matter how small they were. We were worried something bad had happened to her, but we spoke to her about it and her teacher and we couldn't find anything. So, all I can do is guess that getting in a lot of trouble for lying made her feel bad for everything she ever did wrong. It was an intense 2 weeks of crying, and I was starting to think she might need therapy, but then she started getting over it. We are now trying to help her find the balance of when she has to confess and when she can get away with things ;)

Kings life with a cast came to an end and just in time because the stupid boot they gave us started falling apart and we had to keep taping it together. When I complained to the nurse she said "Well they aren't meant to last forever." and I said "For $40 it should at least last 3 weeks." Needless to say I was annoyed with the boot and her.

EZ got to have his friend party after school got out. We are all obsessed with the Lego movie at our house, so his theme was an easy choice. The only hard thing was trying to find a pinata to go with it. I was actually pretty proud that I came up with this Cloud Cuckoo Land idea all on my own. The boys loved destroying it.

EZ wanted Lego men cupcakes. We found the molds online and even though we had a scare where our microwave starting smoking like crazy while melting the chocolate, we were able to finish all the men and some extra lego bricks to boot. Luckily, the sparks in the microwave were just from some stuck on food, but we did go without using it for like 2 weeks before I worked up the nerve to try again. Also we were lucky that I was too scatter-brained to call someone to come and fix it, since it wasn't actually broken.

EZ has had some weird spellings of his name in the past, but this card from his party is hands down the winner. I can honestly say we did not anticipate how hard the name Ezekiel would be for people.

EZ had a lot of fun with all his friends, but it was an interesting mix of personalities and things were getting a little out of hand at times. It will definitely be worth the money to not have the party at the house next year. This many 8 year old boys in my house is a few too many.

Netta had her dance recital on. June 15th. We were lucky we were able to find a studio that would let her in since we weren't here at the beginning of the year. Even though she started learning the dancing 2 months after everyone else, she still owned it on the stage. She lives for the costumes and the makeup and the bright lights. 

As excited as I was for school to end and the crazy mornings to be over, I knew that having all 4 kids at home all day would get to be a bit overwhelming. So, I signed the older 3 up for camps at the YMCA. Kingston when to a preschool camp. He cried a couple of times when I dropped him off, but he did have fun everyday and he is going to preschool there in the fall, so I am glad he got a preview of it. Netta went to a gymnastics camp. At the end they had a performance and they showed off their skills on the different pieces of equipment. She had a lot of fun, but even she admitted that she likes dance better because of the costumes and the big recital.

EZ went to a British soccer camp. I have to admit that I was excited to just listen to his coaches talk and I am pretty sure I was not the only mom hanging around listening to their accents ;) EZ had a lot of fun and made a ton of improvement. He said he got made fun of a couple of times for being slow and sadly for EZ he just isn't all that speedy and he will probably have to deal with this anytime sports are involved. Luckily, the comments weren't as mean or as numerous as when he went to basketball camp last year and his coaches were really encouraging.

EZ also played baseball this year. He was lucky to have a great coach, who actually works with John, but he still had a tough year with learning to bat with a pitching machine and moving to a more competitive league. By his last game, I have to admit that I was secretly praying it would be rained out. It was a long season with EZ struggling to get on base and he even said at one point that he shouldn't play anymore because he isn't very good. Luckily the game wasn't cancelled and EZ ended up going 4 for 4 at bat, scoring 3 runs and being named player of the game. He surprised us all and I seriously almost cried. The best was that he even admitted that he wasn't as bad as he thought and that he should keep playing.

King Gets a Cast/Happy Birthday EZ/Baptism/Virginia Beach

As the title suggests, things got a bit busy around our house at the end of May. One day I picked King up from the childcare at the YMCA and they told me that he had tripped and hurt his foot. Now King trips all the time, but he usually walks it off no problem, so I was a bit alarmed at how much he was crying. So, after he refused to even step on his foot for the rest of the day and it as swollen and warm, we decided he needed to get it checked out. After EZ's cast we learned to just go straight to the orthopedic doctor and so we did and it saved us so much time and money. It turns out he fractured the base of his big toe and he would have to have the cast on for 3 weeks. Of course this happened less then a week before we would be leaving for Virginia Beach. Luckily, the doctor said that the cast is water proof and King could swim in the pool. The downside is that it isn't sand proof so we would have to get creative if he wanted to go to the beach.

This year we were actually close enough to drive to the beach. It was 14 hours and luckily on the way down we were able to break the drive up over 2 days. We weren't so lucky on the way back and that was a long long day. We were all extra excited to get to meet the 2 newest additions to my side of the family. My sister Katie's new daughter Kaelyn and my sister Meghan's new son Timmy. John kept joking that maybe I would change my mind and want another kid after seeing the babies, but nope I am perfectly content with the kids we have.

This was also a big year for the family, because for the first time the 4 boys born in 2012 were all together! We tried our best to get a picture of them all together, but it was like herding cats.

EZ's 8th birthday was on May 26th. We are so proud that he decided to be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and to make it extra exciting, we were able to have it on his birthday and in Virginia Beach so he could have a ton of family there to support him. King however was not super excited about the baptism and spent the entire time moping on the floor. That's my King.

I asked EZ how he felt about getting baptized and he said he felt good, but shy. It was a lot of attention on him, which he is never quite comfortable with, but we couldn't be happier with his decision. I still can't believe I have a kid old enough to be baptized!

After the baptism we went back to the beach house to celebrate his birthday. Since he loves super heroes and it was Memorial Day, we went with a Captain American cake. Unfortunately, it was a made at Walmart, so it came out a bit wonky, but EZ still loved it.

Conrad especially loved the cake, as evident by the icing allover his body. 

While trying to get this picture of Conrad, Timmy ran by and tripped and while it looks like Conrad took him down, I promise he didn't and they like each other.

There seems to always be one rainy day at the beach and we like to use that as a chance to go the aquarium. This year my family went with Sarah's family and Grace. Uncle Casey got took all of these sweet pictures for us.

Of course we spent a lot of time in the pool and at the beach. I have no pool pictures, but that is probably because John and I were both just trying to keep everyone alive. King got to swim a couple of times, but that cast was not nearly as water proof as advertised and trying to wrap it and keep things out was nearly impossible. So, we kind of restricted his activities a bit. Luckily, he was not all that interested in the beach. The other kids however loved the beach and had a blast touching disgusting little fish that washed ashore and digging holes. Kids will be kids!