Today the kids wanted to dress up in our clothes since they were playing "mom" and "dad". The table and chairs were their "van" and they were taking a trip. So while they are playing, thought I would update my blog since its been forever :) I have lots of pictures so we shall see how many I can do today. Now that we have our fast internet back I hope to stay more current on our family's activities :)

For those who haven't seen our new van :) It is a 12 passenger but seats 11 since we have 2 captain seats behind the driver seat instead of a bench. We love the space though we seem to fill it pretty quickly :) Crazy to think that this spring we will only have 3 extra seats left :) But praising the Lord for blessing us with lots of children!

TN trip in July

These little boys had to copy what the older boys were doing :)

These boys had the best of time! They were inseparately the whole week!

sitting beside Granny's graveside(it was really humid that night so that is why the kids are so sweaty and Thaddaeus was shirtless :) ).

Papa had bought TONS of food for the grandkids...it looks like a lot of snack food but after just 5 days with 9 grandkids, most of it was gone! Spencer was a little piggy that week....that little guy likes to eat :)

they both stole their mommy's phone........

but look who has them now ? :)

I have been so behind in my postings due to my mornings sickness plus starting homeschooling again. But I have been told I need to put up the pictures from my TN trip so my daddy could see them...so daddy I spent some time today to try to get some up. Of course this is only half but you shall see the other half as soon as I can get around to them next.. :) These are my favorite and I thought you would think so too :)

Mommy's liken those curls! And like Aunt Ashley says "pretty boy" :)

always fighting over who is holding grammy's hand :)

This past Mother's Day Sandra was able to come visit. The kids always love when Grammy comes to town and so do I! Thanks Sandra for being with us for Mother's Day! Tho it was a short weekend it was a good weekend! We love you!

Andrew Keith was born June 8, 2006 This past month we celebrated his fifth birthday...wow 5 years! these are just a few of many pictures of the past 5 years.....

This was the last time Andrew was read to by his granny......

The Papa Andrew Keith is names after......

Yes, I know those balloons look like 2 big ears :) I didn't realize it until after pictures :) anyway, we celebrated Andrew's 5th birthday last month(yea,kinda behind on my blogging) . Things I love about my little Andrew: his' smile will brighten your day , he loves to cuddle and hug, he loves sports and is my little athlete . This year he will be starting school which he is so excited to be "in school" with his siblings. :) I am just so thankful Andrew is a part of our clan! :) Happy Birthday Andrew! and thanks to our friends and to Grammy who helped celebrate this special day with us!

Jackson trying to hit the pinata

Seth swinging

Brett thinks he is going to throw that balloon at me but he better think again :)

the mad dash to get water balloons!

This was our first time playing frisbee golf and it may be our last, although my daddy seemed to enjoy it :) We went up to Gaithersburg to a really nice state park. I believe it was a 21 hole course but we only had to complete 9 to get our book signed for our Park Quest we are involved in this summer. Grammy, this was what we had intended to play with you when you were up here but it was closed. But don't worry, you didn't miss out on much :) The "course" was nice and I guess this state park is famous for this frisbee golf and we actually even saw some guys that were "seriously" playing this sport but I think with alot of little kids plus adults like me who can't throw frisbees very far, it took FOREVER! Its like putting 4 kids on a par 3 golf course....you wouldn't want to be the people coming up behind us :)
And for some reason the gnats here were terrible! I think we ate gnats every time we talked and no telling how many gnats our noses sucked up :) Gross, I know but tis true! The good thing about it all was that we completed our quests and now we can say we have played frisee golf :) We did end the day with a nice boat ride and that was something that our family had not done before either. So Grammy, we may take you to play frisbee golf next time you come but we will definitely take you on the paddle boats :)

This was a 1944 Navy Stearman plane I surprised my hubby with last month. He was able to take a15 min ride over the Potomic and he said he really enjoyed it tho at times he did lose his stomach when the pilot nosed dived it down and then back up :)

Andrew is famous for sleepwalking at night....this one night he had gotten up to go to the bathroom and Brett and I were on the couch talking so we watched him go to the bathroom and we could tell he was half sleepwalkin since he didn't say anything to us. When I went to bed I checked on the boys and this is where I found Andrew...I guess on the way back from the bathroom he forgot where his bed was :) Yes , he was sound asleep sitting up on the chair!

One day last month I babysat three extra kids so I piled them in our new van and we went to the park. It was actually a day that not a lot of people were at the park so I was able to keep track of all the kiddoes and we all made it without getting hurt so that was a BIG plus :)

my little cowgirl :)

I think Andrew needs to recruit more Indians :)

One thing my children love to do is dress up. We have bought several different dress up outfits for them to use and they love it! I so enjoy just sitting on the couch and watching them play cowboys and Indians or whatever they are playing that day...and they always like to pose for mommy to take pictures :)

berry picking

My kids and I picked have been picking blackberries twice this week. We have found a "gold mine" at one of the parks we go to often. The berries no joke are about half the size of your thumb! They are huge and boy are they sweet! It was so hard for us to pick and save them rather then pick and eat :) We have picked about 2 gallons this week and going out for some more tomorrow evening :) My hubby even drove me around today looking for blackberry bushes alongside the roads...He got major brownie points today plus this homemade cobbler :) Thanks Mary for the recipe...it smells wonderful! can't wait to have some with some vanilla icecream :) YUMMY!

Last month I surprised my hubby with a 15 minute ride in this 1944 Navi Stearman. He had never flown in an open cockpit airplane so I knew he would enjoy this surprise and he did! In fact Cailyn was crying when we left because she had wanted to ride too....maybe one day Cailyn when you are older :)