Family Fun Night

We held a family fun party for our friends to help promote good family fun. We started with a digital dash. That is a scavenger hunt of sorts. Each team/family were given a list of clues and set out to find a take a picture of themselves with each clue. Some where versatile clues and resulted in various different pictures, others lead us all to the same place. Each family raced against the others to see who could complete the list first. Here is a sample picture of one of our clues that said: salute a veteran.

After that we all met back at our house and had a wiener roast. Everyone brought a dish to share so we had a wide variety of yummies to go along with our hot dogs. Of course we had to get a bonfire or two going. Although the weather was very nice, it still felt good to sit around the fire once it got dark. We made s'mores and had a wonderful time. All together we had 7 families that came. That of course means a lot of kids running around. We hope to make this an annual event that we host.

Teach me Father....

I love to capture these moments of Jim teaching John the things of life. In this pic they were rotating the tires. Jim is such a wonderful father!

Halloween

We had beautiful weather for halloween this year. I got inspired by my friend Sherri and we made some of the outfits. Together we sewed 6 poodle skirts, one for each of us and then 2 for each of our girls. Unfortunatley we never got a big group pic. I also made Brianna's cheerleading outfit. Which I completely improvised the pattern to just make it work and I was suppose to add orange ribbon to make it more Bears like. By the end of it all I was just satisfied to have it done. I'm not really a sewer. I should be though, I just never put the time & dedication into it.

Anyway, of course I have pics of my trick or treaters. We took all the kids to a local church for trunk or treat. By time we got home Carmen was getting fussy so Jim stayed home with her while I took the others up & down our block. By time we were done with that Andrew was fazing out so he joined dad & Carmen at home while I took the big kids to some other neighborhoods. We covered a lot of ground and got a TON of candy.

Rollin in the loot

Ladies Retreat

I was able to attend a ladies retreat put on by a local church. It was held out at Camp Summit, which is about 30 min. from town. It's out in the middle of nowhere. We had a guest speaker who did a wonderful job of saying just the right things that we all need to hear. We had plenty of food to eat, all homemade by a couple of ladies. Several of my friends attended as well so there was a lot of good times & tons of laughter. Some of us stayed up until 3 a.m. chatting and playing games. We can find about anything to giggle about when it's the wee hours of the morning.

It was a milestone weekend for me as it was the first time I went away without baby Carmen. She gotten sick during the week (her first ever sickness of broncitus) and had been refusing to nurse. I had been planning to take her with me, but since she didn't "need" me, Jim insisted she stay home. I was very uncertain about the idea, but Jim persisted so I went without her. I'll admit I was worried and even thought about calling home to check in. All went well without me. Jim did a wonderful job and taking care of all the kids and I came home to a CLEAN HOUSE!

Here is my "twin seperated at birth" Sherri. Whenever we are together it never fails that we are asked if we are sisters.

This is a group picture of all the people that sat at the same table. A wide variety of moms in different stages & walks of life.

Just some nature pictures I took. We went out on many nature walks. The weather was perfect!

80 years

Last week my grandmother turned 80 years old! Ya know....I thought she was *old* when I was a kid. Now she's doesn't seem so old, in fact I'd never guess she was reaching this milestone. She looks great! There was a big party/open house for her & grandpa Jack, who also had a birthday a few days later (but he's younger). A good portion of the family was there. My aunt & uncle flew in from Maryland. My sister flew in from Tennesee. Many of my great-aunts came from out of town as well. Of course my day would not be complete without a bunch of pictures. So enjoy!

I was very fortunate to grow up with such a great grandma. My grandma Kathy & I.

The Martin girls, my grandma with 4 of her daughters, Mary, Donna, Mona & Elaine

The Weas girls, my grandma with her 3 remaining sisters, Winnie, Virginia & Janet

The Luna girls, me & my 3 sisters, Chris, Lisa & Blanca

My parents, Jose & Donna, & I

20 years

Last weekend we went to "Chicago" for Jim's 20 year high school reunion. I use the " " marks because we really went no where near the actual city of Chicago, but the suburbs. For years though we've always called it Chicago. Anyway...

We started out the day by going to the homecoming parade. The kids always enjoy a good parade.

After that we stopped by to visit with Jim's parents and also had lunch at Scotty's. If you are ever in Round Lake Beach you MUST stop & eat at Scotty's. They have the best hot dogs!!! Next we went to the homecoming football game. Jim was on the football team his senior year. He wanted to take the kids, mostly John who has an intense interest in football, to where he once spent his time.In the mean time we also stayed at Jim's brother's house. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins. Jim & David couldn't resist a good old game of ball themselves. The kids were playing with them too, but I love this picture of the brothers going head to head.

That evening Jim & I went to his reunion. David & Karina were kind enough to watch all the kids so we could enjoy the night. From my perspective I had a nice time, especially considering I had never met any of these people before in my life. I think Jim had a nice time too. He was a tad nervous, wondering if anyone would even remember him. He wasn't exactly Mr. social while growing up. Plenty of people remember him and a few in particular while not sure at first of who he was recognized him once he flashed his smile. We ended up at a table with some very nice people, some of them Jim went to school with for all 13 years! We are glad that we went.

Milestones

It has stuck me that no matter how many children one has it is never a dull moment when it comes to reaching milestones. Here at the zoo, we've had a few milestones reached and I was screaming, yelling, cheering, jumping up and down with sheer excitement over each one.

It is official and I am declaring that Andrew is POTTY TRAINED! Just like with the others it happened so quickly. One day he just made up his mind and within a few days got it down good. We even went out of town the first weekend and even though Jim suggested I put him in diapers just to be safe I said no, no, no....we are on a roll. It takes a lot more of my attention. And if I had a dollar for every time I asked him "do you have to go potty?", I'd be rich. Here we are a week later and we are not having any accidents. We are having small issues of his aim and getting himself wet while on the potty, but no outright accidents of not making it to the potty. Yea! So 5 down and 1 more to go!

Speaking of that one more to go......baby Carmen took her first steps last week! We've known for awhile that she was gonna be an early walker. None of the other kids walked any earlier than the week of their first birthday. Some were much later than that, others in between. But we've seen Carmen get around. She's been movin & crusin for a good 2 months now. She's also mastered going UP the stairs, but not down, and she gets up them mighty quick too. We've also noticed her standing independently a lot more. Just, you know, in the middle of the room, just standing there. So twice last week we caught her taking some steps. The first time only John & I saw her. When I told Jim he gave me the "yeah right" look as if thinking that maybe it was wishful thinking or my eyes playing tricks on me. Then a few minutes later we were all sitting on the floor for family prayer time and we all saw her do it. We held our breath and fell silent as we watched her take 3 steps on her own. Now she's not zooming around and completely taking off yet. But she's starting out with, ya know, baby steps.....yeah, pun intended : ).