The DeMarksation Vacation

Yes, we named our vacation.

Well, we actually named the beach house that we all decided we would buy together in the future (The DeMarksation)...it now has stuck as the official name of our 2nd annual beach trip.

We had beautiful weather all week which pretty much kept us from leaving the house.  We beached it or pooled it every.single.day.  Did we have any complaints?  Absolutely not.

All six of the kids, ages 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7 (we even had age 1 when Amanda and Scott came to visit) did as kids do - played, bickered, tattled, laughed, teased and name called - and we all pretty much just took it in stride because a vacation state of mind can do that for you.

The girls watched Frozen an obscene number of times and after introducing Beetle Juice it came in at a close second.  It was later brought to our attention that the language in the movie was probably not appropriate for the kids' age group - somehow though, Eleanor (age 2) was the biggest fan!  Not that it mattered really because the entire week each kid was trying to outdo the other kids with how many "potty" words they knew - butt crack, fart and weiner were among the top five.  Mattie personally loves poopie and fart - we have proof on video that Evan took early one morning - totally BUSTED (and let me state that we do not condone this behavior at all):

 

When the kids finally went to bed, the adults played.  The week was dedicated to reconnecting, laughing and laughing some more - something I need more of from these people.

Until next year, my dear friends!

It's Summertime

Finally - the time of year has come when I get to post an annoying number of pictures and write about the most insignificant, ridiculous things (not to me, of course) simply because I have TIME!  Yes!!!  Something I can never find enough of during the school year.

Today was about collecting bugs - the kids' current obsession.  I just happened to walk outside with my camera to snap a few pictures.

We're all in good spirits today...vacation starts tomorrow!!

Easter Time

Every year, on the Saturday preceding Easter, we eat breakfast with the Easter Bunny.   The kids have an opportunity to scream and wave and hug the big Bunny before he delivers all his special treats Easter morning - and of course it's just a photo op for the parents.

It's a rarity when we are all dressed nicely, hair brushed and mouths wiped, so I took advantage of our breakfast outing by setting up my trusty tripod when we got home.  I bribed everyone to sit together on our front stoop for a family picture.  Believe it or not, the kids did a perfect job.  It was us (the parents) that caused a redo with our silliness - case in point...Robert's humor had its way with this one.

After 10 or so takes, we finally got one with which we were satisfied.  Never underestimate the power of a tripod and a self timer.

As usual, Easter morning came waaay too early.  It came so early that we made Evan patiently wait for Mattie (and us) to get up before he could rummage through his basket.  So instead, he just ran back and forth between the living room and our bedroom screaming at the top of his lungs the things he could see in his basket.  "Mama!  Mama!  I got a new monster truck!!"  "Daddy!!  Daddy!!  The Easter Bunny got me a new movie!!!"  After the fifth announcement, I finally just got up.  Mattie was also up by that point because nobody was gonna sleep through that excitement.

The kids ripped through their baskets in a matter of about 2 minutes and devoured the little bit of candy we the Easter Bunny brought them this year.

After breakfast (and a few cups of coffee), we did our annual egg hunt...inside.  Unfortunately, Mother Nature was kicking us in this year.  The kids actually really enjoyed it and that just gave us more time to be in our pajamas :)  Well, most of us anyway.  Mattie Jane chose to hunt eggs in her bathing suit.

Oh - and bless the makers of the school calendar for giving us the Monday after Easter off!  Hallelujah!