Playing at the Lake

With 13 children (age 13 and under) in the house, it can get a little..... mmmm.... rowdy.  So we have tried to schedule activities each day to get everyone out of the house and doing something fun.  On Monday, we took the kids to the lake.  They had an enormous amount of fun.  Apparently I really AM getting older.  I thought the water was too cold and I was not as thrilled as the kids to be there.  It was also a little problematic to have SO many kids and only 3 moms.  We were totally out numbered.  The big kids were fine.  But there were 3 medium sized children who needed to have an eye kept on them, and 5 who needed to be close by, since they could not swim, and occasionally overestimated their abilities.

When you are the mom, the only fun, really, in going to the lake is if you can play with your kids, or chat with your friends.  Neither of those was really happening with all the energy spent on making sure no one disappeared in the murky depths.  The kids were blissfully unaware of all the angst going on in the adults and had a fabulous time!

The kids loved the floaties.  They splashed and played.  They swam.  They played in the sand.  They shouted and giggled.  They truly had a marvelous time.

Rylee did step on something exceedingly sharp and sliced her foot open.  After much crying and tears, I managed to get a bandaid on it, and all was well again.

It was a very successful outing.

 Emma and Rylee

The big kids in Callie's pretzel float. They sure did enjoy that floatie!

The bandaid-ed foot, all better!

Alex may be the cutest kid ever!

Marian is getting pretty good in the deeper water.

Joshua and cousin Camden.

 Delaney, with Callie and the amazing float in the back.  Love the matching pink theme here!

Joshua, Marian and Aaron built some awesome stuff in the sand.

 Josh, Katie, Marian and Callie.  Did I mention how much fun the pretzel float was?!

Rylee did not go back in the water, but was happy to play on the sand with her ouchie foot.

 Delaney is becoming a pretty confident swimmer.  She's a hoot!

The sand was almost as much fun as the water.

Over the Hill

Well, it was bound to happen and this year it did.  I hit the big 40.  I am grateful to have wonderful family and friend who love me and who celebrated with me.  I am truly blessed.

Saturday at the Park

 We took the kids to the park on Saturday.  They were delighted.  Less about the playground equipment (which they did enjoy immensely) and more about the pond. Sometimes there are ducks at the pond and we brought a plethora of bread and bread-like items to feed them.  Alas, there were a mere 3 ducks who were not very interested in a mass of children tossing their offerings at them.  Fortunately, the turtles were most appreciative and swam from the murky depths to gobble the treats.  It was an enjoyable outing and no one was stung by a wasp this time.

S'mores

On Thursday, Kera and I both drove carloads of kids up to Arkansas to my folks' house.  We want to squeeze every last drop of family time out that we can before we leave. So, I'm not sure if I mentioned that we have a full house out here in Arkansas.  My sister, Miranda and her 3 boys are here, as well as my sister in law, Kera and 5 of her children. It is a little noisy and rather chaotic and a whole lot of fun.

One of the advantages to living in the country, and having a burn pile, is the ability to make s'mores whenever you have enough trash to burn.  With 16 extra house guests, we just had to have a fire Friday night.  The kids were thrilled to roast marshmallows over the fire and to make yummy treats.  A good time was had by all.

 Auntie Miranda is in charge.

Rylee does not want ANY brown on her "toasted" marshmallow!

Marian is looking for the perfect spot.

Found it!

Clamoring for chocolate.

 Delaney and her marshmallow.

Joshua made a rare outdoor appearance.

Heh heh heh... I snuck a photo of Callie with a mouthful of shmallow.

These two are so cute!  Charlotte and Camden are adorable!

Goodbye New Orleans!

 The movers came on Monday.  Well, the packers, I guess.  2 lovely ladies came to pack up our stuff.  They worked from 9-3 and packed everything but the garage, the kitchen and the master bedroom.  It worked out fabulously for me, since I had all MY stuff and the kitchen stuff.  The schedule worked out that the packers packing our stuff for overseas were coming Mon/Wed/Thur, but not on Tuesday. So Tuesday we scheduled the storage folks.  They came, they packed they left with stuff we won't see for 3 years.  I confess I was a little concerned because they did not put inventory stickers on things  before they left.  I asked why not and they said they put them on when they offloaded them to put them in storage.  I asked like 3 times and they aid the same thing. I was more concerned when I saw my forms are barely legible.  So if I end up with no stuff in 3 years, I will  be really cross about the lovely cherry wood queen bed frame and scrapbooks I let them take.

The movers came back Wednesday to finish the packing and load the truck. I got them on base and then abandoned Dan.  I ran off with the kids and the dog.  We drove 4 hours to Vicksburg and spent the night with Andy and Kera.  Thursday we drove 8 hours up thru Arkansas to Mom and Dad's house.  It was a long day!

I meant to take photos of the house as it was being packed up,but I didn't.  I meant to take photos of the house as we left.  But I didn't.  I meant to get pictures of the kids with their friends, but I didn't.  I was a wee bit overwhelmed trying to keep track of what we were bringing and where it was.  I did manage to get all the important stuff.  As a matter of fact, everything seemed to go so well, I'm waiting to discover what dreadfully important thing I forgot.  The only thing that was accidentally packed by the packers was Marian's mp3 player with her audiobooks on it.  Fortunately her sister's have the same mp3 players so it isn't a crisis.

Dan is wrapping things up with the house.  He finished up with the movers and today the cleaners are there.  I'm really glad he is dealing with all that.  I know the garage was awful.  After flooding every time it rained, it was gross and dirty.  Dan sprayed it out and cleaned it out. Isn't he wonderful?!

I get to hang out with family for a bit. My sister and sister in law are here.  So we have 13 kids running around and they are having a marvelous time!

Last drive over the Crescent City Connection.  

(Hey!  I ran in that lane.... that lane there on the left!)

Last drive by the "Mega-Pie!"

Last drive over the spillway.

My awesome kids doing great on the drive.

Me in my movie star sunglasses.

Fun with Twizzlers.

One of the best parts of visiting the cousins is the trampoline!

Delaney showing me her stuff.

Rylee must pose as well.

Welcome to Arkansas! We're almost there.  We're heading across the Norfork Bridge.