Cousins Visit

 A few weeks ago my sister and my 5 nieces and nephews came to visit.  We had a blast. I love that we finally have a place big enough for all of us to squish into and space to run around. My kids were totally doted on and Miles was held every waking minute of the day. 

We got to do lots of swimming, movie watching, crafts and games and even had a party which included dangerously popping balloons with sharp skewers while blindfolded.....

which was somehow deemed a better idea than the original idea of throwing freshly sharpened pencils that seemed to somehome bounce right back at them.

There also were colored bubble worms......

streamers.... 

and homemade Cafe Rio, ice cream, rootbeer and cupcakes.

As always, I regret that I only took like 10 pictures, mostly in one hour on the same day posted here.  I feel like there were so many more memories than just that one day. I love that Spencer couldn't stop holding Miles EXCEPT if he spit up or even drooled near him. 

I LOVED building the world's best indoor blanket tent and then watching movies in it. 

I loved watching the kids play frisbee, play do, legos or dolls. I loved watching everyone making shrinky dinks. I loved baking something every day and then having 6 more people to share it with including 2 other kids who don't do dairy!!! I loved how much fun the older kids had going to see Batman with Phil and playing games late at night. **SIGH** If only they lived closer we could do this more than once a year. I am already planning what I can do next year. I'm so glad they all got to come and miss all of them already.

Double rainbow

So last week we experienced a double rainbow. I almost felt like that youtube guy who was crying over it. Check it out here if you haven't seen it (and then click on the rainbow song if you haven't heard it!!!) It was pretty incredible. We saw it in completion from tip to tip but by the time Philip got the camera it was a little less bright. It kind of puts you in a trance and make you to do something you maybe wouldn't normally do......hence Amelia sharing her rainbow painting with the........rainbow???

Ode to the fluff

Oh how I love this baby's hair. He was born with, as I might describe it, a long fringe of front fluff. It sticks up in weird places, it didn't grow in the middle, it cannot be tamed with any product, and for some reason the hair in his widow's peak has come in very blonde and short, making his hairline very.....odd.  It was time to be cut, so you could actually see the blonde hair under that fluff  before it turns brown.  The hair I cut was probably the same amount I cut off Ben when he was 8 months old for his first haircut. He didn't squirm or squawk one bit as I shaved it. The kids thought it was hilarious, and as I was attempting to get the mullet, Amelia yells out, "no leave it so he can have grandpa hair!" I left it, only because I couldn't get that baby fine hair to shave.  In my opinion, now he definitely looks blonde. Sometimes I can't even believe he belongs to me with those blue eyes and light hair.  I will cry the day they turn brown (his hair and eyes) because I am not completely naive and know they inevitably will.  Curse those stubborn Portuguese genes. I will stare at him in awe every day until that happens.
AND, occasionally Philip likes to measure and weigh Miles to check out how he stacks up on the average growth chart. Yesterday he measured in at what an average 8.5 month old should be!!!  I fear he will be bigger than both the kids before he turns 2.
ALSO, Miles rolled over for the first time on Ben's birthday. I guess being strapped in a carseat for an entire day was just the motivation he needed to get mobile. Oh how my life just changed!!

Ben's Birthday

When we got home it was Ben's 4th birthday.  He keeps telling us all the things he can do now that he is 4!!  When he woke up and came in my room, I asked him if he knew what day it was. He didn't, so I reminded him it was his birthday and now he was 4. He ran out to find Amelia and said to her, "Amelia, I am four now!!!". He was so excited. We spent the day lounging around recuperating from our road trip. Ben requested pizza and apples for dinner and I made samoa cupcakes.  He had lego themed presents and Amelia gave him a bag of peanut M&M's, one of Ben's favorite. And just in case you weren't sure how big his eyes can get, here's the proof!!!

Family Reunion

The beach- being buried, making castles, Luke getting very, very muddy and LOVING it, walking to the lighthouse, running and dancing in the sand and the men diving in and quickly running back out!!

Cousins. Norah batting a pinata, swimming on the 4th, Liam kicking a ball ,Audrey singing and Amelia hopping on one foot for their talents, most of the gang and kids in the car

Over the 4th we went to Port Townsend, Washington for a Sargent (Philip's mom's side) family reunion. We drove in a van with 6 kids under the age of 6!! I am really surprised at how little problems we had. We had a caravan with some of the other family meeting up in various places while we made our way there. On the 4th we swam and watched fireworks. Fort Worden is an old military base that has been turned into a state park and the officer housing can be rented out. It is right on the ocean. My Cali babies were so happy to be back on the beach all day, digging in sand and laying around sun bathing. We mostly just stayed on the beach, as you can see!! The kids had fun playing with cousins the whole time.  We didn't see one spec of rain or clouds which is I think unheard of in these parts. I am so glad because I do not like being cold!! 70 degrees is about as cold as I like to be.  We also scouted around the old batteries and tunnels, climbing up ladders to overlook the bay andtaking a tour of a command post. Amelia loved picking flowers for her hair and wisely did not want to go inside the pitch black abandoned underground structures.  Philip's cousin did a fly over in a helicopter to take a family photo and Philip's uncle did a little air show in his bi-plane which included lots of loop-de-loops and stalling the engine out to free fall over the ocean. The other beach goers cheered him on with us. I didn't take any pictures!!!! What was I thinking?? 

It took us 21 hours to get back home and we made it without one meltdown, accident, allergic reaction or puking episode the whole way!! I was very impressed. When we got home, Amelia already was planning out next road trip!!  I guess that's proof what a good time she had.

New Tradition

So I saw on a list called something about "keeping your kids busy during the summer for free" and one idea was to make up a holiday. After a trip to the grocery store where they were sampling donuts, and then seeing the disappointment in Amelia's face when she heard she couldn't have what we were all enjoying, I decided to make Memorial day our family donut day. Then that night I found out by total accident that national donut day is June 1st, just a few days later. Oh well. (But if you are near a Krispy Kreme, you can get one for free on Friday!!!) You can never have too many donuts. And at least our Memorial day donuts are safe for Amelia.  Here are some pics from our holiday. We let the kids top them with whatever they wanted. Amelia's has Christmas sugar crystals, chocolate sauce, vanilla frosting, sprinkles and graham cracker crumbs. Ben's were simple, frosting and chocolate sauce. Later after much coaxing, he added some sprinkles to his plain frosted one.  Mine and Phil's, vanilla frosting, graham cracker crumbs, toasted coconut and chocolate drizzle. Needed some caramel and it would have been a samoa donut.

And you can't be more local than mowing your lawn on a riding lawn mower with the horses watching in front of your flag with a hat you can't see around and some overalls!!!  My kids love being country kids now. And did I mention we planted a garden. We'll see if I deem it worthy of ever speaking of it again!!

All the little parts I love of Miles...

I love all these little things on Miles. From top going clockwise, his little mullet, his fluff of reddish, blondish brown hair that won't lay flat, his adorable smile (and he has a dimple but you have to work at it, so it has not been caught on camera), his blue (for now) blue, blue eyes, his crooked weird toenails, his ridiculously long eyelashes (zoom in to see these puppies....and oh how they curl up) and of course his fluff again and his serious man looks. Oh and I guess the triple chin!!!