She's off

Keira has been riding her two wheeler for over a month now, I'm just now getting around to post the video from when she first started.  She looks so little to be zooming around on her bike but she does a great job and I think she was ready long before we actually let her try it.  I swear by strider bikes or any balance bike really.  I see kids in the neighborhood at least twice my kids age riding around with training wheels on, Keira never once used training wheels.  She went right from her strider to a two wheeler and took off riding (once she got the hang of the whole pedal part).

Here is the video, sorry about the head-cut-off part but I was holding Norah and she also wanted to hold the camera.

Sweet treat

Since it is cooling off a bit here (high 80's at the least) and it is almost the end of october we had a fire on sunday night in the back yard.  I wanted to just use the grill but Kev wouldn't have it, you gotta have a real fire to make s'mores, he's more fun than me. 

both Norah and the boys were watching fire tv, quite mesmerized

we had to use nestle crunch instead of hershey bars since the kids had eaten all the hershey bars, they turned out pretty yummy

Hopefully it will cool off a bit more soon and we can enjoy these sweet treats again.

Halloween bunco

I play bunco once a month with a group of girls from the neighborhood and it was my turn to host this month.  In keeping with the halloween theme I decided to have everyone wear a wig to spice it up a bit.  My mom was lucky enough to be here and I'm trying to convince her to start a group back home, while a little reluctant to get in on the craziness at first I think she had a great time and really liked her wig in the end.  I served everyone chili and cornbread, pumpkin cupcakes and this super yummy drink (I go for the big guns, no wine spritzers at my parties).  Since I play once a month the girls were super excited for mommy's bunco friends to come over and to see what actually happens when I leave them with daddy and get semi dressed up for the night.  Kev was a great sport and kept the kids busy until they had to go to bed, Popi on the other hand who was suppose to be "helping" with the kids fell asleep on the floor and went to bed by 730pm (Kev officially declared him fired the next day).

I was too busy to get many pictures but we had a great night and I hope my mom starts a group, it's a fun night out with friends (especially when there's bourbon involved).

Big shot

Norah loves to be right in the middle of all the action, she is dying to get moving and really be involved.  She got a new cozy coupe and thinks she's a big shot being able to play in the street with the big kids, she especially loves her big brother.  I have a feeling she is going to be the boss, the other three better watch out.

almost the whole gang minus Finney who is zipping around on the four-wheeler, what a group.

busy

Noni and Popi left this morning, we had a great time with them and I'm sure they both need a vacation after their "vacation" to texas.  With so many little kids you don't get much of a break during the day, someone needs something all-the-time.  They did a great job (as always) of keeping up with the brood, walking countless miles and playing all sorts of games, whether it be princess stuff or planes.  After being here for 12 days I can't imagine how quiet it is going to be once they get back home...

Tea party with Noni

Noni is here visiting us and the first thing the kids wanted to do when she got here was have a tea party, we welcome our guests in style around these parts.  Who wouldn't want animal cookies and water served by this group and such a handsome waiter complete with gold beads and all?

Hockey

O is pretty athletic and picks up most sports pretty easy, sportsmanship is a whole different subject we're working on.  We got him a hockey net/sticks for his birthday, would you think any different?  Kev, Miles and him have been practicing every night, he usually assumes the role of the goalie (Papa??), guess it runs in the family.

Can we suck your blood?

One of the pinata fillers was vampire teeth, I think the girls were more excited about them then all the candy combined.  They wore them all over the place that night, I have no idea how cause after about two minutes in my mouth they were hurting my gums.

Keira especially likes them,  she is convinced she's gonna wear them out trick or treating even though she's gonna be a princess.

I especially love this picture, the innocence is captured perfectly.

Mud anyone?

We got a lot of rain on saturday night, O and his best bud Miles found some mud to play in and play they did.  I'm all about kids being kids and don't worry about the mess left behind, not sure about how Kelly felt but it was too late by the time she came out to check on them they were already filthy (my fault).  After the initial shock of head to toe mud she was ok with it or at least didn't kill me for it.

the end result, they even dunked their heads in the mud

time to wash off

look at the guns on these two, be afraid be very afraid

lets ride bikes  now Miles, who needs clothes anyway?  Yes we are those people in the neighborhood, the crazy people.

I'm five

We celebrated O's fifth birthday on thursday, his first official birthday party with friends (from the neighborhood and school).  It was a busy day but I think the kids had a lot of fun and that's all that matters.  Happy Birthday big guy, we love you!

we rented a bouncy house, it got pretty crowed in there.  We only had a few injuries which is to be expected with so many boys being crazy.

to cool off we did bobbing for halloween duckies, pretty funny.

moved on to a water balloon fight, it took three times as long to fill the balloons as it did to break them all.

I decided to do make your own sundae bar instead of cake/cupcakes since I had already sent those into school in the morning.  Can you say ice cream soup?

lining up for the pinata

O gets the first swing, it was a Rio pinata and it was huge (much bigger than I had expected).  We had it custom made in Mexico and that sucker was strong, each kid got at least 10 hits and finally Kev had to step up and break it open.

let the chaos begin, Fin is apparently not interested in the loot.

O and his bud Mateo from school

yes I was at the party, holding my sidekick and manning the camera as usual.