Happy CJ Eve!!!!

Tomorrow is CJ's 16th birthday! I can't believe it. This past Saturday we celebrated his birthday with family and friends.

Here he his blowing out his sparkler candles.
Everyone watching him open his gifts.

CJ with a gag gift from a friend...hhhhhhmmmm

Backyard view. Thank you to everyone who made our celebration so awesome!

Oh, and did we mention that we adopted a new dog? Her name is Meadow. She is a border collie mix. She fits in so well with our crazy family.

Farewell MJ

So, I have never been one of those weird people who sob uncontrollably when I hear of the death of a famous person. This morning when I read about Farrah Fawcett, I thought, how sad. And I went back to my day as usual. But later, when I heard that Michael Jackson died I actually got very chocked up. I have ALWAYS been a fan. I owned all his albums, yes, albums! I grew up listening to his music. So many of his songs bring back such great memories of different times in my life. I always believed that he was a lost soul, an innocent, who missed out on his childhood. He was an ICON. One of the few GREAT ONES. Misunderstood. Yes, I was a fan. and I am deeply saddened by his passing. Rest in Peace Michael.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to the greatest man in the world, the man who made me a mommy, who I made a daddy! I love you so much, Chris!!!!!!!!

You will all be happy to know that his kids waited on him hand and foot!


Happy Father's Day also to my daddy who is in beautiful Cape May, I love you daddy!

Carnival Season!

Friday night we headed to our church's carnival. Poor Avery, we made her go on the merry-go-round with Kamryn. Finally Avery made it to the big rides!

We met up my friend Chrissie and her family. It seems like only yesterday that we were young and walking around the June fete, now here are our kids on the rides together. Kami, Anna, Stephen, and Paul.

Of course anything Disney would be Kamryn's favorite ride. Notice that she is the only kiddie on this ride. That's because it was 10pm and all of the other little kids were already home in bed, but not Kami. Lucky for her she got to stay up late because her older siblings were still walking around the carnival with their friends.

A tired daddy and Kami in line for one last ride!

Finally, at 10:30 we found all our kids and headed home! Just in case you're wondering why there are no pics of CJ, Kylie, or Madi it is because CJ is way too cool to be any where near me and was with his friends, Madi was on all the big rides with her friends, Kylie is down the shore.

It's Fondue Friday!

Today we celebrated our 17th Wedding Anniversary. We decided to go the Melting Pot for dinner and thought it would be more fun with another couple. So we invited Karen and Alan to join us. They couldn't go out on Saturday, so we decided to celebrate our Anniversary a day early and go out on Friday night. We had a blast fonduing together! It was definitely a neat experience. The four us us ate, drank, and laughed for almost 3 hours.

Chris having fun playing with his food!

Alan having fun cooking his own food!

Karen having fun with the drink menu!

Even though we celebrated our anniversary Friday night, on Saturday, our real anniversary, I felt like we needed to do something. Our kids kept begging us to do something together, so we finally decided to take the kids out to dinner. It was wonderful celebrating our Anniversary with our family!

Happy Anniversary my love!!! These have been the best 17 years of my life!!!!

Our newest guilty pleasure

A new family owned water ice place opened up near our home last year. It has become our new favorite guilty please. At least once, (sometimes up to 3) times a week Chris heads over with one of the kids to pick out two different flavors. We need 2 quarts for all seven of us. The kid that goes with Chris gets to choose the flavors. Our family favorites.....black cherry, mango, blueberry!!!!!!

Backyard vs. Frontyard

For the first several years as parents our kids were backyard dwellers. This was always loved by us as parents because both our first home and current home have fenced in yards and my kids were all safe and contained. Well, a few years ago the older ones decided that they liked hanging out in the front yard more so they could ride bikes, scooters, hang with other neighbor kids, etc. I HATED this because I love to watch my kids play, and my little kids like to be with the big kids, and I wont let my little kids out front with out me. We have NO front porch, only a front step, so we have spent so many warm nights sitting on a CONCRETE step watching our kids in the front yard rather than sitting on a nice chair on a nice deck in the backyard. Well, last night something wonderful happened. All of our kids, (and a few neighbor kids) decided to hang out in our back yard. Not too sure why, but I don't care. We just enjoyed the moment together....(and we're more comfortable too!)

Squirrels have feeling too!

My father-in-law loved birds. Both of his homes always had birdhouses and bird feeders. He used different types of food and houses to attract different types of birds. Well, like father, like son. Chris now also loves bringing different types of birds into our yard. Last year we bought a window bird feeder. It suction cups to your window and you fill it with bird seed. Theoretically, bird are supposed to fly to the window feeder and dine at the window so we can be a bunch of bird voyeurs. Well, now that Paulie is no longer scaring away other living creatures in our back yard, a squirrel found our window bird feeder. Even though he has ruined our screen by climbing up it to get to the bird food, it is still just as cool to watch. My kids have even named him Bandit. Maybe it is time for another dog when they start naming the wildlife.........

Dance Recital!

Saturday night we headed to Kylie, Madi, and Avery's dance recital. According to Madi and Avery, this is their last year dancing. Apparently mommy likes them dancing more than they like dancing. Kylie is at a crossroads. She loves dance but is not sure if she wants to continue, move to a different studio, or just not dance at all and concentrate on school activities now that she will be starting her FRESHMAN year in September. Stay tuned for her decision. Be warned....this may take a very long time!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my mommy's 65th birthday. We all celebrated with a birthday brunch at the C's house. Of course I forgot my camera, so no pics. I hope you had a great b-day mom. I love you!!!

Happy 13th Birthday Ally!!!!

Tonight we celebrated Ally's 13th birhday at the C's. Pound cake with choco icing....yummo!!!!!!