There sure are a lot of us!

We got more family pictures taken yesterday. This time with my whole family. It was an awful lot of crazy but I'm excited to see how it all turned out. It's hard to believe there are 19 of us now (20 in a few more months!). Gabe is officially done with family pictures for awhile now. Apparently scheduling picture sessions on 2 Sundays in the same month during football season was not very nice of me.

He's got the moves like Jagger

How overplayed is that song? Frejya loves it so I think I have heard it about 4 billion times. Which is 4 billion times too many. Especially since it's so catchy and I end up singing it to myself all day after hearing it. Awful!

We started off our Saturday morning with some dancing. Because who doesn't love dancing first thing on a Saturday? And Gabriel really got into it. I'm not even sure where he got these moves, but they are fantastic! Check him out.

Awesome, right? That second picture kills me. And never to be outdone, the girls had some pretty sweet moves of their own. Oh Iris, how I love you.

A cousin is a sister you never had

Did you know that there are scrapbooking websites that will give you phrases or quotes relating to certain subjects? I didn't but I certainly do now. I sometimes have issues titling my posts and so today I reached out to good old Google and this title is what I was given. How awesomely ridiculous is that?! So of course I had to use it.

I think I have already made it completely clear that I am obsessed with these cousins. Gabriel and Iris together is just my absolute favorite combination of cuteness.

And these cousins are pretty cute too. We had a huge cousin sleep over last weekend. So much fun.

Dinnertime silliness

The fun never seems to stop at our house during dinnertime. It's probably my favorite part of the day. And the kids definitely enjoy it also. Gabriel entertained us last night by drinking his milk out of a spoon. He seriously thought he was the most clever guy ever.

And then there was this. I don't even know what is going on here. But Gabriel thought it was hilarious.

Fall fesitval

Frejya's school had its annual fall festival on Saturday so the kids and I went to play. I gave Frejya a pocketful of money and didn't see her again until it was time to leave. Gabriel had tons of fun running around and playing with his cousins. We hung out in my mom's classroom for most of the time and it was super fun. Isn't Estevan funny in these pictures? He is the best ego boost you could ask for. This little guy gives me the biggest hugs every time he sees me. He even told me on Saturday that he wants to come live with me. It's nice to know someone thinks I'm awesome. Who cares if he's only 5?

Frejya returned home that afternoon with some crazy face paint and hair color. She also now has 2 new feathers in her hair. She loved her face paint so much that she didn't want to take it off. When I finally made her take it off before bedtime she swore she was going to put the wipe she used in her memory box so that she could keep the face paint forever. I really hope she doesn't have a problem with hoarding someday.

Love my family

We got pictures taken by our favorite photographer yesterday. This is just her iPhone teaser shot, but I absolutely LOVE it. Thanks Steph!!

Sneak peek

I have lots of blogging to do but not a lot of time to do it. So here's just one quick look at most of the kids who were with us over the weekend on our big camping trip. More to come later this week!

Boxes are fun

Who doesn't love a big box to climb in? Gabriel certainly loves them.

And they are super fun to eat your snack in. A banana in a box? Sounds good to this boy!

Yummy, yummy halibut

Gabe has been out to the bay a few times this year and it seemed like he wasn't having the best go of it, but I just realized that he must be doing ok because we have a freezer full of halibut. And that is just awesome! Because I am not a lover of the fish, but I can eat halibut. And enjoy it even. Like, it's super yummy! So I guess that's what we'll be having soon. Plus since I am not a fish person, Gabe is the one that always cooks it. So that means I get to eat a yummy dinner and not have to cook said yummy dinner. Double bonus!!

Here are some pics of the halibut he brought home after his last trip out to the bay. My kids and the three C's all loved watching Gabe clean the fish.

4-H Fun

Frejya got to go to the corn maze with her 4-H group last night. It was raining but the kids didn't seem to mind at all. They even went through the maze a second time just for the heck of it.

And best of all for Frejya, her favorite friend Charlie was there.

For my sisters

And Nick too, but I don't think he even knows I have a blog.

Just about every night before bed I play my kids the spinning song (not it's actual name, but what we grew up calling it) and they spin in circles. When we were kids, my dad would play this song and we would spin, spin, spin. It was one of my favorite things of all time. I'm willing to bet that if my dad started playing that song now, all five of us kids would probably jump up and start spinning. It was so much fun. And my kids definitely enjoy it as much as we did. And someday I will actually get my piano tuned and it will be even better.

 

Another fun almost-bedtime game is dress-up. Gabriel put together this little ensemble last night. It was incredibly awesome.

The one about the ear

Yesterday morning started out so peaceful. Frejya was up and out of the house pretty early for a walk to cure diabetes.

And for some reason Gabriel was super tired so I got about half an hour of quiet before he woke up. I made coffee and watched a little TV. Quiet mornings are the best. And then Gabriel woke up. I heard him talking in his crib so I went to get him out and was greeted by Sloth from the Goonies. There really is no better way to describe what he looked like. One of his eyes was slightly puffy and his right ear was hugely swollen and stuck way out to the side of his head. It was bright red and extremely hot to the touch. And Gabriel didn't even notice it. He was happy as can be and ready to start his day. Needless to say, I called the doctor right away. I then called my sister to have her tell our pastor I wasn't going to be at church to teach Sunday school and we were off to urgent care. And somehow things were totally working in our favor because we made it to the appointment on time and got right in to see the doctor. And guess what? It turns out it was just an exaggerated reaction to a bug bite. Isn't that nice? Who knew a little flea bite could do this:

So nasty! But luckily the Benadryl has helped a lot. And Gabriel loves the taste so getting him to take it is no problem at all. I'm just so worried now about other bug bites and more specifically, bee stings. Big Gabe is super allergic to bees and if Gabriel can react to just a flea bite like this, I'm scared to see what will happen if he ever gets stung. Guess I'll be carrying Benadryl with me wherever I go from now on.