Knoebels and Pap's Birthday

My days just seem to turn into "just preparing for tomorrow." I can't seem to look past the next day, I feel so busy. I thought May was a crazy busy month but somehow June has become so as well. I know the summer is going to fly by. Hayden doesn't have school but he has about 10 different places he can go each day for fun. He's got park program at our park this year, Fun Kids at the Y, summer reading program, tennis lessons, the outdoor Y pool, and the free movies at the mall. What great programs we have to keep kids busy during the summer! And that's not including all our family activites.

We started off vacation at Knoebels with my parents yesterday. Then for Pap's birthday which was today, we camped near the park and went fishing this morning. We had beautiful weather and some great times. We had a lot of laughs and a lot of good pics.

I have to start off by showing Serena's new sandals-I absolutely LOVE them!

We usually start off the day by playing mini golf (before the craziness of rides sets in). Believe it or not, Connor got a hole-in-one on THIS hole! The ball is supposed to roll up the hill (where Connor is standing) and then if it is in the center, it will roll out the bottom right by the hole. Well, Connor thought it was better to just nail the ball so it sails up over the ramp and lands right in the hole! One in a million!

This ride whips them around the corners and they had a blast. Most of the rides Hayden got on with Connor just because Connor didn't want to ride by himself. He was being a very good sport. We actually felt bad for Hayden because he is kind of at an in-between age where he doesn't like the kiddie rides anymore, but he doesn't feel comfortable with the roller coasters and other adult rides yet. But he still had a fun day.

This video is just part of what I recorded of the "Future Bad Drivers of America." I want to send in the entire video to America's Funniest Videos.

Whatever rides Serena could get on, she did-she LOVES them! She keeps a very serious face during the ride (I think she is concentrating on hanging on!), but she never wanted to get off, and fusssed to get back on.

These kids are having so much fun! Mike and I realized that we have kind of switched roles at amusement parks. Although we still love to ride roller coasters, we love watching our kids have fun more. Just looking at this picture you can see and hear the joy.

After a long day at the park, we drove to our campsite and set up camp at 11pm. This is right before bed at midnight. My parents were good sports about the late night!

The next morning, Pap's birthday.

The kids love playing in the tent.

I don't know why, but the boys we doing this on their own. They had to know I would take a picture of them!

After a yummy camp breakfast that included S'mores that we didn't get to eat the night before, we went to the nearby creek that feeds into the Susqahanna river to fish and play in the water. Pap loves to fish with his grandsons, so we thought he would enjoy it on his birthday.

I love this candid shot.

I really like this picture of Hayden.

I'm not sure, but I think Serena likes the water!

We drove down to York so that I could go to work. The rest of the family stayed and played at Gram and Pap's house and had birthday cake. I hated going to work tonight!

They finished the evening by catching fireflies. Sometimes it's great to be a kid, or their parents!

Brandt Girl's Night

This was a little while back, but I wanted to document Serena's and my first "girl's night". The boys went on the father/son campout for our ward, so we had the whole night to ourselves. Except, what can you do with your 18 month old? Well, after going to the store, we painted our toenails. This was her first time and she was fascinated by the extra color on her toes. Then Mommy popped some popcorn and we watched Mamma Mia. She loves music so she was dancing for every song. The only problem was that girl's night ended at 8:30 when she went to bed. So I enjoyed the rest of a quiet night scrapbooking while watching movies. Many fun times to come Serena-thanks!

A Mom and sleeping

I have no newborn anymore, usually I get a good night's sleep. Tonight after dinner with my parents, we bathed the kids and put them to bed around 8:30. I was really exhausted for some reason and collapsed on the bed around 9pm. About 15 min. later Serena woke me up, I'm not sure why. After a cup of milk and playing on Mommy and Daddy's bed for a little, she went back to sleep, as did I. Except that my mom called at 9:45 (15 min. later) to ask me about laundry. We didn't talk long. By then I was awake and decided to take the opportunity to blog for a little. While finishing up my last entry and getting ready for bed...again, Connor wakes up crying. Now it's 11:15 and I am hoping to finally get to bed.

Celebrating our 9th Anniversary

Our actual anniversary date is June 10th, but we decided to make a day of it on Sat. All 3 kids slept at my parents house Fri. night so we could leave early to drive down to the Temple Sat morning. It's been a while, so it was nice to start the day off right-where we started 9 years ago. After that we strolled around and had a picnic lunch. Thank goodness it wasn't raining...again! It's been raining almost every day the past two weeks, maybe longer, I can't remember. We drove back up to York to have dinner at Sam and Tony's in town, then I surprised Mike (or at least I thought I did!) with tickets to the Diana Krall concert at the Strand. She is his favorite jazz singer and pianist, and I really like her too. It was a wonderful evening, the concert was fabulous, we just wished she would have played longer. She was really funny, down to earth, talked about her kids and singing "Wheels on the Bus" all day long, and is a real family person. I wished we could have met her. She isn't in this neck of the woods very often. She had just gotten back from England and Spain, then to York, PA! Shouldn't that be the other way around!

I am very lucky to have such a wonderful husband, I count my blessings every day. Thank you Mike for another great year full of happy memories.

The Christensens

We said good-bye to our dear friends the Christensens yesterday. We have been close for the past six years and have lived just across the fairgrounds from each other. Now they are on their way to live out in Idaho to be closer to their families. I can't say I blame them, it's great to have so many family members close. But I hate change, and they have filled a spot in our hearts that can never be replaced. Thank goodness for technology. They have truly enriched our lives and taught us so much.

We had a going away party for them on Thurs. night-one last time to get together. The cake said "York PA won't be the same without you."

Jamie and I and several other friends put together a scrapbook for them to remember their friends and special memories in PA. They loved it-Josi cried. I was waiting to see the tears from Dave when he saw the scouting pages, but he held back. I bet he let lose later at home!

Men and their babies!

The girls at the party- (L to R)-Jamie, Josi, Amelia Phillips, Nancy Robinson, me and Jess.

Serena is a chip girl-I guess you know she's from York county! We had Utz chips because that's their favorite.

Some one had a cute idea to put all the kids on the steps for a picture. I thought I would include 3 of the many pictures taken of our 16 combined kids from just 5 families! You can kind of see kids starting to fall apart, and it was VERY noisy!

Quarto Maggio-Italian style! (Instead of Cinco de Mayo)

Stasera il pranzo includerà i funghi farciti, parmigiano dello zucchini, spaghetti, grissini, insalata, pizza per i capretti e gelato e tiramisu per il dessert. Stasera l'intrattenimento sarà fornito dai capretti Brandt, Christensen, e Coy. Translation: Tonight’s dinner will include stuffed mushrooms, zucchini parmesan, spaghetti, breadsticks, salad, pizza for kids, and ice cream and tiramisu for dessert. Tonight’s entertainment will be provided by the Brandt, Christensen and Coy kids.

Actually, the kids did a pretty good job of playing upstairs so that the adults could talk in peace. We had a great time. This was probably the last ethnic dinner night with the Christensens. Boo hoo.

The kids made their own home-made ice cream thanks to Jamie's recipe. It's really easy and yummy.

Easter Activities 2009

This was a busy Easter season this year. We started out the holiday weekend by camping on Thurs. night with the Coys and Christensens. This was a miraculous trip based on the fact that we finally got our three families together on the same weekend, noone was sick, and the weather was pretty good. It was probably our only camping trip together, but we made the most of it (as much as you can with 10 little kids!). Thurs. night the kids slowly dropped off to sleep till the adults finally had about an hour to sit around and talk. On Good Friday we set up an Easter egg hunt for the kids around the old ghost town.

It was a pretty relaxing trip except for a bad night's sleep (Serena!). Kids and adults had a blast. I wish we could do it again.

Fri. night we went over to my parents for Chinese food and painting eggs. This was Serena's first attempt at an egg. Actually the first time she grabbed the Q-tip it went into her mouth, which turned blue.Mike made some cool eggs. Saturday was the annual Easter egg hunt over at our park, and the McGladie's.

Sunday morning the boys woke up to find a jelly bean trail left by the Easter bunny. They ventured all through the house and outside to find their treasures at the end. Serena helped eat the jelly beans.

The boys got roller blades this year.

After church we went over to Wanda and Bob's house for dinner and I got some cute pics.

Brothers...

brothers.

Serena and Aunt Wanda.

Of course we had to go over to my parents house Sun. night for one last egg hunt and little baskets from the bunny. My mom has done a good job of scaling back since we have 3 kids!