Picnic with Grandma and the Hatches

Thursday for our picnic with Grandma and the Hatches, we went to Grandma's and played in her little kiddie pool.  We ate sandwiches, chips and LOTS of watermelon (courtesy of Sarah).  It was a nice little break for me, I just sat there the whole time, got up for the occasional rush-Erika's-feet-to-the-pool because she kept walking on the hot driveway.  It's so sad to watch little kids' reaction to heat like that.... they have such slow reaction times.  They don't feel it until it's too late!  Poor little Erika.  I haven't noticed any blistering though, so I think it was just hot.  I think everyone had enough fun, even though they fought like cats and dogs the entire time!!  Their fighting is really starting to drive me nuts, if anyone has any secrets on how to minimize the sibling spats, I am open to new ideas! 

Since I was sitting, and my camera was right there, I couldn't help but take millions of pictures.... scroll quickly if you're not interested :)  But then again, why would you not be interested??!!  HA!



Kelly was a little Mommy the whole time, to Charlie.... Erika.... Alvin..... basically anyone who needed any extra help.  I think if it hadn't been for Kelly, Charlie may not have gotten into it all.  She's a good cousin.



She even took the teasing with a smile.



Noah and Charlie had some fun as well.  I love how giggly Noah is.  Sometimes he's just so serious that I forget how fun his fun can be.  He's my squishy little teddy bear when he's in his swimsuit :)  I love his cuddles so much lately!



Charity LOOOOOOOOOOVED the watermelon!!!  I'm pretty sure that's the hugest understatement ever.  She almost ate the whole watermelon herself.  She must be my kid :)  I really love this picture, we're going to have to do something really fun with it.  Charity and Brad did a lot of playing together again that day.  It's funny who they choose to bond with from day to day.  I love it.



Luke got cold again, about halfway through.... he didn't spend a lot of time in the water because of that.  And he got hungry, so..... whining of course.



Erika had a blast!  That little girl is fearless with water now.  She had a lot of fun with the balls.  She's fun to watch, she really knows how to entertain herself :)


This is Charity's "should I eat another piece of watermelon?" face :)  I think there was a lot of the wow factor going on with the watermelon hoarding :)




Luke's face just looked cool in this one.







Brad seemed like he had a lot of fun too.  I love this picture of him.



Whenever Lukey gets bored at these things he asks if he can play games on someone's phone.  I'm kinda sick of the kid melting his brain, so I refused to let him.  Then Steve found an opportunity to challenge him and told Lukey, "If you can go a WHOLE WEEK without playing ANY video games, I will give you my Nintendo DS."  I'm pretty sure Steve didn't know what he was getting him sefl into.  We will see if that one really pans out.  Luke's only got 3 more days before he makes it the whole week.  It's been really nice in the meantime though.  To not have him begging to "make today a wii day".  He's got a lot of self-control apparently.  I like to see that my kids know how to exhibit self control, and that they are willing to sacrifice something now, for something later.  Seems like a good quality to develop and harness.

As you can see, I did a little pony tail on the top of Erika's head that day.  No matter how much nagging or subtle hints I get from people, I STILL hate doing baby girls' hair.  And I think with Erika it's only magnified because she is SO good at expressing her emotions.  No cute hairdo is worth the pain she goes through.  I'm not judging anyone else for doing little girls' hair.... Charity and Kelly had their hair done regularly.... it just wasn't as painful back then I guess.  I'm going to have to look for the stretchier elastics.... the ones that stretch easier, don't hurt as much.... but even then.... we might just take her in and get a cute little bob cut.... I"m not on board with the torturing of Erika.

















Charity had Erika on her back at one point and Erika started to drift off to the side, falling into the pool, and IMMEDIATELY Charity was right there, pulling her back up.  Steve said it when he said, "Charity is SO responsible!"  I don't know too many 9 year olds that would be THAT intuitive.  I'm proud of her.  She really is a blessing in my life. 





None of the ones of Brad jumping into the pool really worked out.... better luck next time, bud.









Kelly had a little too much fun with the hose :)













That water was SO nasty by the time we were done!  SO GROSS!!






Everyone got a little burned that day.  I felt bad, but I had loaded on the sunblock, so I think it must have been just the high UV index.  I wish I'd left my legs out in the sun now that I think about it.  Good times.