How our days will soon be spent I'm sure

Darn it I forgot to change the pictures to big, oh well. So I decided it had been a while since I got any pictures/video of the boys playing around. Mainly because our place is so crowded/cluttered that I hate everyone seeing it, but also the lighting and the fact that I've just been plain old lazy. It's gotten really exciting in the last few months though with Noah joining in. This was yesterday, I thought I would give my camera another chance to show me it was strong enough, and according to these pictures, I am happy to say, I don't think it's cracked afterall. Could be the lighting, I'm not sure, but I am relieved. Not sure what was going on before. It obviously wasn't a test to see how well I could handle the loss of my camera, since I FAILED miserably at that one. But whatever it was :) I'm happy it works.

This all started out with Noah "jumping off the couch" (he was really just sliding down off the cushion, but he thought he was being SO dangerous!) onto Brad and Luke at the bottom. They all couldn't stop giggling and laughing (I think that's why I liked the video so much, sorry, I know they slow down the loading process, but they're cute boys, so what the heck :)). I love that boys are okay with the pushing and shoving and the occasional foot in the face when they're wrestling. They're a lot more patient with each other too. It's kind of nice. I'm all for it personally, I think it's good bonding.

poor Luke at the end, totally bit his tongue.... hate that!

Is this a weird thing for a mother to say?

so we were watching that new show on abc called Shark Tank, and Steve pointed out that this guy, Kevin Harrington, the infomercial millionaire, looks like Luke. And I have to say, I think I agree with him! It's Luke in 50+ years ;) I think I'm going to hang onto his picture so that I can compare later :) What do you think?

The Ferguson Family Reunion (and some tears.... dang pregnancy hormones!)

Yeah, so in case you can't tell, my camera is DAMAGED!!!! I'm so crying right now!!! I thought it was just s smudge, and tried cleaning it off at the reunion, but as you can see.... well, it's not. I'm mad. I would go on ranting and raving about how mad I am right now, but I'm sure that would only bore you. Not that the info about our reunion won't bore you too :) but at least it's positive boredom.
We had a good time. We went to a park in Alpine. It was just a short little reunion. We got there in time to help set up and then play some games. The kids all won two-liter bottles of pop at the ring toss. And then got a little wet with the balloons. It had been raining all morning long and we thought that things would be really wet and soggy all day, but it sure cleared up nicely for us and we even got warm enough to take off our jackets.

this was Noah's version of the ring toss....

The kids had fun playing on this giant rock.... my dad couldn't stop laughing at Lukey.... he does look funny when he jumps. This rock totally reminded me of the one we had in our front yard in AK. Good times. Glad nobody got hurt.

This would be my awesome action photos but...... yeah, THEY'RE BLURRY!!!!

Charity's second try doint this!! I thought she looked so good!!

Don't ask me how mad I am that this one is blurry.... does anyone have anything that can fix this problem on these pictures?? They look like some jacked up version of a crappy photo editing job..... I'm so pittled.

I still say that if Luke had scooted back he could have thrown these better.... they were so sweet to him though, giving him try after try to get it :) He's so competitive.

I get a kick out of how they paired up Kelly and Luke and then Bradley and Charity..... Kelly's so little she looked more like Luke's size :) HA!

Noah with Uncle "Deese"

This was during the auction. The auction is the funnest part of the reunion. Everyone brings a white elephant to be sold at the auction and the money that is raised funds the next year's reunion. So everyone gets really into it. My Dad especially. He tries to bid everyone up without getting stuck with the thing he's bidding on. Everyone's caught on though, so I think my Dad pretty much funded next year's reunion all on his own and ended up with a LOT of crap :) He did buy all of my kids one of the cute Disney stuffed animals that they had been eyeballing the ENTIRE time. (yay. more stuffed animals. HA! jk. they love 'em) We laughed the entire auction. The crap goes for more than the good stuff.... not sure why that is :) But it's fun.

Afterward we all just sat around talking. We drove Nana and I wanted to make sure that she got plenty of time with her family. These are the four of the 9 that are left of her family. Mattie, Ione, Duke and Nana. I asked her who her favorite sibling is and she told me you can't have a favorite. Ione was hilarious!! (she took Loni's place of being my entertainment- I was totally rolling on the ground by the time we were done) She kept thinking Steve was making fun of her when he wasn't. She's like 90 years old though.... and still acts like a spring chicken, so maybe that's why it's so funny. She told me about a time a few months ago when she got pulled over and she totally talked her way out of it telling the cop " you're not going to give me my first ticket are you?" I would love to be old and get away with things :) They're so funny. They all sat around lecturing Steve about his hair and pants too.... always a good time. Anyway. That's the ferguson reunion. I don't know why I like these so much, but I do. Missed everyone that wasn't there.

Noah loved the donuts.

The new family business

For the last week or so my kids have parked themselves out in front of the house with their little cardboard box, juice stand. We don't live on a real trafficky street, so business is kind of slow (not counting Mom and Dad and Uncle Steve), but they get really excited when the neighbor (bless her!) stops, and she has everyday that they've done it and given generous tips. They have fun though. And oddly enough keep asking to do it every afternoon (I make them wait till the evening traffic is coming at least).

I have to admit I've been feeling the Summer Grumps a lot this last week. I keep thinking of all the things I wanted to do this Summer but haven't. All the trips we kept thinking we would try to take and never did. It's tough with Nate's job the way it is right now, so at least I can hope for some more fun next year, but I'm definitely wishing we had a few more weeks of summer. Not to mention I'm totally bummed to be sending my girls back to school. I'm going to miss them. They really are saints when it comes to helping out around here, and I know I'm gonna feel it! Not to mention I love their constant games and songs and fun things to talk about. The boys and I are going to have to work on doing that ourselves now :) But Bradley is thrilled about being "the oldest" during the day. I think it's going to go straight to his head. Anyway. School is starting and Summer is ending whether I like it or not, so I should just suck it up and enjoy it! (I don't mind the thought of the weather getting cooler! that I can live with.)

Not a very good cover

So the other day, Nate walked into our room and right next to the door, just on the floor, was a piece of gum. But not just gum, gum with a HUGE clump of freshly cut hair in it. And wouldn't you know, the hair was brown. Now, I'm not sure what the suspect was thinking.... it wasn't a very good hiding place, nor was it an inconspicuous color. So maybe she wanted to get caught :). I do have to say that since her hair is so long, it's really not TOO noticeable, and I think we will just let it go. And actually I was starting to wonder if there was something wrong with my children because no one had cut their own hair. I was starting to feel left out of the Momvos (HA! That's my new word for Mommy Conversations..... see how Nate and Chris like that one :)) when they would talk about their kids doing that. So we're all good. I remember cutting Emily's (my best friend) hair, when we were playing barber shop. I had to put the cut hair in a box so that no one would see it..... even Emily. I got in a lot of trouble for that. At least Charity was just trying to remedy the gum situation..... and the fact that she put it in OUR doorway, really makes me think she didn't even think anything of it :).... cute girl. Good times.