a dozen cousins

all 12 grandkiddos from my hub's side were here this summer all at the same time.

of course, grandpa and grandma thought that required pictures. 

of all of them.

at the same time.

to put in a frame.

on their wall.

(yep they're nuts)

my camera was supposed to be the one to get the "good" pic.  

i'm hoping that someone else's camera captured that illusive, semi-decent picture where everyone is looking in one direction at the same time with a smile, semi-smile, smirk, somewhat decent look on their face. 

even so, i love these pictures.  because that is where life is at right now, lots of beautiful little faces, looking in all different directions, taking in the world for all it offers, smiling when they want to, not cause someone tells them they have to. (or when their aunts are jumping around like crazy monkey's and hollering like hyenas behind the camera)

those were the best ones

this one makes me laugh out loud. for real. (hey that should be an acronym, lolfr. when something really does make me laugh out loud, not just something mildly amusing that may have made me smile.  or maybe it already is but i am so wildly behind the times cause i don't have my own cell phone and am completely inept at texting that i don't know it is already way overused and so last year) it's late, i should be in bed, excuse the rant

side note: i also edited a picture that i thought was pretty good and then realized after it was all done and i was about to edit it again a little differently (ya know, options to pick from) that one of them was missing completely from the picture.  hmm.  don't think grandpa would like a picture where one of his grandsons was MIA. delete.

a little piece of heaven

"Don't grow up too quickly, lest you forget how much you love the beach."- Michelle Held

we do not want you in the zoo.

out you go. out, out with you.

(can you name that book?)

so we went to the zoo in omaha a couple weeks ago. and this is the story.

these two:

 acted like him: (or her? not sure.)



this beauty:

 is this girls fave.

we packed a lunch.  full of junk food. don't judge.

 she was enthralled that we were even adding "junk" to our water

my fave

 i may have passed on my love for these guys to them

they posed for pictures:

they humored me by riding the giraffe statue for a photo op:

this one did not find it humorous however:

one of our most favorite spots in the zoo.  we could have sat and watched for a long time.  difficult to photograph though.

it was hot. 

we tried to stay cool.

with sprinklers

and drinking lots of water (even some without "junk" added to it)

and he just is cool

we also ate ice cream to cool off, but i was too busy stuffing my face to take pictures of such things.

it was a super duper day.

full of big cheesy smiles

fun things to do.

and cute things to look at:

the end.

summa time

some fave pics of the summer so far:



he refuses to be normal in pictures

 

playing coy, she stood like this forever knowing her aunt and uncle were looking at her



this girl LOVED every ride at the amusement park, especially the ones that would have made me barf

i {heart} strawberries. a lot.

on the 4th of July we went strawberry picking. 

it was hot.

really really hot.

it was fun.

we picked way too many berries (i could not remember how many i picked last year and all i knew is i wished i had picked more at that time)  i made 11 jars of freezer jam, 4 large containers of smooshed and sugared berries for icecream topping and then painstakingly froze LOTS of berries whole on cookie sheets and transferred them to containers for smoothies (and then i forgot to close the freezer door and they thawed and then refroze into one large lump.  super.) and i still had a whole flat left that i sold to a friend.  (mental note: pick 2 large flats next year, not 3)

family pic failure. again.

a quick attempt at taking family pictures again. 

the perfect family shot?

not-so-much.  (sorry Yvonne, thanks for trying!) :)

1) pretty close, the youngest 2 are less than thrilled about this picture taking business

2) another close one... the eldest is doing some kind of pose and the younger two are still not happy

3) still no. i give up.  (miss j's face cracks me up on this one, ha ha)