[10th??] Annual Memorial Day BBQ

We've been doing the Eid/Jovle annual Memorial Day Bbq for quite awhile now. No one can exactly remember how long it's been but someone thought this might be the 10th one! Either way it's been a great tradition that we started and it always so much fun. Every year it grows as more kids are added to the group. In honor of Cran's Mom we did some fun kid pictures. One by age and one by height.

Age Pictures

Mallory (8), Leslie (7), Ellie (5), Mikayla (4), Sienna (3), Josie (3), Ariana (3), Molly (2), Kensi (1), Christopher (10 months) (Baby Ben 1 month, not pictured)

Height Picture - not even close to the ages!!

I thought I tried really hard to take more than just kid pictures but I apparently only took one. Oops! Next year I'll do better.

Christmas Whirlwind

Christmas started for us when we were down in FL. With so many families to celebrate with it leads to lots of Christmases. All of them were so much fun. Sienna was really into Christmas and Santa and of course the presents. Kensi was really into...boxes. :) She didn't do much with opening the presents but loved playing with the box once it was opened.

My cuties in their Christmas Eve dresses

Family pic at Grammys.

Nana & Grandpa with all the grand-kids.

All the kids in their matching Christmas jammies after opening presents.

Putting the cookies out for Santa (milk and a carrot was added later)

Santa came!!

Christmas morning Sienna ran out of her room as soon as Justin let Conner out. (she was told to say in bed until 7 but must've been just waiting for the first sound of movement) Kensi was still sleeping so we watched cartoons for a little bit before checking out Santa's gifts. Sienna was ecstatic to find Santa had brought her a tablet. Kensi was also thrilled with her ball pit. 

Kensi's favorite gift of the day was her sippy cup. She tried all morning to get water out of it.

Once breakfast was over and all the gifts were opened we headed over to Nana & Grandpa's house for the afternoon. It went surprisingly smoothly with the 4 kids. We even got them all napping at the same time and had some rare adult moments. Regina and Vicky were also able to join us this year.

The next weekend we celebrated with my Dad's side of the family. This crew is really growing. We had 4 babies under 1! The older kids bonded over a game of monsters. The girls were hiding in the tent while the boys aka Monsters would come and scare them. Screams and fits of giggles ensued. It was so great to see everyone!

Can you count how many kids are crying?

One more round of Christmas this weekend with Justin's family. Let the season continue!

Santa

There has been lots of talk of Santa this year. Sienna knows all about what he does and knows exactly what she wants - "a tablet like Mommy & Daddy." Oh dear, having techy parents isn't always a good thing. I was very against this idea at first, but then I did some research and found a good option for young kids. So we went with it.

Nana and Grandpa took Sienna & Ariana to the Macys downtown Santa display where real Santa was waiting at the end of the show. Sienna said she wanted to sit on his lap and talk to him - until it was actually time to do so. Nana ended up sitting with her and she managed to agree with Santa that she wanted presents. She called me up after and happily told me she was a little shy with Santa. I reassured her that he still knew what she wanted.

I knew we'd see another Santa at Disney and she'd get another chance. The big day came to go meet Santa again. That morning Papa had Santa on speed dial, so we were able to call him and leave a message with the girls names and what they wanted. Even after doing that, Sienna still said she wanted to go sit on his lap. Off to Disney we went to meet Santa. I was still skeptical about the whole thing and assumed I'd be sitting up there with her, along with Kensi who would be screaming her head off. The magic of Christmas must've hit. When it was our turn, Sienna marched up to Santa like it was her best friend. She talked to him and told him she wanted a tablet. After they had their moment I backed Kensi up into Santa's arms and you won't believe this, but she SMILED! The girl who cries for everyone smiled for Santa. Amazing!

Halloween

Lots of Halloween parties again this year. Sienna's dance class kicked the week off with the first party. 

On Halloween, both daycare and preschool had parties for the girls. Sienna was over-sugared and already had one bucket full of candy when I picked her up from school. Kensi also came home with a little bag of goodies. 

My little mouse

Rapunzel (who refused to wear her wig)

We trick or treated with our neighbor, Chase, and his family again this year. Sienna was so excited running from house to house, wanting more candy. They were both so cute when they got up to a door all by themselves. Sometimes they were too short to ring the doorbell and other times they'd forget to say trick or treat and say "thank you" while holding out their pumpkins. 

Scary Daddy and his costume. Chase was a bit freaked out.

I got to wear the Rapunzel wig.

Kensi was a tropper riding in the wagon the whole time.

The excitement wore her out and she fell asleep on our walk back home.

We continued our tradition of celebrating with the Eids and Moehrings. It was the weekend after Halloween, and for the most part the kids were over it. They had their costumes on for all of 10 minutes. As soon as pictures were taken, they ripped them off. No mouse for this party - Kensi was sick and stayed home with Justin. As much as we missed them, it was nice to just have the older kids who [mostly] played on their own. We had some great adult time!!

Pumpkin Carving

I love fall. The cooler weather, football Sundays, snuggling by the fireplace, and most of all the traditions that come with all the holidays. A tradition Justin and I have have always done is carve pumpkins. We switched it up a little this year and let Sienna paint her and Kensi's pumpkins. She was thrilled!

I let Kensi help for about 1 paint stroke. She watched from her chair for the rest. 

Last year Sienna wanted nothing to do with touching the pumpkin guts. This year she got over it and helped scoop some out...for a few minutes in between painting.

Justin and I did the actual carving. I did a zombie flower and he did a face with Sienna's traced hands. With the craziness of Halloween night I forget to get a picture of them lite!

Sienna & Kensi's pumpkins.

Father's Day

Justin chose to spend Father's Day by taking the kids to Minnehaha Falls and having a picnic. Sienna has been asking for a couple weeks if she can go to a waterfall. In reality, she meant a water park, but we took her literally and went for the water fall. That morning before we headed up, we showed her a picture of a waterfall and explained where we were going. After a thoughtful pause, Sienna asked, "Can we go to the other waterfall? With Mallory and Kayla?" Justin and I had to laugh and we told her we'd do that one another time. 

Top view of the falls.

Kensi's view.

Picnicking.

Daddy and his girls.

Mommy and the girls.

Sienna's classic silly face to make Kensi giggle or stop crying.

Sienna by the falls. Her and I walked down while Justin and Kensi stayed up relaxing on the blanket.

Memorial Day - 10th Annual

10 years of Memorial Days with the Eids. Many others have joined in the celebrations from year to year. This year was our turn to host. The weather stayed true to this year and was cold and rainy. Luckily I have a house big enough to hold everyone and the millions of kids that come now. Hard to believe we started with no kids or pets! Sienna had a blast having all her friends to her house. Still to this day she keeps saying she wants it to be "Morial Day" so all her friends will come over and play. 

We had our first boy join us this year - Ben!

Playing with her favorite friends - feet!

All the kids - Ben, Abbie, Ellie, Mallory, Kensi in the monitor, Mikayla, Molly, Ariana, Sienna plus we had 3 still brewing (not pictured)