It's been a while

I haven't blogged in a while and I really don't have a good excuse for it except that a house full of 5 children, swim season, and Julia and me being sick with the flu for 3 days kept me busy. I got sick the night before my birthday and then Julia showed up sick. Tom had to take Macie and Thomas to the swim meet and then I took 7 loads of laundry to the laundrymat. Matthew had a show at his gymnastics class and then he turned 4 on the 25th of this month. The other 3 kids had swim champs this last weekend over Matthew's birthday. He is such a sweet little boy that he didn't even complain that his birthday was spent at Sierra College pool. Mom and Dad took us out to Home Town Buffet for dinner on his birthday so he was very pleased with that.
Macie had a great champs she came in 39th out of 144 swimmers in the 25 Yd Back stroke and she was 40th in the 25 Yd Free stroke. In the 100 Yd IM she came in 61st She had her best times in the free and back. Thomas made his best time in 25 Yd. Back and Julia made her best time in the 25 Yd Back with her time being under a min. She was 58.86. I loved it! They all did so well. :)
Tom's company had their annual summer picnic at Donner Lake on Sat. the 18th. We had a ball. The gang loves going to Donner, playing in the water and participating in the company picnic games.
Julia also lost her top front tooth to offically make her toothless. Then a few days later she lost one of the bottom teeth. She is rich with quarters. :)
Here are some great shots of the days since I blogged last.








Thanks Chris for checking up on our family every Friday. We are on vacation as of the 29. So I will not update until next week. Enjoy! :)

The 4th of July

What a blessing to live in America. Even with things the way they are we are truly blessed to live here. We went to the parade in Grass Valley. This has been a family tradition for many many years. My mother and father used to go to this parade when they were little, and when I was little we tried to go as much as possible. Of course, when we moved to Roseville 33 years ago we started going every year. Now we take out little gang to the parade and they love it. It wasn't too hot this year and we enjoyed it more than in years past. Then we went to Aunt Jacci's for some after parade food. We feasted and visited with cousins and played. Then onto to home and a great BBQ dinner and home made chocolate ice cream. And who could forget the fireworks. Matthew had a ball this year. He was literally break dancing in the street. We laughed and laughed at his performance. He is quite good despite it being so funny. I think I love the 4th of July so much because it is so close to my birthday and as a child I would anticipate my birthday with such excitement. What better way to start the it's my birthday coming up mantra then with a big celebration. It is also in the middle of the summer and summer is full of adventure and fun. Anyway I hope you all had a Happy 4th and I can't wait until my birthday. :)
The Hay gang before we went to the parade.
Henry enjoying some Grandma time.
The gang and their 2nd cousins. My cousin Shae has 4 children and here are 3 of them with our gang. Charlotte, Landon, and Ava.
Sparklers anyone? The gang loved doing sparklers. I remember loving those as a child also. F U N




One of our fantastic fireworks. :)

Another Summer Adventure! Six Flags

Well, yesterday we went to Six Flags with Grandma, Auntie, Uncle, Emily, Ali and Ashley. Grandpa stayed home with Henry. Thank heaven Henry didn't come. We wouldn't have had as much fun. Sorry Henry, but you are 2 and quite the runner. We would have had to lock him in the stroller and he wouldn't have liked that at all. We saw the whale show, dolphin show, visited the butterfly house (man was it hot in there), experienced the shark experience, saw walrus', petted a sting ray, rode lots of fun rides, drank soda and ate popcorn and cotton candy. What a time we had!!!! I had packed a lunch and dinner. We fed the kids before we went into the park and then fed them after we came out. They were troopers to wait until 8 for dinner, and walk the many miles we walked. Ali took Macie on many of the "scary" rides. Thank heaven I didn't know about it because I would have been very nervous. Thomas helped me out with the two little kids and rode rides with them. We didn't get home until after 10 with Julia and Matthew snoring away in the back seat. Matthew had a great day of potty training. He is now able to say when he has to go, well all except number 2. He does withhold it until he gets home. We have had 2 accidents today. He just won't go in the toilet. Oh well, he is getting there. It was hot yesterday, but not as hot as the previous few days. Wonder what summer adventure awaits us next week? :)