Camryn's "15 Minutes"

Happy New Year 2011

I TOLD YOU SO!! 4 little words I hate.

For months CAMRYN kept asking me to take the training wheels off her bike because she knew how to ride it just fine. We finally took off those wheels and away she went. Every chance she gets she hops on that bike. She has almost outgrown it and it's less than a year old. Those darn kids if they would just stop GROWING!

Finally he DID IT!!!

Brayden Finally decided he would play a season of FLAG FOOTBALL!! He loves to run and we knew he could do it but I think after watching his older brothers get BLOODIED and BRUISED the last few years he was never going to play. He loved it and Jay of course approached like a business deal. For every flag he pulled he earned a DOLLAR and for every touchdown he earned FIVE DOLLARS!!
We generally try not to bribe the kids but with Brayden The ALL MIGHTY DOLLAR always kicks him into gear. Whatever works, right?
He wasn't so focused on making mistakes and becoming discouraged but looked at every player as a profit in his wallet!!

BEFORE THEY WERE REALLY COOL!

Can you guess who these SASSY cowboys are??

Freezing, Fun, & Forced Smiles!!!

Chase is praying for protection as he enters the log ride that his muscular arms and hands will be spared from any harm that may be placed upon him.

Camryn loves rides can you tell?

Does this look too forced? I just wanted one little smile. I tried not too pull out too much hair.

Jay and I decided to take the kids to Sea World over the 4th of July, CRAZY!!! But It wouldn't be an official Curtis vacation without crazy, mad fun, right?

Jail time & Tattoos, YEAH!!!

I bet I have your attention Now!! Sorry no juicy gossip from me just highlights from our trip to Magic Mountain. Jay and I went here the very first day we were married but forgot until we turned into the parking lot and recognized the roller coaster.

PINEWOOD DERBY 2009

This was our families 10th Pinewood Derby. We have had equally the same amount of time at the Cub Scout Day Camp. I figured by the time I participate in my last Pinewood Derby I will also be celebrating my 50th birthday. Brayden is just a little bit competative can you tell?

I think we have made about 30 cars so far because every year the older boys made one Jay helped the little boys make one of their own. We still have all of them but I noticed the other day Jackson pulled all of the wheels off. Back to hammering new tires onto those cars.

Camp Rock!!!

This summer Camryn and a friend participated in a musical theater group put on by Jenny Wright. She does this every summer with a different theme and this year it was the "School of Rock" They learned about 5 different numbers with words and dancing and then at the end of the camp they put on a really cute show.

WARD CAMPOUT

We can't get far without those electronic devices. A bunch of the boys brought their nintendo ds games and hung out and played.

This is Jackson who is going through a "no clothes" phase right now. He starts out fully dressed and then becomes nature boy within a few minutes. Going to church with him has become quite a challenge because I have to bring his church clothes in the car and then stay out there convincing him that he needs to wear clothes to nursery.

Back in the day there use to be this song on Sesame Street that said "One of these things is not like the others." For some reason this picture reminds me of that song.

The Girl Gang.

Jackson finally got tired and slept in this same position the rest of the night.

We shared a cabin with 8 mice, 2 bats, 35 beetles , 72 giant spiders and The Gonzales Family.
This was at the West Camp of Camp Lomia that I never knew even existed.
Between the two families I think we ended up with 12 kids (give or take) and 4 adults.

I think by now it was around 2:00 am and we were trying to get these little ones to sleep.
I guess it didn't help that we supplied strobe lights and plenty of dance tunes to keep the youth hanging around all night. Around 5:00am I finally heard them decide they would go to bed.
I enjoyed pretending to be asleep and eaves dropping on their teenage "talkie-talk".

A rope swing provided something for the kids to fight about. Who was in line first, who swung 10 times instead of 5 times, blah, blah, blah.....

Here is our "Home sweet Home"

Back to School

Chase is a senior this year and Austin is a Sophomore. Chase drives them to school every morning about 6:15am. They have O hour together. Austin is the teacher's assistant in Chase's class, we think it is pretty funny. I'm not sure who bugs who the most.

Austin and Chase love waking up every morning at 5:30. Especially when they go to bed around 1:ooam. They still haven't switched their clocks yet.

Camryn just started kindergarten this year. She is more prepared and ready than the others have been yet we are really struggling with being away everyday. She only goes half day but she thinks it is too long. She asked me what she needs to do to get the nurse to send her home.

Brayden is in the 4th grade. He likes his teacher and loves his class. He has always enjoyed school. I have been told that he is the class comedian.

Hayden is a cool 6th grader this year. He knows a lot of the kids in his class and also gets to have his cousin Maddison in there with him. This is the last year that Hayden and Brayden will be in school together until the eleventh grade. Brayden really loves to be with Hayden and thinks he is so cool.

AMERICAN IDOL!!!

The only TV show I have really watched in the last ten years consistently is American Idol. I guess it's because I have no singing talent and so it's easy for me to judge people based on my lack of ability to make myself feel better momentarily. Anyhow I loved to watch ADAM LAMBERT each week so as soon as I could I purchased tickets to go and then dragged Jay and Austin along with me. They both felt really out of place as you can tell by the mug shot.

DO NOT MESS WITH MY "NIGHT NIGHT"!!!!

Jackson has a favorite thing and can you guess what it is? Out of six children I have never had a "BINKIE" baby but I'v had 3 "BLANKIE" babies. He loves this blanket from Wally World and I have a back up just in case. He likes to stick his finger through the silk tag and rub it on his nose and gets really mad if he can't find the tag.

Field Day at the School

Every year on the last day of school the kids get to have a water day.
The kids always look forward to the chance they can get to soak their teachers.

DANCE RECITAL TIME!!

In May Camryn had her first Dance recital which was Disney themed. She of course thought the rest of the class were her back-up dancers.