Mother's day pictures

So on mother's day I used my rights as mom and forced all of my children to dress up and get pictures taken. Needless to say it's not their favorite activity, but I really like to take pictures of them. Here is our mother's day feast: A picnic of freezer burritos in our luscious back yard.

Michelle

Nathan, he was hilarious. I couldn't get him to give me a normal smile and he ran up and changed into play clothes while I wasn't looking.

gangsta Nate

Blue steele. His attempt at a model face.

Samantha on the tire swing.

Samantha.

Samantha

John

Joseph

All the kids plus a crying baby on the trampoline.

The boys minus Nathan.

The girls.

Kate

The girls taken by Joey.

NEW CAR!

So, at the beginning of the year I had a goal of posting new things here at least once a month. I did pretty well until May, and then it all went to pot. To begin with, some time around the last week in April our minivan died. I was driving all over the countryside trying to round up applications for cub scout day camp so that we could get the early bird discount when my car just died at a stop light in the middle of Ansonia. I got some strangers to help me pull off the road and waited for Justin to save me. That was about the 5th time that had happened this year and I was just done. So, we started car shopping. There really weren't a lot of options out there for large families. Having lived with a minivan for the last 5 years I was sure I was done with those, just not enough space. That only left 12 passenger vans and large SUV's. THough the SUV's were definately cooler, they still didn't allow us to haul any extra kids. So we bought a 2008 Ford E350.

We were loving the extra space, but kind of hating parking and driving next to semis . . . fast forward 2 weeks and the transmission started going out. What. . . WHAT!! I just paid tons of money for a new car so I wouldn't have to deal with these problems any more!! Luckily the car was under warranty, so we took it in. Ford of course had to fix everything before they finally were able to really pin point the problem. It took 6 WEEKS for us to get our car back. Luckily we got to drive a cute little chevy traverse during that time that the dealership paid for. It was annoying but in some ways it was kind of good to remember why exactly we had decided to go big. We've had our big van back for 2 weeks now and it's great to have the extra room. I was able to drive all the boys in our pack to cub scout day camp (and my extra kids). Also, we were able to take some friends with us to Rhode Island on Friday for a fun beach day. It was great! I think we made the right choice.

Anyway, back to my original point. My camera was in the van while it was being fixed so I couldn't post any new pictures. For what ever reason I can't seem to make myself post anything without pictures so that's why I had such a long absence. Hopefully from now on I will be able to keep up my once a month posting schedule.

Spring Break!!

We just got back from spring break, and it was wonderful! We took a little trip up the coast to Newport, Plymouth and Boston. It was a lot of fun! I think everyone had a great time. The first day we explored some beaches in connecticut and Rhode Island and visited the Nautilus which is the first nuclear submarine. It has been turned into a museum and is free to the public in Groton, CT just outside the naval base there. It was really interesting. We didn't get any pictures the first day because we got a new camera and were waiting for the battery to charge. The beaches were really cold.We ended the night at a hotel in Newport. The kids were so excited to be in the hotel room. Michelle was especially mesmerized by the mini fridge.
The continental breakfast each morning was a favorite of the kids. You would of thought we were dining at a super fancy restaurant. They loved it.

Day 2: The Cliff walk and Breakers (the Vanderbilt mansion). I loved Newport. It was my favorite day. I think eveyone else really enjoyed it too. The next couple of pictures are views from the cliff walk. It is a 3-4 mile trail that has breathtaking cliffside views on one side and spectacular mansions on the other. It was truly remarkable. The only bad thing is that at one point there is a 2mile section where you can't exit the trail because you would be tresspassing on private property and they have fences etc. At that point Samantha had to go to the bathroom and so she and Justin hurried off to find a bathroom. Me and the other kids followed but at a much slower rate. There are a few spots where the trial gets a little treacherous and I probably would have turned back, but we wanted to catch up to Justin and Samantha. Thankfully Joey and John were really helpful with the little kids. John gave Michelle a piggy back ride and Joey walked right by Nathan and made sure he didn't slip on any rocks or stray off the path. Nathan was pretty obedient.

After the long but beautiful walk we made it to the breakers. It is the largest mansion in Newport and belonged to the Vanderbilt's. They had a great family tour. Each of us got our own headset and was able to go on the tour at our own speed. The kids did surprizingly well. I was nervous that we would have to leave and that the kids wouldn't behave, but they did great and seemed to really enjoy the tour.

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but as you can see the building is very large and impressive.

Family picture on a tree outside the breakers. After our day in Newport we hopped in the car and drove to Plymout so that we could rest for the next days adventure. The hotel there had a pool, but the heater didn't work well. The older boys were the only ones brave enough to really swim. The other kids "swam" in the bathtub in the hotel room.

We ended the night with a disney channel movie "Lemonade mouth".

Day 3: The Mayflower and Plymouth Plantation. Plymouth plantation was really interesting. They have a whole village laid out just as it was in 1627 and right next to it there is an Indian village. The people in the village all adopted a character and would talk as if they were in 1627. It was great! The people were so amazing and it was fun to learn about history at that time.

The "moo-flower"

A Wampanaug Indian home. This is a winter home. It was pretty warm inside.

THis is one of their summer homes.

Inside the summer home.

THe English fort and main street into the village.

Houses in the English village.

The cannons in the fort.

The "little" kids with their happy meal hats on their heads.

Samantha and Michelle on the Mayflower.

Katie

Nathan's birthday dinner at IHOP

Birthday cupcakes (ding dongs) at the hotel.

Birthday spankings! Don't you wish you were in the room next to us?

John, Kate and Nate!

The hotel in Boston. It had a great pool. Justin took the kids swimming while I went to the temple, then I took them to the science museum while he went to the temple.

Family bike ride on the farmington canal on good Friday.

Brooksvale park. THe destination for our bike ride.

The peacocks at Brooksvale.
IT was a great spring break. Sad to see it over. Happy Easter to all!

Samantha's baptism

Ok, the format on this is all off and I can't figure out how to switch things around so you will have to bear with me and read about the baptism weekend a little lower. I'm so proud of Samantha for getting bapitzed. It was really a beautiful meeting. Tahlia Green, Samantha, Kenya Green, Michelle.

Brigham and Samantha

Kate and Gideon Larsen

Samantha, Kenya, Tahlia, and Victoria.

I love this picture of Samantha. It is right after her baptism and she just looks so sweet, innocent and clean.

Samantha was baptized on March 5th 2011! It was a super great weekend with lots of family and friends. Justin's parents came up Friday on the train from DC. We went out to Pepe's pizzeria for world famous thin crust pizza. It was really fun to pop in and see what all the hype was about. Supposedly it is where American pizza was invented and some of the cooking techniques/equipment are so unique you can't get this pizza anywhere else. That makes for a long line at the pizzeria, but we made it through (and met some fun people). The pizza was really good! The baptism was on Saturday at 2:00. A very sweet man from the ward offered to take lovely pictures of our family using his camera and light equipment. It was nice to get some professional quality pictures. I made Samantha's dress. It was a fun challenge. I really enjoy sewing dresses, especially when I give myself ample time to work on it. Our ward here is really good about attending baptisms. Several families came in addition to my sister Maia and her family, my brother Matt and his wife, and our good friends the Green's. The service was great. Samantha is my first daughter to be baptized and it was really fun to go behind the scenes and help her get dressed. She sang a little solo of "When I am Baptized". She was really excited to be baptized! We all love Samantha! After the baptism all the family (and the Greens) came to our house for some ham and potatoes. Good food, good company, it was a great weekend.

Joseph, Grandma, Grandpa, John, Samantha, Kate, Nathan and Michelle. We really can't ever manage to get a "perfect" family picture. We love these kids anyway!

Samantha and Michelle (and Michelle's polka dot tights).