Summer Bucket List #36, #45 & #46

36. Play Dress Up
Every day of summer the girls have been in dress up clothes and Diego in his wrestling mask. I only make them change when we go out and I swear the second we step foot back in the house they change back into costumes. So I think it's safe to say this one can definitely be crossed off the list. And I am not gonna lie, sometimes when we go out they're wearing costumes too. Arielle just wore one to a bbq at my sister's house this weekend. What? It makes them happy so sue me!

So like I said... we had a bbq at my sister's this past Sunday. My Dad said food and we said we're there! It's as simple as that really. The way to our hearts is through our stomachs.

Atalie was dressed for the ocassion and prepared for the party in her tummy!


And rightfully so! We had tacos of carne asada and chicken! I am a sucker for tacos.


Even Laila was having a hard time deciding on chicken or carne asada?


And after eating a bunch we all sat around trying to digest the food.


And then we all went a little picture crazy. My Dad's fiance Abby has been here from California for over a week and we hadn't even spent any time with her!


Grandpa spent some time with his #1 Baby. (Notice she is in costume)


And then he spent time with Atalie.Everyone sure has been missing Grandpa!


Then Laila and Atalie figure they could make a run for it and escape this crazy family... but I think they stumbled upon a little problem. Sometimes two heads are just as bad as one.


And by the end of the night my sister had agreed to paint my girls and my nieces toes. But not before them washing their feet because my sister has toe fungus phobia! LOL

But the girls didn't mind and instead of going into the tub they jumped right up on the kitchen sink and started washing. It was kinda hilarious.


45. Pedicures [Girls ONLY]

And they were so happy!


And I painted my nails and my sister added a design for me :)


The next morning we marked another one off our list:
46. Coloring Contest



But it technically wasn't a contest cuz there wasn't a winner.


And the rest of our time these past 2 days has consisted of:

Eating donuts


Me "trying" to get some work done on orders... but with 6 kids in dang near impossible to sit for more than 5 minute stretches at a time. They don't bug but with 6 of them I constantly need to help someone with something. And feeding them takes a lot of time out of my day.


Cousins laying together watching cartoons


And lastly, I signed my kids up for penpals. Alayna was the first to recieve a package.


It was the cutest thing! A letter, a folder to store her letters in, stickers, pens, notecards, and even address labels with her penpal's address and ours for easy mailing!


After I took those pictures Diego had also recieved a letter that he didn't see when he got the mail out of the mailbox. We found it later on that night. But he read it and they both have already written back. We just want to include some goodies before mailing them. I can tell this is so fun for them.

And then last night I was also asked by another parent for Diego to have a 2nd penpal. And he was more than happy to write to a second friend! I think I might look for a 2nd one for Alayna as well so they will be even. Anyone have a daughter around 6 years old that might be interested? She's a great penpal ;)

Kicking the Summer Bucket List

Crossing off some more from out Summer Bucket List!
3. Summer Movie Program @ Harkins

We just finished week number 4/10. So far we've seen... Clifford's Really Big Movie, Ramona and Beezus, Megamind, and How to Train Your Dragon. I love this annual thing with the kids.

15. Summer Reading Program @ Library

The kids are reading but the library isn't handing out prizes so they are un-interested in coloring their sheets. But they're still reading non-stop!

43. Peter Piper Pizza

Yesterday Diego's baseball team had a pizza party to give out trophies. So this worked for us to cross this one off our list because miraculously we haven't made it to Peter Piper on our own yet!

While we waited we were entertained by the spinning coin on our table... yup we're easily amused.


Can you tell?


That went on for 10 minutes or so and then Atalie entertained us by laughing. She randomly breaks out into laughter because she loves the reaction that we all start cracking up laughing at her! And this went on another few minutes. I would have recorded it but I was too busy laughing.


Then it was time to grub!


Alayna asked me to take a picture of her and made she was absolutely "pretty" with her smile. Dang Poser!


And of course then Arielle requested a picture and she also gave me her pose... I swear this girl can NEVER be serious.


Then the two Coaches handed out the trophies and said some nice things about each kid.


A my husband cheered a little too loud for our son. But there's no such thing as too loud when you're a proud parent.


A team picture was in order...


And then they had to let all PPP know who was in the house... D-backs!


I am gonna definitely try and get him in again next season. It was so much fun!

The Greatest Show On Earth!

Man do I love the circus. The whole feel of the circus. I even threw my kids a circus theme party one year. I really do just find it so fascinating. And there is no circus like the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus hands down!

So this was my kids first time seeing the circus. Not only theirs but I also took my 18 year old cousin Alexis and she had never been either. Well technically Diego's 2nd time because I went for the first time when I was 18 and he was 3 months old. But he slept in a carrier throughout most of it.

I have to say the first time I went I sat center ring 3rd row! We literally had elephants right in front of us... and one pooped in our view. And it was so cool to be so up close. This time we had upper level seats but still a little off the center ring. And I can't complain! I think the circus does a great job performing to every angle. And there is so much going on up high and in the air that you still have a great experience. Overall it sure it the greatest show on earth!

And before I go on to pictures let me give myself a pat on the back... I am still alive! Why you ask? I've never driven downtown. It seriously gives me a panic attack because I don't know which streets are one-ways and such. It's ugly down there especially on event days when there are tons of people. And I have no GPS on my iphone! Did I mention already how much this sucks? I think I sure did. But somehow I remembered how to get there... that was the easy part. But getting back to the freeway afterward had me a little nervous. But somehow I found it without a hitch and we're all alive. Ye of little faith (ahem husband) I proved you wrong!

So... when we got there they had this little bouncy thing set up for the kids. I had the kids go over and stand by the Elephant (I have QUITE an obsession with elephants I never knew I had until about a year ago) and the kids were happy to oblige!


Well all except Arielle who wouldn't get near it. I thought this would be a bad beginning... I mean this was a cartoon elephant on giant vinyl! What would she think of real ones... and at this point I still didn't know how far or close we'd be sitting. Luckily she was amazed and loved it.


Settled into our seat are my 3 babies, my first baby (my baby cousin Alex), and my adopted baby (my nephew Duck who this summer practically lives with us).


Me and Alexis. Gotta get some quality time in with her because she leaves to NAU in August! So proud!


Me and Miss Arielle


Welcome to the circus






Sno Cones make my kiddos happy... But Sno Cones make Mommy's wallet not so happy!






And after a fun filled 2 hours it was over...


And it was time to go home with extremely happily exhausted kids :)


I asked the kids what their favorite parts were:
Diego said the clowns.
Alayna liked the Tigers.
Alexis said the highwire acts.
And me same as always... those elephants! Man do I love them so much!

I love the circus so much I asked Diego on the ride home if it was too childish to decorate his room in a vintage circus theme. He shot that down quick. He said he needed a manly room. What does that entail? His answer... skulls and stuff. Why can't I just have my baby boy back? Sheesh 8 year olds.

Oh and before I forget!!! My talented cousin Alex took her camera in with us and she got some AMAZING pictures. She is so great! Check out her Flickr HERE!

The Past 9 days...

So 9 days ago my husband brought me home a brand new iphone. Let me tell you I have not really cared for the iphone ever. I have had nothing but droids and I feel like I like them better even though I never owned an iphone. I don't see all the hype of paying the high price of an iphone, then paying more in service, and then paying for Apps! With all of my droids they were reasonable priced and usually never paid for them technically anyway because my husband would sell our current one to buy the new ones he wanted for us. And let me tell you had a new phone every 3 months for the past 2 years. He can never have the same phone for too long. I could care less as long as it was an Android. I like the layout of them. I get free GPS. I get free Apps. And mostly any app that an iphone has, a droid has a very similar version, and in most cases free of charge. I never not once paid for an app on ony of my phones. It was also very easy to sync my phone to my computer and such. And like I mentioned the free GPS. I need someone to talk to me while I drive because trust me I would be lost everywhere I go.

So anyway he bought me an iphone and although I like it, I still feel all they want is your money. A downside, we don't have free GPS. It's got maps but that doesn't do crap for me. Not only do I need it to get myself anywhere outside of my little area, but my husband always relied on his for work to find customers houses. It was vital! Now in order to have GPS we'd have to pay a monthly subscription. Yeah not happening. So I am not convinced. I can do everything I do with my iphone with my Droids.

The only good thing I can say about my iphone... the instagram App. I just love it. So to conclude my review of my iphone (which wasn't supposed to be a review when I started this post) here's the past 9 days of my life with iphone photos :)

9 days ago... he bought me a phone:


My sister, before I even had a chance to do anything with my phone downloaded instagram for me right away. And it was also her birthday so here she is on her 24th Birthday.


My littlest Princess being my model


I let my oldest daughter Alayna comb my hair one afternoon


My middle daughter Arielle who lives in dress up clothes. Really she does. I think the past 2 weeks she's only wore regular clothes maybe 2 days. She thinks she is Rapunzel.


And here she is singing with her pet spider... before this she was pretending to be Cinderella (I mean hello she is wearing the dress afterall) and asking her pet spider to help her magically clean the curtains in the kitchen. Hence why she is standing on a chair. And also singing while she worked.


My son Diego had his closing ceremony for his little league. It was such a hot day!






And Arielle of course soaked up all the time she could with her "#1 Grandpa"


I love freshly bathes baby parts. Like clean little piggies <3


I've spent lots of time in my office working this week. Lot of orders. Lots of 4th of July stuff I need to hurry up and get out. Tons and Tons of Tutus I am starting to see cross-eyed. So it's been a lot of coffee in my favorite cup and netflix on my computer to help me get through hours of work.


But it results in these cute things coming out of my office and into the mail for my customers!


Now that Arielle has her brother home for the summer she is totally taking advantage of him. She loves him to death. She is his shadow. And he would do anything to make her happy. So there has been a lot of playing Princess and King at her request. He never says no to her.


And Dancing at the Ball of course


We also put a pool up and had our Goddaughter and nephew over for some swimming and lots of bbqing has been going on too. Even during the week!












And then this weekend:

Friday night we had 2 of my nephews here again to spend the night. (And if you're keeping track only one night in the past 2 weeks I didn't have someone else's child here or multiple children... that's our house in a nutshell run by kids)

The kids watched movies after dinner and well...


But all that fun resulted in this literally 30 mins later!


Yesterday consisted of more swimming all day long...(and 6 kids who took a very long nap in the afternoon yes!)


And Atalie's first time in a little pool :)




And when baby woke up before everyone else... she spent a lot of time with Daddy in our bed playing and playing. She loved playing airplane on his legs and looking at the world upside down.


Then she spent a good 45 mins with me in her room reading books and playing around. She is SUCH an awesome and calm little baby. And she totally loves one on one time.




So who has instagram? Care to follow me: mrsmamaduckie :)