Vacation 2011

I have to be honest, I don't really know where to begin with this blog, but I will start from the beginning. June 21st Andy, Ben, Sam and I drove to Orlando, to meet our Forbes family for a week in a condo. We had the BEST time! We had breakfast with the characters, the boys played golf, took family pictures, went swimming, and the BEST part of it all was just being together in the condo. My boys LOVE their cousins, and really it was time to be with each other. We look forward to this time every year.

This is the whole Forbes clan! (Minus Mimi & Pops)

This is what our nights were like at our condo in Orlando!

Mimi cooked nearly every night, and always had helpers:)

Our breakfast with the characters!


BUT, the real adventure began when on June 28th Mimi, Ben, Sam & I hopped in my mini-van and set out for Stillwater, OK, a 24 hour drive!



On our way we stopped in Muskogee, OK, to spend some time with our extended family, 4 of the 11 boys in the Calavan family! Surprising to many of you, if not all of you, the drive was not bad at all!



Riding the tractor with Mimi in the 100 degree heat, was their FAVORITE thing to do in Oklahoma!


At work with Mimi.


Lunch break at Chic Fil-A!

Sharing like "good" brothers!

In the heat Mimi still pulls them around!

After church in our Sunday best.

Helping Mimi make his birthday cake.

At 12:30am she is still working on Ben's cake!

But it was worth it! Better than any cake I have EVER paid for! Thanks Mimi!

Ben's Early Birthday!

Happy 4th Birthday Ben! (a little early) Ben wanted a birthday party with his friends from school so we had 10 boys over to our house on Tuesday after Vacation Bible School. (We had it so early because we will be gone on his birthday to Oklahoma.) It was only about 1000 degrees outside, but I was NOT having that many boys in my house:) Ben wanted a Transformer party, so I did the best I could with decorating.

He is 4! (almost)

Sam had to be a part of the pictures!

Ben and his friend Luca as Tranformers!

We had a pinata that did NOT want to break!

Finally Daddy ripped it open and they all went CRAZY!

Birthday boy with his loot!

Sambo made out too!

This is trouble.

They all wanted to help!

Gammy gave Ben a piggy bank.

"Mommy, that was the best birthday ever!" He really said that!!!

End of the Year Activities

This was at Ben's school before the performance, and Sam can't wait to be a part of it next year!

This is the 3 musketeers, we are going to miss them next year:(

They sang "Down by the Bay" and "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands".

He was so excited!

Afterward we went to dinner and Marble Slab.

This was at Ben's end of the year party. He had such a good time!

Pool hopping!

How many 3 year olds can fit in the pool?

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms! I had such a special Mother's Day, especially after Sam's big scare he gave us! The day after Sam's scare Ben's school put on a Mother's Day performance where he sang a "Mommy I Love You" song, made a handprint vase and a homemade card. It was so beautiful. I had tears in my eyes, and my mom was also there to share in this special event! After they sang he also said Happy Mother's Day in Spanish! It was a very proud day for this mommy! I am truly blessed to experience this miracle of motherhood. Here are a few pictures from the Mother's Day program.

Apparently, we did not sleep enough.

My proud boy!

He was so excited when he saw us!

This was when he was marching in.

This was the card, vase, hand flowers, and a recipe holder.

Easter Activities

So we have been very busy these last few days. On Thursday Ben had an Easter parade at school and each class made their own Easter hats. I was worried Ben wouldn't "march" since he was too scared at Halloween, but he did it! Then today we had our friends over to dye Easter eggs. The funny thing is our friends have never dyed eggs before! Needless to say 5 boys and 3 moms, 2 of which didn't know what they were doing; made for an interesting playdate!

Ben's precious class.

Marching in line!

Best bunnies!

My handsome bunny!

The finished product.

They were over it at this point!

Sambo wanted a "je'llow" egg.

My Latina friend learning too!

It kept them busy!

Long Time....

Gammy's little helpers.

Future bride and groom!

How cute are they?

This was an interesting ride!

This was all our strawberries we picked!

They LOVE pickin!

Ben told his class he had another baby, and people came up to me and asked if we had had another baby!!!

Georgia's first beach trip.

Wish I looked that good in a swimsuit!

I apologize for the delay in posting, but my camera broke, and I just got a new one. These pictures are actually from March, but better late than never. I promise to be more current with my posts now that I have a super-duper big girl camera!