updates...

So...I don't have any pictures updated for the blog, but will write about it instead. This weekend was great. The weekends always fly by us super fast. Why does that happen?! On Sunday night, we took off Ariana's training wheels after biking around the block, and watched her bike without assistance. She did a great job despite the bike having a mind of it's own and running into bushes and plants. She kept getting back on despite her falling offs, which we were thrilled for. After it got too dark for her to ride on her bike, we had a frisbee throwing contest. We had fun throwing the frisbee and catching it in the dark. Ryan and Moochie have quite the arms as they would throw REALLY far. We also had fun skating on Moochie's long board. As I was skating past Moochie, he said, "Man! I LOVE summer time!" We couldn't agree more! It is hard to believe that the kids start school in less than a month!!! On Monday, I drove up to Wisconsin with our young women in our church for girl's camp. I stayed the day, and drove back last night. Ryan, the prince, worked from home so that I could go. As I was driving home, I was thinking about how blessed I am to have the amazing prince that I do as well as amazing family. I truly am the most blessed!!! When I came into the house, Ryan had the kids in the bath. They had just gotten back from fishing in our local pond. They rode their bikes there..including a now solo Ariana and Kyla on the famous red tricycle. The kid's rooms were completely cleaned and neat...a different scene from what I had left. My husband is truly amazing! How did I ever get to be so blessed?!

Cub Camp

This week has been Regan's cub camp. He goes before 8 and comes home at 4 everyday. I was able to volunteer for one of the days this week and be with him the entire day. A big thanks to Michael for working from our home and keeping an eye out for the rest of the crew so I could be with Regan and a million other boys. I have to say that compared to last year, this year's camp was a bit more chaotic. They had not anticipated the volume of boys that would be coming, so the numbers in attendance were pretty wild. They put the our small group of volunteers with 40 boys...most of whom we did not know as one pack out of 300 other boys. I am sure the scouting angels were watching over us as we didn't lose any boy on my day. I had so much fun walking around with Regan and watching him do the various activities. They actually canceled the camp 45 minutes early because of lightening storms in the area...so we scrambled to call 40 parents to pick up their sons earlier. It was a bit wild, so say the least...but very worth it to be with my favorite boy, Regan!!!

Here is Regan at the archery post. He is awesome at archery! Just look at the way he pulls his bow!!!

I called for Regan from the sidelines and he turned around with this cute wave! Oh how I love this boy!

The BB gun station is one of Regan's all time favorite things to go to. He looks forward to this one the whole year. He loves saving his target papers and will bring them back home to share with Ryan. No bragging here, but Regan really is an amazing shot. He ALWAYS gets a bulleseye which I thought most boys do, but found out that most boys don't. He had a bit of a run in with a jealous kid on the day that I was there, but was able to walk away from the experience with a life lesson on people who are jealous and steal things from others. We are proud of who Regan is and know that he did amazing, despite another punk stealing his target paper. I had a great day with Regan and can't wait to hear what adventures he has on his last day today.

The things we did while Prince Ryan was at work

Regan has cub camp this week. Here he is on his first day back. He made the pouch around his neck and came back with plenty story to tell us about his day. He is still an awesome shot at the shooting range which included his usual multiple bulls eye. I can't wait for tomorrow as I get to go all day with him!!!

I found Eva playing with the pretty princess game on her own. I love how she put the crown on upside down and started walking around playing make believe.

Ariana and I made Prince Daddy's cake together. She is quite the helper! We had fun mixing and adding ingredients together.

King Ryan's Birthday

Contrary to what the balloons say in this picture, Ryan turned 34 yesterday. As is typical, his birthday always falls during earning season, so he gets a busy schedule every year on his special day unless his birthday falls on a weekend. He enjoyed his busy day at work and then came home to the feast of his choice...this year it was Chicken Ole, salad, watermelon, and chips. Michael and Chelsea came over to help celebrate our brilliant and amazing prince's birthday.

Here is our favorite guy with the balloon facing the correct way. :-) We love Ryan for so many reasons. He is ever so thoughtful, a born leader, a romancer, a sexy prince who has a wife that feels overly blessed to have him, a remarkable dad, a brilliant man, a man who gives endlessly, a selfless person who is always looking out for others needs, a man who is a friend to all, a man that is all around perfect. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't thank the Lord for giving Ryan to me and our family. He is my hero in every way!!! I love this man!!!

Michael and Chelsea bought Ryan's gift in December and have held onto it until yesterday. They bought him a tiny fishing pole. It looks like a pen, but is really a compact fishing pole. Ryan was really excited to see this present. After dinner, we went on our bikes to our local pond and fished with his new pole. We caught so many fish...this is no fisherman's lie...over a dozen fish last night. We all took turns on the new pole and had a blast feeling the weight of the fish pulling at us. When it was past dark, we had to talk Ryan into coming home with us to eat cake. He was having too much fun with his new fishing pole and watching the huge bull frog on the side.

Ariana was having trouble with her bike, so she went and got our little tricycle to go to the fishing pond with us. We laughed so hard as she was peddling as fast as she could on the sidewalks to the fishing fun. She was too tired to trike back, so we threw the three girls and the trike in our bike trailer home. I got quite the leg workout, but it was worth it!

After we came in, Ryan couldn't find his crown, so he wore his cape instead. Ariana and I made his cake which he requested. After lighting the candles, Regan ran to the kitchen and got a knife, and started roasting raspberries. Can you tell he has cub camp this week? We had fun being with our prince and celebrating his special day.

these are the days of our lives...

We picked up Grandma Red from the airport yesterday afternoon. She flew back in from her stay with Marty and Valetta in Kentucky. We wish she had brought some of the Graeter's ice cream, but she said that they couldn't get the dry ice. Though, we are sad about scoops of heaven not coming on the plane to us, we are happier with the fact that Grandma Red could come back to her real home! We went straight to the kid's favorite place to eat with Grandma, Buena Beef. We had fun laughing and eating delicious food together.

While the older 4 kids were at Annie camp party, Eva was playing upstairs. I came into Maile's room to see her playing with some princesses and a toy house. I asked her what she was doing and she said, 'I'm playing with the princesses, Mom." I went downstairs for a little bit, went back up to check on her and found this scene. She was fast asleep. She missed her nap because we picked up Grandma Red and went to a late lunch, so I guess she put herself down at 5pm instead.

Here is a close up of our little beauty. She loves tucking her hand into the corner of Pee Low. There is nothing like watching a sleeping child!!! It is like witnessing heaven itself!

Last night, we had a movie party at ten o'clock at night. We put Eva down, and then had the older 4 stay up for our wild movie night. We made 3 different kinds of popcorn, and watched, "Ink heart." It was fun to be with everyone!!!

a bit of our life

I walked by our main bathroom and heard noises coming from behind the door even though the lights were off. I walked in, flipped on the light and found 3 little princesses playing in the bathtub. They told me that they were watching a movie....sure enough, I found a flashlight on the counter top, pointing at the bathtub. They were making shadows on the wall behind them. I thought it was super cute to see that Eva brought her "pee low" to the act. SO cute!

While I was downloading pictures to our computer, I came across several pictures that I didn't remember taking...this being one of them. It appears that Maile and Regan got a hold of the camera and snapped several shots of the princess room mess. I love Maile's face in this one!!! So while I know that not everyone posts pictures for the world to see their messy house like I do with the Batchelor's messy princess room, I share it because it is a very real picture of everyday life at this castle--both room and beautiful kid in it!

Eva is growing up before our very eyes. She does the cutest things...can you tell she is the baby of the family??? She came downstairs with Pee Low, hopped on the couch, and said, "Mom, I wanna watch...DONald Duck." She is in love with this Donald Duck Disney movie we have that has a bunch of old Disney cartoons with Donald Duck as the main character in each short film. Her little voice and adorable grin melt our hearts!!!

Regan told me one day, "Mom, I want to do extra jobs so that I can take a trip with Dad, just me and him." I said, "Son, what about me?" He said, "Mom, I love you, but I get to be with you ALL the time. I want some time with Dad too." It made me smile so! So he got our his giant map of North America and looked at different cities. He made up a sheet of different cities he would like to go with Dad and the different airplanes he wants to travel on. Here is just one side of his list. I then showed him how you can look up different cities and their prices to fly there. He REALLY liked this! He said, "Mom, I will save for the cheapest city. What city would that be?" So far, Detroit is the cheapest...we are still looking for great deals! If only they had similar prices to Hawaii as they do Detroit!!!

Yesterday was the girl's last day at Annie camp. Here they are in their matching shirts. They had SO much fun this week! Maile and Regan got to go the second half of Annie camp attend swimming/pizza/movie party. They had a ton of fun. While the older 4 were gone, my Mom said, "WOW! Your house is REALLY quiet without everyone!" I know...it was VERY weird!

Leavin Kentucky

I seem to always do this...have my pictures posted out of order...so just excuse me...here we are at the end of our trip, driving back. Eva loves pillows still. The kids had a pillow fight in the car. So fun. Here is Eva peeking out of her cave as she called it. She would laugh and giggle when I would say, "Where is Eva?"

This is Eva in the "cave."

Regan saw that Grandma Red answered a question right from the Graeter's counter and won a free lanyard. Being ever resourceful, Regan came up to me and said, "Mom, I have an idea and it doesn't cost anything!!!" He went up to the counter and was asked when was Graeter's first started? He ran to Marty and they went outside to look at the sign that said, "1870." Regan told the worker his answer and won a free lanyard. He was really proud of himself. So are we!

Here is Regan answering the question. We had such a great time in Kentucky with the family. We also spent the day at a water park that was amazing and cheap to boot. We rode the paddle boats and had an awesome BBQ at the park. I didn't have the camera for the water park day, but trust me, it was fun times 10! We were sad to leave our wonderful cousins but plan on making another trip back to visit them again. We are blessed to have such amazing people in our family!!! Thanks Marty and Valetta!

One of the best places on earth

Well, we have found the happiest place on earth, and it's not Disneyland....nope...it's a slice of heaven called, "Graeter's ice cream." I can now see why this is Oprah's favorite ice cream. It is now our favorite too. Sweet Valetta tried to find a place that sells dry ice so that we could take this home with us, but we couldn't find any, so we went and had our scoops at Graeters. Here the kids are coloring pages while waiting for ice cream.

Regan loves cars and was really wowed by Marty and Valetta's car. He rode in it to Graeter's. We are so blessed to have such great family!!

If you ever see this sign, immediately follow it into the shop and you will find yourself in heaven!

The kids all took turns riding with Michael and Chelsea in their car. They loved being with them.

Good times in Kentucky

Mom has raved about a place called, "Dixie Chili" ever since going to Cincinnati years ago. They are famous for their chili and we can see why. We sampled some of Dixie Chili's food and agree, it is pretty dang good. Here is cousin Marty with Regan. We didn't realize that they got the memo to match each other that day.

Regan likes to eat like a grown up at his own table. Here is he is with Kyla eating some really good food. Regan cracks us up all the time. He came up to me and said in a sweet voice, "Mom, can I have a quarter for a kiss so I can get a gumball with it?" Sure enough, he went and got a gumball and came back and put his arms around my neck and gave me a kiss. I searched my wallet for more quarters only to find one more, so I gave Regan a dollar and had him exchange it at the counter on his own. He was so happy to get the change by himself and then get gumballs for each sister. He is so sweet.

The sign of happiness

Maile is a total book worm. If we can't find her, we know that she is probably reading a book somewhere in or outside the house. Here she is reading, "The Work and the Glory." She finished it in no time at all and is now on volume 6.

Eva really liked this horse that Marty and Valetta have for their grand kids. Our kids named the horse butterscotch and rode it all the time.

More of Kentucky

Marty and Valetta have such a great house! One of the kids' favorite thing there was the laundry shoot. It always amazes me how kids love simple things in life. Their laundry shoot was the cause of much joy for our little ones. Here is Regan at the top with a big grin on his face. He later put toys down the shoot and would run to the basement to retrieve them. We would hear laughter every time he came to the basement. I think I need one of these in our house!!!

Kyla and Ana at the top of the laundry shoot. Kyla would open the door at the top and say, "Hi MOM!" and then I would say, "Hi Babe!" She would giggle and laugh and do it again. If I didn't answer her when she would say, "Hi MOM!" I would hear her say, "Mom, I say, "Hi Mom...and you say..."Hi Babe...OK?!" She likes me calling her that for the moment. :-)

You have never eaten food unless you have eaten at our cousin's house. Valetta is one of the best cooks ever. She treated us to amazing food while we were there. We LOVE southern cooking! Marty treated us to the best BBQ and breakfast as well. We found out that the South loves a secret ingredient that makes all their food taste super yummy...it's called bacon fat. WOW-E...delicious! They spoiled us with southern fixin's galore. You will not taste a peanut butter fudge better than Valetta's!!!

Grandma Red, Valetta, and the girls played a game on the porch. So fun!

The best porch ever!

Our cousins have the most amazing screened in porch that we have ever seen! This was one of our favorite spots of their house. We loved kicking back and talking story, southern style. It was so fun to "just be." Here is Michael and Eva flying into the wind with the help of a fan.

Grandma Red and Papa are enjoying life in the south.

Chelsea and Valetta on the swing. This was one of the best seats on the porch! Ryan and I kept trying to sit here when Michael and Chelsea were not.

Two peas in a pod! Marty and my Mom are similar in so many ways that we should now call them the bobsey twin.

Just a sample scene from our wonderful weekend.

More of G and G Pierson and a road trip

Here the kids are excited to see what they got from Cousin Marty and Valetta from the surprise bag. As you can tell, they were super excited! The girls all got necklaces that did tricks, a chocolate candy coin, and a glow stick. Eva got a book instead of a necklace and Regan got a dart gun which he of course loved. The kids loved their surprise bag goodies. They had a fun time using their glow sticks in the basement where we slept. It was so fun. We love our cousins for being so exceptionally spectacular!

Cousin Marty and Cousin Valetta have this really cute tradition that they do with their grand kids. They have this thing called the surprise bag where they give gifts to the kids. Cousin Marty had the kids line up and close their eyes while he placed their goodies before them. Eva couldn't wait to see what our amazing cousins had up their sleeves. We were so touched by their thoughtfulness! Especially the kids!!! :-)

Ryan the road warrior and me at one of our rest stops. My prince bought me some m&ms. I love this man!

We decided that it would be fun to visit our cousins in Kentucky for the weekend, so we loaded up with Grandma Red in the car with us while Papa drove with Moochie and Chelsea. Our kids are such good road trip warriors. We LOVE taking road trips and getting away.

Papa decided to take the kids to a movie, and so he took the 4 older kids to UP. They LOVED the movie. I asked them what they thought and Maile said that it was, "touching." We can't wait to own this one!

After the fourth....

We have had a ton of fun having Mom and Dad here. Here is Regan and Grandma going out on a date. The place was his favorite: Buena Beef. He was really excited to go with Grandma Red. I kept trying to take pictures and Regan said, "Mom, we need to go on our date now..." So cute.

Papa played his favorite game, "Monster." Here he is showing his caught victims in "Prison."

Grandma and the kids were snuggling in bed reading books and talking.

I thought I had all the grand kids in this picture, but while typing, I realize that I don't have Eva in it...ah the life! Here are Grandma Red and Papa with our kids just being kids. We loved having them here to be with us.