4th of July- Part 2

My 4th of July was challenge after challenge after challenge before "enjoying" the day off. We had plans to visit grandpa and pick cherries from his cherry tree and then off to Nana's for lunch and a nice day in the park with family and friends where the kids can play in the water and just enjoy the day with their cousins.

ONLY that day never really happened. LOL! We got to church late... had to go to an extremely overcrowded grocery story called Wal-Mart to get groceries for our picnic, forgot stuff so made a side trip to Freddies and left my debit card in the car so had to run back out and re-ring everything back up. Got to the Father in Laws house and realized we forgot the kids' fireworks at the house so we headed back home for the fireworks. Didn't get to pick cherries at Grandpas so hoping to get by later this week... which at this point isn't looking so good because my To Do list just seems to keep getting longer and longer. So after fixing face paint umpteen times with the kids, we headed off to Nana's and got there around 4. Can you believe she ate lunch without us! So what if we were only 3 hours late for our lunch date... :D

We went to the annual fireworks at Ann Morrison and left from Nana's house who lives about a mile away. In Madi's stroller we packed in 5 camping chairs, two blankets, a cooler full of ice, a bag of fireworks, a bag of snacks, a 15 lb bag of camera equipment, a tripod, 3 backpacks and a kid's chair. Can you believe the wheel broke off on the way there... A stroller with 3 wheels doesn't work well... did you know that! :D

So here we are with our 3 kids who decided to bring their scooters with them so they can't carry anything and all this gear and a whiney almost 3 year old who thinks she HAS to be carried everywhere and a broken stroller... My husband ran back to Nana's grabbed the van and recruited his brother Matt to help us to carry stuff into the park. My job was to carry in my camera bag and my 3 year old so I walked on without them as they found a parking spot and carried everything in. My husband did a great job carrying everything in except he forgot one little item... As i am getting ready to finally set up my camera stuff 20 minutes before the fireworks display... I notice my tripod is no where to be found. He remembered EVERYTHING except for that.... So no fireworks pictures this year from me. I didn't even try. I knew they wouldn't turn out so I didn't bother. Also did I mention that in the cooler that I packed for dinner at the park included Black Forest ham, Swiss Cheese, Mayo, Mustard, tomatoes, onions... everything except the bread... I FORGOT TO PACK BREAD! It was quite the day of mishaps... but in the long run it still ended up being sooooo much fun and a 4th of July I shall never forget. Next year I guarantee I won't forget the bread or tripod....

I remembered crayons at least for my 3 year old! And here is my cutesy Sister In Law Laury!


My single, adorable brother in law Matt.... :D


Laury kicking her husband in the toosh! Trust me it is much deserved... she puts up with a lot! :D


Me and Laury! Aren't we so cute!


My crayons and books entertained the kids for awhile.


My husband and his brother


My two favorite boys


I have no idea what they were laughing about but soooo cute to watch them


The boys and Madi snuggling up to her Uncle Jack


My niece Sydney and her friend Paige


My nephew Zach. He told me it was one cool picture of him! :D

Girls will be Girls!


Chalk Art in the Park! It was absolutely stunning!


And last but not least.... Josh with two of the kids

Overdue for another Roper Family photo

It has been almost 2 years since our last Roper family photo... time sure flies doesn't it! I was going through my archives and came up on this!

Aren't we a good looking bunch!!

Here are the Roper Girls... still missing one though... thanks to Matt! I keep telling him to find a wife and have some nieces and nephews for me.... but no he would rather go to college and get his life in order first.... I tell him that is not the Roper way! LOL Just kidding.... :D


Here is were is all began... the "official" Roper's


and that family of Roper's have grown this much... (missing baby Abby though) she was in mommy's belly.... does that count?

Nutcracker with Family and Friends

It's become a family tradition to go to the Nutcracker. I plan on going every year. This year I brought Jacob, next year will be Ryan and the year after that Madison should be old enough to enjoy!

Here is the group of women (and one handsome little man) I went with.

Here is josh's sister Jessey
we weren't supposed to take pictures but I wanted to get a picture of the stage... shhh don't tell on me

Here is my mom, Courtnee and Jake

Here is my sister in law Laury and her two daughters Leandra and Sydnee

my mom and Courtnee

Here is the tree!

my mom and I

Goodwill Find...

I had a long couple of days with Madison being sick so yesterday when she was filling better I needed a shopping fix... I thought I would rumage the Goodwill across the street from my house. I wasn't looking for anything in particular but this is what I found! I have been wanting one of these. I actually bought one for my son about 2 years ago and it got ruined because it got left out during the winter. These things are heavy and I have to count on my husband to move them around. He never put it away even after many times asking... so it ruined the slide.

When I found this one at Goodwill it was missing the engine... but thankfully I am a horder and I saved my old engine from the old slide. So for $70.00 I got a screaming deal especially when I see them sellig on Amazon for $399! So I got my shopping fix taken care of and my kids had hours of fun last night... I had to peel them off the slide last night to get ready for bed!

Even Madison had fun going down the slide with her cousin.

Ryan loved this thing!
Here is our neighbor Madison face first!

A Preview of Our Week

School is out and our summer is just beginning! This is one of my favorite parts of the year (other then Christmas!). I love getting the kids outdoors and getting exercise.

On Saturday the kids and I walked up to Hasting's and I let them buy candy with money that they had earned and we rented Underdog. As we were walking we heard thunder in the distant so it was a race there and back to beat the rain :D

Before we started walking I made the kids sit by the garage door.
Here was the sky on the way home... Rain clouds are moving in!
Here are the kids racing home!

On Sunday we went to my Sister in Laws house for a BBQ. They made elk burgers (so yummy!)

Here is my niece Syndee

Here is Madison and mom is hiding behind her... I hate pictures. This picture she was covered in vanilla ice cream. It is in her hair and all on her clothes! goofy girl

Here is my cousin's baby Noble. Isn't he adorable! I love his eyes! And everytime I took out my camera he would smile and pose for me.

On Monday they had a event at the park where they handed out lunches for the kids and the older kids got to play soccer and dodge ball.

Here is Ryan taking Adda down the slide. She is a good sport!

Here is my little monkey!

He is just hanging around...
Here is Ryan and one of his hundreds of goofy faces.

So worn out! My kids sure can make her tired!

My little princess!