Aloha Oe Panttaja's

Just needed to send a tribute to the Panttaja's.  Whoever said in-laws were a bad thing didn't know these guys...and 2 gals.  We love you (even though you will probably never read this) and we already miss the fact that instead of minutes, it takes hours to get to your house. 

Walkie Rockie pants

Cruz is officially a little walker. He really started taking off in the beginning of May, but as we

near the end of the month he is on his feet more than his knees. Cruz acts like he owns every

joint he enters and just runs his mouth blabbing the entire time...a little "daggie" here and a shrilling shriek there (please tell me if I ignore that sound that it will go away?!?!). He is a climber, a ball-carrier (and dribbler), an oven-turner-on-er wanna-be, a gardner, a dirt connoisseur, a basket rider, and a little cuddler with almost anyone. I love him to pieces. Oh yeah, and he STILL rocks himself to sleep...literally.

King of the Ring

Oshyn had the honor of being the ring-bearer for my cousin Kelly and her husband Randy's wedding last week. Here are some highlights:

Mr. Turtle being used for rehearsal.

Uncle Chad letting him pump the gas. "I NEVER get to do this!!"

Everyone thought that someone else was the parents to my kids. I tend to have half a dozen nannies on hand when I vacation with family...it wasn't until the last day that even the mother of the groom knew I was the Mommy of the 2 boys. (You may be thinking how easy it is to mistaken kids and their parents. I was the ONLY one with kids.)Seeing Oshyn with a little skip in his step carrying the pillow. He was soooo proud.

Yep, you guessed it...Oshyn caught the garter. Most of the guys agreed he really would be the next to get married. Lucky for me they had him put in on the pretty ladies arm. Whew!

My cousin Kelly (and Randy too) making Oshyn feel like he was the best ring bearer there ever was...over and over and over again. Thank you.

Cruz found his own best friend--Uncle Robb. There was a point in which I was holding Cruz and when he saw Uncle Robb, he reached for him. Who doesn't want a little buddy?

Urkel or Einstein?

I have been out of town physically (and/or mentally) for the last 2 weeks...I have a lot to catch up on and will do so.

Blog UNDER CONSTRUCTION--Sorry for the inconvience :)
2 down...1 to go

Eight is probably enough

We wanted to reminisce about the good 'ol days (2004, that is) so, May 5th thru the 7th, the Nobmann family moved back in with the Panttaja's. (Actually Nicole and Ralph just went to Carmel for a few days...by themselves!)
A bit different from the last time we lived with them...we both doubled the number of kids we had back then. Six kids now ages 7, 5, 4, 3, 1 and 11months. My days were filled just keeping everyone alive (and having a bit of fun too). I brought over a little scrapbook to do at night when everyone was in bed...yeah right--that never happened. After the 3 days were up I felt like I returned from another planet. I hadn't really talked to any adults (Beau came over after work to help put everyone to bed, but then went home to prepare for seminary in the morning) or been too many places--there wasn't enough time! Funny I didn't realize how much I need adult conversation in my day.
Here are some of the quotes of the day and other funny stuff...probably mostly funny to me, but then again, this is my "journal" right?
Monday:
Walking in to pick Isaac up from Preschool with the two babies--neither walkers...one in the sling and one on the hip and two "big" boys. The teacher said, "If I would have known you had your hands full, I would have met you at the door!" I decided drive-thru preschool would have been the best bet.
After eating scrumptious, warm, freshly popped popcorn from the
Beau's old popcorn popper for our FHE goodie I heard, "Can we have our REAL treat now?"
Tuesday:
Waking up at 6:30a to get a shower, get breakfast for everyone, motivate people to get dressed, eat, brush their teeth, go to the bathroom x 6 kids=leaving the house to get Dean to school at 8:35am shouldn't be too hard right? So I thought it would be nice to walk being that they live about 2 blocks from the school. Well, looking back I think the mistake was feeding the babies breakfast before we walked to school because as soon as we got the 2 in the stroller and the rest with shoes on and peeps in the potty, we heard a faint dinging sound.
Dean, "That was the bell for my school."
Me, "That's just the 1st bell, right? Hurry everyone!! Get in the car!" As we were driving up, 'like a race-car' they told me, I told him to tell his teacher his crazy Aunt had never taken him to school before and didn't know what she was doing. He kind of laughed and then RAN to his classroom. When Dean got home from school he told me that he and another kid had to go to the office to get a tardy slip (Come on! We were there at 8:37am!) I asked him if that was kind of fun...to get to go to the office and all. He said, "No." I said, "Alrighty...we'll be there on time tomorrow!"
I swear Millie said "Z-bar" at the park.
Wednesday:
We went to the park after dropping Dean off at school at 8:20am--thank you very much. Everyone that came through on their morning run/walk would just smile and stare at all of us. I heard a bunch of these..."Those aren't all yours are they?" and "Wow you have your hands full!" One lady took off her head phones and commented, "You must run a day-care!" I just laughed and then played tag some more. We left a few minutes after O-dogg ran straight into a pole--ouch! Sad to say, but I was hoping that he didn't break his glasses more than I was hoping he didn't break his nose. All was well, no breakage either place.
After Cruz took half a dozen steps, Dean said, "He's a circus baby!"

Some daily happenings and sayings:
"I'm going to spend some alone time in the toy room"
"Can I have a treat?" aka Z-bar
"What?"
"Can we buy some ice cream from the ice cream man?"
"Our Mom lets us _____" (I had to decipher when they were trying to pull some fast ones on me)

I always welcome a good challenge and having all of the munchkins by myself was definitely a challenge, but by the 3rd day I was getting the hang of things. I would have to say though that eight family members is probably enough...at least when 6 of them are 7 yrs. and under.

P.S. If you are planning on having this many kids, the Honda Passport is a dream. We all fit comfortably...3 CARSEATS and 2 BOOSTER SEATS!

Comic relief Saturdays aka Tiny Tots Soccer

What a difference a year makes...I can't believe how much Oshyn's grown.  Last year he was the smallest on his team--this year the tallest.  Still the same stomach ache on my part from laughing so hard (minus the huge baby...he came out last year).   

We like to interview Oshyn before/after events to see his take on things.  I have some from water skiing, basketball, golfing and, of course, soccer.  Here is last year and this year's most recent interviews put together.