Saturday, July 12, 2008

Abuelita and Papa Joe's Summer Camp

My crazy mom,

aka "Abuelita Lenna" to these girlies...


...decided that she wanted ALL of her grand kids to come and visit for a week...ALL at the same time.


My step-dad Joe was also on board with this idea.


So she took a week off of work and opened her home to these seven little darlings. Here they are in birth order...
Zoe, 10 years old


Olivia, 9 years old


Maya, almost 8 years old


Gisele, 7 years old


Mari, 6 years old


Eden, almost 5 years old


and Tessa, 2 1/2 years old


You'd think with all of these monkey around...


...she would have her hands full.


Apparently not, because on a couple of days she also invited
Aby, my 6 year old cousin,


and another little girl from her church who is 9 years old to join the crazy. Aric calls my mom the "Pied Piper" she's always gathering kids from wherever to welcome them into her home.


Since my step-dad Joe had to work most of the week, my sister and I took turns being there to help manage the chaos. Aric and I were there for the first three days and my sister and brother in law came for the last three days. There was a day and a half that my mom was on her own. YIKES!


Some of the highlights and low lights...

~going to the water park like a zillion times

~ five pee accidents in one day (all the same kid)

~ going bowling

~ going to bed late

~ getting up early

~ water balloon fights

~ going to the library

~ getting all seven kids and four adults ready for church. Thank heavens it was at 1pm.

~going to four parks in one day!

~ every mealtime had a highlight and a low light. Trying to keep track of who likes what and who doesn't was enough to make your head spin.

~ coloring pictures, piano practice, homework etc...

The girls had a great time and we got a few days without kids.


Thanks mom and Joe for being such wonderful and hands on grandparents. I know it wasn't a vacation for you by any means, but to the girls it will be the highlight of their summer.


*On a side note...I had great hopes of starting and finishing the nursery in the five days we were without children....wishful thinking. I just barely finished painting. What I realized was that in order to make a nursery I had to completely lose my sewing/craft room. That is A LOT of stuff to find storage for. It had to be located in a semi convenient place and to create that was no easy task. So here we are two and a half weeks later and we are finally making some progress. Which is why I haven't been able to blog that often. Stayed tuned for the finished project.

11 comments:

Elena said...

Great pictures and comments. It was work, but I wouldn't have traded the memories for anything else. It was the highlight of our summer so far. Seeing the cousins and sisters have so much fun and being with them makes everything worthwhile. They are truly great girls and so much fun to be around. I wish the parents could have as much with them as we do. But, then that's the best part of being a grandparent (abuelita). Thanks for sharing and trusting us to love them and take care of them as much as you do. I can't wait 'til next month! mama/abuelita

day in the life of a prince said...

What a fun week, and what fun grandparents!

mahina said...

your mom is crazy to take that on, but very cool at the same time! that must have been so amazingly fun for the girls! not one boy in the bunch! crazy!

good luck with the nursery sewing/project room transformation! can't wait to see what you've done!

Ilene said...

Tell her if she ever wants to throw a couple of boys in the mix, I can provide some for her.

Grandmas/Moms are the best.

I need ideas for my nursery. I am totally drawing a blank. This girl stuff is a lot more pressure than a boy...

So, I have been busy painting stripes in my boys' room.

Melissa-Mc said...

Brave grandma, and lots of cute grandchildren.

Mrs Ana said...

Whatever,I can handle 7 it's not a big deal!!!! We don't look or count the numbers,all we see is sweet,sweet girls! Oh what fun!!I love the picture of them jumping I hope they landed safely!!

Lindsey said...

A nursery? A NURSERY?? Are you getting a baby??? DID I MISS SOMETHING??? or, are you getting ready just in case?

Lauren in GA said...

Your mom is amazing!!! No wonder you are so much fun!! :)

I am excited to see the nursery!

Cynthia said...

No, no, no don't do it!! Don't get rid of your sewing/craft room, you'll never get it back. There has to be another solution .....there has to be.

Anonymous said...

Oh, grandparents. Aren't they the best? Sounds like you have some lucky little monkeys to have such fun grandparents.

Are you going to post pictures of the nursery? Will you post them on my blog so that it looks like i actually did a post? I will give you my passwords and let you have a hayday. You can even change things up a bit if you'd like:)!

p.s. I have been keeping an eye out for a lucky birth mom for you. Can't wait to see what is in store for your amazing little familyL:)...

Meghann said...

Those are some great pictures!!! Your Mom sounds like an amazing grandma. I'm very jealous.

It really says something about her, that she still has so much energy!