My friend Kristie asked me to post some pictures of my big fat tummy. Julia took this first picture. Other than cutting off some of my head, I'd say she did a great job!
I was experimenting with the timer on the camera, it's a little out of focus, but the big belly is hard to miss!
I didn't know, but the Ft. Worth Zoo is ranked among the top five in the nation, that's pretty cool! It was super nice of Grandpa Matthews to pay for everybody who came. While the brothers and Aunt Linda went to Six Flags, the rest of the Aunts and cousins all headed to the zoo.
Aunt Natalie and Cousin Abbigail were not used to the humidity. But they were troopers!
This picture got all blurry, but you can see the gorilla in the background.
Here's Aunt Laura and Cousin Lyvia looking at the Mandrills.
At the Ft. Worth Museum of Science and History they had a Star Wars exhibit. The kids loved all the costumes. Behind them in this picture is the speeder Luke and Obi-Wan drive in episode IV.
Here are the costumes worn by Mace Windu and Yoda.
These are some of the Wookie costumes from. . .well, I don't remember which episode.
Here are the costumes worn by Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobe in episode II.
Everyone but Ben was brave enough to give this exhibit a try. It was a tractor kind of thing which rode on air. They all loved it!
There were a lot of hands on activities for the kids at the museum. This was Ben's favorite. You were supposed to build a "robot" that could stand.
Emily got into building her robot too.
Here's Grandma Matthews with daddy, Julia and Ben.
Ryan was trying to figure out another of the hands on exhibits.
We should have skipped the museum (for which we paid $60) because they had a lot more fun afterward! They loved sitting on this sculputre of a Galapagos Island Turtle.
We were headed to the Cowgirl museum across the street but got waylaid by the fountain. We never made it inside the Cowgirl museum. You can see cousin Lyvia, Aunt Laura holding cousin Ally. Ryan, Julia, Benjamin (if you look hard) and then Aunt Natalie holding cousin Abbey.
They were running, screaming and every kid who passed by looked insanely jealous.
Here's Ryan, Lyvia, Uncle Todd, Aunt Laura and baby Ally.
More pictures from the Matthews Family Reunion. This is our lovely dinner of Mr. Jim's pizza on Saturday. The brothers and some of the boy cousins spent all morning playing soccer. Here is Uncle Todd with Julia and Emily.
In this picture you can also see Ryan, Grandpa Matthews and cousin Alan.
Here is cousin Alan holding new baby Ally.
Here is Julia playing telephone with shoes with her cousin Abbigail. It was so fun to see cousin Abbigail! We hadn't seen her since she was a brand new baby!
Here is Emily and Abbey playing.
Here's my newest double page layout. This was the Barney Family Reunion 2003. Scott's mom is a Barney. My Grandma Oliver died and her funeral was the same week. I flew out to Kansas with Emily and Scott took Ryan and Julia with him to the reunion. He was so much more appreciative of me in my role as mother after that! I highly recommend every father be left in charge for a couple of days so that they better understand that motherhood is not TV and bon-bons. I totally forgot to give credit (I'm embarrassed). This is a kit called Bluebay Cottage. I love it. It was designed by Krista. You can see her other stuff at http://heyitsjustme-krista.blogspot.com/.
I thought I hit on the master plan this year. Instead of buy the kid whose birthday it was a $50 present, I decided I was going to buy every child a $10-$15 on everybody's birthday. I was sure that would erradicate all the crying and fussing that seem to accompany a birthday.
Yesterday Ryan learned first hand the dangers of inflatable swimming pools in friend's back yards. He was leaping into the pool, and must have landed wrong on his foot. He had been outside less than five minutes when he came back inside crying. It was kind of funny, he really didn't act like he was in a whole lot of pain, but he couldn't put any kind of pressure on his right foot.
That's what finally made me decide to take him to instacare. Ryan was seen by the same doctor who looked at Julia's tennis ball sized, infected mosquito bites in May.
Julia has taken prodigious care of Ryan. Getting him pillows, carrying his crutches up the stairs, getting him drinks. What a lucky boy to have such a nice sister!
At our house we love that song by The Jackson Five called Dancing Machine. My kids certainly are dancing machines. Here's Ben getting his groove on!
For some reason, Ryan thinks dancing should involve some sort of clothes adjustment. He's a funny boy.
Here's Emily pumping up the volume. She is such a cute girl! I told Julia she couldn't have her dancing picture taken until she got some pants one, it looks like she snuck her way onto the blog anyway!
Julia really needs to go back to school. She has been very grumpy the last several days (really weeks, but who's keeping track--certainly not me)!
She is certainly a piece of work. If you look closely at her eyes you can tell she's trying very hard to suppress a smile.
On the left is my sister Marie, my brother Jeff and I doing our rendition of the bucket-heads!
