I’m super late with this, and you’ve probably already seen it on Instagram, but I’ve documented all of our other visits to the Pumpkin Patch at St. Mark’s. How else did I manage to look up the past photos to recreate them 😀 ??
The big boys were, of course, less than thrilled about having to peel themselves away from their electronics and get showered and dressed for the occasion, but they eventually did. I warned them at the beginning of October that they will be 25 and they WILL take their pumpkin patch photo with their siblings 😆 .
So they humored me and had some fun recreating the very first set of photos from 2011 that we took of them our first official year as a family .
2011 vs. 201720112017And a new one with Julien
A new pose“Hurry, Mom! Take the picture!”
And of course, these boys always find ways to crack everyone up. Here they are “manspreading”.
And then we get home and for some unknown reason, Jaylen climbed onto the roof.
It’s always hilarious hearing snippets of Jorge and Briana’s conversations. On Saturday night in particular, they were having a conversation about making food–or about Keto, not sure–but I overheard Jorge telling her:
“This is what happens: I take a picture [of food], and send it to Yajaira and when I get home…it’s THERE. I sent her a picture of stuffed avocados and just watch. when I get home, it’ll be there.
“And here’s another one: I didn’t want to jinx it, but here goes. I have this hamper–I bought it at Walmart. I put all my clothes in it and *boom* all of a sudden, my clothes are all folded and neatly stacked. I don’t know how it happens.”
😆 😆 😆
He obviously got that from that one video about the guy telling his girlfriend some magical fairy does his laundry and picks up after him.
So the magical fairy took 2 nights, but she delivered the stuffed avocados…
We had a great week with the kids. It started on Sunday evening when we picked them up from the other parents’ homes and took them to the drive-in to watch Maleficent and Transformers: Age of Extinction. We bought tons of snacks and got the cooler, blankets and lawn chairs ready, went on the drive and found a pretty good spot.
Our kiddos at Wes-Mer Drive-In
They were into the movies, thank goodness, and although the girls and I spent a lot of time in line at the bathrooms (OMG, the lines!!), we had a pretty good time :).
We got out super late, though, and Jorge and I worked the next morning so we got them home and put them all into bed.
This was the 1st year that we’ve gotten to have all 7 kids together for 4th of July, so we were excited :).
Our boss let us out early on Thursday, by noon, so I went straight to HEB to buy all the stuff for the BBQ and s’mores during the fireworks. I wasn’t sure about what type of patties to buy for the burgers, so I called Jorge and asked, even sending him a photo of the beef patties I figured we should take (and that weren’t part of a recent recall). He approved, and I took them.
Got home, made dinner for the kids, Mom, John and Jorge. I got ready and met Alexis at the gym. We didn’t want to miss it since we knew we’d be “bad” the next day. I had all intentions of eating many s’mores hehe.
She didn’t have plans since her hubby would be working, so I invited her and her nephew over for the festivities :).
Jorge and I started the next morning off on the wrong foot; we just argued about who knows what (the sky being blue? Something ridiculous like that, heh). So I was huffing and puffing by the time the kids and I got in the car with Mom to go to Walmart and to visit Gramma. 4th of July is her birthday. Mom wanted to stop by Walmart since she wanted to do some last-minute shopping for her and so I waited in the car with the kids while she and Jaylen got down. Emily wanted to get down too, but I could already imagine the trouble she’d give Mom, so I told her to stay with me. Thus began the Meltdown of the Century. The other 2 kids and I had to endure the wails; she needed a nap BIGTIME. It seemed like Mom and Jaylen were never getting back! When they did, we took off to Gramma’s.
The smart thing would have been to take her home and go back later, but I had a long list of things to get done so I figured she’d calm down. WRONG.
She wailed while we visited with Gramma, until a nurse came in to tell us to keep it down. She said the “family” of a dying patient a few rooms down wanted us to be quiet. I’ve already gotten into it with her before; she was the nurse who so kindly quit sitting Gramma up in her wheelchair because Gramma “didn’t want to”. Grrr. Gramma NEEDS to sit every day or else her pneumonia will relapse. Just seeing her pissed me off, so I gave Gramma a kiss on the head, and grabbed Emmo’s hand and we stomped off. I turned back to the nurse and told her I wanted to make a complaint. There’s been plenty of times that I’ve had to visit Gramma with people howling for water, for their relatives, food, going to the bathroom and they’ve scared my kids but I’ve been understanding. I got that Emily was loud and perhaps there really was a family who asked (I didn’t believe her, though), but the way she told me was rude and condescending. Of course, the one person I had to make the complaint with never became unoccupied (figures) so Emily and I just left. We sat in the car and I was so frustrated I just bawled with her :(.
Low and behold, we get home and Emily falls asleep. Poor thing. I couldn’t even be upset with her, it wasn’t her fault. But I tried making the best of the day and I cleaned, and then we picked up fireworks with all the kids and got back home to start the fire. Alexis got here with her nephew and we prepped the corn on the cobs, chopped veggies and got everything ready. I realized, in horror, that I hadn’t defrosted the darn hamburger patties!! So I start thawing them in water. Jorge walks in and says, “Nooo! Use the microwave!” But it’s too late. They’re all mushy and weird. He stands over my shoulder as I’m pulling them apart (’cause the centers are still super frozen) and patting them back together once they do fall apart. He says, “Are you trying to feed me turkey burgers? ‘Cause they look like turkey burgers. The hot dogs are turkey. (insert suspicious scowl here, heh)” I tell him, “No! They’re beef, hello, I sent you the pic yesterday, remember?” I even walk to the trash to find the packaging, ’cause now I’m wondering if they’re beef, but the package is under way too much junk.
I finally get the patties to look decent and take them out to Jorge. Jorgie walks in and says, “I think those patties are turkey…they keep falling apart. Dad says regular patties don’t do that.”
I go outside and sure enough, they’re falling apart. There were some casualties, but the ones that do make it looked pretty good, and tasted great!
The 4th of July burgers my honey made!
We got all the kiddos lined up and fed and Alexis and I were pretty proud of the “healthy” burger version we made. It was amazing!
We got all the kiddos in the car and Alexis followed us to the same parking lot we went to last year to watch the fireworks. All the kids were well-behaved and patient. It was a nice show :).
All the kiddos!Alexis and me, in my glasses and crazy hair!
We had a pretty “easy” time getting out of the parking lot, considering how crowded it was. It took us about an hour to get home last year!
We got home and we all helped getting the table and chairs out for the fireworks and s’mores. It was such an awesome time with all the kids and family and Alexis :). And nobody caught fire or anything so that’s a plus!
A few days later I’m cleaning up the counter and find an HEB receipt. I crumple it up to throw it, but something tells me I should read it so I do. The first thing on it: “soy patties”!!!
“Soy patties” Buahaha!
I couldn’t stop laughing. It wasn’t EVEN turkey, it was SOY!! I texted the photo to Jorge and he posted it on Facebook for all to see, buahaha. I guess we ate pretty healthy after all!
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