Another Fun Vacation with the Elricks & the Calverts

This year marked our second trip to the Ozarks with my two best friends and their families. I think it was even better than last year! We had a weekend jam-packed with fun stuff including shopping for ladies, fishing for the guys, a water park, and Miner Mike's. The kids had a great time together and kept us on our toes all weekend. I had a hard time choosing a few pictures so get ready for a picture overload!

Just a boy fishing with his daddy.

Good buds, Logan and Owie

Dusty, Logan, Jack, and Ted

Owen and his beloved "Cars" fishing pole. He keeps telling people that he caught a worm. ;)

Molly, Chelle, and Logan being silly with his underwear on his head

Rub-a-Dub-Dub! Owen, Logan, and Madeline splish splashin'!

We managed to get a few more pictures of the adults this year as all we had last year were pics of the kids! Of course, Logan was in this one because he likes to stay up late with the grown-ups!

Molly and Ted relaxing.

The beautiful sunrise on the lake. The boys rented a pontoon boat to fish and headed out around 6am on Sunday morning.

Teddy and his fish. Or is that his bait? hee hee!

Dusty's fish next to the cooler to show you exactly how big it was. :)

The city boy with his first fish! That's right, my hubby had never been fishing before so he was determined to go this time around. I think Dusty got a kick out of "teaching" Cody how to fish.

When the guys got back, the older boys and Maddy got to go on the boat with the Mommies. Thanks to Uncle Ted for sticking behind with the younger napping boys.

Logan driving the boat.

Owen's turn!

And don't forget Jack-Jack!

A rare pic of Owen and Mommy.

Cameron hanging out in his stroller at the water park. He HATED the water. It also didn't help that he started cutting his first tooth while we were gone so he was a little crabby! But he did pretty well overall.

The happy boy in his stroller at Miner Mike's. Contrary to what the pictures seem to show, we did take him out of the stroller a few times over the weekend. :)

Cody, Owen, and Logan riding the bumper cars. As you can see, Owen couldn't drive so Cody had to hitch a ride and help him.

Maddy loved this car. Notice her pigtails--every morning her mommy would do them for her and then she'd come to us and say, "Look!" and just stand there until you told her how cute they were. Definitely a woman in training! :)

Jack claiming his loot.
Owen making Mason smile. He is such a little cutie!

Owen shows off all his tickets!

"Choo-choo!!!!"

We were sad to see the weekend come to end but I think maybe all the parents needed a vacation from our vacation! Can't wait for next year!

The Dog and Pony Show

We are back from a great, albeit wild and crazy, weekend in the Ozarks with the Calverts and the Elricks. I have loads of pictures to go through and pick some out to post but I don't have time to do that today. So I thought I would post a quick video of Cameron showing off his new trick. It's hell trying to get a video of one child around here without another child or a dog trying to get into the shot. But I think I managed to get a pretty good one. Anyway, he started doing this in the car on the way home yesterday and he just loves it! Hope you do, too!

The Muhses Hit the State Fair

When you have one of the top 5 State Fairs in the country, you really have no choice but to go. Even if you hate the parking (which I do) and dragging all your crap for 2 kids around all day (which is a pain). It's totally worth it...for the most part. :) The weather was beautiful on Saturday and we had a great time. Owen and Cam both did fabulously, aside from a minor meltdown or two at the end of the day. We saw Bob the Builder, lots of animals, rode some rides, and ate some good food. I couldn't narrow down the pics 'cause I loved them all so here they are!

Check out the antlers on this elk!

Is he cute or what? He just chilled in the stroller all day long and was so good. Sometimes I wore him in the carrier on me so Owen could ride for a bit. I think he liked being up and able to see everything. We didn't get a picture though!

I have a picture of Owen doing this same thing at his first State Fair. My boys love their piggies!

Award-winning giant pumpkin. And this one is the second place one! It was over 1000 lbs.

We got this free paper visor and Owen just loved it. He's sitting on the stage waiting for Bob to start. He had a ball at the show singing along with Bob.

He LOVED this elephant and screamed when we made him get off it.


What does an elephant say?

Baby goats born on 8/11/08.

Check out the Mama--even goats are exhausted from taking care of newborns!

Don't they look like little puppy dogs?

Cam got too tuckered out!

I had to take this pic for my mom, the world's biggest Cheez-It fan. It was only after I took the pic that I read about it and learned it's not actually made of Cheez-Its. It's carved out of a block of cheese. Still pretty cool and the picture doesn't really do it justice.

The infamous Butter Cow.

The butter version of Shawn Johnson that I waited in line to see with my whiny, unhappy baby. It was pretty cool but I don't think it was worth the wait. I think Cam would agree.

Owen was so excited we couldn't get him to eat anything all day. He finally gave up at the end of the day and stopped for french fries.

Too many fries to smile!

Both of the boys were zonked in the car on the way home. Cody and I were exhausted as well but we managed to stay up late enough to see Michael Phelps win his 8th. We are so addicted to these Olympics!

The Highs and Lows of Professional Pics with a 3-year-old and a 7-month-old

Mom and I took the boys to JCPenney in Carbondale while I was home to have the boys pictures done. I knew it would be hell but I still wanted to do it. First some of the lows...we got there on time and quickly realized I had forgotten Cam's shorts for one of the pics. So off Owen and I went to run around the mall and find some shorts for him to wear. We ran back into Penney's with a pair of shorts and Owen saying, "I saved the day!" We could never get a picture of both of them looking at the camera and smiling at the same time. Though I didn't really expect to. Owen's nose was running like a faucet. Note: the only day it really ran like that the entire two weeks we were there. Cameron's head was tilting worse than it had or did the entire two weeks we were there. However, I got over that pretty quickly as I decided that's who he is at this time in his life and I'm actually glad I have it captured on film. Owen screamed, Cameron screamed, and I about pulled my hair out.

Now on to the highs...

I rarely buy the "cutie" ones they make up for you with all the different sayings and stuff but Mom and I both cried after we read this one. I can't exactly remember what it says but it's all about brothers.

I am in the process of transferring Cameron to all cloth diapers, which is what he has on in this pic. Someday I'll do a post of him in all his different cloth and share all the wonderful benefits of it with you. (Which I know you will all be anxiously awaiting.) :) For now, on with the pics.

All in all, I think the highs far outweighed the lows. We got tons more poses but I just picked the few that I liked to share with you all. Hope you enjoyed them as much as I did!