Gifford Pinchot State Park

We are continuing to have a blast with our friends here in Hershey. I'm so thankful for the fun activities we are able to be apart of especially during these summer months. This past week me and 6 ohter crazy and exciting Mom's decided to take off with our 13 kids (all 5 and under)and leave our husbands behind for an afternoon at a nearby lake and an evening by "our own" campfire. For awhile there we wondered if we would ever eat our tin foil dinners or have a fire that would last us through the evening...yes we successfully finally did! We definitely know how to pose! Thanks to the self timer we got a GREAT group shot. (Apparently, I'm ready for Prom)
We also got some killer looks from those passing by. You'd think no one had ever seen 7 ladies with 13 tiny children all at one campsite having a blast together before.
What a group! Despite the millions of mosquito bites and getting lost on the way there we had a blast. I was able to leave Alexis home and hang out just with Kylee. We all know Lexi would have been on the go non-stop and wanting everything to do with the fire. Kylee had a great time romping around the campsite, cooking on the fire, catching lightning bugs, going on adventures with the flashlights, staying up late, and riding in our friends minivan.
Somehow, I became the official tinfoil dinner cooker and am glad for all those past camping experiences. I enjoyed the smores and Kylee enjoyed just her plain uncooked marshmellows and chocolate. Apparently, the fire was too hot and it was more fun exploring the campsite. She only lasted a minute trying to cook her hotdog before she handed the scewer over to me saying, "my face is getting way too hot!" We had a good time together. Most of my friends have already blogged about this fun adventure and awesome crazy day. I just always seem to be the slow one. We enjoyed our mini camping experience but next time I'll go for the husbands cooking the meals so we can lounge around even more. I love living here in Hershey and can't believe we have already started our last year. I'm not ready to leave and guess it's time to pack in as much as possible in the next year. I don't want to have to say good-bye to my awesome friends.

Going Digital...HELP

I'm looking for some advice and help! What do you all do with your millions of digital pictures? Before, it was boxes of negatives but I at least limited the amount of pictures I took. Now, it is just so easy to click click click and hard to erase. I'll print some or use them for various projects but I just don't want to lose them. I assume I should clear them off my hard drive but then I'm affraid I'll want some of the old ones for a montage or some other quick project and don't want to hunt through the CD's to find them. However, at times it takes a few minutes to find the one I may be looking for on my computer since there are so many to go through. As soon as you start looking for the picture I begin heading down memory and well we all know where that takes you. In addition, I'm just not sure how to organize them. I'll begin to name some but they seem to get shoved into some alphabetical order by doing so and are intermixed with the numbered ones and I begin to feel like I have too many folders. I just feel overwhelmed and I know I sound pathetic. Why do we all have such cute kids that are so fun to take pictures of? This digital world almost makes it more difficult for me. I feel more and more behind and neither one of my girls have a scrapbook. So all of you out there who are up to date on logging your kids lives I give you a HUGE pat on the back and I'm ready to hire you! I keep thinking I will start when they are older and I can find some free time but who am I kidding. I guess at this point I should just hand them a stack of CD's with their pictures on them. So if you have any tips on where to begin or how you organize your digital pictures send them my way. I hope all of this rambling made some sense. This is the current project on my mind right now as I'm trying to clear my memory card off for an upcoming family reunion and just wonder if I should keep downloading all these pictures onto my computer.

My Eating Walking Machine!

One of Lexi's happiest moments of the day...EATING!!! I don't think I've ever met a 1 year old who could eat more than Alexis. She never acts full and truly enjoys her food. She definitely has some Hockenjos genes there. If anyone in the room has food (even if she just finished eating) she comes waddling over as fast as she can with a grin on her face or with her mouth wide open. You gotta love her! If I even open the pantry door she starts kicking her legs and making her funny grunting noise as she anticipates what I may bring out. I can't believe how fast she is growing up! My little baby took her first steps on Kylee's birthday and now pretty much has the hang of it. It has taken me forever to get this post up. I know family has been asking to see some video of her walking. This clip has her first steps from a few weeks ago, a little in the middle and her current walking from this evening. I know it is on the long side but we've had fun watching her progress. Don't mind my high pitched squeels at the beginning. What can I say I am a proud excited Mom and Kylee is right along with me. We love watching her accomplish every milestone. She is still doing great and pretty much on track.

She is very proud of her walking skills and her big belly! She is into everything right now and is developing quite the little personality.