Birthday Party and a BBQ!

This week has been pretty fun for the Ticknor Tribe so far! 

 

My baby sister Molly turned 4 on Sunday! (not much of a baby anymore)

I can't believe she's already so big :(

 

We bought a Costco cake (the best kind) and bought some colored icing to write "Happy Birthday Molly"

 

She really didn't care about the cake that much though; she kept eyeing the gifts and saying "can we do presents now?" 

 

With all the kids crowding around Molly watching her open her gifts, it was hard for Caleb to see.  So big brother Greg came to the rescue!  

 

Molly was pretty excited when the time for presents finally came!  She got a new Bitty Baby, some outfits for it, a Bitty Baby car seat, and also a coloring book from Emma...

 

She really loves her new baby!  She carries her around all the time!

 

Another thing that we did this past Monday was to help out with a BBQ the friends we are staying with were having!  We grilled hot dogs and hamburgers, roasted three turkeys, and had numerous kinds of salads...

Emma was glad that she got to reconnect with a girl she met in the nursery at church (none of our kids go to the nursery, but the church was in need of workers last week, so Emma and I volunteered)

  They where inseparable all evening! If you saw one, the other was not far behind...

 

One of the families that were coming thought it would be fun to bring a bounce house for the kids to play in!

 

They really enjoyed it! they played non-stop for hours with the other kids there.  We had a few minor injures (head bonks, etc...) but nothing so bad that they didn't get over it in five minutes and get right back in! LOL!

(Love the fact that Molly is in midair in this picture!)

 

I think we estimated that there were around 50 people that came; some people from church, and some just friends...

Well...other then that, that's pretty much all that's happened with us.  We are thinking about heading out to one of our favorite camping places out in the boonies in a week or so!  We only ever get there once a year, sometimes not even that.  Definitely going to do a blog on that, maybe two or three!!! 

 

Till next time~

 

 

Our Week...

Here are some random pictures of this past week...
Dad and the boys washed and waxed the RV.  It took a few days ;)

My smart Daddy figured out how so remove all the black scum/stains!

Even Caleb helped!

It looked great when we finished.   Almost like new!!!  ;)

Another thing the boys (Thomas, Daniel and Joel) have been doing is making Hula-Hoops!  They spent hours outside making them!  They are going to try to sell them at our local Farmers Market this Saturday.

They assemble them all on their own. After they get the hoops together, the decorate them with colored electrical tape... 

And on top of all that fun, My awesome, amazing, wonderful, handsome brother Greg got back from training last night!!!!  We're so glad to have him home for a few months, we really missed him ;)

It's been a good week so far :)

Cliff Jumping!!!

About a week ago, Eli, Jake and a few of their friends went cliff jumping at Hauser lake!  They had such good time the first time that they wanted to go again; and there was no way us girls would let them go without taking us this time...

 

 

I can't remember 'giving' Eli my camera to use...   :)

 

Needless to say, we had a pretty good time, LOL!!!!

 

I liked the rope swing better then the cliff jumping; I felt a little more safe ;)

 

Some of the guys got really brave and jumped from the highest place they could find!  about 25ft. (?)

I thought they were crazy!  I think if I did that; I would probably look down, faint, and fall off anyways!

 

No...none of us girls went that high.

 

 

We figured we couldn't end the night without ice cream!  So we stopped at the local A&W and got a .99 snack...

Everything went really well!!! Thankfully no one got hurt.
We really had a blast!  We already talked about going back in a few days ;)

10 already?!?!?!

Yesterday we celebrated Joel's 10th birthday!

He got to open one of his presents in the morning, which happened to be a starter pack for a new WWII  miniatures game...

Needless to say, he was pretty exited, LOL!!!

That afternoon we went and saw the new Pixar movie 'Planes'!  Secrets never last long in our family, but we managed to keep this from the birthday boy all day!  He never even suspected till we pulled up to the theater. We don't go to the theater very often since it is so expensive for our family (even the matinee), so this was a treat for everyone.   We really enjoyed the movie! It was very cute, perfectly clean, and a great family movie.

Once we got home, Dad started cooking up catfish for dinner!  Gramma came out to celebrate with us, and so did Hannah and baby Dillon!!!!     

It took a while to cook up all that yummy TX catfish, but it was sure worth the wait...yum...

Living in an RV, we don't have the space to have a million people over, or a huge cake. So usually our birthdays look like this ;)

 ...we had run out of propane, so the brownies didn't get done; we just had ice cream instead. 
We try not to do a ton of presents on birthdays, since we try to celebrate the kid and not the 'stuff', so Joel got to open his last present after ice cream.  He thought the Gerber/Bear Gryllis (or whatever) machete was pretty cool... Hey! I would too ;) 

It's hard to believe that my little brother is already 10!!!  I love all my awesome siblings, I just wish they wouldn't grow so fast!!!!        Happy Birthday Joel!!!

Pic's From The Last Few Days...

We have been parked at the local fairgrounds for the past week or so.  It's been crazy hot!

The boys run around all day playing guns.  I don't know how they can stand it in the heat!?!?!

 

Molly and Peanut - You can definitely tell they have big brothers! LOL!!! 

 

Caleb loves to 'help' Dad no matter what Dad is doing - in this case, grilling!  He will sit on the bench and watch every move Dad makes... 

 

And when he gets tired of that, he just sits down and takes a break.  ;)

I was ecstatic when I head that the Budweiser Clydesdales where going to be at the fair this year! I am not a fan of Budweiser (or any alcohol), but I have always wanted to see the horses.  We got to pet them when they where out getting some exercise... 

They where so beautiful! The little kids loved them...

I felt bad for them when they where in their stalls.  They didn't have much room to move around since they are so big!

 

Caleb loves cake! We really had to watch him tho.  Turn your back for a second, and this is what happens. LOL!!!

He was pretty cute tho ;) He'd see us watching him and just giggle :)

 

All that playing is enough to make anyone tired!

 

 We are probably going to stay here for the next few days. We're going to do the fair in a few days, and maybe the rodeo this weekend.  Having fun, but boy, I'm going to be glad when we get out to the lake and can cool off!!!    :)

Must read for every girl!!!

I think every girl should read this (it's posted on another blog, link to it at the end)... 

My sweet Belle,

I sat and watched a show the other night where a roomful of beautiful women competed with one another for the love of a man.  I watched the drama as they quarreled, manipulated, flirted, cried and triumphed, but all I could think about was you.  I saw your fresh face smiling at your baby brother, heard your silly giggle as you told Daddy a joke and felt the weight of your head as you laid it sleepily on my shoulder.
I know your two-year-old mind dismissed everything I told you that night so I wanted to write it down for you.  Because someday, Lord willing, you will be old enough to listen and you will be wading through all the confusion that the world will toss at you about these things.  Things like beauty, strength and love.
So, my precious girl, here are the things I desperately want you to know.

1. The most beautiful women in the world look ugly when they are mean.  

Beauty is complex.  It involves your hair and skin and eyes, but all of those things are just a shell. That shell is transparent and I promise you that whatever you fill it with will be perfectly clear for the world to see.
Your eyes will always be beautiful when they look kindly at someone.  You will have lovely lips whenever they smile a genuine smile.   And your nose?  Well, noses are tough.  You either have a good one or you don’t.  Luckily for you, yours is adorable.
If you cultivate goodness and kindness and wisdom and strength then not only will that beauty shine out of you but you’ll find that you breathe joy and beauty into the lives of those around you.
But if the most beautiful woman on earth lets herself be filled with jealousy and hatred, she will look like a troll.

2. No one, in the history of the world, has done anything out of jealousy and made it look good.

You’ll be jealous a lot, sweetheart.  Trust me.  You’ll be jealous of other girls shoes or hair or elbows. You’ll be jealous of their friends, their boyfriends, their poise, their intelligence, their humor. (Maybe even of their mother, just don’t tell me about it if you are.)  You’ll be jealous of people you’ve never met and people you love dearly.
When you focus on that thing that some other person has you stop caring about them at all and only care about the thing.  Jealousy will make you act like a child because it is an utterly selfish feeling.  Trust me, whatever you do or say when you are driven by jealousy will make you look like an idiot.
So be on your guard against it.  When you see jealousy sneaking around (and you will) take a little time to be grateful for the things you do have.  And if you can’t come up with anything, call me.  Because I can see that you have so much beauty and strength and wonder in you that it makes my heart ache and I’d be happy to tell you all about it.

3. Don’t confuse SELFISHNESS with STRENGTH

Some of these women said terrible things to each other then defended themselves by tossing their pretty hair and saying, “I’m just being honest.  I have to say what I feel.”
Well here’s a little nugget of wisdom for you, sweetie.  Not everything you feel is worth saying.   There will be plenty of times when you will have emotions tumbling around inside of you like a litter of puppies on crack.  Some of them will be worthwhile but some will be stupid and you should do your best to send them packing.
You’ll meet plenty of girls who don’t agree with me.  They’ll claim it is strength of character to blurt out any thought that crosses their mind regardless of who will be devastated by it.  But honey, a woman of strong character has the wisdom to shut her mouth until she’s thought for a moment about what she’s feeling to decide whether it’s an emotion that she wants to own, an emotion that makes her into the woman she wants to be or one of those emotions that she should look square in the eye and say, “Yer outta here.  You and the hormonal horse you rode in on.”

4. Love

This one is a bit complicated, honey.  You’ll spend a lot of time looking for it and thinking about it and being jealous of it.  It doesn’t come in the same way all the time and it often ends up looking different than you thought it would.
But I will tell you one thing.  If your hunt for love begins with manipulation, jealousy and games, it’s going to have a very hard time finding its way to a happy ending.  Real love will start when you find someone, get to know him, and you guys spend time being kind to each other.
And if you do it the right way, with the right kind of boy, it will involve a lot less drama than Hollywood says it should and a lot more happiness.
Oh, and one more thing the show made me want to tell you:  If there is ever a boy who you are – I was going to say “kissing” but the thought of you kissing boys will probably give your dad a stroke, so lets go with – rollerskating with and he is openly rollerskating with several other girls. Like six…or seven…dozen…other girls,  STOP ROLLERSKATING WITH HIM.

This is not the type of boy that makes a good skating partner.  Someone who’s really fun to rollerskate with will like you because he sees what an amazing girl you are.  He’ll never ask you to prove to him that he should pick you over a dozen other girls.  He’ll be smart enough to know you’re the greatest thing he’ll ever find.
The only reason you should ever even go near the guy again is to point him out to your big brother so he can kick his #**.   No, forget getting your big brother.  You do it yourself.  Go straight for his…ankles.  Those two-timin’ rollerskatin’ ankles.
I love you, my darling girl.  Go back to playing with your trains.  We’ll chat again about all this in a decade or so.

Love, Mommy


http://healinghamlet.com/healing-stories/letter-to-my-daughter-after-watching-the-bachelor-2/

I think it's important that girl realize what true beauty is!  So many girls think that it's all about what you look like on the outside.  Many times I have heard my big brothers say "I can't stand it when I see girls wearing so much 'Paint' " or " Beth, if you EVER dress like 'that' you will have ME to answer too!"  I love it when they say things like that, because it means that they're looking out for me, and they're getting turned off by that junk.  It makes me sad when we go to the beach or local pool and I'm ashamed that they have to see so much nastiness :(  I know 'very' few girls that actually wear modest swimsuits.   I don't see why girls think that they have to show themselves off to get guys to notice them!?!?!

Well I've preach my sermon. LOL!!!  Just my opinion, and maybe I'll lose views-but I don't care.  Just remember girls;  the guys that are worth it are going to love you for who you are, not how you dress.

~Beth

PS. I love comments! Please take the time to tell me what YOUR opinion is on this!

Party Time!

For the past few days we have been out at my Aunts ranch.  Every year we help with her annual 4th of July party! (which is usually the Saturday after)

We start prepping food Friday morning.  The food usually consists of; burgers, hot dogs, baked beans and quite a few different kinds of salads.  Some of the boys' jobs are: building the dance floor, mowing the lawns, setting up tables and chairs, digging out boxes of decorations etc...

Here the boys are on their way to get decorations, in cousin Conner's new truck...

 

I don't know how many times I messed up on the frosting recipe...

 

The bosses making sure we got everything...

Charlotte helping with the mustard...

Chopping Walnuts for the brownies...

Us girls (my cute cousins and I) love hanging out while prepping food!  We can be found giggling with the country music blaring through the speaker system, groaning when we realize we forgot to make a certain salad... Ya, we have a good time!

 

There is usually an average of about 250 people each year, but I think we did double this year!

Dad and Uncle Brad! The Grill Kings!!!

None of us had seen the newest addition to mom's side of the family - Baby Lizzie!!!
I hardly ever saw aunt Cara holding her!  Lizzie was always off on an adventure with a cousin...

Talk about a cutie pie!

 

And last, but definitely not least...

The Firework Show!!!

This display made the East Helena one look like kids stuff...

course, we were a little closer  ;)

Ugh... I think I went to bed around 1:45am

...tho for the record, Mom and Dad did the dishes while the boys and I helped clean off and pack away tables and chairs, put away food...  :)
Fun times!  Already looking forward to next year!!!