Babe you should be so proud !

Well we are coming to end of this pregnancy. I had an ultrasound today to check on the little guy. He is measuring at 6lbs 4ozs. The Dr. thinks he could be over 7lbs. Well I haven't had a 7lb-der since Samantha and she was a little chunky monkey. Anyway since I didn't confirm with the US tech that this was actually a boy and Steve never got a picture I made sure to get one today:

Well he is 100% BOY - we have a penis :)

More Vermont 2009

You have got to love technology. I mean how how else is that I can update my blog while still on vacation. *** PLEASE NOTE IF YOU WANT TO SEE THE PICTURE LARGER JUST CLICK ON IT - STEVE ***

Ok so the other day Steve took Sam and Steven to the waterfall and the kids loved it. When they came back they told Sophia and Bella all about it and Sophia made it very clear that she wanted to go. So Steve rounded up the group and headed out. The short man is leading the way through the stream. Oh and I need to tell you it was ice cold - numbing cold. That is being dictated to me as I type this.

***PLEASE NOTE FOR THE FOLLOWING 5 PHOTO'S ALL FILM CREDIT GOES TO MY FATHER-IN-LAW FRANK L. PEPE. Don't bother asking him to take any pictures for you cause you'll never be given them - I had to steal these from his camera. Sure he takes a good picture but it would be nicer if HE SHARED IT AFTER WARDS.



Such troopers!


They found a salamander and the kids just thought it was the greatest thing! When Sophia came back she was equally excited about seeing the waterfall and holding the buggy.



No I didn't go - but luckily Tara was here and she knew nothing of what she was getting herself into but volunteered anyway. I am assuming this is before she felt the blisters forming on her feet but she is the one that is reminding me of the cold so she didn't feel her feet anyway


Here's Tara taking the girls on a nice little row boat ride:


for her reward Steven dragged her around the lake in his tube:


OK so this started with Sam taking the row boat out for a spin. When she unhooked the row boat she accidentally unhooked the paddle boat - stay with me on this - so she is out rowing around and I see the paddle boat drift off down the lake. I call Sam in and explain what happened. I tell her to go rescue the paddle boat. So she goes and gets the paddle boat and hooks it to the row boat and tows it in. She is going against the current so she got a workout. While this is going on the shortman is screwing around on the boat raft and that gets un-hooked. So now Sam has re-hooked the paddle boat and she comes up with this idea to help Steven and have some fun at the same time. So she gets to him and hooks the raft to the row boat and takes him out to the middle of the lake - yes that's him dancing on the raft:


Steve had a long day today with work but in between calls he looks out and catches the scene. He comes out thinking the kids need rescuing and I explain they are messing around. I am cracking up at their predicament while he takes the jet-ski out to investigate.


By the time he gets to them Steven had pulled the raft to the row boat and switched spots with Sam. They are just cracking up at themselves:


OK it's like a right of passage for the kids when they get old enough to go to the yellow dock. It is about 35 feet or so out. The kids spend a lot of the day at the big yellow dock! Well Sophia for 2 days now says she is going to the yellow dock. She says "I kick my feet to the wellow dock" Well she screws around goes a few feet and turns around after I tell her she has gone to far. She gets so mad.


Finally recruited Tara to take her - have I said thank god for Tara! So off they go and don't gimme crap about no life jacket - she was fine!


She gets there and is sooo excited!


YEAH!!! I did it I did it!


Then after finally getting there and watching the kids jump right off all week Sophia figures she can just jump right off. Good thing Tara was on her toes or rather at least ready to catch:


We visited one of the local fairs - which is like a given on vacation here. Sophia and Bella were very excited for the rides:


Sophia kept wanting to go on the teddybear ride luckily her sisters didn't mind. Steven isn't in this because he is gambling with his Daddy. We had gone to another fair a few days earlier and Steve got Steven hooked on this quarters game. You pick a color to put the quarter on and the guy rolls a ball. If it lands on the color you win the odds that the color has listed. Well the kid made a killing and left with 2 pockets filled with quarters. So when we got to this fair he made it clear that he was headed right for the games and would only be playing the games that he would win money at. Needless to say the kid was up at the nights end:


The kids had been playing on here and Sam called me to get a picture:


We had a nice dinner out. Steve promised Tara's Mom Jean a nice dinner out for repaying her for watching the kids for us a few weekends ago. Here the kids are right before we leave - can you tell how excited they are. I will brag for a moment though to tell you we received some nice compliments from another guest at the restaurant and how well behaved the kids were. It was a nice evening out:



Steven was doing something to Bella's hair and I am pulling his ear to get him to cut it out:




OK now we are all looking - again notice how excited the kids are:




Now they take a picture with Tara and look at their excitement. Such stinkers they are!



I made sure to get lots of picture of Tara with the kids this year. It has been brought to my attention that we got none while in the Bahamas last year so hopefully this makes up for it - minus the sandy beaches.

Vermont 2009

Just a few pictures so far from our trip. We are having a great time. Well the kids are having fun - I on the other hand am having a hard time letting everyone do stuff for me. I don't do well with getting waited on. I greatly appreciate it don't get me wrong but it isn't easy. Seeing how we really shouldn't be here, per Dr's orders, I am gonna sit like I'm told and keep my feet up. Can't do much anyway - my father-in-law keeps hiding the damn jetski keys on me. Seriously the baby would enjoy the ride!!! Oh too bad there is no pictures of me getting stuck in the hammock - that would have made for good blogging!

It is definitely Sophia's year. She is gonna seem like a different kid when we get home. She loves the fishy's and the buggy's. Grandma had her running around with a bottle of windex trying to kill an innocent little chipmunk today because it has been hanging around. She is talking up a storm and just runs everywhere. Samantha has been playing with Lilly non-stop and having a ball. Steven is having a blast and is playing nice with his sisters and is being a good friend to Lilly's little brother Andrew. Bella is in her glory - Tara is here and that excites Bella to no end. So it has been nail painting, makeup and hairdo's galore for her so she is lovin it!

Steve has been pretty good with working. I think he is getting rest - the calls have been minimal (with the exception of a certain stock broker calling non-stop - he's a bit annoying and making no money for us so I am not sure why Steve keeps taking the calls)

We still have a whole week left and so it should be fun. I am sure there will be more adventures to tell so stay tuned.

It's here It's here - almost!

IT'S coming. I have been tracking it all night and have people working quickly to help me. Phone calls have been made at the wee hours of the morning. I am leaving in moments to get it. AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Stay tuned.....

IT'S HERE!!!!!! An original seat from the original Yankee Stadium!

Adult version of "Little Kid in a candy shop"



Be careful - open slowly


slow slow - be careful


Ahhh well it's here and aged well! Many of Yankee Fan butts have sat here - SWEET!


Sophia GET OUT OF THE CHAIR!!!

Good parenting at it's finest!

OK so after a brief computer repair - Well not really brief it was 13 hrs of holding my breath hoping I didn't screw something up when I was made to do this:



I needed more hard drive space and I was told the switch would be painless
(NO IT REALLY WASN'T JEN!!!) In the end it all worked out and I am up an running with plenty of unused space and all my programs are intact!!! Sweet!

So that brings me to the latest adventures of the Pepe Children Summer 2009. While doing something productive I am sure in another part of the house sounds of laughter was erupting from the kids toy room. Thinking it can't be all good because it was the kind of laughter that sounds like trouble I run in to see what was going on. I find this and wasn't sure what was going on until I waited to see how he was getting off the table:



and watch as he dives off unto the pillows piled high:


Luckily Steve was home and I ran to get him to witness this and possibly intervene. I am not sure what he said first - it was either "where's your camera?" or "at least Steven is a good spotter" :


Bella decided to try after seeing the 6 yr old and 2 yr old live:


Sophia is now getting crazy and wants no one else to do it but her:


She screams at them to back away and says she needs no help - now she doesn't realize we are watching her and you would think one of the parents would step in and realize this can't end well:


with the grace of a gazelle she leaps into the air:



and nails the landing!!


Then falls over.




Afterward Steve said I should have used the video camera instead - see Good parenting :) always making sure we capture the memory.

My blog - My Words!

OK these words are not mine:

Definition of Family: A family is a primary social group, a small community, in any society, typically consisting of a man and a woman, or any two individuals who wish to share their lives together in a long-term committed relationship with one another, raising offspring and usually reside in the same dwelling.

Family is the main building block of a community; family structure and upbringing determines the social character and personality of any given society. - Family is where we all learn: love, caring, compassion, ethics, honesty, fairness, common sense, reason, peaceful conflict resolution and respect for ourselves and others, which are the vital fundamental skills, and family values, necessary to live an honorable and prospers life in harmony, in the world community.

Definition of Family Values: To have a sense of Family Values is to have good thoughts, good intentions and good deeds, to love and to care for those whom we are close to and are part of our primary social group, our community, such as children, parents, other family members and friends. And to treat others with the same set of values, the same way we wish to be treated.

Those who possess a sense of Family Values would not allow anyone to act carelessly and in a greedy fashion. Having and understanding of Family Values is to be a kind, caring, honorable, neighborly, generous, compassionate, fair, and a peace-loving people.

but these are:

I think I am a fair person. In my "younger days" maybe not the most sensible at times with the exception of common sense - I might not have a lot of book smarts but my common sense will out smart some of the smartest people I know. I know I am a good person and I have a good heart and I always mean well. I am unconditionally devoted to the happiness of my husband and my children. They come before anyone else. My childhood wasn't the greatest but I hold no grudges. I am the person I am today because of that childhood and I wouldn't change a moment of it. I don't dwell on it and never expect any sympathy from it. I am thankful for my life now and all the good and bad in it. I have a much larger family now immediate and extended. Some define their family as all that are blood related and include no one else. My family consists of all kinds. We don't need to be connected to some tree to be considered "family". Over the years "my tree" has grown but along the way branches have fallen or in some cases cut down with little regret.

This has not not been the easiest pregnancy for me. There has been a lot of negativity around it. That's sad. I am hesitant to go out with all my kids to only have to deal with the stares. People have said mean things. I get looked at like I am crazy - yet my children never behave in a way that would warrant any kind of stares. If anything people should stop and say "WOW what well behaved beautiful children you have".

This pregnancy was a pleasant surprise and even though Steve will joke he stopped at 3 - I am grateful for his "slip-up". I have thoroughly enjoyed each and everyone of my pregnancies and I thought with this being the last one it would be perfect. It has been far from that. I have been a non-existent pregnant woman in the eyes of many. That was OK because I don't like the attention! I am plenty capable of taking care of myself, my kids, my home and anything else that needs to be even being almost 9 mths pregnant.

I've changed my mind now and - I am screaming it

I AM PREGNANT!

BE NICE!

DON'T SAY MEAN THINGS!

DON'T DO MEAN THINGS!

One last thing - remember this is MY BLOG MY WORDS if you don't like what I say don't visit my site! No one is forcing you to log onto your computer and enter the address of MY blog and read it.

Let the COUNTDOWN begin!!!

Oh Boy Oh Boy!!!!

The newest Pepe will be here in 30 days!!!