Josh's Birthday Party

We celebrated Josh's birthday at home on Thursday. We had a little Mexican Fiesta and then a wonderful ice cream cake from Coldstone. Friends and family joined us to make the day special.

Family Fun

It's funny how big families can become so quickly. When I was growing up I always had a lot of cousins, especially on my dad's side. My Dad has 3 brothers and a Sister, and between them, they had 12 kids. We were all fairly close, and holidays and birthdays were always lots of fun.

So years later, all the cousins are now starting to have families, and so far out of the 12 cousins, 5 of us have kids of our own. Those 5 families so far have produced 14 more children. So, you can imagine what the house was like having all the kids and adults together.

On Saturday we had 12 of the grandkids together ranging from the oldest at 12 to the youngest at 4 months. It was a little wild, but of course tons of fun to see the family together. Here are a couple pictures from the day.

This is Emma, Sydney, Jake and Madison


Here is Madison and Brady hanging out....notice they are holding hands, how sweet. Brady is about a month older than Madison.

Here is a group picture of all the kids. Alyssa, Emma, Sydney, Brianna, Harley, Brian, Max, Justin, Jacob, Joey, Brady, and Madison. Notice our son who is not cooperating for the picture...

Nothing was broken, and only a couple minor fights for the whole day. I was quite impressed.

Easter Eggs

Nothing like waiting until the last minute to get things done. Josh and I are famous for doing that to ourselves. So here we are Saturday night dying easter eggs.

It's kind of funny, but when you have a large family, sometimes the simplest tasks can seem daunting and truly test your patience. As you may have read in our Marshmallow Drop post, things aren't always picture perfect.

Daddy was preparing all the dye for the kids, and I was getting the kids ready and all set up at the kitchen table. I asked Josh to hand me a towel and in the split second that Josh reached for the towel, we had yellow easter egg dye everywhere. Sweet Joey had decided to grab the cup and dump it on himself and the kitchen floor. Needless to say, we did not have any yellow easter eggs. However, Joey's belly is still yellow.....

Please take notice of the yellow dye on Joey's shirt.

Marshmallow Drop

Good Friday was the annual Marshmallow Drop at Elizabeth Park. We debated taking the kids since it was kind of cold, and we knew it would be muddy. After some convincing, we decided to just take them. We rushed all four kids out the door to be there for the drop at 9am.

We probably should have stayed home......

First: We couldn't find parking. We got the first spot we could find, and literally ran with two kids who can pretty much fight for themselves, Joey who daddy was holding. Always fun running with an extra 30lbs. And then there is me, Madison and the stroller. Our stroller is not exactly made for muddy grounds.

But ok, we made it in time for the drop.....yeah!!!

Then came the drop.....

Wouldn't you know, we had kids run every which way......needless to say Jake was getting the marshmallows, Justin was crying, and Joey managed to stay with daddy. Madison and I were still getting cleaned off from the mud.

The kids got their marshmallows and we headed for our prize. Justin was quite thrilled with his coloring book and crayons. Jake however, wanted to keep the marshmallow, he didn't want the coloring book......this is pretty much where it really went downhill.

Jacob cried for a while over not getting to keep the marshmallow, and as we were making our hike back to the car, Justin decided he needed to join in on the tears. He saw an ice cream stand that was clearly boarded up for the winter. Justin didn't seem to care and insisted that he wanted an ice cream. So all the way back to the car we had one child screaming for ice cream, the other child screaming for a marshmallow. Oh fun times!!!

No, its not over yet......

So we get back to the car, get everyone loaded, and Josh and I look at each other and say...."We should have just stayed home"......well as we were pulling away and ready to head home.....our drama continues.

Apparently the soft muddy grounds had got the best of everyone.....he we are stuck in traffic behind hundreds of other people trying to get out of the 'one way in, one way out' park.......and cars everywhere are stuck in the mud. We just happened to be the lucky ones behind the ONE tow truck pulling them all out of the mud. So an hour later, we finally exit the park.

We figure we will stop on the way home and get McDonald's......also a nightmare. Took us 25 minutes to get our pancakes, so much for fast food......

All in all, it wasnt the best experience ever, but memories are forever!!!! Enjoy the pictures!!!

Kindergarten??? It can't be!

Ok, so on Wednesday Justin and I attended Kindergarten Roundup at Forest Elementary. This is the same elementary school I went to when I started school, however I don't think any of the teachers that I had still work there.....I must be getting old (ha ha)...... Unfortunately I don't have any pictures to share of the event, I know I can't believe it myself, me who takes pictures of everything.

Josh and I have decided that we want to send our children to Riverview Schools. So next year our biggest guy Justin will be starting Kindergarten. Welcome class of 2021. The time has gone so fast, I cannot even believe it, I just know I am going to blink and we will be sitting at his high school graduation. Of course I did cry, and it wasn't even the first day of school...... but it was the superintendants fault. He brought a t-shirt of his son's when he started kindergarten and then a t-shirt of the same son from high school graduation. Wah Wah!!!

Justin got to go play with some of the kids from his class, play with some toys, and meet his teacher while I got to go listen to all the school rules, and fill out paperwork. The teacher brought all the kids back out and we then took a tour of the whole school. Then the most exciting part for Justin was that we got to take a ride on the school bus. All the kids thought this was the coolest thing ever.

In talking to the teacher, Ms. Gee, she already knew that they have Jacob following right behind Justin, then they get a year break, and then two more Shupe children will be joining the ranks. So Justin will be in 4th grade, Jacob in 3rd, Joey in 1st, and Madison starting kindergarten. We will have graduates in 2021, 2022, 2024, and 2025...

It was so much fun going to roundup, I just can't believe it. Time goes by way too fast.......We are so lucky to have such wonderful, healthy children. It's so great to watch them grow and learn.

Autorama

Josh took Justin and Jacob to their first autorama today. The boys had lots of fun hanging out and doing their "boy" thing!! Josh was very excited to show the boys the City of Detroit. They rode the people mover, then went to Cobo Hall and saw all the cool cars at the Autorama.

Their first ride on the Detroit People Mover!

Jacob's favorite transformer - Bumblebee!!!

The boy's loved Lightning McQueen.......

Check out them dub's.....30 inch rims

Madison Jean

Madison is officially 3 months old now. As always, I cannot believe it, and how fast time goes. At her 2 month checkup Madison weighed in at a healthy 13lbs and 24" long. The doctor says she looks wonderful and is making good progress. She is always smiling at us and her big brothers, if the house is too quiet she starts crying. Of course I love dressing her up, not sure she loves it, but for now she has to put up with me. I figure she will be able to voice her opinions soon enough and I will take advantage while I can (ha ha)! I thought I would share some random pictures of Madison through her first 3 months. ENJOY!!

Madison just 2 days old!

Madison in her Christmas Jammies

Madison in one of many dresses!!
2 Months Old

Madison sitting like a big girl in her bumbo seat!

3 Months Old!!! :)