Pennington Posse

Guess Who, Round #2

2010-09-15T21:12:00.000-05:00

This actually happened last Monday afternoon on Labor Day. Those dang trampolines are going to kill us yet.

Poor Gabe did not get much sympathy from me that night. I just figured he was milking it for all he could. For some reason my kids like to do that. The next morning he was hopping around the house like a kangaroo, so I kept him home, iced it up, and called the dr. Sure enough, the x-ray showed a break in the growth plate. The novelty of the cast wore off in about 2 days, and now I have to make him WALK with it. He still thinks that he can barrel thru the house and up and down the stairs like normal. You can always tell when he is coming though because he clonks thru the house like a peg legged pirate.

Reason #263 I Love Living in the Country

2010-09-14T10:30:00.000-05:00

You can run around in the front yard in your spiderman underwear trying to scare a flock (do they call them flocks, gaggles?) of turkeys and no one even bats an eyelash.

Random Ramblings and Whinings

2010-09-13T09:04:00.000-05:00

I thought that when school started I would have sooo much time to get caught up on life. I am ALWAYS in the car! I have 6 places to be this afternoon, and only enough time to be at 4. I need a cloning machine. I woke up 15 minutes late this morning. (Ok, I was totally awake, I just couldn't get that mattress off my back.) That put the whole house in an uproar. The boys were late getting out to the car for seminary. They didn't get breakfast before they left. I had to get Caden to make the sandwiches for lunches. All the little ones needed a bath because we were out late last night and they fell asleep on the way home. So then Abigail's hair was wet and there is not much you can do with it very quickly when it is wet. I couldn't find all the lunchboxes so everyone had to brown bag it. I forgot to wash Abigail's blanket over the weekend so that she could take it back to school for her naptime, so she was freaking out in the car. Thank goodness Matthew had one in the car and she agreed to take it with her for the day. The kitchen was a DISASTER, because NO ONE feels like they have to do their kitchen chores on Sunday.

I am on this spring cleaning kick. I guess you shoud call it fall cleaning. I already have 4 laundry baskets filled with stuff the kids have outgrown, don't want, or I don't want. I love to dejunkify.

9 people + 2 bathrooms = not enough bathrooms

Joe was getting ready in our bathroom this morning. I needed the bathroom, so I ran upstairs to snag that one before someone else did. I am no sooner in there, than 3, yes 3! people are banging on the door, demanding the door be opened. I told 2 of them to go use a tree, and let the little girl in. I miss my house in Virginia with 3 bathrooms, 5 bedrooms, an actual garage that you could park a car in, gasp!, and a mudroom. Ah, the glorious mudroom.

We got a new toy. We have not had a video camera, since the days that they were the size of a toaster oven, and just as heavy. It is unbelievably small and light. We were able to video Joseph at the football game Friday night. I am so glad that we got one before he leaves us next year.
I ran a 10K on Saturday. I was so unprepared for it. I ran ONCE the past month. And it was for 2 miles. And I was SO winded, I thought I was going to puke. I had no business running a 10k.
I ran it in 1 hour 5 minutes. I am slightly proud of myself. ; ) I never stopped. Not even thru the water stations. Maybe if I get my rear in gear for the half next month, I might beat my time. Got to get moving. Anywho, got to get back to the laundry and fall cleaning.
I will leave you with this cutie. He was exhausted last night!

Jacob "Reading" a Book

2010-09-01T09:13:00.000-05:00

Jacob has been LOVING preschool. They are very big into repetitive lessons. They have been reading "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" for 2 weeks now. Yesterday as we were on our way to school, he pulled out his book and started reading to me. I was absolutely floored. Coupled with the fact that he has never been able to hear well, and he has the most incredible underbite that you have ever seen, (It makes his smile oh so cute, but the boy just has the Hardest time pronouncing certain sounds), the most he ever really talks is a few sentences at best. Even then you have the hardest time understanding him, therefore he gets frustrated, screams, and then you get frustrated with him. It's a unending cycle.

That is why when he read me this story, I felt such hope for him. He has had to read it to everybody in the family. Repeatedly. : )

(if you couldn't see the pictures, you would still probably not be able to tell what he was saying) ; )

Are you allergic to poison ivy?

2010-08-14T19:49:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday Joseph and Parker had a chance to go with their cousins, aunts, and uncles on a big church trip. They floated down the river on a canoe and had a wonderful time. Half of the way down there was a bluff that hung over the water. They temptation was absolutely too great to resist. They dove, jumped, and flung themselves off that bluff into the water below numerous times. Then they found a rope and swung out and dropped into the river. After they exhausted themselves, they then had to swim down the river to where they had left their canoes. All in all they had a wonderful time. They came home pooped and sunburnt. The next morning I kept hollering for them to get up and get ready for church. Everybody had made their appearance except for Parker. After a while he came stumbling down the stairs, his eyes all puffy, nose swollen and lips all red. I figured maybe he had some massive allergies flaring up so I let him crawl back in the bed and we headed off to church. When we got home he was not much better, so I gave him some benadryl, told him to rest up because he WAS going to the first day of school tomorrow.

Bright and early Monday morning I woke up the boys and Parker rolled over at me and I just about died. His face looked like this.....

And this.....

We couldn't figure out what in the world he had gotten himself into. It took us a while but we finally realized that it had to be poison ivy. If he walks outside and so much looks at a poison ivy plant it literally jumps on him. There must have been some on the bluff they were climbing and I can just see him wiping the water off his face every time he dove into the water with poison ivy infested hands. I took him into the Dr. and they gave him a good ole shot in the rear of some massive steroids. They kind of chuckled and said that they had Never seen anyone look that miserable. Leave it to us to get some weirdo disease or some bizzare battle wounds. Since school started on Monday, there has been at least 1 to 2 people home sick with something. When all 6 of them finally get in school, I won't know what to do with myself!

2nd time's a charm?

2010-08-12T23:15:00.000-05:00

Yesterday morning, bright and early we headed over to the surgi-center to get Jacob's 2nd set of tubes put in his ears. The 1st pair fell out after a year and his tubes were filled with fluid again. His adenoids were pushing against his tubes so they decided they would take those out also. He was only back there about 5 minutes when they paged me and called me back. I was worried because they had told me that it would take at least 30 minutes or so for the procedure. When I got back there they told me they couldn't get his adenoids because his tonsils were so huge and they needed my permission to take them out. What was I going to say? "No, give me back my baby right now!" I signed the paper and thought, "He is not going to be happy when he wakes up." When he came out of surgery, I could him hear wailing down the hall. As soon as they laid him in my arms he looked at me with those sad blue eyes and promptly fell asleep. He was not happy with the bandaid that they put on him after they took out the I.V., but other than that there were no fits thrown.

I have to say that I have the most awesome mother-in-law. She volunteered to come up and watch Abigail and Matthew while I was at the surgi-center with Jacob. I called her the day before and told her that I had to leave the house no later than 6:45 in the morning. For her that means she would have to leave her house at around 5:00. Around 5:35 that morning we are all getting ready, the big boys are eating breakfast and waiting for their ride to seminary. All of the sudden they holler, "She's here!" I thought, "Man she is 15 minutes early! I don't even have their lunches packed yet." But no, it is not their ride. It is grandma, an hour early. As she walks in with 2 of the cousins, I look at her and ask, "I did tell you 6:45 didn't I?" Her mouth drops open and the girls wail, "Grandma!!" We all laughed, but of course, I am not the one that got up at 3:30! Bless her heart, she is an angel.

So anyway, I am not prepared to have someone on a liquid diet, so I have to stock up on icecream, popsicles, and gatoraide. He has cried off and on for a day and a half now. Anytime he wants something he pokes my shoulder and points. I have gotten pretty good and deciphering what those little points mean after 2 days. And as normal, any medicine that is supposed to make you remotely drowsy, has the opposite effect on Jacob. Yeah, fun.
Later that afternoon Gabe asked me to scratch his back. I looked at it and asked him where in the world he had gotten all those mosquito bites. It was only about 8 or so, but I figured he had rolled down the hill or something. I took Joseph to his big scout thing later that night and Joe called me and asked if I had seen Gabe's back. I told him I had and that it wasn't that bad. He said, "I am pretty sure he has chicken pox." I told him there was no way because he had a roaring case when he was 10 months old. I know this because Joseph had given them to him. It was Joseph's 2nd case. This is now Gabe's 2nd case. So I am pretty sure we have infected the entire family who came up for b-day's, the school, and the entire primary. You love us I know. : )

Our GREAT Government at work.....HA!

2010-08-06T08:09:00.000-05:00

Last spring when I went to sign up Abigail for kindergarten, I could NOT find her birth certificate anywhere. It finally dawned on me after looking for 2 days that I didn't have it. Since she has never attended school or preschool it was never necessary for her to actually have one until now. I don't know how it slipped my mind ordering one for her after she was born, oh wait yes I do.
So all summer long, I kept thinking, "Got to get a birth certificate, need to run up to Nashville and get a birth certificate." So like a good mom, I wait until the week of registration and realize, "Oh man! I haven't gotten that birth certificate yet! School starts in 4 days!" So I hop online and see if I can get one there. Yes you can get one online, but they don't actually take orders online. But, for only a small nominal fee, you can go thru a different company online and order them. Being the frugal and thrifty (ha) person that I am, I thought, "there is no way I am spending extra money just to wait for it to get here. I will march myself right on down to the health dept. and just get it there." So while running errands, sans kids, in town yesterday, I remembered AGAIN that I still didn't have the birth certificate and thought, "Perfect! No kids to run amok in the waiting room, I will just run over there and pick it up and be on my merry way!" Yeah right.
First of all, let me preface this by saying it is hot in Tennessee. I mean REALLY hot. Like as 98 degrees hot and that is not even considering humidity. You walk outside for 5 minutes and whatever you did to your hair and makeup is instantly melted. Your clothes have stuck to you in ways that make you feel very uncomfortable.
I drive up to the HDept. and manage to snag the LAST available parking spot for 2 blocks around. I walk in and wait in line. When I get to the front I inform them that I need a birth certificate and they flatly state, "8 bucks. Cash only." Of course you only take cash. What was I thinking? That you would have actually joined the 21'st century yet? I walk outside and look around. There is no way that I am losing my parking spot so I decide to walk. I am only 2 blocks off the square where I know there is a bank, but man it's hot outside. I am perfectly capable of walking that distance, but have no desire to. The DMV is only 1 block up the road so I head up there. When I get there, the front door is locked. Wha? It's not lunch time. Then I look at the sign on the front door. It is election day here in TN. So they are closed. We could never ask a gov't worker to work on election day. Might be to strenuous or something.
Ok, plan B. On to the scary gas station with bars on the windows and doors. There is an ATM sign on the window, so I should be able to grab some cash there. I walk past all the men sitting on top of the trash cans eating their lunch and pop in the door. No ATM. "Sorry ma'm it was taken out a long time ago. Too many robberies." Ah yes, I knew I was in safe place when I spotted the bars. The attendant was very nice and ran my card thru the cash registar and gave me some money for a $2 fee. Hopefully there won't be any other charges on the card! I book it on over to the HDept, stand in line again and fill out my form. Surprisingly for how crowded the parking lot was, there are hardly any people in the waiting room.
Seeing as how I was so forgetful on getting the actual birth cert. It didn't surprise me that I forgot to bring something to read. There are no magazines, and the tv doesn't work. Actually I was quite entertained. There were some Very interesting people there. And scary. After a while though, people watching can get old. I dozed off a time or two jerking back awake hoping that I hadn't missed my name being called. After 1 1/2 hours of sitting in a very boring, albeit clean waiting room, I hear my name being called to report to window 7. I try to be as cheerful as possible and ask her how her day has been. "Our computers are down." Is her response. "You'll have to come back." SERIOUSLY?! You didn't know this when I came in an hour and a half ago?!" I tersly ask her. "Will I have to wait in this waiting room again?" She looks over her glasses at me like I have magically grown a 3rd eyeball in the middle of my forehead. "Uh, yes. But, you won't have to fill out your paper work again!" she replies. Like that is any consolation. Next time I come lady, I am going to bring all 7 of my kids and let them wreak havoc on your waiting room and then we'll see how long you make me wait. I bet I would be out of there with my form in hand in less than 20 minutes.
Now I understand why people order their forms online. One day I might learn.

You are such a Slacker!

2010-07-16T19:56:00.000-05:00

Where to begin?
First of all, I have a good excuse. Well, for like 2 weeks anyway. The computer decided it wasn't getting enough attention and had to contract a virus, thus requiring a hospital stay and decontamination. Then my total lack of motivation kicked in, accompanied by scout camp, trips to grandma's, wrestling camp, baseball games and parties, football, scouts, and Gabe's first ever river trip that took precedence for a while. After that we actually took a family vacation that was way over due.
Sooo much to catch up on, I figure I will just do a post for each kid and call it good!

JACOB
Jacob finished up speech with Ms. Sheila and was very sad to leave her. You know a teacher loves her job when she thinks your little wildcat is the sweetest thing that ever walked thru her door and cries when he leaves her. He will get to go to developmental preschool this year everday for several hours and I think I am a little excited!
One day Jacob kept messing with his ear. Never really complained about it hurting just kept pulling on it and such. I figured he had gotten some water in there from the one (or 3 times) he went swimming and I kept forgetting to put his ear plugs in. So I took him to the doctor to get it looked at and lo and behold, no more tubes! They had already fallen out and I was not the awful mother that I thought I was! Bad news is, he cannot hear again. His ears are filled with fluid and the doctor said he may need bigger tubes. Makes a little sense of his behaviour as of late.

Jacob LOVES robots. Ask anybody in primary. His teachers who have to draw page after page of robots to keep him quiet during sharing time. His brothers who fill up pages with colorful robot drawings. The cashier at the store that he LOUDLY informs, "Mom buy me a robot for my birthday!" His mom who has finally learned how to draw primitive robots. His....well you get the idea. One day back in May I was at the store all by myself and picked up a robot mask for him for his b-day. I put it in the back of the suburban thinking, "He won't look back there." As I drove up the driveway, I had the thought to stop off at the barn and hide it away in one of the totes, but thought, "Nah, it will be fine." As soon as I opened the front door Jacob greeted me like I had been gone for 2 months and asked me if I had bought him a robot. I replied, "Um, no, but maybe for your b-day you can get one." Liar. About an hour later, he came tearing into the house while we were getting ready for supper, jumping all around and screaming, you guessed it..."MOM BOUGHT ME ROBOT! MOM BOUGHT ME ROBOT!" I then screamed, ripped the robot out of his arms and fled into my room looking for a suitable hiding place. He cried and tore my room apart looking for his robot for 3 days. It was May 13. 46 days before his actual b-day. He was either going to kill me looking for his robot or I was going to kill him keeping it away from him. The solution was to have a mock b-day for him since he really didn't have a clue as to when his actual b-day was. He. Wears. It. Everyday. I mean EVERYDAY. He sleeps in it too. Much to Parker's dismay, seeing as how he is the one that shares a bed with Jacob.
On his actual b-day a wonderful friend came over and made this masterpiece...

He was in heaven. This boy can be SO trying at times, but can melt your heart in the next second.

Friday Foto May 14, 2010

2010-05-14T09:14:00.000-05:00

It has been a while since I have done a Friday Foto, so I had fun browsing thru pictures. We took this picture on Matthew's blessing day. Parker had just turned 14 and was ordained as a teacher at church. It has only been 2 years ago, but he has already grown SO much. He and I look eye to eye now. I know it will only be a matter of months and I will be looking up to him. When I first saw these pictures I was horrified at how I looked. I may have mentioned before, but when I was pregnant with Matthew I gained, um, well a little bit of weight. Add that on top of what I gained and didn't lose with Gabe, Abby, and Jacob, let's just say I was kinda wishin' that Matthew had been a 60# baby. But that would have been a whole other set of problems! ; ) I was all up for deleting any pictures with me in them until Joe said, "You need to keep those." Um, why? You will be glad you did. Well for starters, they document Matthew's blessing, but also your children need to see how hard it is to have a baby and all that you do to recover.
So here we all are and I have to say some of us have gotten bigger, and some of us are feeling better!

Peek-A-Boo

2010-05-13T08:01:00.000-05:00

After school yesterday everyone was looking for an after school snack to eat. I was trying to get things done that I hadn't been able to during the day and I walked downstairs into the laundry room. I heard a strange noise and I looked over toward the washing machine and dryer and saw 2 legs sticking out of the dryer. I got a little closer and this is what I found.....

Parker, a pillow, a bottle of water, and a bag of doritoes. I am assuming he needed a little quiet time. That or he really did not want to do his after school chores!

Just a few of the things that I have heard recently

2010-05-05T13:15:00.000-05:00

"Mom! Jacob is peeing on the cat!" -Abigail

"Mom, I sorry I pee on the cat. I get up now?" -Jacob

"Mom! Jacob is playing with a dead squirrel!" -Abigail

"Mom, I sorry I play with broken squirrel." -Jacob

"Mom! Jacob is under the porch hitting the kittens with a stick!" -Abigail

"Mom, I sorry I hit kitties with stick. I get up now?" -Jacob

Ok, I just reread this and realized that Jacob may sound a tad bit Jeffrey Dahmerish. I assure you he has nothing but extreme love for animals. He just shows his affections a little more aggresively than most. : ) and I know that doesn't sound right either

Torture Day, otherwise known as Picture Day

2010-05-04T22:20:00.001-05:00

This morning we got up early and I cut everyone's hair in anticipation for our big day. That in and of itself takes 2 hours just to accomplish that task. We headed over to a wonderful old village by the river where we proceeded to yell, threaten, plead, and fall into the river before we even had 10 shots taken. I don't know what it is about taking my own kids pictures, but they seem to act like they just got out of the insane asylum and are trying to send me there! They act CRAZY! I could never be a professional photographer. I am pretty sure no one would hire me to yell at their kids to, "PLEASE, just stop moving for 3 seconds, and so help me if the one picture you are acting goofy in is the only picture that everybody else is normal, I am going to STRANGLE you!" I have a friend that took her kids pictures the day before at the same place. She said she bribed them with Camino Real. I wish I had been that smart. I bribed mine with tacos for supper and no beatings if they acted halfway decent!

2 seconds after this shot was taken he walked right off the rock into the water and was soaking wet for the rest of the pictures. He was not a happy camper after that!

All in all, it really wasn't that bad. We got some great pictures, had a fun time exploring and really enjoyed spending the day together. I really can only do this once a year at the most though!

Friday Foto April 30, 2010

2010-04-30T09:48:00.000-05:00

My how time passes by so quickly. I took this picture exactly 1 year ago yesterday. I don't remember the circumstances, but I am usually not in the habit of bathing kids in the sink. I am sure that I put Matthew in there to wash quickly and Jacob wanted to join in. My sink is rarely (if ever) empty so I probably gladly threw them in there together. I love how green it is outside the window. I hope that they always play so well together!

Burning Question

2010-04-25T13:13:00.000-05:00

So, I gotta know. Anybody else's kids holler out embarrasing things as you drag them out of the chapel at church? Such as "I gotta pee! I gotta pee! I gotta pee!"
As loudly as possible?

"Terrific" Tuesday

2010-04-23T13:41:00.000-05:00

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! That alarm clock is so annoying! It is too early to get up. So I push snooze..... 4 more times. Dangit! Why didn't I get up when my alarm clock rang? Now I don't have time for a shower before I get the kids out the door for seminary. I throw on some ratty sweats, Parker's old flip flops, and my hat. Hurry up guys, your ride is going to be here in 20 minutes! Hurry up and make breakfast, lunches and iron clothes. Say prayers, that it is going to be a great day and get the big boys out the door, wake up the other kids, feed them breakfast, tell Gabe to get dressed, and break up the fight between 2 little boys who want the same tippy cup. Tell Gabe to stop looking at the hole in his mouth where his 4 teeth used to be and get dressed! Start packing up little ones in the car to go and pick up the kids from seminary. Tell Gabe that he is going in his underwear and crazy hair because I am leaving RIGHT NOW! We are in the car and I am playing the compassionate mother and laying on the horn for Caden and Gabe to get out there. We get the boys picked up, and dropped off at school. I am heading home and the suburban starts sputtering and then dies. Thank goodness I had enough sense to pull off on the side of the road. At that point it dawned on me that 2 days earlier I looked at the gas gauge and it said empty. I was riding on fumes for a good solid day. I call my WONDERFUL visiting teaching companion, drag her out of bed and beg her to bring me some gas.
You gotta love living in the south. Everybody stops and asks you if you need help. Good thing I was all dolled up. We make it home, and I take a shower, dress the kids, and we head out the door to run some errands. We stop by Sam's and wreak havoc on the monthly budget. As we get out to the car and unload the last of the groceries, Jacob informs me that he has to pee right now!! I tell him there is no way we are going back into the store. He starts dancing, so I look around and see a vacant parking lot. I tell him to come out here and block his view with the 2 doors of the car. He pees, and I stand there waiting for him leaning up against the car beside us. All of the sudden there appears an elderly couple right beside me. I realize at the moment, that I am not leaning against just any old car, it was a BMW. Their BMW. They look at me, and as I turn bright red and try to pull up my kids underwear, I try to explain my lack of reverence for their car. And the puddle Right in front of their driver's side door. Thank goodness, they laugh and tell me not to worry, but I am glad for this one time that we live in a huge city and I will probably never run into them again.

I race home, put away the groceries, feed the kids lunch which Abigail tells me she doesn't like and is really not that very hungry anyway. We load back up into the car, and go and pick up the kids from school. When we get home, everybody bolts from the car, with an assigned buddy to take care of as Joseph and I head to the orthopaedist to get his ankle x-rayed from spraining it a few weeks ago. As we sit there in the office, and wait, and wait, and wait, Joseph starts fidgeting because he has to be at work at 5:30. "Will you just chill already, we will make it in time," I keep telling him. As we leave the office to pay, I glance at the clock and HOLY COW, it is 5:03! We are NEVER going to make it across town in time! We fly down the stairs, jump into the truck and tear out of the parking lot and race across town. We get there right in the nick of time. Whew! He calls me 30 seconds later and says, "um, mom, I didn't have to be here until 6:00."

I sit in the parking lot waiting for a woman that I contacted on Craigslist. She has a brand new converter box for the TV that she is selling for $25. Sweet deal. "Not me", threw our other remote down the stairs and busted it into smithereens. No biggie, I will just get another remote. Nope, can't do that. They have to be the original one that came with the box. You will just have to shell out another $60 bucks at Best Buy lady. I buy it from her and head home to make some supper. I talk to my mom on the way home and tell her that I will be able to watch our favoritest show in the world tonight (biggest loser) because I finally got a new box. She says, "please tell me you did not go and buy a new box." I tell her, "no sweat, I got it pretty cheap off of craigslist." She then informs me that she has 2 brand new boxes that she doesn't need because they have cable. Of course you do!! Aagh! (not your fault mom, save one, because I will probably be needing it in another year or 2 ; )) I get home, throw burgers on the grill and go back inside to wash the dishes from breakfast, so that the kitchen will be clean for 30 seconds before we eat supper. Parker is outside hollering at me and gesturing wildly toward the grill. Aagh, the burgers! They are now each of the size of a silver dollar and blacker than soot. I'm all for eating them and masking the charcoal with a bunch of mayo and ketchup, but nobody else is going for that idea. Joe makes new burgers, and fries them, much to my delight. I throw the kids in the tub and run upstairs to watch "my program" as the boys like to call it. We get about 23 minutes into it and Joseph calls and says he is done. Mumble and grumble all the way to work to pick him up and then head back home to get everybody settled in bed. I sit on the couch and snuggle with hubby to watch the news and fall asleep in approximately 5.3 minutes.

I wish that I could say that this day was extraordinarily crazy, but unfortunately this is very normal.

Meghan, this post is for you! ; )

My, my how time does fly

2010-04-20T08:49:00.000-05:00

How in the world does this cute little toothless bald baby... Turn into this handsome young man in the blink of an eye?!?!

Aren't they SO cute??

Joseph and his sweet, beautiful date getting ready to head to the prom. Next time this year, he will be heading off to college. I don't think that I am ready. In fact, I think I will go and cry right now.

Poem Book

2010-04-16T10:44:00.000-05:00

This morning as the boys were getting out of the car at school, Joseph pulled something out of his backpack and tossed it thru the window at me. "Here, this is my poem book project that I did a few weeks ago," he said as he rushed into the building before the bell rang. I wasn't surprised to see that he had made an A on the project. He is very on top of his studies and takes his grades very seriously.

Out of the 13 poems in his book, the majority of them were about the things that he holds dear to his heart. Sports. In particular, wrestling and football. The boy eats, breaths, sleeps, and daydreams sports. He can tell you who won any Super Bowl, what the score was and who made the most awesome play of the game. He lives for statistics. He not only can quote the facts, he can play the game. In short, he is a sports freak.

Each of the poems had to be very specific. A Haiku, Metaphor, Limerick, etc. That is why when I was reading all of his poems, one in particular stuck out to me. It was entitled Tribute.

It read:

Mom;

You have always been there for me.

Even through the hard times

I know you will never back down in the face of fear.

I love you and hope you will be in my life forever.

I could hardly see after I read this poem. Yes, I know he had to write it for a grade, but, he could have written about anybody.

The teacher would write notes on each of the poems to let him know how each one was graded. On this particular poem, she wrote: "shorter than what was asked for"

This was the best poem out of the book. What more could he have written I ask?

Out of the mouth of 5 year olds...

2010-04-15T11:46:00.000-05:00

One day Abigail asked me why Jacob got to go to school (speech) and she didn't since she was so much older than him. I told her that he went so that Ms. Sheila could help him talk better. She exclaimed, " So when he gets finished with speech he will talk weller like me!"

This morning as I was putting on my makeup Abigail was watching me perform my "magical transformation". She asked me why I put all that funny stuff on my face. I hesitated telling her it was to cover up my freckles, my age spots, the dark circles under my eyes, and my wrinkles. I don't ever want her to be self concsious of her cute little freckles. I want her to be a confident young lady. I want her to feel comfortable with who she is and what she looks like. ( slightly hypocritical, no?) As I stood there thinking about how I would answer her she said, "Do you use it to cover up all those lines on your face?" I told her, "Yep, that is what I use it for", and she replies, "Well it sure does do a good job! It's like magic! You can't even see them anymore!"

Thanks sweetie.

Just one more?

2010-04-01T09:06:00.000-05:00

When I was a young girl, I always wanted 10 kids. Why? Probably because I am crazy, but as we ammassed more and more kids, and the timing was not always on our terms, we came to the conclusion that we might not have 10. 7 was good. Pretty darn good. Their ages span from 17 down to 1. That is a pretty great distance in my eyes. They sweet thing is that even the older ones still want more brothers, (not necessarily sisters though!) They ask me frequently if we are done. I have always assured them that, "yes, we were pretty sure that our family was complete."

Until now......

About a month ago, I wasn't feeling so well. No big deal, probably just a stomach bug. Turns out it was about a 9 month "stomach bug"! I am still quite shocked. Looks like around Thanksgiving we will be a family of 10!

April Fools! Had you going there didn't I?
HA! HA! HA!

Copy Cat

2010-03-30T17:49:00.000-05:00

Do you think that maybe I spend too much time on the phone? What about the computer? Look at him working that mouse!

Speaking of too much time on the computer, I am behind about 10 posts. One night maybe I can make myself get in gear!

check out sister's bracelet on his arm!

Doctor's Visit

2010-03-15T08:28:00.000-05:00

Last week I took Jacob in for his 6 month checkup for the tubes in his ears. All in all the appointment went great. Our appt. was scheduled for 8:30. We dropped the kids off at school and high-tailed it over there. We ended up getting there at 8:05, being taken back at 8:15 and getting out at 8:27. We had the whole thing over and done with before our original time. I love appts. like that! Jacob's ears looked great, his hearing and speech have improved SO much. Some of the things that he says now are so legible that I wish that people couldn't understand him so well!
While I was signing in and paying as soon as we got there, Jacob was talking to the receptionist at the front desk. He was being unusually good. Even for a normal kid it was great behaviour. He asked me if he could have some germ-x so I gave him a squirt. Too much. He got a tissue to rub some off and as he was walking over to the chairs to sit, he dropped his tissue. All of the sudden Mr. I Own The Whole Waiting Room, hollers at him to "Pick That Up!" Now he didn't throw it on the floor, he dropped it. And I would have made him go and pick it up as soon as I had seen it. So Jacob goes over ever so pleasantly and picks it up. He walks over to Mr. IOTWWR and asks him where the trash can is. Very clearly and plainly. He then rudely tells Jacob that he can't understand a word that he is saying. At that point I finish at the front desk and go over to Jacob and point to the trash can. He goes and drops it in and then comes right back to sit down next to me.
Abigail asks me if she can go and get a magazine from the rack. I tell her sure, so she heads over to grab one. Mr. IOTWWR pipes up and tell her that those magazines are too big for her. She turns to look at me with uncertainty in her face and I LOUDLY tell her to grab 3. One for me, her, and Jacob. I could have cared less at that point that they were all Web MD magazines.
Right at that moment, Mr. IOTWWR is called back and as he passes us, he holds his hand out to Jacob, asks for a high 5 and then asks Abigail for a hug. WHAT!?!?
You big freak, get away from my kids!
I had the good sense not to punch the dude, but man did he have my blood boiling!
Have you ever had an experience when someone tried to take over your job disciplining/reprimanding your children and you almost punched them in the face?

Friday Foto March 12, 2010

2010-03-12T08:56:00.000-06:00

Last Saturday Gabriel went to Regions for wrestling. (we start em' young, this is his 3rd season) He loves wrestling as much as his older brothers do. I am so aggravated at myself for only taking pictures of one of his matches and not even good ones at that. I didn't even get a picture of him and his 4th place medal! (we won't get into the fact that it should have been 3rd place. There may or may not have been some yelling at the "stupid table workers" who could not keep a score table if their lives depended on it, water bottles being thrown, and yelling at various people, and no that was not Joe.)

Here is a picture of him as he is getting ready to wrestle the 2nd kid of the day. He kept growling at Gabe and busted his lip at one point. Gabe kept at it and pinned him in the 3rd period. Going for the pin!

Gabe did an awesome job and is going to State tomorrow. Good luck Gabe!!

I will try to contain myself and be the model of decorum, but there is no gaurantee that will happen!

Barnacles?

2010-03-10T09:58:00.000-06:00

I am such a good mom. When I am cleaning, all of my children join in and we sing wonderful uplifting songs and never bicker. We get the whole house clean in under 2 hours and then we have the rest of the day to practice our piano, violin, and flute lessons. We then ride our bikes for 20 miles after which we fix a wonderful gourmet meal to eat by candlelight.

Ok, ok, we only ride for 10.

Ok, we only own 5 bikes, only one of which is functional, and if we did eat by candlelight, I am sure that someone would barbeque their food over it using a fork.

When I clean, I put on a movie. It usually has to be something that will interest Jacob since he is the one that I am trying to keep entertained and out of trouble. The movie as of late has been, cringe, SpongeBob Squarepants. I know, I know. It has got to be the most inane, ridiculous, stupidest show ever made, but my kids think that it rivals Masterpiece theatre.
While on the way to school this morning Gabriel hollers, "MOM! Abigail said the "B" word!" I nearly take off the other side view mirror as I whip around to face her. What did you say Abigail?! She looks up with fear etched on her face. "I only said barnacles mom. They say it on Spongebob all the time."

I think it is time to pull out PollyAnna.

Friday Foto March 5, 2010

2010-03-05T13:09:00.000-06:00

Parker's Baptism Day In 2001, we moved to Winchester, Virginia. I did not want to move there. All of our family was here and I was so homesick. We only had Joseph, Parker, and Caden up there. This was Parker's baptism day. We had a wonderful day, and all of our ward family came over to our house afterwards to celebrate with us. We made the best friends up there. When we moved back to TN after 2 years, I cried harder leaving Virginia, then I did when we left TN.

I need some warm weather

2010-03-02T08:51:00.000-06:00

It is snowing. Again. The ground is already white. Yesterday I worked outside all afternoon cleaning, removing toys from the yard, putting up sleds because it is almost spring you know. It won't snow anymore this year. I really need some sunshine and flowers. I figured the only way I was going to see any signs of bunnies, flowers, greenery, and the like would be to change the background on the blog. I wonder if they will let school out early? You know we don't know how to drive in the snow. I wonder if I should run to the store to buy all the toilet paper and milk on the shelves? We might run out. I only have 3 gallons in the fridge. That will only last us for 3 days.
On to happier thoughts. I have the smartest kids in the world. I am not bragging, it is totally true. Yesterday as punishment, I sent Parker out onto the roof to wash the windows and put the screens back in. What was he being punished for? When it snowed a few weeks ago, he took out the screen in his bedroom window and flung coat hangers out onto the roof to watch them *poof* and disappear into the snow. We entertain easily around here. I didn't really mind, I am sure that it was pretty cool, however I really don't care for the redneck look of hanging your clothes out on top of the roof, so I made him gather them up and do some cleaning. He forgot to get the screen while he was out there, so he concoted some contraption with some of my thread and a fish hook to snag it and pull it up to him while he was in the bedroom. When he finished, he dropped it out into the yard.
This morning when I went to feed the cats, I saw a spool of thread on the porch and thought, "I know I just cleaned off the porch last night, where in the world did this come from?" So I start realing it in. Man is this thread long. Rolling, rolling, just as fast as I can. The cats must have played with this thing last night. Yeah, that is how it got out here, rolling, roll...OWWW!!!! Fish hook in the finger! Quite painful, although before asking and not even knowing how Parker got the screen onto the window last night, I already knew that this was his creation. He is very ingenious like that.

Friday Foto February 26, 2010

2010-02-26T08:31:00.001-06:00

This is my kitchen table. It is covered with groceries from 1 of the 3 stores that I shop at monthly.
Today we went to Sams. I usually cannot fit all of my grocery shopping into one day because there is not enough room in my car to bring it all home. I put Jacob and Matthew in one cart, fill up the back with stuff, and then fill up another cart that Abigail helps me push thru the store. After I dropped an insane amount of money there, we pushed everything out to the car and started unloading. There was an Asian couple that was parked right next to us and as I was packing everything into the car, he stopped and asked me what our business was. I told him it was children. He started roaring laughing. I had a great laugh about it myself.

Sometimes I feel like a Freak

2010-02-23T11:46:00.000-06:00

You have been there I am sure. You are at the park, playground, whatever, and "those" moms are there. They are there with their 1.2 kids each, dressed immaculately, hair done, nails done, tippy cups labeled, looking like they and their spawn have just walked off the modeling runway. Their children are never farther than 1.5 feet away from them because they may have too much fun if mom were actually sitting on the park bench.
You are there in the only pair of jeans that fit you right now, hair in a ponytail, nails that have never been done, with only 3 of your 7 hoodlums. You are stared at in dismay because you actually allow your children to use the play equipment as it has been intended. "Don't run Susie! You might get hurt! Johnny! Get down from the slide. It might be too hot!" Meanwhile yours are not only using the play equipment, but abusing it too.
I would love to actually bring all 7 of my children one of these days and just let them wreak havoc on the playground and the minds of those helicopter parents.

State Bound

2010-02-17T11:26:00.000-06:00

Congratulations Joseph and Parker! All your hard work is paying off. We are off to State!

It only took me 4 days to figure out how to get pictures off of my phone and on to the blog. It took every imaginable route to get them here. Watch out Bill Gates, here I come!

Friday Foto February 12, 2010

2010-02-12T13:50:00.000-06:00

This is the day that Joseph and Parker have practiced 5 times a week, sometimes twice a day for the past 6 months. They are going to Regions tonight to see if they will qualify for the State Tournament. They have looked forward to this day for quite sometime.
The cooler is stocked, the gear is stowed, the car is gassed, and we are ready to go!
GOOD LUCK JOSEPH AND PARKER!!

We're Going to be Rich Someday

2010-02-10T15:22:00.001-06:00

Why you ask? Because we have a kid that is faster than greased lighning. Think of the possibilities! Track star, the next Michael Phelps, running back, NASCAR driver, oh wait, we don't want that one...
This kid can get into stuff faster than I can clean up the previous disaster.
Case in point.
I put Jacob in the tub so that I could clean the bathroom and keep an eye on him at the same time. Multitasking at its best! He is old enough to leave for a minute while in the tub, so I don't hesitate to go upstairs to tend to Parker who is home with strep throat. When I get back to the bathroom, he has gotten into my jewelry drawer, is wearing my watch, has broken a pearl necklace and is swimming in some suspiciously yellow water. The yellow water turns out to be my $15 oil of olay moisturizer tinted with foundation-hence the pee colored water, and the pearls are just small enough to slide down the drain holes. I manage to scrape up about 10 of them and put them in the lid to the moisturizer. I drag him out of the tub and order him to put on some clothes. He throws himself all over the floor because he wants to wear his batman pajamas. Again. For the 4th day in a row. I have to sneak them off of him after he has fallen asleep so that I can wash them every night. I try to be brave and hold out thinking he will give up on them. While I am cleaning the monsoon up off the bathroom floor I look out and he has poured olive oil all over my nightstand. Yes, it was stored there. Why? I don't know.
I give in and throw his dirty batman pajamas at him and go back to clean up the bathroom. He gets dressed and bites the end of the new thermometer off. I restrain myself from beating him and put him on the couch with threats of a 14 hour nap if he gets up off that couch. I go back to the bathroom to gather up the dirty clothes and promptly knock over the lid that was holding the last of the pearls and they go tumbling down the drain.
Sigh.
The one good thing is, he did not fall asleep so therefore he will go to bed at a decent hour tonight.

Answer Key

2010-02-09T07:56:00.000-06:00

Last Thursday, after wrestling practice, there was a group of cheerleaders that were practicing. They were running a relay race and asked Caden and some of his buddies to fill out the rest of the teams. Caden wasn't wearing any shoes and got an extreme case of turf toe and broke a bone in his big toe. One might think the moral of this story is don't run barefoot, but to Caden's big brothers it is definatley don't run with the girls!

Guessing Game

2010-02-08T09:57:00.000-06:00

Can anyone guess who this foot belongs to?
a. Joseph
b. Parker
c. Caden

Can anyone guess how this was done?
a. hurt at wrestling practice
b. stomped on by a brother
c. running a relay race with a bunch of girls

Answers to come later....

Friday Foto (a day late) February 6, 2010

2010-02-06T18:45:00.000-06:00

Several months ago Caden competed in a triathlon. He practiced diligently for it by running and biking. We however do not have a pool, so he only got to swim once before the big event. (he is somewhat like his mother in that he cannot swim a lick, although he is not deathly afraid of the water like she is) He hoped for the best in that area figuring that he would make up for lost time with the biking and running. We got there that morning and set up his area. He headed over to the pool for some practice laps and ran into miniature Michael Phelps. Some of those kids looked like they had been born in the pool.
Here he is all set up and ready to go. Gotta get your game face on!

Ready to take off.

Biking his 2 miles.

Swimming was first, then biking. He knew he had a lot of time to make up with the bike and boy was he flying. He came in first on the bike! After he crossed the finish line for the running they announced the winners. Even though it took him twice as long to swim than everybody else, he placed 4th! We were all so excited for him.

First Impressions are usually wrong

2010-02-04T15:31:00.000-06:00

Yesterday as I was doing my shopping at Walmart (you may think that I spend all my days at Walmart, but i really try to go there only once a month) there were no shopping carts with the extra seats on them so we just used a regular one. Matthew was in the front buckled and Jacob was sitting in the back. He had been carrying around a backpack on his back all day long filled with his treasures. A truck, Nemo, a really obnoxious King Julian whatever he is that sings, "I like to move it, move it" anytime you touch it, and his batman pajamas. He asked me repeatedly throughout the store if he could please put them on. I kept telling him as soon as we got home he could. At one point I was looking for some mascara and I heard a lady behind me laughing. I turned around and found out why. Jacob was standing in the back of the basket in his underwear trying to get his pajamas out of his backpack. To top it off he even had on batman underwear!
Later as we got to the checkout lane, he asked me what the guys name was who was checking us out. (he is very big into asking people their names and then grabbing their hands and saying "nice to meet you") I chose this particular line because it was the shortest and I was in a hurry. Had I looked at who was checking people out, I might not have chosen that one. The guy had tattoos up and down both arms and on his neck, long black hair parted down the middle, and silver hoops in both ears. Not that I think he is a lesser person than me, but to be quite honest he was a little scary looking. If I know you, then good luck shutting me up, but if not, I can be somewhat shy. So Jacob asks me what the guys name is and I look and tell him it is Blake. He says, "Hi Blake, nice to meet you!" Blake looks at us and just starts talking away. He asks me how old everybody is and tells us all about his son that just turned one. He was the nicest guy! It made me think for the rest of the day how I judge people and how I want to do so much of a better job befriending people.

Kind of makes me wonder what people think of me when my kids are at the store in just their underwear!

Friday Foto January 29, 2010

2010-01-29T21:36:00.001-06:00

I found this picture as I was browsing today. This is Jacob at around 20 months. The same age that Matthew is now. Jacob loved to play outside even then. He would sneak out the back door and play out in the yard with rocks, sticks, bugs, anything he could find. It is hard to believe that this picture was only 2 years ago. It seems like so long ago. He even had that crazy faux hawk and mischievious smile already!

But I want cake

2010-01-27T11:21:00.001-06:00

Yesterday was a hard day for Jacob. He wanted cake and mom said no. He really wanted cake and mom said no. He threw himself all over the floor and mom still said no. Mom finally thought that she had gotten it into his head that after lunch he could have cake. It was just 8:45 in the morning. (he just may have seen mom eat a piece of cake for breakfast, but that is entirely beside the point)
Mom goes down to the laundry room to fold laundry and Jacob follows. A few minutes later he heads back up to the kitchen. Mom hears a REALLY large knife being pulled out of the knife holder and rushes up the stairs. Mom crashes into a locked laundry room door. Mom is set on breaking down the door to get out and the door miraculously opens with a very scared little boy trying to weasel his way out of a whipping with sweet cries of, "I sorry mommy, I so sorry." The cake already had large cuts all in it.
I was asked one day by a friend who came to our house why I had a super industrial baby proof gate leading into my kitchen. Did I not like my children in there while I cooked? Was it my sanctuary? No, it is to keep Jacob from sitting on top of the fridge, keep him from eating 10 vitamins in one setting, playing with sharp objects like butcher knifes, sitting on top of the stove while turning the eyes on, putting silverware in the microwave, pouring gallons of milk on the floor, and eating every piece of ham out of the fridge. (all true by the way)
You know how parents tell their children they hope that they have children just like themselves so they can see the misery they put their parents thru? I wouldn't wish that on Jacob's wife for the world.

Since when do boys care what they look like?

2010-01-20T11:31:00.000-06:00

This past weekend, we visited family and brought my nephew home with us. He is Joseph and Parker's best friend in the world. They had so much fun all day doing all sorts of wonderful, dangerous things that only boys can find joy in. Stop reading right here mom. Riding the 4 wheeler up and down the driveway. Oh wait, did I mention it doesn't have a motor and you have to haul it up the driveway with the truck. Once you are at the top of the driveway you hop on and everybody chases you down the driveway with airsoft guns. repeat, repeat... Shooting off leftover fireworks. Playing basketball. See, that's not dangerous! We can be civilized!
As the day wears on, My sister-in-law calls me to let me know they won't be coming up for supper and picking up their son, so can I please meet them? Sure, no problem, although we were super bummed that we weren't going to get to visit with them. We all hop into the suburban as is and head down the road to meet in the center which is a Dollar General. I realize on the way there that we have no bread for school lunches and figure I will just send one of the big boys into the store because I actually had cash in my purse. We drop off cousin and I ask Joseph and Parker who would like to go in and pay $5.00 for some stale bread. I figured they would both be jumping at the chance. They both look at me incredulously and reply, "I am not dressed to be seen in public!" Are you kidding me? These are the same boys that went to Opryland Hotel looking like this last month..........

It was a Very cold night and since they are way too cool to wear a coat, they grabbed whatever blankets they could find in the suburban. They walked around like this for half the night.

Meanwhile I had to go in to the store in my UT orange crocs and ratty sweatshirt. Next time, I WILL make you buy a delicious school lunch!

Family Pictures

2010-01-18T13:03:00.000-06:00

At Christmas time we were so blessed to be able to have all of my brothers and their families in. We haven't all been together in about 6 years and there were babies we haven't even gotten to see yet. We had so much fun visiting with each other. We decided to take family pictures one day, in the rain. We are very smart like that.

Joe and I All the girls. One great thing about having so many brothers, is that eventually you get awesome sisters out of the deal. We have one more to marry off!

Heather, me, mom, Mandy, and Jessica

Me and all my little bros. We are all 4 years apart except for the twins of course.

Kyle, Kevin, me, Keith, and Corey

The family. This one was LOTS of fun. (sarcastic voice inserted here ; ))

All the husbands and wives.

Our little family.

I wish that we all lived in the same town (or at least the same state) so that it wasn't 6 years in between visits. Love you all!

Ever had one of "those" weeks?

2010-01-13T13:12:00.000-06:00

Have you ever.....

-woken up on a Monday to a disaster, because the kids were all home for the past 3 weeks for Christmas and snow and it looks like you never lifted a finger?
-gone to unload the dishwasher after a child has loaded it, and there are 12 dishes in it while the sink is stockpiled with the contents of the cabinets?
-thought that your laundry was all caught up and you go upstairs and find 8 loads of laundry under the bunkbeds?
-had to put a child in time-out 7 times in one day for hitting, pulling hair, and kicking?
-walked out onto the backporch and found all the snow gear that 5 people wore the previous day frozen to the porch?
-wondered why the phone hasn't rung for days and find out that someone has pulled the cord loose from the plug and broken it?
-walked out of a just cleaned room and the furniture "magically" rearranges itself back into the fort that was there previously?
-woken up a child for seminary and then told that you don't like him because you never woke him up when he sleeps right thru seminary?
-gotten to school and a child realizes they forgot their shorts for gym and it was all your fault?
-swept the floor and walked back thru and crunched all over the bag of fritos that the baby poured all over it?
-turned a spider man costume right side out 14 times in one day?
-found your couch, floor, and coffee table "decorated" with strawberry milk because the stopper fell out of the lid of the tippy cup?
-witnessed a fight between 2 teenagers on a Sunday morning over a pair of socks?
-crunched all over a box of fish crackers that were dumped out on the 2nd swept floor and put them back in the box without telling anyone?
-eaten a half a bowl of icing because the cupcakes were all gone and it was sitting on the counter? um, me neither. Just asking you know....
-driven a suburban around a very sharp curve and get too close to a mailbox and whack off the sideview mirror?
-watched your teenage son fall to the mat during a wrestling meet in agony and want to rush to his side, but know full well that would be more humilating than whatever happened to him, so you gnaw your lip off trying not to shout out anything while you sit in the bleachers?
-walked into the bathroom and saw the newly built and installed cabinet that hubby spent a week on, broken off the wall, and the window sill and trim busted, because somebody who is big enough to know better decided the top shelf would be a great place to hide?
-had the chance to unload a dishwasher with an 18 month old that hands you dish by dish saying "Dank you" after each one?
-had a child come home from school and say they just wanted to give you a hug all day long?
-had the baby follow right behind and hug your leg?
-had a teenager get up all by himself at 5:00a.m., go work out, shower, pack a lunch and wake you up for the day?
-gotten a call from a 16 year old who forgot his lunch and after finding out that it was dropped off for him, tell you he loves you in front of all his friends?

I guess it hasn't been such a bad week after all!

Laugh for the Day

2010-01-06T11:58:00.000-06:00

It seems that nearly every other post is always about Jacob. I try to let the other kids "shine", but he is always into something so he is the one that usually gets exploited. This time though, he was good for a laugh.
Yesterday as we were in Walmart, we went to the back to pick up some pictures and they spied the bathroom. Seeing the bathroom automatically triggers the bladder to be instantly full, legs are crossed and they must jump up and down uncontrollably all the while yelping that they have to go! I already had the basket full of things, not to mention we were driving the cadillac that day, so I opened the door, pulled the buggy up to it and parked myself in the doorway so as to insure that there were no weirdos in the bathroom and and none could pass by me. Jacob and Abigail went in and in true fashion, she went and he explored. I would have gone in, but Matthew was buckled in and I really didn't feel like hauling him around. Jacob was in the last stall, (naked) and all of the sudden he leans down and all you see is his bum and his face. He hollers, "Hey mom, what's for supper?" Keep in mind it is about 9:15 in the morning. I don't know why, but that made me laugh all day long.

First day of Primary

2010-01-04T21:47:00.000-06:00

Sunday was Jacob's first day of primary. I walked him down to primary and asked for a kiss. After he smacked me on the lips he turned back around and threw his blanket at me. His lifeline. His best friend. I looked at the primary president and with great hope said something along the lines of "growing up in the world." Little did I know.
I peaked in on him about 30 minutes into primary and he was nowhere to be seen. All of the sudden he came barreling around the corner, with a teacher right behind him. "Hi mom!" Drat, I was trying to be discreet. I hid around another corner trying to see if he was even going to sit in his seat. Nope. He did hide in the cabinet under the microphone, run into the bathroom, climb the water fountain, and "help" every child find the picture that was hidden in the game they were playing. His OCD tendencies were very apparent that day.
To every teacher, counselor, and leader in primary, thank you for not tossing him out the window on Sunday. I KNOW he is a handful. Rather 5 or 6 handfuls. We as parents have not given up on him. We do try to teach him patience, reverence, and anger management. We do hope that he will understand the importance of sitting in his seat in a few short weeks. We know that he is very hard to understand, and that when he is not understood he gets very frustrated. Thank you for your love and patience and your willingness to serve our little ones.

Happy Birthday Abigail Grace

2009-12-31T11:59:00.000-06:00

Abigail was due on January 3rd, but I was scheduled to be induced on December 27th. I thought that was a perfect date. We wouldn't be in the hospital on Christmas, and she would share it with our anniversery! On the 26th I woke up feeling not so great, but thought, "We'll just head off to church and everything will be just fine. I can hold this baby in for another day!" I played the hymns and had a few contractions and hit a few bad notes, and gave Joe "the look". I told him after sacrament that I was headed home and he might want to come along pretty quick. We were scheduled to have a late Christmas dinner with family that day and I was so upset at the thought of ruining it. We headed to the hospital that evening and Abigail was born at 6:30 p.m. When the doctor handed her to me the first thought that went thru my mind was "Did they just switch her with another baby down there, because MY babies are bald and skinny. And RED HAIR?! Where did that come from?" When they cleaned her up and brought her back to me, they had put a pretty Christmas bow in her hair and I thought that they were the nicest nurses ever. (little did I know that they do that for every baby girl, but hey, she was my first!)
My how she has grown! Playing in mommy's makeup

trying out the brother's wrestling gear

very cool

playing on dad's tractor

1st birthday

"glamour shots"

Mom, seriously. I am the only girl around here. Can you please put some clothes on me?

CHUBBY!

About 2 hours old

We love you Abby! Happy birthday.

Sunday Thoughts

2009-12-14T09:03:00.000-06:00

On Saturday, Matthew was exactly 18 months old. That may not mean anything to most, but to a mother who has had a baby glued to her hip for the past 6 1/2 years during church, Sunday was a glorious day. It was his 1st official day in the nursery. Every Sunday when I would drop off Jacob, Matthew threw a screaming, raging fit that he wasn't allowed to stay and play. I was secretly counting down the weeks. (ok, not secret at all. I would announce every Sunday exactly how many Sunday's were left until he would get to join his older brother Jacob in the nursery. I am sure they were looking forward to Jacob's brother attending with him! ha!) Sacrament was normal. 3 kids trying to position themselves on my lap simultaneously. Fruit snacks being flung around the pew. Mom confiscating a tire gauge, bb's, and a mini screwdriver from various people up and down the pew. The hymn rack being kicked off the back of the pew in front of us. Joseph gave a great talk. Matthew screaming "daddy" as he spies him up on the stand. Abigail pouting because she can't go and sit with daddy up on the stand. All in all it was one of our better sacrament meetings. As I sit there, I am becoming more and more excited at the thought of being able to attend Sunday School and teach my YW with no toddler or baby interuptions.
I drop off all the primary children, then head to the nursery. Jacob has never been a clingy child. He basically slams the door in my face when I drop him off. Matthew was already heading to the toys as I talk to the nursery leader, asking if I should leave a binky, blanket, etc. As I leave the nursery, I do a little hop, skip, jump, down the hall, and head off to class. I am immediatly asked where is the baby? Can it be that time already? I assure them yes, the time has flown that quickly. I am then asked if I am pregnant, because if I don't have one glued to my body, one has to be inhabiting it apparently. Nope, I'm good. I'm insane enough I think.
Life is great. I am teaching my sweet YW and I hear the doorknob being yanked around. By someone who cannot open it. I go to assist and Jacob bursts thru the door and informs the whole hallway that he has to go poop. He proceeds to tell all of the girls individually what he needs to do, and then tears down the hall at break neck speed and about crushes some pour soul behind the door as he slams it open in his attempt to make it to the bathroom on time.
Kids are so awesome!

Friday Foto on Saturday December 12, 2009

2009-12-12T12:25:00.000-06:00

It is amazing to see the difference in kids in just a few years. I was 8 1/2 months pregnant with Gabriel when Joe got tickets to the Indy race in Nashville. I didn't think it would be a great idea to go, so he took Joseph, Parker, and Caden. They had so much fun and said that it was SO loud. They got all sorts of free goodies because Joe worked for Bridgestone at the time. They look like such little boys in this picture. It cracks me up!

Friday Foto(s) December 4, 2009

2009-12-04T10:48:00.000-06:00

I wanted to get a cute picture of Matthew under the Christmas tree. He has been So good with it. He attempted to touch it once and when we told him no, he never tried again. (The same cannot be said about his older brother who is fixated on one certain snowman) All was well and good until....

I backed him up and pushed him into a branch.

Photo shoot over. He did NOT like the poky branches. It was clearly time for a nap by that time.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The Middle Half

2009-12-03T10:50:00.000-06:00

First of all let me tell you that the 2 pictures that I downloaded for this post would have taken 30 to 40 minutes in the old days to load. 7 seconds!!!! I am SO excited!!!

Anyway on to the race. Last year, I was at a baby shower the night of the Middle Half. My friend Norma was there and she was telling me that she had run the race. I was in total awe. I mean, who runs like that? No one I knew, or so I thought. Turns out running is huge around here. She inspired, motivated, and even made me a little jealous. I made up my mind at that moment that I would be a part of the next half marathon. I mentioned my new goal to Joe and he said, "Do you know how far a half marathon is?" I said, "Yes, (only because I had googled it earlier that day) I do, Mr. Smarty Pants. Want to do it with me?" Laughter ensues. I didn't forget my goal, although I did nothing to prepare for it either. When signups rolled arou nd, I quickly forked over my money and thought, "Well, I am not wasting 50 bucks so I better get started training." I got a couple of great books and voraciously read them. Meanwhile another great friend, Becca, started running and regaling us with her achievements and I was sooo in. I have mentioned earlier that I am not an athlete. Running was foreign to me. In fact when I went to get new shoes, they about fell over laughing at my tennis shoes. They were 10 years old, weighed about 5 ounces each and were so nasty black that even I didn't remember what color they originally were. I started running down the driveway. One of the boys would usually accompany me and wait patiently while I huffed and puffed my way down the driveway and road. A few months later, Joe decided that my new form of torture might be good for him as well. Off to the shoe store to spend another $150 bucks, (man this is getting expensive!) and sign up for the race. There were so many nights that we would go to the track at school and run in the dark after he got home from work and the little ones were put to bed. Running on a track, especially in the dark, is REALLY BORING. But the miles had to be put in. One night I found myself on the track running at 10:00 at night, by myself because Joe was out of town. I kept pushing myself thinking, this is it. You have 2 weeks left girl. I ran 10 miles that night. I found out that I had more in myself than I ever thought possible.
The morning of the race came and it was cold. And crowded. This was the biggest race we had ever run in. It was so exciting to be there with so many other runners. I made sure that I visited the restroom before it got too crowded. With 20 minutes left before the race, we both thought that it might be a good idea to go again. Unfortunately, we didn't agree on where to meet. I got out, met my mom and Parker and they said they hadn't seen Joe. We waited, and waited, the gun for the wheelchair racers went off and I thought, "He has got to be in the line somewhere. Nobody takes that long to use the bathroom." So I headed over to the line looking everywhere for him. Of course he wasn't there. He was still in the bathroom along with 100 other men. The gun went off and here he comes running for the line. "Why didn't you wait for me?" I calmy explained that he was taking too long. ;) The bad thing was, he was still wearing his watch and sweats that he didn't want to throw on the side of the road. He hung his pants over the fence and we just hoped that they would be there when we got back.
We crossed the line and tried to keep it an even tempo even though we were so excited and the runners were all pushing past us. We kept an even pace and by the time that we got to mile 6 we still felt awesome. We decided that we once again had to stop at the porta potty. Hey, I've had 7 kids, I'm not sure what his excuse was! ;) Just kidding hon. It took us about 8 minutes because only 1 of the porta potty's was functional. There were 2, but the other one was occupied the WHOLE time we stood in line, by only one person. When we started back up, our legs felt like jello, so we determined we wouldn't stop any more. Miles 6-10 were great, tried to pick up the pace a bit to make up for the lost time. At about mile 10 my left knee started KILLING me. I don't know what made it start hurting so bad, but I know that I would have probably stopped and walked if it hadn't been for Joe's encouragement. He was SO awesome. It was so nice to have somebody to run with. We decided that we would run the whole thing together. Around mile 12, I was ready to cry. I finally saw the stadium where we would finish and it seemed to never get closer! Finally we rounded the corner and came into a crowd of people. Their yelling and encouragement really pushed me to the line. It felt so AWESOME to cross that line and see my mom and Parker, (and put ice cold towels on my knees!)
My mom got all of my brothers and sis-in-laws together to make us a poster. They live all over the U.S., so that took some forethought. It is the best poster ever! It seriously was my motivator around mile 11.
Here is us after the race with our sweet poster and medals.

Here is us crossing the finish line together!

Our official results were: Joe 79 out of 94 in his age division

1069 out of 2000 overall

pace: 11:23

chip time:2:28:57

Lisa 93 out of 148 in age division

1068 out of 2000 overall

pace 11:23

chip time: 2:28: 57

We like to think that if we had not stopped for a bathroom break we may have done it in 2:20. We sent Parker over to the fence and he found Joe's pants. He was so excited to not have to buy another pair!

I will definately be doing this again, although you always have to make the goal bigger and better, so I think the next one will be the full marathon in Nashville in the spring. Yes, hon, I do know how long that is!

Back from the Land of No-Blogging (and man does it feel great!)

2009-12-02T08:53:00.000-06:00

Hello friends! I have missed you!
As I have mentioned in previous posts, we live in the country. Many benefits there. Privacy, lots of trees, spectacular view, and we can be our normal obnoxious selves and not bother the neighbors. The cons of living out here are fewer, but include the 26 minute drive to church many times a week, the 20 minute drive to get a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk, and SLOOOOWWWWWW dial up service for the internet. I had heard of some mysterious thing called DSL, but had never experienced it myself. Pages that loaded in seconds, picures that downloaded in mere minutes? Not here baby. We like to take it slow and easy. To write a single post may take an hour or more just to upload a few pictures.
Back in October, Joe suggested I call to see if DSL would be availabe in our area. I humored him, knowing full well that it wouldn't be. When I called they said that it wasn't available right now, but would be in February. I told them to put my name on the waiting list and to call me when it became available out here. I thought "Well, when February rolls around, I will call them and they will have some great excuse as to why it still isn't out here and I can say "Well, I told you so. Hope you aren't that dissapointed." I get a call the very next day stating that they had an opening and our modem was being shipped out that day and we should recieve it in 2 days. WHAT?? Are you serious? Eating crow now.
About that time our seriously infected and tremendously slow computer decided to bite the dust. After many attemts to fix various parts and kids whining about the lack of the internet to be able to finish school projects, we decided to send it the the computer geniuses. They called within a couple of days, told us it was totally fixable and for a very reasonable rate. They also cleaned off upward of 4000 viruses. (no wonder if froze, stalled and shut off on its own ALL the time!) We got it back, hooked up the DSL and lo and behold we have joined the land of technology once again. Seriously folks, in the old days, (pre-DSL) I would log on, go wash the dishes, type in the address for the web site I wanted to go to, change the laundry to the dryer, come browse, type new address, change the baby, download some pictures for the blog, fold 2 loads of laundry, fix lunch, clean up lunch, lay the baby down, come check the pictures, still downloading, go scrub the bathroom, check pictures, YES! they downloaded succesfully before the computer shut down! Start a post, computer freezes, pull out my hair, start the process all over again. Not to mention, this tied up the phone line for hours. Now, I click a button, the home page is up in 5 seconds. The file to downloaded from the email, 30 seconds. Your blog that I love to read, up in 3 seconds. Life is good. I had no idea that is how you people were blogging!
So what have we been doing for the last two months without a computer? I have been amazingly productive without the lure of the computer to seduce me into staring at cyberspace for half the day. My house has been cleaner, I have been more organized, I threw a fantastic Thanksgiving (if I do say so myself ; ). I have learned that I need to have more self control when it comes to playing on the internet. The kids are doing great. Joseph and Parker both made the Varsity wrestling team at high school. Caden made the JV middle school team and did a triathlon. (will definately post that one) Gabe has started reading AR books and proclaimed that day as "The best day of my life!" Abigail has become the biggest helper ever. Jacob started speech and has tempered his attitude a smidgen. Matthew has finally started walking and talks up a storm now. Oh yeah, and Joe and I ran a half marathon! Will definately post that one too.
I stayed up till one o'clock in the morning this past Saturday catching up with all of you and found that some have gone private. If you want to include me, I will come! I have missed you all and am so glad to be back!

p.s. you have music on your blogs?! How cool is that?

Friday Foto October 2, 2009

2009-10-02T20:57:00.000-05:00

We are a wrestling family. I guess that is inevitable with a bunch of boys. We LOVE wrestling. There is nothing better than spending the whole day at a gym full of stinky boys and whiny kids watching your kid get his face smeared into the mat. Ok, maybe there are a few more interesting things, but this comes in at a pretty close 2nd!

When Caden was 4, he was all set to wrestle a boy up in Virginia. We told him to put on his game face, so he went out there and growled at the boy as he shook his hand. The boy ran away crying and forfeited to Caden! Caden is a tough competitor. He is a scrawny, scrappy little wrestler. Usually both Joe and I are yelling, I mean encouraging, from the sidelines. We get very into it. I am sure that we are embarrassing parents, but they can never say that we don't support them in all that they do!

No Candy for You!

2009-10-01T19:51:00.000-05:00

I forgot all about this, but thank goodness I wrote it down on a scrap of paper and found it today in the bottom of my bag.
A couple of weeks ago we were grocery shopping and we finally got to the checkout. The kids had been so-so. Abigial kept asking to get out of the buggy to look at the candy and I kept telling her no. I was putting all the bagged groceries back into the buggy, and I heard her ask me, "Do you want me to be a happy girl?" I thought to myself, "Oh, she is so sweet, trying to be good." I told her that would be very nice. She then comes back with, "Well then, you better let me get a piece of candy." EXCUSE ME MISSY?!
I thought that kind of manipulativeness didn't come until they were teenagers. No candy for the next 10 years girl!

Friday Foto September 25,2009

2009-09-25T08:07:00.000-05:00

About 2 years ago we had a visit from some awesome friends. They were moving from Florida to Idaho and stopped by our house on the way. We let the kids stay up late because who knew when we would get to see them again. It was about 10:00 at night and they were out jumping on the trampoline. In the dark. Smart, I know. All of the sudden Caden comes screaming into the house with blood pouring down his face. We all started running around in circles and hollering. "What happened?!" All he could get out was Parker and my first thought is, "I'm gonna kill that kid." We start heading out the door to the emergency room and Parker comes thru the door with blood pouring down his face! The whole place is in an uproar as we are trying to figure out what in the world is going on!!
We jump into the van, while I, in true Erma Bombeck style, have a dirty dish rag wrapped around each kids head. We finally get out of them what happened. They were all in a big ball rolling around on the trampoline and Caden thought that it would be a great idea to tackle them. So he leaps as high and as hard as he can into the pile. Unbeknownst to him, Parker had the same great idea and leaped at the exact time into Caden's head.
I think that was a first for the doctor's and nurses at the ER. They even snickered a time or two. Parker required 8 stitches and Caden 12.
We don't have a trampoline anymore.

If this is what toddlerhood is like, I don't think we can handle teenagers.

2009-09-23T09:29:00.000-05:00

We always thought that Joseph or Parker would be the first of our kids to wreck one of our vehicles. Apparently we have bred a NASCAR driver without realizing it.
Yesterday Joseph had a dentist appointment so we were headed out to the school to pick up the kids early. I told Abigail and Jacob to pick up the blocks off the living room floor and I went upstairs to get Matthew out of his crib. I heard the front door open and Jacob head out to the van. (you knew his name was going to pop up, didn't you) I really didn't think too much of it because he does it all the time. I came downstairs with Matthew and looked out the front door and the van was not there. That struck me as odd for a half a second and then I came to my senses and screamed, "WHERE IS THE VAN?!" I looked closer and I saw it sitting among the trees down the hill. It was totally like a movie, running in slow motion. I ran screaming down the hill for Jacob and I could see him in the driver's seat crying. I had to climb over the fence and thru all the poison ivy and weeds. I could barely open the door because the fence was jammed up against the driver side door. I kept asking him, "What happened? What happened?" His only reply was, "The car. The car." There was not a scratch on the child. You would think that somebody standing in the drivers seat only holding on to the steering wheel, careening backwards, down the hill at probably 15 mph would have been flung around the car, but apparently he has superhuman strength and was able to hold on.

The best I can figure is a) He grabbed the keys out of the house and decided that he was going to start the car and be helpful, (yeah right!) or b) He grabbed the keys out of the house and decided that he was going to start the car and be mischievious. (yeah, that one sounds more like it!)
So I call Joe, because now I am in a huge predicament. I have 7 kids. There are not many vehicles that we can fit in. He doesn't answer. I am not really sure what I thought he would do at that precise moment anyhow. I am still thinking "got to get to the dentist on time" so I go slipping down the hill in the mud, crawl thru the van and pull out carseats and throw them in the truck. By this time I am dripping with sweat. We high tail it to the school where the boys are sitting in the front office waiting on me. Joseph looks at me like "why are you so late?" I just shoot him a look and say, "You have no idea." We get to the dentist only 10 minutes late where we explain very calmly why we are running late.

Later that evening when Joe got home, he got on the tractor and pulled it out of the woods, off the fence, and out of the mud.

Joe asked Jacob if he wrecked mama's car. Jacob looked very panic stricken and wouldn't answer. Joe asked him again and Jacob said, "No Sham." (that is how he says no, ma'm) Joe said, "Well, who did it?" Jacob replied, "Parker".

Joe said it is probably totaled. It will cost more to get it fixed than it is worth at this point. I was really hoping to get 300,000 miles out of it. I was almost there with 268,000.

This is where it came to rest up against 2 trees.

This is a view of the back side. It looks like an accordian. The metal is just rippled and the bumper is folded in half.

This is the back of the van. The back window busted and flew out into the woods. My beloved stroller survived!

This is a view of the house from where the van was sitting. That little person on the hill is Parker. This gives you an idea of how far it traveled.

We are driving my brother-in-law's suburban. Thank goodness for family with extra vehicles lying around!

IF this child survives to be a teenager, he will NEVER get his license. I can just hear the insurance company now....hmm, If he totaled a car at the age of 3, yep, let's push their rates thru the roof!

All in all, we are truly thankful that he is ok. As Joe put it, it is probably a lot like our Heavenly Father looks at us. We couldn't punish him, more than he had punished himself. We hugged him, kissed him, and told him we were so glad that he was ok. Along with NEVER GET IN THE VAN AGAIN! Heavenly Father loves us and forgives us for the really dumb stuff that we do.

Hopefully the insurance company will forgive us!

Run Chikin Run

2009-09-22T11:14:00.000-05:00

I have no excuse as to why I have waited almost 2 weeks to post about our race. It is not like our photographer didn't send us the pictures 2 days after the race. It may be because Joe beat me this time and I didn't want to admit it! ; ) Last weekend, Joe and I ran our 10K in preparation for our half marathon. It was sponsored by Chick-Fil-A, hence the name. The course followed along the greenway and went all thru the Battlefield. That was my favorite part. (I love history, especially the Civil War.) Least favorite part, dude that decided that 2 feet off the pathway was a great place to relieve himself. Seriously dude, I have to go too, but I waited until there was an actual bathroom.

I CANNOT figure out how to put pictures in order when I upload them, so we will start at the end. : )

Here we are right after the race replinishing ourselves with water, smoothies, and cookies.
Here we are at the start of the race, feeling great, looking great, and posing with the cow.

And here we have an awesome action shot of me right before I crossed the finish line! I would like to say that there was a bug that flew in my mouth, I had a stitch in my side, or sweat was running into my eyes. Truth is, I probably just look this goofy running!

My mom came down to watch us and to take pictures. She beat us there and she lives an hour away! Many thanks to her for coming and cheering us on and watching us sandwiched in between 586 other runners that she doesn't know, cross the finish line. It meant SO much to have someone there at the finish line cheering us on! She didn't get a picture of Joe crossing, because he was wearing a white shirt like 400 other runners and she didn't see him. He started pulling ahead the last mile and a half. I just didn't have it in me. As we came around the last corner, I saw people running around the lake crossing under the finish line. We both (and also a lot of other people) thought that the finish line would be right where we started, but we had to go around the lake to finish. Joe said he poured it on and then he got around the corner and about cried. He said he was so bummed when he didn't see the finish line where he thought it would be. Our official results:

Joe: 29 out of 39 in age group

347 out of 588

chip time: 1:02:59

pace: 10:04

Lisa: 32 out of 52 in age group

365 out of 588

chip time: 1:03:50

pace: 10:17

Not too bad. Just hoping we can actually run the entire race in a few weeks!

Many thanks to our nieces who babysit the younguns'. Couldn't have done it without you all!

Squirrel Huntin'

2009-09-20T17:53:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago it was "free" squirrel hunting day. (for those uninitiated folks, yes, you really do have to have a hunting license to hunt squirrels and yes, people really do eat squirrels!) The 3 big boys were off in different directions and so Joe took Gabriel hunting. Ever since he got a bb gun for his birthday he has been dying to go hunting. They went up into the woods and sat for several hours. Joe kept asking him if he was ready to go back to the house and he kept telling him, no he wasn't leaving until he got a squirrel. Alas, no squirrels, but a very happy little boy who got to sit in the trees with his dad for several hours one very beautiful sunny morning.

(no, you can't really hurt a squirrel with a bb gun, but Gabe doesn't know that!)

Mr. Vice-President

2009-09-19T09:32:00.000-05:00

Meet your new Vice President for the Middle School Student Body.

Caden is kind of like me in the sense that the less attention called to himself, the happier he is. That is why we were surprised when he told us he really wanted to run for vice-president. We set up shop one night making posters and coming up with clever slogans. He bought 2 big bags of candy to "encourage" votes and practiced the speech that his dad wrote for him. ; )

He got in the car on Friday with a sad look and I thought, "Oh man, he must have lost." All the sudden he busted up and started laughing. I won! I won! We don't know how many votes he got, but while we were at the football game last night, every kid that passed us said that they voted for him. He is a great friend to everybody. He always goes that extra step to make sure that everybody is included.

Congratulations Caden!

Friday Foto September 18, 2009

2009-09-18T08:22:00.000-05:00

Look at that hair! I'm not talking about Joe's either! Ok, in my defense, this was the early 90's. This is on our way to what was then known as Ricks. Joe and I had been dating for about 9 months. We were sitting at the airport waiting for our flight to leave. We met right after he came home from his mission. He laid rock with his grandpa, dad, and brothers to make money for college. Under those shirt sleeves are some awesome muscles! What a hunk. Man I am a lucky girl!

It's not easy being Sick around Here

2009-09-17T08:52:00.000-05:00

I have MANY posts to catch up on. I just figured that I would start with this one so as to explain the lateness of the others.

I woke up Sunday morning to an exclamation of "It is 8:00! What are you still doing in the bed?!" "I don't feel good, leave me alone." I mumbled back. Joe normally leaves around 9 for meetings and we have until 12:00 to get ready and out the door. He took off his suit and stayed home to play Mr. Mom while I slept the entire day away. I haven't felt that sick in a long time. Fever, body aches, sore throat. I figured I had strep throat. It is usually a yearly occurance for me. Every once in a while the bedroom door would open and someone would escape thru the crack before they were caught by dad or an older sibling. Abigail thought that I might get "sick" so I was brought a bowl and I woke up with that next to my head at one point. I found an extra blanket on me since I was cold. There was a lego airplane on the nightstand and 2 get well cards CRAMMED under my pillow. I had 6 water bottles, a cup of STRAIGHT lemon juice with some honey to sweeten it up, and a glass of gatoraide on the nightstand. I woke up once to detangler spray being sprayed in my face, because I had tangles and my hair needed to be fixed because, it was a mess. Once when Joe ran to get me some medicine, the hockey game in the living room got so loud and heated, that I had to drag myself out of bed to make sure there were no casualties. I drifted off to sleep that night thinking that (hoping that) this was just a bug and tomorrow would be another day.
Monday I went to the doctor and found out that it was indeed strep, and that I was also severely dehydrated. This sickness came on the heels of a 10K . So coupled with probably not drinking enough fluid while running, and definately not drinking while my throat hurt, that was not surprising. I picked up the prescription, and headed back home to make a tent with the couches and blankets for Abby and Jacob to watch tv in, stock the coffee table with an arsenal of tippy cups, bowls of cereal, granola bars, and fruit snacks, put Matthew in the bed, and crashed for a couple of hours in the tent with the kids. They were Very good, but it did look like a General Mills factory had exploded in the living room by the time that Joe got home. I went to get Parker, Caden, and Gabe from school later on and told them all what and who they were responsible for and fell back in the bed. At one point I heard someone screaming that they wanted, needed, demanded popcorn right now!!! I have never heard this child speak to anyone like this ever before. I sent word to him that he was to come to my room and he told his sibling he wasn't going until he had his popcorn. He had a serious whispering to and was told that he was going to get it when I felt strong enough to swing more than a shoelace. About 30 minutes later I was woken up by the exclamation of "Whew, she is still asleep." I then felt another note being shoved under my pillow. This one said: I im so sarey for throeng a fet mama (I am so sorry for throwing a fit mama). I drifted off yet again thanking his teacher for being so patient with his spelling. Later that night when Joe came home after the wrestling pickups, work drop offs, and stopping by the store so we would have something for dinner, I could hear the house being whipped into shape, and was feeling somewhat better. I ate a half a hamburger while the family entertained me with the tales of the day. Joe informed me that I really didn't look all that good and that I needed to be drinking more. I don't really enjoy chugging water, so I just sipped on some here and there. At around midnight I woke up SOAKING wet. My fever had broken and I was freezing because I was so wet. I went to the bathroom to change and literally scared myself to death. My hair was sticking up on end and my eyes were sunk back in my head with dark circles under them. I could have gone out for the part of The Wicked Witch of the West with no time in the makeup chair required. I figured I might need to drink some water. Tuesday morning found me feeling So much better. Joe and were in the bathroom getting ready and he made the comment, " Well, you did say that you needed a day away not to long ago..." I was thinking more along the lines of shopping, spending a couple of hours at the library with a good book, getting some lunch somewhere other than McDonalds, maybe even a pedicure. Better be more specific next time!

We are a family of walking Encyclopedia's

2009-09-11T09:25:00.000-05:00

Seriously, I couldn't make this stuff up.
Wednesday night we were coming home from church. It was already about 8:15 and the little ones were so tired. I told them as soon as we got home it was baths and bed. Joseph pretty much said it the same time I did. He then says, "Hey, I'm psychotic." I knew exactly what he meant to say, and I wasn't going to say anything although I was smirking to myself. Parker chimes in and says, "Dude, it is synthetic, not psychotic!" Psychic, boys. Although you all make me a little psychotic!
Somebody get us a set of encyclopedia's or something!

Friday Foto September 11, 2009

2009-09-11T08:20:00.000-05:00

Who is this?

Anybody that never knew Joseph, Parker, or Caden when they were younger, they aren't missing much. Just Kidding! What I meant was they each have a twin in the younger part of our family. Joseph's is Gabriel, Abigail is the female version of Parker, and Jacob looks a little like Caden. The ones that look the most alike are Joseph and Gabriel.

This is Joseph at about age 6 at the temple in Atlanta. They had a Primary activity day and we all traveled down to Atlanta, the closest temple at that time.
We tell Joseph quite frequently what an example he is to the younger children in the family. He is such a responsible, hardworking, and worthy young man. He has a burden to bear. Whatever he does there are 6 people following his every move. He knows that whatever his decisions are, the rest will base their lives on him. We are so thankful to have Joseph as our oldest son.

Friday Foto

2009-08-28T12:56:00.000-05:00

Several years ago at Thanksgiving, we were at Joe's grandparent's house for the day. His Pappy is an overalls man. I don't think that I have ever seen him in anything else other than on Sunday's. It just so happened that Gabriel and he were wearing overalls and a flannel shirt that day. They looked pretty cute together so we had to take a picture. His grandparents are wonderful "salt of the earth" people. They live so far back in the country, that you would never find their house. They were born and raised there. There is a barn at the back of their property that the kids play in all day long. The creek runs thru the field and the boys spend hours there fishing and rummaging. It is the perfect place for kids to play. Sadly, his grandma passed away this month. She was the sweetest lady that there ever was. We loved to visit with pappy and grandma.

A Streak of Bad Luck

2009-08-26T12:42:00.000-05:00

2 days ago a car that started acting funny.
1 day ago keys locked in the truck being used to replace the car that is acting funny.
Today a ticket for speeding in the truck being used to replace the car that is acting funny.
It does only come in groups of three's right?
Right??

An Epiphany....of sorts

2009-08-25T08:57:00.000-05:00

The kids have been back at school for 2 weeks now. I think that we have finally gotten back into the swing of things. It is definately hard being disiplined again. It is way funner staying up late, getting up late, going to the park, and playing outside, than getting up at 5:15 a.m., making sure that school lunches are made the night before, going to pick up kids from seminary, taking kids to school, etc.., all before 7:30, the hour we used to crawl out of bed.
The 2nd day of school, we ran errands and got back home around 11:30. We ate lunch, and I put Matthew down for a nap. I told Abigail and Jacob that it was resting time and layed them down to watch a movie. I was in the kitchen cleaning when I realized that it was way too quiet. I peaked around the corner and they were both fast asleep. I honestly stood there in shock for about 2 minutes. I didn't know what to do with myself. Gosh, I could read a book, take a nap myself, go lay on the hammock outside, the possibilites were endless. So after some deep contemplation, I did what any mother would do. I cleaned. I cleaned my room, the bathroom, did 3 loads of laundry, the kitchen, cleaned out the van, straightened up the living room, and cleaned the health hazard that is other wise known as the boy's bathroom. I put on my ipod, that I have NEVER listened to during the day, because I would miss hearing all the other noises that I would need to hear, I just cleaned to my hearts content. Now cleaning is not my past time of choice, but there comes a time when the EPA might come and declare your home unsuitable for human living so it has to be done. I was just amazed and astounded at how much I actually got done in 2 1/2 hours.
Which leads to my epiphany. I have always considered myself to be a productive person. I admire that trait in others. I don't really like to sit around and do nothing. I am happiest when I have put in a good long day and I am worn out at the end of it. But lately, my housekeeping skills have been seriously lacking. I just thought that I was being lazy. I came to the conclusion that maybe I am productive, I just have 7 (8 really ; ) ) people following me around daily, needing breakfast, lunch, supper, clean clothes, ironed clothes, favorite blankets that are MIA, tippy cups refilled, diapers changed, potty breaks, fights broken up, homework checked, chauffered to seminary, school, band practice, wrestling practice, work, orthodontist appointments, boo boo's bandaged, fights broken up, snuggle time, and play time. Cleaning time doesn't get much time. When something does get cleaned it usually gets uncleaned as soon as you are on to a different room. It was amazing to realize that when there is no one following you from room to room asking if they could have something to eat or would you please read me a story you actually get quite a lot done. Please do not read into this that I am sorry that I had children, so many of them, or that I wish that they would all take 7 hour naps each day! I love being a wife and mother. I would not change anything even if I could. It was just a nice little aha moment that I had. I know that one day, there will be no cereal on the floor, pledge sprayed into the DVD player, 2 loads of laundry a day, fingerprints on the windows that I just washed, pee on the toilet that I just washed, bicycles in my way as I drive up the driveway, toothpaste on my jeans because I leaned over too far on the sink where somebody dribbled brushing their teeth, and moldy sandwiches brought home in lunch boxes that sat in somebodies locker over the weekend. And I will probably cry. And then Joe and I will probably lock the doors and party!!

Friday Foto

2009-08-21T11:12:00.000-05:00

I am totally stealing this idea from my friend Becca. I think that it is so much fun to look back at pictures taken throughout the years, that I thought I would start this Friday tradition.

This picture was taken in 2005 when Parker was on the track team in middle school. It was our very first experience with track, and let me tell you, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. It was about 50 degrees that night. We thought, "Ok, we will go and watch the kids run and then go home." WRONG! This track meet lasted 3 hours. I had 2 babies in a stroller, no snacks packed, (because we were only going to be there for 30 minutes, I thought), no money for any snacks or supper, not enough warm clothes for the cool night. I was not a happy camper. I mumbled and grumbled about how ridiculous this whole event was for the duration of the time that we waited for Parker to run. Finally the time came! All the kids lined up at the starting line and waited for the signal. When Parker lined up beside Goliath, I thought, "There is no way that kid is in middle school!" He even had a mustache! We were cheering our hearts out for Parker. And you know what? He came in 2nd to last. We were ecstatic! We just knew for sure that he was going to get smeared into the track.

I love this picture because to me it shows the heart of a champion. He was not intimidated a bit by the beast running beside him.

Our 1st Official Get Off the Couch and Run Event

2009-08-16T20:37:00.000-05:00

I have never been a very athletic person. Ok, ok, I couldn't make a basket, hit a ball, or run around the track if my life depended upon it. I have been so inspired by some awesome friends within the past year though. They started out running 5K's and then went on to bigger and better things. I envied them. Never in a million years could I go about running a distance longer than from the house to the car. They both moved and I kept up with their running adventures. They motivated me without even knowing it. I decided one day that I was going to get up off the couch and try to lose those last #'s of baby weight. Unfortunately when I had Matthew he was not a 50# baby. When I started, I would run down the driveway. Our driveway is 1/2 mile long, downhill. I couldn't even make it halfway, before I thought I was dying. Eventually, I could go farther, and farther, until one day I ran all the way to the main road and back. 4 1/2 miles! I felt like I had completed the Boston Marathon. I whooped and hollered all the way up the hill. Eventually Joe decided that he would get up off the couch and run with me. I had been running for 6 weeks and he was already faster than me!

I signed us up for a 5K, 10K, and a half marathon. Saturday was our 5K. Before June 15th, I had NEVER run even 1/2 mile. I went in with a goal to come in under 30 minutes. I would be satisfied with 29:59. We took Joseph along to be a photographer, but I forgot the camera! He took this picture of us once we got home.

The official results:
Lisa: chip time: 29:56

gun time: 31:11

pace: 9:40

9th in age group out of 39

359 out of 624 runners

Joe: chip time: 30:43

gun time: 31:59

pace: 9:55

26th in age group out of 41

397 out of 624 runners

I DID IT!! I think that I am officially hooked. It was so much fun! I know that I will never be a speed racer, but I am happy that I set a goal and was able to obtain it. We have become healthier eaters, and better exercisers. Even the kids have entered races and are begging us to do a Labor Day race together. I never thought at the age of 36 that I would be running in a "real" race. Those people always looked so intimidating, so sure of what they were doing. Little did I know that "I Can Do Hard Things, Too"!

My Dirty Little Secret

2009-08-15T13:02:00.000-05:00

I do 2 loads of laundry a day. I am usually pretty good at keeping up with it. I have finally, after 16 years developed a system that works great for me. The only problem I have is socks. They seem to multiply like rabbits around here. I don't fold socks. They get thrown into a basket, that gets hauled around from room to room. When somebody needs a pair, they go to the basket, fling socks around and try to find a match. Right now it is sitting in my room next to the door. Occasionally we will have a "sock folding party". I will buy a big bag of M&M's or skittles and however many pairs of socks a person folds, that is how many pieces of candy they will get. I am embarrassed to say that everybody usually ends up with about 75-100. How can one family own that many socks?! Today as I was getting ready in the bathroom, I heard Matthew coming. I figured it would be any minute and I would have to run him out of the bathroom. A few minutes later I realized he had gotten preoccupied with something and I poked my head around the corner to see what it was. He was happily flinging socks onto the floor, rooting around in there for some treasure. He thought it was so funny.

Mount Sockmore.

The Difference is Amazing

2009-08-11T08:05:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Abigail was having a very hard day. Her brothers were the "rudest, meanest boys ever". I have never really had a whole lot of sympathy for her because well, I never had any sisters, just a whole bunch of stinky brothers and I lived and survived. Yesterday I felt bad for her though. She just sobbed and sobbed as she laid on my bed telling me she had no sisters, therefore no best friends. I tried to tell her that one day she would have sisters, she would just have to wait quite a while. That is one of the great advantages of having so many brothers and marrying into a family of boys, you eventually get 8 sisters! I don't think that the pep talk helped that much though.

Later that morning my one of sister in laws came over and we ended up swapping kids for the day. Abigail went home with her to girl utopia and I kept her 2 boys. My sis in law said that she had SO much fun. Even though her girls are quite a bit older they play with Abigail so well. They swam, played all day, watched a movie, snuggled and in general there were no stinky boys to pester them. At my house it was a different story all together.......

I am used to boys. I grew up with boys and I have a few of my own. Testoserone runs quite thick here at our house. There is something different about having 6 boys as opposed to having 8 boys in your house for the day. It seems like the ante is upped quite a bit. The need to outdo each other is severe. I looked out the window at one point (well I looked out because I wanted to know what the crashing sound was) and I found this..

There is just something wrong with this picture. They are in 4 layers of clothes, scarfs, gloves, hats, oh and the very important spiderman mask. One might ask what they are doing. Did we have a cold snap? No the thermometer outside said 97 degrees in the shade! They were killing wasps. In order to perform this crazy feat one must be covered in as many clothes as possible to deflect the wasps stingers. Hands and faces must also be covered and then you take a stick, tennis racket, or any other such device and whack away. I hollered out to them to STOP hitting my gutters and were they a bunch of idiots? The reply was, "but don't you want us to kill the wasps before they sting you mom?" Funny thing is when they are sent out to mow or weed eat, it is just WAY TO HOT to be out there mom. We might get heat stroke or something. I came back inside to make supper to find the microwave door taped shut. Wha??

I took them over to the park to play their new found passion, frisbee golf. They don't play it like the other teams though. Oh, they try to make it into the goal like everybody else, but when they get to the pond, they all jump in to try and find abandoned frisbees. They came out of the woods soaking wet and hollering like banshees. Did we come prepared to go swimming? Of course not. They all stripped down to their underwear in the car and sat on their shirts. Let me tell you, the smell was nasueating.

When we hit the driveway, they all fall out of the van and have to race each other to the house. In their underwear. Later one of my nephews comes into the kitchen and asks one his cousins to smell his armpits to see if he needs deodorant. The consensus was a resounding yes, and after deodorant was applied he handed it back. Um, thats ok, you can take that one home with you.
There were many contests held throughout the day. The need to out burp, out run, out shoot, out ride, out eat, out poot, out pee yes really, out drink, out yell, and out play each other is vitally important in the world of a boy.

At the end of the day the dishwasher was filled with 29 cups, the washer held 2 loads of laundry from the wasp killing spree, (because you know if it is 97 degrees outside and you are wearing 4 layers of clothes, they are going to be very rank), we had gone thru 4 gallons of koolaid, eaten a 3# box of spaghetti noodles accompianed by 2 jars of sauce supplemented with a couple of jars of tomato sauce, eaten a salad with 2 heads of lettuce, numerous tomatoes and cukes from the garden and a loaf of bread.
Abigail came home with a smile on her face, her hair just as nice as it was when she left, and a strawberry smoothie in her hand lovingly prepared for her by her big cousin. I sent back home 2 sweet boys who smelled like arm pits and dirt. I missed my girl. She adds a little sparkle and femininty to our house that I never realized before. I won't take it for granted any more.

A Day at the Park

2009-08-07T20:53:00.000-05:00

Today we found a new spot to play. I know that it has been around for a little while, but we just happened upon it today. We took a picnic lunch and played games under the big gazebo. Man was it hot though!

These pictures are out of order. I don't know how to move them. This happened on the way home. Parker stuck his swimming trunks over his head. Um, the leg of his swimming trunks. Yeah, pretty tight fit. Why? Because that is what Parker does. We were laughing SO hard. It took him a good 5 minutes to get them back off his head.

The pretty waterfalls that the boys were dying to play in.

Jacob chasing the ducks. Run for your life ducks!

I am going to be SO sad when the boys start school next week. I really like having them at home during the summer. I love the freedom, the sponteneity, and the laziness of summer. I love to be able to play outside all day and stay up late watching old movies and tv shows. Sadly that will all end next week. Real life awaits us. 5:00 will see us bright and early getting ready for seminary and school. I will have to send my helpers away. I can't believe I have a junior, sophomore, a 7th grader, and a 1st grader! Just a few more years and I will have a kindergartener along with a missionary and college student! Ah, where does the time go?

Where do You Want to Live?

2009-07-18T18:23:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Gabriel asked me if I could live anywhere in the world, where would it be. I told him wherever he lived. He then replied that I had better get ready to move into Walmart, because he was going to live there with the salty chips. Dang. I should've said Australia.

Progress so Far

2009-07-16T10:19:00.001-05:00

Disclaimer: Potty talk ahead.
So we have been potty training. Tuesday went great. No accidents. Wednesday went great. No accidents, but a much needed trip to town with extra underwear and shorts had to be made. As we get ready to leave I tell everybody to go to the bathroom. Abby went inside of course. Gabe decided he would use the pee tree. (I should explain. We live in the woods with lots of trees. One in particular, has a hole in it down at the base. If you, ahem, aim just right and hit the hole, then on the other side of the tree is another hole and it comes out the other side. Hence the name "The Pee Tree" has stuck. Every boy in our house uses it. ) So since Gabe used the tree, Jacob had to use the tree. Which is fine really, if all you are going to do is pee. See where I am going? I come outside with Matthew to put him in his carseat, and Jacob is standing there naked of course (why do kids have to disrobe to use the bathroom?). He is pointing and saying, "nasty." I go closer to look and realize at this point that he has not quite gotten the whole concept of the potty training. You only pee on the tree. Not the other.
Abigail looked down and said in her VERY southern twang (if you haven't heard her talk, it will crack you up), "oh, dad is not going to be impressed."
Ok, everybody cleaned up, washed up, and packed up. On to town. Many errands to run. I forget already that Jacob in is underwear and so after we run into Hancock's and run into Mama Mary ; ) we get into the car and he says he has to go. Everybody is already in the car so we "mark our territory" in the parking lot like we have done about 345 other times with numerous boys in our family. On to the dreaded Walmart. We get into the store and Abigail and Jacob have to go. Have you ever tried to manuever one of those obnoxious monstrosities into the bathroom, with 4 children hanging on/off/in the shopping cart? We barely make it thru the door to then wait in line, behind people who have never had children and CANNOT believe that you would bring your children into a store with you, much less the bathroom. We wait in line pleasantly and use the bathroom, once again disrobing in the stall. Wash our hands, use 15 yards of paper towels and crush the trash can behind the door on our way out. On to get the 5 things that we had to come all the way into town for. Man, do I miss those big helpers of mine!
We get home make supper, eat, play, get ready for baths, and he pees in his underwear as he walks into the bathroom. Perfect timing. I am not going anywhere today!

It's that Time...

2009-07-13T09:46:00.000-05:00

You know it's potty training time when your 3 year old brings you wipes and a diaper and tells you he has "pee pees" on. I really don't like potty training. To be honest, I don't know of anybody who likes it. It will be nice to only have one child in diapers though. Wish us luck!

Red Head

2009-07-11T11:05:00.000-05:00

Have you ever seen a cuter red headed, blue eyed, freckle faced little girl? I admit I am a little biased, but they don't get much cuter. ; )

When she was born, they handed her to me and the first thought that I had was, "this is not my baby. My babies are born bald." She had red hair with golden highlights at the tips. The nurses just oohed and ahhed over it. To be totally honest, I was not thrilled. I wanted her to look like the boys. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Now, I am in love with it. If I could get my hair to be that color, I would do it in a heart beat.

Scout Camp Here We Come

2009-07-11T07:48:00.000-05:00

This has been a long awaited day around here. (not for me, but for them) I have seriously heard EVERY SINGLE DAY for the past 6 months, how excited they are and how awesome this day will be.
They headed out bright and early this morning. They went to sleep in their clothes last night so they would be ready to jump in the truck this morning. I am so glad that they are excited about scouts. I am going to miss these boys. Life will very dull and VERY quiet around here. Joseph and Parker won't be back for 2 weeks. After scout camp they will be headed to the Appalachian Trail for a 6 day, 65 mile hike. In bear country. Nothing like hearing those words to put fear in a mother's heart. Those same exact words ellicit cheers and excitement from teenagers who have no sense.

Last Day

2009-07-10T13:05:00.000-05:00

This was the last day that the boys would be home for a while so I decided to get all the work out of them that I could. I mean, we needed to go and spend time together and pick some blueberries. ; ) We had such a good time and ended up with enough blueberries to last for several months. (that is quite a bit for our family!) I think that Gabe, Abby, Jacob, and Matthew ate more than they put in any bucket.

Parker was our photographer for the day. We had all sorts of pictures taken!

I turned around once and Matthew was chewing on the branches trying to get more berries.

Sharing secrets.

Everybody had to try their skills at the jungle gym.

Gabriel

Caden

Parker

Joseph He has gotten so tall that his head was dragging the ground!

This was Jacob by the end of the day. Blueberry picking is exhausting work!

Funny happenings:

Joseph heard once or twice that he was, "not the charge of this blueberry patch."

The boys concluded that even though we were the largest family there at that time, we were probably the most well behaved.

It is NOT a good idea to let the baby eat as many blueberries as he wants even though they are good for him. The resulting diaper later that night will be blue.

Exhausted

2009-07-03T22:33:00.000-05:00

This week we have our wonderful friends from Virginia down to visit. They have 2 children so combined with ours it has been very busy around here. Jacob went to bed late last night and woke up way too early this morning. By 5:00 this evening he was rubbing his eyes and running into the walls. We took our company out to eat and Joseph and Parker babysit for us. When they said the prayer for supper, they said that Jacob was unusually reverent. After a minute they looked at him and he was sound asleep.

This boy plays hard!

Sassy Girl

2009-06-26T17:39:00.000-05:00

Abigail has a sassy mouth. She probably comes by it naturally. I have been known to smart off a time or two (maybe 200) when somebody does something that I think is uncalled for. I am a big believer in justice. My mouth has gotten me into trouble before.
Abigail sasses anybody around here though. She will tell the boys when they are babysitting that "they are NOT the charge of this house". One day she wanted more milk in her cereal and Joe told her that she had enough and she told him "you are not the charge of this house, mom is." A couple of days later she was in the kitchen and he told her to run out and play and she said, "you're not the charge of this whole world." Getting bigger and better huh? He laughs. I tell him he WILL NOT be laughing when she is 16 and she tells him he is not the charge.

Well, the other day she wouldn't quit bugging her brother and I told her to stop and she said, "you're not the charge of anything."

Her sassy little mouth got put in the bed for a LOOOOONG nap. If I had more than 1 girl I honestly don't know what I would do with myself!

Triathalon

2009-06-20T10:11:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I took Gabe and Abby to the Old Fort Parkway for a triathalon (of sorts). They had to run, bike, and swim (actually running thru the sprinklers) down the sidewalk behind the playground. It was so much fun and a great experience for them to do something together.
This is Gabriel at the starting line.
And she's off!

This is at the winner's podium where they received their trophies. They were SO excited. They had no idea that they would be getting them.

This is a shot of them posing in their Small Fry Tri t-shirts. Even though Abby looks mad at the world, she isn't. She doesn't like to smile for the camera.

It was So much fun. We will definately be back next year.

(if a real triathalon involved running thru a sprinkler, I might, just might be able to do one!)

Country Boy

2009-06-17T19:02:00.000-05:00

This is what I found the other morning when I looked outside. The owner of these pajamas and diaper was having a grand ole time playing outside and peeing on the trees. All I have to say is it is a good thing that we live in the middle of nowhere, because I know we would have angry neighbors calling us to inform us that our son was out using their bushes as his own personal bathroom. (plus we are so loud and obnoxious that we would be kicked out of a subdivision)

Birthday Baby

2009-06-12T17:19:00.000-05:00

My baby is one! I absolutely cannot believe that time has flown so fast. I can remember being in the hospital missing my other children and so thankful that I had the one on one time with Matthew before he was slobbered and smooched on by everyone else.
We could not figure out what to name him. With everyone of our other kids we had a name picked out by the ultrasound. This time we just couldn't pick one out. He was born and 2 days later the nurses were bugging us to death for a name. We had listed names that we like on the white board on the wall in the hospital. We had Jackson, Porter, a few others, and then Matthew. Joe threw that one in at the last moment. I said, "Matthew? Where did that one come from?" He said, "I don't know. It just came to me." One of the nurses came in later and asked if this was nameless Pennington. We laughed and said yes, and she told us we ought to let him pick out his name. She said that we ought to call him by each one listed and if he responded to one, that would be it. We laughed and said lets give it a shot. We went thru all of them and lo and behold when I said Matthew he opened his eyes and grunted. We looked at each other, said it again and he had the same response. Matthew it was. The boys think that it is no fair that he got to pick out his name when they didn't.

Matthew Wells Pennington
June 12, 2008
10:40 a.m.
8'2" 21" long

Now better known in our house as Datchew, and Choo Choo.

Boy was he a chunk!

Parker thought that he needed a little snack on the way home one day.

My boys minus Parker. Man am I lucky!

He enjoyed his birthday cupcake. He picked off the icing and threw it on the floor. After his bath he promptly threw up all over the clean towel he was wrapped up in.

Happy birthday Matthew! We are so blessed to have you in our family.

Boy's Trip

2009-06-10T18:23:00.000-05:00

Every year, Joe, his dad, uncles, brothers, nephews, cousins, and sons go on their annual "Float Trip". This year, only Joseph and Caden were able to go with all the uncles and grandpa. I dropped them off yesterday morning at the Duck river. They have been talking and packing for weeks about this trip. What could be more fun for a teenager than to float down the river and fish for 4 days? I was afraid that they were not going to fit in their boats because they had SO much stuff. I was also afraid that they were not going to have enough food. I think that I packed enough for 5 grown men and still I was worried. I asked Joseph if he thought that they had enough or should I run to the store. He gave me this look as if to say, "Are you insane mom?" He informed me that they probably have more food than all the grown men. I told him it was a mothers job to worry.

This is Caden with his cousin Lee and grandpa heading off down the river. I had to run back up to the van to get the camera because he wanted a picture of them heading down the river.

Joseph and his cousin Lani headed out in their canoe while everyone else was still packing up their boats. They thought that they would try fishing along the bank. About 10 minutes later Joseph hollers at me to take a picture of the first catch of the day. He caught a big cat. I had to run down the trail to get this picture.

This is Joseph and his cousin heading out.

Caden and grandpa heading out. Notice the cooler in the innertube floating behind them. Genius!

I am so glad that my boys have this opportunity to be with their dad, uncles and grandpa. They are such good men. They are wonderful examples to them. I know that they will always look back on these summers and remember them fondly. Hopefully one day (A long time from now!) they will have the chance to take their boys on the annual float trip.

Ninja Turtle

2009-06-06T08:08:00.000-05:00

Have you ever found something in a spot that just absolutely bewilders you and makes you laugh?
I was getting gas this morning on my way to take the big boys to a merit badge clinic. After I was finished pumping the gas, I tried to close the door to the gas tank and it kept getting stuck. I looked down in there and this is what I found..........

This ninja turtle came with the movie that I got for Jacob when he got tubes put in his ears. I guess he was our "protection" today.

Sleepyheads

2009-06-03T19:30:00.000-05:00

Matthew eating a snack. (Yes, I really ought to put the cover back on his highchair after I wash it) Jacob sitting in timeout for who knows what reason this time.
I promise we didn't keep him in there for hours! Obviously it was pretty close to nap time.

Funny thing is, Joseph was watching the little ones both times this happened. I think that he put something in their tippy cups!

A Day of Rest? Yeah Right!!

2009-06-03T18:54:00.000-05:00

This morning we headed out bright and early to the surgi-center for Jacob to have tubes put in his ears. I have always felt that one of the reasons that he does not speak well, is that he cannot hear. We had him tested and sure enough, his ears were filled with fluid. I know that this probably sounds horrible, but I was glad that they were finally going to put tubes in after a year and a half. Not that I wanted him to be in any pain, but if your head is under the water in a swimming pool all the time and people are talking to you, you cannot hear them! That is what it was like for him. Now that the fluid is drained, we really hope that will improve his speech. (along with his listening!)

He did great. He headed back with the nurse in a little wagon and just waved. Mom cried of course. It was over in less than 30 minutes and boy was he mad when they brought him to us. They told us that he would be sleepy today and just want to lay around and relax. Mom's translation: Yes! I will be able to get a TON of stuff done around the house while he relaxes on the couch with his big brother! Wrong!! There is nothing normal about this kid. This is what he did for about 3.5 minutes when he got home.

THIS... is what he did for the remainder of the day. This is his normal everyday attire. I had him in nice comfortable pajamas to relax in. I bought him a new movie, snacks, and his brothers were all jockeying for the chance to lay down with him and snuggle in leiu of doing their chores today. He stripped down to his diaper, (nope, not potty trained yet) and got into the stash of candy on dad's desk. This is about the 5th lollipop that I caught him with. He spent the day playing outside, tormenting his sister, hitting his brothers, and sitting in the corner for quite a while.

A day of rest? Not around here!

Kindergarten Graduation

2009-05-27T15:53:00.000-05:00

Gabriel graduated from kindergarten this morning. You would have thought that it was high school as emotional as I got. He had the BEST teacher. We love her so much. She is getting married and moving to Louisiana this summer so Abigail will not have the opportunity to have her. I think that is why I was so sad. She was so sweet to Gabe. She taught him things that I had struggled with for MONTHS! He is reading now and he struggled at the beginning of the year with his letters so much. Gabriel receiving his diploma from the principal.

He told me that he was so nervous and embarrassed to walk up there in front of all those people. (He gets that from me and my brothers. The less attention focused on us the better.) He said, "Mom, I was so nervous, but I faced my fears and got up there." So cute!

Possum Boy

2009-05-24T23:34:00.000-05:00

On Mother's Day, the whole family came over and we had a wonderful time visiting and eating. They brought some company with them.

Joe's brother Ronnie found some baby possums and they brought them up for all the grandkids to play with. They were so cute. Gabriel mustered the courage to hold one and then wouldn't let anybody take it from him.

Mother's Day

2009-05-24T22:34:00.000-05:00

For Mother's Day this year I received beautiful roses from Joe. Unfortunately I didn't think to take any pictures.
This "flower" was presented to me by Jacob. He was outside after we got home from church and brought me this beautiful flower. I think that it is the most beautiful weed I have ever seen.

Bedtime

2009-05-24T22:09:00.000-05:00

"Mom, I have a crick in my neck."

Now that he is mobile, I never know what postion I will find him in.

BB's, Baby beds, and Bargains

2009-04-25T11:24:00.000-05:00

I am having an issue with my camera card. I sat down to post about a month ago and all the pictures that I had taken, would not upload to my computer. I was so frustrated. That put my blogging on hold for a while and then one thing led to another and I let a whole month slip away.

It is the end of school and we have been so busy with programs, field trips, 3 band concerts, banquests, picnics, graduations, etc...

I have not been good at reading or commenting on anybody's either. I would get on and feel guilty that mine was not current so I stopped reading everybody elses for a while also.

To all my friends/family:

Congratulations on finding out you are pregnant, finding out what it is, and having your sweet babies.

Congratulations to those who have run marathons, had adoptions finalized, had adoptions moved along a little further, had birthdays, anniversaries, graduated from college, completed another semester in college, and gotten new jobs.

My most heartfelt thanks to those that protect and serve our country and their families that sacrifice so much as they are away.

My deepest sympathies to those who have lost loved ones and had dissapointments in your lives.

You all inspire me, and motivate me.
Please forgive my lack of communication lately!

On to the post!

I have boys. A lot of them. They are rough and rowdy. One of their favorite things to do is shoot each other. (We live in the country. And we hunt. I am sorry if that offends anybody, that is just who we are.) : ) My boys have airsoft guns. They think that it is great fun to dress up in camo and try to see how many welts they can put on each other. In order to support their habit, I bought 2 big cans of b-bs. 20,000 to be exact. On this same day, we were upstairs busy putting up Matthew's new crib and I hear this great big whooshing sound. (You all may think at this point, that I never watch Jacob. He is the fastest thing since lightning. I need a collar that beeps if he gets more than 5 ft. away from me. He can get into more trouble in 2 minutes than most kids can in 3 days. But I digress.) It was the sound of 20,000 b-bs being poured onto the floor. Have you ever seen 20,000 b-bs on the floor? It is not pretty. The boys had a fit. They did not want to clean them up. Parker's solution was to just vacuum them up. ABSOLUTELY NOT! Those things cost money. It takes a LONG time to pick up that many b-bs. They have since been moved to higher ground!

Poor Matthew has been sleeping in a port-a-crib since he was born. He recently started waking up and demanding a 2 o'clock feeding in the middle of the night. We looked and looked for a while and finally found a really nice crib on craigslist. (It is my fav. place) I found a super nice crib, with the bedding for $150. I got him down to $125. I LOVE to bargain. I figure I saved around $300. I also got the boys a new basketball goal on craigslist for $50. We just threw it in the back of the truck and hauled it home.

So does anybody know how to fix a camera card that does not want to cooperate?

Would you hire this photographer?

2009-04-15T10:38:00.000-05:00

This is what I found on the camera this morning. You gotta wonder what goes thru that boys head sometimes!

Teenagers think they know Everything

2009-04-13T17:53:00.000-05:00

Today as we were in the car coming home from school, the boys were commenting on everybody at school and where they had been durning last Friday's tornado. Had we been at our house, we would have had a grand view. We have a view of the whole valley that the tornado passed right thru. The boys were saying, "Oh, we would have been on the porch taking pictures". I was telling them, "No way, you would have been down in the laundry room with everybody else". Parker said, "Well, I would have just used a long stethoscope and looked around the corner". We were all dying laughing at him and Joseph said, "It's not a stethoscope, it called a horoscope". At that we about fell over laughing.

I am pretty sure it is called a periscope boys.

My Best Friend

2009-04-13T11:51:00.000-05:00

This is how I found Gabe and Abby one afternoon. They fell asleep in the car while we were running errands. When we got home, I put them on the couch to continue their nap. I had put them on opposite ends, but when I walked thru the living room later this is what I found. So sweet!

They love each other so much. Gabriel especially loves Abigail. He will do anything for her. He gives her anything she wants, and does her jobs for her when she says she is "too tired". He is an Awesome big brother!

Storms are Scary

2009-04-10T18:13:00.000-05:00

Today the kids had off from school for Good Friday. We needed to run several errand in town. Post Office, shoe store, (poor Joseph just informed me that his church shoes were a size 8. He now wears a size 11 1/2!), buckets at Lowes, you get the picture. A very busy, but productive day. We were just leaving Fleet Feet when my personal storm tracker (my sweet mother-in-law) called telling me that a tornado was heading for our house in about 20 minutes. Well, it takes 20 minutes to get home from town so I thought, hmmm, where can I go with 7 children that will be safe in town? Walmart was the closest place so we pulled in as the storm approached. We each grabbed a little one and raced into the store as the storm got closer. We dallied around and just thought that we would kill about 30 minutes and then head back out on our merry little way.

I was in the process of getting some photos printed off when they told everybody to go to the middle of the store, because the storm was upon us. I questioned the lady if that was the safest place. Wouldn't the back be better? She assured us it was, so I gathered up everybody and we headed to the middle of the store. I might add that our Walmart is under renovation and is a TOTAL DISASTER!!. The aisles are too close for two buggies to pass by each other, but that made for a good spot for our family to bunker down in. We had our priesthood holder say a prayer for us : ) and we just waited. We could hear the rain and wind, but it didn't seem to be all that bad. After a little while the "Easter bunny" came by and gave all the kids candy, which I thought was a great idea to settle them down. Now I have to brag that my kids did exceptionally well for sitting between the boxer briefs and hanes socks for over an hour. I am truly thankful that they were not at school or at home by themselves. It makes me feel so much better when they are all with me.

Just a side note about the people that we were around. When we were first told to gather in the middle, everybody was crashing shopping carts and one lady in a wheelchair/shopping cart was freaking out! She was crashing into everybody exclaiming, "They tell us to go here, they tell us to go there! I can't move! AAGGHH!!" All I was thinking was, get me away from her. She will be freaking out and yelling the whole time! I have to say, there was nobody around us either. (I wonder why?!)

After about an hour they told us that we could move and we headed back to the very back of the store, where we were at when the storm came upon us, and what do I see? ALL the Walmart employees coming out of the back! I KNEW THE BACK WOULD BE SAFER!!!

Anyway, we got soaked racing to the car and the tornado missed our house. It however did not miss the area right down the road from the very place we thought would be safe. From what we can tell the tornado passed RIGHT OVER Walmart. I am so very thankful that we were safe.

I am so thankful for the 51 phone calls that I got in Walmart. (yes I went back and counted them) I am so thankful for the wonderful example of my sons and that they hold the priesthood. I am thankful that our house was spared. There are many that were not. Friends from the community with a son that has cerebral palsy lost their house. I am thankful that Heavenly Father kept us safe.

I really do not like tornados.

Sometimes my life is a little busy

2009-04-01T08:05:00.000-05:00

You would think that I would have noticed something this obvious, but apparently not. Thank goodness I did not have to go into town, just to pick up the kids from school. Still, I think that along with checking to make sure that I have all the kids in the car when I leave, I think I need to add checking to make sure my shoes match, to the list.

Puzzling Questions

2009-03-31T10:24:00.000-05:00

This morning as I was taking the kids to school, Gabriel asks from the back seat, "Hmm, I wonder why they call them sixlips? There are eight in a pack."
What? Where in the world did that come from?

When you can't find the 2 year old, it ALWAYS means trouble.

2009-03-25T08:22:00.000-05:00

Sunblock (brand new bottle)

Baby Powder (those ARE BLUE jeans)

Yesterday was such a beautiful day. We had the windows and doors open. Kids running thru the house. It was great. All of the sudden I realized that Jacob hadn't been around for about 10 minutes. Everybody went on a hunt for him. I found him when I saw an open van door. I rounded the corner to the van and an overwhelmingly smell hit me in the face. Baby powder. A Lot of baby powder. As Joseph said, it could have been worse. It could have been the contents of his diaper. The seats, the floor, my wallet, the carseats, and especially him, were covered.
It reminded me of the time when Joseph and Parker were about 8 and 6 and they had these guns that you cocked and they popped when you shot them. One day I walked upstairs to a storm of baby powder. You could barely see thru the haze. They had filled the barrels of the guns with powder and shot them. I think that they had seen a western and were reenacting. Powder is a lot easier to clean up than sunblock however.

This morning I woke up to cries of, "Jacob is white! He dumped out the sunblock!" Jacob can crawl out of his bed. Usually I hear him tromp down the stairs, but this morning I was sleeping hard. It was about 6:45 and Gabe and Abby were already up and watching t.v. I was trying to get a little more shut eye.

I came racing into the kitchen, and sure enough he is fingerpainting with a very aromatic white liquid all over the computer desk. Lovely. The whole desk smells like sunblock no matter how much I scrub.

As I sit here typing I have this urge to kick off my shoes and run my toes thru the sand. I wish I were at the beach right now.

Abigail Grace

2009-03-21T19:30:00.000-05:00

Abigail gave a talk on Sunday about family responsibilities. She did a great job. This is a picture of her before church with her "freaky" hairdo.

Jacob had to get in on the action too.

Muscle Man

2009-03-21T19:21:00.001-05:00

Someone has been working out in his spare time. Joseph will be SO jealous of those muscles!

Kids Say the Darndest Things

2009-03-10T10:41:00.001-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, Gabriel had a Circus day at school. The parents could come and listen to their kids read and enjoy snacks. When we were sitting at the table with Gabe, I was asking him who certain kids were in his class. When I asked him who the kid was in the green shorts he said, "His name is Ben. You know like a hot dog ben". ; )

Last Sunday I was fixing Abigail's hair. I put it up in pigtails and flipped it thru the ponytail holders. It was so cute, but apparently she wasn't too fond of the look. She said, "I don't like it! I look like a freak!" (that is courtesy of her big brothers)

One day Gabriel was "riding" his bike. He had on all the necessary paraphenalia, ie. helmet, pads. He said, "I can ride any board. Skateboard, surfboard, boogieboard, snowboard, because I am a frofessional board rider!"

One morning I was nursing Matthew and Jacob came and sat down beside me. He looked over at Matthew and pulled up my shirt and exclaimed, "No Datchew, No bite mama!"

This morning, Gabriel and Abigail had crawled into our bed and they were talking to Joe while I was pretending to be asleep. For some reason the topic of Christmas came up and Gabriel said, "You know what I want for Christmas dad?" Joe said, "No, what is it?" Gabriel said, "I want my big boy teeth." Joe asked him if he had lost any baby teeth and Gabriel said no. Gabriel said, " I want big boy teeth because baby teeth are for weenies". (another one courtesy of the big brothers)

This week a cat has shown up at our house. I love it. Joe, not so much. He is not an animal lover. If it doesn't come in the house, shed fur, and generally make a nuisance of itself I am ok with it. The reason I love it is because we live in the woods. The woods have mice. Get the picture? We have not figured out if it is a boy or girl. The kids were talking and trying to figure out a name. Gabriel said, "Well, we will just wait and see if it has kittens or puppies and then we will know if it is a boy or girl"!

"Twins"

2009-03-10T08:01:00.001-05:00

Gabriel honestly thinks that I can't tell them apart when they wear these pajamas. Jacob throws a fit when he can't wear them because they are in the wash. This will be the closest thing that I will get to having twins!

Lessons Learned

2009-03-06T09:55:00.000-06:00

Below is a list of lessons that we learned on Wednesday. Hopefully they will be remembered and not repeated.

1. When it is 5:00 and mom is in her sweats making supper and receives a phone call stating that her YM are supposed to be on the other side of the county in 1 hour, it is not going to happen.

2. When mom freaks out and tells, (ok, yells) for everybody to GET READY NOW! she really does mean it.

3. When you stand outside and throw snowballs at the van and generally goof off when you are supposed to be putting brothers and sister in the car while mom is trying to get dressed, you will get yelled at.

4. When mom tells you not to get off the porch because you will get mud all over your shoes and you get off the porch and get mud all over your shoes, mom will throw them on the porch and you will go to church in your socks.

5. When you try to knock the snowman over with a limb off the tree and get a really big splinter in your hand and it requires further time from mom to get it out she will probably not be very gentle. (sorry J)

6. 2 year olds DO NOT know why a sidewalk is cordoned off.

7. Their mom however does.

8. NO amount of yelling will stop the 2 year old from running to the ONLY door we ever go in at the church, thus running thru the JUST POURED wet cement.

9. It is VERY hard to run while in heels across the dark yard, which is not grass but mud due to the machinery, carrying a baby in his carseat.

10. That sidewalk workers do have a sense of humor (as this probably happens more times than they can count).

11. Your 5 year old will interupt New Beginnings just as you have sat down at the front of the chapel to play the piano.

12. It will not be good news.

13. Cabinets will fall on 2 year olds if they climb up them.

14. The doors will break off.

15. He will sustain many bruises, bumps, and be afraid of the cabinet for the next 2 .5 minutes.

16. He will attempt to climb the same cabinet that tried to kill him 15 minutes later.

17. The 8 month old baby can eat 5 crackers in the pew and make it look like a whole box of Ritz crackers exploded.

18. New Beginnings will be interupted just once more from the 5 year old informing EVERYBODY that the 2 year old has a piece of paper in his mouth and that he won't take it out.

19. It takes $65.00 to fill up the gas tank on a suburban.

20. That it is not wise to bug and generally ignore mom at "certain" times of the month.

No wonder I have so much laundry

2009-03-03T22:14:00.000-06:00

This pile of towels is what happens when SOMEBODY leaves a bathroom door open allowing a CERTAIN 2 year old to enter and wreak havoc upon the contents of said bathroom. Not only were these towels just laundered and folded (and actually put away, which is the real miracle), the water was left to run for about 3 hours. Thank goodness for the little drain holes at the top of the sink! Thank goodness we also have a well or I am sure the water bill would have rivaled a pool fill during mid summer! I guess he decided to wash them all by hand in the sink. What a good pioneer boy he would have made! ; )

Just one more

2009-02-28T08:23:00.000-06:00

I couldn't resist. I think this is the cutest thing I have ever seen!