The True Spirit Of Christmas Lies In Your Heart

Santa I even tackled the impossible.... I have a picture with all 6 kids and we didn't hurt any in the process!

Dear Santa,

I've been a good mom all year. I've fed, cleaned and cuddled my children on demand, visited the doctor's office more than my doctor and sold sixty-two cases of candy bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground. I was hoping you could spread my list out over several Christmases, since I had to write this letter with my son's red crayon, on the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles, and who knows when I'll find anymore free time in the next 18 years.

Here are my Christmas wishes:

I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache (in any color, except purple, which I already have) and arms that don't hurt or flap in the breeze, but are strong enough to pull my screaming child out of the candy aisle in the grocery store.

I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of my 4th pregnancy.

If you're hauling big ticket items this year I'd like fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music, a television that doesn't broadcast any programs containing talking animals, and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone.

On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says, "Yes, Mommy" to boost my parental confidence, along with two kids who don't fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the use of power tools.

I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting "Don't eat in the living room","Clean your room" and "Take your hands off your brother," because my voice seems to be just out of my children's hearing range and can only be heard by the dog.

If it's too late to find any of these products, I'd settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without it being served in a Styrofoam container.

If you don't mind, I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare ketchup a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely. It would be helpful if you could coerce my children to help around the house without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family.

Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is calling and my son saw my feet under the laundry room door. I think he wants his crayon back. Have a safe trip and remember to leave your wet boots by the door and come in and dry off so you don't catch cold.

Help yourself to cookies on the table but don't eat too many or leave crumbs on the carpet.

Yours Always,

MOM...

P.S. One more thing...you can cancel all my requests if you can keep my children young enough to believe in Santa.

Fall Family Fun!!

Oh my we have added another tradition to our family! The corn maize!! It was so much fun. It is hard to find things that an 11 yr old enjoys and a 2 yr old but we did!! And considering some guy was coming in with his date I don't see them out growing it!

As for Halloween we will have a gypsy, Daisy Duck (if mom gets busy making it), Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and a pumpkin if it cools off (if its hot she might be Claira Bell)


Yes that is my OLDEST on the hay!

Hard to believe Christmas is 2 months away... Oh my that's like 8 weeks!! YIKES!!

This and That!

Big C got in the car and told me it was his best day of school yet. He walked by a message board and saw posted his name as Student of the Month. We were pretty impressed because out of 350 some odd kids he was selected by his teachers for this.Plus his name was drawn to be "the big cheese" in GT for the week. And to top his day off his art teacher told him the principal picked his clay project as his favorite (I say project because I'm not sure exactly what it is)!! Gee it's great to have a smart artistic cheese head for a son!!


The fair was this past weekend! The older kids had fun working the petting zoo and the younger kids love viewing the petting zoo.



The big girls are doing well no real news for them- doing great in school and getting busier little schedules!

Little C is little C we just never know what he'll say next! But usually we look at each other saying "how'd he know that?" or "he's going to spend a lot of time in the office next year!"

Miss almost 2 yr old has learned the word NO and says it quite often and in such a I'm 2 years old tone!

Miss angel baby is still just that! Sleeps like an angel, talks likes an angel, smiles like an angel, she is just an ANGEL!!

What kind of parents does this boy have???

I let him keep it for a week. He's been talking back this week so I shaved it and told him he has to earn it back! Daddies got shaved too he figured he better not go to work like that!

Where has the time gone??

Well #6 (it's much easier than slipping up names) is already 2 months old! She is smiling and "talking" up a storm! She is such a wonderful baby!She still has most of her still black hair and her eyes just get bluer each day!

Oh poo with the tutu!!

OK I first saw pictures of these, then I saw one in the store for.... $28!! So I figure I can make some of these for next to nothing! So I got the material various colors because I'm planning on making a bunch because we do have 4 girls! So I decide Miss Priss would want to dress "pretty" like the big girls so I worked really hard to get a tutu made for the pep rally thinking she would love it.....

WRONG...




So we'll just let someone else have it!

M-M, M-A-T-A....

The older girls participated in a cheer camp this week for Homecoming. They went to a clinic learned some cheers and a dance and got to perform at the pep rally and ride in the parade. It's the one time I don't hear any complaints about being small!




They both are here....the highest 2!

Sugar and Spice.....

And Everything Nice....



NOT.....









This is her new kitten "Baby" he/she just appeared and must not have a lick of sense to not just keep on walking! Daddy let her help feed the chickens and for go a nap. It appears she must have had a chicken scramble!

That saying must of come to be over a newborn.

7 weeks

Off Sides??

Well the soccer season is off and rolling! I'm hoping I will someday learn all the rules even better will be when the players can learn the rules. That's all part of it play and learn and that we did today! As we stood an hour into the first game with the sun beaming down on us and at least 1 child whining at any given time there it was a beautiful pass to #7 and with such power behind the kick; the ball goes flying right into the net!! Loud cheers for the only goal so far, and a big grin of pride across my sons face... only to hear that whistle blow and hear the words "off sides!" Who knew they have off sides in soccer... well I did hear it all last season but just never got it. But myself and my #7 will always know to have another opponent between you and the goalie for the point to stick!! By the time I am no longer a soccer mom I should have this all figured out!!

Finally We See The Rainbow

On July 20th I stood in the middle of our house with about 2 inches of water through out our bottom story. Here is a journey through our past 7 weeks!! I wish I had pictures from the 20th but my camera was in the car with my labor bag. You see that was suppose to be our next big event!! I know I could have waddled to the door, held on to anything around me and just slipped and slided over to it; but I saved those acrobatic skills to get to the circuit breaker to cut power to all the water soaked electrical cords. Though I'm pretty certain if I would have walked close enough to my TV it would have given me a high enough voltage to jolt a baby out of me. But I decided against a boat ride to the hospital. So here our adventure begins! Without a sense of humor we would have never survived! This picture was taken on July 21st. The water was at one point up to the top wire of the fence. There is another wire above the grass you see. This picture was taken at the dip in our driveway about 100 yards from the house. The water was from our gate, through the house, and about another 100 yards behind us. I wish one of the many passer bys would have taken a picture because I'm sure from the road it was even more sureal. In this spot the water was waist high around 2 and by 5 was knee high (as my husband waded up the drive) So it went down just as fast as it rose!

(above) kichen drying at one point we had 20 some odd fans blowing at once. It sounded like an airplane was starting down the runway!
(above) kitchen once vinyl was removed 7/27
(above) kitchen/utility room finished!!!

(above) dining room during clean up.

(below) dining room finished!

(below) this is our new carpet we only put it in our room! We also painted in there. And of course our little angel that made her debut 8 days after this craziness started!

This is our master bath. We went ahead and painted it too. I should have gotten a picture of all the kids scraping the glue off the floor before we could lay the vinyl.

Like I said without a sense of humor we would have NEVER survived this!! We had everything cleaned and were just waiting for the birth of #6. We had worked really hard for weeks getting everything done so we could just sit relax and enjoy our new baby. I was waiting until the 22nd to steam clean my carpets and couches because thats when my Dr came back from vacation...... well low and behold God kept me from having to steam clean the carpet!! The kids helped us keep everything in perspective..... they continued to live life and make us laugh! Our 20mo old for the first time started saying UHOH and she got to say that phrase A LOT that week! Everywhere she turned looked like an UHOH!! But it really was just that simple we were all safe and it was all just STUFF and just like other UHOH's it was fixable! Luckily the men doing the clean up also had a sense of humor (and 3 year olds) as on about the 5th day of these guys showing up to check the house over Our 4yr old looked at one of the men (clean, well groomed and in his uniform) and said "Sir-Sir you know you're gross.... (man ignoring him) Sir your gross cause you've worn that same shirt everyday!" Luckily he died laughing and thought it was "cute". We of course had to explain the man had several shirts that looked the same and tried to explain not saying things like that to others! But again this week it was a good laugh and memory for us. Oh to be 4 and just have to worry about what shirt someone has on! I know some day we will look back on the timing of and the events that took place and laugh.

Turkey or Chameleon

Turkey; What?! Chameleon; Huh?! Well those are the words most frequently used when discussing Kayle this week. As I laid awake staring at her one night it hit me... butterball! She has gained another pound in just a week. Taking her to 10lbs now. 3/4 of that pound is in her cheeks! As for chameleon I thought it but then Patrick pointed it out a couple days later.... we swear she gets darker every time we put her in her carseat! And her eyes just keep getting more blue everyday! (disclaimer: she had a tummy ache so I flipped her to her tummy while I got the others ready for school!)

Some days as I end my day I think "either you are entirely too simple or you need a life." Well maybe it is a little of both. There is just nothing sweeter though than to awaken to a beautiful new smile and even better to get two. Almost as beautiful as that - all my laundry baskets are empty tonight. (that doesn't happen often around here!) OK maybe its more I just need to get a life..... but both just really made my day!!