Stop!!!!!!!

Mark, stop looking over my shoulder to see what I am

writing about you.....!!!!

Stop kissing me trying to distract me......

Okay that is pretty good...

I love you!!!

Sydnee???...

Sydnee????

Where did the little girl go?

When did this gorgeous young lady step in and take her place?

Oh.....

They grow up so fast!

Every Single Day...

More Fall photos...

With a beauty like this, how can we resist?

Not yet fifteen,

but so smart, sweet and loving.

I am not kidding when I say that this wonderful young lady makes me strive to be a better person every single day.

Totally bummed...

I tried to put a picture of a very handsome 2 month old young man on the blog today...

But, it wouldn't work.

I think it must have been taken with a cell phone.

When I tried to make it bigger, it distorted... really bad!

This little boys mommy needs to send me some more pictures so we can show off how amazing and big he is getting.

His west coast family wants to see him...

(in case I didn't explain this enough,

Hey Shannon... I need more pictures!!!)

Eyes...

I have looked into your eyes

with my eyes.

I have put my heart near your heart.

-- Pope John XXIII

Within it all...

Sometimes, when I take the time to slow down from the everyday household needs, I am amazed at the lovely human beings that we are raising.

I look at how they are becoming compassionate, loving, helpful young people.

They have so much to offer this world. What more can a parent really ask for?

We are so blessed to have so much love in this house.

I am so blessed to have been given this wonderful oportunity to be a mother.

I would have missed out on so much otherwise.


All of the laughs, jokes, fights, teasing, playtime, sad times, love, joy...

I mean, I could go on forever.

If you are a parent you know what I mean.

You really can't remember what it was like before these amazing blessings entered your life.


These days, we are working as a whole at not raising our voices to yell.

We are, naturally, a loud bunch.

You have to be in a large family.

One thing that I never want, however, is to be a yelling bunch.

That is the easy road.

I don't want the easy road.

I want the right and loving road.

I want my children to look back and remember that their parents were loving, caring people who took the time to show them the right way to treat each other... not just tell them.

I want to know that their personalities can shine,

Their imagination can create,

and while this happens they know they can always come to us and find people who will treat them fairly and with compassion.

And within it all there is Love.

30 Hour Famine...

Miranda participated in 30 Hour Famine last weekend.

This is the second time we have let our kids participate in this fundraiser.

It has been a success both times.

The kids raise money for homeless people (sometimes here, sometimes abroad) who are homeless or who don't have enough to eat.

This time our church took the kids out to homeless shelters around the area and they worked there and interacted with the people. This helped them to understand that there are all types of people who are homeless.

Miranda was very moved by the fact that there were children in the homeless shelter.

She has talked several times about how she played with the little kids and tried to encourage them to play games and have a little fun.

She knew that some homeless people were kids, but it was different for her to see it with her own eyes.

That is the kind of experience I am proud to have my kids be a part of.

I am not one of those people who hands out money to people on the street.

Adults have choices. (please don't send me messages telling me how I am wrong, I will agree to disagree with you on this topic)

I am, however, someone who is all over helping kids.

Above: Miranda hugging her sisters before leaving for the event.

The love that we have in our family is meant to be shared.

That's the amazing thing about real love.

You never run out...

vacuuming...

In our home, which is overflowing with that wonderful species we call "little girl", this is the norm for vacuuming the floor.

Give any of them something to dress up in and they will wear it all day... wherever they go!

Now...

For how I really feel...

In a world, where even the kids shows seem to encourage our children to grow up faster and faster, I like to encourage dress up and discourage the kids shows.

They have such a short time to be little.

I want them to make it last as long as possible.

(Besides, the world's standards never were my gauge.)

You give yourself...

"Tell him, tell him that the sun and moon rise in his eyes; reach out to him. And whisper tender words so soft and sweet; hold him close to feel his heart beat. Love will be the gift you give yourself."

A few senior pics I will share now... the rest next May...

"You don't love a young woman because she is beautiful,

but she is beautiful because you love her."

Atomic Body Slam...

Okay, I know these pictures aren't great. Some are blurry and well...

But, this seems to be the new past time in our home.

The Atomic Body Slam.

We don't watch wrestling around here. I don't care if you do or not. We just don't.

So where did all of this come from?

I tell you... Boys are Weird!!!!!

Yes, those are my husbands scrawny legs!

He is standing on the arm of the couch!

He won't even let the girls sit on the arm of the couch... so...

What the monkey brains is going on??

Yes... that is my barely 3 year old son leaping from the arm of the couch to mangle his father in a death grip. (Ignore my laundry on the stairs behind them.)Grunts can be heard.

The struggle between man and beast is taking place right here on my living room floor!

Lord, help us!!

Saints preserve us!

I think the beasts have won!!!

Daddy loves her...

Besides the wonderful trip to the theater for the whole family to see HSM3, Daddy brought home one of these cardboard whatchamacallits...

This thing is huge!

I mean really large!!

But Daddy loves her and knew it would make her day.

flips...

Even with the cooler temperatures...

The days have been full of shorts and the trampoline.With the help of a neighborhood friend, they have been learning how to do flips.

Why does the sight of such things make a mother's heart swell and yet...

stop at the same time?!

He gives you one of these...

What happens to a little boy when you let him jump, crash, run, bang, boom, hop, attack...

You get the point.

He gives you a great Big one of these...

Keep smiling, baby!

Highschool Musical 3...

Guess what we did tonight?

Yep, we went to the opening night of Highschool Musical 3... with 6 out of the 8 kids.

(The other two were at work and the 30 hour famine.)

Mark received free tickets for the full night of movie, popcorn, soda, t-shirt, prizes... etc. We had a blast.

Okay, I didn't think it was going to be any fun... especially after the last HSM.

This one was pretty good, though.

At least for a cheesy teeny bopper musical.

But...

since I do love musicals... I enjoyed it!

Our Story...

Sitting in my living room...

It is dark outside and the children are all asleep.

They are scattered through out the house in their respective bedrooms.

The oldest is sleeping on the couch due to a minor injury that brought her home a few days ago for some much needed rest and tender loving care from her mommy.

I was thinking about how lucky they all are to have each other. The story that their relationships are writing.

Of course, this got me to thinking about how lucky I am.

Sometimes, it is easy for me to dwell on the losses of last year...

My grandmother and especially my mother...

I am really a very lucky person, though, to have so many people who love me still here.

I have a mother-n-law and father-n-law that I adore. I have an aunt who I have reconnected with this year. I have uncles who I email frequently. I have a father who I finally have a relationship with. (Shocking, I know... but he is a different man than the one I used to know.)

I have all of the people in my own house (husband, children).

And... I have my brother.

I love him dearly...

There is just something special about the relationship you have with someone who shares your history. The two of us are all that is left of that story. No one will ever know the shared secrets, the scars and what "got us through". No one will know why we do some of the crazy things we do.

But we know!

It's Our Story...

and I wouldn't have wanted to share it with anyone but him.

Howdy Partner...

Our little man received a cowboy outfit, gun, and cowboy boots (not in this picture, but rarely off of his feet) for his birthday. He loves dressing up and it is high time that the princess costumes stayed on the girls. There just isn't enough dress up stuff for boys! Am I right? (Huh? Mom of boys back me up here!)

Anyway...

I love to see this little boy having so much fun. He runs around making us put our hands up... shoots us... and then rushes to us to make sure we are ok. When we point the gun at him, he falls to the floor and proceeds to inform us that he is dead.

I never knew how completely and absolutely different this little boy would be from all of my girls.

The promised 3rd birthday pictures...

Here he is...

the big 3 year old boy!!!

Above: The crazy family is showing you their rockin' spiderman moves.

Below: Brysen shows off part of his Bampa and Grandma Carol gifts.

Oh yeah... He learns fast. What a smile!

What can I say?

The next picture explains itself...

We have seen a lot of this over the last few days.

Look at the concentration on Bry's face!

Cadi got him a light up gun.

He loves it.

I don't where he learned it... maybe little boys are born with this stuff...

but, he immediately pointed at someone and said,

"Put your hands up."

Another purely boy toy...

Tools!

Okay, before you see the next couple of photos, let me explain...

I baked the cake.

Miranda, then, asked if she could frost it.

I said yes.

When I next saw the cake it was...

a huge mess.

I did my best to fix it, but...

Well, we decided that it would go down in family history as one of the most memorable cakes we have ever seen!


Just remeber that this is the cleaned up version of the cake.

Oh well,

It didn't keep him from making a wish.

Happy Birthday, baby boy!

I am so grossed out right now...

Okay...

So we had brought dinner in the other night.

The little kids ate at the small table in the kitchen.

I thought everything was wonderful and the night had gone really well... without any problems.

I go to look at the photos and find this!............

I have to tell you that when I cleaned the kitchen there was not a burrito on the table anymore!

This mutt must have eaten that burrito right off of my table!

Oh, that is so disgusting!

I have sanitized this table 40 times now.

Raider...

You had better be thanking the good Lord that we love you!