Eight is Enough

2011 Highlights

2012-01-09T11:11:00.034-05:00

January - K turned 6 and she was halfway through her kindergarten year and doing great.

February - we got some snow. Actually, we got quite a bit of snow. We went to the local sledding hill for the afternoon. B's first time sledding down the hill - he loved it, but was confused at why he kept slipping all over the place when he tried to get around.

March - H's birthday and a gift of a very exciting day (planned by S) of eating, shopping, more eating, seeing the theater production of Les Miserable. It was a great day.

March - was Spring Break for the kids and we always try to do fun things around town that we normally don't get the chance to do, like bowling...

... and swimming at the community center's indoor pool.

I also fit in building a day bed (with trundle) for the basement during the break. It was the perfect opportunity to do something like that - I had kids home that could play with B while I worked. The only thing I have left to do to it is stain it. Who knows when I'll get around to that. Basically, I had two twin mattresses left over after we furnished the girls rooms and they were still in such good shape that I couldn't get rid of them. So I woke up one morning with this brilliant idea. It serves mulitple purposes. 1. I got to finally get rid of a really old couch, 2. I got to make use of some good mattresses, 3. It provides some extra guest beds (or a place for napping), and 4. It makes for great tiered seating for our movie nights - three levels: the top bed, the trundle and the floor. It's been great.

April - B's birthday... he turned 1. He wasn't quite sure what to do with the fire burning on top of his cake. His sisters made him a miniature cake in their Easy Bake oven. S's birthday was also in April and we had a surprise "over-the-hill" party to celebrate 40 years.

Also in April - This trip to Disneyland ended up being right on his birthday. It was technically a conference trip that I got to tag along for. I made him wear the pin they gave him at the hotel that said "Happy Birthday" and his name all day. So many people wished him a happy birthday... while passing us, while waiting in line, all the Disneyland employees that passed us - it was fun. At first he was surprised that people were calling him by name, then he would remember that he had on the pin. He even got sung to by an a cappella group that was performing for an ever-increasing crowd in the street. Then my brother drove down to have dinner with us. It was nice to visit with him. This trip was definitely a highlight for both of us this year.

May - soccer season. Only two of the girls (Ni and E) played since Na and J were involved in track at school, K simply didn't want to play yet, and D felt like he was too old or something like that.

May - Our whole front yard was a giant sand pit due to having our septic system completely redone. It took a while for the workers to finish the job, and when they did (topsoil and grass) it looked terrible and we ended up having to do it ourselves in the end anyway. Meanwhile the kids loved having a "beach" in the front yard. It was the perfect opportunity to be buried in the sand, to dive for a football, and for B to practice going up a sand dune. The only thing we needed was some water!

May - Mother's day breakfast in bed - which I usually only get part of because the younger kids hang around and help me eat it. This time S actually stayed in bed, too, and let the kids do breakfast completely on their own.

May - J's birthday, lucky 13 in 2011. He was about halfway through his braces experience, and one year away from being able to go to the youth dances. He's a good kid, we sure enjoy having him around.

June - The Dow RunWalk that we try to do as a family every year. This was a particularly good year for me - I was at the top of my age group and still managed to get second place for the 5K. It was my fastest time ever for that distance. My goal was to get under 24 minutes and I did it with about 20 seconds to spare. I even got a medal - which I wore all day.

June - Ni's birthday. She turned 11 in 2011. Her age is the easiest one for me to remember! She's growing up to be a lovely young woman - mood swings and all!!

June - Summertime fun... and a little work, too. K learned how to ride a two-wheeler, we chopped down a bunch of trees around our house (nearly taking out the girls room and garage in the process). S loves his chainsaw. And, of course, we made time to get to the pool quite a bit.

July - Na's birthday. She turned 15 and was looking forward to getting her driver's permit in a month. One more driver to train! We ended up celebrating her birthday a day early this year because she would be at girl's camp on her actual birthday. It's good she loves camp so much or that would've been a real bummer.

July - A trip to a water park (Cedar Point) and on to Palmyra, New York to see some church history sites and the Hill Cumorah pageant. It was a lot of driving - we took two cars and D drove almost the whole way there and back. That was some good training for getting his license. We all had a great time.

Spent a little time resting in a hotel before going on to see, and feel, Niagra Falls.

Here we are on the Maid of the Mist ferry boat. We got quite wet, we thought, until we went to the Cave of the Winds. The rain ponchos they provided for us were no match against the hurricane type winds. Those of us that were brave enough to get really close came away with shredded ponchos and were wet from head to toe. It was quite the experience.

August - Scout camp for the boys. S went as one of the leaders, as usual. D was off at a different location for the older boys. And J ended up with quite a few merit badges when the week was over.

August - A family reunion. The activity: horseback riding. This came about because the girls kept telling Grammy how much they wanted to ride horses. So she made it happen. I stayed behind with B because of pregnancy and B was too young to ride. It was fine with me - we took naps in the car.

One more family vacation in August. We went back to Cedar Point - this time to the amusement park instead of the water park. The goal was to finally ride the "Top Thrill Dragster". We tried to go on it in 2010 but the ride shut down in the middle of the day and stayed down. This time we went to that ride first just to make sure. And, according to those that rode it, it was worth it.

Before summer ended, D finished up his eagle project. It was very successful and D showed a lot of maturity during the process. He took charge and pulled it off. His project was ulitmately to assemble first aid/hygiene kits to send to Haiti. After this experience, we have decided that J's eagle project will be much simpler! It felt good to have it done, finally.

September - E's birthday. She turned 9. I just can't believe how old they are all getting. She is doing great.

A few days later was the first day of school. It was a big year for Ni. She started middle school as a 6th grader. This year I have 2 in high school, 2 in middle school, 2 in elementary school, and by the end of the year I will have 2 at home, too. Life is so much fun... and busy!!

September and October - This was a big year for D. He played football for the high school team for the first time. He ended up being their starting kicker. He did a great job and got a lot of extra points for his team. he even managed to get a few kick-offs into the end zone. We always knew he had a strong leg. Na had a great season in cross country, too. She moved up to a new training group because her running times were faster than last year. And she continued to improve throughout the entire season.

October - J ran for president of the student council at his middle school. Basically he put up posters then gave a speech at lunch time one day. He did a really good job on his speech. He didn't end up getting elected (there were like 10 kids running for president) but he still gets to be on the student council which he is enjoying. This sort of thing seems to fit his personality.

October - Carving pumpkins this year was pretty easy. Most of the kids are old enough to do their pumpkin without any help and those that do need help get it from the older ones. All I had to do was watch, take pictures, and clean up afterwards.

October - Time for playing dress-up. The month started with some "spirit days" at the high school as they prepared for a big football game. The hairdo on D was a compromise. A bunch of the football players were shaving their head into a mohawk style and he originally wanted that, too, but I convinced him that he would end up regretting it. So we spiked it and sprayed it green instead. In the end he was happy he didn't shave it all off. It can be good to listen to your mother! Then Halloween - D did Phantom for school and he looked really awesome. He also dressed up like that for a church dance and the girls couldn't stop staring at him. Even I had a hard time not looking at him. He looked just like the Phantom. I love Halloween! Na didn't dress up this year - she volunteered to stay home and hand out candy, which meant I got to go around the neighborhood with the kids. J was a phantom like his brother, Ni wore my 50's outfit, E was a gypsy/fortune-teller, K was Hermoine from Harry Potter, and for B I got to pull out the clown costume I made for D many years ago. B was especially funny to take trick-or-treating. At some of the houses he went all the way in the house. Especially at the houses where there was a dog - he loves dogs. Fortunately we have really nice neighbors. It was a lot of fun.

In the beginning of November our city has a Santa parade. Local businesses, schools, bands, politicians, etc. make floats, ride down the main streets of town and throw candy to all the kids. That's just what we need - loads of sugar at 10 in the morning. And of course, the very last float of the parade is Santa and the reindeer. The kids have fun. And J was in the parade this time as part of the student council.

November - Thanksgiving at our house in 2011. We had 19 people in the kitchen for dinner. We also got our first big snow of the season - which meant a no school snow-day for the kids and the snow blower had to be put to work (a.k.a. Darin) with Justin handling the shovel. This is one good reason to have boys if you live in Michigan.

Random highlights from 2010

2012-01-03T14:01:00.012-05:00

K was a clown at her preschool circus. She did a fabulous job. She handed out popcorn before the show started, ran around chasing another clown after "cutting" his hair, and then she told some jokes. This seemed to be the perfect role for her. I didn't know she was so funny and could get up in front of a lot of people like that and not appear to be nervous.

At the butterfly house - a preschool field trip. She wasn't afraid of the butterflies landing on her. To me they are still bugs and I would rather not have them on me!

The Dow Run/Walk we try to do as a family every year. In 2010, S did the 10K, the older kids did the 5K, and I did the 1 mile with the little ones. It was just right for me after having a baby only two months before the race.

June, 2010: B's blessing day.

We had S's family (all but one of his sisters) come up for this special event.

A definite highlight for the boys in June. This was an activity they participated in at scout camp. Really, what's more fun than using a water gun to spray whipped cream off of your brother's face. And it was a competition against other boys... even better. I think they won, too.

In July there was a youth pioneer trek that S, D, and Na went on. They looked the part and had a great time, walking, and walking, and walking, eating strange foods, and playing old-fashioned games. They came back tired and looking very tan, until they took showers and realized it wasn't a tan, it was dirt. Gross!

Also in July, Grandpa and Grandma came out from California for a week to see their new grandson.

August came along and we took a trip to Cedar Point Amusement park and then toured Kirtland, Ohio to learn a bit more about our church history. Also in August, the boys went on a 50-miler along Pictured Rocks as their scout high adventure. They had fun, but admitted it was a lot harder than they expected.

September brought another new school year. D was a Sophomore, Na a freshman, J, 7th grade, Ni, 5th grade, E, 3rd, and K started kindergarten (and first time riding the bus to school - she was very excited.) Another highlight for the fall, D and Na both ran on the cross country team.

September was also special because E got baptized. Family came up to spend the day with us. It was a good day.

October: Ni participated in the 5th grade 1 mile fun run. It was extra fun this year because her older brother and sister were there as the high school volunteers helping with the race.

Halloween, one of my favorite times of the year. S and I went to a party as a dead bride and groom. I don't know how I keep managing to convince him to dress up with me. I think he secretly likes to. He had fun with this one. Plus he loved my black lipstick! :)

November: Relatives from Germany came as a surprise for my mother-in-law's birthday. Boy was she surprised. They came up to our house for a couple of days as well. B didn't know what to think. It was great having them here. Above: Uncle Walter with B. Below: Ni with Aunt Suzie.

Uncle Walter, S, Aunt Suzie, and Aunt Angela (Walter's wife).

December... well, our front yard was a giant eye-sore. It was in a different state of "pit" during the entire fall season. We were having our septic field redone because it was failing us. I never knew what a pain it would be. First they dug up our entire yard. Then began the layering process... rocks, pipes, more rocks, straw, sand, topsoil and finally grass seed (which actually wouldn't be done until the spring). Apparently the field wasn't done right in the first place - but how were we to know? It's all underground! Anyway, it's fixed now, and we don't have to do that again, ever!
I forgot what it was like to have a Christmas tree and a toddler. He wouldn't leave it alone. He was especially fascinated by the lights and kept trying to grab them.
Ni had a piano recital, and all the relatives got to come see because they were in town for our annual family Christmas party. Fortunately there was enough snow so we got to sled in our backyard. It was a lot of fun.

Last Christmas (2010)

2012-01-03T13:48:00.000-05:00

Stockings hanging on the mantle - this was the photo I sent as a Christmas card last year. I didn't have the energy to get everyone together for a picture. I took the picture two days before I miscarried a pregnancy. That's why there was a little stocking on the end. I was pregnant up until about two weeks before Christmas and I was depressed and just trying to make it through the holidays without crying every minute. Here are E and K at the Santa house. We went while everyone else was at home doing homework and watching B. They were the only ones that wanted to go. E even brought her list of things to ask for. She cracks me up.

2010 Birthdays and such

2010-12-20T11:19:00.003-05:00

It seems like we are always eating birthday cake at my house. Maybe because we are. We've managed to work it out so that none of our children have to share a birthday month with any of their siblings. We have kid birthdays in January, April, May, June, July, September, and December. We mostly planned it that way. And we are on even numbers this time around... after K's birthday in January, we will be ages 0, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, and 16. I like it when things work out like that. It makes me happy.

Also pictured... K's birthday and "graduating" from preschool. S with baby B while we were in Santa Fe in May 2010.

He's here!

2010-05-11T09:03:00.003-04:00

Even though this post is dated "May 11", (that's when I intended to finish it) it's now December 2010 and our newest little guy (which is what we call him most of the time) is 8 months old. Baby "B" was born at 6:03 pm on Easter Sunday, weighed in at 8 pounds 6 ounces, and was 21.5 inches - my third biggest baby. Out of seven births this is the first time my water broke. I knew we had to go to the hospital but there were a lot of things to be done first! Unlike my husband, I was not in a big rush to get to the hospital. I knew all too well what I had to do. And... since it was Easter, I wanted to do the basket and egg hunt with the kids, I wanted to shower, and the kitchen needed to be cleaned. We managed to do it all and then got to the hospital at noon. Labor went extremely well - and surprisingly, it took the seventh one for me to realize what a good coach my husband is. Always in the past I preferred to be left alone to go through labor. This was the first time I didn't have an intrathecal or epidural and I give S a lot of the credit for coaching me through it. We made a good team. I felt like we worked together to bring B into the world.

You can see that all the other kids were more than thrilled that he was finally here. They came to the hospital to see him only an hour after he was born. He was quite alert. He seemed to be aware of everything and was trying to take it all in.

Proud (and tired) mom. B at one day old, just before we went home. One night at the hospital was enough for me.

And proud dad, with the one he always knew was waiting to come to our family, excited to meet him, finally.

Halloween!

2010-03-21T16:19:00.005-04:00

October 2009. I love Halloween! I always have, since I was a kid. Those of you who know me can't imagine it, but I was extremely shy, and dressing up for Halloween was a way to come out of my shell a little bit. I could be someone, or something, other than myself and I could blame any out-of-the-ordinary behavior on the character I was dressed as. Now I get to do costumes for a bunch of people every year! Fortunately for me, my kids are good sports and they let me dress them up. These are from the ward Halloween party at the church. Four of them were costumes that I already had (50's sock-hopper, cowboy/sherriff/bandit, witch, and angel). D's was a pre-made pirate costume that I bought, and Ni's fortune teller outfit was a result of thrift shop finds. I had a lot of fun putting them together.

I got double use out of the pirate costume. S and I got to dress up for a party at a friend's house. It was quite an accomplishment to get S to dress up as anything other than himself. In all the years that we've been married, when asked what he will be for Halloween he says, "I'm going as myself." So I made sure to get a picture of him as proof that it can be done. The question is, will he ever do it again? Hmmmm...

Here's our 2009 trick-or-treating group - all of my kids, with a few extras. We used to leave our house and go to other neighborhoods for trick-or-treating because the houses around here are pretty far apart. We thought that a "regular" neighborhood would be easier and they would get to go to a lot more houses. As it turns out, we tried our area a few years ago and loved it. It seems like more of an adventure to walk up and down long driveways, sometimes with very little light, and a lot of trees. We only have to go around our block, which is about a mile, and their buckets are full, and the kids are tired. It's perfect. The people around here give lots of candy because there aren't many kids out. The other bonus is that the group is never very far from home. We've created a new tradition.

Fall preschool fieldtrips

2010-03-21T16:14:00.000-04:00

One of the advantages of preschool is that someone else plans the outings for my child. This has never been one of my strengths. I tend to spend a lot of time, and usually enjoy, just staying home. So preschool has forced me over the years to get out of the house and see things and do things with my child. Even though I've done all these fieldtrips 6 times now, I still loved watching K experience all of them for herself. The first fieldtrip of the year was at the end of September. We went to the apple farm and learned all about apples and how to make cider. We got to pick an apple to eat, play in the yard, and see some fun farm animals.

Then we went inside for donuts and cider. (That's always been my favorite part!) The donuts were so good, I ended up buying a bunch of them to take home. I just couldn't stop myself!

In October, on the second fieldtrip of the year, we went to the nature center and checked out different kinds of trees. K really loved learning about the trees. She talked about it for weeks afterwards. She was excited to know that the trees had names and she went around telling everyone what they were and what they looked like. Here she is with a Beech tree, an Oak tree, and (I think) an Ash tree. I would've only taken one picture of her with one tree, but she insisted on being in a picture with each one. It's as if she made three new friends. There was one problem with this trip - it was freezing outside and we were not dressed for it. When will I learn that the weather around here is unpredictable and that winter temperatures sometimes show up in the fall.

Boating in September

2010-03-16T11:38:00.001-04:00

We have a friend with a boat that kept offering to take us out on the lake. This was supposed to be our last hoorah for the summer, but it just never seemed to fit into our "busy" summer schedule. So, to make it up to my kids, and keep my promises, we picked a day that looked like it would be sunny, I took them out of school a bit early and we went boating. Mid-September wasn't all that warm anymore, so fortunately for us the tube kept them high enough out of the water that they didn't get very wet. We all had a blast.

I have a bunch of silly kids! There was some posing going on while we were moving. K was even brave enough to get out there - as long as she was with one of her big brothers, that is.

The lake was pretty empty, so the kids all got a turn driving the boat. They loved it. It was good practice for when we get our own boat... some day... maybe... we'll see... a person can dream, right?

Four schools this year!

2010-03-16T10:43:00.004-04:00

September 8, 2009. Here are all the kids on their first day of school. This was the year I have been anticipating since K was born. I knew it was coming. This is the year that I would have 6 kids in 4 different schools. Hectic? I'd say so! The day starts with D getting up before anyone (5:30 am) to be picked up for seminary around 6 am, then he's off to high school from there. I can't believe I have a high-schooler! Am I old enough to have a child in high school? Anyway, next out the door... Na and J. They catch the bus at 6:50 am. Na's last and J's first year of middle school. Finally, Ni and E get up and get ready for the 8 am bus ride to elementary school.

On September 9, 2009 K started preschool. She was very excited. She is my sixth child to go to the same preschool. We love it there and the teachers are amazing. It has been the perfect introduction to school for all my kids. Of course, I had to get a picture of her outside the school. I've done this with each one of them and it still surprises me how small they look.

Here she is just outside the door ready to go in.

All I had to do was put her next to her teacher and she was happy to let me leave. She almost didn't look up from her game to wave goodbye to me. She was very ready to start preschool and I knew she would do great.

As a side note, and adding the new baby into the mix, I figured out how things will go for the next 5 years of schooling. I'll have 6 kids in 3 schools for the next three years, with a baby at home. And as if that isn't busy enough, it gets even better. For the 2013-14 school year, I'm back to 4 schools again (college, high school, middle school, and elementary). Are you ready?! The 2014-15 school year is going to knock my socks off. I will have one child on a mission, one in college, two in high school, one in middle school, one in elementary school, and one in preschool. I've been saying this a lot lately, but I feel it applies here so I'll say it again...

"What Am I Going To Do!!!?"

7 and still sweet!

2010-03-11T11:03:00.002-05:00

Last September, about a week before school started, E turned 7 years old. Where has the time gone. I remember, like it was yesterday, the day she was born. It happened to be labor day that year - how appropriate. The first thing I noticed about her when I saw her for the first time was that she looked a lot like me when I was a baby. Finally! Up until then none of my babies looked much like me. I was thrilled. Before I had her I used to say that we needed to keep having kids until I got one that looked like me. (Well that, and we always said we were going to have 6!) She is and has always been a very sweet girl. She was a good baby and fun to have around. Her sweetness was most noticable when I had K. From the time K was a newborn, one of E's goals has been to make K happy. Every time K, as a baby, would do something like hit her with a toy or pull her hair, she never got mad and would only reply, "Oh, K___." She is very sensitive to the feelings of others. When we announced that we would be having another baby (number 7), she was so excited that she couldn't stop smiling, clapping, and bouncing up and down on the couch. She told me that she would help me - and she has. She also finds every opportunity to hug and kiss me. I sure have loved having her as a daughter. She's a good one!

A day at the spa

2010-03-05T11:15:00.003-05:00

(Last August)

I walked into the computer room to find this... There's nothing like a grown man wearing pink sunglasses and having his hair done by three little girls. K had two of her friends over for a play date. They really wanted to do someone's hair and S agreed to let them. What a good sport. He actually looks happy to be there. At the end of it he had water dripping down his face and shirt. Good times!

Road trip to Florida

2010-03-03T15:16:00.015-05:00

One week after finding out we were going to have another baby, last August (2009) we headed down to Celebration, Florida to visit Aunt Jessie and Uncle Ken. The kids got to watch movies in the car on the way. Oh, how I have loved that little DVD player for long car rides. It makes me wish we had one of those when I was a kid. What a great way to travel. It's amazing how quiet it gets and how the kids are never as needy when we put on a movie.

It was a long time in the car but we broke it up into two days. We stopped at a hotel, one with a pool, of course, for some much needed swimming and relaxing. We had to get two rooms because of the size of our family. We had a boys room and a girls room. It worked out nicely. It was a fun stop.

Here we are at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Jessie was able to get free admission for us for the day. The water rapids ride was one of the few that I got to go on because of the pregnancy. We went on that one a couple of times because it was so hot that day. We also decided to catch a show to get out of the heat. We went to Finding Nemo - the musical. It was a mini stage production of the movie. S was skeptical about it, but it turned out to be a very entertaining show. We all loved it and were really glad we stayed long enough to see it.

We rode bikes to check out downtown Celebration. It was a fascinating town. Walt Disney designed it to look a certain way - like a picture-perfect place to live. S thought it looked a little too perfect. I liked it. It was very neat and tidy. There were standards that the residents had to keep for their own houses and yards. The bushes had to be cut a certain way, the lawn could never get too long, etc. It was an interesting place to visit.

Here we are relaxing by a pond while the sun went down. The boys were anxiously watching for an alligator to come out of the water. We saw one in this very pond earlier that day. We found ourselves checking for alligator eyes in every body of water we would pass, no matter how small. Apparently they are everywhere down there.

The next-door neighbors were out of town and let us use their pool. Uncle Ken came up with "pool surfing". The kids would jump from the edge of the pool onto a boogie board and he would pull them across the water to the other side. They got pretty good at it and would've kept going, had Ken's arms held up longer. He got pretty tired.

Here we are out on the town again. We visited a stuffed Gator on display and the kids had fun with that. K would not put her head in his mouth. He looked a little too real for that, I guess.

We went to a local pizza place for dinner.

After Pizza, while on our way back to the house, K came across a dog that she just had to meet. We learned that his name was Rufus. For a couple of years she was a dog for Halloween and I made her a dog tag with the name Rufus on it. Why did we pick that name? She had a favorite knock, knock joke that she liked to tell when she was younger. "Knock, Knock. Who's there? Rufus. Rufus, who? Rufus (roof is) on fire, get out of the house!" So we thought it was funny that she got to meet a dog that was actually named Rufus. It was a highlight of the evening.

Here are some random pictures of hanging out at Aunt Jessie's house. D loves sleeping with dogs. This actually happens a lot. S and Ken enjoyed their "Simply Lemonade" - a new thing S discovered while we were there. K, hugging the dog, and trying to get close enough to the cat (curled up on the top of the chair) to pet him. I don't have a picture of it, but the kids played the Wi a lot, too. We were on vacation and anything that was going to keep them from waking me up too early, was fine with me.

Striking a pose with their new t-shirts and sunglasses. Lookin' good!

We visited a place called Gatorland. First we had to get a picture inside the giant mouth outside the front entrance. Inside the park, the kids posed with a real alligator and a real snake. J really wanted to be the one to have the snake draped around his neck. K would only get in the picture if she was far away from both. K got a kick out of the bright red birds. Right in the middle of the park was a play area with water spraying out of everything. Perfect for the hot Florida weather. S and J stood right under a sort of shower thing and got completely soaked from head to toe.

This was one of my favorite moments there. K, seeing how wet her daddy was, tried to help him out by squeezing the water out of his shorts. It was very cute.

Na posing with a rare albino alligator, and the kids check out a giant tortoise.

Justin stood in line and paid his own money to be able to sit on a real alligator. His hands are covering up the tape around its mouth.

Another small note about this particular day, we got to experience something new - our car got broken into while we were in Gatorland. When we got out to the car we noticed the doors weren't locked. We always lock the doors, so we were suspicious. Then when we opened the car, things were pulled out from under the seats and the glove box was shut but with something sticking out of it. Upon further investigation, we realized nothing was taken except some medical supplies that were in the middle console. We had a couple of nice leather pouches loaded with things like epi-pens, needles and anisthetic, suture kits, and a few other things that only a doctor would have access to. It was a very strange feeling to be robbed and knowing that some stranger was touching our stuff. Fortunately we didn't have anything else in the car that was worth stealing - it was all back at the house. It did make me think of all the times I have left my purse and wallet in the car because I didn't want to carry it. Not doing that again! We were quick to count our blessings after that happened and glad that our whole car didn't get stolen. That would've really put a kink in our vacation!

Next stop, Aquatica. This was the water park associated with Sea World. It was a lot of fun. I did get to go on a lot of the rides there, which was nice, but K and I spent most of the day riding around in the river. We just kept going around and around. We wore life jackets and it was fun letting the current carry us along. After a very long, tiring, fun day, we left before the park closed because there was a storm rolling in.

The four oldest kids wanted to try the Skycoaster in Kissimme and were able to talk the two dads into doing it with them. They went in groups of three. The kids were excited and the men were scared. S was sure that they were going to die, and Ken (trying not to throw up) prayed the whole time they were being pulled up. Basically, they were strapped into harnesses then connected to a giant cable. Then they were pulled up to the top of a 300-foot pole. When they reached the top, one of them had to pull the rip cord (D and Na got to have that privilege) which sent them free-falling for a second before swinging over a small pond. It looked fun and I wished I could do it. S also wished I could've been the one to go... instead of him - again, the pregnancy. Oh well. We were impressed that Ni would do it at only 9 years old. She didn't seem scared at all. S and J looked like they were going to be sick the whole time, D looked like he was trying to be a tough guy, and Na couldn't stop smiling and laughing. And Uncle Ken must've spit into the water 10 times - apparently trying not to throw up. Funny how different each person's experience was.

Here, they are wearing their free t-shirts. You can see the pole in the background and the two poles that they would swing in between over the water.

This tire, and three more like it, held up a small truck. It was at the Skycoaster place. The truck actually looked pretty silly on top of these enormous tires. It was a fun picture, though.

We did a lot of bike riding while we were there. There were many trails through the woods and around town that were scenic and very peaceful. On our last bike ride we came across a family of ducks. Glad it wasn't a family of alligators, we decided to stop to check it out. I happened to have a bag of pretzels with me (because anyone that knows me, knows that I don't go anywhere without food) and the ducks came right up to the kids to eat out of their hands. It was cool.
Well, I have finally reached the end of our Florida trip. We were glad we went. We had a fun time as a family, got to visit relatives, and see a new place. Family vacations are priceless.

Goodbye minivan... Hello Fusion!

2010-03-01T11:01:00.003-05:00

August 1, 2009 was a big day for us. Car shopping was first on the list. We used the government's "Cash for Clunkers" incentive program to buy a new car. We got money toward a new car by trading in our less-fuel-efficient car. The van was good to us. S was more sentimental about it than I was. That was the car that he drove to work. It was affectionately known among his colleagues as "the RV" - the Ratty Van. They all gave him a hard time about not driving a more sporty car. We are the type that like to save up for big things, like new cars. What a concept, right? Good things come to those who wait. We were glad we waited since we were able to get a really great deal. The kids had a chance to say goodbye to it before we left that day. We ended up with another Ford, but this time a whole lot smaller than our Excursion. I guess we're Ford people (whatever that means). The other reason that it was a big day... it was the same day we found out we were going to have another baby. Good things come to those who wait... I already wrote about that news back in November so I won't go into that again. I titled it "Thrown for a Loop". That's still the best title. I am now 8 months along and growing bigger and more uncomfortable with each week. With my blog lately, I feel like the DVR. I'm trying to catch up to "live TV". I have quite a few things to write about before I'm to the present time. I'm getting closer.

Teach a man to fish...

2010-02-23T12:42:00.002-05:00

"Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime." These are just a few highlights from the annual fishing trip out on the big lake last July. Fishing is one of the things S loves to do and he's passing it on to his sons. This time he took along a friend and his son, too. They caught a fair number of big salmon, which we got to eat for dinner that night. I got to try out a few new recipes, and they were all delicious. J, in one picture is attempting to eat some fish eggs that were found in one of the salmon. I don't think he actually ate them. And, boys do funny things like kiss fish - even though it looks more like the fish is going to take a bite out of his chin. It was a good day for them and a good dinner for the rest of us.

Chillin' at the pool

2010-02-10T07:42:00.002-05:00

Purchasing a family pass for the community pool last summer was a great decision. For a relatively small amount of money (considering the size of my family, that is) we had access to the public pool for the entire summer. A friend of mine (shown here) suggested it. I must say, it was nice to have something to do, when there was (to quote my kids) "nothing to do". We would go, the kids would wear themselves out, eat a snack, and at the end of the day we'd go home and have some quiet time. And as a bonus, E learned how to get around in the water without a life jacket or raft. I guess that's what happens when you go to the pool every other day. I have finally reached the point where I don't have to watch my kids so closely while at the pool. That made for some pretty relaxing days for me. I loved it so much, I'll probably get another pass for this summer. The new baby can sit in a stroller in the shade -- I can't wait!

Old friends

2010-02-10T07:14:00.001-05:00

Last summer we got the chance to see some friends from college. They were out this way from Utah for a family reunion and made the extra drive up here to see us. What a treat. Here are the dads enjoying giant glasses of chocolate milk (made from whole milk, of course).

This one is funny. Our oldest and their youngest enjoying some computer time. D always seems to attract the little ones.

And, as usual, J hangs out with the pretty girls. It was fun to see how well our two sets of kids got along together. They seemed a little like cousins and most of them had only just met. The last time we saw them was in Chicago when Ni was a baby. They only had one at that time. Time flew by and the kids kept coming - for both of our families.

The moms pose with all of the kids. We had 11 kids in the house! And they were expected their sixth. We were glad they came. It was fun to talk about old times. Great memories!

Good sleeper

2010-01-26T08:46:00.001-05:00

I have often been told by friends and family how odd it is that my children seem to be able to sleep anywhere, anytime, and with any amount of noise around them. Although that is not true for all my kids, it certainly is true for K. Here are a few examples. In the first one, she is half on the chair and half on a shelf. The second picture isn't really an odd place but it makes me laugh every time I look at it, so I had to post it. It makes me wonder what she was doing before she fell asleep, or what she was dreaming about. The third is at the pool. Every time we went to the pool she would play for a while, then set up her little bed and take a nap. I love the sleeping pictures! Kids always look so sweet when they sleep.

Lucky 13!

2010-01-22T10:49:00.001-05:00

I know we are almost back to July again, but I'm trying to go in order and catch up on all the things that have happened in the past months. Na turned 13 on the 4th of July. She is now officially a teenager. For the 4th, we always do some kind of family activity which includes going to see fireworks, but her birthday is definitely a highlight every year.

Scout Camp - June 2009

2010-01-14T09:25:00.001-05:00

This was a very productive scout camp for my boys. It was a week filled with lots of studying and writing, swimming (that's J trying to float on his back - he has no body fat so his "float" is just his head!), boating, rifle-shooting, rock-climbing, and of course, eating, sleeping, and generally getting very dirty. Ultimately, both boys finished the week having completed about 7 or 8 merit badges each. That is quite an accomplishment. It helped to have their dad there to make sure they were on task and where they needed to be the whole time. It wasn't a relaxing week for S, that's for sure, but he achieved his own goal that week, too. He trained for and passed all the tests to become a certified BSA lifeguard. It was a lot of work, but he was glad he pushed himself to do it. One of my favorite pictures from the week is the one in the middle. Apparently they weren't even posing for a picture. That's actually what they did when they got back to the church parking lot. Another favorite part of scout camp for me (insert a sarcastic tone here!) is always the lovely smelling loads of laundry I get to do when they get back. It's a very unique smell that's for sure. One that is hard to discribe. Anyway, I do love that they get to go every year.

She's growing up!

2010-01-14T08:30:00.001-05:00

Ni turned 9 back in June. She really enjoyed her day. The rest of us did, too. After all, we got to eat cake! That is one of the benefits to having a large family -- more opportunities to have cake and ice cream throughout the year. I've been going through photo albums lately and trying to organize my piles of pictures. It has been fun to look back at old pictures of the kids and see how much they have grown. I have been pretty good at enjoying all the different stages of life so far, but they go by so fast and seem to be picking up speed. To quote Ferris Bueller, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." That's a great line and has taken on new meaning for me. Anyway, I'm glad Ni is one of mine that I get to watch grow up. She certainly keeps me on my toes and can be quite entertaining.

Staying fit and having fun!

2009-11-18T07:54:00.003-05:00

In June every year our city does a Run/Walk event. We have been participants in it for quite a few years. It has become a family tradition and we all try to encourage each other each year to go further and faster than we think we can. S convinced me to run the 10K with him. It's the longest distance I had ever run in a race. (I ran 9 miles one time, but had to take a break in the middle - so I don't think it counts.) In college I spent one semester getting up early every morning to go running with one of my roommates. I made a goal for myself - that by the end of the semester I was going to run 5 miles without stopping. Well, I had worked my way up to about 3 miles and I decided it was time to go for it. I did it - I ran 5 miles without stopping, and I was never going to do it again. That's what I thought. I don't really enjoy running that much. Little did I know that I would marry someone that would end up being a runner, loving it so much, and want me to run with him. So I ran the 10K with my husband, and at the end of it I decided not to do that again! S may have a different plan! I was pretty impressed with my 4 oldest kids - they ran the 5K with their grandpa. Well, I guess we better start training for next year... actually, I won't be training until May. I'll give myself a month off after the baby's born, then I'll get to work.

Here are the 1-milers from our group - Grammy, my two littlest girls and a family friend. Apparently all three of the girls ran the whole way. They were very excited about it.

How were we all feeling by the end of the day? This pretty much sums it up!

Mr. "Smith" Goes to Washington.

2009-11-17T08:32:00.000-05:00

Here's another event from the month of May. Here we are in our nation's capitol. S had a conference to go to in Washington and wanted me to go with him. In fact that's how I get to see a lot of interesting places - he doesn't like to go anywhere without me, and I'm more than happy to tag along. It's nice to be loved, I must admit! He was there to work on his lobbying skills and to push for some changes recommended by the American Academy of Family Physicians. It was his first taste of what it is like trying to talk to a congressman - and his assistant. They smile and tell you what they think you want to hear, and it isn't until you leave that you realize what just happened. Well, this was only his first time. He'll be better prepared next time - and there will be a next time. He really enjoys politics and feels strongly about trying to make a difference in the world. It was a fun trip, too. There was so much to see. I did most of the sight-seeing by myself while he was in meetings, then we went around together to some of the more popular spots. We definitely had to see the White House. It didn't look as big in person as it does on TV and in movies. Although you can't get very close to it, so it's hard to judge. The capitol building, of course, and the Lincoln Memorial were on the top of our list, and we made sure to see some of the war memorials. The World War II Memorial brought a couple tears to my eyes. There were a lot of quotes on the walls that we took time to read. It was pretty impressive. We also went to a couple of museums. The other thing that stood out to me was how everyone was dressed. While walking down certain streets I felt a little out of place in my blue jeans. Everyone was in suits. It was also interesting how the city sort of shuts down in the evening. After having been in Chicago a several times, where everthing comes alive in the evening, this was different. I can't wait to see where he might take me next.

Time Out For Women

2009-11-16T13:01:00.000-05:00

I had the opportunity to go to Cincinnati for a Time Out For Women conference back in May. I knew about it but wasn't planning on going. Then a friend convinced me that it would be a good idea, so I asked my husband about it. Very rarely do I go anywhere on my own, and certainly not on a girls' weekend out of town. So I expected him to say it wasn't going to work, and that he didn't want me to go, etc. He surprised me when he said, "I don't care." So arrangements were made and I was on my way. I was so glad I went. It was one of the best spiritual experiences I've ever had, plus I got to hang out with some amazing women. Basically, it seemed like the speakers and singers were celebrating women and all that we are and can become. It was inspiring and made me want to go home and do better and be better in every area of my life. It made me see myself, my husband, and my kids differently. I had such a great time and was able to strengthen some friendships that have become very significant in my life since then.

I was part of this group of four that rode down together and shared a hotel room. The one night we "slept" there was interesting. We were supposed to have a roll-away bed brought in so that we could each have our own bed. Well, they didn't have one for us (that's a whole other story) so we ended up sharing beds - two per bed. There was a lot of laughing going on and a couple of us ended up needing to leave the room to walk around the hotel at 3:00 in the morning so that the others could sleep. We had a nice talk and finally calmed down enough to go back to bed for a few hours of sleep before getting up for another day of conference and a 6 hour drive back home. I want to go every year, it was so good! (Well, next year might be out now, since I will have a new baby! We'll see...)

My tribute to J - what a sweet boy!

2009-11-12T09:14:00.001-05:00

(Like I said before, I am so behind in my posts that I will attempt to go in chronological order starting in May and catch up to current events by Christmas time. We'll see.)
In keeping with my tradition I started last year (I already wrote about D and Na), I wanted to write a little about J and what I love about him. The month of May was J's. He had his first orchestra concert, and he loved that he got to wear the sunglasses for one of the songs. He has really enjoyed playing the cello and I think he'll probably stick with it.

Next came his birthday. 11 years old. I really like having him around. He has a great sense of humor. In fact, he often laughs at things that no one else gets - or maybe he's telling jokes to himself in his own head. Anyway, he is quick to laughter and can get us all to laugh pretty easily. He is our child that we say has a very tender heart. I find myself using the words "such a sweet boy" when I'm talking about him. He's a natural at sticking up for others and befriending those who need a friend. He has a confidence about him that I can't explain. He loves being in the spotlight and he's not afraid to talk to people or try new things. Even as a baby, I couldn't stop him. If he wanted to do something, he would find a way. It's an "I can do that" attitude. He even learned to walk at 8 1/2 months old. (Way too early for a baby to walk, in my opinion. It's very stressful for the mother!) This could be why he had so many injuries as a baby. Everything from bumps on the head from tumbling down the stairs as a toddler, to flipping over his scooter bike and knocking out his front tooth at 2 years old, to sticking his hand in a moving treadmill. We wondered sometimes if he would make it to adulthood. Another thing he has in him is a sense of competition - wanting to win, or be the best at everything... I wonder where he gets that from! His parents aren't like that at all! :) Sometimes it can be painful for him, especially in a good game of Candyland with his sisters, or in a game of basketball with his dad. It will be a happy day for him when he can beat his dad (or mom) at a sport. We are hoping that this drive in him will serve him well as he grows up and get him where he wants to be. Just one story about him that might illustrate his personality a little. A couple of years ago, we would all get up early in the morning for family scripture study. J freguently would be found rolling back and forth across the floor during our discussions. We didn't think much about it, we were just happy he was up with us. We didn't think he was listening, that's for sure. But one morning, S asked a question about something we had just read, and J, in the middle of one of his rolls, called out the answer. We all just sat there staring at him. He was listening and understanding. I guess the rolling helped him concentrate, who knows, but it was very funny and we saw a little bit of how his brain works. He's a pretty smart kid. He also enjoys drawing and inventing things. Give him a good pile of garbage and some tape and he can come up with something interesting. Sometimes the things he comes up with are pretty cool, I must admit. After all that, the thing that I think I love the most about him is that he wants to do what is right and that he is so excited to go on a mission, get married in the temple, and have a family. He'll make a great husband and father someday. I sure love him!!

Speaking of competition, later in May he won the essay contest for the D.A.R.E. program in his class at school. That meant he got to read his essay to the fifth graders and parents at the "graduation" ceremony.

Thrown for a loop!

2009-11-05T19:58:00.003-05:00

It has been a LONG time since I updated my blog... and boy has A LOT happened. J's birthday was back in May, I went to a Time Out For Women, S and I went to Washington DC, we did the Dow Run as a family (I did the 10K for the first time ever), Ni had a birthday in June, the boys went to scout camp for a week, Na had a birthday in July, and went to girls' camp for the first time, the boys went on their annual fishing trip on Lake Michigan, we bought a new car (and got rid of the old van), we found out we're having another baby, we went to Florida to visit S's sister and brother-in-law, school started, in September E had a birthday, K had her first day of preschool, we went boating/tubing.

Oh yeah, why this picture... This is the day after we found out we are going to have another baby. Surprise! Number 7! Look, I was still smiling. Don't be fooled though. I did a fair amount of crying and praying for a lot of the night and ended up getting only a couple of hours of sleep. I finally woke S up at 6 am and asked for a priesthood blessing. It made all the difference in the world. That is why I was able to smile. It is now November and I'm 18 weeks along. We found out we are having a boy and we are all very excited. The thing that worries me the most, I must admit, is that I'm not as young as I once was. I am trusting that my body will hold together. I was in pretty good shape before all of this - so that's good. Maybe it will help. And here I thought that K was going to be the baby of the family. So much for my plans.

Speaking of my plans, I looked at my last post on spontaneity and realized that I needed to fill in some gaps before moving on to the next things. Funny how I talked all about doing things that aren't planned and that things still turn out all right. That's what I'm counting on for this new adventure.

Spontaneity

2009-08-01T08:19:00.002-04:00

Being spontaneous does not come naturally to me. If it’s not in the plan or written down somewhere, I don’t do it. And, if forced to do something that’s not in the plan, I have a hard time enjoying it. This made for some stressful times when we started having kids – kids don’t always stick to the plan. Well, this has been the summer of spontaneous activities. It occurred to me how much I had improved over the years, and particularly since summer started, when I ran into a friend at the entrance to the grocery store the other day. She was just coming out and I was about to go in. I had some things to tell her so I walked her to her car. I wasn’t in a big hurry – the kids were at home (I must say, I love having built-in babysitters!). Then she said that we should go to lunch since we had more to talk about and she didn’t have time to stand in the parking lot and talk. She was in a hurry to get one of her kids somewhere. To my own surprise, I jumped in her car, forgetting temporarily about the milk I needed to buy at the store and everything else I probably needed to do that afternoon. We had a great time and the food was delicious. As it turns out… the kids didn’t even miss me, the milk was still at the store when I went back later, and the world did not end because I didn’t follow the plan!
I was tested again the very next day. Na’s friend called letting her know that they were going to the beach and wondering if we could go, too. At first I said it wouldn’t work. After all, it was already lunch time. You can’t leave for the beach that late in the day! Plus, all of my boys were out on Lake Michigan for the day catching salmon, and we had big plans for a fish cook-out that evening. I had to prepare, and how could I do that from the beach. This was my “it’s not in the plan” thinking coming out. It only took me about 20 minutes to change my mind and realize that even just a few hours at the beach could still be fun. So we packed up and were out of the house within about 15 minutes (maybe a new record!). The girls and I had a great time and they didn’t complain when we had to go home after our a few hours were up. They were actually ready to leave. I think I can toss out my belief that you need an entire day to enjoy the beach. Looking back at the summer so far, I’m realizing that some of our best times have not been planned out or “on the calendar”… dropping everything to go to the pool (a lot!); the midnight showing of Harry Potter; spur of the moment badminton games with one of the kids; movie nights complete with popcorn and treats; and the list goes on. After all, my only goal this summer was to have fun with my kids. I think it’s going well so far!

Getting older together!

2009-06-28T10:18:00.003-04:00

We had birthdays. Actually our birthdays are a month apart and a few months ago. But I'm really behind again, so I'm putting them together! S planned a smallish surprise party with a few friends for me. For him, we stuck with just our family - which is what he always prefers. I got a lot of chocolate (Reeses, mostly) and some other miscellaneous items - a frying pan, cheese slicer, serving bowl, beverage mug, and watch - all picked out by the kids (with a little help from their dad). He got a watch, a shovel, and a new shirt - this is so he will have another one to choose from. He tends to wear the same shirt to everything! K got him gum and cookies. Her ideas, completely. The three younger girls even got dressed up for the party. They said they wanted to look pretty for their dad. It was very sweet.

I am now only a few short years away from 40! How did this happen? Oh well, in my head I'm still in my twenties! It can only get better from here, right? Kids grow up, leave home, and S and I go on a lot of trips and buy things we never had money for before... Sounds good to me!

By the way, the first picture there is from a dance we went to for Valentine's Day. We actually went to dance lessons a few times before the dance. I always wanted S to learn to dance with me. He's a natural! It was one of the best things we've been able to do together. It was so fun.

Spring butterflies

2009-06-12T12:42:00.001-04:00

In my efforts to try to keep up with my journaling, and have it be in order for the most part, I'm going back to March. We spent some time in the butterfly house. K was a little hesitant about having it sit on her finger, but she managed a smile long enough for a picture. I actually don't like to have them on me - they might be pretty to look at, but they are still bugs! We all had a great time, I got out of there without one butterfly landing on me, and I got a lot of really cute pictures of my kids.

Soccer and more!

2009-06-03T14:57:00.001-04:00

Okay, okay... I've finally returned. Sorry about the LONG PAUSE in my updates to my blog. I have been very busy. To start with I was just called as the primary president. Well, it happened back in March - the week of my birthday. What a birthday present, right!? And as icing on the cake my husband was called the very same week to be on the high council. Funny how it all works out sometimes. Maybe funny isn't the right word! Anyway, we are doing well and we really are enjoying all of our new responsibilities. It is allowing us (forcing us, at times) to be stretched and molded in ways we couldn't have imagined.

Along with new church opportunities, we have been involved with soccer during the spring season. I volunteered to coach E's team. She's 6. This team has been very interesting to coach. 10 minutes into practice every week and they want to know when they can play at the park. Gosh, that makes me sound like a great coach, huh! This age is perfect for me, though, since I never really played soccer until I was an adult. The rules, etc. are still fuzzy to me, and the 6-year-olds seem to be at my skill level. (Well, maybe I am slightly better then they are!) We "play" together at practice and they don't realize that they are learning things at the same time. Aren't they cute? We have had 4 games so far - 3 wins, and 1 tie. We aren't supposed to keep score, or pay attention to winning and losing, but try telling a child not to keep score! Yeah, right!

Well, a lot has been happening over the past few months and I am determined to catch up on my "journaling". So this was my first attempt to get back to some of the things I used to have time for. As I continue to find the balance in my life, more and more things I love to do will start fitting back in... I hope!

Syrup, syrup, and more syrup!

2009-04-04T22:18:00.003-04:00

We spent a fair amount of time collecting sap from our maple trees during February and March. We got so much sap that we starting sharing it with anyone that would take it. A friend of mine wrote on her blog (after taking some of our sap from us) that 12 hours=2 cups... She was referring to the number of hours it takes to boil maple tree sap in order to get a little pure maple syrup. My husband is obsessed with this process. So I ask you... if 12 hours gets you 2 cups...

How long do you suppose this took!!! I don't think I need to say anything else about this. The picture says enough. I will say this though - we got a lot more sap after this batch, but at least he finally took it outside to boil it over an open fire. That saved me a lot of cleaning up in the house.

Here's my computer savvy daughter working on her favorite website - http://www.starfall.com/. She loves being able to get on the computer and navigate through all the activities without help... and I think she might even be learning something at the same time.

The "sixth" challenge

2009-03-27T07:36:00.000-04:00

1. Go to the photo folder in your computer
2. Go to the 6th folder of photos.
3. Go to the sixth picture.
4. Put the picture on your blog and description of it.
5. Invite six friends to join the challenge.

This is from fall 2007. E was on a preschool fieldtrip to the apple farm. She got to throw an apple into the apple press to be turned into juice. Look at that curly hair!! The clothes she's wearing have been passed down to K and they are already too small for her - and K hasn't started preschool yet. What does this mean? They grow so fast!

6 friends I want to hear from... I can't pick and I don't know who wants their name on my blog. So if you want to do it, feel free! I can't wait to see the pics.

Part 2...

2009-03-26T08:10:00.003-04:00

This represents what my brother-in-law did ALL day Wednesday. They tapped maple trees the night before and he boiled down sap while S was at work. This was the "golden goodness" left after a full day of boiling.

Thursday we visited the Center for the Arts with the little ones while the big ones were at school. Of course the giant mammoth bones were first on our list of things to see...

...then the snakes and lizards. This one was named "Joanna" by K. She also called it the "daddy lizard". I guess Joanna can be a boy name in her world. It looks like a character in one of the cartoon movies she likes lately, "The Rescuers Down Under". In fact there were a few that resembled creatures from that movie. K got a big kick out of it.

Here they are pretending to be snakes and lizards slithering across the floor.

Friday was spent hunting with a friend of S's. They managed to shoot a rabbit, a squirrel, and a dove. Fortunately they ate them for lunch and we didn't have to do anything with them at home. They were thoughtful enough to bring the rabbit's feet, and the squirrel's tail home for us! The kids liked it, at least.

Saturday was full of relaxing and eating. The boys went and played basketball then came home to a "man" breakfast. French toast (with the homemade syrup, of course), bacon, sausage, eggs, orange juice, and whole milk. Afterwards we sat around to let the food digest to be ready for homemade pizza that evening. This is the before picture. Could she look any more innocent and sweet?

Then the attack. I think she thought he was talking too much so she took matters into her own hands.

Sisters! What a great week.

Californians come to see the snow!

2009-03-16T13:32:00.008-04:00

LONG POST WARNING:
My sister and her family came out to visit us for a whole week at the end of February. They have 3 kids - 2 girls (3 and 5 years old) and a boy (almost 2). They had a chance to go to Hawaii or to see us. We are definitely feeling loved! They wanted to come out during the winter to see the snow and then we almost didn't have any. On the day they arrived we had a winter storm. I had actually been praying for snow so we could do all the "snow" things we had planned. So to all of you that wanted spring to come in February... sorry. We had a blast and we almost got to do everything we planned. The only things we missed doing were building a snowman (it was the wrong kind of snow), and playing snow football (not enough snow). We also discovered during the week that our husbands are A LOT alike. All the kids got along great, too. And of course it was great fun for me to spend time with my "baby" sister. We are more alike than I realized.

They brought their wii (however you spell it) from California and you can guess what my kids did everyday after school! I don't think we'll be getting one any time soon. They forgot about homework, chores,... showering!

They arrived on a Saturday evening late enought that there wasn't time to go out in the snow, so we made an exception and let them go out and play after church on Sunday. They couldn't wait to see what it was like. This is their littlest - he was never quite sure what to think of all of this!

They had fun making snow angels and sledding on the little hill in our backyard. E managed to run into a tree on one of their runs.

Monday we took the kids out of school for the day to go skiing at Caberfae. I was surprised at how easy it was to excuse my kids from school. Some of us had a lot of fun skiing. K loved going down the bunny hill as long as I was right behind her. She flipped out whenever I tried to let go. E was only slightly less scared.

My sister's two girls were very brave for their ages. They were eager to try everything, but not for very long - thank goodness. Our backs were aching after an hour or so of "helping" them ski. My sister and I realized very quickly that it was easier to get from place to place with all the little ones when we didn't have our skiis on also. I had only been skiing one other time when I was a teenager, and this was her first time. It was very funny trying to get around on skiis while also trying to help the little ones get around! I'm sure we looked like a comedy show. I don't have any pictures of my boys - they took off for the big hills right away and we didn't see them all day, except when they were hungry, of course. S, my brother-in-law (it was his first time, too), and I actually went up on some of the big hills. It was a lot of fun. More fun than I expected. I definitely want to try that again - only next time we'll leave the little ones at home!

On Tuesday we debated whether or not to go sledding the day after such a long day of skiing. But if there's one thing we've learned about sledding in Michigan - when the snow is right you better go, because tomorrow it might not be right. It's a good thing we went because it was all turned to slush by Wednesday. My sister wasn't crazy about skiing, but she loved sledding.

J with his uncle, who enjoyed sledding as well - but not the hike to the top of the hill. All the skiing made for some sore muscles. Plus we had done "slim's gym" that day, too. My brother-in-law started referring to this vacation as "fat camp". We were "making" him exercise and eat healthy. Guess what he did the day after he got back home??? Bought a treadmill!

Part 2 will be coming later! Yes, there's more...

Being prepared

2009-02-10T12:09:00.002-05:00

We have worked hard as a family to be prepared for emergencies. Food, water, fire drills, etc, etc. This morning we woke up with no power. We had no idea how long it had been off or when it would come back on. So we got ready for the day by candlelight. After about and hour we decided to pull out the generator. It's all the way in the basement and it's heavy. It took two of us to carry it upstairs, then outside. We started it to make sure it was working. Then we had to dig around to find the cord in the garage. Of course it was buried under a bunch of stuff. Then we carried the generator over the mounds of snow, and mud, to the back corner of the garage where we would plug it in. The next step... go in the house to shut down the main breaker switch. Wouldn't you know it, as I came around the corner to go inside, I see a light on in the kitchen! Lucky, right? One would think so. When we first moved into this house we had power outages all the time, and sometimes they would last for more than a day or two. We decided we needed a generator, for such emergencies. We got one and wired it to the main breaker box in the house so that all we had to do was plug it in and flip a few switches. We haven't used it yet! Is it so wrong to want a power outage that lasts a while so we can test out our generator? Maybe it's better to try hard to be prepared and then hope it never has to be tested. Spending the morning in the dark made me wonder, though, what it would've been like back before electricity - getting up with the sun and going to sleep when it got dark. Sometimes I wish things could be that simple, but then I realize that I wouldn't want to have to do things like pluck chickens, milk cows, live on a farm, or do without all the conveniences we have now. So now I have to look at the generator sitting in the living room all day. Maybe I'll set a plant on it!

My "baby" turns 4!

2009-01-29T13:32:00.003-05:00

K loves the animals lately. She probably has about 15 of these plastic animals now that she takes everywhere, and she has named each one. Some include: Sandy (a horse), Angelina (a tiger), Stripes (the zebra), Spirit (another horse), Fluffy (a dog), Brownie (another horse), Sir Trenton (yet another horse), and three elephants - all named Ellie. I'm not sure how she keeps the elephants straight, but it is quite funny listening to her play, calling each of her animals by name. She asked for a barbie also. "You know how I wanted a barbie for Christmas and I didn't get one? So now I want one for my birthday."

I tried to put only 4 candles on the cake (makes perfect sense, right?) but she wanted a circle. It's hard to make a circle out of only 4 candles, so we just kept putting on more until we had a circle. I think there were 13. Her day, her way. It didn't really matter.

Then we realized why we should only have to blow out our age. It took her a few tries to get them all out.

There's a picture to treasure. They are all looking so old! 4 to 14. And finally a picture where no one is making a funny face. One more thing: kids say and do such funny things and I need to do a better job of recording them so I don't forget. K said something funny the day after her birthday. We've been telling her for the last year that she will get to go to school when she's 4. Well, she turned 4, woke up the next morning at the same time as the older kids (which is strange, since she's usually sleeping when they leave for the bus) and said, "I get to go to school now." It made me wonder if she thought I was going to put her on the bus that very morning to go to school. I think she would've done it! I hope it's that easy when it really is time for her to start school.

D gets braces!

2009-01-27T09:25:00.001-05:00

Before and after shots. Obviously he got a hair cut, too, somewhere in between! The before shot was in December and he got the braces on January 2nd. I can't possibly be old enough to have a child with braces - and going to high school next year. Wow! How did this happen?

And since taking these pictures, he got two teeth pulled (last week) as part of the whole process. Poor guy. I remember all of this and I'm so glad I don't have to go through all the teenage stuff again. Once was enough. It's funny how raising kids brings back all kinds of memories of things you went through.

A "Wicked" Adventure!!

2009-01-22T13:01:00.002-05:00

Be aware... This is a very long post. I'm putting in so much detail mostly for my own record. We learned a lot of lessons on this trip, and I don't want to forget any of them!

For Christmas we got tickets to the broadway musical "Wicked" in Chicago! We were all very excited. The show was the next day, December 26th at 2 pm. And S's parents were coming with us. Our plan was to drive to Kalamazoo that day (Christmas), where we would open more presents, eat, sleep, then leave the following morning for Chicago. The drive to Kalamazoo was perfect. The roads were dry and we couldn't have been more excited thinking about being in Chicago the next day. We even watched the weather report for the 26th to make sure we would be able to get there. The report was 50's and rainy. Great! No snow to deal with. Yeah, right!! They didn't mention freezing rain overnight. We had no idea what was coming... We woke up the next morning to a layer of ice on everything. We could barely open the car doors, but we were going anyway! WE HAD TICKETS! It proved to be a challenge just getting out of the neighborhood, but we were on our way - 10 of us crammed into our 8 passenger car. We would just go slow. The freeway was slightly better than the city roads, but still very slick for certain stretches. Don't you just love black ice! About an hour into our trip we were approaching a curve and riding right next to a semi. S told us later that he felt no control going into that turn and was sure that we had some kind of divine help that kept us from sliding into the truck next to us. He slowed way down after that turn. Further on down the road was another turn. As we came out of it a terrible scene unfolded in front of us. On this three lane freeway, the two right lanes were taken up by a semi that had gone off the road. The back end was raised up off the road - it's metal parts at eye level to us. In the left lane was a minivan that was trying to slow down. There seemed to be three possibilities... 1. hit the semi, which would've taken off the right, top half of our car and maybe some of our heads, 2. hit the minivan, sending us both in who knows what direction, or 3. go into the ditch in the middle of the two sides of the freeway. These were not good choices. This was not part of our plan for the day! S said later that he saw all the different scenerios flash through his mind and the thought came clearly to him, "ditch the car." He was able to direct the car into the ditch where we slid perpendicular to the road. Right when our front tires hit the snow, his mom, thinking the car would roll , yelled out, "here we go!" Before going into the ditch his dad was ready to tell everyone to duck down (...in the case of hitting the semi). I was surprisingly calm inside. I just knew we were going to be fine. Making it to the show was a different story. S tried going back and forth to get us out, but all it did was dig us further in. S and his parents worked on chipping away at the ice and snow so we could get out, while I got on the phone to AAA. A cop pulled over a few minutes later to tell us not to bother calling for a tow truck - there were no tow trucks available. I then turned to the kids and suggested that we say a prayer. Their response humbled me. They all said, "we've been saying prayers in our heads already." Still, I thought we should say one together, outloud. I asked D to say it - I was too emotional. He basically gave thanks for our safety, then asked for help in getting out of this situation. Not five minutes went by and a man stopped and offered to help. This might not seem that amazing, except that there was no one going that direction. We found out later it was because they had closed the road a few miles ahead. He was one of only a few cars that we saw. My husband started to tell him that we were fine and didn't need help. That's when I jumped out of the car to let the man know we did need help. Husbands!! He almost waved away the answer to our prayers! We managed to move our car forward enough for the tow rope to reach the man's car. With that little bit of extra power we came out on the other side. Mom and I both went straight over to hug this nice man and tell him he was our angel. We got his name - Carlos. He didn't want to tell us at first - it made us wonder if he really was an angel! We were on our way again, but going in the wrong direction! Chicago was getting further away. We stopped at a McDonald's to figure out what we were going to do. Muddy, wet, and cold we ate our lunch and watched the grim weather and traffic report. It was decided that we would just go back to Kalamazoo. That brought on a new round of tears from some of us. In the end, we tried one more time to get to Chicago. Traffic was so slow that we ended up turning around again, giving up once and for all, but ultimately grateful for our lives and unwrecked car. We were satisfied that we had made every effort to make it to the show.

Here we all are, trying to keep happy faces. You can see K is all broken up about the whole day! She and her dad were actually supposed to go to the Children's Museum instead of the play because K is still too young.

This is my "disappointed, but trying to be happy" face. These were the only pictures we have of the day's events. It was funny, once we got unstuck, S's dad said, "two cameras in the car and no one thought to take a picture." Those would've been great pictures! Stuck car, mud all over us, wet and freezing clothes... Oh well, we'll just have to imagine how it looked. I tried to joke with S when we got back to his parents' house. "Aren't you glad I'm still here with my head attached to my body?" He didn't think it was very funny. Okay, so that wasn't the thing to say to lighten the mood!

Lessons learned -
1. Don't depend on Michigan weather, leave plenty of time to travel in the middle of winter, and take advantage of good roads when you have them! We should've gone straight on to Chicago when we had the good roads and stayed in a hotel. Shoulda, coulda, woulda...
2. Our plans aren't always God's plans, but He is always aware of us, and answers prayers. Thank you, Carlos!
3. The fact that our family was safe was the most important thing - even more important than getting to see "Wicked".
4. Looking back, this really wasn't the tragedy that it seemed to be at the time. There are a lot of bigger problems out there for a lot of people in the world right now. Losing theater tickets, no matter how costly, really isn't that bad.
5. Wicked is still out there somewhere to be seen another time.... So is Chicago!! Giordano's pizza, here we come! (Some other time, that is!)

One last lesson I learned is that sometimes we can't let go of something so disappointing on our own. I prayed for the bad feelings I had to go away. I got my answer a few times. E gave the lesson for family home evening one night - she chose to read about gratitude in the "For the Strength of Youth" book. Then I saw a woman on TV talk about how she lost everything - her business, and all her savings. And finally, I ended up fasting and praying about it. That help from the Savior was what I ultimately needed to help me put the whole thing into perspective, simply be grateful, and realize it can always be worse... and is for many people right now.

Christmas Highlights

2009-01-22T11:59:00.002-05:00

We prepared the kids for a smaller Christmas in 2008 - fewer gifts. We wanted to focus on other things like spending time together. It worked out pretty well. We did some fun things. This is just a small part of our Christmas. The rest of the story will be told later.

The boys got racquetball racquets. I took them to the community center to teach them how to play and they are pretty good already. We all really enjoyed it and I can see this as something they do together often.

J got a bug vacuum. His room is in the basement and naturally there are a lot of "visitors" down there. He had gotten good at catching them in cups and other things in order to deliver them safely outside. Now with the vacuum he not only can catch them without killing them, but he can study them through the magnifying glass before setting them free, outside. He has something against killing the bugs. He doesn't get this from me!

Ni and E both got backpacks. How nice to get a new backpack in the middle of the school year. I try to avoid buying a lot of new school supplies at the beginning of the school year, but this usually means that new stuff is needed about halfway through.

Other highlights of the day - we had our usual coffee cake, scrambled eggs, and fruit breakfast before opening presents. This is a stalling tactic so that Dad can sleep a little longer. Actually we all needed to sleep longer - this year a couple of the kids thought it would be okay to get up at 1 am, wake everyone else up, turn on all the lights, and make a lot of noise. Note to self - tell Santa not to come to our house until 6 am next year so our kids will sleep longer!

New traditions in the making!

2008-12-30T08:52:00.009-05:00

We were supposed to be in Kalamazoo on the 20th for a family Christmas party but the roads were too dangerous, so we stayed home. We had to come up with something else that would be fun so the kids wouldn't be so upset about staying home. My idea was, let's stay in the house and play games or make cookies. S's idea... snow football. Of course when we presented the ideas to the kids, they voted to do both.

We had such a great time. We, of course, had to play tackle. The only ones that couldn't be tackled were E and K. We learned quickly that Dad is impossible to take down, although we definitely tried. Everyone scored at least one touchdown. E was on my team and we took advantage of her "no tackle" rule.

Unfortunely, I didn't get a picture of K. It didn't take her long to decide she didn't want to play. For a while we played around her while she stood in the middle of field, pouting. After a few plays I managed to convince her to sit on the bench and watch. This may turn into a yearly tradition. We had so much fun!!

After the big game we got to make "festivitrees". The kids worked in pairs building Christmas trees out of star cookies. Na and Ni took their time making sure all the m&m's were spaced properly.

D helped Kate very well. They were the perfect pair. D really let K do a lot of the work. She loved it. It was fun watching them work together. My two brown-eyed cuties.

J and E got a little carried away with the sprinkles at the beginning of their tree - I finally had to move the shakers out of their reach. Their tree was the tallest. I'm not sure how they ended up with so many cookies! Hmmm, I wonder... We kept these out as decorations for only one day before the temptation got to us and we started eating them. This turned out to be a very good day.

Christmas tree adventures

2008-12-30T08:36:00.003-05:00

I've decided that I'm just going to be behind by about 2 or 3 weeks with my posts. Maybe eventually I will catch up and actually post something that recently happened. We'll see... These are from December 13th when we went out in lots of snow to cut down our tree. D is not in the picture because he was at merit badge college for scouts. We felt bad to go without him but this was the only time S was not going to be on call.

S said a number of times (and for good reason) "this is why kids need a dad." Absolutely! If S weren't available to 'cut' and 'drag' we would be at the store picking out a lovely, fake, and pre-lit tree. Maybe someday - I can dream can't I?!

Notice the size of the tree. We were supposed to get a 6 or 7 foot tree in order to fit nicely in a corner we picked out in the living room. (With all the new furniture, it was the only good spot.) Well, it's hard to judge size out in the big, white, open field. So... it's a 10-foot tree, again, and we ended up moving some furniture around to accommodate it.

New furniture, finally!

2008-12-23T09:48:00.001-05:00

S and I went out the day after Thanksgiving and purchased a lot of furniture for our living room and for D's bedroom. Our living room has needed more seating for years and D's bedroom will also serve as a guest room now. (We told him that it's still his room for 360 days of the year and a guest room for the few days we might have someone visit.) We've never done anything quite like this before. It was very strange. It was delivered right after we got back from Savannah and that was much more overwhelming than I expected. And, trying to paint D's room the very morning before it all came in didn't help the stress level at all. Why would I do that? I didn't realize that getting new furniture would stress me out. What is wrong with me!? Anyway, now that it is all in the house and mostly where I want it, and D's room is completely painted, I can enjoy it.

Savannah!

2008-12-23T09:31:00.001-05:00

S and I got to take a trip (sort of) to Savannah, GA. I say sort of because it was actually a conference for S and I tagged along because he doesn't like to go by himself. We had a blast. I actually went to a few of the lectures with him. They weren't bad. I even got to participate in one of them. I played a 55 year old divorced, diabetic that exercises every day. S played a 60 something, diabetic man with two girlfriends. There was a point in the skit when I was supposed to ask another man in the group if he wanted me to come over every morning and go walking with him. His response was "Is this a date?" That wasn't in the script! I turned red. Later S said he didn't expect such feelings of jealousy and that he didn't like that guy saying that to me - even if it was just part of the skit! It was actually quite funny. In the picture above, I'm standing in the spot where they filmed the bus scene for Forrest Gump.

We had to get a picture of the amazing trees. The branches were all twisted and turned. It's hard to believe that there is that much strength in a tree to be able to hold all of that up. It was cool. And the weather was nice. No snow to deal with. In fact the day we got there it was in the upper 60's.

Here I am in front of The Lady and Sons restaurant (Paula Deen's restaurant), where we ate two nights because it was so good. Real southern cooking... mmmmm!

This is the view from our hotel window. We were right on the Savannah River. We got to the hotel, opened the shades and this is what we saw. It was awesome. I can't believe a ship so large and heavy can stay on top of the water. And this river didn't seem big enough to handle such large ships. This was a great trip for us. We really got to concentrate on our relationship without having to think about all the regular day to day stuff at home. This trip helped us become closer than ever and reconfirmed for us the importance of getting away occasionally alone. We will definitely keep up this tradition. It makes me look forward to the future when we can do stuff like this all the time.

First Big Snow (from back in November)

2008-12-17T10:57:00.003-05:00

First snowman of the season! I forgot I took these pictures, so my posts are a little out of order now. Oops! This snowman is made with the help of a snowman kit I made years ago - I cut out and painted wooden pieces and attached them to dowels which stick into the snowman. The kids love it. This is what they were doing the week before Thanksgiving... so I packed all our snow gear to take with us to Kalamazoo. When we got there... NO SNOW! Talk about packing way too much in the car for no reason. Oh well, it was cold enough to need the hats and mittens at least.

D's spotlight

2008-12-14T06:52:00.006-05:00

D's birthday came up on us fast. He's 14! I can't believe I'm old enough to have a 14 year old child. Life continues to move too quickly for me and keeps getting faster. I can't seem to keep up on everything that I used to. I figured that since D just had a birthday, this might be the perfect time to spotlight him. Here's what I came up with for him:

“In a million words or less…”

He's our oldest child - and that may explain a lot right there. He's always been very good at taking care of younger children, especially babies, even when they are crying. We have felt for a long time that he will be a good dad someday. He used to watch Na for as long as I needed him to when she was a baby – he literally wouldn’t leave her side – he was very aware of protecting her. One example of this was when he even turned down playing with a friend (back when he was 5 years old) because the friend wouldn’t include his sister. When he was a small child he would make all of his toys (especially the dinosaurs) “fight” which meant banging them together over and over again, with the sound effects. He can be funny, and entertaining. He's stubborn. We can depend on him in many situations. He has a soft heart. He loves playing most sports, especially soccer. He is currently trying to learn how to play the piano by teaching himself. He's working to be better at school, and loves his theater class (hidden talent maybe?). He's very ready to grow up - and at 14 he is at the stage of "I know" whenever we try to tell him anything! He used to stand at the top of the stairs and cry for a long periods time – just like his mother used to do as a child – the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree! He doesn't like to fail at anything. When he was old enough to walk (and we knew he could) he wouldn't take even a few steps at a time if he thought he would fall. I think he wanted to wait until he was sure he could walk across the room without falling before he even tried it. He did the same with talking. He didn't talk until after he turned two. We thought he must have practiced saying words at night while we were asleep so we couldn't hear him, because one day he just started saying everything. He works hard in scouts and enjoys it – most of the time. He loves rewards for behaviors and we have found that money or food work well as motivation for him to do almost anything. He enjoys cooking and seeks after opportunities to make all kinds of foods. He enjoys being in charge – as an oldest child usually does. He says he wants to be an orthodontist when he grows up - he likes to be the one to pull out the loose teeth in our family. And sometimes his younger siblings will let him. He's very confident. Basically, he's a good kid and I look forward to watching him grow into a good man.

Thanksgiving with new cousins and a visitor from Germany!

2008-12-14T05:47:00.010-05:00

S's sister married a man that already had four kids so that meant we got four new cousins to get to know. That made this year's Thanksgiving vacation extra exciting for us. It was amazing how quickly everyone got to know each other. By watching them interact, it was as if they had known each other for years. These are the two boys - ages 6 and 8 - and anyone that knows my boys will know that age doesn't matter to them when it comes to playing and generally being crazy.

Pictured here with E is one of the girls - age 11. They are busy playing the wii. (I don't even know if that's how to spell "wii".) The kids couldn't get enough of that thing.
N poses with her new cousin that's her age - 12. It was strange how much they were alike, as you can see. They even worked together (and with the other girls) to make up a cheerleading dance/routine for everyone. It was fun to watch.
Here's S's sister with their aunt from Germany. We get to see her every few years. The kids enjoyed practicing some of their German with her. It was a lot of fun. We managed to pack a lot into that short trip. Aside from eating constantly, we went to the park with all the kids - played on the playground, played a football game (with the kids!). S and I went shopping and bought a lot of new furniture (which will be seen in an upcoming post). We all went to the movies (for free, compliments of S's sister), the kids and some of the adults played video games, and we hardly slept. It was great!
Of course I cannot end this post without mentioning and giving a huge THANK YOU to the cooks! The food was, as always, excellent.

Lucky!

2008-11-14T15:28:00.002-05:00

Here I am, doing laundry, and trying lately to think only about my children's good qualities (see the "In a million words or less..." from my recent post) and all I can say is that one of my children was very lucky to have been safely at school today. I was on my 4th load of the day and as I was pulling clothes out of the washer to put into the dryer I notice a big blue ink mark on a pair of D's pants. Okay, so he got ink on his pants at school and I didn't see it to treat it before washing... no big deal. Then out comes my nice white jacket - INK MARKS! OKAY, WHO HAD THE PEN IN THEIR POCKET?! Well, there in J's church pants, still in the closed pocket, the blue pen and so much ink soaked in that I did something I never do - I threw the pants away. I then spent the next hour or so spraying hair spray and Shout on D's pants and my jacket, and I scrubbed until my arm was tired. (Hair spray actually works quite well on ink marks, as long as it's not a ton of ink, FYI.) After the initial shock and anger wore off, I realized that the real lucky part was that the ink only got on a couple of things. It was a big load and it could've been so much worse. I know because I have experienced this before, only it was a load of whites and there was ink on every single item. So today I'm thankful for hairspray, and that my children go to school!

Thankful for a good daughter!

2008-11-13T08:15:00.007-05:00

With Thanksgiving coming we naturally reflect on those things we are most thankful for in our lives. On that note... one of N's teachers this year gave the parents a homework assignment. She wanted to get to know her students quickly and wanted help from the people that know them best. The assignment was titled “In a million words or less...” (And this has inspired me to do the same for each of my children - so those will be coming soon!) Here's what I turned in:

I’ve been thinking about this assignment since Na handed it to me that first week of school. I wondered how I could describe my daughter adequately. I decided to brainstorm a little in order to come up with some words that might help paint a picture of her. I know I can use a million words, but if I had to choose only one word it would be “good”. She is simply, good. Now I will expand on that. Here are some of the other words that came to mind in describing her (and in no particular order): responsible, organized, quiet, obedient, helpful, honorable, moral, musical, creative, funny, witty, respectful, sensitive, thoughtful, conscientious, daughter, sister, friend, beautiful – inside and out….
Ever since she was a little girl she did things at her own speed. We used to laugh when we would ask her to hurry and she would say “okay”. Then she would go the same speed as before. She was also very aware of doing her best in just about everything she tried. She is still that way – very careful. She is a great daughter and older sister. She is our oldest daughter. She has an older brother, D, who is in 8th grade, and 4 younger siblings – 1 brother and 3 sisters. She has stepped up to the challenges that come naturally with the role of older sister. She enjoys and is good at babysitting her younger siblings. I can depend on her to do what she is asked and without complaining. She often notices things that need to be done around the house and then will do them without being asked. She has been known to clean the whole kitchen just because it needed to be done. And she’ll clean the bathroom any time I ask her. She says she likes it. I really enjoy that quality in her! She’s a wonderful helper and enjoys being part of a team, whatever that might be – around the house with chores or on the soccer field.
Na has a great sense of what is right and good. She is our child that we trust with the TV remote. I will explain. We try to change the channel when inappropriate commercials pop up in the middle of a show we are watching as a family. Sometimes when her dad and I need to leave the room, we hand the remote to Na. She seems to know when to change the channel way before anyone else notices anything wrong.
She enjoys music. She took piano lessons for a couple of years. She started the viola in 5th grade through the elementary school. She used to enjoy singing when she was little, and she has a nice voice. Unfortunately she has become too self-conscious about it. Now she only sings in groups or in her own room (or shower :).
She is creative. She loves to write and uses words very well to express herself. I loved it when she got to the age when she started to get my jokes. Not too long after that she started coming up with her own. She likes drawing stick figures. It amazes me the detail that she can get into a stick figure’s expressions and movements. She will create whole scenes using these simple drawings. It fascinates me.
We learned early on that the way to correct or discipline Na was vastly different than what we did with her older brother. When D misbehaved, the consequences needed to be pretty strict in order to help him change his behavior. With Na, all we had to do was to look at her sternly and she would start to cry. She is still very sensitive to correction – maybe it’s because she is already trying so hard to be good and do what is right. She is good at obeying. She listens and tries to improve. Because of her we learned right away that we couldn’t rely on past experience in raising children. They are all so different. And on that note, we have sure loved having her as a daughter and getting to know her. I hope this will be helpful as you are getting to know her over the course of this year.
P.S. Thanks for this assignment. It has been fun and challenging to try to put into words what I think of my daughter. It makes me want to do this assignment for the rest of my children, just for fun. Not only has it made me stop and think hard about who she is, but it has made me appreciate her more and recognize all that she contributes to our family. She is a good one!!

Halloween!

2008-11-02T13:10:00.006-05:00

Something about Halloween gets me really excited. I think because I love to dress up and pretend to be someone or something else. Plus I had a mom that would make really cool costumes for us as kids. I decided at the beginning of October that I wasn't going to put so much effort into the kids' costumes this year, like I usually do. It seems I try to say that every year then I still go all out with the costumes. I can't help it - I love halloween. So here are all the kids in their costumes. The Joker was the most time consuming. I had to make just about everything. Where do you find crazy purple pants and coat, and green vest? I also researched a little online on how to do the hair and make up.

A friend of mine asked what my kids were dressing up as this year. When I said I had three witches, she responded with, "yeah, but what are they going to be for halloween?" :) Ha Ha!

The kids in J's class said things like, "wow, you look like a real scarecrow!" He even played the part! The scarecrow is one of my all time favorite costumes - and fairly easy to make.

A couple more little witches. They loved getting to wear make-up!

Here's my cowardly lion.

Here they all are (with a neighbor friend from across the street) just before going out trick-or-treating. Looking good and ready for tons of candy - which we now have covering the kitchen countertop.

Pumpkin Carving

2008-11-02T07:00:00.006-05:00

K is fascinated by the "stuff" inside the pumpkin. She is my one girl (at this age) that wasn't afraid of it and wanted to do it herself.

K shows off her pumpkin that her dad helped her carve. I would show a picture of her dad in the middle of carving but I promised him that I wouldn't put a picture of him in every post. So I have to wait until I do a few more posts before he can be seen again!

E pretty much did her own by herself. This is the first year that she didn't need help. Well, I helped a little with the mouth. I can't believe my years of carving for my kids are almost over.

Ni did her own, too. Look at the concentration. She pulls her lips in when she concentrates just like me.

J works on his own design. He is usually very creative with the pumpkin faces.

Na took the longest to get her done. She takes her time with everything. We've always said she only has one speed.

D carved his, then didn't like it, so he kept carving until it ended up looking a little bit like a monkey.

Here are our final creations...

...and again without the flash...

...and again with the kids holding their own. We actually had the lights off but I kept the flash on my camera on. I think it's funny so see what faces they were making in the dark knowing I was going to take the picture. Ni's expression kills me :)

15 years!

2008-10-24T08:24:00.000-04:00

We went to Chicago to celebrate our 15 year wedding anniversary. We finally got our honeymoon. We went to Roy's restaurant (pictured here) on the second day and the waitress couldn't believe we had been married that long. She said we looked like we were still so in love. You can imagine her reaction when we told her we had six kids. "You look too young to have six kids!" What a nice compliment. She wanted to know our secret. We told her exercise, eating right, not drinking or smoking, and keeping our relationship as our first priority. We gave her a pretty big tip! We went to some really fabulous restaurants while we were there - Roy's was definitely our favorite one, well, besides Giordano's. We went there three times in 5 days for pizza. We couldn't get enough! It's good we jogged almost every day of our trip. We would've come back 10 pounds heavier.

Here was the highlight of our trip. Wicked!! It was so awesome! Even S loved it and he claims he doesn't like theater, especially musicals. After seeing Wicked he started making plans to go to a bunch of different plays. Of course I'm excited about that. He told me before we got married that one of the things he wanted to do in life was travel the world, see things, do things. I never thought much about it because it wasn't possible for so long and I didn't want to get my hopes up. Plus, when he said it we were looking ahead to many years of schooling and little money. When S would talk about going on vacations without the kids I always told him that I would go anywhere with him and for as long as he wanted... just as soon as our youngest child was old enough. Old enough to me was about three. That age when they can tell anyone what they want and can be understood. And old enough that we could explain to them where we were going and when we would be back and they understand. And old enough that I won't worry about them the whole time I'm gone. Well, I have kept my promise. K is our youngest and she's three. We went on vacation for 5 days and I didn't worry about her at all. This was the longest we have ever been away from our kids and I must say, it was great! We've decided to make this a yearly thing. It's about time!!

Here we are relaxing on the beach waiting for the air show to start. Wow, the beach without kids - what a difference. S said he didn't need sunscreen since it was 2:00 in the afternoon. He fell asleep... and got really burned. I had a hard time feeling bad for him since I offered to put sunscreen on him and he wouldn't let me. This is why I usually don't ask. I just put it on him. While he slept I observed people. I watched a large family near us and noticed that the mom was so nice to her children. She was playing in the sand and in the water with them. She wasn't getting mad or irritated about anything they did. She was just so excited to be there. And just as I was starting to feel like a really bad mom, wondering why I can't seem to be quite like that with my kids when we go places, one of the kids called her "Aunt....". I felt much better. No wonder the kids were being so good. Kids always behave better for other people. Anyway, it was funny.

On our last day we were basically killing time before catching our train back home. We roamed the city taking odd pictures of ourselves. This was our third attempt to get in the picture with the Sears Tower. We had the best week ever. I even went to far as to call it the best week of my life so far. I got to be in one of the greatest cities with my best friend.

Figuring it out!

2008-10-20T11:52:00.000-04:00

I'm here at Kierste's house. She is typing for me because her girls won't get off my lap. :) I'm their best friend (other than Kierste, of course).
I'm excited to give blogging a try--to keep up with friends and family, and share a little of our life with you. Please be patient as I figure things out, and no laughing!!!