Partay

Oldest son blowing out the candles, and friend drinking cream soda.

Oldest son- Good form

The guys bowling.

The guys checking out their score.

Oldest son's birthday party was a success. All the boys were able to come and all spent the night. It was great fun watching them all interact with each other. We really wanted Oldest son's 13th birthday to be a milestone and something he remembered with fond memories. Even though we look at his birthday day and his party, it doesn't really seem like it was all that "special" or "out of the norm". But for him it was, it was a special time for him. He had such a great time, now widget wants to do the exact same thing for his birthday this year. I had to veto him, and tell him he could when he turned 13. Oh boy was he majorly bummed. He has to wait 2 more years. Here are some pics of the party.

I was completely surprised by one aspect of the party. I was expecting to be feeding hungry, growing teenage boys. So we got 5 pizzas; 4 thick with one being loaded with meat, pepperoni, cheese, and one thin pizza. Hoping that would be enough and if not we had plenty of junk food (chips,etc.) to supplement the meal. How many do you think 6 teenage boys plus our family of 5 ate? A shockingly 2 pizzas! We had 3 pizzas left over. I couldn't believe it. We are still eating left over pizza. The next morning they did make up for it and ate over 36 pancakes and numerous patties of sausage. I should have fed them the left over pizza. LOL.

All in all it was a great time. My oldest son has a great bunch of friends, who my hubby and I really like. That means alot.

LOL

Here is a funny.

Last night we took the family and Oldest son's friends bowling for oldest's son's birthday party. We had a great time. We came home and did a midnight scavenger hunt. During the hunt the boys found we forgot to turn our headlights off on the Expedition. So today off course the battery is dead.
My mother in law took us to youngest son's last soccer game (We can't all fit in hubby's acura). When we got home, hubby was going to use her vehicle to jump my truck.

Granma was explaining this to babygirl:

Baby girl says: "Granma why did you park your car like that in our garage?"

Granma "We are going to jump your truck to make it work again."

Baby girl "You are going to jump ON mommy's truck? And that will make it work?"

LOL. Out of the mouth of babes.

Sports

Since the kids sports season is winding down, I thought I would post some pics of them doing their thing.



Youngest son playing soccer


Widget ready for action.


Oldest son (Mr. Intensity) motivating his team.



Goal Kick.

Baby girl did not do ballet this year, so no pics of her doing a sport. I'll have to get her doing her thing.....playing with baby dolls.

Birthday Day

My oldest son's birthday was a hit. Even though he did have school, he had a great day and thanked his dad and I several times on his way to bed.

As a tradition, since the kids have been old enough to enjoy movies, hubby takes the birthday kid to the movies. Some times they are picked up at lunch time and have a half day, and other times they get picked up right after school.

Well, the birthday boy did not want to miss his afternoon classes and then have make up work, so he chose to stay all day and get picked up after school. Hubby picked him up and had a chance to walk the mall and do some "men" shopping before the movie. It was a great chance for hubby and birthday boy to have heart to heart talks. Quality time is definitely oldest son's love language (The 5 love languages by Gary Chapman).

They then proceeded to the movies and saw Eagle Eye. Which they said was a very good movie. Afterwards, they headed to Verizon to check out cell phones. Oldest son was contemplating upgrading his cell phone as part of his birthday present, but they decided against it. He is like me...stays with what he knows, until it doesn't work anymore.

On the way home they stopped and got one of his favorites...crab cakes... and bought enough for the entire family. They were delicious, yummy! Then came the cake and presents. He was just a glowing when he went to bed.

This friday he is having his first sleepover party. He has gone to many, and has had many friends over to spend the night, but it has always been just one friend at a time. Should prove to be an interesting night. At least I have several nights before then to get some sleep. LOL.

Birthday time

Well tomorrow is my oldest's 13th birthday. I can't believe I will officially be a mother of a teenager. I say officially, cause it sure has felt like he has been a teenager. The puberty hit before the teenage year, we have the enormous growth spurt, the deepening of his voice, the hormones flying around- short tempered, frustrated easily, sensitive etc.
It is amazing though,that as of late those things have not been an issue. He has started knowing his body, when he gets frustrated to go cool off. He has also has blossomed with his service towards others. He has a real heart for serving others. He also cares for those around him.
He is playing coed soccer for his middle school team. One game he slammed into a girl, they were both going for the ball aggressively, and knocked her to the ground, accidentally. It wouldn't have mattered if it was Goliath or a tiny mite, it's all out on the soccer field. Anyways, after he knocked her to the ground, he turned to her and offered his hand to help her up. I was really proud of him and his gentlemen ways.
I just keep lifting him up to the Lord. That my son would allow God to make him the man that God intents for him to be. Wow what an adventure we are on in raising the kids that God has given us.

She did it, tears and all

She did it. We decided after much talking that we would go ahead and try her pictures again. Babygirl said she would do it with a smile. So we do all the preps this morning. We found a different outfit, still a holiday outfit, just a black velvet pant set with ruffles all over.

Well we get to school and wait in line, again. This time only 15 minutes. We walk in the door, and it is de- jah-vu (sp?) and her arms get tighter around me and the tears start flowing. We watch her brother get his picture done. Then it is her turn. I put her on the chair after much convincing and tears streaming down her face. The photographer is going to get their picture together but she is sitting their with tears. He asks "Is it ok to take a crying picture?"
My response "Absolutely. It will capture her where she really is today." So he starts flashing away and saying all kinds of silly things. And her fortitude with crying is starting to break and you see a slight smirk. She is laughing on the inside but trying with all her might not to show it. Finally she caves and starts laughing out loud.
I think we will end up with some really good pictures. I hope so anyways. What an ordeal!

Picture Day

In my earlier post, I was deciding what to dress my kids in for their school pics. Well I decided to go for the holiday look. But that may not be what I end up getting.

Why? Let me tell you why.

Since today was picture day, I told work I would be coming in late so I could be there to help out babygirl. She does not like her picture taken by strangers, especially men and I knew the photogragher was a man. So we get up early. We get the hair done, the dress and bloomers on (she insists on bloomers so noone can see her panties, even if they are covered up with stockings), the stockings and dress shoes on. We get to school early. The photographer is busy taking pictures and we wait our turn. If you get siblings pictured together you can do them in the morning, individuals are to be taken as a class. Since we were going to do siblings, we could get their individual done then too.

We waited our turn about 30 minutes and as soon as I go through the door, babygirl breaks out in tears and clinging to me like her life depends on it. I try to convince, bribe, you name it, to get her picture done. But nope, she wouldn't do it. Ugh!

The photographer is a great guy and says "Let's try it with her class. A lot of times they do much better without M-O-M." I tell him "I tried to do it this way because she doesn't do well with M-E-N". He says "Thats fine, but I really think when she sees her friends do it, she will do it too." So I take a deep breath and say "Ok." and take her to her class.

I had brought clothes to change her into so she would be comfortable the rest of the day. Now I would not be able to do that, and school would not be doing that. I warned her. She would now be in her dress all day. Her sweet teacher said she would help babygirl get her picture done. So I leave for work.

After work I go pick her up from school and see her class is outside on the playground. As I approach her I see she now has a hole in her stocking, her dress and dress shoes are dirty. "That's ok" I think to myself, she already had her picture taken and I can clean her dress and shoes. As soon as she sees me she says "No picture mom."
I really hope I didn't hear what I thought I just heard. I caustiously ask her "What do you mean no picture?"
She says "I didn't take my picture. I just cried." Now I want to cry.
Are you kidding me? All the preps to get ready, going in late to work, staying in her dress all day, getting it dirty and a hole in her stockings and what do we have for it....


NOTHING,
but more laundry!!!!!

I am just a tad frustrated!!!! And I still have a picture to get of her. They said we could try again tomorrow. Like I want to do that all over again.

School pictures

Tomorrow is school pictures for the 2 younger ones. I always stress about what to put them in.

Do I go casual? Formal? Holiday style?

I really like the casual pictures because it shows how they really are day to day.

But the formal ones are nice too? They are so adorable all dolled up.

Hmm. Decisions, decisions.

Where is my.......

I think I have a case of losing my mind. Well, maybe not my mind, but everything else.

I keep losing, or shall I say...misplacing things. It is so frustrating. I have spent more time this past week looking for things.

It started off with me losing my keys. I am known to misplace my keys, but they usually end up in the same few places (key rack, by my laptop, or by the coffee maker). But they were not in any of those places. I had them sunday to drive home from church, so I knew they were in the house someplace...But where? The house was clean sunday for small group, so all the possible hiding spots were no longer hiding spots. Thankfully we have spare keys that I can use in the meantime.

Next, I realize I cannot find my lab jacket for work. What? Now where in the world is that? It is not in the laundry and it is not hanging up. Good grief. Plus I am still looking for my keys.

The next day is our anniversary and we are heading to Annapolis MD so I want to bring my light jacket in case it gets a little chilly by the water. So I go to the closet and it is not there. I go upstairs and downstairs looking for my jacket. You have got to be kidding me, it is nowhere to be seen. So I grab another windbreaker.

I am starting to feel like there is someone sneaking into my house and taking just my things. Or maybe we have an invisible friend who keeps taking my things. I know it sounds crazy, but where is my stuff?

AHA!! I find my lab jacket. It was folded up instead of hanging up. Whew! Ok maybe there are not little gobblins running around taking my things. But where are my keys?

The next day we have the funeral. Everyone is piled into my Expedition waiting for Mom to give the spare keys to Dad so we can leave. OH NO!! Where are the spare keys? I look in all my usual spots. Not there. I go upstairs and downstairs tearing the house apart....no keys. This is ridiculous! Thankfully hubby has one more spare key (he never told me about this set) in his work bag. Whew. Well now we are a few minutes late to the funeral. :(

The saga continues after we get home from the funeral. I look around where is my purse? The phone rings shortly after that with hubby's aunt on the line saying she has my purse, I left it in the kitchen at church. Whew! At least that wasn't lost for longer than a few minutes (that I realized anyways). And do you know what else? I found the spare keys in my purse!! WooHoo! One set found, one more to go.

Sunday rolls around and lo and behold guess what my husband finds? You got it. MY KEYS!! They somehow had fallen off the key rack and fell into a shoe, that got moved around behind some jackets that are on some low hooks. No wonder I couldn't find them. I did put them where they belonged.
Then when I went to work this morning I found my light jacket. I left it at work, because when I came in it was cold, but when I left it was hot, so I did not remember I had a jacket. So here I am thinking this misplacing thing has got to be over. Thank goodness!! Well that was until I came home from work today and couldn't find my beeper. AAAHHHH!!! I sometimes think, if my head wasn't attached I would forget that too!!!

Babygirl's response to a funeral

Yesterday we attended the funeral of one of our dear friends' father. This man was 91 years old and was ready to go home to be with the Lord. We took all our children, as we wanted to pay tribute to our friend as a family. It also gave the kids a chance to experience a funeral without having the grief of knowing the person who died.

It sparked all kinds of questions from them. The cutest one came from my little babygirl.
She asked "How did he die, mommy?"
I wasn't really sure what the specific cause of death was so I answered "He was old honey, and he was ready to go to heaven to be with Jesus."
This was not a sufficient answer for her. This is a girl who always asks me "Mommy, when you went to work, did you cut anyone open?" or "Do you have any blood on you?" or "Mommy, will you tell me everything you did today at work, even about the needles?" I believe she may be headed for the medical profession.
Anyways she wanted more specifics, "But HOW did he die? What happened?"
So I told her "I think his heart was tired and stopped working."
Her response was " Did his heart come unplugged?"
The results from living in the electronic age. LOL.

Quote of the day

I heard a this quote the other day

"The thoughts that hold you the most, mold you the most."

Hmm. I had to ponder this. Is this true? I concluded, I think it is.

So then, if I believe it is true, "What am I thinking about the most?"

Are my thoughts on myself? my family? the financial crisis? my relationship with my Lord? I spent the day evaluating what I was thinking of. Intriguing I might say.

Philippians 4:8 "Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things."

What thoughts hold you the most?

The Big One Five!

Tomorrow is the big day. Tomorrow hubby and I will be celebrating our 15 year anniversary! It's hard to believe it has been that long, yet it also feels like forever.

As I look back and reflect on the years it is amazing to see the road we have traveled. We certainly have had our ups and downs. Some of the lows were so low, it is only by the grace of God we are still together. Yet some of the highs are the best times of my life.

We have learned ALOT these past few years. We have grown and matured in our faith, in our marriage, even in our parenting. It came down to giving ourselves 100% to the Lord. Whatever, wherever, however, whenever you want me Lord, and I will go. It didn't just happen instantly though.

A couple of years ago we came to one of those really low points in our marriage. We even pondered if we should continue with our union. (We don't believe in divorce, but the thought was definitely in my mind). We sought counsel from an Elder at church. We began working on our relationship with the Lord first and than with one another. Things changed when we fully (not holding back anything) surrendered and made Christ, LORD of our lives and not just our Savior. Our marriage was no longer about getting through the day and all the logistics with the kids (you get this one, I'll get that one. This one has practice,that one has a dentist appt). It became about experiencing life together, and all the God has in store for us. I just wish we had not wasted so many years with an ok marriage (and ok spiritual walk) when it could be what it is today. AWESOME!!!! I am truely so in love with my hubby, that sometimes I feel like a giddy little school girl.

Facelift

It's October so I thought I would change the look of my blog.

There are sooo many cool looks out there.

I think I am going to change my background every month!

ER visit

It's official. We now have officially had all 4 kids to the emergency room at some point in their young lives. I thought it might be a boy thing. You know how rough and tumbly and adventurous they are. I never thought baby girl would end up in an ER unless maybe she got really sick, but not for an injury.

Well, babygirl had a little incident on saturday that had us in the ER that evening. I will just say that she fell on an open drawer on a very sensitive spot. This caused her great pain when having to relieve herself. Pain that caused her to scream and refuse to relieve herself, which caused even more discomfort. Of course this was at 7pm on a sat. night. We call the MD on call, and indeed they want her seen.

We travel on down the road and go to the ER. She was crying on the way. She is very private, she didn't want anyone to see her (MD or not) she just wanted the pain to go away . I tried to reassure her, that it would be ok. I would be with her holding her hand the entire time. When the time came, she was a true champion. She may not have liked it or even understood why we had to go through all this, but she trusted me. She trusted in my love for her that I would do what was best for her. As her mom, I knew she needed the doctors care in order for her to get better. (She did need lidocaine and antibiotics).

I am not trying to be vulgar or graphic with telling you this. But it got me thinking. Isn't this how God deals with us? Sometimes God allows us to go through difficult things to protect us from even worse things. Like when I allow the nurse to give my kids an immunization. I am allowing the nurse to put my child through pain. I know in the long run, that it is by far better for them to experience the pain of one needle than to be spared the needle and get the disease later on in life. Or like with my daughter, if I did not have her examined, she would not have gotten the medications to allow her to go to the bathroom instead of holding it and medicine to prevent an infection. These 2 things could have become a nightmare of a problem if not addressed at the beginning of the trauma. Yes, it was uncomfortable and difficult for her, but needed in order to prevent things getting worse.

Sometimes we need to go through the discomfort and pain in order for us to grow (or get better) or even to be protected from something even worse. We may be scared and confused about why we are going through a difficult time. Maybe even wondering why God would allow us to be hurt. But we need to take God's hand in these times, trusting His love for us. That He wants and knows what is the best for us. He knows the outcome, who better to trust than the One who knows the answers. It doesn't mean we have to like or understand what we are going through.

We just need to trust Him no matter what.

Selfishness

I have started to deal with a little bit of selfishness with a couple of my kids (mostly the middle 2). I surely want to nip it in the bud.

Lately when I ask them to help with chores around the house, it is followed by some attitude. You would have thought I asked them to do some horrible job, like pump out the septic or something. Yes, they make that awful scrunched up face followed by their comments "I didn't make this mess, sister should have to clean it up." or " Why do I have to dust?" or worse yet "You've got to be kidding, I have 2 chores. I have to clean up the playroom AND bring up the trash cans from the road?" (Nope, now you will have 3 chores for that attitude.) It takes them longer to complain about it than to actually do the chore. If they would just do the chore, they would be done in no time and back to whatever it was that they didn't want to stop in the first place.

So I have decided that I am going to charge them, in chores, for what I do for them. If I take them to a practice or a game, it will cost one chore. If I make their lunch for school it will cost one chore etc.. Hopefully this will open their eyes to all I do for them. I don't ask for much, just some help with reasonable chores.
Am I being too strict? Unreasonable?
Any other ideas out there?

Out of the mouth of babes.

My young son has fared well the last few nights and has not suffered with any more growing pains. He thought last night he might need some Motrin so he asked "Mom, I think I might need Motrin tonight for my legs." I needed to remind young son he could not have motrin, just in case he might need it. I had a similar conversation with widget some time ago. (They like the taste of it, so any little ache or pain, they would ask for Motrin.)

My conversation with widget went a little like this:
"Mom, my feet are hurting. Can I have some Motrin?"

I asked "Do they really hurt, or just a little?" He was not acting like he was in any kind of discomfort.

Widget says "They just hurt and Motrin will take the pain away."

"But, son, it is not good to take medicine all the time for just a little pain."

"Why not?"

The nurse in me comes out "Too much motrin can hurt your kidneys."

He was pondering this then asked "What happens to you, if you have too much motrin?"

A little puzzled I answered "It would hurt my kidneys, too"

His response "But you don't have 'kid knees' you have grown up knees."

LOL. Out of the mouth of babes!