Happy day!

Daughter's 15th birthday.
Brother's one and only wedding.

Happy day!!!

My siblings

It has been a while since we were all together. I love my brothers and my sister. Wish we had more time together.

And us with our spouses. The angle kind if cuts off CK's head. :(

And Then There Were Nine

We are having such a great time!  My sister's children have been here for two days.  A left on Saturday.  They came Sunday afternoon.  So we went from six kids to five to nine.  Awesome!  It has been so fun!  I am sad to see them go home.  What a great blessing family is!

They all play together.  They have made a movie.  They occasionally fight.  They all eat well.  We have a party every meal.  I am so grateful that we have had this opportunity to make memories together.  I am so grateful for K and C.  They helped tremendously.  All in all, what a great start to this week!

What a GREAT Day!!!!

I have had such a wonderful day!  It is a joy to feel this way as I do have many days that result in being overwhelmed, exhausted, and/or barely making it.  These six kids give me a run for my money.  Today, however, has truly been amazing. 

First, J and A have a massage parlor that they have named 5-star massage.  They spend hours together preparing the set up, making brochures, and gathering massage "tools."  I had an appointment with them this morning.  Loved it!  I truly feel relaxed and I get to really focus on and enjoy my blessings.  I love my children and my calling as mother.  I love my life....sometimes I just need a reminder of exactly how much I love it.

Then, A and I met my dear friend, A, and her daughter, E, at the pool.  The girls swam and A and I visited. Baby C even slept for us.  It was a beautiful day and I love A so very much.  I couldn't have asked for anything more.  It was kind of funny because early this morning, I was musing on how much I miss all my "old" friends....ones I have known and loved for a long time.  I miss the days where hanging out together was much easier.  Many of these close friends now live far away.   I miss...

• L and her laid-back and relaxed manner.  I need to learn from her.
• S and her ability to keep things organized and clean at all times.  I need to learn from her.
• S and her spirituality and ability to see things the way God does.   I need to learn from her.
• A (Same A as above) and her ability to bring joy and laughter even in difficult times.   I need to learn from her.
• K and her wisdom and talents.   I need to learn from her.
• A and her selflessness and Christlike love.   I need to learn from her.

What great friends I have been blessed with!

But, that was a tangent.  Then, tonight, the girls and I went on a progressive dinner.  We had given this "experience" to A for her birthday and now was the time to use it.  So, A, V, and I went and picked up K from choir camp downtown and we went to do our progressive dinner.  It was so fun!

We began at Target eating pizza and popcorn and drinking soda.  How I love my girls.  I have three daughters and they are A-MA-ZING!!!

A got to choose all the places.  So, next we were off to McDonald's.  We ate chicken nuggets, fries, and yogurt parfaits.  A funny thing to remember is that we got a big box of nuggets.  V didn't know what they were.  When I opened the box, she yelled, "Oh!  Chicken Nuggets!!"  It was so super cute.  She really talks so much!

You cannot really see them, but K and A spent a few minutes playing on the playground.  The love each other so much!

Finally, we went to Braum's for dessert.  Yummy!

Then, to complete my awesome day, we came home to a fun filled house.  We were all just loving being together.  C is at scout camp and we miss him terribly.  It was the last night with everyone else home, however, as tomorrow K and J go with their dad and then A goes back to her other home in Missouri on Saturday.  We were just loving being together.  In between scriptures and song and prayer, CK and J were playing and wrestling together while the rest of us laughed and laughed.  I managed to capture it a little from my perch where I was nursing baby C.

Then, we all played Telestrations and laughed and laughed some more.  I have a great family.  I have had a great day.  Life isn't easy, but it sure is wonderful.  I am truly blessed.

Old!!!

So, of course I have a million things I'd like to blog about. I have a whole list at the bottom of my weekly to do list of things that I still would like to blog about that have happened during the last few weeks.

But I am sitting here feeding the baby and I have been pondering something the last couple of days.

Beginning a day or two ago, when I look in the mirror, I see my age. I look old. I see a middle aged woman. This is new to me. I am accustomed to looking in the mirror and thinking I still look pretty young. I don't. I am 37 and every year is showing.

Did the last few weeks age me quickly? Or was I just oblivious to the aging process going on?

Indeed, the last few weeks have been crazy, perhaps trumping any other crazy time period of my life. Just since school let out not even two weeks ago, we've had K at girls camp, C baseball games, A with us for two weeks, J at swim lessons, K at choir camp, C at scout camp, Father's Day, V as a toddler beginning her terrible twos early, Baby C as a needy four-month old, prep for our trip to go to my brother's wedding, prep for K's 15th birthday, etc.

It has definitely been quite the challenge these few weeks. Have they aged me??? Or, again, was I oblivious? Either way, I think it is time to accept that I AM middle aged. I DO have six kids. It HAS been 20 years since I graduated from high school.

So, while all we've had going on has been stressful and frustrating at times and always crazy busy, I have a great life. Each of these busy moments comes from taking care of someone I love. I am lucky indeed.

I am a little bummed, however, since we have been blessed to have A with us for two whole weeks and only TWO of those nights I will have had all six kids under my roof. And, those were busy too....no pictures this time. :(

Family party again!!!!

A is here!!!!!! Woo hoo!!!

So I am making a shake run while they watch MegaMind at home. I love time together. I love family parties!!!!!

Here is today's invitation. They love figuring out what each thing means.  (Scattergories, Tangled or MegaMind, and Sonic)

I love spending time together.  Even though A will be here for 2 full weeks, we will only have all of our children in the same house for just two nights.  And, this is one of them, so we have to take advantage of it! I love my kids.  I love being a mom!  I am so very blessed and very very lucky!  We have had such a fun time already and I look forward to a lot more fun!

These are the Days

This song was our senior class song when I graduated from high school 20 years ago. I don't know who chose it, but it worked really well for a bunch of seniors graduating from high school and starting a new phase of life.

This morning, as I am pondering on all the things that we do as a family, and reviewing the different pictures I have taken recently, it hit me that this is true again.

Just in the last week, I have pictures of C playing baseball, I have pictures of J getting awards, I have pictures of K singing in her choir concert, pictures of baby C as he wakes up in the morning with a big smile on his face, I have pictures of V carrying balls around, I have pictures of A as she smiles big in a hotel room in Missouri. These are MY days to remember, because they truly won't last forever. I am so blessed

I looked up a portion of the lyrics of the song. Here's how it begins:

"These are the days

These are days you'll remember

Never before and never since, I promise
will the whole world be warm as this
and as you feel it, you'll know it's true
that you are blessed and lucky
it's true, that you are touched by something
that will grow and bloom in you

These are days you'll remember"
-by Natalie Merchant

7th annual last day of school water fight

Today was the last day of school.  It is crazy how fun they have been.  It is such a tradition.  This year, the big kids are, well, big and it was mostly for J that I did the annual fight.  I decided to make it smaller and gear it more for the younger kids.  I have two babies and a weird dizzy health condition that I have an appointment to see the doctor for next week.  So, we went smaller.

Here are the links to fights past.  It is fun to see the kids grow up.

2008:  1st Annual Last Day of School Water Fight

2009:  2nd Annual Last Day of School Water Fight...I didn't blog about this.  It was also the same day that the divorce became a reality.  I guess I couldn't focus enough to blog that day.
2010:  3rd Annual Last Day of School Water Fight...WHAT!??!!  I guess I didn't blog about this one either.  I sure cannot find it!
2011:  4th Annual Last Day of School Water Fight
2012:  5th Annual Last Day of School Water Fight
2013:  6th  Annual Last Day of School Water Fight

2014:  7th Annual Last Day of School Water Fight!!!

 I didn't get very many pictures this time.  Baby C had other ideas and was somewhat cranky. 

But, I now have a 10th grader, an 8th grader, a 5th grader (in Missouri), a 2nd grader, a toddler, and a baby.  What a blessed life I lead!  :)

Family Party #5

We were having family parties monthly.  Life got busier.  Life got crazier.  Family parties ended.  For Mother's Day, however, what I really wanted was to have some relaxing family time.  When I decided to try for family time, I didn't even think about calling it another Family Party, however, I soon realized that is exactly what it was.  (This was Saturday, May 10, 2014)

We began by making "individual saucers" or individual homemade pizzas.

Next, we did some "circular object hitting," also known as croquet.

Then, when our game was done and the pizzas had cooked, we had a "spin dinner."  We use the Uno Flash game and eat whatever the spinner tells us too.  It really is great fun. 

We finished the evening by heading to the "Hedgehog's home for a non-stirred nightcap."  They all needed help to figure this one out.  It was shakes at Sonic.  Yum!  I didn't take a picture of this one.  I think we had a screaming baby.

I love my family.  I love spending time with them.  I truly cherish it, as we do not get the opportunity often.  We did not get to have A with us, so it still wasn't our whole family, but it was close.  We are almost always missing one or more children:  other parents, school events, athletic events, friend activities, church activities, etc..  I feel we keep each child's activities down to a minimum (one or less at a time), but we have so many children that it just adds up.  Crazy life we lead.  I am so blessed.  :)