Almost home... This is what little C says

We are driving home from a fun two days in Houston.  It's late.  We are tied. We are almost home.  Little C just leaned over to V and asked her to smell his shoe.  To diffuse that situation, I asked him which primary sing he wanted to sing.  V suggested the wise man built his house upon a rock.   He replied, "um..Let's smell my shoe."

Let's try this again

Just this morning, I was looking at past blog posts to help a friend going through divorce.  I know it helps to read how it was for me and I blogged fairly regularly at that point.  As I read, I remembered so much of my life.  And, I don't want to forget my life now, so perhaps I will make the blogging thing stick.  Perhaps is the key word.  Especially since we leave for Thanksgiving break in a couple of days and all bets are off.  Maybe now is not the best time to start a new routine.  :)

Life for me is very good.   I have an amazing husband.  I have six kids that are also amazing in every way.  They each test my patience in different ways, but I truly feel blessed to be their Mom.

So, I will attempt to be better at this...someday I won't remember the daily life I enjoy now and I really want to remember.

Happy 10th Birthday to my J!

Today, my little J turned 10!  He really isn't quite so little any more.  I love him so very much.  I am so grateful that he was sent to be my son.  He has a very loving heart.  He is a wonderful big brother.  He is incredibly intelligent.  He has just discovered that he has a love for music.  I know he was sent to my family for a reason and I cherish all the time we've had together and look forward to decades to come.  I am feeling saddened by the growing up of my children, but I am loving the way they interact with each other.  It is such a blessing to me to see them growing into great friends.

This first picture is J after family prayer this morning (5:45 am).  He opened one present before K and C left for seminary and then he wanted to play for a bit.  It is a snap circuit toy and he loves it!

 What a goofy kid!  120 months of me being his mama!

 His request for lunch today: Wendy's.  We got to take it to school and then eat with him.  This will probably be the last year that I get to do this ON his birthday.  With his birthday on Friday next year (and our school district always has a half day on the last Friday in September), he will not have a standard lunch.  And, then, he goes to middle school.  He probably won't want his Mama there and that's okay.

 After school, J had piano lessons, which he absolutely loves, so he wasn't at all sad to go on his birthday.  His friend lives across the street from the piano teacher and so he got to visit for a few minutes.

 He really didn't want to leave his friend's house, but I told him we had to since I had more birthday stuff to finish.  Little did he know that he would come home to find....
his cousins there!!!!  He was so excited!  He had already said he was having an awesome birthday, but this totally jumped it up a notch!

Here he is doing a scavenger hunt to find his gift.  :)

 And opening said gift.

 And then hanging out with S, his cousin that is also 10.  :)

 And, then we went to the park, taking with us the Wubble (is gift, which is a cross between a ball and a bubble).

 Obviously, this is not J, but I had these three cuties walking in front of me and so I had to take a picture.  Little C, Cousin E, and V holding hands.

 Still playing with that Wubble

 And then, Big C and K came home.  J was so excited to see them.

 And, we had crepes for dinner, per his request.  He loves crepes and we all find them delicious too.

 One of the presents from his parents was a trampoline.  After V got a toddler trampoline and he couldn't jump on it, but wanted to, we decided to give him one too.  :)

His other present from us he already used....he went to the Rangers came on Tuesday with CK and Big C.  We actually bought his ticket back in July when we bought C a ticket for his birthday.  The three of them had so much fun!  And, the Rangers won, so that made it even better.  I am so glad they got to go.

Again, I am also so grateful to have J be my son.  He is a good kid and I am a very blessed Mom.  I love him.  Happy Birthday, J!

And, just like that, V is FOUR!

It seems so hard to believe that she is four!  I am excited for this next year.  I have always really enjoyed my children at age four (only partially because 4 is my very favorite number!).  I am excited to see her grow and develop.  She is a light in our family.  She loves all her siblings and family.  She also loves going to church and with childlike (for she is indeed, a child) faith, she believes with all her little heart in Jesus Christ.  She is strong-willed and somewhat mischievious, but that keeps us on our toes.  She is also very kind hearted and spends a lot of time trying to help her family members.  She loves to be active (jump, run, somersalt, dance (although her dancing skills come from CK and I...so.....), ride her tricycle, and so forth)!  She loves to laugh and make believe.  She is fun!  I am so grateful that she is mine and I can claim her forever!  :)

A funny story about her.  I always put streamers up on the kids' doors for their birthdays (one streamer per year old).  She was so worried about this and kept telling me last night to remember to put streamers on her door.  She said, "Then I will wake up and be like 'woah!' and be so surprised!"  It is funny that she thought she would be surprised when she took much time to remind me!  BTW...I did, indeed, put up streamers overnight.

 Of course, she chose donuts for her breakfast!

 Her big gift from us was this toddler trampoline.  It is designed for up to 60 pounds and awesome!  I love the handle and I love that she will have somewhere to use her energy.  I am frequently asking her to stop jumping on the couches or the beds.  Hopefully this will give her somewhere to jump instead.  So far, it has been a good gift!

 Her Grandparents K gave her a new baby doll that she loves.  :)

She requested Daniel Tiger for her cake.  It took a bit of time, but it turned out okay.  I was almost done actually when the bag with the stripe color burst while I was using it and I had to redo part of it. A little frustrating, but it turned out okay.  :)

So, I have more photos that haven't uploaded yet, but I am worried that if I don't post this, I won't, so here you have it...part of V's special day!

(This was her blessing day - November 2012)

It has been a while since she gained her claim to fame as the first baby born at her hospital.  Pretty cool.  But, she has grown a lot!  I sure love her!

First Day of School 2016

Last Monday, August 22, 2016, school began for K, C, and J.  A started a week and a half before.  7th grade seems to be going well for her. 

 Here is J.  He began 4th grade.  As you can tell, he was not at all excited.  School isn't really his thing.  He does well, but he doesn't enjoy it.  That afternoon, however, when he got off the bus, he quickly said, "School was AWESOME!" and we haven't had major complaining since.  Phew!  Thank goodness for amazing teachers.

 He still wanted his dad and I to show up and take him to school.  We walked him in and left him with his class in the gym.  He is really growing and it is fun to see him really coming into his own.

C is a sophomore.  He is in marching band, as well as jazz band.  He really enjoys school and I am so very proud of him.  He is working hard at becoming better and better and he truly is.  I am impressed with him every day.  I love that I get a front seat in watching him mature.  Unrelated to school, he was sustained Sunday as Teachers Quorum President.  :)  He will do well and he will listen to the Spirit and do what he needs to do.  

And, finally, there is K.  She is a SENIOR.  Oh, how my Mommy-Heart aches.  I am so proud of her, however.  She is smart.  She is confident.  She is friendly.  She is dedicated.  She is spiritual.  She is just amazing!  A friend of hers posted a picture with her kindergarten picture and I loved it, so I copied the idea.  I cried.  I cannot believe my little girl has grown into such a mature young woman.  Again, I have been privileged to have a front row seat.  Benefits of being mom, I guess.  And, over the last week, I have seen the maturity continue.  She is getting ready to be on her own.  This is amazing to watch and, again, I am so proud of her!

And..I have to add the classic "First Day of School Cookies."  I have been making this recipe for years.  And, I only make them on the first day of school.  I invite friends over and we spend the morning cooking together instead of missing our children.  I love it.

 

And, the tradition continues...we head to Orange Leaf for a first day of school treat.  Oh, wow, I love these kiddos.

There has been a lot going on in the week that has passed since the first day of school.  Hopefully I will be able to catch up on that soon.  I just know that while we have many things demanding our money (like repairing a leak that created a hole in our kitchen ceiling), we are very blessed.  I love my husband.  I love my children.  I love my ward family.  I love the life I have been given.  I will work each day to cherish it for I am so very blessed.

What has happened to me?

I have been pondering this since Sunday.  I don't feel older, but, all of a sudden, my body is shaped differently.  And, I don't like it.  I guess I just don't want to admit that middle age is indeed here.  It is true that I am a couple of pounds heavier than I was a month or two ago (but only a couple!), all my weight is sitting differently.  And, like I said, I do not like it.  I am growing a belly and a muffin top.  WOW!  Truly, I am coming to realize that my body will never be the same as it was.  I guess I have always known that this would happen.  I just thought that somehow I would FEEL older too.  Nope.  I think I am still 25 or something.  No, I know I am not 25, but I don't really feel inside older than that.  Yet, my next birthday will bring me to 40!  What happened?

And, today I had an experience that made it real.  I have a new friend that just recently moved into our ward.  Yesterday, there was a huge area that lost power FOR HOURS (I did not know about this actually because I am not on Facebook any longer....but after yesterday I am reconsidering).  Late last night, we discovered that one of the many families that lost power was this young couple and their 8 month old baby girl.  We invited them to come sleep at our house where we had air conditioning.  They did.  It worked out perfectly because C is gone and his room is the "guest room" and Mom K left recently and so I'd just washed the guest sheets and towels.  It took us minutes to prepare the guest room.  I loved having them here, knowing that they were out of the heat finally.  Yet, as much as I loved loved loved them being here, I did notice a difference.  I have a 17 year old.  I am closer to being old enough to be her mom than to be her peer.  So, I have indeed aged.

The cool thing about this aging thing is seeing the multitudes of blessings I have received throughout my life.  I have an amazing life.  I love it!  I feel my aging body.  Whether MS fatigue or life fatigue or both, I am not as energetic as I once was, but my life is absolutely amazing!!  I am blessed.

5 years!

Today marks five years since I married this amazing man.  I am humbled by the way my life has turned out so wonderfully.  He treats me as if I was the most amazing woman on the planet.  He selflessly looks out for my every need.  He ALWAYS puts me first.  I feel so loved and taken care of.  I am blessed beyond measure.  God has really taken care of me and all of those tears of sorrow have truly turned into tears of joy.

Five years have been very busy.  We have had three pregnancies, one a miscarriage, and thus two wonderful children.  We bought a new home.  He changed jobs.  Our original four children have sure grown up.  He makes me laugh every day and he finds joy in my quirks and silliness.  We have a great life.

This weekend I planned a fun anniversary getaway to surprise him.  It turned out wonderfully.

First, my dear sister took J, V, and Little C overnight last night.  Then, I drove and he didn't know where we were going.  I turned north and we drove to Oklahoma.  :)  We stopped and ate dinner.  Then, we headed to our hotel, checked in, and hurriedly changed our clothes.  We then left and went to the temple to do some sealings.  What a great experience!  We had a few family names that we had the joy of performing.  I love the temple.

We then got to go back to the hotel and play a few games and head to bed and sleep without any children waking us up!!!  Wowzee!

 This morning,  we ate the so-so hotel breakfast and then of we went to go to "zip line" over some falls and ravine.  It was a little more of an amusement park ride experience then I expected, but the zip line was awesome and the tandem seat was perfect for an anniversary!  We rode it three times!

 The owner of the zip line told us of a local barbecue place that was yummy so we tried it and, yes, it was delicious!!!  We had such great food and so much of it too!  I don't always like BBQ, but I did this time and I was glad we went.

Finally, we stopped by an outlet mall on the way home.  I have gone there many times since I moved to Texas.  It was always crowded and hard to find a place to park.  Definitely there were over 100 stores that operated there.  But, it has been 5-6 years since I last went.  They are down to three stores that are still open.  It was sad to see it so run down.

Everything today and yesterday was fun with CK.  I enjoy all the time we were able to spend together.  Happy Anniversary to us!!  I am so very happy!