The Adventures of the Ball Family

Can't Sleep

2012-02-11T20:47:00.000-08:00

Two funny things today, first, I was getting dressed this morning, already had my bra and underwear on when Zach walked in, I turned my back to him and bent over to get a pair of pants out of the laundry basket full of clean clothes when I hear, "Whoa Momma!", I turn around and say, with great surprise, "ZACHARY!", to which he replies, "Awkward!" and proceeds to look up at the ceiling!

Secondly, tonight, we tucked a very sleepy Zach in, who fell asleep before we even made it downstairs, and then two HOURS after we tucked both Faith and Zach in, Faith comes downstairs and says very sweetly, "I can't sleep", I told Rob that I was sure we'd find her blocks all over her bedroom floor and her light on. Instead, we found this....

Now, this room was clean for the most part when we put Zach to bed, she turned on the light and somehow without even waking her brother up, emptied several of his toy bins and was playing until she came down to tell us she couldn't sleep! OBVIOUSLY I grabbed my phone and took a picture, seriously, you can't make this stuff up!

Molly

2012-02-10T11:30:00.000-08:00

Tuesday night our Miss Molly was hit by a car, from her injuries it appeared that she died immediately. Very tragically, Grace found her in the street, under the street light, just as it was beginning to snow. She begged me to forgive her (she was the one that let her out to potty that night). Of course I held her and told her I do, that it was not her fault, she argues that it is. I hate that she had to be the one to find her like that, the one that carried her out of the street and to the front porch. I hate that she saw that.

I'm not sure I remember the last time I cried that hard, or that loudly, it was as if my whole body was writhing in pain. I can't remember feeling that in a long time either. The rest of the kids were already in bed, asleep, and had no knowledge of what had happened. Rob stayed home from work the next day and I didn't even wake up till noon, this after a night filled with tears and waking dreams (more like nightmares), and even then, I was completely exhausted still.
I don't know that I have posted much about Molly here, though she has been the topic of many a Facebook post. Molly came to us from a friend, she had rescued her and then posted her picture on Facebook and told all about her. I was smitten at the sight of her picture! Rob, took some convincing. Even though I knew she was missing one foot and most of the other, it didn't deter me at all, and then once I met her, and Rob said she was "On trial" (it took less than 24 hours for Rob to fall in love!), she was ours. That was not even a year ago, though it seems like she has always been here.

She was an older dog, so well trained, so loving, so gentle and patient with the kids. She slept with us from the start and would whimper to sit in my lap anytime I sat down. She would cuddle up between Rob and I every night, and sometimes even perch on one of our chests to sleep. She was such a precious girl, she even slept with a little stuffed dog that she adopted out of the kids toys.

She was so funny when she would curl up on my shoulder and fall asleep. She was quite possibly the first dog to win over my dad, who she would always seek out and curl up on whenever he visited. In the chilly mornings she would actually walk on her front paws only to go out and potty, I think the cold ground bothered her little stubs.

Today and yesterday have been so terrible, I don't think I realized what a huge part of my day she was. I have cried so many times as I have stopped mid-stride to get her off my bed in the morning to take her out, or looked for her and she's not there, even watched my step when I turn around, in case she was following too close. Expecting her to be running to meet me at the door when I walk in.

Rob told the other kids what had happened, and Faith sadly climbed onto my bed yesterday afternoon and said, "Molly died", with a sad face, almost like she understands. She still continues to ask where Molly is and today even called for Molly when she dropped some food on the floor, even though she's been told not to do that. Every time she asks and I have to say it again, my heart aches. Zach, my Mr. Fixit, catches me in tears and says, "You can get a new poodle, Mommy!", and hearing Rob explain to him why we can't just go get a new poodle, makes the tears flow even more. Not to sound melodramatic, but to know Molly, was to love her, she was a very special little dog indeed.

I honestly have been taken completely off guard, I had no idea I would react like this. Rob says he knew it would be like this and he had been preparing himself. The last few weeks I had this feeling that something was wrong, just something was not quite right with her, nothing that I could put my finger on, nothing that I could go to the vet and say, "This is what's wrong", just a general feeling. Rob said the same thing last night, she just seemed like something was wrong, he said that he wondered if God let her go this way to spare her pain and suffering of something to come. He said he thinks this is easier than watching her suffer and then die, I would agree with that.

Either way, I don't think I was prepared for this, my own "Fix it" instinct actually went to thoughts of, looking for another dog, something to fill this gaping hole that I feel in my chest right now, but I don't know if I could, ever even? Time will tell.

Super Bowl Family Style

2012-02-05T21:12:00.000-08:00

I didn't actually take any pictures tonight, but what a fun night. Not being a huge fan of football on TV, though I LOVE to go and watch live games in person, I was definitely more in it for the commercials. I made chili con queso, smokies, and even tried something new, crescent rolls with half a cheese stick, and pepperonis! The consensus was split, half liked them, half didn't. And the finale, a wonderful cherry dump cake!

Commercials that were a hit for us, definitely The Voice had a hit, Betty White is a hoot! Faith was walking around saying "My eyes are up here!" Hahaha! The half time show was so great, Rob and I obviously are children of the 80's! Madonna was soooooo great! The kids were even enjoying it!

Really the best part of tonight was everyone relaxing in their pjs, all together, I got a little bit of snuggle time with everyone, so it was a good night!

Making Valentines

2012-02-04T21:27:00.000-08:00

I was really excited to make Valentine's this year! I (of course) searched Pinterest for some fun ideas, got all my stuff together and then joined a couple of my MOPS friends for a little crafty night to get them done.

I am really excited to show them off! AND, one of them I actually came up with! Zach's is an original idea from me! Well, Rob helped with the saying on them!

I learned that when making the crayon hearts, is you really should use Crayola, I fully admit to being a total Crayola snob in the first place, but even in melting down crayons, it DOES make a difference!

Zach and Faith sat and helped me peel lots of crayons and break them into tiny pieces, though, because they were baked in heart shaped cupcake pans, they both were not quite understanding why they were not edible!

Ethan is really excited about his super ball Valentines, since he has an extensive collection (soon to even be on display at the school's library, these were very fitting!

Obviously, I guess, I was trying to stay away from candy Valentines. And these were just so fun! And maybe, a little longer lasting than a Tootsie Pop?

Grace's Valentine Dance

2012-02-04T21:13:00.000-08:00

I was so excited to meet the infamous Cori last night! I picked the girls up from school and we were lucky enough to get to know this wonderful young lady first hand. The other kids just adored her and she was a wonderful guest. She and Grace talked about school and music, and from what I can tell they have a lot in common, like good books and good grades, though I think Cori was a little iffy on Grace's love of Taylor Swift! Being the true country music fan that she is! I heard lots of laughing and when they were ready for the dance, both girls agreed to pose for pictures, so, you know, I was a happy momma!

Then, you know the little ones HAD to have a picture with the pretty girls!

I'm so amazed at how fast Grace is growing up now, I'm so encouraged that she is striving for good grades and just an all around good student! I'm also so pleased to see that her choice in friends is so good! This Miss Cori's parents are definitely doing something right. I must admit, I don't actually give myself much credit for my Miss Grace, I stand in awe of the woman she is becoming and think, only God, only God!

Fabric Garland

2012-01-26T20:50:00.000-08:00

This is how my version of a fabric garland turned out, I really like how it looks, I did mine pretty full and tight, but you could make it less full and I think it would still look great!

I started with a 50 count white strand of lights ($2 at Walmart), and I doubled it, so my garland wouldn't be quite so long.

I used 3 different colors of twin size flat sheets from Walmart ($5 each), and cut strips about 1 1/2 inches wide and about 12 inches long, it took about 1/4 of a sheet in each color. My rotary knife, mat and ruler, made this go super fast!

Then I just tied them on the light strand, alternating, like I said, you could do yours a little more spaced out. When I first made mine in these pictures, I hadn't decided to use blue in it yet, it was a pretty big pain to add it later, let me tell you!

I shook mine to fluff it, after I hung it, since it was at Christmas time, I put snowflake ornaments on it too, I just tied them on, so they could come off after Christmas. They were 10 for $1 at the Dollar Tree.

All things considered (kiddo interruptions), this project took less than 2 hours, start to finish.

Hello, My Name Is Winter, and I'm Addicted to PINTEREST!

2012-01-26T20:25:00.000-08:00

Some one said the title of this post should be on a t-shirt, I said, I'd pin that! LOL! I know, lame joke, but quite seriously, I do frequent the Pinterest! AND not only do I frequent it, I make the stuff I see! I LOVE all the inspiration for crafting, I also LOVE that it is getting ladies back to some of the original fine arts that, maybe not even our mothers, but our grandmother's enjoyed. I was incredibly blessed to have a mom that taught me to sew and quilt at a very young age, and I really enjoyed it, despite some teasing from peers, I made my doll's a quite extensive wardrobe! I have to admit after a few kids, I slowed down considerably in my sewing and crafting.

The thing is, that I haven't ever stopped collecting crafting supplies and just miscellaneous "stuff" to use in "future projects", which is really great now, since I'm a little low on funds! I wanted to post a few of the things that I've been working on.

First the table runner and square, that are both reversible, so there are several different ways to use them.

Then a rag garland, I used mostly neutrals, with a blue in there. These strips of fabric are tired on a white Christmas light strand. I'll do a separate post on how I made it exactly.

The "Celebrate" garland and mini garlands that match were so fun! I made it so that it I can use them for a baby shower, bridal shower, birthday, or anytime we celebrate! They also match the square and runner (I'm sure you caught that).

The mini garland, I made two of, one for the hutch, and one for the large mirror that is across from it. This is the hutch "before", I have plans for it!

This lamp shade is an idea I got from Caroline, I LOVE how it turned out, this is my favorite lamp, and I am loving it even more with it's new lamp shade! Great idea, Caroline!!!

The pears are really what I'm attempting to show in this picture, they are actually light bulbs with naturally polished hemp hot glued on them and a little stick coming out the top for the stem (also hot glued in place).

This is "B" is for button, or Ball, in this case. This is a frame from an old picture, but even originally it was maybe $7-$8 at Walmart. The background is a piece of cardboard with burlap glued on with spray adhesive, and then I just Elmer's glued the buttons in place, I used the Elmer's because it dries clear.

Pizza Night

2012-01-24T22:08:00.000-08:00

Pizza night is Tuesday nights. The plan is to serve up some kind of a slice every Tuesday night. Homemade, spaghetti pizza, frozen, delivery, or DiGiorno (sorry, I had to add that!). My somewhat guilty conscience in serving up a slice, even though it is just once a week, causes me to do things like also serve up a heaping plate full of veggies also. Well, a large head of broccoli, a large cucumber sliced and a half a bag of baby carrots, and I was lucky I got a small piece of broccoli, the cute little veggie thief on my right (Faith) stole mine, while the taller veggie thief on my left (Grace) distracted me!!!

Anyway, Zach decided that the frozen pizzas I served up tonight were just not quite up to par, so he added a little on there, I have to say, I have never seen it quite like that! He gobbled it all up though! Now the little veggie thief decided no pizza for her, but she ate most of the broccoli along with quite a bit of cucumber and even a few carrots. Rob and I have agreed that the kids have "healthier brains" than us! I'm so happy to see them all making healthy choices in their eating habits!

Healthier eating has actually been a bit of a side effect of our cooking schedule, I'm determined to teach them all to cook more than Hamburger Helper, so out comes the cook book, almost every night now, and I am really excited to say that everyone is eating better all around!

As a side note, I baked devil's food cupcakes, with chocolate pudding filling, and cherry frosting, topped with chocolate sprinkles, for my MOPS this morning, there were some leftover, and do you know that not one of those kids even really liked them, they tried them and then asked if they could have fruit smoothies instead! SHEESH! Well, they are delicious and I guess Rob and I will just have to enjoy them ourselves...maybe we should be letting our kids choose our foods for us?

Tent Mode

2012-01-21T09:43:00.000-08:00

I really love Saturday mornings that are not filled with the sound of cartoons, but are filled instead with the sounds of kids playing, laughing, talking to each other and getting along! This morning, we are in "tent mode"! Tent Mode is when one or more rooms in my house are almost so full of tent you cant walk through them and suddenly all pillows and blankets, are now rocks, carpet, walls, cages, curtains and other miscellaneous items.

There is snakes and eggs being cooked and the book "10 Little Fairies" is (according to Zach) about killing off fairies by different kinds of animals and princesses that are really evil, and Faith laughs and laughs, saying "Nuh Uh!" (she knows the real words to that book by heart!). Molly is their FIERCE monster dog, that eats other monsters alive!

What has made tent building more fun and easier than before is Zach tent kit that he got for his birthday from Aunt Stacey, she put together a tote bag full of two different sheets with grommet holes on the corners, along with shoe strings, nylon rope, wooden clothes pins and even suction cups to make some really large and awesome tents! Zach and Faith have loved this gift! Who am I kidding, I love this gift!

A Little Prayer Warrior

2012-01-20T18:51:00.000-08:00

Of all of my children, I am seeing Zach embrace our family prayer time as something very important and special. He is the first one to offer up requests for himself, but mostly others and he is the first to volunteer to lift up those requests. The other night, we hadn't discussed seeing Andrea that day, or that her eye was swollen, but Zach lifted her up in prayer unprompted, and he did the same with my mom and her foot pain. His response to unanswered prayers? "Welp, God hasn't answered that one yet, guess we'll just keep praying!" He has also become the child that takes the longest to tuck in at night, he has so much he wants to pray for that it takes sometimes 15 minutes to finish his little nightly routine, pray-kisses-hugs! So sweet! My mom said she thinks I have a little prayer warrior on my hands, I tend to agree, praise the Lord for that!

Break In

2012-01-20T18:34:00.000-08:00

Starting Monday night last week, I told Rob that I didn't want to do anything the next day, just stay home in my pjs! I woke up the next morning to a virus on my computer, this was really not good, I use my computer for EVERYTHING!!! Next I had to hustle out the door to get kids to school, then, because of the computer thing, I came back home to give baths and get myself a shower, then off to Faith's doctor appointment at 9:15, I got there just in time and they were totally on time and we were out of there in about a half hour! I was going to go home, but decided to go ahead and go to MOPS a little late, I was home by 11:45 and walked up to our house with a kicked in front door.

The police took FOREVER to get there, I mean, seriously more than 10 minutes

and I told dispatch I didn't know if the house was empty or not. When the police finally got there and checked it all out I found my my home trashed, both flat screens gone and the Wii broken on the floor. I was shocked that nothing else was gone, there was so many things laying around that I thought would be gone!

Molly was there, I keep wondering if she was scared, if she ran up to these strangers, if she ran and hid under my bed, she seemed fine, but she has nightmares, which sounds funny, but she actually sounds like she is crying in her sleep some nights.
One of the worst things for me was that they tossed our mattress, and went through the drawers, it is just really unsettling to know that some stranger who meant us harm had been through all our things. I had a really hard time sleeping for several nights. To keep the older kids from seeing the mess, I cleaned everything up before they got home from school. I was really grateful for my sister and brother in law coming to get Faith and Zach. Zach was such a big boy and hugged Faith while I lost it a little bit.

We have a security system, but I didn't have it on that day. I know in my head that it wouldn't have helped, they were so fast, the police said these guys are pros and this is their M.O., but I still feel guilty. The likelihood of anything ever being recovered is pretty much zip. $1000 laying around we do not have, the replacement of things lost will be awhile. This week we received a check from a friend I hadn't seen in 15 plus years, I'm so grateful to friends that show love in times like these.

My MOPS were there that night, calling me within hours of the break-in. They brought dinner, desert and breakfast, and a gift card for ice cream too, then another dinner for the next night, all within hours of the break-in! The next day we received a freezer meal too! That was such a blessing to us!

I was really unsure of how Grace and Ethan would take the news, Grace was okay, until she saw that her jewelry box had been opened. Ethan immediately started crying and yelling, why and are they in jail now, and did they take Jim's (our neighbor) stuff too! Zach told my sister, "Those people that took our tvs must have really needed a tv, some people don't have tvs, ya know." He is such a sweet little man!

Since that day, I have had my ups and downs, I have been doing "craft therapy", using all my leftover craft supplies from Christmas break. I will post pictures soon! The first several days were really hard, I didn't want to be here, but I didn't want to leave, I didn't want to take a shower without someone else being there to watch the kids. Lots of tears over a branch hitting the window while I was home alone, stuff like that.

The first of our door "Armor" arrived today, Rob installed it right away. We will soon have all our doors "armored". Then, no one will be kicking in our doors. I'm really hoping that those will give me a little sense of security. Rob seems to be dealing with some anger over it, but isn't talking about it.

I haven't seen any after shocks in the kids, except an occasional nightmare that Ethan has had, other wise, everyone else seems fine. I pray that is all I ever see.

Sitting on the mantel was a tracing of Faith's little hands and the front door had a metal plaque on it saying, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord". I don't know why it struck me that those things don't phase people that do things like that. There was no respect shown. But I am glad it was only what it was, and nothing more.

The Older Ones-Finally!

2012-01-09T21:47:00.000-08:00

I told these two that I wanted more pictures of them, both of them are becoming camera shy for me! So these are forced photos, but non the less, I now have an up-to-date photo of each of them and if (heaven forbid) Ethan goes missing, I know that this will be the EXACT clothes that he will be wearing, a different t-shirt under the hoodie, but always the hoodie, and then there is the hat, always the hat!

Everyone says that Grace looks so much like me, but I am truly amazed how much she actually looks like my mom! At any rate, she is turning into a beautiful young woman, I am very proud of her! She is a straight A student, a book worm and is my greatest side-kick in all things to keep this house running. She will be amazing at anything she decides to do with her life!

Ethan tries to play it cool, because 9 is a very cool age, he gets very good scores in school and he is an excellent baseball player, he is such a tender hearted young man, pretty quiet (around people he doesn't know), the Lego MANIAC!

And I warn him every time, if you make faces, I WILL post them!!!

New Year's Resolution #2

2012-01-09T21:30:00.000-08:00

This is another "resolution", that is, if I made them! I am determined to teach everyone how to cook! There is a schedule in place, everyone is picking their recipes from the list I have and then learning to cook them. After each kiddo has their night, Rob has his night, a pizza night, which could be homemade, frozen, spaghetti pizza, or deliver, I cook one night by myself, which I am doing a crock pot meal!

We have been doing this for one week, so everyone has had their first tries, and I think this is really going to be great, I had Rob take some pictures of Faith's turn tonight, I will have to have him take more on the other nights too.

Faith was just so stinkin cute in her apron, and SO excited to help! I got all the kids aprons and even had their names put on them for Christmas last year.

I really like not being the one that has to decide what we are having every night, and there has been no more, "I don't like that!", which is REALLY great!

Compliments are flying and the table, and everyone is thanking the cook for the night, I really can't say enough about how great this change has been!

As you can see, even Faith, who just turned 3 can learn to cook! Tonight she made BBQ Chicken! Pretty much all by herself! I helped with the oven, of course! Each of the kids has really enjoyed working in the kitchen with me, and I am really enjoying the one on one time with each of them, especially the old ones, that hide in their rooms more and more lately.

New Year's Resolution #1

2012-01-09T21:08:00.000-08:00

I really don't make resolutions, but this year I am making some changes at our house. Several years ago we had family devotions pretty regularly, and then while home schooling we were in the Bible everyday, but as the summer flew by and school started, we haven't really put any new time in place to have family devotions. So, since, like I said before, we always have dinner together, I decided to use that time for family devotions and family prayer time. We are using this really cute devotional that actually really fits all the ages we have.

The other thing that I've started began with this little spiral notebook that I got free on Vistaprint!

I designed the cover just special for this purpose. In it we write down the kids prayer requests in it and anyone else that is on their hearts, and then we divide up the requests and we pray about them. As each prayer request is answered, we write the date that it was answered next to it! All of this has been going on for exactly one week, and I am so amazed at the growth in just that one week! The first night the older two kids were a little hesitant to participate, but in a couple days, after seeing some prayers answered (yes, that fast!), they are sharing their own concerns now.

Out of all the kids, Zach is the one that has amazed me the most, he is such a heart-felt, and passionate little man of prayer, the very first night, his most sincere prayers were sent up and it brought tears to my eyes. He prays for others to "Get Jesus in their heart and keep Him there", he listens to his brother and sister's concerns and it almost seems like he sees past what their request is to what they really need prayer for, and prays that for them.

The prayer that I find most humorous in a really ironic way, actually, is Faith's prayer, which simply is "Sleep all night, Amen", the deal is that if she sleeps all night and doesn't wake up mommy she gets to choose a treasure from the treasure box, which is full of, essentially, free crap from garage sales last summer, it's little trinkets and toys, and little bit of plastic jewelry, and she wants something out of there so bad that she will do almost anything, anything, that is, but stay in her bed all night! But we keep praying for her, and as Zach says, "God didn't answer that one yet, I guess we will just have to keep on praying!"

I struggle to give things over to God, I really do, so this is as much for me as it is for them. I am blessed beyond measure with the opportunity to train these children, they really do let me see a little of what God sees in me, feels for me. Nothing compares to this love.

Sunday Best

2012-01-08T17:22:00.000-08:00

This morning Zach insisted on choosing his own outfit, and boy, did he do a good job! My little "lady killer" was dressed to the nines for church today! I had to take pictures, and of course I got a full out modelling session!!! It was AWESOME!!!! He is such a ham, and not a goofy ham either, I should have him in modelling! Those killer blue eyes seal the deal!

Can you believe this kid? Yes, he melts his mama's heart all the time! And then of course factor in that he told me today, "I don't know what you are doing different Mommy, but you look so beautiful", seriously, I am raising a wonderful husband for someone here!

So at church he got lots of compliments, further boosting his enlarging ego, but he keeps it cool. I picked him up from Sunday School and he handed me a picture with a little girl's name on it, he says, "Yeah, Haven gave her picture to me". HA! I'm sure she did, my little stud-muffin! Seriously, can we get an agent? Well, here's two! I LOVE his "serious" face!

Crafty With Kids!

2012-01-08T17:03:00.000-08:00

Zach and Faith got the same craft sets for Christmas, I am really enjoying these sets, there is a bunch of crafty activities with all the pieces and instructions, the have been begging to do one everyday since we tried one out! And you know I love my crafts! Even Daddy got in on the action! First they did foam bead necklaces, then onto hand puppets! These were just about $10 a set and they have 30 projects in each. They were at Wal-Mart.

So far they seem to be very age appropriate for Zach and Faith. Lot's of stickers! As much as I love to do crafts with the kids, it's the collecting all the stuff to do them that makes me think twice!

I have to stay, I am still amazed at their creativity and the things that come up with on their own too! Faith is very in to tracing her hands and feet right now, so making things like a turkey out of her hand tracing was really fun for her. Zach is getting so imaginative with his drawings, monsters with lots of eyes and special powers (that he draws also) are his specialty right now!

GLUE!!!! THAT is EVERYONE'S craft item right now! The funny thing about these pictures is that this is what we did right after Zach told me that he was NEVER going to use his imagination again!!!! This was because I told him that we were shutting off the tv and he couldn't play on the computer, that he would have to use his imagination for awhile! He's so dramatic (he gets it from his father)!

And here is our hand puppets all done! Ta-da! I think we need to make a puppet theater now! I need a BIG box!

Zach and Faith Being Cute

2012-01-07T17:55:00.000-08:00

While most days these two are fighting or arguing, or just getting on each others nerves, some days are like this, when they play together, cooperate and make each other laugh so hard they get the hiccups! These are the days I want to remember! In this first picture, you may notice that Faith is "talking" on her cell phone, it was daddy, and I made her tell him bye, so I could take more pics! Don't worry, she "called" him right back!

Christmas: Part 3 - Celebrating in Colorado

2012-01-06T12:22:00.000-08:00

I hope to have more pics from my mom soon, since we tag-teamed taking photos on this morning, hopefully she got some of me, and since we swapped cameras a few times too, hopefully there is some of her on there too, and my sister, she's missing from my camera!

My Dad and Simon

Bailey and Ethan

Stacey and Simon

Zachary

The "Ninjas!" Josiah, Nick and Rob

Eliza, Grace, me and Joy (with her head turned)

Eliza

Stacey, Simon, Faith and Rob

Papa and Zach playing Memory right after we opened presents! He could hardly wait to play it!

Gettin Crafty At Christmas!

2012-01-05T13:08:00.000-08:00

My sister had the BEST idea, she said we should bring our craft stuff and work on projects while we were in Colorado! I LOVE CRAFTS!!! I was so excited to have time to work on some! So here are the things that I worked on-

Felt flowers for the girl's hair, these are made from scrap fabric, felt and a button, all sewn and then glued to a barrette.

The girls liked them so much that I got requests for colors and they wanted to learn to make them! I'm thinking I need to have a craft night with my nieces to make these. We ran out of time and I didn't get to make very many, or teach them how.

This wreath was definitely more time consuming than I thought that it would be! It is a foam wreath wrapped in two layers of yarn, and then I made the poinsettia out of felt that I stitched veins on even using the sewing machine. Then I sewed beads on for the center. Hung by a ribbon. The poinsettia is removable, so I'm going to make other flowers to pin onto it so I can use it more than one time a year!

These are my mini Christmas trees! I really am happy with how these turned out, they are foam cones, wrapped in two layers of yarn, and glued. The second layer of yarn gives it lots of texture that I really like, they remind me of a warm sweater! I am considering a star of some sort on the tops, but so far I just really like their simplicity!

Faith's 3rd Birthday

2012-01-05T12:49:00.000-08:00

We got up early on the morning of Faith's birthday, otherwise known as the day after Christmas, so we could get to my parent's home in Colorado as early as possible to relax and celebrate Faith's birthday with the whole family! I would really like to say that that was the plan in the beginning, but....not so much! Our baby girl, decided she didn't want to sleep in her bed and would not be persuaded to stay put, so, knowing that we wanted to get somewhat of an early start, after about an hour of trying, we gave in and she snuggled in with us.

But sleep, she did not, and sleep, I did not, Rob? Sawing logs like Darth Vader in his mask next to her! I seriously hate that he can sleep through ANYTHING! I was kicked and smacked by a thrashing little girl all night and finally, after 20 minute intervals of sleep from 11pm - 4am, I woke Rob, who had been sleeping pretty soundly since 10 and asked if we could just get up and leave, he was more than happy. I knew he would be, he's always trying to get me to leave earlier.

I thought I would sleep on the road there, again, not so much! We did, however get there fairly quickly, even despite running out of gas near Oakley, Kansas! Yes, we ran out of gas, correction, MY HUSBAND, ran out of gas! I handed him the AAA card and didn't say a word. Thank goodness the battery did not die while we sat there waiting, so the kids could still watch their movie. Luckily it only took 15 minutes or so for AAA to get there, so no big deal, really, and we arrived at my parents house about 1pm!

While everyone else was arriving, I finally got a nap! Nick and Stacey had similar luck to ours, a somewhat sleepless night, followed by car troubles, except, the engine, not gas, and they had to be towed and picked up, so, I decided running out of gas was okay in comparison!

Finally all of us were all together (minus Jada, who was "working" in Hawaii for the week) at my parent's house in Golden, and ready to celebrate Faith's 3rd birthday! For obvious reasons, to everyone, it needed to be a Dora the Explorer party! I am somewhat strangely pleased to say that I have seen well over 100 Dora and Diego episodes/movies, and the proud owner of many of them. While Faith was recovering from having her tonsils and adenoids removed in August, we watched A LOT of Dora, and it has stuck! So, bring on the Dora toys, pillow person, blanket, play set and stuffed animals, plus even new Dora and Diego books! And a beautiful handmade scarf from Aunt Stacey with the love of Uncle Nick, I'm sure!

She did her very best to blow out all of her candles on her Dora cake, but I should have thought to put them all together! Because instead of her spitting on a small portion of the cake, she sprayed THE WHOLE THING! It was hilarious, and no one seemed to mind, it was all eaten by the end of the week!

You really would think that all of the kids would have been exhausted from all the travel, nope! Everyone ran around and played till very late! It was THE BEST sound EVER! A house FULL of family to enjoy! A great start to our week!

Christmas: Part 2 - The Big Day

2012-01-05T09:59:00.000-08:00

I don't know if this was really the BIG day or not, but we had a great time, just the six of us on Christmas Day! This year I tried something a little bit different, I chose to give each of the kids just three gifts, usually we have just gone nuts, and this year, I wanted to simplify. They have so much!

So I did something to read, something to wear and something to play with, and then they had their stocking like normal. I had heard about this at a MOPS meeting, I was already thinking about simplifying when someone mentioned this, perfect, I thought! Three gifts, like Jesus got from the wise men, right in keeping with what I was wanting to get across with the Advent Calendar and the stories we were going to be reading every night.

I didn't get the impression anyone missed the huge piles of presents either.
Another way we scaled back on gifts was we drew names for each other too, instead of each child shopping for everyone, we each had one person to shop for, with a little bigger budget, this was SO much better than dollar store trinkets in bulk for everyone!

Of all the things that Faith received that day, she enjoyed her baby bottle with fake milk in it the best, she insisted that her brothers feed her baby while she opened other presents!

They were both such good sports about it, maybe even enjoyed it?? A little? Maybe? Don't tell though!!!

Ethan, obviously, really was excited about his craft kit! He asked about doing it everyday after, until we finally did make some!

Faith was so fun to watch, she was excited for everyone else too! She oooed and awed over everything that was opened!

Notice how I, in my pj's, did not make it into any pictures, yeah, that WAS on purpose! As with every year, I found the greatest pleasure in watching them have a great time, enjoying their gifts! That's such a "Mom-Thing" to say! But I did get some super-cute headbands that Grace picked out for me, I was pretty excited about that!

Christmas: Part 1 - Playtime With Faith and Zach

2012-01-04T22:40:00.000-08:00

I didn't get to spend time with Grace and Ethan for the first several days before Christmas, they were spending time with their dad from Wednesday till Sunday, but I did, however, get some fun time with Faith and Zach, and Rob was even off to work on the house, but he decided to just chill with us a bit!

We played and read and made chocolate covered...well, if it was not moving, we dipped it in chocolate!!! And, I took pictures!!!!!

Strike a pose!

Zach too!

Pretty girl!

So handsome!!!

Your standard, cheesers here! Oh, and the peace sign from Faith (Thank you, big brother, Ethan!)

By the way, you may have noticed the lovely grooming of these two children! They have JUST come from baths and had their hair fixed as requested and I, their mother, have chosen their clothing (all things I rarely get to do!). You KNOW this only lasted a VERY brief time before they were messes again! But it was a fun photo opp, while it lasted!

My Thirty-Something Birthday

2012-01-04T22:13:00.000-08:00

Growing up, your birthday is somewhat of a big event in life, and when you grow up it gets less and less that way. For some, that is how they like it, for me? I have to admit that I miss the days when people made a big deal about me! I kind of go from day to day, with no one noticing me (at least, it seems), so I kinda miss the days when I was a big deal, at least for one day. The thing that I miss the most about my birthday's as a child is that I shared them with my Grandma Kemper, she and I had the same birthday, and we celebrated every year (that I can remember), together! Since she passed over 20 years ago now, it's definitely different.

So there are some things that you should know about December birthday babies;
1) NEVER wrap their birthday gift in Christmas paper, or anything that looks "Christmassy", unless you would like your birthday present in July wrapped the same! Nope, not even then! Just don't go there!
2) NEVER think you can get away with getting one gift for Christmas and birthday! Combo presents are a NO-NO!

I'm not gonna lie, having your birthday in December, STINKS! I very haphazardly gave birth to my last baby on the day after Christmas, right there we know God has a sense of humor! But, never fear, I am an expert at this, and I'm thinking 1/2 birthday party, you know, in June! Because you know, no one is coming over the day after Christmas for a birthday party!

As for me, turning thirty-something, all I wanted was a hot cup of coffee and to sleep in, not too much to ask...you'd think. Well, it didn't happen, I have a non-coffee drinking husband that doesn't know how to work my coffee pot and the kids woke me up very early.

My family is so important to me, and honestly, I hate that everyone is so busy! I want all cell phones and computers to GO AWAY so I can just get some face time in with all of them! On my birthday I got to spend two hours at lunch with my sister on my birthday and I think we could have taken another! We never get to spend that much un-interupted time together! As my first friend ever, I love her company to this day!

Every year I think, "This year is going to be a great birthday!" But most years, not so much, and it passes, I think as an adult maybe I need to look at the year more as a whole, ask myself, "What am I going to do this year that makes a difference?", or in retrospect, "What did I do this past year that made a difference?". I'm not talking about doing something so people will notice me, but I recently heard that people do not fear death, they fear that the world will go on and no one will notice their absence from it. I believe this to be very true.

In the evening Rob took me to see the newest Twilight movie, and to dinner, our date was cut short by a vomiting baby and half the kids were up to greet us at home, so not much of the evening went as planned. It is definitely the era that we live in now that I was so excited to see over 100 birthday wishes from Facebook friends that night before bed and that I only received one card via "Snail Mail", but is it also interesting that they one that meant the most was the physical card? I think so, apparently I'm am old...fashioned!!!!

Baby Girl's First Haircut!

2011-12-22T12:46:00.000-08:00

Baby Girl has had her bangs trimmed many times, but by the request of her father, the back has been untouched since birth, so the baby fine hair was pretty scraggly at the tips, tangled easily and Mommy decided it was time for a change. So I eased Daddy into it, and he agreed as long as I didn't take too much off. Only a few inches came off, but it is such a big difference! It looks so much better! And since Mommy used a blow dryer and curling iron after the trim, obviously, Baby Girl felt like a princess and flaunted her new do for me to photograph!

Advent

2011-12-22T09:46:00.000-08:00

This year as a family is actually (I'm a little embarrassed to say) the first year that we have every done an advent calendar, we have done the advent wreath once, but 25 days of stories has been a really neat experience.

What I found was this advent board book with 25 little board books inside of it, nothing to hang on the wall, which I liked, but it is also telling the whole story of the coming of Christ, it's perfect for the little ones, and durable! It has been very biblical so far, which I also like.

Along with this we have been reading Chicken Soup for the Soup Christmas Treasury for Kids, which I would recommend for kids 6 or 7 years old and up, Rob and I have gotten a lot from these stories also, several of them have left me teary-eyed! Its a story of Christmas spirit everyday. We have been reading these every night at dinner.

At our house dinner is a definite, I don't want to say ritual, tradition maybe? Anyway, every night, all year round, dinner is a sit-down together event. I really am glad that we have chosen to do that, it was actually more of Rob's "thing", that I kind of rolled my eyes at a little several years ago when it began, but now, I see it as a very important part of our family.

Something else that has become a tradition at our house has been prayers at dinner time, we have always said thanks for the meal, but since, I think it was Thanksgiving last year when my dad wanted to go around the table and have each of us say something we are thankful for, Zach thought that was the greatest, he loved that each of us prayed at dinner, and since he loved to lead us in prayer, he started asking each of us to thank God for something before he would say "Amen", now it is tradition, the kids take turns each day of the week (with Rob leading on weekends) leading us in our prayers of thanksgiving, each of us just saying one thing we are thankful for that day.

Does your family have any advent traditions?

Both of the books that we are using this year can be found on www.christianbook.com.

The Passing Of A Great Man

2011-12-21T22:02:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning was when my Uncle Steve Hane left this earth. He was not quite 54 years old and he had lived with cancer for the past year. There are things you learn as you grow up, things that you wish you knew when you were younger, especially things like how important it is to know your family, not just hang out with them a few times a year, not just send them cards or check up on them on Facebook, but really know them. Maybe I am one of the few, the blessed, but I have an amazing family. And I regret not having more time now, to get to know my uncle.

For me, I love my family, I mean LOVE my family, each and every one of them make me who I am today, each one of them has impacted my life, and my Uncle Steve is no different. While I don't claim to have known my Uncle Steve really well, definitely not as well as I would have liked, there is things that I do know. He was all about family and all of us were always welcome in their home, he was completely loving and always ready with a smile when I saw him.

Growing up, I was convinced that my Uncle Steve was a rock star, literally. I had heard he played in a band, had heard them practice in his basement and even snuck down there to take a peak! As an adult I've heard them play a handful of times, but the night I will remember best was at his "going away party". The smile on his face and the joy in his eyes, he was still a rock star to me.

As I learned things about living from my uncle, there is also things I have learned about dying from him. It is not the time to stay in bed, feel sorry for yourself, or accept a sentence, it is a time to do the things you love, and be with the ones you love.

We are going to say good-bye to my uncle on Friday morning, and I'm honestly not ready, it's not my timing for sure, so I am leaning on the Lord's perfect timing and finding rest in knowing that he is no longer hurting.

As we all get older it is harder and harder for everyone to get together in one place at any given time, and I find myself missing that big family Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve at my Uncle Steve and Aunt Amy's house. I know as we grow up and have our own little branches of our family tree we make new traditions, but somehow I feel like I had it the best, better than my kids even, when all of my aunts, uncles and cousins were there, funny as it sounds, I wish they could have been there for that.

A New Look

2011-12-21T15:09:00.000-08:00

If you are just joining us, you won't know the difference, but I've revamped and given this place a whole new look, it seems appropriate what with our whole house remodel that we are in the midst of too! I've been gone for almost two years now, this is very sad! So now that I'm back, I really am wishing that I never stopped, but sometimes that's what happens, can't do anything about it now! I will be adding to this as often and as much as I can now.
New things you should know about... I seriously think I have found a new addiction, Pinterest! Also, I do coupon still, this is not an addiction like it was when it started, but it does do wonders for the budget! I am NOT a hoarder, but I do have a little on hand to get me to the next earth shattering sale! ;) We enrolled Grace and Ethan in public school this August, it was a REALLY tough decision to make, but they are thriving to say the least!
I have just passed my 32nd birthday and we are fast approaching Christmas, so what an exciting time to start blogging again! Well, I will post more as soon as I find a minute, but for now, thanks for coming back (or joining us)!

Easter 2010

2010-04-16T22:14:00.000-07:00

This was the second annual Easter Egg Hunt that Journey Church had held at the Crestview Park Community Center, and the first egg hunt Faith had ever participated in, it was so much fun for all the kids! There was 5,000 eggs for all the kids to find, and as you can see there was no lack for each child to search for and find!

Ethan obviously made out like a bandit! They all had such a great time and we had a great time watching, I kept forgetting to take pictures, I was enjoying myself so much!

Bailey and Ethan Turn 8!

2010-04-16T21:56:00.000-07:00

What To Do!

2010-04-16T21:42:00.000-07:00

I was working on lesson plans and grading papers one night and Zach was just really having a hard time going to bed. He kept coming down stairs and wanting me to carry him back to bed and snuggle, and on and on it went. Well, I thought I had chased him up to bed for the last time and then Rob finally got home, he had a late meeting. I told him what had happened, I also told him that I wouldn't be surprised if he found him in the hallway asleep or something silly like that. He went upstairs and came back down not finding Zach, but then stopped in the dining room, and motioned for me to come in there.

Zach was asleep UNDER the dining room table on the cold ceramic tile floor! I had never seen anything like that before! That silly little guy brought his blankie and his stuffed animal down and crashed on the floor! He was quiet as a mouse too, I didn't hear him!

The Training Of A Book Worm

2010-04-16T21:29:00.000-07:00

Grace is very well know as our "Book Worm" and she is very proud of that, well, it seems that she is somewhat determined to turn her little sister into one too! She is constantly sticking a book in her nose, and Faith LOVES it!

Even if they are on the swings, they have a book! I joke, but Faith already really does enjoy being read to, and will always bring you a book if you sit down for more than a moment, and we have Grace to thank for that! Uh oh! Don't tell Faith-but, her book is upside down!

Ethan's Hair Cut?

2010-04-16T21:19:00.000-07:00

What happens if you give yourself a funny hairdo with rubber bands and then you can't get them out? Well, you cut them out, right? This is the thought process of a 7 year old I guess, but a big ol' chunk of hair came with it! He came down the stairs when I called him and I could tell immediately what he'd done (how could you NOT notice that big gap of hair missing?!), and of course, he's like "WHAT?!?!" "What?", I ask, "are you serious?" Nana to the rescue, took him to get a haircut so he did not look like this for Easter weekend!

Snugglin' Sweetness

2010-04-16T21:12:00.000-07:00

I couldn't get my camera to load onto my computer or I would have posted these sooner! This is from when Faith wasn't feeling so hot, we were all sitting in the family room watching a movie together and Zach and Faith were on the couch between Rob and I. Zach DOES NOT share HIS blanket (the white one you see), with just anyone you see, he's very protective of this blankie, it's THE BLANKIE! So, we were so in awe when he put it over his baby sister's lap and snuggled her in next to him and even put his arm around her! She LOVED it too! She laid her head on his shoulder and enjoyed the moment! Rob and I seriously almost cried! I motioned to Grace to go and get the camera so I could capture this, I want proof, in case they ever think they hate each other!

I really got a kick out them later on when Zach was explaining part of the movie to Faith, she hangs on his every word! It amazes me the relationship that they have, I haven't ever seen a brother and sister act like they do, he calls her his "Princess", and says that he is her "Knight" and they hug and kiss each other just out of the blue for no reason, they are so much fun to watch interact. Don't think that they don't fight, or antagonize each other too, they do, and that's hilarious! But they're sweetness to each other is just so touching.

Playin Outside!

2010-04-06T12:17:00.000-07:00

We are LOVING this warm weather and being able to play outside so much now! The kids can't get enough and Faith is finally getting her footing, she's starting to run even!

What A Boy Should Look Like!

2010-04-06T12:12:00.000-07:00

This is a picture I took really quick last night BEFORE I scolded him for playing in the mud puddles! I would tell you I was frustrated, mad or upset with him for this, but it was really too precious! He looked to me just as a boy should! His big sister came running into the house to tattle (she was MORTIFIED at his appearance!) and as you can tell he was quite pleased with himself and not the least bit afraid of the consequences for his awesome puddle jumping experience! Come to think of it, having to come inside and getting cleaned up ended up being the only consequences for making such a mess of himself, oh well, I guess it wasn't too much to worry about was it? I think he knows his Mommy all too well!

Some Kind of a Day

2010-03-22T22:54:00.000-07:00

I started out my morning with Zachary climbing into bed with me VERY EARLY (4:30 AM) and coughing almost non-stop which I managed to somehow sleep off and on through until Ethan (who is also sick) brought down Faith to my room who had just woke him up (7:30 AM). She had kept Grace up quite a bit with the similar coughing that I had just endured with Zach, so I was determined to let Grace sleep in as long as possible. I began to nurse Faith, who was very congested, and then began coughing, she then got so worked up she threw up all over herself, me and my bed, which Zach, Faith and I were all in! NICE.
First job of the day-Give smelly and sick Faith and Zach a bath!
Nothing dramatic here, got the job done without incident.
Second job of the day-Feed all the kids breakfast.
This is where I found out that I would not be allowed to set Faith down for the rest of the day without her explicit permission, or there would be shrill screaming and crying! She is today a MOMMA'S GIRL!
Third job ATTEMPTED-Shop ads and pull coupons.
Not very easy with a tot on your knee! Thank goodness it was almost nap time! So then I put Faith down for a nap and tried to get as much done as possible!!!!
I finished my couponing, cleaned up the kitchen some, played with the kids some, blogged some, got some phone calls made, still didn't get a shower or dressed though :(
Okay, Faith's up, back to working with one hand! Interestingly enough we had a guy come by to measure for siding that was really cool, he actually took time to pray with me on the front porch for a quick recovery of all the kids! Now THAT does not happen everyday! I know I looked amazing in my pjs, no make-up and so little sleep ;) I sure needed the prayer!
Then Nana got here, and it was nap time! Praise the Lord! That was MUCH needed rest time!
Soon after nap time there was pure chaos with Zach and Faith, I had put Faith, down to dress Zach, (so she was screaming) because he wanted to go outside to play, and then I was not doing that to his liking so he was screaming (grouchy from his long nap). My Mom who was playing Monopoly with Ethan jokingly commented with a smile that it was awfully loud in our house. I said it's about time that they show their true colors when Nana's around! This is how they REALLY act!
Just then my Mom looked at me and realized that I hadn't even had a shower today, and commented on that. And this is when (again) I felt just slightly pathetic and almost wanted to cry. I sent Zach out the door to play, resumed holding Faith got a little bit of work down on the computer and cooked dinner.
A home cooked meal for eight=$5.20! Quite honestly, I wanted so bad to go to McDonald's, but I just couldn't justify it. After cleaning up the kitchen from dinner, FINALLY finishing up my work on the computer, I announced that I was taking a shower now! It lasted all of five minutes (I think) and I cleaned the tub while I was in it :)
So, after Rob was finally home from working his day off and late to boot, we sat down as a family and watched the new movie that Nana bought us today, Where The Wild Things Are, Rob fell asleep, I ran around the house putting Faith to bed, making popcorn, and even blogging for the biz. Nana snuggled the kiddos and they said the movie was pretty good, Nana cried (I'm sure I'll see it sometime-at least the parts I missed!).
After the movie, I helped get all the other munchkins to bed, and then I left to do my CVS, Dillon's and Wal-Mart runs, and used my almost expired ECBs, and saved HUGE at all three stores. Was this a particularly crazy or otherwise insane day? Nope, it kind of through a wrench in it with the kids being sicky-poo, but, if it wasn't that, it would have been another you know?
Now, my house is quiet, and I shall go upstairs and wake my sleeping husband who has fallen asleep in our three year old's bed (again) while snuggling (three hours ago!) and tuck him in with me into our bed! You know, God is good, I love this life, as hard or stress-filled as it may seen sometimes, what love there is filling these walls!

Zachary's Idea of Decorating

2010-03-04T07:34:00.000-08:00

Apparently MY decorating has become dull and boring and needed a face lift, so Zach thought he'd help out, this is what he came up with, tell me what you think, I appreciated that he kept with the colors in flower arrangement and lamps when choosing the dinosaurs for his ensemble!

Ninja Ethan

2010-03-02T19:49:00.000-08:00

Ethan did this costume all by himself, he collected items from old costumes and scrap fabric, a ski hat, and went to town, he even whittled his own sword from a piece of scrap wood from the garage. This was serious business. He is so creative. He has been a Ninja for a few days now, I know that it won't last so I thought I'd better post it fast!

Faith's First Piggy Tails!

2010-03-02T19:43:00.000-08:00

The day has come when our baby girl can wear her hair in piggy tails! It's sooooo cute! It won't all go up yet, but almost, and we just couldn't get enough of this cute new look, even if it was a mess an hour later.

Ouch!

2010-02-26T22:47:00.001-08:00

So, every day I come across those who admire my coupon using, money saving abilities, and then there are the "haters", the people who are just so mean, really-quite rude! Like tonight when I was at the store and this guy behind me in line was making funny comments like "Look, she's amazing, she's saving so much money! I can't believe this, looks at all the money she's saving!" When he asked how much I saved and I was very happy to report that it was more than 75% off and that I also got then $12 in Register Rewards back too, he was applauding, the checker then said "it takes so much time though", to which he asked me, "but what do you make an hour clipping those coupons?" For which I could very confidently tell him I make about $100 an hour! Then he set down his cigarettes and his Diet Coke and laughed "I guess I'll pay full price for these!" The checker then said to me, "Well, I guess if you have nothing better to do." To which I replied, I actually have 5 children AND I home school, so I keep busy, thank you. I was quite astounded by her remark and from overhearing her talking about going to school and working at the drug store, I wonder-is SHE going to be making $100 an hour anytime soon? Even AFTER graduation? I highly doubt it.

ALMOST!

2010-02-21T19:04:00.000-08:00

I can honestly say that this has NEVER happened before! And quite frankly I'm a little surprised that it hasn't, five kids running sometimes a bit wild at a fun place like a bowling alley are tough to keep track of! I ALMOST left one of them! Sadly, this time I had help too! Anyway, Zach went running from the bathroom after a diaper change (pray for potty-training to happen SOON!) and I thought since our lane was right outside the bathroom that SURELY Rob would see him and catch him as I finished up (thank goodness this didn't happen while I was alone!), but he was oblivious and so Zach made a B-line for the arcade! So less than five minutes later as we are headed out the door, Keith says, "Where's Zach?" and O my word! We ALMOST left him!!!! Thankfully we did not, and he was having quite the time playing with the birthday party full of kids in the arcade! How embarrassing! So, above is the face of our 3 1/2 year old stinker, whom we ALMOST left in the arcade at the bowling alley! Doesn't he look traumatized?

Well Worth The Wait!

2009-04-09T10:40:00.000-07:00

This is our wedding quilt from my Mom, it is so beautiful! I picked out the pattern, a fleur de lis, one of my favorite designs. This one was a true labor of love for my Mom, she appliqued each one! It is in dark brown and cream, the lady that does her machine quilting did the design manually, and it turned out perfect too. She also had it monogrammed, which I also really love! It is a custom size for our bed even. I love this quilt so much, as I've gotten older the handmade things from my Mom have become even more precious to me, I love to know that the things I use were hand-crafted with love by her, it makes me think of my Mom and smile. This quilt will truly be an heirloom in our family.

New Jersey?

2009-04-02T18:27:00.000-07:00

I am usually so impressed by Grace's answers in all her subjects, but sometimes you really just don't know what to expect, like today when I was grading her Bible LIFEPAC and the question was "What lands did the world of the Old Testament include?" Her answer? "Africa, Egypt, New Jersey, and Canaan" Well, I laughed so hard it brought tears to my eyes! At first I thought she was kidding around with me, then as I looked over the reading part again, it said that Canaan is roughly the size of New Jersey, Aha! It was still the funniest answer I've gotten from her yet!

To Nap or Not To Nap

2009-03-19T06:28:00.000-07:00

That is the question! Zach has been struggling to sleep through the night and we have considered the possibility that he needs to give up his nap, well, here's what happened one day that we tried this theory! He finally sat down for a moment and then he kinda just fell over, we had a good laugh!

Just Plain Cute

2009-03-18T14:40:00.001-07:00

Hide the Baby

2009-03-18T14:31:00.000-07:00

You may recognize this from a post a long time ago when Zach was a baby, Ethan used to do this to him! He piles up the stuffed animals all her, she doesn't mind!

Faith & Frogs

2009-03-18T14:26:00.000-07:00

Most know that I color-code my kids, then, Zach got a theme too-lions. Well, Faith's "theme" is frogs! So, this is one of my favorite outfits she has. I had to share! Check out that smile, isn't she gorgeous!

Forgiven

2009-03-13T09:23:00.001-07:00

I have heard it said so many times “God has forgiven us, now, we just have to learn to forgive ourselves”, why? When did we begin to believe that there would be greater peace in our lives if we could just learn to forgive ourselves. Why should we forgive ourselves, does this have some impact on our eternity? Isn't God's forgiveness of our sins is the only forgiveness that matters in eternity? Hasn't Christ has paid the ultimate price for that forgiveness (Acts 4:25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.), and, by not “forgiving” ourselves aren't we truly just not taking the Lord at His Word, aren't we just doubting His complete and perfect forgiveness? The Lord has called us to forgive others just as God also forgave them (Matthew 6:12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors), but if we don't, does that give us some power over them, to damn them to hell? We are not God! So where does this guilt, this shame, this feeling of unforgiveness come from? What better way than to trick us into believing that we are still in the bondage of sin than by riddling us with guilt and shame over our past (Acts 26:18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'). We continually let our past sins follow us, all in this dream of one day we will be able to forgive ourselves, when we have already been forgiven and we are now allowing the enemy to convince us that we are like God, choosing who lives and dies and at what cost. My brothers and sisters in Christ, we are forgiven, we must claim our forgiveness, and when we are plagued by shame, we must proclaim it to the the enemy and cast those thoughts away from us in the name of Jesus Christ's blood! For years I had been “working through” this ever-present pain of the past, but the Lord has told us we are set free in Christ Jesus, are you truly free, or do you allow the pain of sin and shame to keep you bound by Satan. You have been given the power through the Holy Spirit in you ( Acts 2:38 "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.) to cast out Satan, do you believe that? Have you used it? It took less than one week to show Satan that Jesus is truly the Lord of my life. A memory of a past sin would creep into my mind out of nowhere and my response was the same, saying out loud, “I am forgiven by the blood of Jesus, Satan you have no place here!”
"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10

Mommy's Girl

2009-03-11T14:34:00.000-07:00

Okay, so my wish has come true, but then there's the "be careful what you wish for" thing too! Yep, it applies. She is so much of a Mommy's girl that her Daddy thinks she doesn't like him! Yeah, it's that bad! Anyway, I'm growing very weary of being her one and only. It makes it very frustrating for all involved, well, mostly me. But, then again, who needs showers, or make-up, or painted nails, or shaved legs for that matter! I am getting very good at cooking dinner, and eating with her on my hip. I know, you're saying put her down, well, in a cage maybe to protect her from her VERY loving 2 year old brother!Then again, have you seen that smile? And...she is the last one!

Ready to Travel

2009-03-10T10:06:00.000-07:00

Faith is ready for her first trip to Nana's! Her green Adventure Duffel arrived this week! Over Spring Break, I am going to take the plunge, by myself no less, and take Faith on her first road trip! Grace, Ethan and Zach are going too, so, it should be fun.
I am very nervous about this, but excited too, that could be a sign of the crazies setting in! Oh, wait, that was two babies ago!!!! You could pray for me, that'd be good!

Zach's the Boss

2009-03-04T11:40:00.000-08:00

Around here, if you are out of line, Zach will let you know! He knows the rules and HE WILL enforce them! If Grace or Ethan tried to pick up Faith and I haven't asked them too, Zach will yell "Stop it" and come tell me, "Show you!", and tattle on them. I find this so funny, he acts like a first born, and doesn't seem to know he's the little brother! If you take something that's not yours and he sees you, look out! You won't have it for long, he will give you this look and use a tone, only a Mommy or Daddy should use and set you straight!

Zach Breastfeeds?

2009-03-04T11:34:00.000-08:00

Yes, our two year old has attempted to breastfeed his baby lion! I was nursing Faith and Zach took his place next to me, to "help", but instead he placed his stuffed baby lion to his little nipple and told me that he was eating! It was so precious to watch him nurture his "baby", when he "finished", he took a tissue and wiped it off and said "all done" to his lion. I WISH I'd had a camera right then! He then burped his lion and proceeded to wipe his lions behind with a wet wipe, and then handed it to me saying "ewww, yuck!". I'm so proud of him!

Her Time

2009-03-04T11:28:00.000-08:00

I am finding that Faith and I have at least this in common, she needs her alone time! She enjoys being left alone on her blanket with a book and a few toys to look at, to just kind of decompress! It's so cute, if you stand outside the room that she's in you can hear her pleased coos and sighs (of relief, I'd guess!). She enjoys this for up to twenty minutes at a time too! She doesn't go to sleep, she's wide awake, just wants to be left alone. With seven in our house, I know I like to just be left alone every once in awhile-you know "me time"!

Dynamic

2009-02-07T08:20:00.001-08:00

The family dynamic has certainly changed! First, I'll tell you about Ethan and Faith. Ethan loves to entertain our little princess! Anytime she is awake you can bet he'll be wanting to play with her. From the time she was three days old he was showing her all her toys and trying to get her to smile! He loves to talk to her and is always able to get her attention. He has successfully been able to burp her and is very proud of that accomplishment.

Grace aka "Mommy: The Sequel" is always there to rescue Faith from the slightest whimper of discomfort! All it takes is a little peep and there's Grace! Whisking her away to the rocker to soothe away anything that troubles her. She feels her greatest accomplishment is rocking Faith to sleep, a talent she discovered one day while helping me with dinner by holding her baby sister. She's a pro now. While she is also Faith fashion consultant, full of tips and compliments for her little princess protege!Now Zach, his perspective is obviously different from everyone else, he was the baby till six weeks ago, now there's a new kid on the block. He adores her, that doesn't mean he's not ever jealous, when he isn't trying to show us he can still be a cute baby, he wants to help-a lot! Which consists of holding her head while she is nursing, patting her back to burp her when Mommy or Daddy is holding her, and dashing to her side, pacifier in hand whenever she cries, yelling "Papes Pire!" which translates to "Faith's Pacifier" in English!

Meeting the Family

2009-01-04T14:59:00.001-08:00

Catch Up

2009-01-03T20:45:00.000-08:00

Okay, catch up, my Mom and Dad bought a condo here in town around Thanksgiving, so Rob and I went in and painted and bordered their bedroom and hung some new light fixtures for them for Christmas, that was a fun little project to get my mind of my miserable hugeness! This year our Christmas tree was somewhat exciting and different, for Zach, mostly, the kids wanted to decorate with their collection of ornaments, which I agreed to, I get them ornaments every year, but we only hang up the new one each year, and the rest is "The Pretty Tree", they call it, well, we had five casualties in the first day, so I decided that we won't do that again for the five or six years now! Back to the "The Pretty Tree" and this year I found plastic ornaments that look like glass, so we're good to go for next year now!

I had a family bridal shower of sorts for my soon-to-be sister-in-law (now is sister-in-law), that was fun, and she is definitely the best, I could not have hand picked a more perfect person to join our family!

Our wonderful small group had a diaper shower for us, that was so much fun! We played hilarious baby shower games, and since several of our small group members do not have kids, and some are even single, this was even more fun to watch their squirms at the "Dirty Diaper Game"! We have been supplied with enough diapers to last a long time (well, at least a few months, I can't get over how many a new baby goes through!).

I had my birthday, the 19^th of December and turned 29, this was fairly uneventful, one more year till, well, we're not talking about that. I did however get surprised with a, Italian dinner out and a movie to boot! That was fun, it had been awhile since Rob and I had gone out!

With budget restraints this year, Rob and I stretched the Christmas budget to the max, I bargain shopped, on eBay, and we went all over town and got a big bang for our bucks. Somehow, I think shopping early really made a difference too. Anyway, I was pleased to find that Rob and I selected some very pleasing gifts for the kids still, even though we stuck to our budget this year!

The Kemper Family Christmas was at our house this year. It went very well, I didn't cook or clean up, I just played lay on the couch hostess kind of! But, we all had a great time. The afternoon movie selection was WALL-E, a very cute movie, my sister cried, I kid not, she cried. Anyway, the girls were all excited to get handmade night gowns, one for them, and a matched one for their American Girl dolls, that my Mom made. Ethan decoupaged and painted small wooden jewelry boxes for his sister and cousins and Grace decoupaged wooden frames for her cousins. I like to make something with the kids for their Papa and Nana for Christmas, this year, I got an idea from a Better Homes and Gardens magazine. Wooden plaques, painted brown, shrunk profiles of each of the kids' busts and decoupaged them on, hot glue ribbons for hangers and viola! Beautiful!

Faith Has Arrived!

2009-01-03T20:27:00.000-08:00

Yes, she's finally here! Just as scheduled, December the 26th, and she was pulled out at 11:55am. I had not dropped AT ALL! She was way up in my ribs still, instead of her head being right near the incision or even a little below, as is normal, she was way up, they had to go looking for her and even use a little suction and force to pull her down and out! She let out one small cry to let me know she was here, and then she was as quiet as she could be! The poked and prodded to get her to cry, because their was meconium in her sack and yet they couldn't make her, so they used the tube and suctioned her nose and throat, no big deal, she still didn't cry! She weighed 7 pounds and 12 ounces, and was a short little 19 inches long! She's my smallest! She does have big eyes, that she flashed us very soon after she was born, she was surprisingly alert for a newborn! And, she has dark hair, that might have a curl or at least wave to it, we'll see. I have had a lot more pain this time around, but there has been no time for it, I pop a pain med and keep on going! We came home on Monday and went to my brother's wedding rehearsal and dinner the next night, followed by the wedding and reception the following night of course, and I'll tell all about that later. For now, we are doing fine, Faith is an excellent eater and has almost reached her birth weight again, she is giving us a good five to six hours of sleep at night already and is a tremendous blessing to us all!

Autumn Leaves

2008-11-18T22:23:00.000-08:00

This is what the kids have been doing just about everyday after school. I pick up Bailey and Joy from the bus stop in it's into the leaf pile they all go, they play all the way till dinner time and we practically drag them in to eat!

They have been having so much fun raking and jumping and raking and jumping! It has been so fun for me to watch out the window while I make dinner. I even got a few good pictures of them to show everyone. They love to burrow down till they can hardly be seen! Bailey and Joy posed happily for me, Grace and Ethan on the other hand were way too silly to stop and give me a good picture smile!

Mommy's Quilt

2008-11-18T22:18:00.000-08:00

So here is my quilt for Faith all completed now. I really love how it came out. My Mom made a couple little zipper bags that coordinate with the quilt and diaper bag that already match. I love this assemble, it's so pretty and girlish. I think I should have some matching burp rags soon too!

Grace's Quilting

2008-11-18T22:09:00.000-08:00

Grace should not be left out, she also made a beautiful quilt, this one is for Faith though! My Mom used her machine to stitch "Made by Grace Cole with love for Faith Ball. It is so precious. Now, obviously Grace is a little more methodical about planning a pattern for her quilting than Ethan. She likes everything to match and look just so. She is so proud of this quilt and I know we will use it a lot. It's very snugly, with a flannel backing. Grace now kisses and hugs my belly on a daily basis, and talks to her baby sister frequently, she can hardly wait for her baby sister to arrive now. She can feel her kicking so hard and insists that this is a sign that she is ready to come out and see her.

Faith To Come

2008-11-11T22:01:00.000-08:00

If I haven't personally told you yet, Faith Elizabeth Ball is to be born on December 26, via c-section. We're very excited obviously! I have heard it all I think now, everything from, "you'll never make it", to "could the dates be off?", and the best, "don't you go into labor now!". First of all, I make it every time - no problem, I know I'm huge, and try and stop me if I do! Facts about me and all three previous pregnancies- I have NEVER gone into labor, I have NEVER been wrong on the dates, all of my previous three babies have weighed 8 pounds 10 ounces and were taken two weeks early! The first was induced and then two c-sections, yes, I grow them big!

Now, all of that said, I have a colposcopy biopsy (it's yucky, look it up if you don't know what one is) on Thursday that could change things. So far I'm just waddlin around, hot, barefoot, and very pregnant, and come Friday I hope to be just the same! While several friends and family have been delivering their babies at even five weeks early, I thought there must be in the water! But, having visited a tiny delivery, I am DETERMINED to keep her in there! We want her good and fat! Pray for that! As my waist line now is measuring around well over what it was at any other baby's delivery, I feel confident in saying I think she's going to go over the 8 pound, 10 ounce mark!

Grace is insistent that even though I currently have birthed three blonds, with blue eyes, THIS little girl is going to have dark brown curly hair and big brown eyes! We'll see Grace (she did say it would be a girl the day she found out though)! She has big plans for this little sister, like, she wants her to move directly into HER room, not ours, and she will take care of her from there!

As the Braxton Hicks contractions have begun to plague every move I make, I wonder, why can't I just tell my body somehow, "no worries, this one's a c-section, no 'practice' necessary!". So, my countdown is definitely on now, as of Friday I will be six weeks away!

A side note, and not bragging at all, this was done in fear-I am completely done with the kids Christmas shopping, stockings and all, this is an all time record for me! I finished in fear (like I said) of bed rest or some such nuisance after Thursday's procedure. It makes me feel a little better (seriously, was I going to leave it up to Rob?), he's fantastic at spending money, but I get the deals, and spend a lot less!

Our house with six is about to be a little more full, and I am still amazed at the wisdom and dreams of my husband, even as a bachelor, buying such a big house, for just himself and Keith, with no prospect of a wife yet. Well, he is wise, and it took a few years, but dreams do come true, I have definitely learned that from him!

Several have questioned "is this the last one?", I have jokingly said that Zachary was the "last one", but here we are, but alas, this will be our last biological one. Sad as I am and not yet 30, the Lord may use us in further parenting endeavors yet, we'll see. Those who know me, know that I would welcome a dozen, but through great debate (between Rob and I) and a great amount of prayer, we're done, God has not provided for that right now.

Left to do? Collect diapers! I was hoping to have our stubborn Zachary potty trained by now, but to no avail! Two in diapers was not the plan, but God will provide, or potty train little "Zachary" Himself! Can I get an "Amen"?

Ethan's Quilt

2008-11-03T09:09:00.000-08:00

I had previously posted of Ethan's talents in sewing, this time when he went to visit with my Mom for ten days, she taught him to quilt! I would call this a kind of cowboy pattern, mismatch and rugged! He learned how to piece a quilt on the sewing machine "almost all by himself"! He picked his fabrics and laid out his pattern and the result is incredible, and I'm not saying that just cause he my son! It's excellent work! My Mom put on the backing and machine quilted it, then she put his name in the corner and when he made it! I love it! It is just fantastic! I might mention that it originally started out for his baby sister, but because too precious to him to gift, and it proudly now is displayed on his bed instead, accept when someone comes over and Mommy has to show it to everyone!

Shopping for the Wedding Dresses!

2008-11-03T08:42:00.000-08:00

This was FUN! My soon to be sister in law, Stacey, her mom, my mom, and myself got to take the little girls shopping for their dresses for the big day! They were buzzing with excitement and full of little girl giggles! Stacey was so gracious and let them pick out whatever they wanted to try on, and they had such a good time! There were dresses that came with miniature versions of their dresses just the right size for their American Girl dolls even, so which ones do you think they chose? They made us laugh so hard when Grace and Joy informed us that they thought they looked "fat" in the solid red dresses! Bailey, who is notoriously always going against the grain chose to stand out and chose a beautiful gown, but of course it too had a miniature dress to match! She immediately put the beautiful little dress on Meow, who had never looked better! While we were there, we had to find a little tiny dress for the coming attraction, Faith, who will also be attending the wedding! But you will have to wait to see that little dress! I will tell you that it has the sweetest little matching black, velvet, Mary Janes! I just realized that I didn't take a picture of the dress that Bailey actually chose, it's similar to the other cream colored one that she tried, but a little different, you'll have to wait to see that one too I guess! I was very happy with the success of our shopping experience, especially since we got them for about $35 a piece and only had to visit ONE store! The shoes on the other hand! Well, they have yet to be found, and Grace and Joy insisted that the cream colored heels we found that matched perfectly, were "old lady shoes" and they "would not" be wearing them! So the search goes on!

I should mention the girls excitement to gain an aunt! On the way to the store, they were discussing amongst themselves whether or not it was yet appropriate to call their soon to be aunt, "Aunt Stacey". They concluded that they should probably wait, and carried on with their conversations of how their hair should look and what the dresses might look like!

Pumpkin Patch

2008-11-03T08:14:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm pretty sure we picked the yuckiest day of fall to visit the Pumpkin Patch this year! It was cloudy, spitting a bit and sooooo cold, I thought it may snow! Of course the kids didn't mind much and I was pleasant for quite awhile in my large, pregnant state, but the cold did get the best of us and run us off after a couple of hours, but not before the kids had, bounced on the moon walk, went down all the slides and climbed and jumped off of hay bales to their hearts content! The picture of the kids in the How Tall This Fall picture really depicts well what my time at the Pumpkin Patch was spent doing - CHASING ZACH!

He could not contain his excitement over all that was going on around him, not to mention the 100 of more other kids that were there that morning! Grace and Ethan were a bit more brave this year and went through the tunnel of hay, and the spooky tunnel! Zach went through the spooky tunnel but decided he'd wait to tackle the tunnel of hay another year. The hay pile was all of their favorite thing to do, they loved climbing as high as they could and jumping into the soft pile of hay below!

I thought Ethan's toothless grin made the perfect smile for a little scarecrow! Don't you agree? I had already found the best deal in town on big orange pumpkins, so we didn't pick any out at the patch this year. The kids agreed that our pumpkins were bigger and "oranger" than any of the ones in the field this year! We finished off our trip to the pumpkin patch with a warm bag of popcorn and Zach got a scare from the animated witch in the gift shop, I think he'd rather not meet her again!

Oz

2008-11-03T08:04:00.000-08:00

While my Mom was in town this last visit we went to the Wizard of Oz Museum in Wamego. I had forgotten how cute the main street in Wamego is. The kids enjoyed themselves, we took Ethan's friend Drew with us, to even it up a bit! They really seemed to like the Wicked Witch and he evil monkey, but I'm not so sure that the gift shop wasn't the girl's favorite part though! I gained a bit of an education myself at the museum, like I did not know that the ruby red slippers were orignally silver! Anyway, a quick trip down the yellow brick road, and we had a great time! Did I mention that if Tacos are your thing, you could visit Toto's Tacos, next door!

Vacation?

2008-10-10T19:14:00.000-07:00

Rob took vacation time last week and the kids went to my parent's in Colorado and we WORKED OUR BUTTS OFF! The goal was to complete all the unfinished projects from the flood and we had a lot of success. No more missing trim or holes in the walls and a new ceramic tile floor in the kitchen and dining room! The first part of the week was no big deal, we did the "easy" stuff, then we installed the concrete backer board and tile to the floors! Rob put down the concrete board, (I understand this was NO FUN) and I laid the tile and grouted, Rob was my trusty tile saw expert! I didn't have enough "stuff" on the floor to make the tile stick so we had to put more on it to keep it from popping up, and then, because it's a ceramic, it took longer to dry and the only easy thing was grout! Now, it is dry and looks great. The kids, of course had a fabulous time with Nana and Papa! They went swimming and on field trips and that wonderful woman even substitute taught for me the whole time! She blows me away (love you Mom!)! This year for our anniversary my parents wanted to give us the money to go to a bed and breakfast for the weekend, since the kids were gone for the whole week, we didn't need to go stay anywhere, we had a date every night! We ate out and saw movies and had a great time every evening. Even though we worked so hard everyday we had a great evening to look forward to! So, now when you hear the legend of the seven month pregnant woman that laid 300 square feet of 16 by 16 tile and did not go into labor, you can say, "hey it's true, I know that crazy woman!"
As a side note-you may be wondering why the floors needed to be done -again - yes, they were done only a year ago. My Mom and installed beautiful laminate floors, that six months later started to buckle in the dining room and kitchen, and they couldn't be fixed, so there you have it, as if we needed more to do, now there is tile!

Ethan's Natural Talent

2008-09-18T17:49:00.001-07:00

Well, this is a new one on me! Ethan wanted a needle and thread to "finger sew" his monkey that was torn. I humored him, I knew that my Mom had taught them a little sewing when they were at her house for a week last year, but I didn't know if he really learned much or just tried really hard. Wow, he can sew! I am amazed! His "finger sewing" is excellent! He fixed his monkey and then went on to fix his snake, who was badly in need of repair. I am so proud of him! My Mom couldn't believe he remembered how. This apparently is a natural talent of his.

Teach them when they are young...

2008-09-18T10:15:00.000-07:00

Rob has his quiet time in the morning, usually before any of us are up in the morning, every once in awhile when he sleeps in, Zach will see him sitting in his chair having his quiet time. On this morning Zach just happened to be up early and Rob decided to have his quiet time at the table, while Zach ate his breakfast. As soon as he finished his breakfast he went down to our room and found another bible and brought it up to the table to have a "quiet time" too. It was the most precious thing to walk in and see them reading God's Word. Since that morning, Zach has been getting that bible out and "reading" it almost every day! He sit down and gently turns pages slowly, studying each one! I think it is definitely true, even for a two year old, teach them when they are young...

Getting Ready For Baby

2008-09-15T19:05:00.000-07:00

I have been busy sewing today! I bought some fun fabrics on Friday and today got to sit down and sew away! I'm not completely done, but I'm happy with what I've accomplished so far! I've got some zipper pouches to make for the diaper bag in the coordinating fabrics and some receiving blankets to edge and maybe a bib or little hat. Look out- Mommy's gettin' creative! It's been a long time since I sewed so much and even longer since I sewed a quilt. The fleece tie blanket was a no sew fun thing, it's so snugly! I went and bought some brown corduroy for this diaper bag, I thought it needed a more durable bottom than just a cotton, I really love how it turned out. It's only about 10x12, but it has pockets all the way around it.

The Tooth Fairy...Again?

2008-08-26T10:31:00.000-07:00

Yes, so soon! He pulled the other one too! Now there are no front top teeth! He is so cute, and he talks a little funny too! I love it! He did it right before bedtime-again, luckily the "Tooth Fairy's" husband just happened to have a five on him!

Sonogram

2008-08-26T10:14:00.000-07:00

I could not wait to find out! We went in for our 20-week sonogram, took Grace and Ethan with us, Keith didn't want to miss school (what?!) and Zach napped at a friends house. Crossed legs and so much movement made almost impossible to tell, but, it's a girl! We are so excited, we were hoping! I cried, Grace, is SOOOO EXCITED, we all are. Rob said, this is going to be a whole new ball game! Yes indeed! He's never taken care or really been around a girl baby before. Believe it or not, Keith was even sweating it a little, he really wanted another sister too! So we are all so happy and making plans for a little baby girl angel to fill are arms! I compared sonogram pictures and her profile looks very much like Grace's, could I possibly get another look alike? Maybe this one will get my hair color too though. I am three for three in the blonde department! Where is that coming from? Blue eyes too! Everyone knows that I'm hoping for some curls. We've only got about seventeen more weeks till we see her and find out! Crap, seventeen weeks till Christmas too! Did you know that? I haven't even started shopping!

Grace's First Day of Home School

2008-08-12T22:14:00.001-07:00

Let's just say, not how I imagined it to go! It went something like this...

..."I don't want to get up"...
(grunts and groans)
Prayer
Pledge of Allegiance
Time for Bible class
..."Workbooks are stupid!"...
(tapping a pencil)
..."I'm not smart enough to do this work!"...
(crying)
..."This is going to take FOREVER!"...
(more crying)
..."Can't I just get held back a grade"...
(a lot more crying)
..."FINE!"...
(5 minutes later)
..."Done Mommy."

Can I just say that between my pregnant hormones and her nine year old hormones, the morning did not go well! I am going to sleep tonight praying for a better second day!

I have, through a lot of prayer and thought- both head and heart, decided to put everything else aside (MOPS & bible study) and focus on getting this home school thing down. I am going to find an evening bible study/support group that will not take away from school time. This job, I'm learning, maybe just beginning to grasp, is very important. More than even before I am having a huge impact on the way these little adults turn out, I don't want to mess it up!

It has become even more apparent how important prayer and personal bible study is EVERY DAY to being prepared for this job I have. I'm nervous, excited, scared and challenged by what is in front of me and if I knew the extent maybe I would be terrified. For now, everyday, every step, in the Lord's hands and I can do it!

The other subjects went a little better, but I hope I will see daily improvement, okay, weekly? I'm staying positive-daily! Together, we'll all get this thing down, I just have to give it time!
A great feeling is that I have never been so sure that I am doing the right thing for my children as I am right now. This will be great-for all of us!

Fancy Bathroom

2008-08-12T22:05:00.000-07:00

Okay, my guest bath is finally done! I really like the way it turned out! I had an itch to decorate something and I touched up some paint in the kitchen and that didn't do it for me so I went digging to finish up the bathroom-finally! I don't want to make anyone sick, but I found all stuff in my attic to do it with. Some old fall flowers, and raffia, the curtain panels I had bought for $5 for the living room, decided I didn't like them in there and lost the receipt before I could return them, and then I used some craft paints from my little sis to paint the hydrangea and vines on the walls. O, darn it, I forgot, I found the pillar at a garage sale down the street last week for $1!

The Tooth Fairy Strikes Again!

2008-08-12T21:54:00.000-07:00

Ethan and the Tooth Fairy had a date Saturday night. Though it may not have been ready, that tooth came out! He worked on it and worked on it for two days, and all by himself, yanked it! A look of amazement came over him, he did it! Zachary thought he should try to get one out too, but he cringed at the sight of the bloody loose tooth in Ethan's mouth! None the less, he needed his picture taken of his mouth too!Sure enough Sunday morning-bright and early Ethan came running down the stairs to wake me up and show me the money the Tooth Fairy had left him! Words cannot express how I felt at that proud moment at 6 AM when I had almost two full hours of sleep left!
I will say that Ethan is so cute missing his tooth, it makes me smile every time he cheeses at me!

Zachary Turns 2!

2008-08-12T21:40:00.000-07:00

Well, a far cry from Keith big 1-4 was Zachary's second! Lions and tigers and bears! What a great time we had! Cake and ice cream and lots of little people running all over! I have to say, the volume was about the same though! It rained, so everyone was inside and that was fine, the playroom saw some action, that's for sure! Hot Dogs and Cheetos for dinner (Zach's favorite-next to Mexican food!), and a lion cake, made by Mommy with another favorite -ice cream! Presents seemed boring when the first thing to open was a card, then he figured it out and what fun that it really was! He had to have a Razor Scooter! So Mommy and Daddy got him one of his very own!

Keith's Surprise War

2008-08-12T21:22:00.001-07:00

This year the kids went on vacation with Nana and Papa to San Diego for a week they did awesome things like a hot air balloon ride, Lego Land, and Sea World, just to name a few! They had a great time and bonus, we planned a surprise party for Keith's 14 the day after they got back! It worked out perfectly, he was very surprised! We had a war theme-water war-that is! What a great time everyone had with that! Not even poor little Zachary was safe!

Girls are not off limits either!

The pictures speak a thousand words! Pretty much everyone ended up at some point in the kid's pool! NO ONE was dry 30 minutes in! Keith, begged for a tattoo, but received 14 year old gifts like gift cards to Best Buy and the long-awaited PSP! Happy 14th Keith,
We love you!

Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure

2008-08-12T21:02:00.000-07:00

Rob and I took a trip with all six kids to the Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure Zoo and Museum! One Monday when Rob was off, he said why don't we? And I said yeah! We, had such a great time, what a great zoo and museum, the kids agreed, it was really fantastic! All the animals, in spite of the heat, were out to play. We came at feeding time to, you could say that we kind of followed the dinner wagon around. They were all happy and putting on a show that seemed just for us! The picture at left is a picture of a Mandrill. A particular Mandrill took a fancy to Zach and followed his every move and even acted upset when one of the other kids stepped in front of her so she couldn't see him anymore! They a had a game of hide and seek going! In the heat we were privy to an up close seat of the lions enjoying their blood ice blocks too! Boy, do they love that! They purred like kittens! Like I said, we visited the museum there also, a must in our opinions! It is the best display of taxidermy we've ever seen. Very impressive, and they had even more species of animal in there than in the zoo. I have to say it did make Zach a little nervous because there were no fences between us and those tigers and he wasn't convinced that they weren't still alive! The day was very hot, but we were impressed by all the shade we found to stand and watch animals under, it made it quite pleasant really, and the water misters that they had throughout the park kept the kids wet and cool all day! We had a great time! By the way, you get a big discount for being a member of the Friends of the Topeka Zoo too!

Grace Visits the OBGYN

2008-08-02T02:18:00.000-07:00

Not for her, with me, for mine! Recently I took her along, mainly to hear the baby's heartbeat. But I always wanted her to feel included and understand a little better what was taking place. We looked through a magazine from the Dr.'s office that showed pictures of the inside, micro cam stuff. We talked about how the baby lives and grows in my tummy for the 40 weeks it there and the stages that things happen in. She is very interested in these things. So off we went to my appointment. She met the man that delivered her nine years ago, the wonderful Dr. Breck Edds, and to his amazement and mine, had some very intelligent questions to ask him about what exactly was going on. For example, she asked, "How much room does the baby have right now, I mean, how big, exactly, is Mommy's uterus right now?" I stifled a laugh, I was so amazed, I don't know why, she is so brilliant like that. Dr. Edds looked at me, wide eyed, and answered her to the best of his ability and she was satisfied. All in all she had a great time and would love to go again sometime. I was so glad to share that with her. Now for the tough question, she wants to know why some people don't believe that a baby is alive until it's born? And if we tell them that they are, won't they stop killing them? My sweet girl, I wish that it were that simple. She had heard the word "abortion" and asked what it meant one evening in the car. I was the sad recipient of that question and proceeded to as gently as possible explain the meaning, I wish there were not such cruel things in this world to try and explain.

Grace's Ninth

2008-07-17T10:22:00.000-07:00

Grace turned 9 ("FINALLY"-she'd tell you!). We had, at her request, quite a little luau. Complete with the limbo! The little girl in the picture behind Grace won, she went sooo low!

For the party I even found little straws with umbrellas on them to drink our punch with. Grace chose the menu this year, it included a mandarin orange cake with a whipped cream and crushed pineapple icing-YUM! She chose a rainbow sherbet, and of course, Hawaiian Punch. My Mom and Dad came dressed appropriately, I love this picture of them!

The guests all posed for their pictures, I really liked this one of Grace. This year was the first that Grace actually requested clothes for gifts, she's never cared about them before, I guess that just a sign she's growing up! She got some adorable, very grow-up looking outfits that she has worn just about every day since! Polly Pockets were expected, and she was not disappointed! She also spent her birthday money on another Polly Pocket set. She's quite the collector.

She had a great time celebrating her birthday this year with friends and family, I'd say she was princess for the day, but she's the princess everyday around here!

The Mediterranean

2008-07-01T11:45:00.000-07:00

Rob and I just got back from a cruise in the Mediterranean on Sunday night! What a wonderful trip! My Mom and Dad took all of my sisters, brother and our significant others with them to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary! We also celebrated my Mom's 50th
birthday, and then my brother Nick proposed to his girl friend while we were on the ship (she said yes)! We had so much celebrating to do! We first flew to Barcelona, Spain, where we stayed for a couple of nights before boarding our cruise ship. We ate at amazing restaurants and Mom and Dad even humored us with a little "Lady and the Tramp" pasta scene-so funny!
We visited so many amazing churches, the most memorable in Barcelona was the Sagrada Familia, designed by the famous Gaudi. It looked like a massive sand castle, it was so intricate too.

A day and a half after we boarded our ship, we ported in a beautiful harbor in Malta, it is nicknamed the city of golden honey because of it's color, in the morning sunrise it was stunning!This is a picture of Rob and I with the Maltese countryside behind us, it was so beautiful.

Right after sunset, after we had left Malta, our ship passed an island that had a volcano erupting, that was unexpected and a beautiful thing to see at sunset.

In the morning we awoke to Naples, where we took the tour of Capri, Sorrento, and Pompeii. I have lots of pictures from here, there was so much to see, here's my favorites.
This is my Mom and Dad with Capri behind them.

I love this picture of me and my sisters, it's in front of a very famously photographed coastline of Capri. We took a picture like this in Colorado about ten years ago. What memories that brought back!

This is Nick trying to take a drink from a fountain in the Pompeii ruins, dry for about two thousand years! This was the neighborhood drinking fountain till the eruption in 79 AD.
The next day we found ourselves in Rome. We saw the Colosseum, where Rob literally dug up a little history to bring back to Keith (a rock from the floor), and we walked all over taking pictures of this ancient marvel. If you didn't know, most of the ancient Rome has been buried and built on top of, our favorite part of Rome was in St Clemente's Basilica, where we could go down stairs, from the present day church where they still hold mass to the 4th century church, and down another level to the 1st century church where it was built approximately 40 AD! It was incredible!

In Florence, this was my favorite church, it was so fantastic! All marble out the outside! It was so intricate. I actually don't remember the name of this church though!

Well, Rob and Andrea ended up with the stomach flu and had to stay on the ship the day we made port in Florence and visited Pisa. This picture is me in front of the Tower of Pisa, yep, it's a leaning! Anyway, it's stable now, you can go in it, but I didn't have enough time, actually, it's like a million steps and I had no interest in trying them out!
In Florence I saw the tombs of Michael Angelo and Galileo, they have very ornate tombs as you can probably imagine.

This is the Nice, France port that we visited the next day. The flowers were beautiful, in bloom everywhere. Just amazing gardens everywhere, even balconies.
This is the port of Monaco behind Rob, huge yachts were all over the place here! We also saw the famous Monte Carlo Grand Casino, where the wealthiest gamble. Ferrari and any other very expensive car you can imagine were just driving down the street one after another!

This is the beautiful city of Eze, a beautiful little village built on top of a mountain! The winding streets that are too narrow to drive a car on and one hotel at the very top! Every nook is now filled with artisans shops, that create beautiful masterpieces and sell them, any type you can imagine, from glass to paintings.

Every street is made up of these ornate patterned cobblestones, the time it took, I can't imagine. Eze is oozing with creativity though!

During this entire cruise with my family, you can imagine that there was never a dull moment and of course with all the celebrating going on that was double! If you gauge who was having the best time everywhere we went by laughter to tears, it was definitely us! We had so much fun, the shows were terrific and Rob and I actually got to be a part of the magic show with Bob Trunell one night. Right there, in the action for some really talented slight of hand tricks. Having never been on a cruise before, I was impressed, I'd go again!

Everywhere we went the food was incredible! Everywhere, I haven't weighed in, nor will I!!! I was blessed with a break from my nausea, and what a blessing that was! I ate all the fantastic foods, and tried all kinds of things I'd never eaten.

The thing that was the most exciting to me I think was my brother's engagement, and getting to know my soon to be sister in law even better! I love you Stacey, you are fabulous!

There are a few pictures that others got that I wanted to share, so I will get back to you with those.

Just One

2008-06-18T06:36:00.001-07:00

On Monday, we thought we potentially were in for two, but our sonogram showed the proof of only one little tiny baby (possibly girl?). Obviously this soon we couldn't get a solid answer, and we aren't sure that we want to know before he or she is born. So, Grace is disappointed that we don't have the possibility of evening things up with twin girls, but she is holding out hope that Faith will be the name of this little one!

The Pool is Open!

2008-06-07T16:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday while I was filling up the pool for the kids, they were all so anxious that five were in there before there was even an inch of water. They shivered and chattered and finally Ethan had a brilliant idea! "Mommy, go flush the toilet, that will make the hose water hot!" Joy agreed wholeheartedly, "yeah, that always works!". Just try and explain that one will ya! Anyway, it filled up and the kids didn't mind the cold anymore, and they had a great time!

SALSA!

2008-06-06T08:31:00.000-07:00

Way back when I was pregnant with Zach and craving Taco Bell's 1lb burritos at 10am and thinking how ridiculous it was that they didn't open till 11, I never imagined that this would effect my unborn child, but today, beyond a doubt I see the reproductions of my burrito addiction! This morning while I was enjoying my morning snack of chips and salsa, which is a "normal" craving for me about 9:30 or 10 in the morning, Zach hoped into the chair next to me and dug in! Salsa, he LOVES it. I already knew he was a fan of Mexican food, especially rice, but I never gave him salsa before, too spicy-or so I thought! He was all over it though! I fought him off for the last scoop! This was so funny, he gave me this dirty look, like, 'how could you!' Anyway, I don't think this goes for a boy/girl thing, because I have a friend that craved Mexican with one of her girls and Chinese with the other and oddly enough those are her girls favorite foods now too.

Doll Houses

2008-06-03T14:45:00.000-07:00

The kids made little doll houses today. Just four rooms to decorate, and they are having a blast playing with them! Foam core board for the walls and floor, and scrapbook paper to decorate it with. They cut out pictures in magazines to decorate their rooms, they even found little "area rugs" to put around. Now they want to figure out how to make some furniture from stuff around the house, Craft sticks and things! Go for it, I say! Aren't they colorful? They did a great job.

Ice Cream or Mashed Potatoes?

2008-06-02T19:12:00.000-07:00

This evening when given the choice, vanilla ice cream or mashed potatoes, what did I choose? Duh! Mashed potatoes, with some shredded cheese and bacon bits! YUM! Shhhh! I think I might be pregnant! By the way, Rob had the ice cream, he said it was good too.

Cravings

2008-05-31T17:53:00.000-07:00

I'm no stranger to the strange cravings of pregnancy. But this one was pretty funny, I thought I'd share. I'm sitting on the couch with my feet up, looking at a magazine, which is an anomaly in the first place, and it hits me, a steak, a steak would be awesome! Ooh, and a baked potato. So, I go to the fridge, very sad looking, I have to admit, grocery shopping literally makes me puke right now (seriously, have you been to the bathrooms in grocery stores!). Anyway, they're surviving. So, back to the fridge, no steak (duh), but we do have bologna! Yes indeed, a bologna sandwich suddenly would do the trick, you figure that one out, but it was extra mayo on white bread with American cheese tasty goodness to this nauseated Momma!

Old Prairie Town

2008-05-29T12:13:00.000-07:00

This morning we visited Old Prairie Town, otherwise known as Ward Meade Park. We took the tour, which was great, very educational, and the kids really got a kick out of how people used to "rough-it"!

We visited the Potwin Drug Store for ice cream cones, they really liked that, it is a replica with a lot of actual antique pieces from a old drug store, and it has a working soda fountain. We walked the botanical gardens there beside the mansion, the kids really enjoyed that when they found out that it is where their Nana and Papa got married almost 30 years ago now. We spent a good three hours at Old Prairie Town and there was never a dull moment. We had a very "smart" (as the kids said) tour guide that actually told us about when she went to school in a one room school house like the one there on the property that she was showing us. The kids were fascinated! She did a good job keeping their attention. If you've never been, we recommend it highly.

Native American Tepee

2008-05-29T11:55:00.000-07:00

My Mom came in town for a few days and I thought- what a great time to study Native American Indians and make tepees! We went to the Natural History Museum and then "painted" our "hides" with "traditional" Native American pictures and then my Mom sewed them together, we cut some wood, drilled some holes, and viola! Tepees! The kids are having so much fun playing in them and they got so creative with their pictures on them, I had them pick their favorite side to get their picture taken with. These were made from one that my Mom's friend bought at a craft show, she made the pattern off of it and we put them together for about $12 each. This was a really fun thing to do with the kids.

Accused!

2008-05-29T11:46:00.000-07:00

I have been accused of posing my baby on the scooter! Well, here's the video proof- Mom!

Not Even 2!

2008-05-18T18:49:00.000-07:00

This one is not even two years old yet and he is ridding a Razor scooter, I can't believe it. Keith showed him how and of course he's been watching all the kids ride those things constantly, and it took about one evening of practice and that little guy is ridding it all by himself!

Can I Get A What?

2008-05-18T18:30:00.000-07:00

What is that bump? So soon? I do not understand! Seven weeks and I am showing-what-a jelly bean? I have been comforted by being told that with your fourth you just pop really fast, others have teased that this is how they looked six to seven weeks into twins, they just kind of popped out there a bit! Rob didn't laugh so much at that, I have to admit I hope they're right. The kids are getting a kick out of it, Ethan says it's a "hump" and Grace tells him, "She's not a camel!" I'll keep you all apprised of my growing waist line, and the status of quantity. And if you missed the entry about this announcement, and you're saying "You're WHAT?", check out the one titled,"Baby On Board"!

Counting Teeth - By Fives

2008-05-13T13:15:00.000-07:00

I have been working on teaching Ethan to count by fives. We have done some work with money counting before and it was VERY successful. So when Ethan came downstairs to tell me he had a loose tooth I shouldn't have been so surprised when he asked me, "When I loose this tooth can I save it until I loose another tooth and another tooth and another tooth so I can get a twenty dollar bill?" You see, the Tooth Fairy comes to our house with five dollar bills, and Ethan knows this because he lost his first one a while back. Five dollars a tooth, 20 baby teeth, the Tooth Fairy is out $100 per kid - my boy can count by fives-PRICELESS!

Skating

2008-05-10T19:14:00.000-07:00

This is another thing we have found as a family that we really like to do together. Skating, well, so far, Zach rides, but he loves it! My Mom and Dad took some pictures for us when we went last time while they were in town, we couldn't get them on the floor though! Maybe next time!

Ethan is a pro at the Limbo!

How low can you go? How low can you go?

How low can you go?

Nine Year Old Prayer Warrior

2008-05-10T18:46:00.001-07:00

I had to share with you one Grace best qualities. She is a prayer warrior. She is so sensitive to things going on around her, but what is truly amazing to me is that even as young as nine, she turns it over to the Lord. After my Mom and I had rushed her cousin Bailey to the ER, Grace gathered her brother and cousin Joy together to pray for Bailey. What is truly amazing is that at the exact time that they were lifting their eyes toward heaven, Bailey, in a packed ER, was taken back for a CT scan and stitches, and she was so calm and peaceful during the whole ordeal, she had even fallen asleep in the waiting room just before going in for her CT. That in itself was a miracle. 5 days later-Bailey's all better, just a scab and a couple black eyes!
I expressed to Grace that our family is under attack by Satan and that it was important to pray for our family and to ask Jesus to bind Satan from us. Right then and there, with me, she and I lifted our family up to Him, we both cried as we did.
Tonight she received an e-mail from my Mom that had pictures of these amazing sculptures in sand and wood carvings, Grace was truly amazed. In her prayers tonight with me she thanked God for those people and their amazing and unique talents. I teared up! I don't know that I ever would have thought to thank God for those people and their talents, even though I was blessed by them.
Never consider a child too young to pray, and never underestimate the power of a child's prayer.
But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." Luke 18:16b-17

2008-05-10T17:10:00.000-07:00

Silly Faces!

2008-05-10T15:06:00.000-07:00

If you are a child of mine, be careful when you make a silly face when you are supposed to be smiling nicely for the camera, because I will put you on the internet! They were were just too cute and my fabulous photographer captured their personalities incredibly! I guess you'd actually call these out takes, of bloopers!

Flip House SOLD!

2008-05-10T14:59:00.001-07:00

Yes, it is finally sold! Three deals fell through, a whole year it sat on the market, but it is SOLD! As of the day of closing even we thought this deal was going to fall through too, but two hours after the time it was supposed to close, it did! In this market/economy, we were happy to just about break even, but I really will not be sad to see that second house payment go! We have prayed for the family/couple that would live there and I hope they are really happy there! Cause it's theirs now! Happy dances going on right here!

Ethan Turned 6!

2008-05-10T14:35:00.000-07:00

With a crazy year of growing up, Ethan turned 6! April the 25th, and he was lavished the great deal of love he deserved! He took his first boat ride, went to Disney World, started Kindergarten, home schooling, lost his first tooth, learned to "break dance"(seriously, you gotta see that!), started reading and writing, and he didn't break one bone this year! The party at our place consisted of a few friends and a lot of fun! Ethan REALLY loves Monster Trucks right now, so that was the obvious theme. He also LOVES bottled root beer, it is a really big deal to go to a restaurant that serves it, he requests them anytime we are going out to dinner, so we had to have that too! IBC Root Beers all around! Did you know that the bottles make you burp more? Well, now I do! I laughed so hard at these pictures, the kids had a great time! Rob taught them how to make music with their bottles, this was a great party trick. Check out those party hats, aren't those hysterical, they are supposed to look like trucker hats. What was in the party favor bags? Monster Truck Tattoos! Yep, we red-necked it up that day, true Kansas style!

What did he get for his birthday? Monster Trucks, of course, what did he spend his birthday money on? Monster Trucks, of course! We have a very sufficient supply of Monster Trucks around our house now!! Probably the big deal this year was his new bike, no training wheels!
This was the first time we had a "smallish" party. I usually do the huge blow-out , 30 people minimum there, but this time I let Ethan just invite a few close friends, and his cousins, and it really went well, they really had a good time.

Bailey Got A Boo Boo!

2008-05-10T14:18:00.000-07:00

Our poor little niece,"Bailey-Boo" got a big one this time! She got it right between the eyes this time (the tooth came out naturally-well, she pulled it!). Jumping out of a swing is kind of a normal thing to do as a kid, your Mom always caught her breath when you did it, but you probably never actually got hurt. In three years nobody got hurt, but then it happened. Bailey went sailing a good five or six feet in the air and flailed around and landed on her head, on the edge of the sidewalk surrounding the playground.So then came the opportunity for Rob to rent a jack hammer, yes, every mans dream to use one at some point in his life, Rob has now accomplished this! He LOVED it, but he is VERY sore today! The amount of concrete to pick up and haul off is astounding! It was a good 12 inches thick in places! Our weekend project just went a little longer, I think! We are going to be doubling the size of the playground for adequate jumping space and adding tons of mulch for padding! Rob explained to Bailey that because that concrete beat her up, he was beating it up, Bailey smiled shyly. Is it me, or does Rob just seem to like projects!? Anyway, it'll be great-when it's done!
Bailey was back on the swing set the next evening after she received her three stitches and insisted that she would still swing, but that she would not be jumping off anymore. Good plan Boo!

Baby On Board

2008-05-10T14:06:00.000-07:00

There's a baby on board for this adventure now! Yep, the seventh member of our family is to be born sometime around Christmas this year! I'm so excited, I really have always wanted to have a baby at Christmas time. Here he/she comes! I am determined to NOT find out the sex of the baby this time. We've never waited and I think it would be a fun Christmas surprise! We will obviously have a contest as to who can guess the weight and length! That's always fun!

As some know, I have also always hoped I'd have twins! Yes, I do understand that this makes me slightly insane, but didn't we all know that was the case anyway! Rob insists that Nana and Papa will have to take one home with them if it we do! Well, I gotta tell you, my little prayer warrior, Grace has been praying for twin sisters babe, so watch out!
Are you wondering what this baby's color will be? If you guessed green, you're right! See, that works both ways, doesn't it! See Rob, I don't have to find out! This summer, Bailey and Joy will be with us again, that is always fun. We have so much planned for fun this year! Last year was WAY TO MUCH WORK! This year, lots more play! That's the rule! I'll keep up and takes lots of pictures, promise!