One Week

I have been taking tons and tons and tons of pictures. I have so many pictures that I love and want to share, but I really can't figure out where to begin.

So here I go with a brief and not complete recap of the last week.

We went bowling.


The kids got coupons in their report cards for one free game per week. So we just pay for the shoe rental. $12.60 for me and the four big kids. We all love it.


I wish we did it often enough so that we could get better.

We were all on SBW duty since I was sure that he'd get his fingers smashed. He sure did love those rows and rows of brightly colored balls.

I tried not to rub my score in too bad. Although #1 was sure he was gonna beat me!

Our very best babysitter got a summer job at the snow cone stand. We went up to visit her this week. The kids think it is a pretty cool job. Although they'd much rather her be hanging out at Barton Springs with them!

I ran the kids into Wal-Mart in June to take a quick picture and finally picked them up this week. I usually try to have one made at the beginning of each summer. They are all wearing wet swimsuits under their clothes. It was a spur of the moment decision that was made after swim practice. Not too shabby for a $7.99 portrait package and kids with wet hair, huh! Too bad it will take me years to get them all mailed out.

Our good buddy LJ came over and hung out with us on Thursday. The two babies had a blast playing with every toy in the house and all of the big kids were pooped by the time the day was over.

And finally, we are entering the world of having a one year old. It is so so so funny how you forget. SBW has started walking and is into EVERYTHING. We've made the living room his 'safe room'. He is SO much fun! We are all loving watching him grow and change.

And our poor old cat Marcellus just doesn't know what to think. He finally got to have some peace and now there is another baby banging on him! Good thing he is a laid back kitty!

In addition to walking, SBW has been trying very hard to fit his body into this little table. We all watched him try to squeeze himself on the the little shelf this evening. I just hope I've got the camera close by once he finally figures it out.


I hope to be back on a regular blogging schedule. Although this week is pretty packed with some very exciting stuff. I'm going with my girlfriends to a class reunion. Should be some very cool things to blog about!! Hopefully I'll have the camera close by to catch all of the action!

Three Words

I've been on a huge trip lately. A trip down memory lane, that is. I spent a good amount of time tonight looking at my elementary school and junior high yearbooks.

While reading all of the autographs, I came across this entry and it stopped me in my tracks and really made me start thinking.

This was my 7th grade yearbook. I can very clearly remember standing in a line to get Mr. Rogers to sign my yearbook. He was taking a lot of time and writing very nice things for all of my friends. It got to be my turn and he wrote three words. Three words? Three whole words. My feelings were hurt. I know he was writing more than that for my friends. What a bummer.

A few days after he wrote these three words, I found the courage to ask him why he didn't write more for me. After all, I was a good student. Never really in trouble. Paid attention. Practiced my clarinet. Why in the world would he only write three words?

When I asked him why, he simply told me something to the affect of less is more and that it isn't about the number of words but the meaning behind them. Blah, blah, blah. I was going into 8th grade. I didn't get it. Dumb ol' three words.

I found those three words tonight. I looked at them. And looked at them. And then it was all clear to me. He didn't need to say something like 'stay sweet', 'enjoy next year', '2 cute 2 b 4gotten'. He was writing to me and for me.

I think I might get it now.

And it means even more to me today.
Thank you Mr. Rogers.

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And now that I've written this post, I'm coming back to add that I am SO laughing at myself, because you all know that I AM THE WINNER!!! ha ha ha. (Thanks drunk ladies.) Bwaaaa ha ha ha!

Here I Am!

Whew. I've been gone from the blogging world for what seems like forever. I am DYING because we only have a few more weeks before school starts, and you all know I hate hate hate it when that day rolls around!

So what has been going on over here? Well...

I finished reading two books this week. The first is called Life's So Good. (I know I should underline the title, but can't figure out how.) It is the story of George Dawson learning to read at the age of 98. I saw the book on the shelf at the library and checked it out because I too believe that life is good. I had no idea how captivated I'd be by this man's story. I also had no idea that it was an Oprah Book Club book until tonight and I was sad to learn tonight that Mr. Dawson died at the age of 103 in 2001. If you have time, you should read this book. It is a great story about a real person and I LOVED it.

The second book I finished was suggested to me by #1. He LOVES to read. A few weeks ago, I had a dream that a big wave came (tsunami style) and took me and some of my friends away. In my dream I was screaming for my kids, my JC and my mom. I was in the wave with HB, Jena (friend) and Nor (friend) and I couldn't swim to my family. I woke up feeling so so so sad about it. #1 happened to be in the bedroom right as I was opening my eyes. I told him the dream the best I could remember it. That afternoon, he brought me a book from our bookshelf called Escaping the Giant Wave by Peg Kehret. This is a fiction book that is written for kids in the age group of 8-12years old. I LOVED it! It took me a couple of nights to read it, but it was very very exciting. I'd highly recommend it to any of you guys that have kids. I know I am going to encourage E and J to read it, if they haven't already. And I think it is pretty darn cool that I actually like the books that #1 recommends. :)

My parents came into town last weekend to tend to the kids so that JC and I could go on our annual camping trip. I was thrilled to come home and find that my mom had bought the kids Del Monte Fruit Chillers. I fell in love with them last summer when I was pregnant for SBW and my mom brought a WHOLE CASE to our house. They aren't something that gets priority on our grocery list, so you know I was doing a jig to find them. I am sad to say that I ate the last one tonight. Is it bad that the kids might have had one a piece? I mean, why should it be a problem, I saved them the Oreo's and popciscles that she brought.

And speaking of being pregnant last summer. Our SBW is going to be ONE in less than a month. ONE. One. one. ONE!!!! I just can't even believe it. He is taking some steps. It is so exciting. Oh how I love that sweet baby. And oh how I love watching his brothers and sisters care for him. #2 changed her first diaper last week. She is the only kid in the family that has changed one and she begged me to let her do it. I promised myself that the big kids would never feel like they had to do all of the work with the sweet baby. They love being with him and he loves them so much. Now that we've got the love all good, maybe I'll start making them all change the diapers. ha ha ha!

We don't have a lot planned for the rest of the summer. The kids earned free tickets to Fiesta Texas for reading during the school year. We'll take them there and it should be a truckload of fun. I am super excited to go to my school reunion at the end of July. That should be a hoot. We will probably spend a few days here and there with my parents, my brother's family, my cousin Codi and our fuzzins in Dallas (friends that are like cousins) before school starts. I hope the kids sleep late lots of days. I hope we swim a ton. I hope we read some. I hope we make it to the beach at least once. And watch movies. And look at pictures. And laugh all of the time. And lay low inside the house at least a handful of day. And do puzzles. We need to do more puzzles.

Oh how I LOVE the summer. I am holding on to every.single.minute for the next month.

Really? I won.

So tonight I was invited to a friend's house where she was having a gathering of moms from the neighborhood to eat, drink and visit. She invited between 15-20 moms who mostly have kids that go to our neighborhood school.

The party started at 7:30pm. Naturally, I got there around midnight. You know, JC got home from work around 8ish, then I had to feed the baby, find a movie, pop the popcorn, lay down sleeping bags for the guests, discipline the 6 year old, check facebook, read some email, nurse the baby....

Anyhow, midnight...

So when I got there, it was apparent that a handful of the neighborhood mom ladies had a bit to drink. Which you know, I am so okay with. I've been there and done that. So I just kinda chit chatted with a few ladies that I am friends with. And then in my attempt to not stand there obviously staring and listening, I started to pick up some of the bottles and help to get the kitchen cleaned up. (Go figure - our house is a mess.)

The drinks kept flowing. The ladies kept chatting. I walked around the kitchen island to clean up the bar and one of the ladies who I don't really know kinda touched my shoulder and said 'you have four kids?' - I didn't really respond, but one of the friends said 'no, five.'

Well from that point on, drunk neighbor lady and other drunk neighbor lady made a point to say very loudly "YOU WON". "OH MY GOD - FIVE KIDS. YOU ARE THE WINNER." When I would walk by, they'd laugh and put their hands on my shoulders in a drunk girl way and say "YOU WON". "YOU BEAT US. YOU WON." (Read the caps in your best drunk lady loud voice please.)

Wow.

Now there is no question that people have lots of opinions about the size of our family. And many people feel like it is okay to share their opinion. We don't ever mind large family comments. As a matter of fact, our older kids have gotten into the habit of saying how much they'd love more siblings when a negative Nelly crosses our path.

You know, someone is always with the 'did you plan to have that many kids?' Uh, hello...no we didn't plan it. But I can almost guarantee that all of our kids are more loved and wanted than some of the planned kids you dumbass. (oops, I'll step down from my soap box now.)

So tonight was a first. I've never been told that I won. I was so confused. What does that mean? I wasn't participating in a contest. There was no race. We didn't have these children because we were trying to beat someone.

I love these kids. We love these kids. We wanted every single one of them. All I wanted in my life was to be someone's mom. That's it. I hasn't been a contest for me.

I am sure that drunk neighbor ladies didn't mean anything ugly by the comment. And I am sure that my awake-in-the-middle-of-the-night-brain is making WAY too much outta it.

But geez - I wasn't trying to win.

Although, I guess if I take a minute to stop and think about it. They were right. I did win.

My heart is so full.

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Oh and on a side note, I would like to say that I realized tonight that I am growing up. Let me share with you how I know...

1. I wasn't the drunk loud lady.
2. I helped clean up the kitchen.
3. I drove a drunk friend home and had a fun time doing it. Paybacks are hell and I'll be puking in her front yard very soon!

I realize how lucky I am that I have a safe group of ladies to get my drink on with. I am so glad that I now know better than to venture outta the safe circle. It took me a long time to learn that lesson, but I am sure glad a did. (Thank God for my HB, AJ, Manvel Girls, Becky, Steph, Ruth, Sarah, and Liz. The friends that will kindly pull my feet outta my mouth and hold my hair back so that I can puke!) Oh, life is good.

Follow Me

So we have a couple of friends that have new blogs. I mean really new blogs. They both have very young families and I enjoy seeing the pictures of the babies and reading the little ditties.

And then last night, I noticed that they both have over 20 followers. What! Huh? I've been doing this gig for over two years and I have TWO followers. TWO! How can it be?

And then after thinking about it all day long, I finally figured it out.

Duh. I don't have the follower gadget on my blog. What a goofball. How can I have any followers with the place to click!

So, here it is! Follow me.

Or I might cry.

Home

We are home.

We are happy.

The sights the sounds, I've got so MUCH to say.

The sights the sounds, I'm glad for the quiet.

I am glad that our kids are growing up knowing that it is a great big world.

I am glad to be home.

While we were gone, lots happened in the world.

While we were gone, the world stayed the same.

Man-o-man, we took a ton of pictures.

Man-o-man, I've got lots to do.

I'll be back o blog o mine.

I'll be back.