Brain dump & Testing

Alright y'all. I am testing this out. I am missing my blog, but not missing the time it takes to keep it up. Especially since I am far from tech savvy. I takes forever to upload pictures and all that jazz, so I figured I would try to post from my phone once in a while. You know when I do have spare time it is usually waiting in a carpool line or on a soccer field or in a doctors office. Those are usually the times when I also have a few coherent thoughts rolling around in my head too. So let's see how this turns out. Here are just a few pics I've snapped with my phone over the last few days.


Love that these guys are getting along so well. Boys are just the best. Little girls are great but they get all the hype. Boys are so easy on their mamas. And the lack of whining and drama is awesome. Let's hear it for the boys!!!!

Here's my Kobi right after her field day. LOVE the socks. We had to hit the w@lmart for fabric for her new sewing machine. It's so refreshing to see her pick out the brightest most obnoxious patterns. Why do we start getting so safe when we grow up. Hope she never becomes a beige /white fabric picker like her old lady.


We are loving the warm weather,we are always playing outside. Love spring


Someone forgot to tell this kid that taking out the trash was a chore. He'd fight you for the privilege. Look at that smile.


Alright. Now here is a burning question out there for all the mamas. Do you have landscape lighting? Do your kids DESTROY it? Here is our lighting graveyard. Is it a lost cause? Do we just rip it out?


It looks so nice when it works. But we are constantly fixing them. Am I alone in my struggle ? I think we have given up :(



Now to see how this turns out. I fear the pictures will be all wonky. It may take a few posts for me to get the bugs out. Hang with me:)

Birthday & Sisters

Kobi had a birtday this week too.  We had a chill family dinner and cake and presents at home with the fam.

The obsession with the "monkey" started with Kobi... her absolute fav.. I frosted this pathetic cake with a butter knife and baggies full of premade icing... so excuse me if it looks like a 6 year old made it...Kobi loved it :) 

an always a character...

Kobi's favorite gift... her own sewing machine.  she's having a ball with it... (gotta love craigslist for stuff like this ) 

She also had a little lunch with her girlfriends at the restaurant where Collin works..

.and then we headed over to paint pottery, hands down her favorite crafty place to go :)

decisions..decisions...

This girl wrecks me...so stinkin sweet...

Is there anything better than a little girl full out giggle?

and i know i'm shifting gears here a bit...but i was just thinking about a few years back when I had this twinge of panic when I realized that my girl didn't have a sister.  It was probably a selfish thought.. as I had always longed to have a sister.  I think those twinges of wishing I could give her a sister is what got me to start really thinking about adopting... which I had always had in the back of my mind but we had really thought our family was complete after 3..hee hee hee hee....    Enter this girl,,, the little sister that changed everything ....

I have to make a mommy confession and say that I LOVE once kids hit the fours... 

I love that Kobi and Mina are starting to get that sister bond...  for reals and not just that she's my baby sister love... So sweet.

These two girls are polar opposites in EVERY way.. but I think it works out well for them.

Love this photo...

There is nothing better than the gift of sisters... I am so happy that they have each other :)

The Big SIX

My boy turned 6 this week!  He was crazy excited about his birthday... we talked about it for WEEKS leading up....

 It was so sweet to see him bask in the attention even though he was a little shy when his class was singing Happy Birthday to him.... He was so thrilled to get to wear the school issued birthday hat... again we talked about it for days prior and he didn't want to take it off :)

Here he is posing for his "6 year old pic"  with his infamous fashion accessories...the bandage..  He has a new bandage at LEAST once a week.. his elbows and knees take a beating.  I can't count how many boxes of bandaids we go through... and not the little ones, the big mamas.  So here is a makeshift -"I can't believe we ran outta bandiads again" bandaid.  You can still see the remnants of last weeks battle scar :)    This pic is so Ty.  I know one day I will forget that he couldn't go 48 hours without a major fall.  This is big progress though.. When he was first home I actually put him through some testing because I thought he surely had a problem with his equilibrium/ or inner ear issues..  He fell ALL. THE. TIME.. I didn't realize that he had never played outside and never had to navigate differences in terrain... so grass or incline or stairs would result in a major tumble.  

 So anyhow, we took him to Chuck E Chee@e for his bday..  He was over the top thrilled.  It is usually my most unfavored place in the universe but on a monday night it wasn't so bad... we owned the place :)

 Are the kids in your house obsessed with the P@ul Frank monkey????  We are over here, but I like him.. he's pretty cute :)

 So during the weeks leading up to his big day, I would ask what present he wanted and every time I got the same reply... "Mama, for my birthday, can I have a balloon".  We of course came through with the balloons.  He received other gifts too...but none came close to the bouquet of balloons via the Doll@r Store.   Big stuff :)

Happy Birthday my big man. You are the bomb-diggity :)

New Family pics...

We were lucky enough to be able to get our family pics done this weekend by a crazy talented photographer.  I feel so blessed to have these pictures...our family has been constantly changing over the past few years and next year will bring more change...but instead of gaining a child we will be watching one go off to college.  So it was perfect timing to capture the whole entire & complete family.  

Thank you so much Erin for a great photo shoot.  It was totally stress free and simple and I can't believe how effortless you made it look to capture these precious moments. 

 If you live in our area and need your pics done you should check her out at thebomb.com  www.madisonlanephotography.com or her fb page Madison Lane Photography.  She really is so fantastic! 

Never a dull moment

I love Sunday mornings...  I actually try to wake up early on Sunday mornings... I know that goes against the grain but it is my little routine.  I wake up before the chaos, sneak downstairs to get my coffee and the paper.  I sit in my favorite spot and don't move for a full hour...unless I am refilling my coffee cup.  I love this little down time and since we always get the entire crew dressed and out the door to get to 9:30 church service, early is the only way to go.      So this particular Sunday, I sneak down the stairs so that I don't wake any of the twerps and go to get my coffee.  This is what is sitting right next to my fresh brew.... 

Seriously!  So I don't dare open the box, but what the heck.  I hear a fluttering inside the box and I am a little weirded out.  I don't like the idea of some unseen creature sitting right next to my coveted coffee mug.  So I pick it up and move the box to the laundry room.  I know this is the work of Collin,  He works late weekend nights so I am usually sleeping when he gets home, and this box on my counter with the big sign is just so.. him.

When he finally wakes up I get the scoop that the bird in the box has a broken wing.. We decide to let the bird live on our sunporch...  like a big huge bird cage.  The kids all think this is our new pet and name him "Barney".   They put out food and water and check on it constantly.  I go about my business for a day or two, and then I decide that I should googl@ how to heal a bird with a broken wing and it wasn't pretty.  The bird will never fly again.

Then that afternoon the kids get home from school and run out to see Barney... my 7 year old comes running into my bedroom with a dead bird in his hands and he is full out bawling.  Kobi is right behind him tears streaming down her cheeks...  I quickly instruct my little man to take the bird outside, thank you very much and then we have a long talk about death and how we will see Barney again in Heaven someday.  

 

Never a dull moment around this place.  

Oh, and here is some fun news... Look at the cool swag my minivan will be sportin' starting in the fall.   My boy is officially college bound

My gift

A few months ago I received a priceless gift... 

Not that kinda gift, but a gift no less.  This simple gift has been invaluable to me over the past few months and it was given by a most unlikely person..  Here's how it went down.

Our son Jack had a buddy spend the night.  When his parents came by to drop him off they came in and chatted for a bit.  They are a fantastic family and Marc and I really like them.  As they were leaving our chaotic house, they were telling us how they would be taking their one other child out to dinner and having a low key evening.    Well, Marc and I couldn't help but go to that "place" we sometimes go to and started having this little "what-if" conversation with each other.

me: Wow, they probably think that we are insane with all these kids running around and then leaving their child to behave like a hooligan in the back yard with the rest of them.

him:  Could you imagine being able to both go out and spend the evening with just one child and doting on them?  

me: yeah, that would be great.  You could even take one kid to the movies and it wouldn't cost $200.00 like it would for us to take our crew to the movies.

him:  yeah, it would be so chill to just have one or two kids..could you imagine what we could actually accomplish in a weekend? 

and so on and so on and so on...we go to these places and fantasize about how easy it would be to have 2 kids... it's the old scenario... "the grass is always greener....until you get there" 

Anyhow, back to the gift... 

So all the kids are playing in the back yard, we cook out and then hang around a bonfire.  When it gets dark, they all grab flashlights and run around, hollering, and laughing up a storm.  Occasionally, Marc or Grandpa hides behind a tree or playhouse and tries to scare the ba-geebers outta them and they all go wild.  Now this is a very typical Saturday night around here. Then it happens...  I was given the gift that has gotten me through the last few crazy chaotic months of readjusting with a new child that is just learning all the ropes.  

Jack's little friend, in all of his 6 year old wisdom,  is standing about a foot away from me trying to find a good hiding spot and he say's these words that have been echoing in my head when I feel overwhelmed.   "This is the best day of my LIFE!"   His words about knocked me over, he wasn't even talking TO me, he was just saying  it out loud.  I could feel them sink into my head.  I had just been in a little pity party with myself about all of the things that I can't do for my kids since we have such a large brood. And just hours before I had seen his parents and felt a twinge of jealousy over the simplicity of the path they choose.  It took the words of a 6 year old to validate me in that moment.  You see I saw this little kid having it all...having what I wish I could give to each of my kids... and here he was having the best day of his life in our ordinary moment.

So my gift my not have looked like this:

 But its value has been much greater to me.    Marc and I have since vowed never to go back to the "what-if" place.  There are so many positives to having a large family.  There is bound to have a flip-side, but it does my psyche no good to go there.   We are blessed, and I am thankful for the small reminders that it's the little things that mean the most.