I Survived a 9 Day Weekend

Wow! That was exhausting. My kids had the whole week off of school, so if you include the weekend before and after, that was 9 long days with five very loud kids.

It started off rough. Lots of fighting, made me 'a lot' nervous about having them home for so long. I guess it's just practice for Christmas break which is coming way too fast.

We went 'home' for Thanksgiving. Emmitt kept yelling "I don't want to stay home, I want to go to grandma and grandpa's". Yes, I still call it home even though it's been 15 years  :)  and I kept trying to explain to him what I meant . . . but he just got more mad, so I dropped it and assured him that we were going to see both grandparents.

We stuffed ourselves with two complete Thanksgiving meals, one for lunch and then several hours later for dinner. We also celebrated Grandpa's, Emmitt's and Castiel's birthdays. And even after two meals, I couldn't turn down a slice of DQ ice cream cake :)

Over the holidays, I found out that all my kids love pumpkin pie, which surprised me a little. The huge mountain of cream piled high on each slice may have help a bit :)

We attempted to take lots of family photos, which I haven't had a chance to upload yet. I'm hoping for some good ones, so maybe I'll make a Christmas cards this year.

We had beautiful weather Thanksgiving day. We got the kids outside, ran them around a bit. Then the temperature dropped over night. Just in time for shopping.

We've done Black Friday shopping for many years now. This year was a little different. I shopped Thursday evening on-line until 2am, then got up on Friday at 6:30am to shop with Zoe until nearly 1:00pm. Then shopped for a couple of hours on Saturday with Audrey.

I didn't like the idea of taking the girls with last year. This year I found it very helpful. Maybe because I feel like I'm behind this year, it's nice to have a little help making decisions.

We did really good this year. I felt like I found some great deals.

Black Friday shopping is important for me. With five kids, getting away to shop is very difficult. I have built-in babysitters at 'home' that I appreciate SO much for letting me go out. I think I would really struggle through December without those couple days.

And I finished up on Cyber Monday. I have my lists and just searched for the best prices :) Saved lots of money on items that I planned on purchasing any ways. I love being able to shop from home.

It's a lot of work making Christmas magical for five kids, but definitely worth it. It's definitely one of the best times of the year to be a parent. So much excitement in the house. So much curiosity. So many questions. I love it all.

I'm ending this post totally randomly :)

The kids and I had the best discussion tonight. Zoe, out of nowhere said, "I wish I could fly!" Which lead her to ask, "If you could have any super power, what would it be?"

After a bunch of brainstorming of all the great powers, we all agreed that flying would be the best! Even the twins joined in and Emmitt started running around the room saying "I'm Superman, I can fly."

Then Cameron added, "I think being invisible would be pretty cool too."

Is there another super power that beats flying? Doesn't everyone wish they could fly :)

Actually, I've decided to end the post on a VERY EXCITING turn of events!

We were able to welcome home Mike and Tracy from South Korea. They made it through there year abroad safely with SO many great experiences to remember forever. They have returned to their life in Virginia, but have to wait 2 months for the majority of their possessions to arrive by boat. Happy to have you both back :)  And I'm also very jealous of the amazing journey you both experienced over the passed year.

Thank you Emilee :)

So, my mind works in an all or nothing way.

My blog made me SO frustrated that I threw in the towel.

Then I came back and remember why I threw in the towel . . . photos!!! And a blog just isn't a blog without photos.

So, I decided to just start from scratch. Figure out some html code, how hard could it really be. They have tutorials for that kind of thing, all I'd have to do is follow the directions step by step.

That's where I was going with my blog until my wonderful sister politely said, "WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? YOU DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO YOURSELF?!?

Really she said, "Why would you create an entire blog from scratch? You make things so difficult for yourself! Start a different blog. Or use a different platform. There are many other options too..."

But I heard, "You are crazy!!!"

And that was a good thing, because I have no time for that. I have a thousand things I'd prefer doing besides deciphering html code. Crazy how my mind just jumps into fast forward!

A comparative for the way my mind works: if I walked into our Walmart to the Dunkin Donuts shop for a dozen donuts for the kids and for some reason they were out of donuts. I'd be that person that went to the book section to get a donut cookbook, go to the baking section and buy all the ingredients and then go to the kitchen section and buy the deep fryer. And then I get home, unload my van of bags and bags of supplies, get them into the house and then come to the realization that I could have driven 5 minutes to the next Dunkin Donuts . . .

I appreciate VERY MUCH that my sister asked "Why?" That's all I needed.

The only problem I had was the photos. So, wouldn't finding a different photo program make more sense? Yes, it does now that I've been brought back to reality.

Again, thank you!!!

So, KC went to a Bulls game on Monday night and I put the kids to bed and researched. I looked at other blogs to get ideas of what other people were possibly using. I ran into Flickr a few times, so I focused my attentions on that.

And it's completely free to use, unless I want to upload tons of photos in a month. There is a set amount I can upload monthly and then the following month I can upload more. So really, I just have to stay consistent and not go too photo crazy . . . which is probably a good thing.

It took me a while to get everything synced with my blog. I have to cut and paste the html code into my blog for each photo. At one point I was thinking, "this is crazy, having to deal with so much html code" . . . then I remember a day before I was thinking of doing the whole blog over in code and then the copying and pasting was such a relief  :)

Sometimes I just need to be reeled back in  :)

I know better, I just can't help myself . . . that's why I have people in my life that I can count on to set me straight and it is VERY MUCH APPRECIATED! Love you :)

Gives me time for what really matters  :)

4749 Days :) (on Tuesday)

410,313,600 seconds . . . 6,838,560 minutes . . . 113,976 hours . . . 678 weeks

They all add up to 13 years!     HAPPY ANNIVERSARY KC!

It's hard to imagine that that much time has passed, until we add in 5 homes & 5 children together :)

We had an uneventful day, but we spent it together. Kids had school, I had to run some errands, KC made some AMAZING chicken salad, and we got to go out for dinner (thanks Katie and Tony for watching the kids!). We were going to check out a new restaurant located only blocks away from our house, but an advertisement scared KC away. "Magic Dave on Tuesday Night"  :)

After dinner we went to Walmart to walk the toy aisles to get ideas for Christmas, which I loved because I usually do the majority of it myself. Nice to have his input. So I took lots of pics with my phone to remind me of what we found . . . got a few ideas for him too :)

We really spoiled ourselves already this year with a trip to Vegas! I haven't shared photos, because my blog wouldn't allow it (thank you Flickr, you are now my choice for photo imports).

KC has been there a few times before, but I had never. I guess the thing that got me the most was the sheer size of everything. Hotels . . . huge. Casinos . . . huge. Drinks . . . huge. Bills . . . huge.

Too bad the pay out wasn't huge, but it's not like we didn't try  :)


We stayed at Treasure Island. We were able to see and hear the pirate show a couple of times every night. We also had a great view of it from our room above :)

I know I should have sat by the pool, went to a spa . . . relaxed just a little.

But I wanted to see everything! Yes, it's true . . . I don't get out much :)


We walked and walked and walked. And then we got a bus pass, so we could see even more :)






And my favorite :)

I've never been to New York . . . . hint, hint :)

We also spend almost an entire day in old Vegas. We didn't plan to, but we love it. Old Vegas has a completely different feel. It's possible to cover a lot of ground in Old Vegas in a short amount of time, not true on the new strip.


And we made a little stop here :) I wanted to meet Chum Lee, but the line was around the corner and I will live on . . .


And my favorite night lights . . .

This photo is another dream . . . hint, hint . . . but I realize that this might be 'a few years off'

The best thing about Vegas are the shows. We were lucky enough to see two.

I loved this show. Would recommend it highly :)

I thought that was all we'd see, but we were invited to dinner and a show with (Chuck & Stacy, thank you!) . . .


Our life together started with The Beatles. We had a 60's theme wedding . . . daisy bouquets, girls with bouffant hairstyles, peace/love/happiness, Beatles grand march. Yes, we love The Beatles :)

It was great listening to all the songs. The show is much more chaotic and strange, but definitely entertaining  :)

I had such a great time. Even when KC had to work at the bike trade show, I didn't stop exploring. Tried to make the most of every minute away.

But by the end of the week, I missed the kids so much. Love the time away, but there is no way to avoid missing their sweet little faces.

We returned after all the kids had been in bed, but bright and early the next morning, they all joined us in our bed, so excited to see us . . . and that feeling never gets old.

Castiel

IMG_0599, a photo by passion vs. survival on Flickr.

testing "my favorite photos"

Blogging Troubles

So, I remember why my frustration with my blog began.

I have run out of photo space in Picasa, which is where all my photos are automatically uploaded to when I include them in a blog.

If I delete them from Picasa, they disappear from my blog . . . what to do? I don't want to delete to make room for new blogs, because I want my old blogs to stay whole.

Maybe I'm missing something, doing something wrong, but I keep getting error messages. I can't change my blog logo, I can't change my photo banner, I can't include video . . . frustrating!

I tried to make changes and updates for weeks . . . months ago, and threw in the towel. And then the thought of going on my blog became painful, because I couldn't do what I wanted.

And that's my story on why I took a break.

Nothing has changed, still the same frustrations. And that's kind of the story of my life right now. My blog, out of room. My computer, out of room. My phone, out of room. I'm just running out of space with everything!

I'm starting to play around with creating my own blog so that I have my control over design and space. It'll be a VERY long project, but that's one of my projects for 2013. I know I'll be able to figure it out. I just have to be patient and find the time.

So, for now, photos on my blog will be small and minimal because that's all I'm allowed. Unless someone has some advice, maybe I'm missing something.

So, I will continue to write :)

Today They are Three!

It's amazing how fast time goes by.

I can remember nearly every minute of my pregnancy, birth and NICU with the twins. I remember instantly that I could tell them apart. I remember thinking how differently they were from the beginning.

I remember crying as we pulled up to our driveway, when they were finally allowed to come home with us.

I remember it all as if it were yesterday. But it wasn't yesterday, because today they are already little men :)

In a way it makes me sad, to not have a baby around. I think it makes me a little anxious, because I've never had a three year old and not been preparing for another baby or already had one in my arms.

But it's also comforting to know that this is my family. There are no surprises ahead, we are as we are. I would do nothing different, because I am right where I want to be. In the middle of a big family that I never thought I'd have, but someone else knew better and gave it to me :)

We had a great family day. Castiel awoke, climbed in bed next to me and fell back to sleep until Emmitt woke up a half hour later, running down the hall yelling "Mom, I'm fweeee!"

KC and I talked to them about their birthday as we were tucking them into bed the night before. They knew what was coming . . . the cake, the opening of presents and blowing out candles. They also understood that they shared their birthday, no questions about it, they knew that this was 'their' day.

They picked Mac & Cheese and hotdogs for dinner, luckily it's both of their favorite. They ripped through their presents at warp speed. They proudly smiled while we sang Happy Birthday to them (individually this year). And blew out their candles by themselves.

And they both said their thank yous, and really meant them this year :)

Happy Birthday my twin boys!

Love you more then you could imagine.

I can't believe you are already 3 . . . 

I'm Back :)

I know I've been absent for a long time.

But I feel that I've been extra present in my kids lives lately :)  And as a mom, that's what matters most.

I figure that I'm going to start getting back into this in baby steps, because I do miss it.

I thought I'd start with "KID UPDATES"

Zoe is loving school. She started the school year teary eyed, because the middle school splits up the all the kids into two groups . . . GOLD and GREEN. Of course, all her friends were in green and she was put in gold. And I really do mean all her friends, I felt bad for her. But this week she came home with a "best friends" ring and the biggest smile ever. And just yesterday she told me "I have the best group of friends I've ever had", which I couldn't be happier for her :) Report cards just came out and she made Honor Roll with straight A's. She also made 4th chair in band, which she informed me that two of the flutist have private lessons "so they don't really count", so in her head, she made 2nd chair :) And she's had her braces and expander installed in her mouth, the day before Halloween . . . bad mommy! But she has been doing great with them, and doesn't seem to mind them.

Audrey isn't loving school as much, but she never has, so that's normal. She's never really had the patience for homework, and I need to just slow her down. She was upset when she didn't make the yearbook club, but the following week a sheet came home to sign up for student council. I told her that student council was probably a better fit for her anyways, so we sat down to fill out the questionnaire to get her in. The first question: Why do you want to be in student council? Audrey: Because I didn't get into yearbook club and I have nothing else to do. Me: No Audrey. We came up with some better answers together and she was jumping up and down when she came home with the news that she made it in. She has also made it into art club and band this year, so she's keeping busy. She picked the clarinet, hoping to move to the saxophone when she "gets a little bigger" :)

Cameron has been awesome in school. He loves his teacher and the classroom and especially the bus. I noticed changes immediately. He wants to write, he's attempting to sound out words, and he officially counted to 100 by himself today :) He couldn't be prouder of himself, and that's what I love. He has adjusted well to afternoon kindergarten and no naps. He still loves his Donkey Kong Wii game, which he plays much better than me. I've stopped playing with him, because he just yells at me the whole time. And I've been watching his relationship grow with his brothers. With the twins talking so much their imaginations are great to watch when the three of them play. They come up with the best stories together. He is such a good big brother, that is, expect for the times he has one of them pinned to the ground.

Emmitt is getting to be visibly bigger than Castiel. At this point, strangers are surprised that they are twins. He uses his size advantage on Castiel at times, but usually, he has his little brother's back. He looks like the toughie, but really he's a teddy bear at heart. He still loves his bo-bo (blanket) and carries it around like Linus, I just don't let him leave the house with it. He does have a sharp temper, his favorite word these days is "FINE!", with a cross of the arms and a stomp of the feet . . . and then he's put directly into timeout. He "humpfs" better than any of my kids, and it's usually because I won't let him play the iPod, iPad or DS, which are all of his favorite things. It's amazing how good he is at them all, he learns and improves on the games himself, and he'd play them constantly if I let him. He no longer says "hi" to dad when he gets home . . . "can I play your iPad?"

Castiel is the youngest and smallest and he acts like it too. He enjoys cuddling and being taken care of. He likes things done for him. He has a normal voice and a little voice. He uses the little voice to his advantage and we all know it. But we can't help but adore him, little voice + big eyes + a little tilt of the head = anything he wants. Not always, but I laugh when he does it to the girls and they say no, but then give in from the absolute cuteness :) He has turned "okay" into "k k" and when he's hungry he says "my tummy isn't fill anymore". He turns everything into cute.

So that's a quick little update on the kids.

I'll try and stick around again for a while :)

Upcycled/Updated Project of my Week

I have a new addition to my wall.

I started with an oak frame that I haven't used for a while.

Look at my adorable little girls. My sweet little three year old Zoe with my chubby little pre-one year old Audrey :) Did I forget to comb her hair??? No, her hair always looked like that. Oh, how I wish I would have put a headband with a big bow on her head. (like little Ella)

And then got a 24 x 24 inch board from Menard's. It cost me under $3.00 (that's all I spent on this project, I had everything else)

Since opening a Pinterest account, I can no longer just hang a picture frame on the wall. It just doesn't seem right. There are so many great ideas, that I decided to try one out. Since we are renting and I can't paint my walls, I might as well paint my frames : )

So I got out my paints.

And I went into my house painting bin to look for blue tape, but I found something so much better.

A drywall tape. Created a fun texture. I white washed the board first.

Then, I used brown to create depth, texture and tonal differences to the board.

Then I did the same thing, only using colors.

Then came the fun part. And yes, the girls looked at me like I was crazy. It was fun . . . "tilt your head more, nice smile please, I see only ears, keep your eyes open, look sweet, sweeter please, heads together". It was a fun little photo shoot.

I wanted to recreate the old photo . . . the girls are getting SO big, so fast.

This one is probably the closest recreation. Cheesy, closed mouth smile. But Audrey couldn't seem to open her eyes and close her mouth at the same time . . . it was pretty funny. She teased that she should put tight socks on her feet for a while so she would have the ankle marks, LOL.

They both are looking so big! Where did my baby girls go?

I love how they are gazing off into space. In the original photo, I know that's exactly where I was standing, trying to get them to smile for the photographer.

And I didn't take a picture of my spray paint experiment, but I "made my own spray paint", again, Pinterest inspired. It worked. 2 parts water to 1 part paint in a spray bottle and shake. It took longer to dry, and I don't think it would be very durable, but worked for this project.

That's how I turned the oak frame blue.

With a couple of tweaks to the photo, enlarged and turned into a sepia. I'm pretty happy with my final result. I don't really like the texture framing of the photo, so I might reprint it without.

So this was my recycled project, that also became my painting project for the week : )

Now I'm going to have to make a few more!!!

(Please ignore the sponge-painted walls, it wasn't me and I haven't gotten permission to change them yet. Maybe a nice taupe, brown or even a creamy off white . . . imagine a different background.)

Olympic Parents

I have always enjoyed watching the Olympics.

I am amazed at how emotionally involved I can get about the American athletes that I know little about and sometimes little about the sport they are playing.

I love hearing the background stories of their lives, seeing the clips of them growing up doing their sport, and the shots of their parents looking on in the stands.

The parents have got to be my favorite.

I watched as the parents of a woman gymnast lived their little girl's routine from their seats. And the priceless joy and relief in their faces when she nailed it.

And then there is the devastation in the faces of the parents when their child doesn't quite reach their goal. When they don't get the chance to have the medal hung around their neck. The knowing that there are four more years until their next chance. My heart sinks for them.

It made me realize that they had invested years of their lives to help their children's dreams come true. 

And I'm sure that their dreams are coming true watching the happiness of the children. Watching their Olympian children fight for the gold. What an amazing feeling that has got to be for a parent.

Silly maybe, but I find myself tearing up over and over watching the parents.

I hope that I get to help in making my children's dreams come true. I hope to watch them succeed and grow and live the life that will make them the person they want to be. It doesn't matter what they become as long as I get to see that smile of pride flash across their face. To know that they are happy.

I don't know if I'd be strong enough to be a parent of an Olympian . . . but if that is a path they choose, I'd definitely be there to cheer them on for all the years it would take.

Honestly, I'd be just as happy with teachers and chefs and fashion designers and garbage men and scientists and firefighters and anything their hearts are drawn to. (I know that there are MANY other jobs in the world, those are the ones I hear coming out of my children's mouths)

Congratulations to all the Olympians and their parents. Even if no medal is won, you have achieved more then many have ever dreamt of doing! I look forward to watching more dreams come true in Great Britain :)

GO USA!!!

Mommy's Master Template

I'm the kind of person who wants to do a thousand things at once.

It's sometimes frustrating being a mommy of five. To know that I'm capable of so much when I have time for so little.

I think that is why summer is so hard on me at times. It changes up my routine. And just as I feel like I finally have a new rhythm, summer is almost over. Then I feel like I have a million things I want to do in the remaining 3 weeks.

I decided to set up a 4-week rotating outline for my life. It covers the hobbies that I want to keep up with, the meal plan so I won't have to figure out what to put in my family's mouths daily, areas of the home to clean so I don't feel like I have to do everything daily, activities for the kids so they don't get bored, fitness plan so I will get off my butt and a routing schedule of what to write about in my blog.

If I have a plan, I don't have to think daily of what I'm going to do with my day. Saving me precious moments so I may be able to do more.

And, of course, I won't always stick to the plan. Real life cancels out a written plan all the time around here. It's just nice to have a template sometimes. To make life a little less monotonous.

Looks a little crazy, I know.

But this is the kind of thing that works for me. Have a plan. I don't feel as scatter brained that way.

I do have to be honest. We've had a great summer, the kids have been awesome and most days have been very happy around here. I don't mind the change in routine.

I'll miss them when school starts again.

Busy Kids are Happy Kids

It's been a long summer . . . but then again, it's going by so fast!

Keeping five kids happy for 3 months isn't always the easiest thing.

I believe that the busier I keep them, the happier they are.

It makes for a tired mommy, but a tired mommy is better

then a crabby mommy. And five kids bouncing off the walls

can turn me crabby fast.

So today we went for a walk. I had a "Nature Scavenger Hunt" list

(from Pinterest) for the kids, which kept them looking around.

The girls checked out the trail maps and we choose a 2 mile loop, because it took us around the water.

Audrey spotted a couple of turtles sitting on a log. And then we realized that there were a bunch of little turtles swimming around. Zoe spotted big frog too.

I loved how patient the girls were. They made sure the boys saw everything they could see. I love watching the boys faces, you can tell the moment they see what their little eyes are searching for.

This is near the end. Cameron was still running, but Audrey was starting to complain.

Emmitt refused to get out the stroller at this point. But trust me, he did his share of running and playing in the gravel. Castiel was the one who rode the majority of the way.

I was happy that we made the loop with no fighting or crying! I tend to believe that my kids do both more when they are bored.

And best part, the boys happily went down for a nap as soon as they were done with lunch.

Now mommy gets a nice quiet afternoon.

Best kids quote of the day:

"Mom look! A hop grasser!"

(thanks Cameron for always making us laugh.)

Praying for our Friends in Colorado Springs

Just over a year ago we attended the most beautifully backdropped wedding.

I had never seen views like these in my life. KC and I were in awe.

We couldn't get enough of the mountains.

Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful.

I am sadden to hear that there are fires threatening our friend's home, and that this is now the view for the Garden of the Gods . . .

Praying for the people of Colorado Springs and the surrounding area. And praying for the safety of the firefighters trying to put this thing out.

The views will change for a while, but Mother Nature has a way of fixing things over time.

Love you guys and know that we are thinking of you. Let us know if you need anything, now or a month from now.

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*** If anyone is interested in helping out the people of Colorado, here is a link that you can donate to for Home - Care and Share Food Bank for Southern Colorado. , they are supplying food and water to the firefighters trying to put out the fires. ***