You have got to be kidding me!

Brooklyn's Birthday is this Saturday.  About a month ago Josh won tickets to the State Fair, and on Saturday Josh's buddy's band will being playing there.  We thought it would be great to go on Saturday and hear his buddy play.  But it is Brooklyn's Birthday...  Luckily we won 4 tickets, so instead of taking two other adults with us, we decided that we would take Brooklyn and one of her friends.  Not sure what we were thinking...  Two other adults would be much better :)

We talked to Brooklyn about this plan a few weeks ago...  Since then she has been going back and forth on who to take.  She finally decided who she was going to take, and asked her friend only to find out that she could not go...  So she picked another friend.  That friend's mom was asking me if we were going to do anything for her on her birthday, because they were thinking of going out of town (Labor Day camping trip).  Worrying about Brooklyn having to ask and be turned down again, I mentioned to her friend's mom that Brooklyn might be asking her to go with us to the State Fair...

Now this friend of Brooklyn could almost be called a sister.  That being said they often get in fights, and "hate" each other (only to make up minutes later).  And wouldn't you know it, about a week ago we together on evening for fun with her friend, and friend's family, and Brooklyn and her friend got in  fight.  The evening ended with Brooklyn telling her friend that she didn't want her to go with her to the State Fair!

This last Tuesday I made Brooklyn decide once and for all who she was going to take with her...  She did not pick her friend, she went with someone else.  I had the fun opportunity of telling her friend's mom what Brooklyn decided...  And then I set it up with the new friend's parents for her to go (we are going to be gone for MANY hours).

Today Brooklyn's friend called to apologize to her for what caused the fight (another blog!  Too funny).  When Brooklyn got off the phone she asked me if her new friend new about Saturday yet, and if it was not too late to take her other friend!  They were indeed friends again, and she didn't want her to feel bad about not going...

I then asked her a question...  We are suppose to see this friend this Friday evening...  I asked her what would she want to do if Friday this friend was "mean" to her again.  Would she still want to take her with us?  Her answer... "NO!!!!!  If she is mean to me on Friday, she DOES NOT get to go!"

You have got to be kidding me!!!

Hair

Savannah ~ Before

Today was a hair cut type of day!  I have been wanting to cute my hair for a LONG time now, but I was waiting for the end of the summer hoping it would be long enough to cute and donate to Locks of Love and still have some to do something with :)  Today was the day!  My good friend Mindy cut probably about 11 inches off!  And I love it so far.  It is so much lighter! 

Savannah ~ After

My new hair cut prompted the girls to want their hair cut.  Brooklyn decided that she wanted to wait for my friend to cut her hair, and he went back and forth on how much she would want cut off.  Savannah COULD NOT WAIT to have her cut, as so I cut it for her.  Probably shorter than I would like, but she wanted it short.  And sweet Catalina WANTED her hair cut!  SHORT!  I argued with her, talked to her, and tried to convince her to wait for Josh to get home, to make sure she REALLY wanted to have it cut.  I finally gave in and "trimmed" it.  Half way through cutting her hair she started to get mad at me.  "You cutting the back? I told you not to cut the back!"  ?!?!?!?  Really???  Then what did you want me to cut???

Catalina ~ Before

*Side note*  I think this was Catalina's first "official " hair cut!

Catalina ~ After

Fine Young Man

I took Josh Jr. to the eye Doctors this afternoon.  Unfortunately he has his parents eyes ~ BAD!  And he needs new glasses (thank goodness for great eye insurance ~ $35 dollars for a new pair of glasses).  While I was waiting out in the waiting room for Josh Jr., the eye Dr. came out to talk to me.  He talked to me about Josh Jr. vision, and the fact that he would need new glasses, but more importantly he told me how great my son was.  He told me that Josh Jr. was very respectful and that we (Josh and me) were raising a great young man!  These are all things I know, but still very nice to hear.  Josh Jr. is a great young man!

Daddy Daughter time

My girls LOVE their dad!!!  I think it would be safe to say that they are all Daddy girls.  This evening as Josh and I were trying to plan our day tomorrow (and the rest of the week), Myra decided that she needed a little Daddy time.  She climbed into his lap and proceeded to giggle and move into his line of sight to keep his attention.  She also stuck things in to his face/mouth laughing the whole time.  It was so cute to watch.  I am so thankful that Josh not only loves his kids, but plays games with them.  He is such a great dad!

Walks

We have been trying to go on more walks.  This week has not been as succseful as last weeks, however we did get one in earlier this week.  We walked to Josh's sister's house and back (after we visited for a little bit).  We let the kids bring their bikes too, except that Catalina ans Savannah had to share.  Savannah did great on the trike, but Catalina was a little slow, so Myra gave her a little bit of help :)

Qui-Gon Joe

Who is this person?  That was the question of the morning all during breakfast.  I mentioned to the kids when they were eating breakfast, that if they wanted too, we could watch Episode I of Star Wars (since the kids didn't have school).  And so the questions began, asking who was who on the movie cover, and what happens to each person.  I was about crazy from the questions before the movie even began.   It has been a LONG time since I have watched these movies too, so I couldn't remember the names of anyone (except of course the ones from the original movies).  Josh Jr."s guess of Qui-Gon Joe left me chuckling.  And when Jar Jar Binks appeared I started to remember WHY it had been so long since watching them :)  And then I cringed when Ben laughed at Jar Jar Binks, and stated "he's funny!  I like him!"  I could just see Ben quoting him!  But it was fun to watch the movie with the kids.  And now Ben will have to "patiently" wait for us to find the time when we can all watch episode II.

Oh, and Ben has already watched Episode I a second time!

Big shoes to fill

Josh and I were able to go out to dinner tonight with his parents (THANKS!) with NO kids!  We left them home this evening with Josh Jr. (even though Brooklyn tried to convince everyone that they were going to Aunt Jaimee's).  It was nice to go out with the Case's and have a "quiet" dinner.  Josh Jr. is really turning into a fine young man.  He did a great job with them tonight, even got them all dinner!  Thanks Josh Jr.!

Can I push?

My 4 year old is crazy!  I'm not being mean, you can go back through my older post and find MANY that prove my point.  Today was no different.  She has done, and said and done too many things today that have made me laugh, that I have to share.  To start with she had a dentist appointment this morning to get fluoride (?) painted on her teeth to help protect them so we don't have to do any more oral surgeries (don't get me started on it again...  another day).  Catalina was a little nervous about going this morning, and kept asking what they were going to do.   I told her I thought they were going to paint her teeth.  She was a little shocked.  I then asked her if she wanted them to paint her teeth purple?  That was a big no!  Along with green, blue, yellow, red...  She wanted her teeth to be white! 

This evening my husband is working with a bunch of 11yr old scouts in our back yard.  They are working on using axes and saws and so forth.  We have a dead tree in the back yard, and part of the evening will involve chopping the tree down.  Catalina has been standing by the back door to watch them the whole time.  I called her to me, and told her that she needed to leave daddy alone, and she replied... "I need to learn how to chop down a tree, what if I have to chop down a tree and I don't know how yet?  I need to watch so I will know how to chop it down."  That is so true!

And finally the funny from the day that answers the question to the title of this blog.  I went and picked up Catalina from preschool with Myra in the stroller.  We were walking home, Catalina trying to run and beat Josh Jr., when she came back to me and asked if she could push>  I said sure and handed over the stroller to her...  She quickly "pushed" it off the side walk into the grass, and then ran of laughing at me, taunting that she was going to beat me home!

Got to love her :)

So Lucky

I am so lucky!  No I didn't win anything again (really need a win here soon).  But I really am so blessed.  Some days I can't believe how blessed I have been, and continue to be.  I have SIX wonderful kids.  They amaze me some days with how great they are.  They are truly special children, and I feel so blessed to be their mom.  I also have one amazing husband!  He does so much for me.  He took care of everything last week so I could rest and heal.  And he did it with a smile on his face too :)  You could tell that it wasn't a problem, and that he was happy to do anything.  Some days I can't believe how lucky I am!

Cuddles

Myra is becoming a very independent little girl.  She doesn't stop much for hugs or cuddles. This evening she was fighting sleep with a vengeance.  We did her normal bedtime routine and it didn't work.  But even after we gave in and took her out of her bed she was a grump!  Finally after eating almost half a can of "baby treats" (cheddar flavored corn snack for infants), and drinking a lot of mommy's drink (strawberry lemonade), she was ready to sleep.  And I was the lucky winner of cuddles!  I love baby cuddles:)

Help???

Myra loves to help Josh with laundry :)

So long Tan :(



Catalina's tan lines before
school started up again



Since school started three weeks ago we have been swimming a grand total of... 1 time (Josh and Josh Jr. went another time for scouts)!  It is amazing how busy life gets when shool starts up again.  It is also amazing how fast our pretty tans fade :(  Good Bye Summer!  Hello Fall!

Prayers!

Each night we say prayers together as a family.  And each evening it is a different persons turn to pick who says their prayers first.  Tonight it was Catalina's turn to pick the person to pray.  Josh told Cat it was her turn to pick, and she just started to pray!  Not the usual, but OK.  When she was finished she called on me to pray.  So I prayed, and then to be fun, I picked Catalina to pray (again).  And she did!  She just started right up and said a whole other prayer (including praying for snow).  When she finished her (second) prayer Catalina called on Josh to pray.  After he finished his prayer Josh thought he would try it again, and he called on Catalina to pray (again).  This time she responded with... "I already prayed Daddy!"  He called on her a couple more times with the same results, and finally called on Ben.  After Ben prayed, Ben asked who was left.  Josh answered that Brooklyn, Savannah, and Catalina were left.  Which Catalina quickly replied to with "I already prayed Daddy"!  The rest of the prayers were finished and Catalina did NOT pray again, but the funniest thing is we don't think she remembers praying the first time...  And the rest of the kids don't remember either.  We asked when every one was done who prayed first.  And they all answered Mommy!

Myra at 14 months!

Myra is 14 months old today!  She is such a sweet baby...  Toddler...  Little girl!  She is changing so fast and growing so much!  I can't believe how fast time is going!  Her are Myra's stats...

Still under 20 lbs. but just by a little

Still riding in the car backwards, since she is still under 20 lbs.
Loves her milk ~ but still out of a bottle

Would rather eat "real" food over baby food

LOVES to climb!!!  Often find her in the middle of the dining room table
Doesn't sleep through the night every night, but starting to sleep through a lot more
Has 6 teeth in the processes of coming in...  4 on top and 2 on bottom
Still has Blue eyes...  How long will they last???
Still has Red hair, with little curls

Still the most loved on baby ever!

Bill

We got a bill last week for Catalina's dentist appointment.  Back at the beginning of May she had a bunch of dental work done.  Knowing that she was going to need a lot done, we decided to do it all at once with oral surgery.  When we first made this decision the dentist office thought it would be about a $50 co-pay for the hospital and the dentist's bill...  Which was to be around $500 (sweet Catalina did not get the good teeth)...  We went through the same thing with Savannah, but didn't do the oral surgery route.  Instead they did the local anesthesia, and I held her!  And it took four appointments to get all the work done.  And it was NOT fun!  So oral surgery sounded much better for Catalina.

The week before her scheduled appointment I call the insurance company to find out how much it really would be...  And it was more than the $50 the dentist told us, but not too bad...  About $170.  This was three months ago...

Since then I have paid the dentist some where in the $500 range...  The anesthesiologist got $168...  And the hospital wants (actually it wasn't even in a hospital, it was an out patient center), they want....  $4,462.82!!!  That's right $4,462.82!  For a bed!  And then a movie during recovery.  She didn't even get the Popsicle they promised her, and boy did I hear about that on the way home!  The total bill was $8114.21!  For oral surgery!  For the use of the out patient center!  That doesn't cover the Anesthesiologist, that doesn't cover the dentist.  That is for the building!!!!!  I guess she was sleeping on gold plated beds or something, because it didn't cost that much to have a baby!  I will be making an angry phone call here in the next day or two.  I sure feel bad for the person who gets my call, because I already know I will be yelling!

Pictures

Here are a couple cute pictures of my little stinkers :)

Out for a stroll

Hi mom :)

Myra's new trick

She is very proud of herself

A new day

Today was the first day of the rest of my life :)  And I have to say it was a great start!  OK the day wasn't what you would call great, but the start was/will be.  And please no one panic.  Josh and I are still madly in love.   He is the best thing that has ever happened to me.  I am repeatedly grateful for such a wonderful, kind, caring, sensitive man that I get to share my life with.  He literally spoils me to no end!  I am so thankful to have him.  But today brought other changes to my life that have been in the making for a LONG time.  And today will yet bring many more changes to my life, and I am grateful for that as well.  All I can say is that I am so excited for the future!

As my kids have gotten older and learned to do/like new things, Josh and I will often joke about where the child learned to like that particular thing.  When it comes to eating different things we will clam them (or not as needed) when they like the same things as us, especially if it something the other parent does NOT like.  Example ~ Ben LOVES mustard on his hot dog, I can not stand mustard (to the point I wont put it on his hot dog for him), but Josh likes mustard, so Ben is Josh kid.  This evening Josh Jr helped me cut up a bunch of peppers for latter in the week.  Brooklyn lies peppers too, and so she is my child...  As part of dinner tonight we had summer squash.  I LOVE (!!!!) summer squash.  Brooklyn loves summer squash too (again my child).  Savannah tried a bite of my squash and decided she liked it a lot.  She then declared that she was my kid!  And then she said... "But I don't like peppers...  I don't know why, I just don't.  I guess that is just how Jesus made me.  I don't know why."  It was so cute!

Pictures

What cute kids I have :)

When Josh Jr. was a baby I had pictures done a lot.  Josh warned that I should do less pictures, because if we had more kids it would be hard to keep up with all the pictures I had done...  I didn't really feel like I had THAT many pictures taken, and thought it would be no problem to keep up with pictures...  I was wrong! :)  With 6 kids it is often hard to keep up with pictures...  To find the time. to have them taken...  Last year did not work out to well for pictures...  And the pictures on my wall of my kids are a little old.  Myra's picture was taken at 6 months...  I missed 9 months (and 1 if you are going to count, but I got her picture taken when she was 2 months, and 3 months), and now it is almost 2 months past her birthday! Oops! 

Today I took the kids to Palmer Park to just get us out of the house...  We took lunch and the kids LOVED climbing on the rocks...  I also used the time to take some nicer pictures of my youngest two children (since they have already had their birthdays this year).  They didn't turn out too bad.  I think I got at least one for both of them that I can hang on the wall.  And it was fun to do.  But I decided that if I am going to keep this up, I will need a much better camera :)

WAY up HIGH!



Got to love her!



Here are some pictures from the day.  Some of them are a little blurry :(

Josh Jr was a BIG help

 with Catalina and Savannah!

Sweet Savannah

Brooklyn





Got one smile :)

Hard time getting her to smile



What the heck?



Look what I found

That DID not taste good!

So cute!

Car Pooling

Apparently carpooling looks like dating to my 4 year old... And dating leads to marriage (in her 4 year old head).  And that being said, Josh is going to marry Jaimee (his sister) in my 4 year old's head!

Little back ground for you...  Josh and Jaimee are running a 5k this morning (actually they are running as I write this).  Jaimee came and picked up Josh so they could go together (since neither of their spouses were going to support them).  Josh quickly changed his shirt, and they took off.  And that is when Catalina stated that it looks like they are "gonna marry".

I pointed out to Cat that they can't get married because Josh was already married to me.  She replied "well if you break up, he's gonna marry her!"  And the fact that Jaimee is Josh's sister didn't really matter in the whole scheme of things.  The conversation went on for several minuets.  And when I told her that Josh and I were not going to break up she said "you might, lot of people break up."  And when I said I don't want to break up with Josh she replied, "Well he might break up with you."

So I guess we have to watch WHO we carpool with, or my sweet 4 year old might think we are "gonna marry" someone else... 

Two screens

We recently got a second monitor for our computer.  So now we have two monitor for one computer.  Probably not a needed thing, but I discovered that it is REALLY nice to have a second monitor!  It makes it much easier to multi task...  Or you know just goof off :)

Curly Q

Saturday evening Brooklyn showered, and then I put curlers in her hair for her to sleep in.  It turned out really cute.  I expect that I will be doing it again soon for one of the other girls.  Hopefully I will get faster with practise, because it took a WHOLE movie to put them in :)

I'm not sure what this is for...

I'm not sure what this is for...  I thought it was what you used to cross the street safely, but after this afternoon I am not too sure.  I was waiting to use one this afternoon to get to the school to pick up Catalina from preschool.  I waited as a few cars went speeding through.  Then a nice lady stopped for me to cross, only to have the car behind her speed up and start to go around her!  I was already a third of the way across the street (pushing a stroller no doubt)!  Really???  REALLY??? She quickly went to pull back behind the other car (and almost hit it)!  Where is a police man when you need one!  Good grief!

Thank you to all the crossing guards who make it safe for my kids to walk to and from school! I really appreciate your hard, and sometimes life risking job!

Kokomo or bust!

To day is my birthday!  And it was wonderful!  My little kids all slept through the night.  Josh heard Myra crying in the night before it woke me, and got up with her (thanks babe)!  And so I got to sleep ALL NIGHT LONG!  It was heaven :)  My sweet sister-in-law watched the youngest two girls ALL day so that Josh and I could have a fun kid-free day.  After breakfast, we hit several Parade of Homes, and then took a break for a little shopping and lunch (and air conditioning).  We then hit a few more houses (found a great beach house, just need a beach) and then a pit stop to pick up kids and cool of again (Thanks again Mom, andAunt Jaimee).  We finished the day off with dinner out (no kids, thanks Mom and Jodie) and then a little more shopping.  We came home to mostly happy (but tired kids), lots of love from baby, and then some quiet time to watch a movie.  It was a fantastic day!  We even made it to Kokomo and Park Place(guess you will have to ask if you want to hear the story)Thanks Josh!  I love you!!!