Memories

All the memories I have as a child are all about perfect. The only "bad" thing I remember is having a horrible babysitter named Mary that would not let us off the driveway and made us spend the day cleaning the house- at 4 years old. But I also remember her taking me to the Warf to feed the ducks, so maybe she wasn't so bad after all!!
Last night, our little piggy got out, so Marc went out to find her, so the kids and I decided to roast marshmallows before the bbq was completely out. As I was preparing the treats for the kids, Connor walked out and said, "Um, mom, I don't think you want to come in here." I asked what was wrong, and his answer was, "You have to promise you won't yell." I again asked him what was going on. He then said, "You have to promise you won't cry either." Wow, I didn't realize I am such an emotional rollercoaster!!!! Aiden had dumped out a 2.5 lb. package of spaghetti noodles thinking they were more roasting sticks!! I went in, cleaned them up, without crying or yelling, and went back out to tend to 4 very anxious children.
I later sat there wondering if their memories will be of making smores, swimming, hiking, and playing, or of mommy crying over dirty laundry and spilled milk. Hopefully they are not scarred for life!!!

mom- no, you don't need to fly out here and rescue my poor children from their emotionally unstable mommy. it was just a long day yesterday- trailer life is wearing on me, stupid county officials, stupid doctors offices, 100 degree weather, no washing machine, ya know, the normal stuff in our life. I have vowed to myself to keep my emotions in check today!! We'll see how it goes!!!

A Day in the Life

*Note* I am writing this only for the purpose of looking back in a few months and reflecting on the past months after the fire and before our new, normal life begins

Today:
woke up at 5:30 after being kicked in the ribs all night by a sweet little boy who is having a hard time staying in his bed all night. cooked bacon and eggs for breakfast. cleaned up from breakfast. homeschooled. went to post office, bank, store. lost bank card. again. drove back and forth from here to the store looking for the bank card that I left on the back of Marc's truck. no luck. confessed to Marc that I have now lost the bank card for the third time this month. he laughed- thankfully. cooked chicken and made chicken salad for the workermen. delivered lunch to the workermen. sanded cabinets to get ready for staining. took kids on a hike. cooked bbq chicken, mom's macaroni and cheese, corn on cob, and watermelon for dinner. cleaned up from dinner. fed lonely piggy. fed and tended to horses. took out garbage for pick-up in the morn. rounded up the herd of children now covered in dirt after a long day. bathed kids. bath water was brown. read four books, kissed four now clean faces, tucked four kids into beds only 1/2 hour late. sat down for the first time today.
I can't wait to look back in a few months when life is normal and laugh at what we did to get there. I was thinking today that it really stinks that we will be spending our Memorial day weekend working on the house the entire weekend, but soon, we will be enjoying the fruits of our labor, so it will all be so worth it in the end!! Now, I think I need to go fold laundry to top off my day of fun!!

Just one of the boys

Our princess Madeline is living in a all boy world. I never imagined that my little girl would be scaling rocks, riding motorcycles, fishing, and wanting sooo bad to learn to shoot a gun. This weekend was a weekend of boys. The "big boys" were working on the house, and two of the neighbors brought their sons over, so it was Madeline and 5 boys. She is tougher than a few of them!!! And as I walked outside on Saturday while she was in the care of her daddy and his friend, look what I found:

Yep, that's right, she got her wish, they let her shoot the boys' bb gun. I freaked out a little, but knew that since she was with her daddy, she was being taught safety and handling of a gun. She is now going to use her money that she has been saving for a new purse for a pink bb gun. Hopefully it will take her 10 years to save up $30.00!!!! A few more pics of our HOT working weekend

And speaking of the heat, my body decided this weekend that being 7 months prego with baby #5 with a 30 lb 2 year old on my back hiking through the ranch a few times a day is NOT smart at all!! By 5:00, my body really wanted to shut down, but because of our life, it wasn't allowed to take a much needed break until 9:00. This is going to be a LONG 8 weeks!! Let's just hope that I make it to the end- or at least until a point the baby is completely healthy!!!

Mother's Day

I once again am sitting down to write something wonderful about this day, but again, my eyes hurt, head hurts, and have already mispelled 4 words in this sentence I have written. So, I will just use the remaining brain cells to send over some pics from this weekend.

I know, this is her "hoochie mama" shirt!! I would never tell her that, but I also won't let her wear it ANYWHERE in a public place.

These flowers were picked by Maddy and her sweet brother Bryce. But unfortunately, Aiden decided to bury them when we weren't looking!!

Bluebonnets in California???

And four reasons that I am the luckiest mom in the world.

PS: Mom, I hope you had a relaxing day. I only wish at least one of us could have been there to celebrate you today. Thank you for always being so committed to being a mom to us. I know that there were probably times that you wanted to wisk away to a glorious retreat from the chaos of our life, but you never let us see anything but perfection. I only wish that when my kids are grown, they can remember all the wonderful things in our life, and not mommy running around in tears because alas the shoe monster came to the house and stole one of each pairs of shoes!!! Thank you for helping Erin and I make the decision in our life to strive to be a wonderful mother and wife, just as you have always been. Love you and miss you!!!

What a day!!

I have so much I want to write about, but as it is 10 something at night, my brain is no longer functioning!! I just need to document our stats from our recent well check trips: Connor- 4 ft, 52 lbs, Bryce- 40", 40 lbs, Madeline- can't remember height because of trying to soothe a terrified Aiden, 35 lbs, Aiden- same on the height, and 29 lbs. The two big boys are in the 25% and the two little ones are in the 75%. Since the new doc, who I do really like, does not see 4 kids in one day, we had two yesterday and two today. And guess what we woke up to this morning, sick children!! Yes, my "never sick" kids all have colds and now fevers. And I have been feeling worse by the second. I am in bed right now with Aiden, who has been asleep since 5, who is burning up. I have given him three baths tonight and got some tylenol down him, but I have a feeling it is going to be a long night. I hate having sick babies. They are so helpless and there seems to be nothing I can do to make it better. And this is just a small cold. I would not function well at all if there were more illnesses in the family. I should thank God that our biggest problem is the cold!! Off to bed to rest up for a long night. I will post lots of pics tomorrow for you to see Mom!!

BOYS BOYS BOYS!!!!!

It has been raining since Friday, which means we have been locked inside our TINY space and I am going a little insane. On top of that, I have given birth to three little boys who love to wrestle and fight. I do not get it at all!!! They fight when they eat, brush their teeth, watch tv, and even when they are in their room for fighting. And when they are bored, it only gets worse!!

Aiden even gets into it. They all- including my dear husband- thinks it is sooo funny to watch my baby throw punches. And he gets the attention of all the boys, so he doesn't stop.

So, needless to say, the boys have spent a good part of the weekend in their room. I think I yelled "STOP FIGHTING" about 230 times in the past three days. And although they drive me crazy with their fighting, they are sure sweet. Here is what I have been overwhelmed with the last few hours

How can I be mad at them when I get an apology letter like this? Now if only they can teach their daddy to write sweet letters when he acts up! HAHA!!!!!

Here we go

Our life has been extremely crazy lately. Since the fire, our lives have been turned upside down. But how fortunate are we that we are all still here; and together. So, I am trying this blogging thing out... again. This time I will remember the password so that I can continue to post!! Here are some pics of what we have been up to:

The three "big kids" out on the boat a few weeks ago. We have definitely found a recreational activity that everyone loves!! Madeline will even touch the fish and the worms!! YUCK!!

I can't believe my princess is doing this!!!

And we can't have a post without little man!!! If I didn't dye my hair, I think it would be covered in greys from this little hellion. Marc and I have been saying that he is as much work as the other three combined!! He is so independent and rules this household. He is going to have a rude awakening in 11 more weeks. I can't imagine how he is going to react to the new baby!!!

I am so excited about getting back into this blogging thing. There have been so many happenings lately that I wish I would have been writing about, but I guess now is as good a time as ever. So, here we go.... Our CRAZY life!!!