Happy and Sad Times

This past month, Aiden turned 3, Bryce turned 6, we took a trip to Napa, and we are getting ready to celebrate Easter tomorrow.   All these happenings have been so fun and memorable.  But, today, on Bryce's 6th birthday, I am feeling overwhelmed with sadness.  Ever since the fire, I have been trying so hard to put on a happy face and move on and be grateful that we were not home that horrid day.  But on days like today, when I want to look back at baby pics and reminice about pregnancy/labor/etc., I have nothing but very faint memories stored in this CRAZY mommy brain.  My only pics of Bryce as a baby were the pics my mom and sis had when he was 4 months old.  And Aiden is even worse.  The only pics I have of him were when he was 6 months.  I feel like a horrible mother- although the fire was completely out of our control- that I don't have more documentation of their first years.  When they get married and their wives are asking questions about them as babies, I won't have anything to show them.  I don't have baby pics of them to compare to their own children's.  But, I do have the most wonderful, beautiful, sweet boys to make me smile daily.  And for that, I am forever grateful.  Now, enough complaining and onto to pics for you mom....

I forgot to include pics of the baby WALKING!!!  Seriously, he is only 8 months and taking a few steps.  I am soooo not ready for this.  He is way too young and I am going to try to make him stay a baby for as long as possible- not dealing too well with the fact that he is the last!!! 

I promise I will post pics tomorrow for you mom!!!  Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter!!!!

Sunday Funday!!

We had such a wonderful day on Sunday!!  Not only was the weather beautiful, but we had such a great day!!
First we woke up bright and early to go to church.  Since we live 45 minutes to civilization, we had to leave at 7:30!!  How joyous it is to get 5 kids ready and out the door by then!!  Marc was a big help, so it made it a little easier.  He also came to mass with us, which he normally does not do, so we were able to tag team the kids.  The church we go to is TINY!!  Any peep the kids make, I feel like everyone is staring at us.  But, I think that was just me being self-concious.  So, Marc and Cole stayed outside the majority of the service because he was getting loud.  Going to a small church definetly has its pros and cons (no cry room/nursery, every single peep is heard, everyone can see if you escape after communion- which I have never done, I swear!!) but this weekend, I was so happy to be a member of such a small church!!  There was a man sitting behind us that about 25 people stopped and asked how his sick wife was doing.  When we left The Woodlands, our family, who was completely involved in our church, could go to mass and not recognize anyone, moreless have people coming from all over asking how a sick family member was doing!!  Also, during the sign of peace, people were coming from other pews just to compliment our family.  Such a great feeling!!

After mass, we headed to get donuts.  I know it is horrible, but I use donuts to bribe the kids with so they behave during church.  But it works!!  When we got home, Marc and I made a lasagna, put it on the stove, and headed out for a hike with the kids and Kasie and her friend.  Marc wanted to teach me how to shoot the gun that he bought for me.  I did not like it at all.  I think that will be the only time that I ever shoot a gun.  The force of it is soo scary.  Marc covered my ears thinking the noise was bothering me, which it wasn't, because it wasn't loud at all.  Definetly not my thing!!! 

I know, my arms look like sausages, and it is probably not to apropriate for a 30 year old mom of 5 to be wearing daisy dukes, but when you have stumps for legs, long bermuda shorts make it worse, and I don't go into public too often, so I am going to keep wearing them!!!

Anyways, then we went home, ate way too much, worked outside all day in the warm sun.  Marc and the boys worked on their quads, and Maddy and I cleaned. 

We had a low key evening and the kids were all in bed by 7:30.  It was a great day!!!  We are off tomorrow to take the kiddos to have their teeth cleaned.  Can't wait!!  Marc has agreed to come because the nazi dental hygenist won't let me go back with the boys with the little kids.  So, this way, Marc can stay with the little ones while I go with the kids. 

I have a question- if anyone other than my mom and sis read this- and Erin, you may know the answer- when running, how do you modify your time/mileage when you are running up super steep hills?  I feel like I am running/walking for a long time, but not getting the mileage because I am running up 15% grades pushing a stroller- so actually, I end up switching to walking within 10 steps because I can't handle running up those hills.  Any advice would be great!!!

Random

I have been horrible about blogging lately.  Life has seem to have gotten the best of me.  Each night when I sit down at the computer, all that I can think to write is blah blah blah!!  So, here are some random bullets from the last two weeks.  I really need to try to get better at this...

• Aiden has been doing pretty good on the potty.  He refuses to wear a diaper now, so we have had a few accidents that I don't handle very well.  I can change diapers and wipe hineys all day long, but there is something about a 2 year old pooing in his panties that gets the best of me.  So, we are down to just two pairs of panties because I end up throwing them away.  How anyone can cloth diaper is beyond me.  I mean, when you put the soiled pants in the wash, doesn't it get on the other clothes or leave a film on the washing machine?  Ugg, gross!!!
• We had a pretty uneventful Valentines day.  The kids each made a valentine's bag during the week and were secretly making valentines to put in each others bag.  Madeline had spent every waking moment working on everyones valentines, so the boys's bags were busting at the seams with her beautiful artwork!!  Marc and I made a big dinner for Valentines and it was great!!  Nothing romantic, just a fun day with the fam!!
• Cole is now standing up on everything.  Right now, he has a black eye from falling and a bruise on his forehead.  None of this discourages him at all- I have a feeling he is going to be walking way too early!!
• I was doing soo good about eating healthy/exercising, but I have fallen off the wagon lately.  All the valentines candy has been too tempting.  But, I did fit into my size 4 jeans.  It was not pretty, but I did get them buttoned!! 

I looovveee baby legs!!  Marc says the make him look goofy, but I think they are wonderful!!

I could just eat him up!! 

I swear, I do brush her hair!!

Their valentines bags!!  They were quite proud!!

Success??!!

This handsome little man has been 100% successful with the potty for the past two days!!  Not even an accident at night!!!  Here's to hoping this lasts!!!

It's a Date!!!

Last night, Marc and I went on a "date". We of course had to take the baby, but the other 4 were at home with Kasie. Here is a recap of our romantic evening!
First, we were about 45 min early for dinner with a buddy of his, so guess where my romantic husband took me? The gun shop. He said he was just browsing. So, after about 5 min, he convinced me that he really wanted to buy ME a small handgun. He said if he ever was to go out of town, he would feel alot better about leaving us if he knew I knew how to operate a gun. (I think he just wanted the gun for himself, but to save my nagging, he convinced me it was for me!). So, I had to take a test to own a handgun. And something I never thought I would posess, is a hand gun permit!!! But I got 100% so I am legal!!
Anyways, on to dinner we went with a buddy of Marc's and his wife. On a side note- when did restaurants get SOO freakin expensive? We went to the Olive Garden, which is not fancy by any means, and there were no dishes under $15!!! It cost over $100 for four of us to eat!!! CRAZY!! Anyways, I have been doing so good eating healthy lately, but I totally blew that out of the water. I am going to have to run 15 miles this weekend just to burn off what I ate!!! So, after dinner, we ventured off to go grocery shopping. Since we live about an hour to town, we figured we would just get it done while we were almost kidless and already down there. Marc is like shopping with a little kid!! Our cart was overflowing with stuff he was throwing in!!! Not too romatic, but we had a blast!!! But when we got home, Aiden was asleep in the window sill waiting for us. Kasie said he had been there for 2 hours- everytime she would try to move him to bed, he would start crying for us. Such a sweet boy!!!

Potty training from the world's worst mommy

OK, I totally suck.  It is January 27th, and I have already been disqualified for the "Mother of the Year" award!!!  And I was trying so hard to make it to atleast March...
Here's the story:  As we all know, our sweet, adorable Aiden REFUSES to go potty in the "big boy potty".  He will be 3 in less than 60 days.  I am convinced he will be 15 before he shows any interest.  One time he was nudie and went #1 and #2 in our entry way and scared himself so bad that he now won't go.  Yes, he was scared of his own poo!!!  Everyday, I sit him on the potty and try and coach him along, but he just talks the whole time (and we thought he would never talk, too!!!).  Does daddy have one of these?  Do you?  Do I poop out of my hiney?  Do I pee out of my hiney?  Oh, I see my reflection in the washing machine (smile, smile...)!!!  Well, tonight, I took him right before dinner and dinner time in our house is CRAZY!!!  So, everyone is sitting at the table waiting to start eating as I am sitting on the floor of the bathroom promising Aiden that I will buy him 14 gallons of ice cream with all the candy in the world if he would just PLEASE GO POTTY!!!???  Nothing.  And the questions begin.  again.  (Note:  He loves asking what is and is not a bad word. )  Is potty a bad word?  Is poop a bad word?  Is hiney a bad word?  And on and on.  So, after I insist he will just have to put a diaper on for dinner, he get angry with me and tells me, "Me put poop on you."  OK, I dispise nasty talk from a kid, so I told him the next time he talked nasty, I would was his mouth out and no dessert!!  And what does he do, he says it again.  Of course.  So, the horrible mommy that I am, I tell him he is not getting dessert and I walk out of the bathroom.  With him on the toilet.  So, he starts screaming (remember, he is quite scared of going potty).  And, I just hang outside of the bathroom, because I am going to teach this potty mouth a lesson.  And you will never guess what, he was so upset, he peed!!!!  Yep, that is right, I scared my little boy so bad that he went pee.  in the potty!!!!  He went from screaming scared to excited because that meant he got a lifetime subscription to vanilla ice cream.  Now I have to figure out where to store the ice cream and what I can do to top it after the next time I traumitize him so bad that he pees everywhere!!!

Why?

Why did Aiden have a wet rag on his ear all day when it was his nose that hurt from stuffing a piece of an orange up it?

Why do all things that are bad for you taste so good?

Why do I procrastinate?

Why are so many that are close to us so ill right now?

Why does Madeline enjoy school more than the boys?

Why does a glass of wine taste so good and is so relaxing, but makes me feel horrible the next day?

Why are people in California so rude?

Why can't I look like Jillian?

Why does my house look like a hurricane went through it after each meal?

Why can't Marc and I ever have or make time for a date?

Why are all my friends and family so far away?

Why does your hair fall out so bad while nursing?

Why did I ever ask Marc to cut my hair?

Why is the criminal justice system so flawed?

Why won't my kids sleep?

Why are other people's blogs and facebook so addicting?

Why won't Aiden go potty in the potty?

How is it that I been blessed with the cutest, loudest, sweetest, dirtiest, most wonderful kids EVER????

My baby boy is 6 months old!!!

Our sweet baby boy was 6 months old yesterday!!  WOW how time flies!!  He is getting to be such a big boy.  He is trying to move around, not quite a crawl.  The other day I set him down in the crib and look what I turned around and found him doing!!  He is way too young to be standing up.

 I have started him on baby food.  So far, we have tried green beans, peas, squash, and bananas.  I thought the food would help with the hourly nursing, but not so much.  He is now every hour and a half, and sometimes 2 hours.  And last night, he slept for 4 hours!!  I think that is the longest he has ever slept.  Other than not being a sleeper, he is about the most perfect baby ever (and I think I have said that about each of my easy babies).  He is always happy and smiling!!  I am so blessed to have such wonderful kiddos!!!

    

After great suggestions and much research, I found a 5k to sign up for.  It is April 26, which will give me plenty of time, or atleast I hope.  The raise supports drug awareness, which I think is great.  And they even have a fun run for the kids, so they are stoked too!! 

And here is what happens when the natives get restless!!   This rain needs to GO AWAY!!!!

Happy Monday!!

My weight...UGGG!!!

It is no secret that I hate my body.  I can't remember a time I looked in the mirror and thought "WOW"!!  I have always wanted to look like someone else and have huge envy over other women's fit bodies.  Don't get me wrong, I am not a huge person, but still, I don't like my bod!!  But, I am now 30 (gasp!), and am coming to the realization that I need to love (or like) me, because now I have a sweet little girl that overhears me mumbling about this roll or that sagging hiney, and I would not want her to ever struggle with her own self-image as I have.  So, I am really trying to get fit and eat better, so that I can feel comfortable in my own skin, and maybe once in my life look in the mirror and be ok with what I see.  Here is my plan:

1.  Try and make "me" time.  This is definetly hard with 5 kiddos that I am with 24 hours a day.  Since I homeschool, I can't send them off to school and have some quiet time during the day.  And since we are 40 minutes to the closest gym, that is too off the table.  So, I am going to start setting my alarm for 1 hour before the kiddos wake up, which will be 5:30, and do a workout dvd.  I bought the Jillian Micheals "30 Day Shred" and the "Biggest Loser Boot Camp", so I think I will try and do either one or both each morning. 

2.  Eating better.  I am so guilty of snacking off of each of the kids' plates.  When they don't eat all their food, I snatch it up, cause ya know, there are starving kids in this world, and I would not want to see that food go to waste!!  HA!!  Today, I went and bought all kinds of healthy food, so I am going to take some time tomorrow and prepare meals for myself during the week.  I think it will be alot harder to make excuses to not eat healthy when I open the fridge and something good is ready for me.  On a sidenote, tonight, after eating broccoli, roasted chkn breat, low fat string cheese, and yogurt today, I was craving something yummy.  So, Marc's "stash" of goodies is in the cupboard above the fridge, so I decided to jump up and try to grab the box, and as I was getting it, I came down on my ankle and heard a crack.  Although I was fine, I knew that was a sign that I need to NOT be eating that junk!!!

3.  Have a goal.  I would love to find a 5k to sign up for to work towards.  I am not sure of the training for one, so that is something I need to research.  Since I don't have a gym to go to, or a treadmill, running outside is really my only option.  And since we are in Northern CA and being pounded with storms for the next month, I am thinking that maybe finding a race for the beginning of summer is more realistic than something sooner.  Another goal of mine is to comfortably wear a bathing suit next summer when we go to Texas.  We will be spending alot of time at the lake, so I don't want to be wearing a towel or a big t-shirt the whole time.  I want to be able to run on the beach with the kids, and not think that everyone is laughing at the fat chick chasing her kids!!! 
So, here goes nothing...
(please be prepared to read about alot of bad days in my goal of losing 20 lbs.  HA!!!)

Playing Catch-up

So, my hopes of posting each day are out the window!! We have been busy and quite overwhelmed with life lately, so many things have been moved to the back burner. I had been planning Marc's suprise 40th, which was a total hit, last Sunday. We have been together 24/7 lately and I have been busy preparing all the documentation for Marc, so the fact that I was able to pull this off is nothing short of a miracle. We had about 45 people and I got a local Mexican restaurant to prepare all the food. Kasie was such a help and our friends Mike and Rachel were kind enough to let us have the party there. The kids and I put together a scrapbook for Marc and myself and each of the kids wrote letters to him. I think he teared up!! He said it was the best present EVER!!!

He was not a happy baby after not napping all day!!

Marc and the "Big Kids"

Someone got hold of my baby, and my camera!!!

One of the cakes we had made of Marc as a teenager!!

On another note, my grandpa is very sick right now. Mom has been spending a lot of time in Georgia to help him and her mom. We have been praying ever night for him, but he seems to be going down hill, so we are praying like crazy!!!

On a happier note, my BEAUTIFUL sis gave birth to her baby boy Landon Micheal!! She had a super short labor and only one push and her beautiful baby was born. We are so excited to meethim, even though it will be 5 months till we see them!! :( We are counting down the days until the family reunion next June!!!

Resolutions.

So, I am an avid blog reader. It is like an addiction. I can look at people's lives and they never know I am there. But today, I am going to do something CRAZY!! I am going to try to link this to a blog party at kellyskornerblog!!
She is having people showcase their new years resolutions. And since I have a whole laundry list, and if maybe I document them, then I will have someone hold me accountable for following through???
1. Of course, lose weight and be more healthy. After having 5 kids, my body is quite different. So I know if will never be the same, or even remotely close, but I just want to feel comfortable in my own skin. And that may never happen either, but I want to give it a try.
2. Blog more. I love having this "online scrapbook" for my family. It is fun to look back at posts and reflect on what I wrote about.
3. Be more organized. I have definetly already been struggling with this one, but I really hope I can get better. We are still partially living out of boxes, so it is really hard, but I will try my best.!
4. To attend church more often. I love going to mass. It really makes me feel good. But, it is just so hard to get 5 kids ready at 7 in the morning and driving 40 minutes to the closest church. I need to stop making excuses and just do it!!
5. Find activities for the kids. The boys get angry with me when we have to leave the ranch, so this will be hard for them. But even if I just start with putting Maddy in gymnastics, it will be one step into getting our kids "socialized"!! HA!!

OK, hopefully I can do this. Not too hard, right???!!!

Haircut Night!!

Last night was haircut night!! Since I am a penny pincher, I decided years ago to cut all the boys' hair myself. I figured it out, and the 3 boys and Marc need their hair cut once a month, and a hair cut is $12, so I am saving about $575/year!! I am not good, but they are little, so they can't get mad at me for my mess-ups! And Marc's is so short, that there is really no screwing up!!

I'd say they are pretty darn cute!!!

GO TEAM GO!!!

I really wanted to start this new year out being a "better blogger", but I am not doing too well!! We have had a loooonnngg past few days, and spewing out any intelligent thoughts has seemed impossible. Hopefully, things slow down a little and we can get back on a schedule with school starting back up tomorrow.

We wrapped up our Christmas vacation with a visit from Marc's family. The kids had a ball, as usual. They love their cousins!!! Katy spent alot of time with the boys helping them build their new lego sets, and Carrissa spent time playing with the little ones. It is always fun to have family here!!! So, since it is 10:30 at night and my brain is about mush, I am sharing a pic of today. Carrissa brought Maddy her old cheerleading uniform, and I have a feeling that she is going to wear it everyday now. She wants to be like her cousin sooo badly!! Carrissa is such a good role model for Mad!

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