The cORRner

Staying Busy

2011-12-26T18:20:00.006-08:00

Warning: There are no pictures of children in this post. If you want to see pictures of children playing happily with new toys, you will need to wait a day. :D

Christmas is over and done with. It is only the day after but since we celebrated early, on Friday, it seems like more to us. After the opening of gifts my house looked like a bad day at Toys R Us.
As seen here:
That isn't even the half of it really. Since we celebrated early, the children were able to go out and spend their Christmas money and gift cards on Christmas 'day'. I didn't even photograph the kitchen after bringing all of Grandma Orr's goodies home. The mess was driving me crazy.

Usually I plan ahead a bit and clean out the kid's toys before the holiday. This year, I just didn't get it done. No excuse, just laziness. Today though we went to Target (to spend more gift cards and money) and I planned to at least buy a clear, plastic box for all the little pieces. Imagine how stoked I was to find that this baby was on sale:
Oh yeah, that is more like it!! I took it home and got busy in that weird extra room we have. I think it's a mud room - whatever. It is a toy room now.

And voila!
Believe me, there is a very organized method to that madness...

I need a bigger shelf unit for the extra large toys, but this will do for now. At least they are out of the way where they can be seen.
They still have a big green tub with the big toys and cars but this is still so much better. I finished around bedtime and neither Dillon nor Ayden wanted to go to bed. They were both wailing because they could finally find the toys they wanted to play with, and they wanted to play!! (Go figure) I hope this makes the rest of the week go much smoother. My house certainly looks better.
Now I just need to catch up on my laundry. Ick.

A Sad Tale

2011-10-22T13:48:00.006-07:00

I love this season and we are building traditions here that I have truly enjoyed. One tradition has been the pumpkin patch. We've gone every year since we came to Virginia. Yesterday, we decided, a bit last minute, that it was probably the only good time to go since next week will be busy with a birthday and anniversary. We loaded up in the car and headed over to the patch. This year though we did not see the sign for 'all you can carry' pumpkins for $20. Odd. So Bobby asked the man about it. He said the hurricane in September really did some damage to their pumpkin harvest and they just didn't have the stock this year to offer that. We were a bit bummed, but no big deal. We boarded the tractor and went for our ride. The view was the same, beautiful.
We drove past the same horses and chickens as every other year. However, when we got to the pumpkin patch there were no pumpkins growing from the ground. They had been placed there. Instead of vines and pumpkin blossoms there were just tall mounds of grass. There were plenty of pumpkins to choose from, but there were also a lot of pumpkins that were crushed and some were even moldy. Poor pumpkins. Luckily, all the kids managed to find a suitable one to take home.

Look at all that grass... no vines anywhere. And the broken pumpkins! So sad.While we were out there was a beautiful view of the sun's rays shooting through the clouds, I had to try and capture it even though I only had my phone.
We still had a great time and hopefully, next year's crop will look better.

You Can Curse Around My Kid Any Time!

2011-10-04T19:12:00.004-07:00

Well, just kidding. Please don't use bad language around my child, or me for that matter but... a funny thing happened last night.
Way back in July I purchased a Groupon coupon for $15 for two hours of bowling for two, shoes included. I thought it sounded like a great date with my husband, something different. Well for whatever reason we never used it and it was about to expire.
I decided to take Caleb with me. I gave it a lot of thought. Brooklyn and I like to watch cheesy girl TV shows together. Seth and I like to read together. Of course Ayden and Dillon demand a lot of attention. Caleb gets the short end of the deal and he loves to do physically active things. Actually, once I gave it some thought, the choice was not so hard.

Caleb when we first started bowling.

We showed up around 4:30 ready to bowl. The place was pretty empty just as I figured it would be on a Monday afternoon. A father and son were way down at one end and another man had just come in with his four bowling balls to practice. He was away from us too. However, the little shop where they sell balls and towels was right behind us and a bunch of men were hanging out. One seemed extra, how can I say this, comfortable there? I don't know if he worked there or just hung out. He was sitting at table behind us and yelled a bad word. More than once. It was a pretty bad word, one of the worst. I turned and looked and Caleb. He and I made a face at each other but we continued bowling. I did turn around from time to time to see what those guys were doing.
Before I knew it the manager walked up to me and apologized for the bad language and gave us a gift certificate for a party of ten for two hours, including shoes. Wow! That is a pricy deal he just handed us. The cussing was brief, the guy did walk away from us and he wasn't cussing AT us, but I really liked to see this guy trying to make his establishment family friendly. It was clean, everyone was so helpful and I'm excited to go back again with my entire family!

Caleb and I pretty stoked about our coupon!

Theme Song Time!

2011-09-24T08:24:00.007-07:00

I spent my early years living in an apartment. I fantasized that the entire complex was my mansion. The apartments were right in the middle of a very nice neighborhood and I grew up imagining that I would live in a house like that someday.
In fact, it was the neighborhood on that show "Reba". I lived across the street from the high school that the show refers to all the time. We did finally move into a house but it didn't look anything like the houses I had admired that all my friends lived in. It was a small house in a neighborhood where all the houses look the same and the garage is half the house. There were no trees in this neighborhood either. Everything was very plain, pretty much like this one...

http://oursuburbancottage.blogspot.com/2009/10/adding-cottage-character-to-your-homes.html

I didn't lose heart though. I knew one day I would marry a very rich man and we'd have a super huge house that would hold the ten children I would have. I would be a stay at home mom and sit at the kitchen table talking to my kids when they got home from school. I would drive them to their football and swim practices and music lessons.
Well, that didn't happen, at all. And that is perfectly fine with me. I love my husband, I love my kids, I love my life and I do like our house. I was riding in the car the other day and an old favorite came on the radio. It was "Our House" by Madness. I remembered when it came out, and we were living in our little apartment, my sister told me that the house in the middle of the street was always the biggest one. I always believed what she told me. Now I live in a house that is in the middle our street. So, I've decided that this is our family's theme song! I particularly like this part...

Our house it has a crowd

There's always something happening

And it's usually quite loud

Our mum she's so house-proud

Nothing ever slows her down

And a mess is not allowed

Father wears his Sunday best

Mother's tired she needs a rest

The kids are playing up downstairs

Sister's sighing in her sleep

Brother's got a date to keep

He can't hang around

Our house in the middle of our street

If you don't remember the tune and want a trip down memory lane... enjoy.

Flashback Friday/You're how old?

2011-09-22T14:20:00.003-07:00

85!
Say what?

Yes, really, Papa G turned 85 on the 19th of September! OUR Papa G! Holly had a surprise party for him and I was so disappointed that I could not be there. My Uncle Andy and Aunt Tammy even flew in from Colorado to celebrate with him. So I was the one missing. No fun. But... Papa G is fun. Thinking of his birthday reminded me of all the times I spent visiting him and my Grana. He took me to Shipley's or brought me the donuts if I didn't wake up early enough. He put locust shells on his nose and tried to put them on my clothes! He let me play on his riding tractor where I pretended to drive. A few times he even let me sit on it with him while he mowed. He liked to play tricks and pull my toes and tickle my knees. Papa is a quiet man so when he says something everyone listens. I missed your birthday party Papa but I was thinking of you all day! Love you!

Should

2011-09-17T14:27:00.004-07:00

My kids should always look this happy to go to school...

First day of school 2011: Brooklyn - age 13, Caleb - age 11, Seth - age 10

My house should always look this clean:

Now that I'm back at school, so are my boxes and we get our house back.

Bobby and I should go on a date every Friday.

I only like two things about Bobby's schedule. He is off Friday and Sunday.

I should enjoy every moment that my little ones play well together.

Bland

2011-09-12T13:32:00.001-07:00

That word describes my house. It is not decorated at all. I have a few things that others have given us. There is only one thing hanging in my living room that I picked out. I love the things we've been given but one thing is for sure lacking. We need some kind of picture to represent our family! Those are expensive though so... when I ran across this website on my friend Jenna's blog, I knew I HAD to leave a comment and ask for a piece of art! I can't wait to see what it looks like. I'll post it on here when I get it!

Flashback Friday/Baby Kisses

2011-09-02T18:03:00.005-07:00

Have you ever been kissed by a baby? I mean, full on, grab your face, smooches! Nothing is sweeter, more innocent, more wonderful than the moment when your baby first kisses you. I love how they keep their mouth wide open, like they just want to eat your face! They probably do, actually, they want to eat everything right?

That mostly naked baby smooching my cheek is Brooklyn, hard to tell by the back of her head.

"Come here lady and let me plant one on you." Caleb and Aunt Holly

Birthday kiss for Beena! (That is what Brooklyn called my mother.)

Lovin' for Papa G!

Who doesn't want to give a smiley face a kiss?

So, when was the last time you got a kiss from a baby?

You Know Bad Weather is Coming Your Way When...

2011-08-27T09:15:00.006-07:00

you see this truck at the gas station.

I know this is not a great picture. I regret now not getting out of my car and just walking up to the truck and snapping a shot. Instead I sat in my car and worried about people coming up behind me. There was a sticker on the door that said 'Storm Tracker'. There were crazy thing all over the top of the truck and there were poles on the back like the ones in the front. I wish Caleb had been with me and Seth, he would've loved it.

I spent the entire day yesterday running around prepping for Hurricane Irene. Without my dad here I don't have access to a generator or a Coleman stove or an abundance of batteries. Heck, we only had one flashlight. I took the kids over to Target to look for some flashlights and pick up diapers. The entire flashlight section was empty. Not even a Tinkerbell flashlight in place. There were also no 'D' batteries, anywhere. I remembered that the pharmacy had a lot of water so I headed that way. That was pretty much all they had. Bobby and I headed to Sam's. He was pretty uncomfortable since he just had hand surgery the day before but he braved it for me. I was so glad to have him - it was a zoo and I was experiencing panic attacks from the crowds. They did have flashlights and we got some paper plates and cups. I was feeling calmer until we tried to get gas. That was a nightmare at Sam's and Kroger until I said "Forget it!" and headed over to the empty Exxon. Can you believe 7-11 was out of gas? Gassed up and feeling good about our food situation we headed home. I did go to Kroger after the little ones went to bed and bought some Almond milk so they could have cereal and milk if the power went out. I'm sure it's better cold but it's something. Now I was ready for this big hurricane. As we slept the hurricane was downgraded to a category one. Now it's raining and it's windy but nothing like what was predicted. However, if I didn't prepare yesterday, Murphy's Law dictates that it would have been horrible. So today we'll enjoy the rain and staying dry inside and pretend it's worse than it really is. :)

Flashback Friday/The Perfect Circle

2011-08-19T11:43:00.003-07:00

When Ayden was a baby he was very flexible. (I know many babies are, but don't think it's all babies because Brooklyn was not flexible at all!) Bobby liked to take Ayden's wrists and ankles and lift him up over his head. He would yell, "Look! It's the perfect circle!"
He did this all the time as I looked on in fear that Ayden would wiggle just a little and Bobby would drop him. Of course, he never did and Ayden never seemed to mind!
(I never did see that he formed a perfect circle, guess you had to be the one lifting him, but it was Ayden and Daddy's special thing.)

Seth's Birthday

2011-08-15T11:23:00.008-07:00

The only thing Seth talked about for months leading up to his birthday was going to see Harry Potter 7 part 2. He knew before school was out who he wanted to invite. On his birthday I took him, three friends, Brooklyn and Caleb to see the early show. Only Brooklyn and I had seen the movie. I loved seeing how excited all the kids were. I sat behind him and his friends and watched them, literally, bouncing in their seats during the suspenseful parts. We came back to the house afterwards for cake and ice cream. His friends brought him gifts and he opened those while I got everything ready for the cake.
We ordered Seth's cake with an old baby picture on it. He sorted through all the photos and found the one he wanted. He was almost as excited about the cake as he was about the movie. It turned out pretty cute.
Brooklyn wanted to get him trick candles so all the kids blew on the cake about ten times each. It got a bit excessive and still didn't work.
The kids ate and talked, talked more than ate.

Then they ran outside. When I went out to check on them they had sticks in their hands and were talking about all the different spells. It was cute. Later that night he got to go out to dinner, his choice, with the grownups. He chose Outback. I wish I had taken this picture when the waiters were all singing to him and he was bright red.
It really was an amazing day for him. He said it was the best birthday ever.

Flashback Friday!

2011-08-12T20:59:00.003-07:00

Caleb does not look very much like the other children in our family.
Neither my sister nor I look a lot like my mom.
However, my grandmother told me that when Caleb was born my mother called her and said, "This one is my baby, he looks like me." I never knew she made that comment, but I've always said the same thing when people ask who he looks like. It doesn't take a thought, I reply, "He looks a lot like my mom." I love that he looks like her. I look into his eyes and I see her. Both of these photos were taken of Caleb before my mother passed away, so this is the Caleb that she saw.

Jamestown - our staycation Part I

2011-08-11T09:22:00.012-07:00

We have lived in Richmond for three years now and I often lament at all the things we have not done. We live so close to so many historical places and wonderful museums and we have not ventured further than the theme park down the highway. So when Bobby's mom mentioned going to Jamestown and Yorktown for the day I was so excited! I have been looking at the websites since we moved here and thought it would be so fun to take the kids. We left yesterday morning and made great time. The older four kids rode with Grandma and Poppy and got to watch the TV in their car, they were thrilled, and Bobby and I rode with Dillon. Bobby was worried that he would be bored without anyone to ride in the back with him but he said, "Not mad, I happy." And that settled it.

Our first stop was Jamestown. Now this is just a replica of Jamestown (obviously), meaning that this is not on the original site of the settlement. It isn't very far away though at all. We walked into Jamestown and there was a man firing a musket. It was extremely loud. He invited us all into his 'shop' to answer questions. Bobby was there for quite some time talking to him. The boys didn't mind though because it gave them time to try out the muskets and swords themselves.

There were some helmets and armor on a bench for people to put on so all the boys donned armor and posed by the cannon.
Not to be outdone... Dillon got geared up as well. (With help from Daddy.)

The next part was my favorite... we went to see the ships that sailed in on. They really were quite a bit bigger than I had imagined. Still, not big enough that I'd want to spend 6 months on one!
We went down below first and were told how the days at sea were spent. Brooklyn was rather disgusted by the chamber pot.
I think this is some kind of cannon? I may be wrong. There was no one at this part of the boat to explain it.
Ayden really wanted to lay down in one of the beds. Looks pretty cozy. I think I'd like that for the boy's room!
Seth wanted to as well.
Before we left the large boat I wanted a shot of all the kids. Dillon and Ayden did not want to cooperate.
Next we went to the Powhatan village. It was interesting to compare how the Native Americans were living at the same time as the English. We didn't stay there as long because they day had gotten very hot, there was no more breeze and we were all running out of steam.

We think this is a bed... LOL The kids were surprised to see that the floors of the Powhatan's homes were crushed shell. I can't imagine that was comfortable.

Outside of each tent was a place to grind corn. All the kids had a try at it.
Caleb found a dwelling with a wolf skin. There is no picture of Dillon here because he was scared to death. Poor guy.
I wanted to get one more shot outside the visitor's center. There is a neat fountain there in the front. The kids were so done with pictures.
And there are so many more pictures. I think I will take on the real Jamestown settlement and Yorktown tomorrow!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-08-10T18:41:00.003-07:00

Dillon at Jamestown: Climbed right up into the bed, put on the blanket and said, "This one is too hard, this one is too soft." What is that quote from?

Double Digits!

2011-08-05T20:41:00.008-07:00

Ten years ago today Seth came into our lives. Everyone loved on him and spoiled him, it was too easy. He was a great baby.

He loved to sleep. (As a mother of two other very young children that was heavenly.)

This is weird but if you click on the picture below you'll see how he sleeps. His eyes don't close, it's creepy. We all agree. LOLHe smiled all the time. Seriously, I only remember him throwing one fit ever. He was about three and did not want me to put on his shoes. I don't know if this was because we gave him everything he wanted or if he was just that happy. I like to think he was just so happy but it was probably both.
He was and still is extremely playful. He just loves to have fun.
Most importantly, Seth has a big heart and his family is very important to him.
We love you Seth - Happy Birthday!!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-08-03T07:31:00.001-07:00

It took all summer, but he finally got up there on his own.

Flashback Friday!

2011-07-29T16:13:00.003-07:00

Give a kid toys, books and stuffed animals and what do they play with?
That's right, shoes. Brooklyn loved shoes. (Typical girl!) She could barely walk but she carried those things around the house all day! I cannot think of a nastier, dirtier thing for my child to play with. Well, I can but that's just disgusting. She licked everything too, making it extra gross. She never played with her shoes, just big ones. I wonder why... I'm not surprised though, I love shoes too. Notice all the toys around her. My parent's living room was really just a big toy store.

**I was not blogging when my older three kids were little. Well, no one was! I was not even very good at keeping up with baby books. These were the days before Internet was mandatory and I had not even heard of a digital camera. My goal is to post some photos and stories of the kids from way back, pre-blog.**

An Indoor Picnic - With No Food

2011-07-27T19:46:00.003-07:00

Wordless Wednesday!

Darn Near Perfect Weekend

2011-07-18T10:06:00.005-07:00

A trip to McDonald's. This is an extremely rare treat. Usually I go through the drive-thru and just get the 20 piece nuggets for them to share. Ayden said, "Take my picture!" So I did.

Caleb wanted in the picture too. Ayden wasn't thrilled.

So Caleb squeezed in with Dillon. Dillon is actually smiling and yelling there. He was thrilled to be eating McDonald's, playing in ketchup and sitting at a table with us instead of a high chair.
It was on to Target to look for shoes for Ayden. (They did not have his size) Dillon is two so his happiness melts quickly into tears. He wanted a big Boba Fett head. He is child #5 so by now, when my child throws a fit in the store, instead of being embarrassed, I laugh and snap a picture. I couldn't help it. Telling my child he could not have a giant head was extremely funny to me. Yes, I'm that mom.

Sunday was bliss... We left church after the sacrament because Bobby was feeling extremely ill. He went right to bed. I lounged with the kids then went for a nap myself. Bobby woke up to take over with the kids and I slept and slept and actually woke up feeling wonderful! Later, when Bobby wanted a 'power nap', how could i deny him? Then Dillon joined in. Too cute.

He caught me!
Ayden, of course saw me taking a picture of Dill and would not be forgotten. "Take my picture!" he yelled. So I did.

Tents and Tragedies

2011-07-09T12:53:00.006-07:00

Ayden started begging for a tent yesterday. I have no idea where he got the idea. It was a much cheaper idea than the DSi he was begging for. I found one on Craigslist for $5, granted it was a Dora tent, but for five bucks I figured we couldn't lose! Someone else had the same idea because it sold two hours before the lady got my email. *sigh* That was a tragedy, if you have kids, you'll agree.

Today we went in search of a tent at Target. Well, let me interrupt myself to say that we were there, more importantly, to ask the pharmacist about Dillon's arm, aka Tragedy #2. This strange rash appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Once that was settled, it was on to the tent.
There were no small, cute character tents at all. There was only one, this one.

It was the Target brand. Can I just say here I resent when distributors put pictures of items on the box that are not included in the box? What mother with four boys in a Target has time to read that the tube does not come with the product? So frustrating. Ok, rant over. This was the one they had, so this is the one I bought. I figured it would save my sanity on rainy and ultra-hot days.

It seemed I was right. The boys were thrilled. Ayden and Dillon jumped excitedly while Caleb and I put it together. Seth could not keep those two contained, the anticipation was so great. I miss getting that excited about things. They played for quite a while, going in, going out, sitting in the tent, laying in the tent, putting a sleeping bag in the tent. It was quit a blast - just what I hoped when I bought it for too much money.

Then it happened. I will not say that it was due to a child playing 'monster' and chasing the other children. I will not say that it was due to a child mistaking the tent for a gerbil ball that they can roll around in. I will just let the picture speak for itself.
The good news, the pole did not snap. The bad news, it did do some kind of funky stretchy bendy thing. That is a technical term by the way. The culprit got a light swat on the bottom and a moment in time out. Tragedy #3. Not that the culprit really understood what he did. So, the tent is still up and they can still sit in it, but I guess I'll have to call, already, about a replacement pole. Tragedy.

And Richmond Cried

2011-07-09T11:29:00.014-07:00

Brooklyn is leaving us... for TWO WEEKS! She'll be in heaven and we will be here, missing her. See what the weather was like that day?

Richmond was sad too.

Ok, so I'm being dramatic. My sister was awesome enough to buy her a ticket, and I am very excited for her that she gets this fun trip, all to herself. Holly promised to do the same for each of the kids once they were twelve. Before the age of twelve there is huge fee from the airlines for unaccompanied minors. EEK. So this is a much better deal.

She really wanted lunch before her flight so I took her out, just the two of us. I was surprised she had never been to this restaurant. She has eaten out more than just about any of us! Can you guess where we went? I wonder if the glass gives it away because the decor at this one is a bit different than most.
Lunch was great, we were stuffed full of... wait, I can't say or it'll be too easy to guess. It was time to head over to the airport. I was hoping they would let me walk down to the gate with her so I wanted to get there in plenty of time. For the tiny Richmond airport, plenty of time is about an hour early. They let me go with her and we had time to spare!

We had even more time than we wanted. A bad storm rolled in just as it was time to board and we had to wait another 45 minutes! We passed the time chatting, taking pictures, and playing games on my phone. We also listened to a lady freak out about the bad weather. Good grief!
Around 3:40 it was still raining outside but the lightning and thunder had let up so it was time for her to board.
Brooklyn is our own, personal little ray of sunshine. When she left, the sky was crying. It poured most of that night AND the next. We'll miss you Boo! Have fun!

When It's Just the Boys

2011-07-02T08:06:00.003-07:00

Brooklyn has been at girl's camp. I think I'll let her post about her experiences on here since she never posts on her own blog anymore. Anyway... it's been just the boys at home. I took a few photos and I think they cover the week fairly well.

We visited King's Dominion two times. One time we were able to go with Daddy. We saw Linus on that day and could not resist since Ayden is our little Linus. He has his own blue blanket and is never without it. I love it. I think it's sweet.
On Friday the boys were asking to go again. I had already planned on taking Dillon to the babysitter so I looked up the weather. The high was 88! I agreed it was a good day to go. We had a fantastic day. All the boys were so great about taking turns and picking rides we could all go on. We decided to pick up Dillon and go back. That plan would have been great except it took Dillon FORever to eat his dinner (toast - yes that is all he would eat) so we got there much later than I wanted. We did get to go on three rides and one was the Ferris Wheel so we could see the park lit up below. We watched the fireworks and came home exhausted. This was taken as soon as we walked into the park - just before it got dark.We've spent some time just playing around the house. I was at the computer the other day (big surprise) and looked over at Dillon right beside me. He had a dinosaur in each hand and was playing a rather intricate little game with them. It was too cute. Excuse the boxes and mess behind him. All my school stuff is being housed in my living room, fantastic huh?
Dillon speaks so well. I can understand just about everything he says and he has an extensive vocabulary for a little one. He even has some reasoning skills that surprise me. We had just parked at King's Dominion and I told Caleb to get the stroller out. Dillon cues into that immediately, "No stroller, no stroller."
I said, "Ok, then you have to wear the monkey." (Yes, I put my child on a leash.)
Dillon shakes his head, "No monkey."
I did the good parent thing and offered him his two choices. "You can sit in the stroller or wear the monkey."
Dillon quickly offered, "Hold hands. I hold hand!"
Fair enough. He held my hand the whole time and walked that massive park. He slept well last night.

Dillon's favorite thing to do with Daddy is to climb up next to him on the couch and give him kisses all over his head. Ayden does not like to be outdone so he'll climb up there too. Seth just likes a photo op.

This next shot was actually a while back, before school let out. Ayden had a Stepping Up ceremony at his daycare/preschool. I bought him a new outfit and new shoes that tied. He was thrilled and he looked very handsome. He sang and did a great job in the program and afterward we ate cookies and candy and drank punch.
It looks like our fun boy days are not over since Brooklyn will be heading to Houston next week. Maybe I should plan something really great for them! Any ideas?

Inspiration

2011-05-19T18:17:00.003-07:00

This as been a busy week. It seems as though every night this week, except for Monday, we have had something to do. I know this is the norm for many people with a large family. It is not the norm for us and I like it that way. I enjoy being home, with my kids, enjoying a quiet dinner and watching them play and listening to news about their day. Ok, that sounds way nicer than our regualr evening home. Regardless, it is what I like. Tuesday I had an eye doctor appointment and Seth had his recorder concert and they also did a 'living museum'. (If you recall, Brooklyn participated in this as well, Caleb refused). Last night Seth had to go to scouts and I had to go to the grocery store. So tonight when Brooklyn expressed an interest in going to hear a speaker at a church fireside I will admit, I did not want to go. I told her no. She stared at me with puppy dog eyes. I told her no. Then I changed my mind and told her to get dressed.

The speaker was Brad Wilcox, have you ever heard of him? I had not. Now that I have though I plan on finding out more about him. I was told he was a funny speaker for EFY and a professor at BYU. Now I know that he has a way of talking about some serious subjects in a way that is easy to understand and humorous. He has a way to answer some very difficult questions that just makes sense. As I sat and listened I looked down at Brooklyn and saw that she was hanging on his every word. I wished that Bobby and Caleb could have been there as well and I hope that I can save some money so I can send Brooklyn to EFY. I know there were things he said tonight that I needed to hear and I hope that Brooklyn was able to absorb some of what she hear. She did come home and go right to her scriptures to highlight the one he gave in his talk tonight. I am so grateful she talked me into going. My children are often very good teachers.

Potty training?

2011-05-14T15:53:00.005-07:00

Brooklyn decided to let Dillon try the potty chair tonight. Dillon decided he'd rather be a cowboy.

"YEE HAW!" (Seriously, he said, cowboy mommy yee- haw.)

My Day

2011-05-08T18:45:00.005-07:00

Mother's day is always bittersweet. I missed my mother terribly today. Actually it was worse yesterday. Anticipation is always worse I suppose. Today my family did everything they could to make it a special day for me though. I realize this post may be boring to everyone else but since my blog serves as my family's journal, I'm going to chronicle the day. I'll try to spice it up a bit but it is what it is!

7:45 - I roll over and realize how late it is. I remind Bobby we need to be up, getting ready for church. The house is oddly silent and I grin, wondering if the kids were being extra good and preparing a treat for me! I step into the hall, peer down the stairs and hear... nothing. Not a thing. I look into Brooklyn's room and Caleb and Seth are sleeping on her floor, Ayden is asleep in his bed, and Brooklyn is sleeping in her bed. I admit, I am disappointed and a tad worried since we have to leave at 8:30. I say, "Hey, why don't you guys get up?" Ayden yells, "NO!" Ok... I get Dillon, who is happy to see me, and bring him and his church clothes downstairs.
7:55 - I feed Dillon and Ayden oatmeal. Ayden says I made it wrong (even though I made it the way he's been asking for it for the past two weeks, runny) and he refuses to eat it so Seth does. Ayden has a banana. Then Dillon asks for a banana that he does not eat. Very typical. When I look at the clock I realize I do not have time to eat and as I run upstairs to get ready Bobby is coming down - dressed and ready to go. He looks very nice and smells just as good.
8:28 - There is a banging on the bedroom door. I say, "Don't! I'm getting dressed." There is more banging. I yell, "Go away and let me get dressed!" (Lately it is usually Ayden at my door.) Bobby opens the door, grinning triumphantly, and carrying a plate of scrambled eggs and a glass of fresh squeezed Tang. I smile, say thank you and scarf down my eggs!
8:45 - We are finally in the car leaving for church! I put on the cd of "Emma's Sacred Hymns". I love that cd.
9:00 - We sit in the back of the chapel on the cold metal fold out chairs. Oh well, we made it. Dillon plops down next to Bobby and Ayden sits so quietly. It is a miracle. The older kids had put a bag together for the younger kids so they munch on fruit snacks after sacrament. Dillon takes this task most seriously. He is quiet too until he finds his zebra and tiger. Oh dear. He loves to shout the word 'tiger'. Ayden is an angel. Then we think Dillon is stinky and I have no wipes so off I go with him to the bathroom to make do with damp paper towels. He is not stinky however and says he wants to sit on the potty. We give it a shot. No luck. Oh well, give the kid an A+ for effort.
9:55 - I leave the meeting in tears due to a wonderful talk on mothers. Since I don't want to explain to anyone why I was crying so much we leave early.
10:30 - Bobby gives me a two new books so I can "lay in bed and read all day" (his words) so I retire to the upstairs while he handles things down below. Nice...
12:00 - The family sits down to a lunch of grilled steaks, mashed potatoes, green beans and grilled hot dogs. It is so wonderful. It is the best Mother's Day luncheon I could (and did) ask for. Then we have cake. It is a beautiful cake and tastes as good as it looks. Except the bow, the bow is nasty as all of the children and I discover. The dots are fantastic. I talk to my sister on the phone.

2:00 - Bobby and I take a nap while Dillon does! I don't know what the kids do but since they leave me alone to rest, I don't care. ;)
4:00 - Ayden wakes me up from the nap. I come down to hang out with a grumpy Dillon on the couch. The kids clean out the fridge. Happy Mother's Day! (That is what I asked for.)
5:00 - I cut Dillon, Ayden and Seth's hair. Dillon hates it and screams the entire time and manages to rub hair in his eyes, nose and mouth. He's brilliant like that. Seth and Ayden look great though. Brooklyn - heaven bless her - bathes the little ones as I finish with them.
6:00 - Dinner, the children eat leftovers and Bobby takes me to QDoba because I have a birthday coupon. I don't even feel badly about going on Sunday since our favorite employee is there and it is his last day before moving to a location far away. We have a nice long chat with him, he asks us to come visit him and we leave with warm fuzzies. It seems it was meant to be.
7:00 - Brooklyn puts the little boys to bed.
7:30 - Bobby, the older kids and I play Dicecapades. We have a great time. I think since Bobby keeps pushing Seth down and throwing dice at Caleb. Then he beats us all by a long shot. Really though it is so much fun.

I must say it ended up being the best mother's day I have had. I enjoyed it totally. It meant a lot to me that my husband wanted to make today so special. The children pitched in and stopped fighting, mostly. I vote for mother's day to come once a month. Who's with me?

Who's Your Momma?

2011-05-07T12:06:00.001-07:00

According to Ayden, this is who I am:

A Romantic Dinner

2011-05-01T16:36:00.006-07:00

Brooklyn decided that Bobby and I should have a romantic dinner tonight. It could be that she was incredibly bored. Or it could be she wants something badly. For whatever reason though she called her Aunt Holly, got a recipe that would work with the ingredients in the house and set to work. She made the entire dinner while the boys helped set the table with flowers and helped dish everything up. Then, they all took the little ones upstairs for baths while we ate. The night would not have been complete without romantic music so Brooklyn grabbed my iPod and set it to "The Nutcracker". Yeah, we're wondering about that as well. As we laughed and ate and laughed and talked and laughed, the music played and went from the nutcracker to Yoyo Ma's "Here Comes the Sun" to "Plush" by Stone Temple Pilots. We laughed even harder at the romantic music. She did a good job on the dinner and Bobby requested dessert. Caleb sprinted off and said, "Brooklyn, there's trouble!" I cracked up! Brooklyn and Caleb came down and got busy in the laundry room. That's when Ayden popped up with his wet head to complain and give us a kiss goodnight, very romantic. Then we had Seth to keep us amused as he ran back and forth spying on us. Finally dessert was served. Quite comical and sweet and maybe even a little romantic.

Bobby's ice cream sandwich a la Reese's egg.
My ice cream sandwich a la Cadbury egg.
Our table setting complete with candle and flowers.

And one of the four party/romance crashers. LOL

What do sailboats and rain gutters have in common?

2011-04-29T19:12:00.006-07:00

I really have no idea but when you bring the two together with a bunch of boys - you get a fun time!

Seth had his boyscout sailboat regatta or something like that - LOL! He painted his boat during scouts and then they got to see who had the fastest boat. I figured out it wasn't so much about the boat as it was about how steady the boy could blow the sail and balance the boat. Seth won his race but did not have the fastest time. I think the reward was in the fun he had though.

Happy Easter

2011-04-24T14:43:00.006-07:00

It's a quiet Easter at home this year. It's just us - our 'little' family. I am waiting for the roasted red potatoes to bake. We are having pork loin, fruit salad and fresh green beans as well. It's nice to have a quiet holiday but I do miss my family at times like this. The kids dressed up nice for church and afterward the Easter bunny visited our yard and left some goodies. We are truly blessed.

No More Tears

2011-04-23T19:09:00.006-07:00

I know it looks like Ayden is strangling him but trust me, they are playing and having fun.

For some odd reason Dillon has never enjoyed the bath. He cries and shakes all over. He says, "Cold Mommy, help mommy, no mommy." Things like that. It breaks my heart. In all honesty I bathe him as little as possible and usually just wipe him down when he gets dirty. It just upsets him more than it's worth. Tonight was a necessary bath night. With Easter Sunday tomorrow and having attended an outdoor birthday party with bright green icing, a wiping down would not suffice. Ayden loves the bath so I put him in with Dillon hoping it would rub off a bit. No such luck. Dillon just kept telling me he was cold and crying great big alligator tears. I had put a few bubbles in the bath and told Dillon to sit down to pop the bubbles. He bent over and splashed, a bit distracted. Then I had a brilliant idea. I had Brooklyn bring some of his bubbles and I blew them at the boys while they played and happily splashed about in the water. After that Dillon was hooked. No more tears at bath time!

A Day Off

2011-04-20T16:05:00.007-07:00

~Day 6:
Everyone needs a day off. A day where there are plans, but not restrictive plans. A day where you move on your own clock and don't have to worry about phone calls or work. Today was that day for the Orr family. All of us. Bobby did not take any vacation days for our spring break but that was fine since he is off on Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Yesterday was a 'get things done day'. Today was to play.

A little back story... Last summer the kids and I all got tired of one another. Now that the kids are older it's not enough to just play in their rooms and go to the park sometimes. They were constantly swarming me and waiting for me to entertain them. It was horrible. We were all happy when school started. I decided that another summer like that would send me over the edge. We had two choices for cheap summer entertainment. (By cheap I mean less than $500 and would entertain us all summer. Not too cheap huh?) There was a pool membership we could buy or season passes to King's Dominion, the local theme park. Brooklyn and I had almost decided that while Dillon and Ayden are still so young the pool would be best. Then I told Bobby. He was so excited about KD it was settled, we would buy season passes. It took some saving and scrimping but with Dillon free and a discount for buying so many, it wasn't too bad. I splurged and bought the VIP pass for myself so that we wouldn't have to pay for parking. I'm so glad I did that too! It is $12 to park! Anyway, we hurried up to purchase them because we knew we wanted to go for spring break.

So, for our day off we went to KD. We ate a large breakfast, to sustain us, and arrived around 11:30. We went up the Eiffel Tower first, because it was something we could do together. It was windy and so cool to look out at the park. Then we headed for the rides. At first, it didn't seem Dillon could go on anything. I knew that couldn't be the case though and I quickly found plenty of things he could go on. Here are a few shots:

The older kids were so sweet and tolerant to pose with the Peanuts characters for these photos. They didn't complain a bit. If you click on the picture of Charlie Brown you may be able to tell Dillon is screaming. Poor baby.
Then, in continued trooper fashion, the older two boys rode in cars with Ayden and Dillon. I know that couldn't have been thrilling for them but I was too tall and didn't want Ayden and Dillon to go alone.

Then I let the older kids head over to a coaster that was in the kid zone area. We agreed on a place to meet while Bobby and I took Dillon and Ayden to some smaller rides.

Bobby took Brooklyn on a roller coaster that the boys weren't tall enough to go on, then I took Caleb on a roller coast that had four loops that Brooklyn for sure did not want to ride on. I admit, I'm looking forward to this summer when Bobby and I can head over in the evening for a date and go on whatever we want. Even fun days have to end though and we headed home, in horrible traffic, and half the kids crashed. Check out which one stayed awake! I couldn't believe it.

Can you believe he stayed awake? (And yes, I fixed his seat belt)

We can't wait to go back!

Let's Talk Some Business

2011-04-18T08:16:00.005-07:00

~Day 5

Not boring business. The business of choosing a career. When I was little I wanted to be a lot of things. I thought I'd be a lawyer, a zoologist, a vet, a teacher, a mother, a writer and a graphic designer. After being on the yearbook staff for four years I really found I enjoyed playing with fonts, layouts and copy. So, I entered the college of communication at UT and was going to specialize in magazine. Then, I thought about my choice. I thought about everything else I wanted in life. Namely a family. I thought about what a competitive career I was going to enter and the fact that I am not a competitive person. I thought about what made me truly happy. I enjoy graphic design and writing, but more as a hobby. I didn't want to make that a job, then it'd be work!

My favorite place on campus, Turtle Pond

I knew I was good at school. I enjoy being around other people and work well with others. Not only that, but when I had children it would be great to have the same 'hours' as them. So, I switched majors and entered the college of education.

Me in front of the sign for the college of education - if you click on the photo you can see it bigger

I lost almost a year's worth of classes. It put me behind and I was in college for five years instead of four, but it was worth it. I'm not a 'business' woman type person. I don't want to have to prove myself by working late hours when I have a family at home. Granted, I thought I would have babies and stay home taking care of them. I thought if I did work, it would be optional. That has not been my reality, but it feels good to know that I completed college and I have the ability to help support my family. Most of the time I enjoy my job and I feel like I am making some kind of difference, if only to one child. I have time with my children and that is crucial. It was a large part of my decision in the career I chose. I hope my children have seen how important education is and choose to continue with school like I did. More importantly I hope they consider everything when choosing a career path: their strengths, interests and how it will affect their future family.

My graduation annoucement

I Don't Really Understand the Question

2011-04-15T20:46:00.002-07:00

~Day 5: The question for today is, How do you spend time alone? Say what? Time alone. Um, I still don't get it. What is that exactly? Time alone for me is a joke. Not a funny one either. I used to have alone time every day on my way to and from work. It's a 35 minute drive so it was a great, quiet way to think about my day, set goals, and assess my life. About once or twice a week I would call my dad on my way home. We could talk, uninterrupted for a good 30 minutes. I would turn the music up and listen to whatever I wanted. Now Ayden rides with me since his daycare is ten minutes away from my school. I spend that time listening to his dreams, his ideas and pretty much being bossed around by a four year old. I admit I envy my husband his days off. He is off two week days a week. On his day off there is no one home until 2:30. Even then he can go upstairs and the kids don't follow him. I can't go to the bathroom without being followed by at least two of them. So... my time alone comes around 9:30. It seems the older they get, the less alone time I get. During my alone time I watch some TV shows or movies. I read... a lot. And I sleep! Before kids I stayed up late and woke up early and felt great. Post children I stay awake as late as I can muster so I get my alone time and then I'm dragging tail ALL day the next day. Not only that but I can fall asleep any time: on the couch, at the table, driving... ok, I'm kidding. But not much. In all seriousness though favorite way to spend time alone is the same as it's always been. I love to read a book and eat something that my kids would love to be eating. How do you spend 'me' time?

Get Your Groove On

2011-04-13T15:00:00.005-07:00

~Day 4: Nothing serious with this post. It's about music! I love music. Love it. Love it. Love it! Music is a very emotionally loaded thing for me, it greatly affects how I am feeling. When I was younger I was very much into darker sounds. I liked The Cure, The Smiths, Depeche Mode. I can still appreciate that music but now I just want to feel good. I want to listen to something that will be uplifting.

Ayden: Lately Ayden and I have been listening to a lot of Lenka. At the end of this song the chorus says, "I want my money back." Ayden thinks they are saying, "I want my mommy back." This is his favorite song and we listen to it about five times a day.

Another favorite of Ayden's is Elton John's "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues". I have no idea what the appeal is to a four year old but I love the song so I guess I can't complain.

Brooklyn: It's all about Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber. Ah yes, we are in the throws of teen pop music. That is fine with me though because there are certainly worse things she could enjoy. Her favorite song is "Speak Now" by Taylor Swift. What I like about Taylor Swift is that I can listen to it without wanting to pull my ears off.

Seth: Seth likes to listen to Justin Bieber. I guess it's a secret though. He said he doesn't want his friends to know and he pretends, at school, that he hates him. I don't see why he won't tell anyone. I think it's very trendy for all the kids to say they hate him. I think they are all secretly jealous of the kid. "Baby" is his song of choice (and yes, I have his permission to put this on my blog).

Caleb: He never really says much in the car about what he wants to listen to. I know he likes music because he does sing it around the house, never in front of anyone though. Needless to say I was surprised when he said his favorite song was "Grenade" by Bruno Mars. I'm not crazy about it but it's clean enough and he likes it, so that's fine.

Bobby: Bobby likes such a wide variety of music. He listen to techno stuff (which I hate), weird video game music (no thanks), church music, alternative and punk. Bobby gets obsessive about all types of things - music being one. He'll get hung up on one album for a while and that is all he listens to. Lately is has been Eve 6. He has revisited this band many times. I like most of their stuff too, I must admit.

Heather: Wow... I listen to so many different songs. It is very difficult for me to peg down just one song at a time. I love the local band Carbon Leaf. I sing along loudly. My favorite one is "The Boxer". I love the music, the lyrics and how it's upbeat even though it's about a couple having a fight.

Dillon: This one is easy. Dillon loves to sing "Old McDonald", ABCs and the theme songs from "Caillou" and "Super Why". He actually knows and sings more songs but those are the ones he will sing with no prompting from us, except when I want to get it on video. Then he won't sing at all. I end up with sweet renditions of the song - by Ayden. The weird thing is Dillon stops as soon as I hit record and starts up again as soon as I press stop. GRR!

Music can have such a powerful influence on me and my family. My goal is to always keep up with what my kids are listening to and the message the lyrics and the melody is relaying. What do you groove to?

What is your greatest trial?

2011-04-11T19:08:00.010-07:00

~Day 3:

(Just for fun here is what I'm left feeling like all too often, Ms. Hannegan in "Annie". If you don't know how it goes here it is, but just picture me saying little boys instead.)

No, my greatest trial is not akin to Ms. Hannegan's love of bathtub gin, my greatest trial is my own selfishness. I battle it all day, everyday. My goal as a young girl was to be a mother. Nothing ever prepared me for what that entailed. I got my first glimpse when I brought Brooklyn home from the hospital. The longest she ever slept was 2 hours. I was exhausted and I laid there awake waiting for her cry, dreading it. I think I sobbed the first three nights.
Embarrassing isn't it? I was throwing such a fit. I have come a long way since then. By the time I had Caleb I would simply sleepwalk through the feedings.
With Seth, I enjoyed the quiet time with him.

I don't remember much about my daily thoughts or feelings when the older three were little. I guess I was too busy to acknowledge how I felt. Then they grew. Before I knew it they were sleeping all night, playing well with one another and we were busy with activities. I had them home, in bed asleep by 7pm every night. It was bliss.

Then came another marriage and two more babies.
I work with kids all day to come home to more kids. Nothing in the house really belongs to me. The kids are in my closet, my kitchen, my laundry room, my bathroom! I consider them when I plan our menu. I consider them when I plan anything! I pass up just about every invitation to go anywhere with friends. I get so little time with my children and the time I get does not seem to have the best quality. So, I stay home quite a bit.

And it's not easy to admit it but I get a bit resentful at times. Horrible isn't it? Mainly my resentment surfaces when they are arguing with each other, arguing with me, being exceptionally loud, and simply not listening to what I say. That is even worse though because these are times that my calm reaction can set the mood in my home and I'm afraid I rarely react calmly. I lose my temper, I yell or just lash out in some ridiculous way that I have too much pride to relay. I am selfish with my time at night. I want them out of sight by 8:30, but that rarely happens. I want to sleep in on Saturday, again that rarely happens.

They are wonderful kids and Bobby is great and lets me take a nap on Sunday when he's home, but I often get grumpy anyway. The solution? I don't know yet. I've tried prayer, putting myself in time out, using a softer voice, explaining to them how I feel, yelling at them, ignoring them... etc. It's endless. However, my greatest trial will eventually be my greatest reward. If I can combat my selfishness and overcome it, that will be a huge win for me, so it's worth it. How do I plan to combat it? By working on giving charitably and thinking less of myself. I'll let you know how that goes.

What Inspires You?

2011-04-09T20:28:00.005-07:00

Day 2~ I am inspired by so many things. Give me a gorgeous sunrise/sunset, a field of blue bonnets, a child's smile, a well written book.

What does not inspire me would perhaps be an easier question. To answer that question I am choosing to focus on quotes. I love reading quotes. I used to have a quote journal where I collected all of the wonderful, creative and intelligent things I heard or read that inspired me. That was before the Internet though. Now there are entire websites dedicated to the collection of quotes. I find other people fascinating. I enjoy the way they can rearrange letters and words and come up with something profound and meaningful. When I was in journalism I loved beginning my stories with quotes. I enjoy reading articles that begin with quotes. I just love that instant connection I feel when I get what they are saying or when someone expresses how I feel in a way I never considered.

Here is the quote that inspired me tonight, "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." ~Marianne Williamson

Wow, I mean what else can I say about that? This is so insightful, so eloquent. It does not need to be explained or discussed, it just rings true. That is inspirational. That is what I want my children to know and carry with them. Who are you not be talented, special, amazing? My goal as a mother is to find that talent that is within them and help them learn how to grow that talent. No easy task. I worry that with our limited budget I am holding them back. But, you know, if I teach them what is in this quote, and teach them to find their passion, nothing can hold them back but themselves.

Getting Out of My Funk

2011-04-08T17:20:00.010-07:00

I have had writer's block for quite a while. Anyone who still checks my blog from time to time has probably figured that out. I don't really know why. Things are going well in our life. In fact, they are probably better than they have been. One would think that would give me plenty to write about. And yet, here is the blog. The span between posts is quite large and seems to be growing larger. I know some people who do a 30 day challenge to get them back into posting. I looked it up and didn't like all the topics. So, after some research I found this list of questions that someone came up with. I don't know that I will stick with their questions and I know I'm going in a different order, but I liked the direction. So I'm borrowing this idea.Hopefully it will get the writing juices flowing again.

So here we go... Day One: What do you like best about each member of your family?
My first thought was, "Wow, this could get long. I think I may extend this several days so I can talk about all of my family members." My second thought was, "What if I leave someone or something out! I can't imagine that I would but that would make me feel horrible. My family is sizable if I consider cousins, aunts, uncles..." you get the idea. So I am going with the family right here, in my home. That's big enough.

Bobby: If I have to go with what I like best I suppose I can't make a list. Goodness this is difficult. Bobby surprises me, all the time, in a good way. I can never stay mad at him because just when I'm exasperated and ready to let him know it, he does something amazing and thoughtful. The thing is, he doesn't do it to try to calm my anger (he isn't usually even aware I am angry since my anger is irrational that he isn't home, he's at work.) That means his thoughtfulness is truly sincere. For instance, he gets home from work very late - midnight. He isn't able go right to sleep so I think he comes to bed around 2am. One night I messaged him asking if he wanted me to wake him in the morning with us. We get up at 6:30. The text went something like this, "I'll let you sleep in the morning since I know you'll be tired." He replied that he wanted me to wake him up since it was the only time he'd get to see the kids. Awwww! Isn't he great? Little things like that are the reason I love that man.
Brooklyn: This girl is all about making everyone around her happy. She will drop whatever she is doing to help out if anyone asks. She can be so selfless at times; she is a good example of serving others. She spends most of her time at home in the living room or in the kitchen looking for 'jobs' to do. I won't lie, there are jobs she hates, but my point is if it makes those around her happy, she is happy. She will swoop in when I'm frustrated with Ayden and whisk him off to her room to distract him and give me a few minutes peace. In the car she placates a fussy Dillon and makes him giggle. She likes us to play games, watch movies and cook as a family. She encourages all of us to BE a family in our attitudes, activities and behaviors and she understands what it means to sacrifice for your family. What an amazing girl.

Caleb: He is so enthusiastic. Mention an idea and he runs with it. He has amazing energy. He does not let go of a problem until he can solve it. "Camping this weekend, great I'm already packed." "Help Ayden get ready for church, here are his clothes." Caleb actually asks to mow the yard, begs even. We went to the library last night and Caleb checked out seven books about tornadoes and extreme weather. When he has an interest in something there is no stopping him. Not only that, but he was looking for a movie we could all enjoy and was coming up with ways they could earn a family movie night. Once he is interested and has decided to do something, this kid is unstoppable.

Seth: I must admit, what I like best about Seth is that he shares my love of books. We share that excitement of walking into a library and wanting to look at everything! Seth loves Harry Potter; I love Harry Potter. Seth loves Percy Jackson; I love Percy Jackson. Seth loves to curl up next to me on the couch and read with me. Mostly I read to him but we'll get to a page and he'll shout, "I want to read this one." He reads with hardly a mistake then hands the book back to me and asks me to read the rest. When he has time on the computer he spends half of it looking up books on Amazon or Barnes and Noble. He has read 15 novels this school year which is an amazing accomplishment when last year he had not finished one book he started. His ability to read is finally matched to the books he is interested in reading, well, for the most part.
Ayden: Ayden is a great big brother. He has loved caring for Dillon, tickling Dillon, playing with Dillon, everything Dillon since the day that baby came home. He doesn't let anyone say anything negative to Dillon. When Dillon isn't feeling well Ayden will go up and rub his head and hug him. He likes to wrestle with his brother and play cars with him. If Dillon wants a toy Ayden is playing with he tries to distract him with something else. He wants to make sure we are taking good care of his brother and is very concerned if he's crying or upset in any way. Not only is Ayden a great big brother but just look at those eyes and that smile. It gets me every time. What a cutie.
Dillon: Look at that bug. He's the baby so what's not to like about him right now? In that picture he brought a fitted sheet to Bobby on the couch and covered him then laid down next to him. That is what I like about Dillon. He is the man with the plan. He knows what he wants to do and sets about doing it. Bobby always tell the kids, "Move like you have a purpose." Well, that message must have been ingrained upon Dillon in the womb. From the moment of his birth (I only had to push twice) that kid has moved with purpose. He walked early, he talked early (well for one of my boys it was early), he gets into things, he climbs on things... this kid has places to go and things to do. Get out of his way.

Whew, I finished! It only took me an hour. That was harder than I thought it would be! Who else will give this one a shot? I dare you!

Little Bits

2011-03-12T06:07:00.004-08:00

There is nothing new, interesting or exciting to report and, honestly, I just can't think of anything cute or witty lately. The kids do and say funny things every day but I'm so tired I chuckle and forget. However, that also means that we are all doing well. I think we're in that funk that happens between Christmas break and Spring Break. We are just waiting. Just counting down the days... Will we make it? No one knows.

I guess I can't say nothing is going on. Brooklyn went on her fist temple trip to the DC temple. She was very excited and it was a bit last minute so I really didn't get to talk to her about it much before she went. She did say that she had a good time and it was, "like really spiritual and all that." She took her camera but this was about all she did with it.

We have had quite a bit of wind around here lately. I hate it. One day it blew down our basketball hoop and we found two huge black widows living under it. I took a picture but I don't know if you can really see how huge she is. If you click on the photo you can see it much larger. (Yes,Caleb's finger is there for comparison.)
Last but never least, Bobby's parents have been staying on the weekend quite often while they endure the limbo they are in with Bruce's job. We have enjoyed it very much. Dillon doesn't even cry when I leave if Grandma's here. The kids are thrilled with it and, of course, Bobby and I love the company. Just to give an example of how Dillon feels about Grandma and Poppy leaving I took some photos of him as they said goodbye.

Why don't we do this more often?

2011-02-17T15:22:00.005-08:00

By the time I picked Ayden up from 'school' today it was in the sixties! In February! When Brooklyn called and asked if I'd get the boys out of the house so she could get her chores done more quickly, I decided it was high time to visit the playground. Everyone else in the neighborhood had the same plan. The weather was perfect, not so warm that we got sweaty and cool enough that a light jacket or long sleeve shirt was plenty. So Mother Nature, if you give me more days like this:

we will visit you more often...

About Time...

2011-01-28T16:35:00.004-08:00

Yes, it's about time -- for so many things. The first big news is that Bobby got a new job. He is working a call center with T-Mobile. He is only in training right now but he likes the company. They have tuition reimbursement if he goes into a field that will be of use to the company so that is his plan. It doesn't pay bad for entry level work either! Not only that but our phone bill is going to be cut considerably. The other great thing about his schedule right now is that he has Sunday and Monday off. He can go to church with us! When working at Burger King he never went to church, not once, for eight months. It wasn't that he didn't want to go, it's that they refused to give him one weekend off. He had a Sunday off but worked until 3am Sunday morning. Or he had a Saturday off but had to open on Sunday. It was miserable on so many levels. No he is back at church with us and it feels wonderful.

Another big change we have made is scripture study with the kids. Silly that we haven't done this before, it's a very simple concept but always got put on the back burner. I won't say we understand everything we read, but we are sitting down and reading and discussing them together. The kids request it. I told Bobby we need to take advantage of this since, eventually, they may balk. So, we're trying to build good habits now. I love the family time it gives us after a busy day, even if it is just 15 minutes of reading together.

Speaking of family time, Bobby finally looked at Brooklyn's broken camera and guess what! It wasn't broken at all. So now we will have more photos of the kids taking photos of themselves... and of course more photos of the family in general. I hate posting with no photos.

However, some bad news regarding photos. Our computer did something weird upon restarting and all of the folders on the desktop were missing. Not only that but the photos were not in the right place. Bobby finally found them and, so he wouldn't have to hunt for them again, he put them in a folder that he named so he'd remember. When the computer was restarted again, everything on our desktop was back to normal and the folder of pictures that Bobby made was gone. It seems we may have lost all the pictures we had on here. There were a LOT. There are some on here, which is great. There are some on facebook and photobucket, but the majority of our photos are lost and I'm so sad. Guess I'm buying a flash drive just to hold our photos on from now on.

Here are some pictures we have taken lately though... they are in no particular order nor are they of any special event. These are just because.

Dillon is getting so big! He never looks at the camera so enjoy.
Bobby's parents bought him a few new duds so he spent Saturday night ironing. He wanted all 'the guys' to look killer on Sunday. It was the 'when you feel like you look good, you feel better' motto. He cleans up pretty well, I think. He even found a Poppy hat for $8!

Oh, this was funny. I caught Dillon climbing up onto the table. He pulled out an apple and was so happy with it. So I let him have it figuring I would cut it up if he didn't want it. You know he ate on that thing for an hour? Silly baby. He didn't eat all of it but no one wanted it when he was done with it.

May your days be merry and bright and may all your Christmases be...

2010-12-26T21:04:00.011-08:00

This Christmas has been about as perfect as they come. I was feeling discouraged. The money just wasn't there to buy the gifts and do the fun, festive things that I would love to do. This time of year it is so easy to get caught up in the commercialism and the idea of what your holiday should look like. I admit, I got caught up in it big time. But, things begin to come together, as things often do. We had two snow days on the two days just before the winter break. That was a bright spot. Slowly Bobby and I filled up the closet with all kinds of goodies that our kids would enjoy. Bobby's parents are living close this year and they made several trips down to drop off their gifts and the food that they would make for Christmas dinner. Relatives from far away sent us cards with their thoughts and love. Christmas Eve was a time for eating sub sandwiches while watching "Joy to the World" about the Savior's birth, then hot chocolate, cake and opening a few gifts. The kids quickly put on their Christmas pajamas from Grandma and Poppy and played with what they had opened. I couldn't believe it but Brooklyn has grown so much this year she couldn't wear anything we got her except the jacket! I guess it's gift cards from now on for her! After the babies went to bed we put on a movie and sat up late in order to help Santa. The result was modest but everything they had asked for. Bobby and I slept in the living room and, it seemed, that just as I fell asleep the kids had crept down proclaiming it was 7am! They tore into stockings, exclaimed over gifts and stuffed their faces with candy. I was so exhausted that I took not one picture! Then they played and we visited until Bobby's brother David arrived with his wife Kim and their four kids. The kids quickly paired off and disappeared as Grandma readied lunch. Bobby and his brother picked up the missionaries and we sat down to a wonderful meal. We had more food than we needed and funny stories were exchanged. Then Bobby, David, the missionaries and the kids went to the park for some football while the 'womenfolk' relaxed. It was such a nice day that ended with a picture perfect snow. We watched another movie and sent the kids off to bed after they declared that it had been the best Christmas ever.

The children were talking about Christ being born in December and I reminded them that really, his birthday is thought to have been around April. December 25th was just a day chosen to celebrate his birth for numerous reasons. Really though, I'm glad the we celebrate Christ's birth at the end of the year. It's a time to reflect on what I have done with this gift that Heavenly Father has given us. It's a great time, better than New Year's, to reflect on what I'm going to do differently in the coming year so that I continue to grow as a person. Christmas is such a special time, I love that it's in the winter when we can cozy up in our homes and share memories and good times with the people that we love.

And now, the photos...

Brooklyn helped me make some cookies. They were great fresh out of the oven but not good the next day - I'll have to work on that.
I forgot to mention we did drive around, singing carols and looking at lights - this house was on the tacky lights tour - cool huh?
Christmas Eve sandwich time with all the fixin's - an Orr tradition.
Ayden is first to dig right in to the presents!
The boys got a gift of really neat science books that have interactive games and such.
Grandma helped Dillon open his gift.
Then he showed Daddy his puppets!
Caleb started looking at the books right away.
Santa's little elf.
Brooklyn wearing her new Christmas PJs and opening the pj bottoms I bought her from her school.
Bobby loved his Kentucky sweatshirt from Mom and Dad.
Seth's pjs were a bit big on him - but hey, that's even better right?
Grammy and Papa sent the kids Christmas sweaters! The boys are so excited to wear them to church - they were disappointed it got canceled due to snow.
Ayden got right to work with his new tools from Aunt Holly and Uncle Brian.
Brooklyn helped
Seth ran into the room to read the new graphic novel from Aunt Holly and Uncle Brian.
Caleb got right to work on the Lego race car from Aunt Holly and Uncle Brian. I debated about the kids opening these on Christmas Eve but it worked out perfectly, giving them something to do before bed.
Bobby couldn't resist pitching in to help with the model of an X-Wing fighter from Grandma and Poppy.
Then, after kids had gone to bed, Santa came...
Santa decided family centered gifts were just right for Christmas. (I can't wait to play that game)
Yes, that is a mower. It is all Ayden asked for. Santa was so happy that with online shopping you can get items that are normally hard to find in the winter.
Seth wanted a basketball and Caleb is collecting footballs. Perfect - they can share!
You can barely see them under the scarf and gloves but Santa found Brooklyn a great pair of boots... that were too small. Mom has already rectified the situation.
And, I thought we would end on an "awww, isn't that too precious" note: (You'll need to turn it up to hear him say Merry Christmas)

Double Whammy!

2010-11-19T17:14:00.006-08:00

Ah, November 19. The weather is crisp, the leaves are gorgeous, fall break is next week and we are celebrating one birthday as we remember another.

Mom... she always loved fall so it's fitting that this is her birth month. I love living in Richmond during her birthday month because seeing all the leaves change colors reminds me of her. She missed the leaves so much this time every year. We miss you everyday Mom, we love you.

I really miss my mom BUT.... two years ago today, Dillon was born. I can not tell you how happy I was that my water broke around 11pm on the 18th of November. I knew it was meant to be! Dillon is such a super smart little guy. He has places to go and things to say. I swear he says about five new words a day. I put him in time out for the first time last night and when his two minutes were up he wrapped his arms around me, put his wet, little cheek on mine and gave me a kiss. He is not into sharing right now, it's all 'mine', but he is a sweetie none-the-less. We love you Dilly Bill - Happy Birthday!
Today:

Are you ready?

2010-11-05T16:23:00.018-07:00

Because if you are, have I got some pictures for you. Aunt Holly came the last weekend of October to visit. Bobby was off that week. We celebrated Ayden's 4th birthday. We dressed up for Halloween. We went to the pumpkin patch and a large park here called Maymont. So... the result, more was going on than I want to put into words. So, I will tell the tale in photos. I supposed sequential is the safest way to go.

Ayden turned four this year! Aunt Holly asked us to wait and celebrate on the 29th when she was here, so we did. We went to Chuck E Cheese, had a Dora and Diego cake and a lot of fun! I can not believe how BIG he is! No more toddler, Ayden is a little boy. Ayden asked for mega blocks and a tractor and, wouldn't you know it, Lego makes a tractor. How great is that? Aunt Holly gave him a cool book of nursery rhymes that she reads to him! He loves it. He got money from Grammy and Papa and Aunt Noreen. We'll save that for his next big wish. He also got a Lego dump truck from Grandma and Poppy Orr.

Then came some time at the playground while Daddy took a little nap. I tossed the ball with Caleb a bit and Holly and Brooklyn helped out on the swings.
The day did not end there. Once Bobby got his nap and the weather warmed up a bit we went to the pumpkin patch! This is the same one we have been to for two years now. The weather was gorgeous and my only disappointment was that it was late in the season and some of the pumpkins had been 'placed' back into the patch, they really weren't on the vines anymore. The kids didn't notice or care though.

That same day was our 5th wedding anniversary. Holly so kindly agreed to watch the kids and carve the pumpkins while we went out on a date. It looks like they had such fun.

Ayden was wiped out by the end of the day.
The next day we went to Maymont. This is a huge park in Richmond. It used to belong to a family and there is a house you can go through, a stable and a garage with all their old carriages and sleds. There are animals, but we didn't visit that part. We visited the Japanese Gardens. We wanted to visit the house but since it was Halloween they were doing a special tour that was$7 a person and they did not recommend it for kids. :P The park was gorgeous and we did enjoy it so very much.
Trunk or Treat was that night so we rushed home from Maymont and got ready for trunk or treat!
Ayden tried to slay the dragon.
Dillon conquered the wolf.
Holly ended the visit with haircuts for all! I only have photos of me and Brooklyn though. This weekend was perfect in every way. We had time to play and time to visit and time to rest. I think I'm going to require a visit like this at least once a year. ;)

Ayden is 4!

2010-10-27T17:06:00.003-07:00

Ayden is four today! He has grown so much this last year. He is easier to reason with and quicker to understand things. The result, he is a much happier child. That means the rest of us are happier too! Ayden goes to a new Daycare that is like a preschool. He recognizes not only his name but the name of all the kids in his class. I would not say he is reading but he is starting to see the pattern in letters and words. I was writing something yesterday that started with a 'T' and he said, "That's like Tyler's name!" Yes! It sure is! He is very opinionated and lets us know exactly how he feels. If the radio in the car is on he may yell, "Turn it up" or "Turn it off" or even, "Put on a boy song." Unfortunately he has my love of sugary sweets and will try to sneak them if possible. He still loves his chocolate milk but enjoys it less now, it is more of a treat. Ayden likes to eat tacos, spaghetti, pizza, chicken nuggets (but not chicken), popcorn, applesauce, bananas, oatmeal and pop-tarts. He understands jokes and likes to help around the house. Aunt Holly is coming to visit us this weekend and asked if we could hold off his birthday party until she is here. So, we will have cake and a special meal on Friday! Ayden chose a Dora and Diego cake. I can't wait, it's going to be so fun.
Here is Ayden at each birthday. (I am missing birthday 2, all of the pictures were on Poppy's camera and I can not find them.)

Ayden's birth day:
Ayden's One!
Ayden is 3!
Ayden is 4.... coming soon!

For Bob

2010-10-26T17:38:00.004-07:00

See the man on the left? I like to think that this was the happiest day of his life. I never asked him, but I believe it was. He is my Uncle Bob. I never called him uncle growing up. He was simply Bob, my Uncle Bobby's partner. I regret that I never called him uncle but I don't know that he minded so much. Back in July Bob and Uncle Bobby were married after 30 years together. I am very happy they were able to do this. I know what my religious belief mandates, but I love these two men and it made me happy to see them happy.
Bob surprised all of us on Saturday morning. Early, before the sun came up, he passed away. He was an educator his entire adult life. I did not get to spend much time with him, holidays mostly, but every chance I could I loved to discuss education and school with him. This was even before I was a teacher myself. He always gave sound advice when it came to school, work and money. He loved a good laugh. He would do anything for my uncle. He loved my Grana's creamed corn. He called our Thanksgiving turkey 'dead animal flesh'. That always made me laugh. My mother loved to buy him everything Coca-Cola and he always graciously said thank you, though I'm sure he had way more than he could ever want. I think it can be said that Bob truly did something with his life. He touched many as a teacher, principal and leader in the community. We will all miss him

Did you know...

2010-10-10T16:38:00.002-07:00

... Brooklyn made all county chorus? She was one of three sopranos chosen from her class. I am so proud of her but not as proud as she is, and she should be!
... Caleb is practicing basketball whenever he can with the hoop in our driveway? That is what he wants to do now and he's getting pretty good at it.
... Seth got his interim (progress report) and he had three Bs and two Cs? This is a big improvement from last year. He also sits at the table to do his homework and doesn't wander at all. Again, big improvement.
... Ayden is becoming sweeter by the day? It's like the terrible two-three demon that possessed him for two years has left and my darling boy is back. He loves school and behaves every day! He likes to share and we have long talks on our 40 minute drive every morning and afternoon. He knows all his colors and is learning his letters and is asking questions non-stop.
... Dillon can put together two word phrases? For instance he brought me a bag of Doritos and said, "More chips." He has a sweet voice and tries to count and will not sit through sacrament meeting. I will take him out but not let him down (I want him to enjoy sacrament meeting more than the foyer) so we fight every Sunday for an hour. At least now he lets me leave him in the nursery.
... we 'misplaced' Brooklyn's camera and ours is broken? So, there are no pictures. Good news, we found her camera recently so we should have more photos soon.
... my school year is going better than it did the first two years we have been here?
... Bobby is finally looking into finishing nursing school? Pray for us that he will find a good program and get a grant. This will be a challenge but totally worth it.
... I really want a full size van? Well, I do.

First Week of School

2010-09-10T18:38:00.005-07:00

I am laying in my bed with the new laptop from my school - nice. This has been a busy, wonderful and stressful week. We can not find Brooklyn's camera so I had to take a picture of the kids on their first day with my cell phone! Crazy. It's not great but it's sweet and you can see how much they've grown. This post will bore anyone who isn't totally in love with my children but I have to give an update of where they all are now and how they've grown....Sorry Ayden's face is all blurry. He never stops moving that one....

Speaking of Ayden let's go crazy and begin with child #4, just to shake things up. Ayden started preschool/daycare this year. Our district has a technical center for high school students interested in early childhood development. There is a daycare there led by teachers, that employs the students. They offer child care for teachers who work on that side of town and it's $125 a month! Yes, you read that right. Amazing. Not only that but Ayden loves it. He has been excited to go every day - no tears. He eats well while he's there and his daily report has said he is happy and playful and having a great time. Ayden never stops talking now. He talks my ear off in the car to and from school (30 minutes one way). He knows all his colors and likes cars. He has to sleep with his hot wheels every night. He still has his blue silky blanket that he takes to school each day and to bed each evening. Ayden currently likes to watch Caillou, Wallace and Grommit and Dora. He answers Dora's questions and does all the actions she asks him to do. Ayden has very strong ideas and opinions about how things should be. If I have the radio on and he wants to talk he demands that I turn it off. If I change the radio station during a song he likes he demands that I turn it back. He is a good big brother and loves to wrestle with Dillon. He is fiercely independent and likes to put his own seat belt on, open the car door, unlock the door to the house and so on. He is funny and very loving.

Who next? Let's see... child #2, Caleb. Caleb is a big fifth grader this year. That is so hard to imagine! He is mature enough to understand why there are certain rules and why he is asked to do things. That doesn't mean he no longer argues, he still likes to do that, but he seems to understand sooner when to stop and just accept what we've told him. He is a good writer and gets his papers done quickly. He is becoming more responsible about taking care of his chores without being asked and never complains about doing them! Caleb has decided he wants to join the army and thinks military school sounds like the way to go. I told him he would have to get a scholarship which means getting good grades and a good teacher recommendation. He is taking it to heart and trying to keep up with all of his homework. He loves to play outside and if I turn him loose out there without a time to be back, who knows when I would see him again. He is patient with his brothers, if not so much with his sister. He loves to help with the littler ones.

Daughter #1. I brag about her all the time. Brooklyn has always been an old soul but sometimes she amazes me. She does get tired of being the oldest and lets me know at times, but she deserves to complain every now and then. She shoulders a lot of responsibility and does it with the kindest heart. She doesn't roll her eyes or whine when we ask her to do something. She comes home from a full school day and has her chores finished before I arrive, or at least started. She works on her homework without being asked to. She loves to joke around and play with her brothers and enjoys going to young women's on Wednesday nights. In fact, she finally enjoys listening to talks at church and tries to find time to read her scriptures.

Seth - darling #3, the middle child. He is in fourth grade! Funny, he started kindergarten a few days after turning five and I told myself I would not be upset or disappointed if he had to repeat that year. Many of the young ones do, especially boys. Seth has held steady every year. He has a very difficult time focusing and we're trying to help him work through it without medication. He is trying so hard and doing much better. He gets work done with fewer reminders and only had one shaky morning this week where he spent a lot of time wandering. That is a big improvement from last year. He ended the school year very well and has the same teacher this year that Caleb had last year. I think he'll do very well with her structured classroom. Seth loves to help with Dillon and Ayden. He is such a mild, sweet boy. Even when Ayden strikes out and hurts him he never hurts Ayden in return. He wants to hold Dillon and get things for him. He wakes up early each morning with Ayden, my two early risers, and gets him his milk and they watch TV together. Seth has a great memory for actors, shows, dates, movies, books and authors. He'll be the next great screenplay writer I just know it!

Little Dill, baby #5! What a sweet little pill he is. All boy, Dillon is never clean. He has food on his face and clothes all the time and if he is allowed outside, runs directly to the hose and turns it on soaking everyone around him. We need to find a solution for that. Dillon's speech is blossoming and he has so many words. He loves to say 'more'! Other words, but certainly not all, are: fish, car, eye, shoe, mama, daddy, sissy, no, map(thanks Dora), night night... and so many more. It seems he acquires about two more a day. He is a mountain goat and tries to climb everything. He has a purpose in everything he does and hates to be held back. He wants to do everything that his brothers do and when he cries it is usually because I am not letting him go with the older boys. He will play with toys by himself for the longest time and will watch TV just as long, if we let him. He loves to suck on his middle two left fingers (it seems he will be a lefty) and yell 'yay' as he claps. It is adorable.

In the stress of running a house, teaching full time (which does not end at school), raising five children and being an attentive wife, I often forget how wonderful my children are and how much I love them. They are each so different that it amazes me. I love to watch the kind things they do for each other, the games they create to play with one another and to share my favorite things with them - like long drives and good music. This last year here, away from home, has been a difficult one for me and I regretted ever moving here, but this last week is changing my mind. Fall is here bringing with it fresh, cool breezes and an appreciation of what I have here.

Happy Birthday Brooklyn

2010-08-22T17:31:00.006-07:00

Twelve years old. Wow. I remember being twelve. It was the roughest year at school by far. Now my first born is twelve. It is surreal. Brooklyn is the most helpful daughter I could ask for. She loves to do kind things for everyone in the family. She prefers to be with me or her brothers or pop rather than sit alone in her room doing things. She loves to hang out with her friends and get chocolate or vanilla bean fraps at Starbucks. She is so easy going and laid back and creative and fun. I think she is turning out to be an amazing young woman! I'm so proud she is my daughter.

Brooklyn insisted on having her cake a day before her birthday. She also insisted on making it.

Dillon climbed on a chair and got his own cake while we were in the living room.
She got a curling iron, a back pack, money and a charm bracelet. We went to the mall on her birthday where she bought a couple of shirts from Aeropostle and some jeans.
On her actual birthday we had her choice of hamburgers, watermelon and rosemary new potatoes. She helped Bobby make the burgers, her choice. What can I say - she loves to cook. The burgers were amazing, her birthday was fun.

Happy Birthday Seth

2010-08-13T07:55:00.003-07:00

Okay, so it's very late, blame it on the laziness of summer time if you must. We did celebrate Seth's birthday on time though and I need to share all the details!

August 6th was completely devoted to Seth! He wanted to go to breakfast with just me in the morning but, unfortunately, I had to take my car to the shop. Yuck. He was ok with that though and we stopped at McDonald's on the way there so he could get the cinnamelts. We were at the car place for three hours! Seth was a trooper and we got to spend some time together. We even went for a walk and bought the candles for his cake and rented a DVD. Pop came and picked us up at this point and we picked Seth's cake up from the grocery store. We ran right home and celebrated with birthday cake and presents. Dessert first on your birthday, what could be better?
Seth opened his gift from Brooklyn, a big new lunch box, and his card from me and Pop. We decided to give him cash this year because he is saving up for an iPod. We went out to lunch to Cici's Pizza and everyone went to Friendly's for dinner. That place is insane! We enjoyed it immensely and I forgot the camera. He said it was the best birthday ever, he says that every year though. Seth got money from his Aunt Noreen, money from Papa and Grammy, Eragon on CD from Aunt Holly and Uncle Brian, and the second and third books from the Eragon series from his dad and Merritt. He could not be more pleased with his haul. The iPod savings went out the window when he found "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" on DVD though. He also bought a video game, another DVD, the Owl City CD and an MP3 player that looks very much like an iPod nano. I think there may have been some candy purchases in there too.

Seth is my sensitive, creative, cuddly soul. He loves being a big brother and wants to help with the little ones more than the older kids allow. He loves to say the prayer at meal time and bear his testimony on fast Sunday. He has no fear when it comes to speaking to a crowd, in fact, he loves the attention. He loves music and movies. I think he is a lot like his Papa Mills. He looks a lot like Papa so that makes sense. He is such a quiet, important part of our family and I love celebrating him on his day!

I Think I'm Getting Better At This

2010-07-27T14:08:00.003-07:00

I cut Caleb and Seth's hair today. Where is Caleb? Outside playing, as usual, but Seth likes having his picture taken.
(I love how dirty Seth's shirt is. And that is one he put on purpose, saying it was clean)

Ayden decided he needed a hair cut too - too bad, I did his a couple of weeks ago. I did let him get his picture taken though.
(Notice how similar his poses are to Seth's. He is getting a little too good at copying everything we do.)

Summer is...

2010-07-24T17:45:00.003-07:00

Running to the ice cream truck

and returning triumphant!

WHAT is THAT?!

2010-07-17T12:29:00.002-07:00

A leaf? All I wanted to do was sit on our swing. This thing was HUGE!

Hide and Seek

2010-07-16T18:12:00.001-07:00

AH! You found me!

Summer Time and the Living Is Easy

2010-07-09T17:06:00.006-07:00

We may be just staying home this summer, but that doesn't mean we aren't enjoying ourselves. The kids are playing (usually) well with each other. We go to the library. The libraries here are wonderful. We are enjoying all that free fun in the A/C. Brooklyn went to girl's camp and Caleb and Seth went to Scout camp. I, sadly, did not take any pictures of the boys. Brooklyn took a few but must have been having too much fun to remember to take more. I'm cooking, a lot and the kids are eating - A LOT! What do they do at school all day because at home you'd think they were starving? They know the drill: breakfast around 8, snack at 10, lunch at 12:30, snack at 3 then dinner at 6. I am not a schedule type person but I have to schedule that or they will graze all day! Mostly, I am simply enjoying that I do not have the stress of thinking I have work the next day. It has made it so much easier to enjoy my kids and my time with them. I also get to wait up late for Bobby to get home from work and he likes that. Here are just some photos of what we've been up to. I'll put a caption if it needs it.

Dillon loves to read lately. He will bring me the same book about ten times a day. If he wasn't so darn cute I'd be frustrated. Who am I trying to kid? You can tell I'm a tad frustrated here.
At first he wouldn't let Bobby read to him but, when I refused, he decided it was worth a shot.

Not to be outdone, Ayden wanted Daddy to read him the same book.
I had to get video of Dillon 'reading' along. You'll have to turn up the volume a bit if you want to hear him but it's pretty cute.

The kids have been begging for donuts this summer. In Katy there were donut shops in just about every strip center. Here, you have to search to find a donut place. I'm not crazy about Dunkin' Donuts but it's the only one even close, so we don't have them often. The kids were thrilled. I had to get some shots.
Dillon loved the chocolate donut munchkins covered in sprinkles, called beach balls.
The rest of the kids didn't really make a mess but dug right in.
I also decided it was time to cut Ayden and Dillon's hair. As you can see in the photos above it's become a tad shaggy.
Here is the after:
Ayden had to go and stick his finger up his nose then refused to have another picture taken of him. Brilliant.
And, I have to include one more video of Dillon. Brooklyn filmed him playing and saying "Bye Bye", tune in soon for our rockin' (or not so much) fourth of July shots.

A Little Post From Bobby

2010-06-26T16:55:00.003-07:00

Too bad you didn't have those thick wavy locks in high school Allen, you'd have had all the chicks.
Oh no, not the evil eyebrow! It's been evil ever since I've known him.
You will eat the vanilla bean cheesecake Robert, or my name is not Matt Frey, Star Wars king!

Okay, so I want to describe my birthday with three little words: BEST BIRTHDAY EVER! What made this birthday so great Bobby, you may ask? Well, it all started with the surprise birthday party. Okay, it wasn't much of a surprise. Heather left her facebook page up. But I've never had a surprise party for my birthday. Yes, I know, I've been sorely overlooked for 33 years. But Heather made up for lost time.

So that was the first part. I got Borderlands for my birthday. Sweet, anything video games for my birthday is the greatest thing I could possibly get. I'm a game nerd, what can I say? Anyways, our friends Jen and Brian got me a giftcard to Gamestop. Double bonus! Well, that is it for the actual day of my birthday.

But the Birthday Extravaganza didn't stop there. My good friend Matt wasn't able to make it to my party, so he planned a little party of his own. Rob came into town from Vegas. He had scant little time to hang out, but he happened to have some time on a day I was off from work. Bonus! Me and Heather drove up to Northern Virginia to meet with Matt and Rob for dinner. When we got there, we hung out with Matt for a little bit then we went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. When I walked through the door there was another surprise waiting for me. It was one of my best friends of all time Allen. We hadn't talked for a long time, there's more to that story, but needless to say it was a great surprise. So Rob bought everyone dinner, which was awesome! Matt got me Final Fantasy XIII for the PS3 and Allen got me Blur for the PS3 as well. Blur is awesome, it's a multiplayer racer that plays like Mario Kart with Dodge Vipers and Camaros. It's great and it's a great game my kids like playing. Getting Final Fantasy for my birthday, well, that was another awesome thing too. I love getting video games for my birthday or holidays or what have you, but getting FF XIII was like a dream come true. Final Fantasy is a mainstay for me. So a bunch of things aligned this birthday. I got video games, I got Final Fantasy, I got a party, and more importantly, I got to see my friends whom I rarely get to see, and one I've not seen in years. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! I don't think I'll ever forget this one. Thanks to all my friends who made it happen and my beautiful wife! I usually hate birthdays, for me to be so stoked about one, you know that a lot of things had to come together. I'm so happy that I have so many people in my life who love me so much. I think this gets overlooked quite a bit by me. But thank you all so much, I love everyone of you.

Follow Me Here

2010-06-26T15:26:00.002-07:00

I am going to admit something that may make many people angry - I do not like anything Twilight. I thought the books were poorly written and found the movies even worse, if that is possible. As an English teacher I can appreciate any books that stirred up that much interest in young readers. Teens who had never finished a novel read the entire series. I love that. I see nothing else of redeemable quality about the books. I can not even say that the heroine provides a good role model for my tween daughter.

SO... You have to jump here and read the post about the top five ways that Twilight has made my cousin's marriage better. Even if you love Twilight you will roll laughing!

First week of summer

2010-06-25T11:20:00.003-07:00

Color me surprised. I thought I knew my boys pretty well, but they proved me wrong this week. Caleb has always been my rough and tumble kid. He likes to stay very active by riding his bike, throwing a ball with friends or just running around, literally. Seth is quiet. He likes to pretend, he likes to read and spend time on the computer. So, when I took them to their first day of scout camp on Monday - in record heat no less - I really thought Caleb would be thrilled and Seth would complain. I was so wrong! Seth made a new friend the first day and loved going. He never said one word about being too hot and went happily every morning. Caleb complained about the heat and didn't even go on Thursday, that was partly my idea. He woke up with bumps all over the inside of his arms and I was worried he had poison oak or ivy. It turned out it was just his eczema acting up from the heat. He did go today but got no badges since he missed a day - I'm not too happy about that. He seemed pleased when I picked him up though, of course we did get a break from the heat today, I think it was only 90. Seth went home with his new friend to play and Brooklyn has a birthday party tonight and has enjoyed the week without her brothers. I took Caleb for an ice cream treat for sticking it out and I think we've had a great end to a wonderful first week of summer. I hope for pictures next time. We've been too busy to think about it.

How Tired Would You Have To Be?

2010-06-20T15:55:00.003-07:00

Lately, Ayden has been getting into trouble during nap time. He does not want to nap so he stays awake by getting into everything in the room he should be sleeping in. Today, he did get into something but then promptly fell asleep. It was Brooklyn's pink rain poncho! Caleb went to check on him and asked why he was on the floor and he said it was comfortable, then he fell back to sleep. Comfortable? The floor and plastic poncho are comfortable? Thanks for telling me that now kiddo, that knowledge would have saved me some money.

I apologize for the quality of this picture but it was too cute to pass up and the camera was doing weird stuff. The kids have played with the settings until I can not figure out what is wrong with them.

Monday Memories

2010-06-14T17:26:00.004-07:00

Did you ever play with these?
Colorforms were one of my most favorite toys ever! I have no idea why but something about the new plastic smell, peeling the pictures off the black, slick sheet they came on and placing them on the little scene gave me all kinds of thrills. This provided hours of entertainment. Today a child might look at the colorform board and ask, but what does it do? That was the beauty. It didn't DO anything, it made my imagination do all the work. I created the story, the dialogue and took it wherever I wanted it to go. How many games can you say that about nowadays?

Do you know this man?

2010-06-12T19:15:00.004-07:00

Well, you should. This is Robert Bruce Orr, aka Bobby. Yes, Bobby, even though he is a grown man, he likes the sobriquet and it suits him. This is my husband and today, on his birthday, I want to express to all who read my blog(well I know it's not that many but I can pretend) how amazing he is. Bobby is not the same man I married. He is immensely better than the man I married. His core, who he is, has not changed. The way he handles situations and the way he regards others has. I have always loved the word volatile and that describes Bobby. He was when I met him and he is now but he stops, he thinks, he considers those around him now. He is incredibly introspective; I love that about him. He learns from mistakes - his and others. He listens to me. I know how men joke about women babbling on. They joke about tuning us out. I admit, he does not hang on my every word ~ thank goodness. However, when it's a serious matter for any reason, he hears and remembers everything I say. That is amazing and wonderful to me. Bobby is a loving father. Just when I think he's tired and grumpy and has had it with the kids he will surprise me and do something amazing and kind. Anyone who has seen Bobby with his babies knows how much he loves them. He loves to get silly with them, tickle them and roll on the floor with them. He makes up funny names and songs about them. Bobby is not one to go out and do things, he is a bit of a homebody, but if the kids want a sleepover or a birthday party he is there in full force, entertaining them. I love that we can sit and have intelligent conversations with each other. I never tire of talking to Bobby and I love how he can make everyone laugh. Bobby is a hard worker. He may hate his job but he will do his best at it, no one can say he did not go above and beyond his duties. Is our life just a big love fest over here? Heck no. It's far from perfect but I love and respect my husband and I know he would do anything for us. I am so grateful to have him in our lives.

Memorial Day

2010-06-08T16:58:00.003-07:00

Memorial Day was the first day Bobby and I had off together in months. It was so nice to have some time to spend as a family since he leaves for work just before I get home and goes to bed as I leave. We are strangers in the night... or early morning really. My friend from work, Jen, invited us over for a cookout and swim. The kids were extremely excited. This would be their first pool visit of the summer! Brooklyn invited a friend. Caleb and Seth dug out their suits that were too big for them last year and Ayden asked over and over again, "Are we going to the pool?" We all had a good time but had to hurry home so Bobby could get a nap before going in to work at 2am...

Ayden getting ready to leave:
Brooklyn and Caleb testing out the water:

Ayden, posing in his hip flotation device:

Brooklyn and her friend from school and church - best friends!

Seth loves the water.... now if I could get him to swim:

Monday Memories

2010-06-07T16:32:00.003-07:00

Do any of you remember this:

I loved this cereal. Well, I loved the idea of this cereal. I love the color blue. I always wanted to eat blue things. Do you know how hard it is to find blue things to eat? When this commercial came on I was filled with anticipation. I loved Smurfs, I loved blue food, so what could be better? Well, most anything would be better I guess. As you can see from the picture there is hardly any blue. The blue that is there is more purplish black. The cereal was ok I guess. It tasted like crunch berries, if I remember correctly. I still find most new things are better to anticipate than try.

Frid

2010-05-21T16:06:00.003-07:00

Did you see the heading of this post? Yeah, it was a goof up but I decided to leave it there to make people wonder.
We have projectors that hook up to our computers in the classroom. One teacher was using the projector with a power point which quit on him/her unexpectedly. When it did their home page came up and in the search box in the upper right corner they had been searching bedroom erotica. The kids talked about it for days!
Taking the kids to the sitter in the morning really pushes it for me to get to work on time. She doesn't officially start until 7:30 but lets me bring them ten minutes early. Both mornings this week I was out the door, just in time because I have to be, only to scoop up Dillon and discover he was poopy. Five minutes late to work each day.
I went grocery shopping and talked to everyone about what they wanted and got everything on my list for only $4 over budget, guess who I forgot to get stuff for? You guessed it, yours truly.
I watched the two hour episode of Grey's Anatomy last night and my adrenaline was pumping so hard I could not fall asleep. I was alone and wide awake at 11pm. I'm so very tired today. If you never watch Grey's or if you just missed this one you should watch it. CRAZY!

What was your week like? Anything crazy and exciting or just plain stupid? Share!

Happy Birthday Aunt Holly

2010-05-20T15:35:00.004-07:00

I don't mention my sister often enough on here. I suppose it is because she lives so far away now that we never see her. Also, part of the reason I blog is to keep her and other family members up to date about how the kids are doing, so I doubt she would want to read about herself. But, today is her special day.

Holly is my older sister by three years. I have looked up to her my entire life. She was so wise and told me all kinds of things that I was all too willing to believe. My favorite story is when she woke me up, at what had to be about 10pm, and told me I overslept and was late for school. I was probably in second grade at the time. I never stopped to question why she was not worried about being late. I ran into the living room and my mom looked at me like I was crazy. Holly liked to play tricks like that on me.
As we got older it was harder to be friends. Three years is not much now, but when she was in high school and I was in junior high, the age difference seemed huge. She had her own set of friends, a job, a car... a life. I would sneak into her room when she was gone, which was often, and play her records and wear her clothes. I missed the close bond we shared when we were little. All of my friends thought she was so cool and wanted to hang out with her when they came over. She was probably more fun than me. Holly has a great sense of humor and is not afraid to laugh at herself.

Once we lost our mother we relied on each other more and our friendship returned. She was there to help me take care of my kids and give all of us free haircuts. She would babysit the kids so I could go out on my birthday and we went shopping together or to a movie when we could, which did not seem often enough.
Parents raise us and teach us but it is our siblings that we come to rely on and lean on as we get older. I miss my sister so much and the kids probably miss her more!

Happy Birthday big sister!

Figure this one out

2010-05-16T18:19:00.003-07:00

I will trust that most of you know what a half bath looks like. There is a sink with a mirror and, across from it, a toilet. That is all. It is a small space. So, can anyone tell me how Seth, who was washing his hands in the sink of said bathroom, did not see his baby brother toddle in, climb into the toilet bowl and go for a dip?

Yes I wanted to run for the camera and yes, my camera was out of batteries. No worries. This is the second time (yes the SECOND time) my baby has managed to sit in the toilet bowl. I am sure with four older siblings leaving the gate open for him to walk through he will manage to do it again and I will be sure to have the good camera ready. Anyone want to send me some double A's? LOL

Here is a shot from Bobby's phone from his first dip in the bowl. Just picture the same thing only he was wearing his light blue pajamas. Oh and he loves it, he gets very angry when you take him out. I have said it before, this kid is gross.

Who is Mother's Day For Anyway?

2010-05-12T12:01:00.003-07:00

Seriously, this is a question I want people to answer, to understand how everyone views Mother's Day. I spent my Mother's Day lounging about asking my children to do things for me. When I felt tired, I took a nap. When it was time for dinner, my daughter cooked for us. I did make my own breakfast and lunch - by the way. I have always thought of Mother's Day as a mother's day off. Her day off from her daily, mundane, albeit necessary, tasks. Her day off from children fighting. Basically - her day to feel like she is special and to be pampered. I suppose we all have our own definition of pampering. When I am pampered I like to be left alone. In a house with five children this is not easy to accomplish but not impossible. I realize it is a day to celebrate motherhood but on that day I'd rather be left alone to read a good book and eat yummy food because these are treats for me. I am sure I am somewhat influenced by the fact that my birthday is sometimes on Mother's Day and, if not, very close to it.

I felt a bit guilty about this desire to be left alone when I heard how others view Mother's Day, namely children. Now, my children demand (literally demand) my attention every day of the year. So, when my own offspring said to me, "Mom I just went to spend Mother's Day with my mother." I did not feel guilty at all as I slipped into bed to read after lunch. Then I read a journal entry from one of my students. The prompt was to write about a time a holiday did not go the way you hoped/planned. This was what he put,

On Mother's Day my day was so crazy. I had to go 2 church services. I left one service early because I had to go do a play. I felt so bad for my mom. I figured since she was taking me all these places I said Happy Mother's Day anytime I could. Then when we finally got home she went to sleep. It was so awful I didn't get to spend anytime with my mom on Mother's Day.

I see the day he described as a great Mother's Day. The mom was able to go to church, her son went to church, her son was in a play and she got a nap. The point of view of the child was an eye opener. Granted, this is brief, he only had five minutes to brainstorm and write, but I could just hear his regret embedded in his writing. He wanted to do more for his mom than he did.

So, what is Mother's Day to you? Are you a mom? If so, how do you like to be pampered? If not, what do you like to do for your mom?

A Dilemma - Any Advice?

2010-05-08T16:15:00.004-07:00

Have you ever had an loud knock on your door in the middle of the afternoon? Was there an angry Grandpa on the other side?

The story really starts yesterday around 5:30. I had told Caleb he could go ride his bike. He likes to go one street over where there is a steep driveway that all the kids ride down. The yards here do not have privacy fences, so I can hear and catch glimpses of the kids over there and I allow him to go. He came back much earlier and quicker than usual. His face was flushed and not just from the heat. He was visibly upset. There was a problem with another boy. Let's call him B. B was in Caleb's class last year. They were friends at first, but after hearing how often this child went to the office, I told Caleb not to hang out with him. That was kind of hard since B is in the adjoining backyard with another little boy every day. Caleb is a pretty friendly, easy going kid though so I didn't really worry. Lately though, Caleb and B have not gotten along. Caleb's little girlfriend broke up with him to be B's girlfriend. Supposedly B has been making very ugly comments to Caleb and yesterday was no different. Caleb said B started shouting some very obscene things to him and Caleb charged towards him. Caleb told me they were just playing around, then Caleb admitted that is was more than that - he was mad at him and might have pushed him. Then the boy's Grandpa came out yelling at him and told him he had to get off their street. Caleb was super nervous because the Grandpa said he was going to come talk to me. I said, 'Let him, I have a few things to say to him too.'

Fast forward to this afternoon. Today is my mother's day as Bobby works all day tomorrow. All of us were lounging in the living room watching a movie. It was nice. Not for long. Grandpa was true to his word and banged our knocker against our door demanding to be noticed. I answered the door prepared for who it was but not prepared for a different version than I had heard. He said Caleb went after his grandson four times and four times the kid tried to run away from him. One time Caleb even had a stick in his hand, brandishing it at his grandson. (Later Caleb said B had one too but I didn't hear that from Grandpa.) He also said that Caleb was yelling obscenities at B - he said he would not even repeat the words Caleb said. Caleb had not told me that either. I told him Caleb would not be on their street. He tried to tell me that if Caleb was on his street again he would call the police, yeah right. My son has a right to ride his bike in his neighborhood but anyway - I digress. I told him what Caleb told me that B had said. I told him that B had shot rubber bullets and a slime gun at both of my boys, and I had already told them not to play with him. He said he would talk to B and B would not lie to him. Whatever.

I confronted Caleb, who admitted to everything Grandpa said except the cussing. He promises me he did not say any bad words. Brooklyn said he would have told her the truth and he told her he did not swear. I know Caleb has a temper. I do not doubt that. I do not doubt Caleb went after him four different times. But Caleb said each time B was running away he was yelling stuff over his shoulder to goad Caleb on. I believe that too. Grandpa didn't admit to that though, shoot he was up at his house, he may not have heard what was provoking Caleb. Caleb has never gotten into a fight with any kid other than his brother. Not a physical fight. I told him fighting would not be tolerated. We talked about what better choices would have been. Caleb has never let a cuss word slip in front of us either. He has gotten extremely angry with Brooklyn, Seth or Ayden at different times and I was not happy with his reaction but he never said a bad word. He has good behavior at school and gets the Good Citizenship Award every marking period. His teacher tells me he is popular and has a lot of friends. I just don't know what to make of this. I don't believe that he was cussing, but he wasn't entirely honest with me either. I have grounded him from going outside unless he's watching his little brothers out there, I have grounded him from his bike. I do not know what else to do. Should I let it go? I have never had to deal with something like this before. I mean the last really bad thing he did was bite a little baby's finger when he was three because he wanted to see what would happen. He really does not get in trouble and has always been a good kid. My gut tells me this kid had to really egg him on to make him that angry. I'm angry that he wasn't totally honest, I'm angry that he was trying to get violent but I'm also angry that the Grandfather was not ready to let B take any blame for his part. It's not like Caleb is some wild kid that just runs around bullying other people.

Well, I didn't mean for this post to get so long, sorry I rambled, but I would love any input.

Friday Follies

2010-05-07T16:20:00.005-07:00

I am starting a new idea of posting my follies of the week every Friday. I figured it would be funny and why not laugh at myself? Chances are there were ten times as many as what I post on here. I'd love it if you joined me and did the same! It would be fun if you left a comment saying you did the same on your blog and I can laugh at you too! Join me!

Oh the pressure! I can not think of anything stupid I did this week. Guess I was brilliant or just walking around asleep most of the week. It was a busy week. Tuesday Brooklyn had to get a physical. Bobby took her but I promised to meet him there because he was freaking out b/c of the girl stuff. Wednesday night was scouts and a YW fundraiser for camp. Since Brooklyn can go to camp this year she gets to help the YW with the fundraiser. Thursday was a meeting for parents of kids trying out for cheerleader and today Bobby is working late and I told Brooklyn she could go to Cici's and play kickball with some friends. The result was a migraine for me three nights in a row and going through gas like it cost pennies a gallon. Don't I wish. How much are you paying for gas? I did manage to pay 2.43 a gallon at Kroger because I got .20 off a gallon. Not horrible.

Monday Memories

2010-05-03T19:04:00.002-07:00

Not long after Bobby and I were married Bobby decided it was time to cut his hair. The cheapest, easiest way to do this was to shave it off. Caleb and Seth thought that was pretty cool and got in on the action. We decided that next time, we wouldn't shave it quite so close. They definitely look like my three monkeys here. Seth cried the day after saying he didn't want to go to school, he thought the kids would tease him. I don't think they did, I honestly don't remember but he did hate it. Caleb has shaved it many times since then and now Bobby shaves Ayden's and Dillon's hair.

Friday Follies

2010-04-30T16:05:00.002-07:00

I am starting a new idea of posting my follies of the week every Friday. I figured it would be funny and why not laugh at myself? Chances are there were ten times as many as what I post on here. I'd love it if you joined me and did the same! It would be fun if you left a comment saying you did the same on your blog and I can laugh at you too! Join me!

* I thought it would be fine to hit snooze four times this morning. Yup, I was ten minutes late to work. Interesting that the snooze button is ten minutes.

* My daughter did not get a lunch today. We ran out of chips yesterday, the bread was left in the freezer and the cookies were still dough in the fridge. Granted, she could have had pop-tarts and a package of peeps. Healthy stuff I tell you, but she did not even grab a drink and a hamburger bun. Guess that would look funny in middle school where what everyone thinks is king. Oh well, she ate a big dinner.

* We went to IHOP last night, the day after the last kids eat free night. Brilliant.

*Have you ever given someone a check post-dated and told them they had to hold it until that day? Have they ever cashed it early anyway? Yeah, that really sucks.

Monday Memories

2010-04-26T14:18:00.004-07:00

Every Mother's Day in our ward (church term = church family) the men would pass out roses for all the mothers. Eventually this tradition expanded to all the adult women because they all, in one way or another, touched a child's life. I only ever wanted to be a mother. I had a great mother and I wanted to be just like her. Mother's Day has always been a very special day to me to honor my mother and I looked forward to the Mother's Day where I would be a mother myself. My first official mother's day I was able to spend at my childhood home with my parents and my sister. My mother bought a dress for Brooklyn that matched one I had and we all stood together, in front of the house for the traditional shot for Mother's Day. I remember standing out in front of the tree, trying to keep Brooklyn still and looking at the camera. Not an easy task. I remember my mother standing in the middle. I remember how she smelled and I remember her laughter. She only ever wanted to be a Grandma. I love finding pictures of my mother with my kids. There aren't many. I love it even more when I am in them too!

Friday Follies

2010-04-24T03:49:00.004-07:00

I am starting a new idea of posting my follies of the week every Friday. I figured it would be funny and why not laugh at myself? I hope I can remember all my follies! Chances are there were ten times as many as what I post on here. I'd love it if you joined me and did the same! I have no feed thingy and no clue how to do one - no interest really either. It would be fun if you left a comment saying you did the same on your blog and I can laugh at you too! Join me!

*It seems I have doomed myself to doing this on Saturday. GRRR. I was sick yesterday though so it that a good excuse?

*I have really messed up the settings on my computer upstairs. I'm not sure how but I cannot see the pictures when I am looking at them in a folder, just an icon, and my right click on my mouse does not work. These are both extremely frustrating!

*I made a wonderful dinner Thursday and managed to set off the fire alarms in my house. I suppose I will need to cover them like my friend Lissa.

*Now all of a sudden, this very instant my right click works. What is up with that?

*I had to miss work Friday due to illness which means: I am out that day's pay, I missed my Myth Club meeting, I missed my student teacher's last observation and I have no grades in the computer for my students.

*Is this a folly? Not sure. I wrote a scathing email to the Virginia Department of Labor. Did you know they have no labor laws here to protect their employees - as far as requiring a break or limiting the number of hours one is required to work? So, an employer can have a 16 year old work a ten hour shift and give them no break and break no laws. Interesting. See here is their mission statement. And here is where they go against it, proving they are hypocrites. Not only that but an employer can simply fire you and not have to give any reason what so ever. Great state this Virginia. No wonder you never here Virginia Proud like you do Texas Proud. Really, google both, you'll see what I mean.

Where did your food go?

2010-04-21T15:39:00.002-07:00

I do have to post about Caleb's recorder concert, including the horrible pictures I took (thank you man who snuck in front of me just as I snapped the best one). But if I don't post this I will forget and it is too cute to forget.

Ayden: I want candy!
Mom: But you just ate pudding, no candy.
Ayden: I don't want pudding, I want candy.
Mom: It's too late for that Ayden, the pudding is in your tummy (poke tummy).
Ayden: NO! Pudding is in my leg! (He grabs frantically at his shorts) I need candy to put in my leg too!

So, if the pudding goes to his leg, what is up with his ginormous belly?

Friday Follies

2010-04-17T19:13:00.004-07:00

I am starting a new idea of posting my follies of the week every Friday. I figured it would be funny and why not laugh at myself? I hope I can remember all my follies! Chances are there were ten times as many as what I post on here. I'd love it if you joined me and did the same! I have no feed thingy and no clue how to do one - no interest really either. It would be fun if you left a comment saying you did the same on your blog and I can laugh at you too! Join me!

*Of course the most glaring folly of all is that I am doing this on a Saturday. Oh well, it will be clear in the next bullet why this happened. I hope.

*I waited until Friday night to complete four, yes four, major assignments for my graduate level course that were due the next day. I was up until 2:30 in the am. Go me. I did finish and they weren't too shabby if I do say so myself though I was rather delirious by the time I was done.

*I lost a cell phone. Well, I think Brooklyn lost it but regardless, we can't find it and are still looking.

*I put my name in the pool of candidates for English department chair. What was I thinking?! But I kind of want it and I kind of don't.

*I let Dillon have some pop from my straw and ketchup. BIG mistake. The messiest baby ever has just turned into the shrieking messiest baby ever.

*I keep forgetting that now that I'm older, days of the week and dates on the calendar no longer creep up on me but bum rush me.

This is not a folly - it's just a cute boy. Isn't he getting so big and precious?

Wordless Wednesday

2010-04-14T20:11:00.002-07:00

Someone is hiding somewhere they shouldn't be...

Sticky Note Tuesday

2010-04-13T16:09:00.002-07:00

Vent or share your to do list! Click the sticky below and make your own.

Holy What?

2010-04-10T17:04:00.004-07:00

I worry about some of the things my children pick up from me and my husband. What habits do they see that they will surely imitate, probably in a quiet library or their class at school? Sometimes I get a preview. Today was a good one. Let me set the scene, it's a tad tacky: I have entered the bathroom to take care of my three year old's bottom after he has gone number 2.

Me: Whew, that is stinky Ayden!
Ayden: Ewww! Holy crap!

I busted out laughing. How could I not? I was just thrilled he used it in an appropriate setting. This kid is smart!

Monday Memories

2010-04-10T16:46:00.006-07:00

There was a time that I was cute. When driving in my car with the windows rolled down, music blasting on the radio, a boy in the car next to mine at a red light would smile flirtatiously. I would smile back then figure he just liked the song I was listening to. See, I didn't think I was cute or pretty or smart or thin. I was all of those things! Now I see teens flirting from car to car and I feel a little pang. I don't have a name for the pang because it isn't really envy. I am so happy to be finished with that stage of my life. But there is a pang. Maybe the pang is regret that I didn't enjoy it more or have more confidence at the time.

(From left: Denise, Amy, Me!)

See those hot girls? See the one on the right? That was me in my very early 20's. See the hot girl in the middle? That is my oldest, dearest friend Amy. When we were in high school she had the coolest Jeep Renegade. It had a hard top and a bikini top. One day she picked me up in her jeep (with the bikini top) at my boyfriend's house. We were heading to the mall. I got in, put on my seat belt and saw him cringe, noticeably. I asked him what was up.

He told me, "Wow, you look so cute sitting in that Jeep. Just be really careful and watch out for strange guys."

*Eyeroll* Whatever that was supposed to mean. Now I have a daughter and I think I know what he meant. We looked hot and he was worried about the competition!

I miss those days, but more than that, I miss enjoying those days. What do you miss?

Did You Ever Do This?

2010-04-10T06:45:00.003-07:00

There is a preferred way to go down the stairs in our house, though I'm told it only works well in footie pajamas.

Friday Follies

2010-04-09T12:00:00.003-07:00

So I Lied, Again...

2010-04-07T08:09:00.006-07:00

Why doesn't anyone tell you that having kids turns you into a liar? So much for no housework day. The kids were driving me nuts so I set them to work in the kitchen. The kitchen ALWAYS needs cleaning, right? It should be the cleanest room in the home since that is where we eat and store food. Here they are, on no housework day, scrubbing down.

This one is my favorite, because if you click on it and make it large, you'll see the truly disgusted look on Caleb's face.
Bobby said to keep them busy otherwise they sit on the couch and become 'as vegetables'. So, they're busy.

April 7 is . . . . . No Housework Day

2010-04-06T15:00:00.006-07:00

I have no problem with this. No one who knows me will be surprised. I am all for a day where housework is not done. I don't think Bobby will be. Bring it on April 7th! I'm ready for ya!

I found out about this on this blog. There is a giveaway and I can't figure out the lingo but no sweat. I don't care if I win. I just want to have an excuse to do no housework tomorrow. I will update with photos.

Just as I said I would - and it's only 10:24am. Trust me, the table will get cleared and the dishes will get done but to heck with everything else. Right?

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T05:21:00.008-07:00

When you have little ones, you get through with all the silly and fun things about Easter early. There is more reflection on the true meaning of Easter later in my post, but the kids are pretty darn cute so I'm getting the pictures out of the way first.

Ayden came in our room at 6:30 to tell us the Easter bunny had been to our house. We managed to hold him off until almost 8:00. The four older kids had already ransacked the baskets and eaten some candy but the Easter bunny had left eggs out in the backyard! Ayden was ready to go get them. Bobby and I forced ourselves out of bed and down the stairs. The rest of this story can be told in pictures:

Dillon loved his bunny, well, before he realized there was candy too.
Caleb went after the Easter bunny's tail!
Seth has already had too much sugar.
Then Daddy helped Dillon discover the candy.
We headed outside to find some eggs, Ayden wasted no time. I couldn't even get a clear picture of the kid.
Caleb wasted no time and already knew what he was going for. The Easter bunny visited his bike.
Seth wasn't even looking for eggs, he missed one right in front of him. Can you see it?
Dillon wanted the candy INSIDE the eggs.
They weren't too hard to find for Brooklyn.
Ayden found the rest of his!
It was fun for the children to hunt for the eggs and discover the chocolate and jelly beans. I love to watch my children enjoy the beautiful spring weather after a cold winter. However, Easter is so much more than candy, toys, and the Easter Bunny. I know this. I have talked to our children about this, though probably not enough. All of the symbols: the eggs, the chicks, the bunnies, the lamb - they all celebrate new life, rebirth, starting new, clean and fresh. Because of the sacrifice of our Savior, we will all be able to be resurrected as he was. Many Christians use the cross to celebrate and remember this day. It is significant, I know that, but I was taught to remember two additional things on this day that represent, to me, what Easter is all about. First, I remember how Christ suffered and bled in the Garden of Gethsemane for my sins. That act is why my sins can be forgiven. I also choose to focus on the idea that even though he died, he rose again! He was resurrected on the third day and that is why we celebrate Easter. So, as we look for the eggs in the yard, we need to remember the women who came to his tomb on that third day to discover he was not there. I can not imagine how they felt when they saw the stone rolled away and the ache in their hearts, only then to actually see him, in the flesh again. This is what gives me hope. Even though I am imperfect and have sinned over and over again, I will have that chance to be made pure and perfect again. I am grateful for the sacrifice of my Savior and my Father in Heaven. I am grateful that He came to set the example for us and I love to have a special day each year where I can reflect on this sacrifice and what it means in my life and the life of my children. This is my testimony. Thank you for letting me share that and Happy Easter everyone.

So, What Does An 11 Year Old Take Pictures Of With Her Digital Camera?

2010-03-31T16:30:00.006-07:00

A camera that is nicer than her parents? A camera that Santa brought her, that she begged for? Take a little trip with me, if you dare, into what it so important that Brooklyn felt the need to photograph it.
Nice, huh? Yeah, if you are self-obsessed or creating umpteen different versions of "portrait of the artist as a young girl".

I did like this shot, so precious:
And this is sticky sweet (that was fresh from the oven chocolate chip cookie goo):
She was even so generous as to loan the camera to her brother for his field trip. My favorite shot is the one up some famous dead guy's nose.... I'm sure whoever it is, is very proud.

Seth's baptism part 2

2010-03-20T17:49:00.005-07:00

I realized that I posted that slide show on the day of his baptism and never got around to posting pictures of the actual event. It went as smoothly as an event like that can go. Everyone was there on time, including us. We remembered towels and underwear (for after the baptism, I forgot that with Caleb). There were more people there than I had thought there would be, which was great. Brooklyn did a fantastic job on her talk and Craig Giffin finished off the day with his talk on the Holy Ghost. Seth beamed and Bobby gave him the most beautiful, thoughtful blessing. Ayden and Dillon were loud but not overly so and it was controllable. It was such a wonderful experience and very sweet. I wish I had posted about it sooner so I could relate more of what happened but life marched on and I just have not stopped. Whenever life is slow, I get restless and wish we had more going on. Then, we do get a lot going on and all I want to do is crawl in bed and sleep! Here are some shots from the day. We didn't get too many because Bobby was rushing me to start on time :D

Seth arrives at the church, suit on, hair only slightly messy.
All of the boys kept running over to watch the font fill up with water. The water started out very hot but the hot water ran out before the font was full and Bobby and Seth both agreed it was rather frigid.

We took the "Mormon Baptism Photo" once the boys get on their jumpsuits. (They were borrowed and Seth's was huge! It was pretty funny, this was the smaller of the two)
Seth, Brooklyn and Caleb in "I love my sibling" mode, don't worry it was short lived.
Seth, only slightly damp and definitely looking more mature.
I love this kid!
If you have been baptized, what do you remember most from your baptism?

Maybe there is a reason I don't stay home

2010-03-16T11:10:00.009-07:00

I only ever wanted to be a stay at home mom. I have always loved children. I did get my degree because it seemed the wise, logical thing to do and my parents paid for it. Thank goodness they did because I have had to work outside of my home my entire adult life. I did not do it so I could afford a nice car or a better home. I did not do it because I did not feel satisfied being home with my children. I have worked out of necessity. I figure teaching is great because I get to be home with them on my vacations. It's kind of like my consolation prize. However, after days like today, maybe there is some bigger reason out there that I've never been able to stay home. Maybe my Heavenly Father knows something about me that I've never had to find out. I am just not equipped for it.

I was home today because of this little guy,
Ayden got sick Saturday night and just when we thought he was all better he got sick Sunday night. He slept most of Monday and wouldn't eat for Bobby so I kept him home today. He has been a handful. He still really won't eat. He sure does ask for food but, then, will not eat it. Nothing frustrates me more! He also broke the lid off of the toilet. He was standing on it, for the millionth time, and I was telling him to get off, for the millionth time. Well, the toilet lid took care of Ayden by itself and just slid right off and broke. I was thrilled. He told me it was, "just an accident it ok Mommy.'

Knowing that I was home was too much temptation for this one,
He went to the nurse's office twice. On the second visit the nurse pretty much insists that you pick them up, even without a fever. Shall I vent here about elementary schools? No, I'll save that for another time. He is not sick. Do not feel sorry for him. His temperature is normal. He ate all his lunch and snack. He is fine. But he is home. That frustrated me too. He asked if I was mad. How can I get mad? Everyone likes a mental health day I guess.

Since Ayden is home, this one is home too,
I have wiped his nose more times than I can count, snuggled his head, rocked him, kissed him and listened as he has tried out all his new words. He asked, 'where da da', he yelled, 'thank you' about ten times and said, 'hi' as he waved to all the children at Seth's school. Now, after three tries, I think he is down for a nap.

Am I cut out for this type of activity day after day? Actually, I really think I am. How do you moms that stay home do it? If you don't stay home with your kids, would you?

Prioritize

2010-02-27T18:39:00.004-08:00

That is what I need to do here...

I am reading this in celebration of the movie coming out and since it's been quite a while since I read it:
This I bought for myself since I read the real Pride and Prejudice. I promised myself I would not read this one until I read the real one, it's pretty funny so far:
I'm on our visiting author committee at school and it is Roland Smith. I had not read any of his books before so I read one called Thunder Cave and enjoyed it so now I am reading the sequel:
In the midst of reading the second book I was told he will not be discussing either of the books I had read but would I like to read one with my class that he would be talking about. So we ordered this one and I am starting it this weekend:
So many books, so little time... Oh, and I forgot to mention that I am reading this one with Seth...

Seth's baptism

2010-02-13T10:26:00.003-08:00

I made this slideshow for Seth's baptism. After we're finished I'll update with some pictures!

Nasty weather calls for a good, warm dinner

2010-02-10T12:31:00.004-08:00

Monday we had no school. Yesterday we were back for a full day. It was the day my cold, or whatever I have, decided to hit me full force. It was a good day, but I felt horrible! As I sat at my desk, head pounding, nose stuffy, coughing and sneezing, all I could think about was being on the couch at home, under a blanket with a steamy bowl of soup. I called Bobby and asked him what he thought about having that Italian sausage stew that my friend, Stacey, posted on facebook. This stuff is not only delicious and filling but it's pretty too.

I had to stop by the store since we didn't have the sausage and it began to rain. Isn't that always the way? I did get lucky in that the sausage was on sale for more than $2 dollars off! I bought three packs. I made it home a tad wet, sicker than when I got up that morning but totally looking forward to dinner. Bobby had everything else out, ready to cook. I wrapped up on the couch with a blanket and breathed in the sweet, spicy aroma of sizzling sausage. It was ready quickly and at the same time sleet began to fall. On a night like this (there is sleet, the camera just didn't catch it)

I had picked the perfect meal and Bobby delivered. Everyone enjoyed!

2 day weekend in the snow + 3 snow days out of school =

2010-02-02T16:17:00.005-08:00

A Contest

2010-01-30T18:38:00.001-08:00

A friend of mine from high school is sponsoring a contest to win some books! She has her best of 2009 reads and directions on how to enter the contest here. Go check it out!

Native Houstonian

2010-01-30T14:34:00.004-08:00

I'm just not cut out for this. It's pretty, but I can see pretty in pictures. My kids don't even like to play in it anymore. These pictures are all starting to look the same and being inside with five, restless children all day is not fun. Maybe you viewers will enjoy it.

We Love You and We Will Miss You

2010-01-15T17:14:00.007-08:00

Austin Lee Mills (August 1994- January 2010)

Respectful. Kind. Thoughtful.

You will be greatly missed.

Austin Lee Mills, of Craig, died on Monday, January 11, 2009, at his home. He was 15.

Austin was born on August 15, 1994, in Ft. Morgan, Colorado, the son of Dawn Finley and Wade A. Mills. He was raised in Brush and Ft. Morgan where he attended local schools and most recently Riverview Christian School. He moved to Craig with his father and stepmother in August of 2009.

Austin was a freshman at Moffat County High School and was on the freshman football team. He enjoyed riding motorcycles, fishing, playing golf, baseball, running track, playing video games, reading books and learning about cars. He was also very close to his extended family.

When they sing about it they don't tell you...

2010-01-10T10:17:00.006-08:00

the ugly part. When I hear "Let it Snow" or "Frosty the Snowman", snow sounds fun. When I look at pictures of snowy landscapes and falling snow it is beautiful. But the reality is, it's a pain in the rear to drive in and this is what you have two weeks later:

Doesn't that look fun? Isn't it just gorgeous? Oh and it's ice folks. Not fluffy. There is no way to pick it up and make a dirty snow ball out of it. Just big, dirty chunks of ice. Yeah, love the scenery.

Things That Have Made Me Cry Today

2010-01-08T19:46:00.006-08:00

No, I'm not pregnant or hormonal in any way. Anyone who knows me knows I rarely cry. This week it's been a sob fest for some reason. These are the things that made me cry in just the past 24 hours.
This blog post:
Nurse Heidi's Spot

This child:

This movie:
And this show: (I don't know what is up with that!)
Maybe I just need a bit more of this: