Who needs London?

Did you know the Olympics are on? It's true. And guess what. I love the Olympics!

I love seeing people at their best. Competing to be the best in the world. Heck, best on the PLANET!! It's inspiring. Motivating. Sometimes unbelievable. We pray for them every night....the Olympians. Pray that they can do their best without injury.

I love watching the beach volleyball, swimming, track and field, diving, gymnastics, etc. Did you see the guy without legs racing..and keeping up? What about Missy Franklin! Way to go Gabby Douglas!! How cool is it that both women's beach volleyball teams made it to the finals. That's amazing!!

Olympics are awesome.

But I must say that my favorite events aren't happening in London. Oh, no. My favorites events by far are the Livingroom Olympics.

You've never heard of them?

There are times, sometimes in the middle of the day, sometimes late afternoon, and even in the mornings, when our livingroom transforms into a variety of Olympic arenas.

Sometimes its a swimming pool and my children swim the 200 IM, or the 100 Freestyle relay. They have a mean Butterfly. It's always a close finish. There's always a smile. And of course, they always take the gold.

Other times it becomes a gym. My gymnasts are quite amazing. The carpet becomes the mat and the couch becomes the horse. They do somersaults and cartwheels. Leaps and flips. Spins and landings. All amazing. All breathtaking. And of course, they always take the gold.

They synchronize swim. They dive. They take the gold in all water sports.

They sprint. They hurdle. They long jump and discus. They top the podium on the track as well.

 I watch them from the sidelines, which at the moment happens to be the couch. I "ooooooooo" and "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh." I clap and I cheer. I am shocked and I am awed.

 I am the announcer and the spectator. The crowd and the commenter. The coach and the judge.

They always break the world record. They always do things that "have never been done before." In short, they are practically perfect in every way.

I love that my children, when they see greatness, desire to be like it, and mimic it. They believe that they are and can be just as amazing. And I agree.

And so I say, as amazing as the London games are...and they are amazing..., Livingroom Olympics take the gold.

Hooking up with Jen Matlock's ABC Thursday.

I need you...

My sister found out today that her 15 year old daughter has leukemia.

Would you please pray for her?

I am a strong believer in the power of prayer.

Could you send a couple up for our Joy!

Thanks friends!!

Pic picks.

If you haven't noticed, I am trying to incorporate more pictures on my blog.

I am hoping it will encourage me to take more pictures. I'm the worst. It may come from the fact that there are I think three...yes THREE...pictures of me when I was little. My poor mom. She took the pictures, but we didn't have the money to develop them and by the time she did, the film was ruined.

At least that's what she said.

I don't want that to happen to my kids. Because I can't use that excuse. Everything is digital. No development necessary. 

So in an attempt to give my children some visual history, here are some of my favorite pictures from last year.  

I'm not sure what we are looking at, but whatever it is...everyone wants to see. Don't you?

He gets his fashion sense from his father.

Yeah, this was just plain a good shot. He was actually really mad. Fortunately he just looks really cool.

This is my house...everyday...for 4 months...for the rest of my life.

Boys: Beware. Hubs has a gun and isn't afraid to use it. That would be me...afraid to use a gun. But Hubs is not.  

It's like he is saying, "You've got to be kidding me. Really?" He wanted to go on Santa's lap, believe it or not. Walked right up to him. But there was no way he was going to smile at the camera. Uh-uh.

My little tow-headed conquistador.

Brothers. Friends. Same difference.

This picture rivals for the number one best picture of the year. At our family reunion this year, all the kids were randomly dancing on the stage. Kobe and his cousin were caught in a rather...ahem...awkward... position. (Kobe was actually moving his cousin's arms...like a puppet.) This one had to go in the books...you know...for later...when he needs a little embarrassing.

And the number one picture of the year...

Yes, my mother would kill me if she knew this was on here. Good thing she doesn't read this blog. Ever. If she did, I would totally be out of the will.

This one definitely wins the best picker picture of the year.

She says Dad had something red on the outside of his nose and he just couldn't get it. I'm not so sure it is the outside she is getting at. A special thanks to my sister for capturing this one and sharing it with me so I could share it with the world! 

Classic!!

Are you an Acapuc?

Before you read this post, you need to go visit my friend, Chawlie's blog post about Acapucs.

Raisins should never be cooked.  Never. Not ever.

Not in cookies. Not in bread. And most definitely not in cinnamon rolls.

For whatever reason, once they hit the oven they become fat and squishy and chewy and all together disgusting. The only way I can eat a raisin is if it is uncooked and covered with chocolate....because let's face it, everything is better with chocolate.

Even rabbit turds.

No, I haven't had chocolate covered rabbit turds. But my great aunt did. Good old Aunt Norma.

You see, she was a joker. She and her husband were always playing practical jokes on each other. On this particular day, she decided that she was going to take some of their rabbit droppings and cover them with chocolate and trick her husband into eating them.

Mean, right?

Once the poops were covered with melted chocolate, she filled a bowl full of these pieces of chocolaty goodness and set it on her counter. In plain sight. Where a husband walking by couldn't resist taking a handful.

Only she walked by first.

And couldn't resist.

And took a handful. (cringing) Yes, oh yes she did.

She ate them. (ugh) Knowing full well what she was doing. (stomach churning)  That would be eating the chocolate covered rabbit droppings...that she had made!!! 

I know. You can't make up stuff like this.

But then again... 

...she was not an Acapuc.

If you weren't diabetic before...

Today is a special day.

Today is "Load up on all the sugar you can" Day...aka Gingerbread House Making Day! My kids are totally chuck full of mini M&M's, licorice, icing, chocolate, marshmallows, icing, suckers, Cadbury chocolate balls, peppermints, icing...

Yeah, they are bouncing. Off the walls.  Too bad I had to run off to work.

"Huh? What's that, Hubs? What are you supposed to do with these kids? Not sure...I have to go to work. Just protect the tree. Love you! Mwah!" Hubs is awesome. Half of the craziness is hearing the craziness. So he is only half crazed.

(Singing) I have pictures! 
I made this one.

.

Okay, so maybe not. I don't have time to make my live-in house look that nice. It's so not happening for a gingerbread house that will be crushed and ruined in about 10 minutes.

 

You would think that a 2 yr old's house would have candy overload. Not mine...although he had finished off like 5 suckers. But still. (He is so cute!!!!Sorry...mother moment.)

Kobe, being the big boy that he is, designed, built and decorated his all on his own. Fantastic!

Kyla is my artsy girl. She is my only girl. And she is artsy fartsy. Not really farsty...that would be my four boys. Anyway, she is very particular about how her house is made. And it looked great!

Brody never holds back. It's all or nothing for him. And as you can see...tonight it was all. 

Camden also didn't want a lot of help. And just do you know...you are looking at the "naked" side. A future Brody, perhaps? 

The next three are my super cute nieces and nephew. They, too, are part of our tradition. Nothing like living close to family! We love it. We love them! Booya!

 

And so ends our gingerbread extravaganza! Good luck Hubs!

Think of us, my friends, as you brush your teeth tonight.

My week in picture

Yes...this is an aerial vie of half the Pyramid of Giza. (The other side is at the bottom....I uploaded these pictures from my phone and it isn't letting me rearrange them. Grrr...)

This is Camden and I at the Nutcracker. He kept asking for the fighting mice to come back. Total boy!

Snow day! No, wait. We are already out of school. Bummer!

Yum, right?

No such thing as too much yum! (Not until January, right?)

Our first band concert. (He's the 2nd sax player with the Santa hat.) That was truly one of the highlights for me. He played so well (I could totally pick out his hoots...okay, not really) and had a ton of fun.

Picture of kids (just some random kids) at River of Lights. (Just kidding. Four of them are mine, two of them are cousins.) I am totally digging the glowing eyes

And I leave you with the innards of the pyramid. Hope your week was as grandy-dandy as mine was!!

Use the Force

We love Christmas music in our house. Love it. Have been listening to it since Nov 1. That's love, alright. I have a ton of Christmas music and so we need two months just to listen to it all.

We love Star Wars in our house. Not as much as you, Bethany, but we do love it. My kids walk around the house humming the "Darth Maul" song. Every Halloween, someone is someone/thing from Star Wars. We have the little guys, the Lego's, the music, the movies, the posters.

So what does Christmas music and Star Wars have to do with each other?

One of the Christmas songs that is on our favorite's list is Amy Grant's version of "Emmanuel." I hear my kids singing it often, but hadn't really paid much attention to the words they were singing. Not until yesterday. 

My daughter walked past singing, "He’s the Prince of Peace, Mighty God, Obi-Wan! Emmanuel."

"Did you just say Obi-Wan?" I asked.

"Yes. That's what it says. Prince of Peace, Mighty God, Obi-Wan!" she said.

I knew Christ had many names, I just didn't know Obi-Wan was one of them. I guess he is the Ultimate Force, so why not.

Ahhhh, tradition!

Many years ago, Hubs and I made it our family tradition to get a new ornament every year.

This sounded great when it was just the two of us. Still okay when there were three. But we decided to have five children. I don't think we were thinking ahead with this tradition. That is over 125 ornaments if all our children stay with us until they are 18.

We are going to need a stronger tree.

Anywhoo, we have had some pretty good luck picking out ornaments. Hubs always, ALWAYS gets a football one. Yeah, shocking. Almost as shocking as when we go out to eat and he orders a hambugar. Just like that.

Kobe gets something sporty. Kyla usually will get a snowman or an animal. Brody is unpredictable, one year cars, another year a policeman, the next year Santa...you just never know with him. Camden will choose something...then change his mind...then change it back. By the time we leave the area he has decided on 15 different ornaments. Briggy...well, we make him choose from the cart. It's just better that way. Trust me.

So like I was saying we have had good luck with ornaments...specifically not breaking them with all our children.

Until this year...

You see, we came a few days late this year, which meant that all the cute, child friendly ornaments were pretty much gone. All that was left was the if-you-even--look-at-me-wrong-I-am-going-to-shatter ornaments.

So I told the kids to be extra careful. What I didn't know was that it was Opposite Day. (grrrr)

We start looking for ornaments and I hear, "Crash! Shatter! Shatter! Shatter!" I look over and there is Camden, face white as Santa's beard. To make it worse, these women, who couldn't have ever had children gasp, loudly and say, "Oh my. Look what you did." Like he needed their help feeling bad. Thanks! That was all it took for the tears that he had been fighting to spill out.

 I pick up the half broken child and distract him. I then pick up the completely broken ornaments and debate what to do.

C'mon. You know you've been there. Do I simply put them back on the shelf and pretend that nothing happened? I mean, it is their fault that they have 50 breakable, stringed ornaments hanging on one hook within a child's reach. What do they expect? Or do I follow my conscience and pick up the tag and bring it to the front and pay for it.

I did the later....dang conscience.

Then Brody, who had chosen a gawdy beautiful, white glass icicle looking ornament, was trying to help Camden find an ornament and in kneeling down also crushed and shattered his ornament. Lucky for him there were no meany-pants ladies to make him feel worse. He mourned the loss. After much searching Hubs found an almost exact replica. Yay!

Kobe was ticked because there were no good ornaments to choose from so he was refusing to choose one this year. "Good," I thought, "One less ornament to break." But then Hubs found a Steelers ornament that was 3x's the price of the other ones and he changed his mind. Double yay!

Kyla was torn between two: a snowman that changed colors or a dog holding a "Hope" sign. Tough choice, huh. She was literally in tears. "If I choose this one, I will feel bad that I didn't choose the other one. I don't know what to do." It was very emotional.

Briggy's was love at first sight. No drama. No breaking. Cookie Monster. A boy after my own heart!

It took an hour and a half. We did break about 4 ornaments that we didn't have to pay for. Ahhhh, yes, another successful year of the ornament choosing.

Tradition!!!!

Introducing...family!

 Let me introduce you to the family I grew up in....the one that crammed itself into a "slug" bug. Granted, we were smaller back then, but here we are nonetheless.

Then we all got married....

...and had kids.

The whole fam-damily.

Yeah, I love these people. Every last one

Bearly made it

Sometimes I wish I would just not say things out loud.

You see, I love to camp. I grew up camping, every summer...a couple times actually: my family, my parents' family reunions and Girl's Camp. It is nothing new to me.

I am not sure, though, at such a young age, that I truly understood the potential danger that the wild presented. Particularly bears. No, I have never actually seen a bear while camping. I have never known anyone who was mauled by a bear. But I have heard stories. Many.

Like the lady in AZ who was attacked by a bear...twice in one night... by the same bear. Then there was my brother-in-law who had a bear sniffing around his cabin a few years ago. And let's not forget the bear that entered my sisters' camp two months ago and spent 30 minutes trying to open an empty cooler because it smelled like food.

So last week, my family had a camping reunion up in Colorado. I was very excited to see my siblings and their families. I was not excited, however, to sleep with the bears.

"Oh, the rangers haven't seen any bears in this area all season," my sisters tried to comfort me. "Yet," I would add. Still, to be on the safe side, Hubs brought his gun and slept on it every night we were there. For my sanity. Never mind that by the time I woke him, explained to him and he loaded and aimed, I may be dead...but at least I felt better.

Around 8pm the first night, right after dark, I made my way into my tent to set up the beds. And there, in my tent, was a bear!!

Just kidding.

I stepped into my tent, and there on the floor...all over the floor...was half of a Chex Mix bag...minus the bag. It was everywhere. I am not kidding.

Nothing screams, "Hey, Bear! Come eat me!! I have got the strongest, longest lasting, most potent smelling snack every made to man all over my sleeps!" like Chex Mix. To say I was frustrated would be an understatement. I didn't even buy Chex Mix. What the heck!?!

Have you ever tried cleaning that stuff up by the light of a child sized, $.99, Wal-Mart special flashlight? It was pathetic. I borrowed my brother's hand-held broom and started flinging the snack toward the door. I couldn't just fling it out the door because...hello! The bears would figure out where that stuff came from. I took me a good 30 minutes to clean it all up.

I was so annoyed. Then I shot my mouth. Unfortunately 3 of my younger children were around to hear me shooting.

"Great! This is just great. Now the bears are going to come and try to get Chex Mix. And guess where they are going to look. Right here. In this tent. Where we are sleeping. Lovely!!"

Yeah. They were scared. And worried. And now had lost all desire to sleep. "Are the bears really going to come here, Mama? What if they try to eat me? Do they like to eat people?"

"Don't worry, my little children. Mommy has it all worked out. I cleaned up the mess. We threw away the mess. If that doesn't keep the bear away...

"...Daddy has his gun."

Look! It's a family! A BIG family!!

I am back. Like really back. As in I'm having a party at my house tomorrow to celebrate my return.

Okay, not really. I am not that vain. But I am having a party. A salad recipe exchange party. Wanna come? Who sets up a party a day and a half after they get home from vacation? I must have had the May haze going on when I suggested that date.

I'm excited about, though. Recipes that you get to taste before you make them. Whoot! 

But that is not what I was wanting to blog about. So why am I? Moving along...

The first day of our trip was surprisingly easy, despite me only sleeping three hours the night before. My kids didn't fight at all! (Liar!). Okay, so they fought a little. But that was to be expected. Oh, yeah and I almost forgot that Briggy got the runs 3 hours into the trip. We had to pull over every 30 minutes for about 2 hours hours, but once the banana made its way through his system, we were good.

After being in the car for 15 hours, with 5 kids, on three hours of sleep, we were so ready to get to the hotel. I checked us in while Hubs unloaded the van and then we all came dragging into the lobby. Okay, so Hubs and I were dragging in. I think a more appropriate description of  my kids would be bouncing. Again, 15 hours in the car.

The people at the front desk just stared at us. (They may have actually been counting because I may or may not have told them there were only 3 children. What? We needed to stay in the same room.) But one guest looked at us, laughed and asked, "What'd you do? Bring the whole preschool? Hahahaha."

He was making a funny.

Funny thing is, I was too tired to come up with a smart remark equal his funny-ness. Only, at that moment, I wasn't feeling funny. Come to think of it, I don't think I could feel anything but tired. I kid you not, every single person we passed on our way to the 4th floor had a comment about our family.

Really?

Have never seen children or just not that many children in one elevator? Yes, they all belong to us. No, we don't run a preschool. And I would rather have my hands full than empty, thankyouverymuch.

See what I'm saying. I was tired. 

And he was rude.

Party anyone?

I think I can...I think I can....

It's official. The May train has taken off. And once it has started, there is no stopping it. At all.

What am I talking about? You know, the we-have-already-taken-the-state-tests-and-now-there-is-only-four-weeks-of-school-left-so-let's-party-every-day-til-the-end-of-the-year! Yes, you know what I am talking about.

I am seriously not kidding.

My 5th grader has three field trips this month. My kindergartner has two. My 3rd grader has one. (Poor, unlucky soul.) Plus we have a end of the year BBQ, an end of the year performance, field day three times, pre-K graduation, Kinder graduation, and class parties. Oh yeah, and for fun, let's just throw in one more science project.

That doesn't include piano recital, dance recital, parties and potlucks.

Don't get me wrong. My kids live for this time of year; the winding down of all things, less homework, more play. Who wouldn't?

Do I go to all of these things. Heck no! I'm always late. When the conductor hollered "All Aboard!" I was half-way down the street, waving my Mother of the Year ticket in the air. Regardless of whether I go or not, I have to remember which day they have to wear socks, and sunscreen and hats and bring treats and bring a special lunch.

I have to remember which days I need to shower and show up at the school, with treats and a smile.

Oh, yes. You know the train. You are feeling it too. It doesn't matter if you have one child or 14, it is the May train and it stops and slows for no-one.

It's around this time that everyone needs a good laugh. I mean a really really good laugh.

That's why I am here. So, just say thank you and enjoy!!



You're welcome!

Just a little gift!

Last night, Hubs sends me a message saying that there was snow all over the floor.

I was a little perplexed because even though I knew it was a little chilly and a little rainy, I was pretty sure it wasn't snowy. And he said floor, not ground. Though in ASL these two signs can be one in the same.

So I responded with an intelligent, "Huh?"

Things must have gotten busy at home because I never got a response from him. I was left wondering what in the world he was talking about. Yeah, that was until I walked down the stairs this morning.

Styrofoam. Everywhere. And I do mean everywhere.

Where did all this magic come from? The other day I bought myself a glass water dispenser. Okay, so technically it was called an iced tea dispenser, but because while it is under my roof it will never house tea, we are calling it a water dispenser. It came in a box and was held tightly in place by Styrofoam molds.

I hadn't yet put the water dispenser back into it's mold....call me lazy, call me slacker, call me busy. All three are probably correct. But whatever the reason, the water dispenser was left un-put-away.

The kids got bored. Hubs got distracted. And all those millions of compressed Styrofoam balls were ripped from their place and seemed to have exploded all over the first floor of my house. And not just the floor. The couches, the blanket, and yes, even the wall.

Have you ever tried to clean them up?? If you sweep them, the moving air sends them flying in all directions. Pointless. If you vacuum them, you have to deal with the moving air PLUS the electricity that causes them to stick to the front of your vacuum, the couch, the wall, you.

And for whatever reason, vacuuming them up caused my vacuum to overheat. Literally. I thought that they had blown the motor out. And you can imagine how happy I was about that. Luckily, after about 40 minutes of waiting and watching the remaining Styrofoam balls be spread into the rooms I had just cleaned, it started working again. Sigh.

I am still finding them. Under that couch cushions. In the Wii box. My child's diaper. (Don't ask.)

It's the gift that keeps on giving.