Week in pictures

Who says I don't have a pool?

She chopped off 9 inches. Now that I don't have to brush, she and I will be much better friends. 

This is what Briggy does while he waits for his swimming siblings. Not a bad life, right?

Kobe provides us with Endless music in our house. And I do mean endless. Time to get him some new music. 

Let the swim meets begin. There goes my Saturdays. He did awesome, by the way. 

Cub Scout Day Camp was awesome this year! 

This is what a broken dryer looks like. New one coming July 1st. Ugh!

Pretty much the hottest dad there is. I'm that lucky!

Re-post: Yesireeee!

This is my second most visited post of all time. I thought I would share it again.

Guess what.

Sometimes, I say....no. To my kids.

Yeah, I know. I know. I'm Horrible Mean Mother.

"Say yes to your children as often as you can." That's the new good parenting motto.

Really? Really? How is that good? I understand that children should be allowed to be children. And that we should choose our battles. But sometimes, the answer is no. Plain and simple.

And guess what. I say no.

"No, you have to pull your pants up. Everyone does not want to see your rearend cleavage."
"No, you can't skip your bath today because despite what you think, that isn't a tan on your leg. It's called dirty."
"No, we can't have ice cream for dinner because then it will be gone when I need to go to my special place in the middle of the night."

But in order to conform...in order to appease...in order to be Best Mom Evah.....I have come up with a plan to say yes more often.

Wanna hear it?

Child: "Mom, can I play the Wii?"
Me: "Yes. Three days from now, you can play the Wii." See, good mom.

Child "Can I buy a toy?"
Me: "Yes, of course my sweet child. You can work your little tail off for 4 weeks and earn just enough to get that toy you want. Have fun!" Great mom!

Child: "Mom. Can I stay home from school even though I'm not sick?"
Me: "Yes. That would be very helpful because someone will need to take over my daily duties of cleaning and washing and slaving while I take an extended vacation at the local jail. That would be fantastic! Thanks for volunteering!"

What do you think?

So I Married a Deaf Man: Of course he does

Of course he wants hardwood/laminate floors.

Why wouldn't he? I mean they look nice. They clean easily. They keep the place cool. Who wouldn't want floors like that?
Ummm, me!

I'm all for aesthetics. I am. But I haven't forgotten that I have 5 active and actively loud children.

Wooden floors would be great when you didn't have to hear the piano that for some reason only plays fortissimo (ff). No problem.

They would be nice if you didn't have a son that decides to take up the trumpet and the bugle. No biggie.

Nice if you didn't have CODA kids (child of deaf adult) who's volume level only comes in loud and louder. Do-able.

Perfect if you didn't have 5 children and two dogs. Can you imagine that?.

But that's not us. We have all those things.

We have kids who like to play. Kids who more often than I would like bounce their balls in the house. Kids who argue in loud voices from time to time. Kids who love music.

We have kids. Lots of them. Plain and simple. Enough said.

And though he doesn't have to deal with the volume of the sound that comes from having the wonderful children that we have, but I do.

Someday we can have those nice floors. You know, when all our kids are grown and gone. When the only thing I will hear is.....who am I kidding. I am hoping to have a house filled with little grandies running all over my house, playing the piano, bouncing balls, and doing what kids do best....making me love them.

So the fancy floors will have to wait....

...until my mansion in Heaven.

Week in pics

Kyla's second dance recital. You would never know she was a little shy by the way she performs on stage.

This seems to be the story of my life these days. 2-3 hours every morning pool side. Four of my children have now joined swim team.

Kids bowl free! I love watching my littles hurl the ball down the lane. Cracks me up every time.

Heaven can't be much better than this. I'm just saying.

Holy huge nostrils!!

Doesn't this just scream HOT!!

Of course you can....

As many of you know, my 7 year old is pretty short for his age. Despite his heigth, he is a very determined and capable little guy.

Sometimes I forget.

My older kids are all signed up for swim team. Kobe has been in it for 3 years now but I had to convince Kyla and Brody to do it this time. They don't love it, but they don't hate it, either.

Camden wanted to do it so bad. I wasn't sure he could do it. I didn't want him in over his head....quite literally.  I told him that if he wanted to be on the swim team he would need to swim across the pool, which he had never done and quite honestly I didn't think he could do. World's Best Mom, right here.

I couldn't have been wronger...er...more wrong..ummm....Boy was I wrong!

Today was swim lessons for Camden. He jumped into the pool, turned on his back and swam the length of the pool. He then flipped over and freestyled it all the way back.

"Now can I be on the team?" he asked.

"Yes! Yes you can, son." I was never more pleased to be proven wrong in my life. This child of mine never ceases to amaze me. And who am I to tell him what can't do.

Chances are...he can!

Now I just have to find jammers that come in his size.

Yes...yes I can.

It's a good thing we are done having babies....

"Mom, if you had another baby and it was a boy, what would you name him?" my 7 year old asked.

"Ummm, I am not sure. We have kind of used all the good boy names. If it was a girl we would name her Aubrey," I answered.

"I know what we should name him," he said.

"What's that," I asked.

"Fireball."

Does he like it or not???

I don't really understand what he means.

You see, Hubs has always claimed to hate fish. Seafood. Anything that has lived or breathed in the ocean, he refuses to eat. Ever.

I grew up in New Mexico, nowhere near the ocean and so we only ever had canned tuna. On occasion my mom would eat some sort of canned shrimp with ketchup on it, which is slightly disturbing.

Then I met salmon. Technically he didn't meet me, being dead and all. But after one bite, I knew that I liked him.

Last month, I was cooking up salmon for myself. Hubs came in and observed, "Wow! What smells so good?"

"Oh. You must be talking about my salmon." I was pretty sure it wasn't the hot dogs that were cooking for everyone else. Those don't smell delicious at all.

"Oh. Hmmmm," he responded.

"Why don't you try a bite. Seriously, this stuff is good. You might like it. It tastes better than it smells," I coaxed. He agreed.

He took a small...very small...bite. He nodded with a smile. "That tastes good. Very tasty," he signed.

"Cool. Do you want some of mine?" I asked, willing to give up half my dinner. See, always a giver.

"No way. I don't like fish," he answered, surprised by my question.

"But you just said that the salmon tasted good." Huh???.

"I did. And I do. But I don't like fish."

Is anyone else confused?