School is out!

The kids are thrilled. As of May 22 school is officially over. The kids were all on honor roll this year and were great students. They are looking forward to swinging in the backyard, riding on pool toys and hiding out from me in the fort. I am looking forward to sleeping in, no homework and school starting in August!!

Kinder Zoo Trip

I am going to back up a month to catch up. Christian's kindergarten class went to a local zoo the last week of school. I was in charge of 3 rambunctious boys and Jilliann. His teacher, Ms. Loffman, said I could handle the challenging children....I think that was because mine was in the group. We had a lot of fun and walked until exhaustion (10 minutes for the kids!).

We saw all kinds of fabulous animals but our favorite was the naked mole rat. How funny looking are they??

Jilly turns 2!

What a bittersweet day. My baby girl is 2 now. I cannot begin to describe how much joy she has brought me. I love dressing her and watching all the heads turn when we are out. She is so cute and very girly (for now). She had a fabulous party and enjoyed all the attention. She was shy but LOVED when we sang "Happy Birthday".

Back to Africa

Over Spring Break we took John's parents to Out of Africa. Last year I took the kids myself so this time John got to come too. My Mom and George and George's daughter Suzie came too. There were a lot of us.

We saw a program about large snakes and they let people come in and pet them. Of course my children were not the least bit worried and charged right in. We saw Tigers playing in a water pool and got to feed a giraffe (Austin put the "cookie" in his mouth and let the giraffe lick it off of him...ewww). And like usual I was stuck spending half the time nursing my little piggy. Austin was trying to be coy and get me wet when I wasnt looking!! I got him back.

Justin turns 9

Hard to believe! My little Gussy is 9. We went out to dinner with the family on his actual birthday and then he took a friend (and his brothers and sister) to a local amusement park for the day. He actually wasnt feeling great but he managed to have fun. It was challenging having 5 kids at the park alone but I managed. We all had a great time and Austin even took Christian on a few rides!!

Another Project Completed

We FINALLY finished the BBQ. It took forever it seemed but it is done and has been used a lot already. John is happy to have completed yet another task on his list but have no fear...I have added several more since then!! Poor guy will never be done.

Tale of a Jumping Cactus

Here is a picture of a plant called a jumping cactus. It is made up of round "balls" of barbed spikes coming out. If you walk close to one it seems to "jump" out and attach to your clothes or skin. Let's ask Jilliann how it feels....

We were all hiking. John and the boys went on ahead of us because Jilliann was walking slow and playing around. Once they were well out of sigh and out of yelling range Jilliann decided to jump off a rock and into one of these. Of course, because they are round and spiked I could not grab them to get them off of her so after thinking I decided to get a rock and try to hit them off. In the mean time some of the ones on her were jumping off and getting on me. So, now she is full of barbed thorns and I have these stupid things all on me. It was REAL fun. After much deliberation I decided to call 911. I had my cell phone but John didn't have his. I needed tweezers or pliers or gloves to get all this off of us and I had none. Eventually 6 good looking paramedics made their way to us and proceeded to pull all this out of us. And, as a cruel joke all mine were stuck in my inner thigh and knee so these men had to pull cactus' out of my inner thigh. Oh yeah...that was totally embarrassing.

Once back at the car I forced the paramedics to leave before John and the boys showed back up. They were hesitant to leave us but I begged them as I knew John would make fun of me! I was right...when he got back and I told him the story he laughed and called me a dork. Although, when we got home and I showed him all the bruises these things left in both Jilliann and I he was shocked. Needless to say, next time he wants to go hiking, Jilliann and I are going to the mall to buy new shoes!!

Flips and Dorks

Andrew has a tradition of taking the babies and doing back flips with them on the trampoline. It is nerve wraking to watch but all the kids have loved it and so far he hasnt dropped anyone!! Jilliann is no exception. She loves flipping around with him. That girl doesnt have much fear.

It rained here A LOT last weekend but that did not stop Justin and Christian from going outside to jump on the trampoline and play in the puddles. And, like usual, they are in their underwear...but put shirts on to stay "warm"!

January Fun

January has been busy. What month isnt!! John is still working on the barbcue. It is coming along nicely although he only gets to work on it here and there. I have been spending most days at the hospital with my Grandma as soon as he gets home from work! We are finally ready to tile it though. I hope to get it done this weekend.

Jilliann has gone through a phase of loving whipped cream. She will bring me a bowl and say "cream cream"...as desperate as possible. It doesnt help that Andrew has bought her the chocolate kind too and she loves it. Here the cat is sharing in the joys with her. She is very giving!!

We are dog sitting through the day for my Mom while she has her floors done. The first day I knew Mom would be worried becuase the dog is her "Baby" so we let Jilliann torture the dog and sent the pictures to my Mom and George. Believe me, Mom was stressed! She loves this dog more then life itself. I had fun freaking Mom out!!

Concrete Pad

For Christmas John got the go-ahead to build a bar-b-cue in the back yard. He had to pour an extra concrete pad off the side of our existing patio. He did it all by hand with Johnny and Andrew. See Andrew's butt?? He wanted to fit in with John and Johnny! What a dork.

Christmas Morning

We woke up...we saw the presents...they were all opened!

It always amazes me that it takes months of thought, preparation and wrapping to be all devoured in a matter of minutes. We stalled as much as we could trying to get them to open up things one at a time but it is hard. I will have to get the rest of the pictures from George because I only took a few. Jilliann got a new doll with a bottle and she liked that! We got so many generous gifts from family. Thank you all for another amazing Christmas. "Santa" left notes for all the kids telling them to be nicer to each other and to remember to tell Jesus Happy Birthday.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was busy. We went to church then had our cousins MaryLee and Amanda over for a traditional ham and mashed potato dinner. Yum. We exchanged gifts and the boys were thrilled to get their first Wii game. We continued to tell them we didn't get one since they were all sold out everywhere. I enjoy torturing them every Christmas.

The cat and dog joined in the holiday fun. The dog looks blissfully ignorant and the cat looks less then thrilled. That pretty much sums up their personalities. The hamster, fish and turtle refused to participate!

Christmas Cookies

The kids and I baked cut-out sugar cookies (home made even) and decorated them with powdered sugar icing in all sorts of colors. It was quite amazing hear Christian tell me how to mix primary colors to get more. I guess all that TV isn't so bad after all!! We all ate tons of dough and more cookies were eaten then were decorated but we had fun. No matter how often I cleaned up Jilliann and changed her clothes she still managed to get herself full of flour. We planned on taking the cookies to a Christmas Eve party the next day but they didn't last that long. We had just enough to give Santa 3 and that was it.

Odds 'n' Ends to 2007

As the year comes to an end I thought I would display our crazy family doings. Andrew made a Ginger Bread House with the little boys and Jilliann...that was fun! I am not sure who yelled more, Andrew at the boys to not eat it or the boys at Andrew because he wouldn't let them eat it. Andrew thought he would get them to wait until after Christmas but it was gone before dinner!

Even though it is winter Christian cant seem to keep his clothes on. Instead of getting dressed to go outside and jump on the trampoline he just brings out a huge blanket and jumps wrapped in that. I suppose he is pretty smart. I just don't understand what is wrong with wearing clothes!!

Jilliann gives new meaning to "Bareback"...doesn't Kodiak look thrilled.

And finally, here is Jilliann escaping out the dog door. She has now discovered that she can climb out the dog door and be free to play in the backyard. Don't worry...the pool area is safely locked and she cannot get in there...but she does enjoy jumping on the trampoline and playing with all the toys outback. She figures if it is good enough for the dog and cat it is good enough for her!!

Tis the Season!

'Tis the season for lots of adventures. December is such a busy month with all the things that go on but the best thing of all is our anniversary. Whoo...we made it to 12 years. I am not sure how but we have managed to stay relatively blissful and happy. After all these years, the ups and downs, the hard times and the amazing times...John is still my #1. We had a romantic dinner then snuggled with Starbucks coffee at the Country Club in a cozy chair for 2. It was nice. It is mind-blowing to think we can find contentment and true peace amidst all this chaos but we do. We even manage some "alone" time...as long as we make sure the door is locked and the kids are sleeping.