Merry Christmas

I hope everyone reading this had a wonderful Christmas. We were able to really enjoy it this year. I truly realize that this is the best time right now with the ages the kids are. I feel like we celebrated the whole month of December and really got into the Christmas spirit. On Christmas Eve, we started with the kids 3 presents from us, then baked cookies for Santa, put Jesus in the manger, sprinkled the reindeer food, and checked Santa' s progress on Norad Santa. Then we headed to Grammy and Bumpa's for an early dinner and presents. Uncle CJ was so wonderful--he gave each kid their own air horn!!! HOW FUN!!!! We all went to mass and Drew, Dawsyn, and Delaney sang in the children's choir. Then we went back to Grandma Judy and Grandpa Carl's for dessert and more presents. It was so fun to watch Caroline get into the spirit of things this year. We made it home in time to get one last check on Santa and get to bed!

In the morning, Santa had left a huge tent set up in the living room, inside it was full of presents for the kids. Some highlights for Drew were: Hogwarts Express Lego set, Beyblades, DS and Wii games. Dawsyn loved her Cotton candy maker, her elf doll, and her snowglobe. Delaney was excited about her skates, her Dippin Dots maker, and her barbie doll. Dax was all about his train sets, and Drake really just got into Christmas morning breakfast, but did seem to like his toys to! We spent the day with family coming for dinner, watching movies like Toy Story 3, and the Little House on the Prairie shows that the kids got. We also played some fun board games and worked on a puzzle. We spent the day after Christmas spending the night at Grammy and Bumpa's house and playing games. Today, the kids are spending the night at Shawn's parents. This is a first and they are really excited about it. So,it feels like it has been a week-long celebration of Jesus' birth--which is probably exactly as it should be. And, even though my house looks like it will never be back in presentable shape with toys scattered from one end of the living room to the other...I wouldn't want it any other way.

Fun Christmas Weekend!

Once again this year, we were involved in the Annual Christmas Cantata. It is a bunch of local churches who get together and put on a choir performance to celebrate Christmas. Shawn, Dawsyn, Drew, Shawn's parents, and my mom all sang in it and I narrated the concert. Drew played "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" for a piano solo.

Dawsyn sang her first public solo--"Where are you Christmas?". She decided to do it acapella and did really well.

Yes, that is Grandpa in pink and teal women's pajamas on the Polar Express! We took a trip on the local "Polar Express" train on Friday night. It was a wonderful event for the kids (minus Grandpa's confusing pajamas :)) because our good friends, Angie, Chad, and Lance, along with all 4 grandparents, and Aunt Emily, Uncle Kyle, Caroline, and Natalie, and their Grandma Linda were all on board as well!

Here we are getting ready for the train ride to start. Yes, we are all in matching pajamas! These pajamas say "nice" on the front and "naughty" on the back. Dax, quite appropriately, was the only one who chose to wear his backwards! One of the conductors stopped and told us that we were the best family he had ever seen on the train with our matching pajamas and personalized santa hats! I asked if that meant we got a free ride on the train, but he said it just meant that we got to hear him say that we were the best family to ever ride on the train! Oh well, I tried!

We are on the countdown to Christmas at our house! We are all getting so excited to spend a few days at home as a family.

Another weekend...Another Victory

Life is definitely a game sometimes, and when we make it through a weekend like the one we just had, it feels like a small victory! Somehow, in the last three days, we managed the following: a sleepover with 12 "Queens" ranging in age from 5 to 16, my Hands on History Class, Shawn having to be in the office from 8PM to 8 AM Friday into Saturday, 4 birthday parties, 2 Basketball games, 2 basketball practices, Choir practice, Church, Sunday School, Art class, Kindermusik, and a First Reconciliation all while dodging the stomach flu that our own little "Typhoid Mary", aka "Delaney" started running through the family on Wednesday night! Now, I must admit that we had A LOT of help, aka Aunt Cassie and Grammy, and a few cancellations due to snow and the stomach flu that did help our weekend go a little more smoothly!
In the end, we survived and ended the weekend on smiles--which is always a victory in our house. I was hoping for a snow day today, but we only got a two hour delay--I guess we take what we can get!
For my children's future viewing and for those who wonder why I never call, here is what the last week has been like:
Wednesday:
Delaney wakes up around 11:00 PM throwing up. She continued to throw up every half hour until 4 in the morning which is when I get up for school.

Thursday:
Shawn stays home with kids but starts to feel ill himself. I take kids to choir practice after school where I begin to feel ill. I manage to get the older two home and pick up Dax to attend his parent participation basketball, all the time feeling like I could puke at any minute, but, hey, he scored his first basket so totally worth it! By the time I get home, I am VERY sick and Shawn and I spend the rest of the evening lieing on the couch hoping the 5 children can fend for themselves. The plus side to all of this was that I finally got an evening to lay on the couch and watch Christmas specials!

Friday:
Since I hadn't thrown up in a few hours, I head off to work and kids go to school. When I get out of school, I go volunteer in Drew's class, then head home to get ready for the Queens sleepover. Shawn heads to work for the night after he picks Dawsyn up from party #1 and the three boys go to Mom's to spend the night.

Saturday:
All 12 girls leave by 8:00, Aunt Cassie comes to get the girls and I head to my class in Columbus just as Shawn is getting home. Aunt Cassie takes Drew and Dawsyn to their art class at 10, drops Dax at his Kindermusik at 11, goes back to get Drew when he starts getting sick at the art class, picks Dax up and heads back home with the 4th person in our house to get the stomach bug. Shawn head to mom's, picks up 4 healthy kids and heads to basketball practice for Dawsyn and then to Birthday party #2, I leave my class and meet them there. We leave birthday party #2, to head to party #3. We would have had to leave that party early to get to Drew's game, but since he was home sick, we got to stay a little longer, then we headed home to get Drew.

Sunday:
We all head to choir practice at 8:30, SUnday School at 9:30, church at 11:15, we leave church to head to Dawsyn basketball game, but find out it is cancelled because of snow so we turn around and head home (YAY!!!--real lunch and no McDonalds today!). We leave for Cantata practice at 3:00, and then head to church again for Dawsyn's First Reconciliation at 5. (We cancelled out on birthday party #4 since we had all been sick, but we still got the gift to the child--which is probably the most important part anyway! :)

So, today we are back to the work week and hoping that somehow the last 3 family member have dodge the "flu bullet". Time will tell...

Thanksgiving...getting ready for the holidays.

In my opinion, the best part of the holiday season is all of the family traditions. I look forward to our traditions each year and hope that someday the kids will too. I hope someday, they will want to continue the same traditions with their own families. My husband has a tradition of his own around the holidays--forgetting that we have traditions! Every year we go through the same thing, I pull out the cookies sheets the day after Thanksgiving to do our annual cookie baking day and he acts surprised, or I call mom and dad to borrow their air mattresses because we always decorate the big tree on Thanksgiving and then sleep in front of it that night as a family and wonders what I need them for. I think I need to write them down so that if something happens to me, someone will know what traditions to continue. As we were decorating the house on Saturday with the remainder of our 9 Christmas trees (I know, overkill), I brought up this conversation. I told him that I was concerned what would happen to all of our family traditions if something happened to me. He stated that he knew one thing for sure--he wouldn't be putting out the Santa toilet seat cover or the annoying snowman that talks to you while you are trying to pee! Glad he could make me feel better! In his defense, he was hanging perilously between the couch and the fireplace, replacing our usual curtains with our Christmas ones!

The kids are more like me, though! They put on their annual Thanksgiving play. It gets more interesting every year as they get more into it. And, we did sleep in front of the tree on Thanksgiving night.

Traditions are starting to change as the kids get older, though. For instance, I don't think we will be able to do our funny family Christmas card much longer. This year, when they came in the mail after I had ordered them, I showed them to the kids and asked them what they thought. Boy, have they turned into critics! Delaney said she didn't like it, Dawsyn said it was "OK", but the best reaction was from my little Republican who stated that it was nice, but it would be better if he were being paid for the use of his image! The use of his image??? He wants royalties on the family Christmas card??? Yeah, some traditions may need to change!

Little D is ONE!!!!

Our Baby Beluga, Our Little Tie-Breaker, our number 5, our whole reason for starting this blog has turned 1...and boy did he like the cake!

My little baby boy has the sweetest face and the sweetest disposition. However, he is quickly learning that, in this family, he better make his ideas and concerns known--like when he head-butted me and screamed because we took his cake away!

Being number 5 means you don't have to worry about walking, or even crawling that much at a year old. He is the baby of the family and everything is done for him. He has four older siblings who adore him and bring him whatever he needs. On top of that, he is the "church baby"--constantly being passed around at church, the "school baby"--probably the only one year old who goes through a school hallway and has kids yelling out, "Hey Drake!" and it all makes me wonder what the future holds for our little guy. It seems the older kids are already fitting into their little places in the world. I don't ever want Drake to feel like there isn't a place left for him. He holds just as much promise, just as much love, and has just as much backing from us as he would if he were an only child. Whatever the future holds, I hope that he always follows God's plan for his life and never feels lost in the shuffle because he is so special to all of us!

Dawsyn turns 8!

Our Baby girl is 8! And, with Dawsyn, birthdays are no small event! It was a day-long celebration! She had a great birthday with family coming for a small party on the day of her birthday and then 10 friends staying for an over-nighter! We definitely decided that having 10 girls was a lot louder than having 10 boys. By 11:00 PM, the boys were playing their video games or passed out from running around. With the girls, I finally had to make them stop doing fashion shows and American Idol at 3 AM! :) And... the girls eat A LOT more! They downed so many cheese balls, some of them still had orange hands in the morning!

Dawsyn's birthday breakfast.

Our Little Monkey who gets the next turn for a birthday! He will be one next week--unbelievable!

Our Halloween inspiration...

Halloween 2010

Alvin, Simon...

Theodore!

And, of course, The Chipettes (Brittney, Jeanette, and Eleanor)!

And, we can't forget Dave!

This year, Drew decided he wanted us to be Alvin and the Chipmunks! And, actually, it made sense. The choices were pretty obvious...Drew was Alvin, Dax was Simon, and Drake was a perfect Theodore. For the girls, Dawsyn insisted that she be Brittney, Delaney was a wonderful Eleanor, so that left Mommy to be Jeanette.

We decided Shawn would be Dave, but in the midst of trying to make sure I had everyone's costumes, I didn't really think about his. So, this morning, in the middle of the rush to get out the door, Shawn says, "Hey! What am I going to wear tonight?" I was less then friendly when I said that I had done all the work for all the other costumes and I was kind of hoping he could at least dress himself! In my defense, my arms were full, I had just baked 4 dozen cookies, gotten 5 kids up, dressed, and ready for the day, packed lunches, studied spelling words, math facts, played a quick Halloween word game, laid out all the costumes, plus got a 45 minute workout in and it wasn't even 6:30 AM!!!! He looked kind of wounded and just said, "OK". I was feeling badly about it later at work until he sent me an email that said, "I think I can handle this!" with an attachment of a picture he had found of the old cartoon-Dave Seville. When I opened the picture all I could think was, "(GASP) I married Dave from Alvin and the Chipmunks! (see picture above!)

We had a good time even though it was extremely cold and I did get a little tired of hearing 4 kids in the back of the van singing, "Me, I want a HOOOOOla- Hoooop!" :)

More Pumpkin Show!

We had an exhausting, but fun week at Pumpkin Show again this year. The girls were in almost every parade on the Amanda Firefighter's Festival Float--it took 2nd place in the float competition! The boys also had the chance to ride on the float for our church. The kids entered artwork and decorated pumpkins into the arts and crafts contest. Dawsyn's mermaid pumpkin took first place for her age group and Daxton's Porcupine pumpkin took first place for his age group. Delaney entered an apple pumpkin and Drew created Hedwig from Harry Potter out of his pumpkin. I must say the highlight of the week was working our church's Apple Cider Slush booth. We decided to take the whole family and work the booth. We thought it would be great for the kids to experience service to others, making change, taking orders, etc. We started out pretty well. Drew was taking money, Dax passed out straws, Dawsyn made the cold slushies, and Delaney helped Shawn make the hot ones. Drake sat nicely in his stroller and just watched the action. It was smooth like "butta" .... for about 10 minutes! Then Drew decided he didn't feel well and didn't want to take the money anymore. Dawsyn decided that she wanted Delaney's job and Dax thought that the whole "straw gig" was not important enough. This started a huge cycle of switching jobs every 5-10 minutes. At one point, the three year old was taking money, complete with wearing the money belt, Dawsyn was making cold slushies, while eating an apple that we were supposed to be selling, Drake decided there wasn't enough entertainment and began to cry, Drew developed a horrible cough and moved towards the back to sit on a box and look like death warmed over, and Delaney invented a new job-bending way over out the window of the booth and screaming "Apple Cider Slushies! Get Your Apple Cider Slushies Here!" In the meantime, Shawn and I were just trying to keep our heads from spinning and looking like the next episode of Nanny 911! When what to our wondering eyes should appear? Ah--enter Pickaway County Health Inspector!!!! There was knock on the back door of our trailer and in walks the health inspector. I try not to panic at this point as I realize what the scene must look like: Dawsyn's long hair in the slush mix, while eating an apple and serving people, Drew coughing like Typhoid Mary in the back of the trailer, the baby crying and sneezing, Dax, clearly capable of economic ventures at the ripe old age of 3, digging in the money bag and asking if a $20 bill was the change a customer needed, and (possibly the biggest violation yet) Delaney bending way over with her crack hanging out good enough to rival any plumber!
At this point, all I could think is that the youth of our parish will not be able to go on their mission trip because that "Adams Family" got the booth shut down!!! The health inspector looked around at all of us and asked to see our license. At this point, my husband decides to speak up--this should end well--he always handles stressful situations well--I remember! He immediately startes stammering and doing quick little jerky movements (think Elaine's dancing on Seinfield!). I finally step in and tell him to call the lady in charge of the booth whose number is posted by the door. He calls her and she says not to worry to tell the inspector that we have a letter that says we are exempt from inspections because we aren't actually producing anything ourselves. Shawn begins to frantically look for said letter. At this point, Drew begins to realize this isn't a great situation. He quietly makes his way over to where I am standing and says, "Mom, I know what to do--remember that episode of SpongeBob where the health inspector comes?" Thankfully that is one of the few episodes I have seen and I respond with , "Isn't that the episode where SpongeBob and Patrick think they have killed the health inspector and try to hide his body?" Drew just kind of raises his eyebrows at me as he nods his head towards the health inspector. I ponder this for a brief second, then catch myself and say, "Drew!" He says, "I'm just sayin'" then goes back to sit down and resume his coughing right next to the health inspector. This ended up being the solution. The guy looks at Drew, the crying baby, Dawsyn and Dax fighting over the money bag, and Delaney still "hanging" out the window, looks back at me and Shawn and just says, "I'll come back later". We agreed that might be a good idea and thanked him for taking pity on us. Our shift ended an hour later and we could not get out of their fast enough. The good news is, we noticed that the booth was still open two days later, so obviously, we weren't that offensive! Only us!

Pumpkin Show!

Dax and his 1st place decorated pumpkin!!!

Dawsyn and her 3rd peice of pumpkin pie this week!

Mommy and the boys on the church float--one of the rare moments that Dax was actually awake on the float!

All of us working the church Apple Cider Slushie Booth.

Delaney being Little Miss Thing!

The ways we never thought we'd spend our days...

...Like spending every weekend traveling to every small town in Ohio for yet another parade..and not wanting to be anywhere else! Dawsyn and Delaney had their first float parade today and they won Overall Champion! It looked great and they were so proud to wave at the crowd!
...Like absolutely melting at the laugh of your 11 month old son while he was enjoying the Fall Fun Festival and hay ride! How could you not laugh right along with him?
...or like staying up late cleaning up the coconut-frosting mess that was left all over your kitchen so the kids could participate in the Family Cake Contest at their schools Literacy Night. And then, knowing it was all worth it when Dawsyn and Delaney's names were called as the grand prize winners and the smile on their faces brightened the entire room!

Thank you, Captain Obvious

The older Drew gets, the more I see myself and, more frighteningly, my personality, particularly my sense of humor, in him. We were driving home from his soccer game on Sunday and out of nowhere he announces that something has really been bothering him lately. SO, of course, we turn off the radio and sit up a little straighter in our seats and ask him what it is. He responds with this, "Mom, did you ever notice that whenever there is a group picture of a bunch of kids on a poster at school or in your textbook, one is always in a wheelchair?" "I mean, even if it's an advertisement for the swim team, it seems like one is in a wheelchair!" Shawn starts laughing and said, "look closer, bud, and you'll see that one is Chinese, one is black, and one has to be a girl!" I shot him a look because this obviously was not the most politically correct answer, but before I could say anything, Drew responds with, "you're right!" Awesome father-son moment that was!
As much as Drew reminds me of myself, Dax reminds me of my brother, CJ! How that is possible, I don't surely know, and, quite frankly, I don't feel I deserve it! :) Dax has now discovered that he has super powers. It seems these powers became evident when Shawn found a box in the basement with clothes from when Drew was little (they would have to be Drew's old clothes since Drake and Dax now wear practically the same size!) and in it was a pair of Superman pajamas--complete with cape, thank you very much! Needless to say, I have spent every evening since then washing said pajamas because he HAS to wear them every night, puts up a fight to take them off in the morning, and I find myself creeping in after he falls asleep to remove the cape, which apparantly is somehow tied to said super powers. He also feels that when cape is attached, he can no longer walk around the house, but must run with arms stretched out in front of him! I asked him the other day if he really thought he was Super Man. He disgustedly replied that he was NOT Super Man, but instead wanted to be Robin! Robin? Really? You want to be the sidekick to the one superhero that has absolutely no powers???? Just exactly how did CJ get one just like him????

And the reign begins...

We started our new reign with our first festival of the year. I knew this year was going to be different now that we have Delaney travelling with us!

I was proven correct when we had a "ketchup" incident within two minutes of being at the luncheon. Good thing her sash already has red accents! It is going to be a long year!

On the boy-side of things, Dax scored his first soccer goal! He was so excited, but of course, he had to call and tell me about it because I was at the girl's cheerleading coaching them. It is so hard to miss out on things. He was so excited telling me all about it on the phone. It absolutely broke my heart that I wasn't there to see it.

Now that we are back into all of our activities, it is so hard to split our family in two all the time. Usually, I take the girls since I coach their cheerleading, and, well, Daddy will go to the Queen stuff if he has to, but it definitely isn't his first option! Shawn ends up taking the two older boys since he coaches Daxton's soccer and soccer is his "thing". Poor little Drake usually goes with whomever feels they can watch him more easily. However, on Saturday while I was coaching that ended up being various parents at the football game. He is like the "mascot" of everything we are involved in. At church, he is passed around so that sometimes we are all left asking, "Where's Drake?" At sporting events, the question is "Who has Drake?", and at family events, it's usually, "Let me see Drake!". He doesn't lack for love or attention at all. I just wish his entire photo album wasn't filled with captions like, "Drake at Dawsyn's festival", "Drake at Drew's birthday party", "Drake at Delaney's Kindermusik class", "Drake at Daxton's soccer game", etc., etc. I tell myself that before I know it, we'll all be sitting at events for him!!!

I have a 9 year old and two Queens!!!

What an exciting week for Team Adams! Drew turned 9 last week, waking up on his birthday and reminding me that he is now closer to driving than he was to being born. His big gift was a DSi from his uncle CJ--even though Mommy DID NOT want him to have one! He had a sleepover with 10 3rd grade boys--that was exhausting! He also got a cell phone (for emergency use only--although he has already downloaded a SpongeBob ring tone and put a picture of himself making a peace sign as his wallpaper--really? When did he grow up?)

Dawsyn ended her reign as Little Miss 1st Attendant for the Amanda Firefighter Festival by trying out again. This was horrible on me!!! Both girls tried out in the same category and all I could think was , "This cannot end well!" I was wrong--Delaney was crowned Little Miss 1st Attendant and Dawsyn was crowned Little Miss! So, that means another year of travels for the Adams' girls! Delaney was so excited when they put the crown on her. She said she thought to herself, "I am so awesome!" Then she turned toward where we were sitting and said in a loud whisper from the stage, "Mom! Now can I go get some Dippin' Dots?" Dawsyn was just beaming! Not sure she has come down yet. She is very excited to have the biggest crown!

Dax and Drake were in the baby contest and they took 1st place and 2nd place in their respective age groups. So--a very busy, stressful week, but overall, it ended well!

First Day of Kindergarten

Delaney is a Kindergartener! Her first day went really well. I just can't believe my baby girl is in Kindergarten already! And Drew had his first soccer game for the travel team he made in the Spring!
We started her first week of Kindergarten off well too! As if our life needs something to make it a little more interesting, Sunday ended up being another classic, "making memories" day for the Adams! Sunday, when we got home from church, there were two huge dogs running around our house. One was a white pittbull and one was a black lab. They were friendly dogs--almost too friendly. They wanted in our house and made it almost impossible to carry groceries in. We finally got inside and after an hour of these dogs throwing themselves up against our doors and windows, and our children, in all their political correctness, calling them "WHITEY AND BLACKY", a truck pulled in the driveway, called the dogs and left. Glad THAT was over, we decided to go over to mom and dad's to help them paint their new addition and visit with my mom's sister who was coming in for a visit. We had a nice visit and decided to head for home so we could relax and get ready for the busy week ahead.

We pulled in the garage and I went in to unlock the door and set the alarm. As I was pushing the buttons of the alarm, I heard the sound of running feet and was greeted by a big black lab and huge white pittbull! Apparantly, they had gotten loose from their owner, somehow pawed open our French patio doors (the smear marks from their face and paws were good evidence) and then spent the next few hours running around and having a good time. Thank God they were still in the house when we got home, or I would have thought for sure we had been robbed! Pictures were off walls, paper and string was torn and all over the house, drawers had been pawed through, they pooped in all of our beds, created "LAKE DOGGIE PEE" on our bathroom floor, not to mention the lovely paw marks on all the windows, walls, bathtubs, etc. The kids clothes were skattered throughout the house along with teddy bears, toys, a few of my bras, the list goes on! I literally stood there for a minute and thought, "this cannot be happening!" When Shawn came in the back door, the dogs ran out and we never saw them again. Luckily, our family members came over to help and all took laundry home so we had clean beds to sleep in that night! Of course, the sheriff wasn't interested and after the dog warden asked if they were vicious, he wasn't interested either! So were stuck cleaning up the entire house at 8:00 on a Sunday night of the first full week back to school and all after-school activities!!! I was worried the kids would be really upset by the whole experience, but as I was on my hands and knees cleaning a spot where one of the dogs, obviously a male, had chosen to lift his leg and go to town, Dawsyn and Delaney came to me asked if they could have a tea party! I wish I was so blissfully unaware sometimes!

Back in the routine...again

Daxton started soccer! Daddy is his coach. You can see from the picture, he is a very big boy now, and just a little proud of himself! He is pretty rough out on the field. He could probably run even faster if so much effort didn't go into screwing his face into the most determined look you have ever seen on a 3 year old!!!
Dawsyn's first cheerleading game was today. Mommy is her coach. She wanted a picture of us with her in her uniform. She did a great job and really loves it.
Delaney is cheering this year too--and with the help of Aunt Cassie, mommy is coaching her team as well! Delaney is an old pro after watching her sister cheer for two years! She is the loudest one out there and really likes to shake it during her dance!
Back to school! Drew started 3rd grade, Dawsyn started 2nd grade, and Delaney starts Kindergarten this week! So far, so good. They come out happy every day. It will be interesting to hear Delaney's take on things this week! Mommy also started back to school with her 6th graders. This week has been full of opening lockers and helping kids find what room they should be in, but other than that, it has been good. I go to the doctors and should be cleared to pick up Drake after this week. I am feeling more and more normal--just still get tired and depend on my abdominal binder too much--but doing well other than that! This week piano, dance and Drew's travel soccer games kick in--so we will be on the go! Back to lots of family time in the car!!!