What a week of miracles this has been. My cousin gave birth to a 2 pound little girl after making it through a very dangerous surgery for herself and another cousin had a little boy yesterday. It is so odd to think of both of them as parents, but I know they will be wonderful. I am always so happy when people who either think they don't want kids or feel like they never will, get to join the club! Partly, because they will now understand why I haven't been myself for the last 9 1/2 years, but mainly because they had no clue what they were missing!
I was mentioning these births to my coworkers and made the mistake of starting by saying something about having a good "pregnancy" story for them. The looks on their faces was pure horror and there were even some gasps in the crowd. When I finally said, "It's not me", you could feel the wave of relief wash over the room and I finished with, "but it's great to know you would all be so supportive and excited if it was!"
I guess if number 6 ever did come along, we would just try to keep it a secret until the baby was here for everyone to love ! :) Right now, it is so hard to keep 5 kids healthy and happy. We have 3 different spelling lists to memorize, dance lessons, hurt feelings, soccer practice, fights for attention, drama class lines to memorize, laundry to keep up with, not to mention the daily struggles of just living in our society today!
I try to stick to my theory that children start off like rough rocks and it takes lots of tumbling around and against each other through their childhood years to get them to come out as smooth, shiny adults. I tell this to Shawn all the time when we both start to get frustrated with their fighting, talking back, bad attitudes, disagreements or hurt feelings from schools, and every other little mistake they make. The other day, on our way home from church, they were all being particularly fiesty and yelling at each other, crying, pushing, etc. All of this was made worse by the fact that we were all tired and trapped in a minivan together! Shawn was starting to lose his cool and I just reminded him that since our kids have to deal with so many other personalities 24 hours a day, they are going to be REALLY smooth adults! Yep--shiny, smooth adults. I'll just keep telling myself that! LOL!
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
OK--This is Delaney trying on Daxton's handy-man set he got for his birthday. She is absolutely adorable--unfortunately, I had this exact outfit, minus the hard hat and tools, and I'm pretty sure I wore it at least once a week to Kindergarten. I would like to think it was the 70's and it was just the style, but in reality, my parents thought this was high fashion!
A few of my favorite things....
...the fact that a major even this week was Drew and Delaney both losing a tooth during school, trying to figure out who would get to use the tooth fairy pillow that I had when I was a child and then trying to figure out how the tooth fairy would be able to deliver to both of them in one night! (not quite sure how they get the whole "Santa to every child in the world in one night", yet the tooth fairy is going to struggle with enough coins for two children in the same house, but I try not to ask a lot of questions!)...the fact that Dax woke up on his 4th birthday on Saturday absolutely convinced that his pajama pants were shorter than they had been the night before.
...watching Dawsyn try to motivate Drew to be more aggressive at his basketball game on Saturday by telling him that he needed to get in his opponents face rather than act like he was going to make him a friendship bracelete like he had been.
...watching Dax pick up on Dawsyn's motivational words of wisdom and adding, "Yeah, you mamby-pamby! I'm 4 now, I could beat you up!"
...watching Drew act really mad at both Dawsyn and Dax, but then having his best game yet and actually diving across his opponent to scrap for the ball!
...taking Drake to his first Kindermusik class and laughing when they introduced him as "Drake", but he said, "I Luga" because he is so used to being called "Baby Beluga" by his family!
...and finally, celebrating the night before my birthday by all 7 of us laying on the couch and watching a movie because we finally had a night when we could relax! :)
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Welcome 2011!
My absolutely LEAST favorite holiday is New Year's! I think it is because another year is over and I start thinking about where we are and where we are headed. I have never liked the unkown and it seems like every new year is full of "unknown". Plus, when I think about what I do "know", it doesn't make me that happy either--I'm going to be 33. My uncle Wally died in a car accident shortly after turning 33 and I remember thinking that he had lived a pretty full, good life...now that I'm here, I realize that the 16 year old I was when I stood at his casket had no clue how little he really had lived. I also know that my kids will turn 10, 9, 6, 4, and 2, respectively this year and that really makes me sad. I have learned how to do a lot of things over the last "almost" 33 years, but I have yet to figure out how to slow down time!
We did have a nice New Year holiday. It was different this year, but still a lot of fun. We went to Toledo for the first time in a while. In fact, my mom's side of the family had never even met Drake! This is a shame because he is a mini-Reeves in a baby suite! :) We spent New Year's Eve swimming at the hotel which the kids thought was way cool, and then we went to my Aunt Kim's house for the New Year celebration. It was so great to see cousins and Aunts and Uncles and get caught up. It is amazing that you can go almost a year without seeing these people (in some cases, even longer) yet, when we all get together, I immediately revert to that 7 year old girl in Grandma's high heels, having a beauty contest with my cousins while Grandpa sings, "A Pretty Face...is like a melody!"
It was so neat to watch my kids with my cousins' kids. My kids don't get to interact in big family situations like that very often and I could tell they really enjoyed themselves. They were relieved to see that I had brought the bubble wrap with us so we could still jump on it at midnight, and I think some of our family members enjoyed this part too!
On New Year's Day, we swam again at the hotel and then got ready for my cousin, Jonathan's, wedding. We had to be out of the hotel by noon and the wedding didn't start until 2, so there we were, all dressed up for a wedding with nowhere to go. So...we took the obvious choice...we went to the Bass Pro Shop! Hello! That's right...how do you like me now???? I spent my first few hours of 2011 walking around a huge store filled with more "stuffed" animals than I ever cared to see in my lifetime, in a little black dress and heels. I swear just about every person we saw (men, women, and children included) had chewing tobacco in their mouth, and apparantly "Camo" is the new black! You can put camo on anything! Did you say anything? Yes--anything!!!! I must admit, it was very difficult to fight the urge to redecorate our entire house while there! At one point, mom and dad put this horrendous black bear salt and pepper shaker in the cart. That is when I decided to carry Drake and let someone else push the cart.
We finally got to go to the wedding which was beautiful. The priest was a little direct with his sermon on marriage and how God intended it. Not that I didn't agree with most of what he said, I just know that a lot of people there probably had other thoughts... In fact, after the service, he saw Shawn and I walking out of the church with our 5 kids and he stopped and asked how we were related to the bride and groom and if these were all of our kids. We get this reaction a lot from priests and little old Catholic people--apparantly, we are like the poster-family for Catholocism!
After the wedding, we had a two hour break until the reception. At a stop light, Dad and Mom pulled up next to our van and asked where we wanted to go to kill time. My first suggestion was to find a Cabella's store to make my day totally complete, but we decided that we better just find the reception hall since we weren't exactly sure where we were going. After a 45 minute tour of the lovely Northwest Ohio landscape, we realized we were a little lost. At this point, Shawn and I start arguing about where we are going, Delaney starts to cry that we are going to miss the cake and that is the best part, and the kids all start to argue. Dax, was pretty quiet and I just assumed he was sleeping, until a quiet moment about 5 minutes later when Dax suddenly exclaimed, "This is a sticky situation!" Shawn and I both started to laugh at how cute it was that he would say that about us being lost, until we turned around to see that he wasn't being cute, he was being literal! He had taken the gum out of his mouth and it was all smooshed and stringy between his hands!
We finally made it to the reception, got Dax cleaned up, and enjoyed the great food, and fun dancing. The bride, Amanda, and her father did a dance together that was super cute. They danced to "Butterfly Kisses" which is what my dad and I danced to when I got married. I was going to ask my dad why we didn't do a "routine", but then I remembered that I got married in the middle of the Notre Dame/Michigan football game and luckily, the DJ planned the Father/Daughter dance during halftime! :)
Watching my cousin at his wedding and reception was bittersweet. He is what I have always considered the youngest of the "original" group of cousins and he always had the cutest little baby face, and now he is all grown up and ready to start his own family. Luckily, I was quickly snapped out of my reverie as I watched my family dancing on the dance floor and Drew leaned over and said, "Mom, are we really related to these people?" I just smiled at him. Oh, Drew--if you only knew!
Best of luck in the future, Jonathan and Amanda--can't wait to meet your kids some day! :)
We did have a nice New Year holiday. It was different this year, but still a lot of fun. We went to Toledo for the first time in a while. In fact, my mom's side of the family had never even met Drake! This is a shame because he is a mini-Reeves in a baby suite! :) We spent New Year's Eve swimming at the hotel which the kids thought was way cool, and then we went to my Aunt Kim's house for the New Year celebration. It was so great to see cousins and Aunts and Uncles and get caught up. It is amazing that you can go almost a year without seeing these people (in some cases, even longer) yet, when we all get together, I immediately revert to that 7 year old girl in Grandma's high heels, having a beauty contest with my cousins while Grandpa sings, "A Pretty Face...is like a melody!"
It was so neat to watch my kids with my cousins' kids. My kids don't get to interact in big family situations like that very often and I could tell they really enjoyed themselves. They were relieved to see that I had brought the bubble wrap with us so we could still jump on it at midnight, and I think some of our family members enjoyed this part too!
On New Year's Day, we swam again at the hotel and then got ready for my cousin, Jonathan's, wedding. We had to be out of the hotel by noon and the wedding didn't start until 2, so there we were, all dressed up for a wedding with nowhere to go. So...we took the obvious choice...we went to the Bass Pro Shop! Hello! That's right...how do you like me now???? I spent my first few hours of 2011 walking around a huge store filled with more "stuffed" animals than I ever cared to see in my lifetime, in a little black dress and heels. I swear just about every person we saw (men, women, and children included) had chewing tobacco in their mouth, and apparantly "Camo" is the new black! You can put camo on anything! Did you say anything? Yes--anything!!!! I must admit, it was very difficult to fight the urge to redecorate our entire house while there! At one point, mom and dad put this horrendous black bear salt and pepper shaker in the cart. That is when I decided to carry Drake and let someone else push the cart.
We finally got to go to the wedding which was beautiful. The priest was a little direct with his sermon on marriage and how God intended it. Not that I didn't agree with most of what he said, I just know that a lot of people there probably had other thoughts... In fact, after the service, he saw Shawn and I walking out of the church with our 5 kids and he stopped and asked how we were related to the bride and groom and if these were all of our kids. We get this reaction a lot from priests and little old Catholic people--apparantly, we are like the poster-family for Catholocism!
After the wedding, we had a two hour break until the reception. At a stop light, Dad and Mom pulled up next to our van and asked where we wanted to go to kill time. My first suggestion was to find a Cabella's store to make my day totally complete, but we decided that we better just find the reception hall since we weren't exactly sure where we were going. After a 45 minute tour of the lovely Northwest Ohio landscape, we realized we were a little lost. At this point, Shawn and I start arguing about where we are going, Delaney starts to cry that we are going to miss the cake and that is the best part, and the kids all start to argue. Dax, was pretty quiet and I just assumed he was sleeping, until a quiet moment about 5 minutes later when Dax suddenly exclaimed, "This is a sticky situation!" Shawn and I both started to laugh at how cute it was that he would say that about us being lost, until we turned around to see that he wasn't being cute, he was being literal! He had taken the gum out of his mouth and it was all smooshed and stringy between his hands!
We finally made it to the reception, got Dax cleaned up, and enjoyed the great food, and fun dancing. The bride, Amanda, and her father did a dance together that was super cute. They danced to "Butterfly Kisses" which is what my dad and I danced to when I got married. I was going to ask my dad why we didn't do a "routine", but then I remembered that I got married in the middle of the Notre Dame/Michigan football game and luckily, the DJ planned the Father/Daughter dance during halftime! :)
Watching my cousin at his wedding and reception was bittersweet. He is what I have always considered the youngest of the "original" group of cousins and he always had the cutest little baby face, and now he is all grown up and ready to start his own family. Luckily, I was quickly snapped out of my reverie as I watched my family dancing on the dance floor and Drew leaned over and said, "Mom, are we really related to these people?" I just smiled at him. Oh, Drew--if you only knew!
Best of luck in the future, Jonathan and Amanda--can't wait to meet your kids some day! :)
Monday, December 27, 2010
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.
Monday, December 20, 2010
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.
Monday, December 13, 2010
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...
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...
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