J1 is 12!

My boy J1 has turned 12. His was one of my best birth experiences. I got to be calm and aware. He was a sleepy, floppy little man who could barely stay awake to eat. He still barely eats but it's mostly because he's got better things to do with his time. While his older brother is the shepherd, he is the leader. His little brothers all look to him for games and amusements of any kind, following him even into harm's way if it comes to that. Fortunately, for all his energy, activity, and self-assurance, he's not much of a risk taker. I love his quick wit and imagination. He's good at math, Legos and art, but thinks history is THE WORST SUBJECT EVER. Even so, I catch him getting into the stories. He can't help it. His immediate reaction to something he's never done before is, "this will be awful" but he usually ends up enjoying it anyway. He is much like his daddy so I clash with him less than some of the others, even though as a toddler I just prayed he'd make it to the age of 7. He's a good friend, a loving brother, and a son to be proud of.

Ponytail

Grandma, don't look!

Last year on the really cold rainy days we did this:


But this year, I decided a less destructive/dangerous approach might be in order. Especially since the next 2 days the high will be below freezing, and the next 4 or so will be under 50 degrees F (10 C for my foreign friends). My boys are true Texans and freeze like hot house flowers in those temps, with the exception of Red, who is wearing shorts as we speak. Sam's had this on clearance:

It does take up the entire living area and we had to move the couch, but home decor is over rated anyway.

I'm way behind on blogging since Halloween but I plan on doing a back in time thing to catch everyone up.

Way back in November...

Back in November my 5 yo turned 6! My gorgeous volatile little man gained a year and lost several teeth. He wanted a very laid back party, requested a store bought cake with green gooey icing and Star Wars guys on top, and friends over to eat pizza and play Nerf war. That's good because we always have to squeeze is party in in between Halloween and Thanksgiving.
My funny little man had a great time and is growing fast. He enjoys Legos, any type of pretend play, is always hungry, but rarely eats an entire meal, never walks if he can walk or run and is extremely passionate about EVERYTHING. You never have to wonder where you stand with him or what he is feeling, he will let you know, loud and clear. He is learning to read but prefers math. Must be his daddy's influence. A1, buddy, you add so much to our family, we're really glad you're ours.

Red's Christmas Videos

This one has some Lego violence and may disturb some of our more sensitive viewers.


Merry Christmas all!!

Halloween Fun 2009

We had an all day party on Halloween this year! Our old church had a Fall Festival, so we went and hung out with many of our friends and then got to play with our cousins at my dad's house for trick or treating. Everyone was exhausted and had a major sugar crash by the time we got home, but the little guys wanted to know why we couldn't do it all again the next day. It was also a little sad for me as I was informed that this would be Red's last year to dress up and trick or treat. Sigh.....I remember him dressed as a little farmer, barely able to toddle good, sitting on all our neighbor's front porches eating his candy. I think I would have cried if my little one hadn't kept me laughing all night. Here's all the photographic proof you need that they really are all very different:
J1 again chose a character from a video game, it's what he does. No one ever recognizes him, but he likes how he looks. And yes that's blue hair.

E had no depth perception with his eye patch on, especially as it got dark. I finally convinced him to take it off before he killed himself.
I got this Vader costume at a thrift store 2 years ago for $5. Best money I ever spent.

A1 is a ninja, not a terrorist. This is what we repeatedly told him after he put on the mask and immediately said 'Hey, I look like a terrorist!" Ugh.

"I want to be a dark green speckled frog" is what T said in September and he never wavered. At least he knows what he wants.


"I want to be a pink bunny." "A pink bunny?" "yes, a pink bunny, with pink ears" Ok.....
It was a sweet year watching my 8th little one go through the Halloween initiation. She had no idea why her brothers and cousins were dressed so strangely, why we kept going to different houses, and why she couldn't just sit on the front porch and eat the candy this wonderful person had just given her. She never really got the hang of it, I had to lure her off of everyone's porch, especially if they had a dog. Cute as she could be, she ended up charming everyone on our route :-).

I went a little nuts taking her picture in her costume. I just loved her in that bonnet! I had bought it for her when we made our trip to San Antonio this summer, just cause I like to play Little House On The Prairie when I was young. If I had know how fabulous she was going to look in it, I'd have bought two!

Pumpkin Patch 2009

It took three trips, and some creative Photoshoping for the group shots, but we did it. Fortunately they have all kinds of fun stuff for the kids to do and root beer for sale to bribe them with.

We all got the swine flu. But they all got it one week, so although it wasn't fun, it was actually pretty quick and now we're probably done for the season. We were a little worried about baby girl getting it with her epilepsy but it turns out that she won't necessarily have any more seizures with fever than without. Speaking of which, we have been seizure free for almost 2 months and the adjustment to the medication went well. Very big answer to prayers there. Homeschooling is moving right along. E and Z are conquering reading, A1 loves math but hates everything else, S actually said he enjoyed math (I almost cried) but remains a history guy, J1 still just doesn't like to do anything that's not drawing or Legos and the rest just play along with us.

That's all from us.

Red is 13

Wow. He was just 3 feet tall, rapt with wonder at the power and variety of stinkamotives (steam locomotives), carrying a duck and a penguin. Now he's taller than I am, sometimes smarter, and much more self disciplined. He's always been a little man, like that line from It's A Wonderful Life , "you were born older". He's into history, reading, movie making (stop motion with Legos). He is a born shepherd, loves being in charge and making sure everyone is in line and doing what they're supposed to. It gets a bit wearing on his younger brothers, but he is usually a pretty gentle guy and they also know they can turn to him for safety. He has always asked the hard questions, from "momma how can you be happy on earth when we've got babies in Heaven" to " how come you're going faster than the speed limit". He combines his dad's love of facts with my over confident "I'm right because I am" personality, which has made homeschooling him..... oh, let's call it interesting. Talking him into anything he didn't think of, or out of anything he did, is more than I'm am capable of most times, which leads us to believe he will either be the President or the guy leading the coup. I do love his strong personality though. He is my Samwise Gamgee(Lord Of The Rings reference). Steady, loyal, loving, gentle, my right hand man. I hope he always stays strong in what he believes but has a teachable heart. I hope he learns that failing a few times doesn't mean failure. I hope he's gentle with himself, like he is with his little sister. I hope he grows up to be much like his dad, but always his own man. I hope he learns long division, and the difference between an island and a peninsula. But most of all, I hope he always knows how glad I am to be his mom and how much having him has changed me closer to who I want to be.

Who needs play therapy?

Life is certainly never boring around here.

Baby Girl has been diagnosed with Epilepsy. We are probably going to do medication with her. She's had 9 events since March, and although all are short (longest has been 21/2 minutes), they are not precipitated by anything, and obviously fairly frequent.

Dad and I had talked about it the night before, how the appointment would be short, he would tell us yet again that they don't know why she's doing it but she's perfectly healthy and call them if anything changes. And the first part of the appointment went as planned. He observed her, she showed off her charm by trying to dismantle his blinds, and then giggling at him. He said her neurological development was perfect. And then he said, "But considering the unprecipitated nature of the events, I'm inclined to diagnose epilepsy and recommend medication". That wasn't in the script.

So once again, nothing has really changed but everything feels different. 10 years ago this could have been a devastating diagnosis, but now there are so many medications that have so few side effects, that this will be just a very small part of a normal life. Especially if everything goes by the script. Which occasionally does happen, even around here.

Meanwhile the older brothers are working through their feeling about this. The youngest 5 got all their Teeny Beanies and had synchronized seizures. "Ok, everyone has a seizure on 3" and then they would all shake their little animals. Then there were the unexpected ones. "Bear is walking along, thinking about playing ball when OH NO he has a SEIZURE!!"

It's saving us a bundle in play therapy.

My Summer:in pictures

Another Iheartfaces challenge:


We've had a busy summer and I've photographed most of it, so here's some of it LOL

We visited with my sister and did the capital. The boys are looking through the glass floor in the Library of Congress in the Capital Building. At least they were very quiet.

Then we visited my uncle and did the Alamo, where mommy did nothing for Mexico/US relations
Then my nephew was baptised and 2 of my boys turned 8. I'm so blessed to get to see all these young men grow in my life.

We've spent lots of time at the lake and pool, enjoyed the 4th of July with some art, parades and fireworks and got to hang out with our cousins some more.

And that's just June and July. I just adore summer!

iheartFaces-Beach

This weeks challenge at iHeartFaces is Beach Week!





Now, we are about about 800 miles from an ocean beach but we have been blessed to find a beach at a local lake that is perfect for us. That's my T, feeling sad about something, as usual. :-)

E and Z at 8

These guys are 8!! Their first initials are E Z and that's how they've been most of their lives. Sweet babies, sweet boys. Both are so obedient, but follow through is a bit of a problem. However I know that's mostly just part of being an 8 year old boy. There's just so much going on in the world and if you don't stop and watch it all, well, who knows what will happen?

E spends much time building Lego and is a bit of a loner, hard to imagine, right? Z is quite a comedian and loves art. Both spend all their spare time moving and laughing. They have such great laughs and can get each other going till they can't breathe. E is a more typically oldest child, which is weird cause they're only 4 minutes apart. He is more precise, much more of a rule follower than Z and much much more of a cuddler. Z is a bit more volatile, although compared to A, J1 and J2, he's a kitten. His artistic vision is amazing to me. He figured out all by himself that if you make things smaller, they look like they are far away. E figured out addition all by himself. I guess that sums them up right there.

I never wanted twins, I always thought it would be too hard, but now I can't imagine my life without the two of them exactly as they are. My precious, laid back, funny, sweet twin boys. I just didn't know how much I wanted YOU.

Patriotism

is a fun photography blog I love to read. This week they are doing their "Patriotic Story in Pictures" and since I love posting pics of my kids, and I didn't get to post these on Memorial day, here ya go!

Whenever we can pull it together, I like to take the children out the cemetary on Memorial Day to honor our military dead. Most of the men buried in our cemetary did not die in action, but they served our country with pride and honor. I want my children to know, and always remember, that we are only free as long we are willing to die for it. It is an honor and a privilege to do so.

Alamo

A while ago we took the kids down to the Alamo. Well, we actually went down to see my Uncle Vern in the Cardiac ICU. He had a major heart attack and I needed to make sure he knew how very much I love him. He is still surviving and trying to recover. Anyway, because he was in the ICU, we couldn't spend much time with him, so there we were in San Antonio with 11 kids (ours and my nieces and nephews)and nothing to do. Let's do the Alamo!!

It was very fun! Turns out on weekends in the summer they have people in historical costumes that give demonstrations in the courtyard. Fabulous. S was so so into it!! He just loves history, loves weapons, loves war stories. Even J1, who "hates" history, thought it was really interesting. They even got to do a weapon loading drill, with fake weapons, but they still though it was great. We had picked up a scavenger hunt sheet they gave away at the front desk. All the kids were really enjoying finding all the stuff on the list. A1 had decided that the Mexican soldiers would be the perfect people to ask where to find the stuff, so while the other children hung back in fear at the men in dress uniforms with guns, A walked up asked them if they were dead, and when told they were very much alive, then demanded some answers! They were very obliging. Funny guys, they would yell, " Viva (child's name), viva Mexico!" for each picture.

They also got to see some real weapons from the time period and watch one being loaded. It is amazing anyone got killed back then with how long it took to load a weapon!

Under things not to say at the Alamo:
I had bought the boys a bunch of plastic Alamo and Mexican Army soldiers in the gift shop and was distributing them. A couple of the boys complained that they didn't like the Mexican soldier they were given but wanted one who was posed different, to which their loving mother responded quite loudly, "All the Mexicans look alike!!". *blush* In my defense, all the PLASTIC Mexican Army soldiers had come out of the same mold and did look exactly alike. The real Mexican soldiers laughed loudly at me.

Fun trip, lots of learning, highly recommended!

Pages from the birthday party!

A2's MRI came back clear! Her brain and stem are normal. After 5 weeks and 2 days of no seizures, we had one this morning. Followed it's usual pattern, 2minutes in duration, and now she's resting. She's walking now and oh so very very proud of herself. I just love how they think they are so marvelous for being able to walk. I've been blessed to see it 8 times now and it never gets old. She also has 2 more teeth. She believes all men are there for her amusement and to serve her.

A1's latest conversational beauty: "my brain is awesome. But sometimes it's stupid". We're thinking of family t-shirts that have "M***** family, my brain is awesome" on the front and "but sometimes it's stupid" on the back. What do you think?

The big boys are enjoying a break from school. We went to San Antonio to see the Alamo, which S just loved. I'm hoping to get them to Austin this coming week to see the capital building and the Texas State History Museum.

Hope everyone is having a lovely summer (or winter to my Aussie friends)!

T and J2 turn 4

T at 4. Sweet, gentle, protective, energetic, persistent, curious, sympathetic, headstrong, adept at most physical tasks.

What do you like to eat? pizza
What do you like to drink? juice
What do you want to be when you grow up? a frog
How tall is daddy? I don't know
How old is mommy? 8
Favorite show? kipper
Favorite game? superman
Favorite color? green
Favorite person? J2
Who do you love? Mom, Gram, a2

J2 at 4. Active, curious, crafty, passionate, temperamental, decisive, demonstrative, comic, headstrong, deft.

What do you like to eat? pizza
What do you like to drink? milk
What do you want to be when you grow up? a bunny
How tall is daddy?5
How old is mommy? 2 (big grin)
Favorite show? cartoons
Favorite game? ride bike
Favorite color? yellow
Favorite person? Tobies
Who do you love? daddy, mommy, gram, grampa, A2

About 2 weeks ago, these guys turned 4. At one point they were classified as "failure to thrive", but you wouldn't know it now. These two have done all the things the other 5 never did. They were also the youngest to say I love you to me. They can ride faster and kick harder than some of their older brothers and were the only boys to make it to their 4th birthday party in underwear. Keeping them busy and alive has been a full time job, but I wouldn't have it any other way