Happy Thanksgiving!

I just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to everybody. I hope you all had a wonderful day with family and friends. We had a really good time out at my Grandpa's. I always enjoy seeing my family, afterall some of them I only see once a year. It's wild looking around at everyone's kids they all grow up so fast. It seems like yesterday me and my cousins were the little kids running around. Time sure does fly.

Aaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!

Today I have my brothers kids, well all but one. Mercy had to go to the hospital last night for taking her Grandma's blood pressure medicine. Anyway, that leaves me my six, their 4, and the neighbor kid that pratically lives with me. So eleven in all. They all decided to take branches and boards they found, I'm not sure where excatly, they took all these items and more and built a club house around the swingset. No big deal they used their imagination and it kept them busy for a good while. Plus it looked sturdy enough there was no need for me to intervine. Pick and choose your battles I always say. So later on they take rocks and sticks and make a pretty impresive pretend campfire. I go out and look at their completed project and praise them for a good job. I come back inside to change out my laundry and I hear Emily say, [ she's really loud when she talks] " I'll find my dad's lighter so we can roast marshmellows!" Aaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!
Hold 'em up. I run towards my very ambitious children and tell them don't even think about it. Once I calmed down I explained how at the campground they use firepits, and we don't have one, you'll burn down the neighborhood and we'll be on the news. LOL! Another successful day keeping everyone alive especially my neighborhood! Aaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!! Crap I just realized I bet you anything their going to try to build a firepit. I better go find out before it's to late! Woosh!

Family Pictures

Yesterday we had family pictures taken. We've only done this once and it was at Wal-Mart, and we only had 2 kids, so it's been a very long time. A friend of ours at our church does beautiful photography, so we decided it's about time we do this. Let me tell you it is not an easy task getting 6 kids and a husband ready for pictures. Maya was dressed in a really cute outfit she got chili on her shirt, but it wasn't to bad so decided to not change her[ Joyelle can photoshop anything thats off] So overall my three older kids were okay. Ian was hard because he didn't like any of the shirts I picked out for him. We finally agreed on one and he looked very handsome. Elijah had to change three times due to food he kept sneaking our wetting his pants. Kalin I changed about five times because she has grown so quickly her wardrobe has gotten smaller and smaller. I finally settled on a dress and dressshoes that were a little to big, hopefully no one will be able to tell. She looked cute overall. I had a moment where I wanted to cry. It's been a long time since I've been able to go buy any of them nice clothes with nice matching shoes. They wear tennis shoes or sandals with everything.
Big Mario was the hardest one. He won't buy himself clothes. One because he's picky and gets frustrated easily, and two because he feels guilty if he can't buy the kids anything. So yesterday he was all peed off because he didn't like his options. Finally at 4:00, we were supposed to be there at 4 he chose a shirt. So, to top off our circus of getting ready I look outside and it's SPRINKLING!! But, we went anyway, it didn't rain and the sun came back out. The kids had a great time taking their pictures. Maya and Emily constantly wanted to pose like little supermodels. Elijah was always making a silly face or posing like spiderman. Kalin was completely distracted by the fountain. She kept saying,"look water!" Oh, by the way we went to Crighton Ridge park. It was beautiful. It has a lake with a fountain in the middle. It also has rocks with little waterfalls coming out. I'm excited to see how they all come out.
I hate myself in pictures, hopefully it's not to bad. Joyelle was trying to make the kids smile by being really goofy, she suceded except for Kalin she was to distracted. She made me laugh more than the kids I think. Anyway, it ended up being a great day.

BEWARE! ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK!!

Lately I've been having a nervous breakdown over my house, so my mom has been coming out the past couple of days to help me organize. she even bought me some totes, and a shoerack. My shoerack looks like you've just entered a deapartment store, it's great! Anyways, it's really hard to get all your daily chores done when you homeschool, plus make time to hang out with them, and cook meals. So as you can imagine organizing is almost impoossible. I've been taking it one room and closet at a time. All I have left now is my laundry room. Heaven help me thats a scary room! So, today was awsome, we go to clean under my kids beds and found the most ridiculous items. It was so funny we couldn't stop laughing. Here's a list of items we found:
1. rocks
2.asphalt[I don't know, don't ask]
3.old pizza [gross!]
4.dry pinto beans [incase they get hungry]
5.leaves [ for shade,duh!]
6. toys and clothes
Like I said enter at your own risk. Who knows whats going on in their little worlds. One things for sure, they keep me laughing!

woops!

Jennifer pointed out I forgot Elijah's picture. I thought I put it up? Anyway here he is!

Camping Pictures

Here they are, as promised. April got some really good ones.

Fun Times!!

This is the only picture I have of Mario. We didn't see him much. I guess he's getting to cool for mom and dad.

What a silly girl!

Maya's favorite way to swing.

Kalin all clean! It didn't last long.

She is so brave. Notice where Mario's head is. The ladder goes up even farther than that. It has to be a good 7 feet. she would go all the way up and slide down. I was so nervous at first but I should have known better she's been doing this kind of stuff since she was 15 months old.

I'm sure he's explaining something he did here. LOL!

Maya put herself to bed that night at 7:oo pm!

Marshmellows are the best! Emily had 3 and 4 at a time.

I love this picture!

Kalin was a mess most of the time.

Remembering God's Promise

I'm taking a class at church about prophecy and resonsibility. It's really good. He's teaching us how to test the spirit if it's God, us our evil. Also don't take what the prophet says just because he's the prophet make sure it lines up with the word of God. Then there are times when God speaks something to you about your future, it needs to be confirmed by others that yes this is what God said. Anyway, I'm probably getting confusing. So, last night when the class was over I started thinking about when I wsa 15 I had been praying for hours this one paticular day. I specifically heard God say I would be getting married young and I would know he was the one God had picked for me because when my father walked me down the aisle, my Heavenly Father would be giving me away to that man. I never told anyone about this and just wondered how I would know. Fast forward to the night of our Rehearsal Dinner we were practicing walking down the aisle and where everyone would stand. When we were done Debbie Nelsen came over to me and said there was a glow around me and my dad, she saw Jesus giving me away not my dad! She said he's the right one. I was in shock God had just fulfilled his promise. I married Mario the next day with great joy. Our fisrt 5 years of marriage were really hard, we almost seperated a few times, but I have always carried that night with me. I knew things were going to get better for us God has good plans. I'm glad I held on, these last 5 years have been really good he is the husband I always dreamed of having and he's a great dad. I look forward to our future. We've had other words spoken over us some have been confirmed and will come to pass in his timing.

Rice and Syrup, A Bad Combination!

This morning started out okay. Mario went to work, and the kids one by one got in my lap for lovies, as they do every morning. So, I made breakfast and decided to come in here to check my bank account and my e-mail. About ten minutes later Kalin comes in and climbs in my lap covered in syrup! Aaa, gross! So now I'm sicky and she's most definately sticky! Now we're headed to the bathtime and I hear Ian say"their's a hole in it." If ever you hear theirs a hole in it, that can't be good. So, I leave Kalin go back to find Ian running with my bag of rice trying to stop the flow. I take the bag from him to find out he's holding it upside down. Incase you didn't catch that, UPSIDE DOWN! So now I have rice and syrup all over my kitchen and half of my living room. In the midst of sweeping up the rice, I see there is black crayon on my kitchen floor, to which I reply, "you've got to be kidding me!' Well, we cleaned it all up and gave Kalin a bath. My sweet children Mario and Maya who had nothing to do with the crayon incident scrubbed it off the floor. To make this story golden while I'm writing this Mario came in here to notify me that Emily brought a snail in the house, and put in all kinds of toys and now they are slimy! Sure laugh it up, it's funny when it's not you. Okay I laugh to after a few drinks!HA!HA!

Camping

We love to camp. Every year in November our church goes on a camping trip. We always have a lot of fun. This year The Stauffer's and the Jones's were on our site, I really enjoyed having them there. One of the best things about this trip is most of our kids are now old enough to jump on their bikes and go play with their friends. It's great! I told Mario next year I'm not even buying food I'm just going to send them all to different site, someones bound to feed them! LOL! Okay I'm kidding, but honestly it's really cool because we all do share what we bring. During Sunday morning while making breakfast Elijah and Terhen disappeared, they are both three. We found them way at the other end of the park. We wooped them and fed them breakfast. I would say that's a pretty typical day! HA!HA! Anyways, worship is awsome when your camping. Being outside completely relaxed, I love it. I wish it was like that more often. Saturday night after worship a big group of our friends came over to our site. We all had so much fun hanging out. Ranger Rick wasn't to pleased with us, he kept telling us to be quiet. We all felt like six year olds, "Don't make me come back here", it was great!! As we we were leaving we were talking about how much we love these people, they are more like family than just friends. A lot them have been with us through the bad times and the good times. It makes me sad to think there could be day we might have to say goodbye. My friend April and I were looking back on the very first camping trip in 2005. That's where we truly met and after that starting hanging out. The four of us would get together and play cards. Today she is one of my best friends. She has been there through the really bad times and the really good ones to . I treasure her friendship. That being said, let us not take for granted what God has given to us. I know sometimes church can suck with the clicks and crap that may go on, but when we get past all that and see what church is truly meant for, it's a beautiful thing. I pray that all of you reading this are blessed with awsome friendships and the church you attend has a real vision of community of being there for one another. I wish I had pictures April took them all. She may put them on her blog.

Dad?

During our camping trip Kalin started calling Mario dad. He's devastated, what happened to daddy. Man she's getting bigger so fast. It's starting to freak us out.

My Birthday

Today is my birthday. I am 28 today. I feel like I should be well over 30. My husband had a complete breakdown when turned 30! I'm just ready to finally arive. When you have as many kids as I do nosy people in public that you don't even know want to know how old you are. When you answer 20 something they give you this look like you should be committed! LOL! Well anyway, we are not doing anything special. We are going camping with our church and that is always a lot of fun, and always on my birthday. My sister, Kelly is making me a upside down pineapple cake! My absolute favorite!
We will be leaving early in the morning to go camping. I have a lot to do today!

Potty Training Again

I hate potty training! It's the one thing as a mom I could totally do without. I've trained five kids on my own, no help from dad, and it's exhausting and gross! Did I mention exhausting? So now Kalin is 21 months and wanting to go to the potty. What? Come on kid wait until your two or so. Not that I enjoy changing diapers but come on I've got enough on my plate. Four of my six kids I homeschool. Elijah is three, so I spend a little time teaching him, plus I still have to remind him to go potty. He will not poop in his pants, but if his distracted or has friends over he will wet his pants. Plus all the house work and mountains of laundry that never go away. So, I had this great plan when school was on break for the summer I would devote myself to potty training Kalin. Well she's all grosed out by poop in her pants all of the sudden. When she pees she takes off her diaper and gets a new one. So, last week I went to the store and bought her a potty chair and pull-ups. She's peed in her potty only twice, but she totally understands what to do. As soon as she pees she says "oh,oh, I have to potty and takes off her pull-up, which by that point it's to late. But she's definately a step ahead of where I would have expected her to be. Anyway, today, I was cleaning up after lunch and I hear "oh, aaaaa,oh,aaaaa, gross" I look over to see Kalin taking off her pull-up while she's pooping! She's completely mortified and trying to get it away from her. So it's all over my floor and now all over her feet to which she is screaming,"no,no gross" she runs in the bathroom and sits on her potty, and gets poop all over the seat but not a drop in the potty. Now I have to bath her, scrub the carpet, and clean her chair, When it's all over she points at her chair and says,"gross, mama!', I said, "i know baby tell mama next time." "okay mama" And then she spent the next twenty minutes dancing and singing, she felt great after that bath. Like I said I hate potty training!

Canada?

Well, here we are , my heart is breaking for our country. For the past year my husband has been saying, " If Obama wins we're moving to Canada!" So last night when the winner was announced, I told Mario, "pack your bags baby, we're moving to Canada", to which he replied,"aw, shit!" I'm really shocked that so many people are so blinded. Here's my personal thought, Obama reminds me so much of Hitler. Hitler came on the scene after an economical crisis, promising hope and change for a better tomorrow. Nobody knew his true intent. We know nothing about this man. We don't know what his true heart's intent is. All we can do now is pray that God moves mightily, and gives him wisdom throughout his presidency. And I pray for all of us, that we have wisdom, and know when to stand. God will lead his children through.

Election Day

I'm super nervous about tomorrow. The big vote day. All I can do is pray. I'm truly curious to see who will be leading our country next. I can only imagine the outcome if Obama wins this race. My husband says were moving to Canada!LOL! But no matter the outcome the Bible does say God thrones and dethrones. The man who is supposed to be in this position will be in it, no matter what any of us thinks. Plus God is much mightier than any president, and will provide our needs and our protection. Let us pray for our nation and the man put in charge. We are not to speak wrongly of our kings[presidents] the Word tells us so. God bless us all and may his hand guide us through these crazy times.

woops, I forgot

I forgot to tag someone for the picture photo tag. Here's how it works, find an old picture, post it and tell us about it. When you are done tag someone else. I am tagging
Jennifer Clark
April Stauffer
Have Fun!!

More Pictures!

Sorry, I couldn't stop scanning. So, I'm going to share these pictures with all of you whether you all like it or not! LOL!!

Ian at 14 months. What a cutie! And our only blondie.

Emily at nine months. She was a gorgeous baby with all that wavy, black hair!

Kalin's first birthday. She's so cute.

Mario and Tray last Thanksgiving.

This is my brother! I love him a whole lot!

This is all of five of them, Kalin was asleep. Maya had fractured her arm during some silly dance she made up.

Photo Tag! Your It!

Okay here's my photo of choice. This picture was taken shortly after we brought Elijah home from the hospital. He was almost a month old. He was born at 37 weeks, and was really sick. His intestines were not working right. So he could not eat for weeks and was on all kinds of meds. A baby with N.E.C usually gets surgery, but we were truly blessed and God healed our baby boy! I love this picture because Mario looks like he is so proud to be his big brother.

Good Food

I absolutey love the cookbook Deceptively Delicious. I spent two hours in the kitchen today steaming carrots, spinach, beets, red pepper, and cauliflower, and then I pureed it all. Jessica Seinfield has wonderful recipes, where you sneak in the good nutritiuos food so your kids will eat it and like it. So far we've had two meals and they were truly delicious! We are making a drastic change in what we eat as a family, and I'm very excited about it! I definately want them to like it and not spend every night screaming, "eat your vegetables!" Plus Ian was totally excited about this whole process. He said,"Thats awsome mom. I'll say look theres no weird vegetables on my plate, and you'll laugh and say yes there are." That boy cracks me up.
New recipes are always fun, especially ones that are good for you!