Gingerbread House and Pajama Day

Because I'm a little tired of the hustle and bustle and go-go-go of the holidays, we're having pajama day at our house! So far, we've made cookies, cleaned up the playroom, done lots of laundry and are in the process of making a gingerbread house. And no one has bothered to get dressed yet. It's wonderful! (But in case you were wondering, everyone did brush their teeth. You have to start with clean teeth before you eat half the gingerbread house fixings!)

And for those of you who were wondering about an earlier post, Sunday night's Carols and Candles service was a success. Both Andy & Colin held their candles very still and did not light anyone or anything on fire!

We wish you a Merry Christmas!

November and December Updates

Yes, we're still here and doing well. Like many of you, the holidays are insanely busy for us. Going all the way back to November, here's what's been going on with us:

Early in November was the best weekend of the whole year - Retail Therapy! I spent the whole weekend with my mom and sisters in San Marcos shopping at the outlet malls and having fun together while Kyle and the kids had fun at home together. The next weekend, my mom had some of her cousins in town for a small family reunion, so we enjoyed spending time with family we don't see often.

We spent Thanksgiving up in Waco with my family and the kids had a great time. The backyard is plenty big enough for all the kids to run, play kickball, ride the tractor (riding lawnmower), swing, and jump in leaf piles. The night before Thanksgiving, we stopped in College Station to visit Santa's Wonderland. We love going there! The kids got a picture with Santa, rode ponies, played in snow (also known as soap suds being blown off the roof of a building), rode the mechanical bull, and drank hot chocolate on the hayride through the 100,000+ lights and displays. Besides the hayride, the mechanical bull was the favorite. Andy & Colin were both very proud that they didn't fall off (okay, it was on the slowest setting, but they don't need to know that!).

December has been it's usual crazy month around here. It actually SNOWED on December 4th! It almost never snows here and now we've gotten snow two years in a row! My kids are so spoiled and may mistakenly expect this every year! It didn't stick much so we couldn't really play in it or build a snowman like last year, but we did spend as much time as possible out in it for the few hours we had it. Andy & Colin loved it, but Ryan & Elizabeth weren't too impressed. They kept telling us they were cold. They did not show the proper appreciation for snow, but because of their age, we'll forgive them. :)

After the snow came the Christmas program at church where Kyle and Ryan played Joseph and little boy Jesus. They did a great job and we were very proud of Ryan, mainly because we expected him to cry and refuse to go on stage for 6 performances since he was up way past his bedtime for a week straight. But he surprised us and was a great little performer! Of course, he only had to be on-stage for 1 song while the 3 kings and their attendants brought him gifts, but he did good and looked so cute. Kyle did good and looked cute too! :)

This past week brought 2 birthday parties, all the kids' school Christmas parties and gift exchanges, and our Sunday school class party. Also, there is a baby explosion going on in our Sunday school class, so we've been busy welcoming the new additions and taking dinner to everyone. Since July, 5 babies have been born and 2 more are to come around New Year's, so congratulations to all the new and expanded families! We are very happy for them and love to hold all the little newborns - especially because then we get to hand them right back and happily get a full night's sleep. :)

Now we're facing Christmas in 6 more days and I am very happy to report that I am completely finished Christmas shopping AND wrapping! I'm so proud of myself and positively ecstatic that I do not have to shop today or next week - have I mentioned my intense dislike of crowds?! However, the work is never done, so instead of wrapping, I must move on to the grocery store, cleaning, and cooking. Still beats shopping.

Things we're looking forward to this week:
1. Service of Carol and Candles tomorrow night at church. Only Elizabeth and Ryan will be in the nursery for this service, which means it'll be fun and incredibly scary when Andy and Colin get to hold their very own candle. Even better, we hold our candles as we exit the church singing "Silent Night". I always thought it was really pretty until my kids came along. Now I find it hard to sing and enjoy the special moment around the growing panic I have that my children may bump into someone from behind (or someone's behind!) and light them on fire. Please say a prayer that they don't light themselves, anyone else, or any part of the church on fire! :)
2. Girls' Night Out for me! (Okay, I don't really think Kyle is looking forward to this as much as I am, but I'm the author of the blog.)
3. Delivering Christmas presents to our angel family from church (a needy family that our class provided gifts for and we want the kids to help deliver)
4. Putting on pj's, getting hot chocolate, and driving around to look at Christmas lights
5. Christmas Eve church service
6. Christmas Eve party at our house!
7. Christmas Day of course! I love love LOVE giving presents and there are several I cannot wait to give, both to our kids and our nieces and nephews!
8. And last but certainly not least, we get to see lots of family and friends soon that we don't see often. To Tyler, Tera, Ryan, Leslie, Joseph, Shelley, Michael and Claudia: we're excited to see you and all of your children!

And for one final plea, our youngest two are receiving a medium-sized climber for the backyard for Christmas. Since it's impossible to put together early since it's from Santa, we will be building it all night Christmas Eve. For those of you with absolutely nothing to do, feel free to come over and help so we can actually go to bed at some point! :)

Merry Christmas to all!

A few recent pictures

Ryan

Kyle, Elizabeth and Ryan holding hands

All 4 kids together and somewhat still, a photo opportunity that rarely happens

Elizabeth wearing a new outfit with black boots. She looked adorable but was crying and running from the camera.

Elizabeth bathing herself in her yogurt breakfast

Elizabeth, Ryan & Andy playing together

Elizabeth and Ryan playing on the ottoman

Colin at his Halloween party at school

Colin on Crazy Hat Day at school. He borrowed the wig from his cousins and looked hilarious.

Colin & Elizabeth playing together on the couch

Latest Happenings...

It seems like all I do on here is play catch-up. Why does that not surprise me? Well here goes...

It's been a little busy over here lately, but I think that's just life. We finished soccer a few weeks ago, the same weekend we kept our 13 month old nephew for the weekend. Here's a picture of the middle seat of our car, looking like we have triplets. It was a little crazy here, but we had fun with little Shane.


The boys enjoyed soccer, but Colin especially is happy it's over. Bless his heart, he's a little lazy and running up and down the field for an hour wasn't his idea of fun. Here are soccer pics, finally.
Andy and our favorite coach, Daddy

Andy playing

Colin's fierce kick (love the expression and stance!)

Colin running




The next weekend we participated in a little fun run here. Kyle and I completed the 5K and the older boys did a kids' 1 mile fun run. They had a lot of fun, but I think that's mainly because my mom took them for donuts while they were waiting for us to finish our race, they got a t-shirt, and there was lots of candy at the end of the race. It doesn't get much better than that! And it was a really small race, so all the kids got a medal or trophy, so that just added to the excitement for them. Sorry, no pictures from the occasion.

We also went to a local hot air balloon festival. Some pictures...
One of the balloons

The kids were fascinated with the hang gliders and wanted to know when we could do that.
Evening balloon glow and the back of the Energizer bunny balloon. I don't know why they couldn't turn the balloon around so we could see the front.
Elizabeth and Ryan had to hang out in the stroller. There were too many people to let them loose.
What's a festival without some snacks?! We had an ice cream break because we couldn't find any funnel cakes.

And we went camping this past weekend for Halloween. More on that later. That pretty much sums up our last few weekends. During the week, it's been the normal stuff. Kyle's only travelled one week out of this past month, so that's been nice. I have the annual girls' Retail Therapy weekend coming up in 4 days, so I'm super excited about that. My mom and sisters and I go away for a shopping weekend every year around this time and enjoy the weekend with just the 5 of us. I can't wait!

Thou Shall Not Lie

Like many of you, we are trying to instill good habits, behavior and manners in our children. And of course one of the house rules is that we do not lie. Though lying is not the behavior we struggle with most in this house, I do sometimes wonder if our kids hear anything we say regarding behavior. Well, apparently they do, but why does it always have to work against me??! Ok, here's the story...

Next summer, we are planning a large family vacation to Gatlinburg, TN with my whole family. For those of you who do not know, Gatlinburg is right next to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and the whole area is supposed to be beautiful and full of family activities. One of these activities is a zip-line through the mountains and I could not be more excited about this! So anyway, we've been talking a lot in our house about our vacation and showing the boys different websites about the various activities. The zip-line website said that you could ride if you were 5 years old or over. At the time of our trip, Colin will be 2 months shy of 5 years old. I very casually said, "Hmm, maybe we could just pretend that Colin is 5 so he can ride the zip-line." Colin stared at me with huge eyes and said, "Mommy, isn't that lying?" Um, well yes, actually it is! So before I could come up with a way to sugarcoat that, both Andy and Colin start telling me how it's wrong to lie and we'll get into trouble for lying and God tells us not to lie, etc etc etc. Meanwhile, Kyle is laughing out loud at me and not trying to rescue me at all. Finally, I had to agree with them and say that yes, lying is wrong, but that wasn't what I really meant. What I meant was that maybe we could tell the zip-line people that Colin is ALMOST 5 and can he please ride anyway! (Yeah sure, that's what I meant! I fully intended to lie about his age, but my children will have none of that!!!)

I suppose I could look at this in a glass half-full kind of way and be happy that our children are actually listening and remembering (sometimes) what we try to teach them. And what strong moral fiber they have to be so opposed to horrible things like lying! But really, isn't it okay to lie occasionally so we can get our way and have a little fun???!! (Don't worry, Kyle has already forbidden me from saying that to them and corrupting them further.) I never knew I would be such a bad influence on my kids. :)

The Mysterious Hand

A funny story to share.....

But first, a little background. Colin has a really bad habit of coming into our bed at night. This happens a couple of times a week and is so commonplace that we don't even realize it most nights (I admit, I'm a heavy sleeper). But I evnetually notice him because he likes to snuggle against me, which means I wake up when I am literally laying half on top of him. (Why doesn't he go snuggle with Kyle?!)

So anyway, Kyle was out of town one week and I was getting into bed late. I was in that "a tiny bit awake, but mostly sound asleep" stage when I rolled over in bed. I rolled onto my stomach and put my hands up under the pillow......and found someone else's hand. Just imagine thinking you're in bed alone but feeling a hand under your pillow, and well, you can just imagine how high I jumped out of that bed. It was Colin, trying to wake me up so he could crawl into bed with me. Why he decided to actually wake me up this time, I don't know, and who knows why he tried to wake me up by putting his hands under my pillow. Whatever the reason, it was pretty effective!

We're still here!

Though I haven't posted in awhile, we're still alive and kicking. It's been kind of busy of course (when is it not?!), but also, I sometimes get a little lazy about blogging. I've been meaning to post soccer pictures for both Andy & Colin since the first game, but now the season is ending next weekend. The pictures will come eventually!

We've just been enjoying the usual routine of life lately. Kyle's parents were in town for a few weeks so we had fun visiting with them. They had been on a 4-month European vacation all summer, so it was nice to finally catch up with them and for the kids to enjoy their grandparents again. Now, my mom is on a 4-week European vacation. So needless to say, we're getting a little jealous of all the travelling everyone else seems to be doing!!! :) Ah, reasons to look forward to retirement.

So here's the recap for everyone:
Kyle - has been working at ExxonMobil in Houston for several weeks now. We're a little afraid that may come to an end by the end of this month, but we're enjoying it while we can. The kids and I love having him home in the evenings!

Andy - loves first grade way more than kindergarten because of all the new fun stuff. And his teacher is a huge science fan, so they get to do science experiments all the time. He loves that kind of stuff. Still tempermental - but I'm guessing that won't ever change! Really enjoys soccer, but is still obsessed with baseball. He wants baseball at all times - either playing in the living room, throwing a ball against the wall, watching it on TV, or playing it on the computer. He's still trying to teach me the proper way to throw a ball and the roster of the Houston Astros - I don't think I'm a very good student though.

Colin - having lots of fun in his pre-K class and at Bible study each week. He's still our sweet, cuddly little boy, but is getting more of an attitude. I think once kids turn 4, they develop a little attitude and feel the need to test the boundaries a little more. Maybe it's just our house. But he still cracks us up because he's really funny and personable. He's enjoying soccer too, but he spends a good bit of game time spinning circles with his arms outstretched in the middle of the field and we're pretty sure he has no idea where his team's goal is. You gotta love him, though.

Elizabeth - currently has several large bumps on her head and looks pitiful. She fell at school the other day and banged the side of her forehead on a bookshelf. Yesterday, she fell backwards out of a chair in the living room and cut her head on the corner of the windowsill. Now there's a large bloody goose egg on the back of her head. We're wondering how many times the poor child has to hit her head before permanent damage is done! But she's really enjoying Mother's Day Out and no longer cries at drop-off. She's still the loudest kid in the house, even with Andy's baseballs constantly flying across the living room. But she's sweet and girly too. A friend of ours has a 2-month old little girl and Elizabeth LOVES holding and kissing her.

Ryan - still the sweet baby of the family, but getting more independent each day. He insists on climbing in the car by himself and doing part of his seatbelt by himself (his world falls apart if you do it for him). He doesn't cry at school any more either, so I think they're both really liking it. Ryan does his best everyday to keep up with his big brothers and it's so funny to watch. He loves to follow them into the bathroom and tries to take his diaper off so he can go too. This behavior is both really cute and really annoying for me! :)

Me - well, I pretty much take care of the kids and house constantly. Allergies and a cold have been going on for awhile now, but THANKFULLY no one else has been sick and the flu has yet to hit our house! A lot of our friends at church are having babies around this time, so I've been busy with many baby showers.

And that pretty much covers our life lately! Hope yours is going well and your family is healthy!

Andy's big news!

We've hit a new milestone in our house! Andy lost his first tooth today! We just discovered it was loose a few days ago (or he just told us about it). Soon after he started eating lunch today, he came to me with a slightly bloody mouth and no tooth. We have no idea what happened to the tooth, but I'm guessing he swallowed it. He was very excited about it and said it didn't hurt a bit. The tooth fairy will be visiting our house for the first time tonight!

While we're very excited about this latest milestone, we're a little sad also. He looks so much older with a missing tooth! When did our first little baby get to be so old and big?!

Here's a picture of the missing tooth. Notice the new tooth already growing in the space. Sorry for the close-up, Andy wanted to take the picture himself.

Twins

A few cute moments with Elizabeth and Ryan.... Holding hands Playing on the ottoman together Using the ottoman as a trampoline. Notice they say "cheese" and pose when they see the camera. Such little hams!

Why me?

You know those people that always seem to have funky weird things happen to them? Well, I'm one of those people. In the interest of time, I'll give just one example. My senior year of college, I was running an errand before swim practice one day. After I left the store and got back into my car, it started honking, all by itself. And it honked...and honked...and honked....all the way back to school. Imagine how much fun that was at red lights!!! Even after I parked it and was walking away, it was still honking. I guess it finally quit because it was quiet when I returned to it after practice.

So anyway, this morning was another one of those days for me. I arrived at the kids' preschool this morning and immediately heard very loud meowing noises coming from my car. I looked under, in front, and all around the car, but no cat. It was pretty obvious that the noise was coming from under the hood. Great. I took all three kids inside because I was a little afraid that I would find a half-charred cat under the hood and didn't really want them to see that. Very fortunately for me, there was another mom near my car when I came back outside and she heard the noise too, but she actually liked animals. (Don't get me wrong, it's not that I dislike animals, I just dislike animals anywhere near me. As long as they don't jump on me, come too close to me, and I don't have to touch them, then we're great.) I very sweetly talked her into opening my hood, because there was no way I was sticking my hand under the dark hood to unlock it when I just knew that cat was waiting to bite or scratch me. Sure enough, right on top of the engine was a half-grown cat, not moving, but very much alive. He didn't look burned, but he had a bloody nose and his hair was sticking straight up everywhere. And judging from how fast he was panting and how crazy his eyes looked, I'm thinking he was well on his way to a heart attack. Now, you'd think that he would have just jumped out when we opened the hood, but it couldn't be that easy. So my new mom friend offered to pick him up but she wanted gloves first. We go traipsing back into the preschool to explain the situation and beg for gloves. But I was really thinking that the cat would just jump out when we left it alone and it would be long gone when we got back. Oh no, it had now crawled farther up into the engine, like up under the dashboard. Every time this girl would try to reach it, it would crawl farther back. (By the way, I was not being totally useless while she was climbing in my engine. I did hold her baby while she was doing all this!) :) Finally, we had to call animal control for this stupid cat. Thankfully they arrived quickly and rescued me from the crazy, suicidal cat. The cat was not happy to be placed in a cage and kept running around banging into the walls and making the most horrible noises ever. I did actually feel kind of bad for the crazy cat and whoever lost him, but not bad enough to take the thing home and search for its owner(let's not get any crazy ideas here!). Whatever happens to the cat, I'm guessing he won't hide in car engines anymore.

The reason I don't go to bed early at night

Lest you people think I do nothing else besides take care of my kids, I thought I'd share my thoughts about the book I just finished. I love to read, mainly just novels, because intellectual stuff would probably make me think too hard. :) But I love books by Jodi Picoult and just finished another one - Change of Heart. It was about a man on death row who wanted to donate his heart to his victim's younger sister, who was of course dying of heart disease. I like this author because she really makes you think about both sides of a conflict and makes you sympathize with each side. Anyway, the book was pretty good. Not one of my favorite's of hers, but still good.

The problem with reading is that I do not like to stop once I get going. Consequently, I've gone to bed at 1am the past 2 nights and been awake before 6am. This makes for a really long day and I am now exhausted (but quite happy I finished the book last night!). So even though it's still early tonight, I think I'll go to bed! Hope you have a great evening!

To the zoo with Sarah!

We were very excited to meet Sarah and her boys at the zoo yesterday! Well, Andy was mad that we went without him, but I guess he thinks we just sit at home bored each day just waiting for his return home from school. Anyway, we had a great time visiting, playing, riding the carousel, and seeing the new baby giraffe.

Giddy Up!

Colin, Elizabeth & Ryan start school!

Last Thursday, school began for the other 3 kids in our house! Colin is now in 4-yr. old preschool and Elizabeth and Ryan started mother's day out. The best part is that they're all at the same school from 9-2. Finally, at least some of our kids are on the same school schedule!

Today was their 2nd day and it's been great so far. It's Colin's 3rd year at this same school, so he's a pro at it now. He refuses to walk in with us because "big kids walk in by themselves," he says. So once we make it to the sidewalk from the parking lot, he takes off and goes to his class by himself. His little cousin Micah is in the 3-yr. old class and he's been excited to see her at lunch and the playground. But he was annoyed today because Micah kept talking to him during movie time after lunch and he just knew they were going to get into trouble. We'll see if he sits by her next time!

Elizabeth and Ryan cry when I drop them off, but to be honest, I'm so used to it after 4 kids that it doesn't bother me. I'd be a little worried if they didn't cry! The teachers say they stop crying in about 5 minutes and are great the rest of the day. Elizabeth hasn't been too much of a bully yet, except to Ryan, and Ryan had a little meltdown when playground time was over, but for the most part, they've done well. They love their backpacks, even though the backpacks are almost as big as they are and nearly tip the poor kids over backwards.

It's been so nice to have a few hours to myself! It's been a little weird too, because the car is so quiet without any little kids in it. I'm sure I'll find lots of ways to fill my time, but I've kind of missed them these first few days!

Oink oink!

Oh no! Two of my nephews have swine flu! Jackson came home from school on Monday with 103 fever but it quickly went away. So my sister, a high school nurse, sent him to school on Tuesday. In her defense, she called at lunchtime and spoke to the nurse. The nurse took his temperature (it was only 99) and Jackson kept saying he wanted to stay in school. It was 104 when he got home. Today he was diagnosed and the whole family was put on Tamiflu, except Shane because he's not a year old yet. When Kim got home this afternoon, Shane already had a fever of 102. He now has an appointment tomorrow, but I have no idea what the dr. will do for him. Poor Jackson can't go back to school until Monday and he's very upset about that. So we will now be praying for both boys to recover quickly, no one else in their family to get it, and none of the rest of us to get it, because of course we spent lots of time with them this past weekend. Hope your week is better than it is at Kim's house!

**Update today 8-27-09: Shane had a positive diagnosis today and now Jeff is running a high fever as well. So in their house, all the boys have it but the girls have avoided it so far. I can't imagine how not fun their house is right now! :)

Andy's first day of school!

Andy began 1st grade today! It's so hard to believe that he's this old already. He woke up happy this morning and ready to go. I'm sure it won't last - what kid really enjoys being woken up at 6:45 every morning? But he was excited for school! We all walked him in for the first day and he did great. His teacher seems really nice and he was happy to see a few friends from kindergarten in his class.

Once we got settled back at home, reality hit and Colin got a little sad because Andy wasn't here to play with him. Of course, they've been arguing constantly for the past few weeks and everyone was ready for school and something new, but now that it's here, Colin was a little sad. So we decided to take a trip to the library. And once again, I realized why I don't like taking toddlers to the library. We were there for all of 12 minutes and in that time, Elizabeth and Ryan managed to pull no less than 20 books off the shelves, 5 movies off the shelf, and dump 3 puzzles worth of pieces onto the ground. I know this is typical 19-month old behavior, but it's maddening when there are 2 19-month olds! Just as I would clean up one kid's mess, the other kid was unloading another shelf! Therefore, we made a quick getaway. And as we were checking out, it starting storming. We got completely soaked - everyone needed a clothing change - but it was kind of fun to run through the pouring rain with all of them.

Adventures in Organizing a Household of 6

In honor of the new school year starting tomorrow, I'm attempting once again to better organize our household. One idea I've had (stolen from a magazine) is to create a "monthly menu." My hope is to list 20-24 different meals and just go through the list each month. That way, I don't have to come up with a meal every night if it's already planned out and we won't be eating the same meals each week, which you know is such an easy habit to fall into. Plus, if the meals are already planned, grocery shopping and list-making is much simpler.

So your job is......suggest recipes for me! I'm always in search of good family recipes for a little variety. So please send me any favorites your family has and we'll be happy to try them out! Think of how much fun this will be - you can read other people's recipes and get ideas for yourself too!

I'll let you know how my other organizational projects turn out and if they're worth the effort!

Yum!

Ryan thoroughly enjoyed Colin's birthday cake! And because he is our little entertainer, he made a big mess even bigger when he realized that Andy and Colin were laughing at him.

Happy 4th Birthday Colin!

On August 20th, our little Colin turned 4 years old! Overnight, he grew much taller and his muscles grew much bigger. Just check out those muscles in that picture!

Colin had a great birthday and celebrated for 3 days. On Thursday (his actual birthday), his daddy was out of town for work so we went to McDonald's for lunch to celebrate (his choice of restaurants, of course). Friday morning, he finally got to open presents when Daddy was home. Then we went to one of those places with lots of moonwalk jumpers to play on to celebrate his birthday and the end of summer. This morning was his actual party at Chuck E Cheese with his cousins and friends. We're a little worn out from celebrating! :)

Colin is still our sweet funny little boy who cracks us up without even trying. He loves firemen, cowboys, racecars, and playing with his favorite people. He's very excited to start 4-year old preschool next week. And he's going to be a fireman when he grows up.

The fun never ends around here!

Yesterday was one of those days that you dread - we shopped for and purchased a new washer and dryer with 4 kids in tow. Okay really, we went to 3 stores and lunch, then I dropped off the kids and Kyle at home while I went back to make the actual purchase. Between my very elderly salesman just learning how to use a computer and the ridiculous amount of steps it takes to actually make the purchase, I spent 2 hours in Home Depot. And that was just the buying trip - I already knew the exact make and models that I wanted! But it was a necessary trip, since our dryer completely died on us last week. And while we could have had it fixed, I really wanted to upgrade. Our washer and dryer have been great for 7 years, but when we bought them I did not know I would be constantly buried in laundry for a family of 6...it's time for bigger ones. So we bought the front-loading types of washer and dryer. And I'm very excited about them too! From what I hear, the load size is much larger than a traditional machine, which means fewer loads! I know they have all sorts of energy efficiency benefits as well, but I'm just happy about the fewer loads and some of the fun features my new dryer will have. So while the actual shopping and buying experience was a big fat pain, I'm very excited to receive them on Wednesday. And since I will not have done ANY laundry in over a week, they will be put to immediate long-term use - I'll let you know how they work!

I think this is one of those moments when you know you've definitely reached adulthood - you get excited over things like washers and dryers. :)

Andy's Surgery

Last Friday morning, Andy needed surgery to repair a hernia. We are very happy to report that the surgery went well and his recovery has been great. The surgery itself only lasted maybe 40 minutes and then we were able to be in the PACU before he even woke up. This is why I love Texas Children's Hospital..... No IV is put in until he's already asleep so there's no pain or trauma with that. He's allowed to choose to "flavor" of anesthetic gas and this was a huge decision. There were about 10 to choose from and he debated for a long time between root beer (ew!), bubble gum, and cotton candy, but finally settled on cotton candy. And instead of a gown, he received new pajamas from the hospital and that was very exciting (can you tell by his picture?) So all he remembers is walking into the operating room, it had lots of machines, he climbed up on the "skinny" bed (not a big bed like the one he sleeps in, he told us), smelled cotton candy air in a mask, and woke up in my lap. And he ate 3 popsicles in the recovery room! He was in a little pain that afternoon, threw up a few times, but once he started eating, he started feeling much better. It's been over 48 hours now and he's still moving a little slow and walking a little hunched over, but doing really well. He doesn't complain about it hurting unless something touches it, so we're really pleased that it's gone so easily. Thank you to those of you who prayed for him!

Warning!

My dear faithful readers, I know you would hate to miss any of my very exciting posts, so I thought I'd warn you that I'm doing a lot of catching up right now. Because I started several posts many weeks ago and waited until now to add pictures and finalize them, some of them are appearing out of order. So there are a few new ones added after the post about my dad. One of them has a lot of cute pictures, so I wanted to tell you to scroll down and look for it. And happy reading...I hope to be caught up soon!

Naked Children

Our niece, Micah, turned 3 last week and we had a swimming birthday party for her in our backyard. Well, I must admit, that when we're outside playing or swimming, the boys find it amusing to go to the bathroom out there. What can I say? Boys will be boys. I guess Ryan and Elizabeth pay far more attention to everything than I realize because we captured these pictures. As I was getting them undressed after swimming, Ryan started saying, "tee-tee, tee-tee!" We are absolutely NOT potty-training now or anytime in the near future, but I let him walk off and show me what he was talking about. He ended up by the fence (Colin's favorite spot) and kept saying "tee-tee" as if it would magically appear when he was near the fence! Then Elizabeth walked over to the fence to see what he was doing and decided to join in. Neither one managed to produce any tee-tee, but we sure had a good laugh at them! I especially like the picture of Ryan lifting up his leg!

The Great Wolf Lodge

We went on a family vacation!!! This was so very exciting because we had had a very difficult weekend and I was away from the kids a lot, so it was nice to be together for a few days. I can't say vacationing with 4 young children is relaxing, but it was still nice.

We visited the Great Wolf Lodge - a resort with an indoor waterpark that caters to young children. Besides the waterpark, the resort has a few restaurants, ice cream shop, Starbucks, swim shop, gift shop, arcade, teen room, crafts room, build-your-own-stuffed-animal place, spa, kids' spa with mani/pedi's, storytime in the lobby, shows in the lobby, and MagiQuest. MagiQuest was as much fun for Andy as the waterpark. Colin had fun waving his wand around, but it was all a little over his head. In MagiQuest, you buy a magic wand and follow a little guide book as you go on quests and adventures throughout all 8 floors of the hotel. There are pictures, treasures chests, animals, pretty much anything, that you can wave your wand at and they open, or say something, or light up, or do something to make you think you've done magic. At the end, if you've completed all the adventures, you get to fight some animated dragon. We didn't make it that far, but the boys still had fun.

It was a little difficult in the waterpark because Colin wasn't tall enough to ride the big rides, so we took turns taking Andy on the big waterslides while the other one stayed with the little 3 in the kids' pool. That was difficult because it was one adult with 3 children who of course ran in 3 different directions. We still had a good time though.

Oh yes, our room was one of the best parts. We stayed in what was known as the "Kid Kamp" suite - meaning it had bunk beds for the boys. This was a huge hit and all 4 kids had fun climbing all over the beds. It's the little things, you know!

I would highly recommend the place, but I think we'll wait to go back until the kids are a little older and a little taller so we have more freedom to ride everything. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

My Dad

In the midst of a pool party with 10 young children in my backyard, I received the very difficult phone call that my dad was dying. Though I knew all morning that it would be coming soon, it was still a shock. I am forever thankful for my best friends who were so understanding as I left them in my house with Ryan and Elizabeth so I could be with my mom and sisters at his bedside. If you know anything about me, you probably know how close I am to my family, so you'll understand why it was so important to us that we all be there when he died. It was very peaceful and a very precious moment in my life. Though we are all saddened by his death, we are comforted in the knowledge that he is in a better place and his body is finally healed. We know he is in heaven and we'll be with him again one day.

I don't really know what I'll miss the most about him. But I know I miss his comforting presence, his wonderful sense of humor, and how much fun we had together as a family. It saddens me that my children never really knew him, as Andy was only 14 months when he had his stroke and the others born after that. But I know I have many memories to share with them. I don't really know what else to say, so here's the obituary from the paper.

Richard " Bud" Marshall, 67, went to be with the Lord on Thursday, July 16th, 2009. He died 5 years to the day after suffering a hemorrhagic stroke. He was born in Carthage, Texas on September 12, 1941 to Charles and Laura Marshall, who preceded him in death. He attended Baylor University and graduated from Stephen F. Austin University. He was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in 1965, where he won a Championship under the leadership of Coach Vince Lombardi. He went on to play with other NFL teams, including the Houston Oilers.

Bud is survived by his wife of 45 years, Kay Morgan Marshall, his daughters, Jennifer Marshall Milholland and husband Bob, Kelly Marshall Cook and husband Lance, Kim Marshall Baggett and husband Jeff, and Lisa Marshall Graham and husband Kyle. He is also survived by his brother, Mike Marshall of Carthage, Texas. He took great pride in his 14 grandchildren: Kaytlin, Kathryn, Melaina, Morgan, Ben, Jackson, Andy, Claire, Colin, Micah, Elizabeth, Ryan, Shane and Sarah.

The family will receive visitors at Rosewood Funeral Home on Friday. July 17, 2009 from 6:00 - 8:00 pm. Services will be held on Saturday, July 18, 2009 at 10:00 am at Rosewood Funeral Home, 3939 Pasadena Blvd., with interment to follow at Forest Park Lawndale. Dr. Charles Redmond will officiate.

A special thank you to the staff at San Jacinto Manor for the continuous devotion and care that they showed to Mr. Marshall and his family over the last few years. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the building fund for First Baptist Church 7500 Fairmont Pkwy. Pasadena, TX 77505 or online at www. fbp.org. Words of comfort may be shared with the family at www.rosewood.cc. under current services.

A Whole Lotta Kids!

A few weeks ago, my college roommate Jill came to visit us with her 3 kids. We were very excited about her visit and the boys had thought of lots of fun things to do with Julia, Samuel, and Caroline. Unfortunately, the visit did not turn out quite like we planned, so we'll have to try again next year. But we had a great time with them during their (too short) stay.

On the first day of their visit, the kids got to know each other, they played for a long time by themselves in the playroom, we walked to the park, we had pizza and ice cream sandwiches, and we survived bathtime and bedtime with 7 children in the house! We were proud.

The next day, our wonderful friends Sarah & Erika brought their children (3 boys total) out to visit us and we had a swimming party. While we've talked a lot about our kids to each other, we never get to spend much time together, so it was fun to introduce the kids and see them interact. It was a little crazy with 10 children in the pool, only one of which was able to swim by himself without any type of floatation device. Just so you know, we had one 6 year old, one 4 year old, one almost 4 year old, two almost 3 year olds, one 2 year old, and four one year olds. Whew! That makes me tired just thinking back on it! It was comical to watch the sunscreen and pool preparations, then the chaos of lunch, but we all had a great time!

Unfortunately, I got called away because of my dad and took Andy and Colin with me. I am forever grateful to Jill, Erika, and Sarah for being so understanding as I walked out the door and left them with my 2 screaming cupcake-covered twins. I knew Ryan and Elizabeth would be perfectly fine and would calm down soon after I left, but I was a little worried about my friends' ears because of the ear-piercing shrieks! :) While I was sad to leave the party so soon, I was happy to see everyone and glad they got to visit each other longer. Girls, I guess we'll just have to do it again soon!

Jill was planning to stay until Saturday but left on Friday instead because of everything going on at our house. It was a little crazy on Thursday! Not only was that the day my dad passed away, but Jill's car had to be towed because it was leaking oil, we had to hitch a ride with my brother-in-law to go anywhere because we had too many kids to fit into one car and Kyle was out of town with our other car, and my nephew had to be taken to the emergency room that night because he pulled a glass bowl off a counter, sliced open his thigh, and needed stiches. Then, while I was doing funeral preparations all day Friday, Jill was stuck in the house with Kyle and all 7 kids while she waited for her car to be fixed and returned to her. All ended well and she and Kyle both made it through the crazy day. Jill, next year's visit will be better and less eventful!! (we hope!)

Click here to see all the pictures!

Funny Things My Kids Say

Inspired by my friend Sarah, I decided to record funny things my kids say so I can remember them when they're grown. So this post is about Colin - the one we can always count on to be funny when he doesn't mean to be. Tonight I had a bad headache and Colin asked, "Does your head hurt because you talk so much?" Thanks.

And as you know, my dad passed away a few weeks ago. I was talking about it with the boys and told them that Papa died because he was very sick and now he was living with Jesus. With a very serious and sad face, Colin asked, "Did Papa throw up?" I guess in his little world, it doesn't get any worse than throwing up! He brought lots of humor to a very sad day.