I Hope...

I just finished painting the boys' room.  I'm doing the theme, "I Hope They Call Me On A Mission!"  Naturally I needed some pictures to adorn their walls, so we dressed up for a photo shoot.  I am in no way a photographer, but I think they turned out cute.  Better than I expected, really!

JetSkis

We've found out family activity!  While in Wyoming we had our Razr and dirk bike to zip around the mountains.  During the time of medical uncertaintanty, we decided to sale them in case the bills started to pile higher than they already day.  It was a sad day to see them go, most especially since they'd sold in less than an hour, the dirt bike in only 10 minutes!  We've been looking for a family activity ever since.  With the move next to a large river, I think we've found it.  A couple weekends ago we rented some JetSkis to see how we'd like them.  We invited the Burch's and headed to the river.

 It was kind of awkward having the renters supervise and help us get on and off, but we still had a blast.  I understand the liability, but come on, I can get my own kid off, thank you very much:)  We rented one for two hours and had a blast.  It was an unseasonably warm 95 degrees, so this was the perfect opportunity to test out, and refresh our mad skills.  The kids were in heaven!  Even Brennon got on.  That's HUGE for Brennon!  It took some convincing, and maybe a bribe or two, but he did take a ride:)

 Cameron brought his Kayak with him.  It happened to be a Kayak weekend where they gave free trials with both a Kayak and Paddle board.  Caden and Keilie got to try.  They were both seriously awesome!  More proof that we need to be a watercraft family!

 Before we went, the kids begged us to get some goggles.  This was their only use!

 Not sure what Brennon is doing while being front and center, wish Ty was looking, wish Keilie was smiling, wish you could see more of Caden, but other than that, love this picture!

 Love this girl.  She was amazing out there.  Those little chicken arms can row!

We're even more excited for summer now.  We attended a BBQ after at the Burch's.  It was great!  River fun with good friends and food.  Can't get much better than that.  There is still talk of getting another Razr, but I think we've found our sport!

Pinterest Project

A few weeks ago Jamie found a pattern on Pinterest that she wanted to try.  I, of course, was super excited she asked if I wanted to do it with her.  I never would have undertaken a project like this without her assistance.  She found the fabric needed on sale, so we jumped on it that day.  We liked the same fabric, so we decided to make them matching.  I love how they turned out!  I also love that the temple is so close.  We took these a couple minutes before church.  How blessed we are to have it so close!!!

 Keilie, Shelby, Evelyn, Cassidy!

 Shelby, age 6

 Keilie, age 9.75:)

 Me with my beauties. 

 I feel so blessed to have these two girls as my own.  They are the light of my life.  I love that they let me get them all dolled up and sit for the millions of pictures I want them to take.  They are such good girls.  They will make the best mothers someday!  And hopefully give me many grandbabies!

Cameron was kind enough to take a picture of me and Jamie.  I'm so glad to have found her.  It was hard leaving Kimberly- I still cry!  I was afraid I would be so lonely for so long.  Not the case!  Jamie and I have become fast friends.  I'm grateful for her.  I can't wait to do many more projects with her.  Especially since most recently our projects have centered on her sweet babe due in August.  I can't wait to smother her sweet little Prince with snuggles!  Man, I love babies!!

Whining Mommy

I have a good life. 

I am getting healthier by the day it feels, I have a wonderful family, perfect marriage to a stellar man, great home, good friends, all of the amenities I could ask for.  I really do love my life.  It's just, sometimes I wish things could be different.  Sometimes it really is hard staying home with little kids all day.  I know I'm not the only one that has done it, but today it feels like I have the worst kids of all time.  I'm not complaining, it really is the only place I'd want to be, but sometimes I do feel like a break is in order.  Like today, for instance.  I went down to fix the kids some breakfast.  What did they want?  Pickles.  If that's what they'll eat without wasting it, who am I to say no to something that literally repulses me?!  They got pickles.  I sat them down and headed for the shower.  Now I won't say I'm the fastest shower-taker of the century, but I do think I could win a gold medal if there was such an event in the Olympics.  I seriously blaze through showers.  Baths, meh, not so much.  So, I was in, out, and downstairs in 7 minutes only to find the kids laughing as they were THROWING PICKLES ALL OVER THE HOUSE!!!  I lost it.  This week I've come down to Doritos and graham crackers crushed all over the floor.  Get this, I'd mopped and vacuumed the night before at 10:30PM.  The house was SPOTLESS when I went to bed after midnight.  I come down at 7:00 to utter chaos.  Then, two days later, again after a night of mopping, I come down to PICKLES thrown around the house.  I was ticked to say the least!  I spank my kids, don't get me wrong, but this actually made me envision belts and whips.  They cleaned all morning doing any job I commanded to make up for it, but I still got annoyed if they even breathed wrong.  Or looked at me with their eyes.  Or sneezed.  Then, as Brennon was putting the Costco sized bottle of pickles back in the fridge, he dropped the bottle...all.over.the. newly.mopped.floor!  I stared at that offensive massive spot for a good two minutes.  Straight!  I think Brennon feared for his life in those two minutes.  I'm sure his short little life passed before his eyes.  Of course, when he bust up bawling that it was an accident, I felt 3 inches tall, but I'd had it!  I'm sick of picking up after my naughty/destructive kids.  I can't wait for this stage of my life to be over.  I will miss so much about them being this small, but messes are not one of them.  I was asked if we lock our pantry.  Um...we go one step further with a padlock on our fridge and locked pantry.  Brennon has figured out all of it!  I'm at the end of my rope.  What do you do when you tell your kids something EVERYDAY and they don't listen?  There is only so much spanking/threatening/taking away that can be done before you bring out the big guns.  What are the big guns exactly?  It was joked that we should never buy pickles again.  To him I said, or 7 pound bags of Tillamook shredded cheese, or graham crackers, or rice krispies, or Doritos, or dry cold cereal, or Mandarin oranges, or strawberries, or tortillas, or chips, or lunch meat, or bread, or Nutella, or peanut butter, or cocoa powder(dusted on my parents' white carpet.)  There's probably more, but I can't think of them all right now.  That is the list of things that I've found not only left out, but all over the house!  On the walls, in the couch, on the carpet, smeared on the sliding-glass door.  I'm done!!!  So, tell me again how being a mom isn't that hard!  To that I say, come over and take care of my brats/hellions/monsters/devils/spawn of Satan.  Cause I just don't know what to do anymore! 

This is the hardest job I've ever loved!!!!!

Awkward Moment

That awkward moment when you bust up bawling while singing "Happy Birthday" to your son because he's turning 12 and you realize he's a Young Man now.

Happy Birthday (yesterday) Caden!!

Sorry I had to go and get all psycho on ya!

WICKED 2013

On May 3rd, I flew out of Pasco, WA at 6:00AM headed for Dallas, TX.  I got a birthday weekend away to visit Ashlee and see WICKED for the third birthday in a row.  I didn't get to Ashlee's until 6:30PM, so it was a very full day of waiting around the airport and long flights, but it was well worth it!!  I got a few days with these cuties...

 

 McKaylee!  She turns 6 in a few weeks.  She is very smart and read me a book with little difficulty.  She was a joy to be around and a very sweet little princess.  Love her!  These are after bathtime, so their hair is still wet.  However, it doesn't detract from their beauty.  Or stellar personalities!

 Austen.  I'm pretty sure these are the only pictures I was able to get with her.  She just turned 2 and is a mover.  She has the sweetest little sassy personality.  Just love her.  She is the only one with blue eyes in their little family.  How fun is that?!

 Of course we had to do a funny face pose!!  I wouldn't be the favorite if not for my fun side:)  Or goofy side, however you want to look at it.  All I know is I'm a favorite of at least one of them:)

 Ash with her girls for a Mother's Day shot.  It's not the one that turned out the cutest, but I had to show Austen's cute face.  Isn't she adorable!!!  And those eyes!!

 On Sunday after church, Ash taught me how to make fondant for cakes.  This isn't anything special, but we did go over the basics.  I have since made one on my own as a refresher and will unveil my wicked skills this week for Caden's 12th birthday.  Weird!  12?!

 Don't mind my bangs, I had to pull my hair back for full concentration on this adventure.  I should have checked my do before:)

 Daphnee.  She will turn 5 in August.  I know we shouldn't have favorites when it comes to family, but she's as close to one as there can be.  When I remember Ashlee in my memories of our childhood, Daphnee is what I see when I think of Ash.  She is her carbon copy.  Much like everyone tells me Keilie is to me.  She is the sweetest little cutie.  She reminds me so much of Ashlee.  Even with her defiant streaks.  It's said that when Ashlee was little she'd do exactly what she wanted, even if mom and dad were watching and telling her no.  "Don't stick your finger in that light socket.  It will sting!"

STING!

 After dinner on Sunday, I had about 30 minutes to relax before getting on a plane for more flying.  I tried to nap- just kidding.  We had McKaylee take pictures of us pretending to sleep.  This is the only one that worked out of 10 that she took.  I just couldn't stop laughing.  Daphnee, on the other hand, was awesome!  She's going to be an actress.  She didn't break a smile even once.  She's good!!!

My favorite of all of these girlies is this one.  She is the best friend I've had my whole life.  While at church, someone said they were shocked to see we were even related.  He is a geneticist by profession and said it's his job to find similarities and could find none in us.  However, he must have missed our personalities, voice, and sheer love for one another.  We have been so blessed in our lives to have one another.  I think the hardship and passing of our little sister when we were so young has bound us together for life.  We call each other regularly, laugh together, cry together, vent together, and just love everything about one another.  How lucky I am to have her for my own!  We had a WICKED time!  We both agreed that this was our most favorite Elphaba of all- by far.  She's seen it four time, this is my third.  I'm glad we got to see it together.  I'm not sure if I'll ever see it again, so I'm glad it was with her!!  I love you, Ashlee!  You complete me- always have, always will!!

Happy 36!!

With the computer not taking the pictures off of the SD card, I am now playing catch-up with the blog.  Randy turned 36 on April 18.  He came home early from a trip so we were able to party with him.  I took him out for a Sushi roll before the other kids came home from school (and another one after the kids went to bed.  This man is a Sushi lover.  Gag!)  Then we picked up a frozen cheesecake to celebrate.  Sadly, when I purchased it I didn't know it was frozen.  Not tasty at all!!  We were able to spend a few hours celebrating the life of this awesome husband/dad/man!  Love him.  And Tyson's face!  :)  Happy Belated Birthday, MaLova!

Happy Mother's Day

This has been a very emotional day for me and it's not even close to being over.  I went to bed not feeling well last night and woke up not feeling any better, worse even.  I was happy that I got to sleep in until 8:09AM.  The kids came in bearing their gifts of sweet cards and homemade gifts from school.  Caden cried to me (without the kids seeing) that all of his plans for making it a great day had been ruined.  He was so heartbroken that he couldn't be the first one to with me Happy Mother's Day, or bring my homemade breakfast in bed because the Young Women had done a fundraiser and Randy purchased one of their baskets.  I was touched that he cared so much that it actually hurt his tender feelings when none of his planning had worked out.  I then got a good laugh at Keilie's card, "Mom, if I had a choice between you and Jamie, I'd choose you!"  Good thing my little girl would choose me as her mom:)  Randy went to drop off a movie at the Redbox and happened to notice that the Credit Card he used to rent Jetskis yesterday (more on that later) was missing.  We were frantically looking around for it when he realized that the renters probably hadn't given it back to him.  We happily went on a Sunday drive to pick up that card so he'd have it for his trip to Alaska this week.  Happy he got the card, sad he's leaving me today for 6 days- and going somewhere I've never been.  Then I came home and took a 3 hour nap.  Which could have easily been 4 if not for Randy's flight.  While on our Sunday drive, Randy had the kids go around and say things they were grateful and loved about me.  Here are a few that I remember. 

She gave me brothers and sisters.  She is faithful.  She chose to marry a good dad (this one brought tears to my eyes).  She buys me things.  She is my mom.  She makes me food (Brennon.  Surprise, surprise).  She decorates and makes our house pretty.  She cleans my room.  There were others, but I can't remember them all.  The one that made me laugh out loud was from Ty, "I love my mommy because Caden gave me a penny!"  I had tears in my eyes after that one as well!  Happy Mother's Day!

Mess

I have been enlisting the kids to do a lot more cleaning lately.  They are now using Clorox wipes to do more things than ever.  It used to be only door handles, then became the whole door, then countertops, now toilets and surrounding floors.  Shelby is master of toilets, Brennon is master of countertops/sinks, and Tyson is master of handles.  It's awesome.  Maybe not the most money conscience or GREEN, but when you have a household of 7, I don't really care how it gets done, just that it does.  So, when Shelby came into my bathroom and found a mess that Tyson had made on the countertop that she'd cleaned yesterday, I felt her pain when she cried, "I just cleaned that countertop yesterday!"  Literally cried!  Shelby...Welcome.to.my.life.  EVERYDAY!!!  Every second!!!!  That girl better grow tougher skin if she is going to be a mom.  Messes are a part of the job description.  Doesn't mean you have to like it, just realize that they're going to happen.  A bunch when you have kids like mine!!!

Hero

It seems that I have been reflecting a lot recently on my mothering style.  After coming home from Dallas (more on that later!) Shelby asked me why we didn't do fun stuff like they'd done with Randy.  I realized that I focus a little too much on cleaning games and not enough on outdoor games.  They played outside almost the entire time.  Tyson has the tanned face to prove it.  I feel like I fall short in so many areas.  We pray together as a family each night before bed, but have not tackled the habit of morning prayer.  We are really good at always having Monday FHE (I truly feel that this is my favorite night of the week.  I know my kids feel that way as well.) but we seriously need to make family scripture study more of a priority.  I make sure to help the kids do their homework, but don't make a habit of spending one-on-one time with each child each day.  I just feel like I'm always behind in something.  Always lacking in some area.  And don't even get me started on laundry...  So, after months of reflection on my shortcomings as a mom, Keilie's school assignment could not have come at a better time, or been more appreciated till now.

My Hero.

By Keilie Dirks

 

My hero is my mom because she is a stay at home mom.  She looks just like me.  She cleans up after 5 kids.  My hero is my mom because she quickly brings my homework to school when I forget it.  She lets me do whatever I want to do when it's my birthday.  She helps me with my homework.  THAT is what my mom is.

 

Tears sprang to my eyes while reading this.  So many of the things that I value in my life, she values as well.  I always wanted to be a mom.  I wanted to stay home.  Randy made that a priority as well, so I am lucky enough to get to.  Even though I don't like it all the time- like when they make a mess with food in the morning or maliciously ruin things- I do enjoy cleaning up after my 5 kids, making a clean, organized, and welcoming safe haven for them to come home to.  I do like that I can drop what I'm doing to take my kids things.  I don't have a job, or a boss, that I have to ask to make sure I'm there for my kids.  I want them to feel like they are my first priority.  They are not a burden to me!  That is why it's hard to consider going back to work after Tyson goes to 1st grade, what if they need me during the day?  It's things like this sweet assignment that erase all of the doubts/fears/inadequacies in my overactive mind.  I must be doing something right. 

Cause if that little girl thinks of me as her hero, how bad can I be?

Cooties

I wish my phone's camera was as good as our normal one so these picture could be better, but I had to share them anyway.  They look great on my phone, though, so I'll always be able to see them clearly.  While at Target yesterday I bought a game for the kids.  I'm hoping that as they roll the dice and choose their parts, they'll learn their numbers better.

We have Cooties!!!

 They could barely wait to get home to open it.  Shelby had Kindergarten, so I promised her she could play the second she got home.  The boys usually lay down for a nap the second we get home from dropping Shelby off, but they literally could not wait.  They had one game before she got home.

 I forgot all that we have to do on Tuesday night (I'm not sure why. I hate Tuesday nights) so we didn't get to play until later after Gymnastics.  Hence Shelby's slutty outfit.

 They wanted to line them up in order of winner.  Steph, Brennon, Tyson, Shelby.

My Cuties laying with their Cooties!

 

It's funny that I remember owning this game when I was Brennon's age.  I even remember writing a boy's name on the box that I had a crush on:)  An older brother to my "boyfriend" Robby Allred.  I guess I had a thing for older men even then!