Falling off the grid

I can't believe I haven't posted since before school started!!  Where does the time go?  Well, I guess I know the answer to that, I've been extremely busy!

First up, *I* started school!  I took the first semester of Anatomy and Physiology and I got an A.  It took a LOT of work.  It was a little more stressful than I thought it would be, but worth every minute studying when I got my final grade.  :)  Add to that shuffling around 5 kids to the places they need to be, cleaning, laundry, my flower business, and working part time as a medical assistant, and I think you can begin to understand why I haven't updated very frequently.  I also started running and that has helped to keep me a bit sane.  Life is a bit stressful, very busy, but a lot of fun mixed in.  :)

Second up, Goose started middle school and honestly its been a huge adjustment for all of us.  Waking up earlier and keeping track of 6 different classes/homework/papers has been rough.  After a mid semester crisis, the teachers stepped in and have been giving him better support and we've made some changes at home to encourage him as well...  Here's hoping the rest of the year goes a bit smoother.  He is still an amazing reader and very smart.  He LOVES his baby sister and is a huge help with her.  Twister wants to be just like him and Goose is good about trying to include him when he can. 

Sweetie is in fourth and doing really well.  She is a good student and doesn't need a lot of monitoring to get her work done (and done well at that!)  She is a great helper with her siblings and really just fun to be around.  She was thrilled to have a girl close to her age move into the house next door this past summer.  They have had a lot of fun together, and jump on the trampoline and play outside frequently.

Tank is in first grade and also a big help and fun to be around.  She has so much spunk in her!  I love to go plays or other events with her because she is so animated about how much she loves it.  :)  She is getting pretty good at reading and is doing great in school.

Twister started preschool this year and is really at a super fun age.  When I was talking to him just the other day he said..." Mom, did you know when it gets dark outside, that I can see lots of Christmas lights??!  Its kind of like magic."  He is very charming and very cute.  Anyone else think that spells trouble?  :) 

Cinderelly is another charming, and cute little one.  She is talking up a storm and thinks everyone ought to be able to understand her.  She smiles and waves at everyone, but is wary of anyone wanting to pick her up... she is much too independent for that. I recently caught her practicing faces in the mirror.  Let me tell you, she doesn't NEED any practice!  LOL!

Benson . . . I could write a novel about him.  He is wonderful and amazing and my best friend.  In addition, he has really been struggling with a variety of health issues for a year and a half now, and every test seems to come back mostly "normal".  We are in the middle of some more testing, so we will see what that shows.  It seems like each specialist is able to find something worth treating, but no one has answers as to what is causing the symptoms and how they are related.  Despite the frustrations of pain, fatigue and other issues, he is working hard and pressing on.  He is very valued at his work and seems to get more responsibilities as they realize how much he is capable of. 

So, there is a quick recap of our last few months.  We haven't completely fallen off the grid, just took a small break.  :)  Here's hoping to a 2012 full of more fun, more busy-ness and maybe a few answers. 

Last day of Summer

Many of my friends had their kids start school today, so you may have been expecting the traditional start of school pictures. However, today was actually our last day of summer. My awesome dad offered to help me take the kids to Morton Arboretum. They had a blast!

Hanging out in a TINY doghouse.  LOL!

So grown up.  *sigh*

Just after this picture was snapped, Twister fell into the pond behind us.  Opps.  At least he was in good company, Goose fell in too.

Goose was insistant that Cinderelly be involved in the spider web.  He would carefully step over  a few chains, then pick her up and place her in another hole.  She thought it was funny. 

My cute little spider.

He insisted on wearing his sunglasses all day.  He looked so darn cute in them.  Though, he would correct me and tell me he looked cool, not cute.  Cute is for girls. 

This much fun is exhausting. 

My favorite picture of the day. My kids LOVE their Papa!  And he is SO good about letting them know he loves them too.

It's been a good summer. Tomorrow starts the craziness. Goose will start middle school. Sweetie starts 4th, Tank starts 1st, and I start an Anatomy class to work towards my nursing degree. AGH!!!

My Mini Me

During the past couple weeks, I've had so many comments on how much our little Cinderelly looks like me.  This is all very new to me despite her being my 5th.   :)  What do you think?

Some things never change

Some things never change, isn't that great!!  This weekend I got to meet up with my old college roommate and her family.  It had been about 8 years since we last saw each other, but before we moved apart, we we nearly inseparable.  :)  Its amazing to me how so much time can pass, and it doesn't seem to matter.  We stayed up much too late catching up and reminiscing.  I think that must be what heaven will be like.  Good friends sharing their joys and trials and what they've learned.  Here's a few pictures from our adventures in Nauvoo, IL where we met up.

Our families have expanded quite a bit in the last few years.  The kids got along great, which made the whole weekend that much more fun.  It was rewarding to see the kids bond the way we had years before.  :)

And Nauvoo was just as fun as it has been every time we have gone. The kids love the pioneer pastimes area. 

 

 The group went on a wagon ride without me, since I've developed an allergy to horses that has only ever manifested itself on that same wagon ride in the past.  Call me a party pooper if you will, but I prefer breathing to a wagon ride anyday. 

We were afraid the pageant was going to be rained out.  I teased Benson that it looked like the Heavens were not as happy with this new pageant.  We came to expect miracles there, the sky's always seemed to clear in time for the show.  Well, it may not be the City of Joseph pageant, but I suppose the Lord is happy with this new pageant as well because the sky cleared just in time for the show to go on. 

We also visited many of the pioneer homes.  We stopped by the blacksmith's shop and got our prairie diamonds and the brick yard to get our Nauvoo brick.  I always enjoy hearing the history the missionaries share.  Those pioneers went through so much during that time.

On Tuesday we went to Carthage. 

There is always such a special spirit there.  My kids are blessed to claim both survivors of that day as ancestors.  Willard Richards saved John Taylor's life... and it is through their lineage that we are here today.  Pretty cool.

So Nauvoo was cool and spending time with my good friend was priceless.  Hoping its not another 8 years before we can align the stars and meet up again.  Thanks for a great weekend Mer!!

Catching up a bit

So, I didn't post about our family gathering last month.  My brother came to visit us with his 4 girls...  So we had 17 of my parents 24 grandkids in town.  :)  So much fun.  So, one of our big adventures was to take everyone downtown  to the Museum of Science and Industry.  It was so much fun.

They had a few areas like this where you actually interact with the image they are projecting.  In the picture above, if you hold your hand still enough, one of the butterfly's will actually land on your hand.  In another one, some balls would either gather into your arms, or fall to the ground below based on what you were doing.  Very cool.

Twister was completely intrigued by the ball suction thingy.  He went back and forth grabbing the balls and watching the vacuum suck them up up and away.  :)

Cinderelly was pretty entranced by the floating ball.  No barriers were going to stop her!!

The baby chicks hatching were pretty amazing to watch.  They know the exact gestation of the eggs, so they put the eggs in the public incubator on the day they are scheduled to hatch.  Could've spent all day there watching them, truly miraculous.  :)

The weather science area was really fascinating as well.  They have this neat vortex thing that looks like a giant tornado.  At one point, a few of the kids were invited to stand in it!  Very cool.

There were a lot of other really neat random things as well.  The raining fog here made a really neat effect.  Eventually all good things must come to an end.  And there was no exception here:

We pushed the kids to their limit and it was time to head home.  They slept beautifully through the huge traffic jam as we headed home.  I feel so blessed to have the family that I do.  The kids LOVE their cousins, they are really best friends.  I can't wait to see how they interact as they head off to college and stuff in the future.  :)

Anyway, since they left, its been back to the summer grind.  We play outside in the heat, and hide inside when we can't take it anymore.  We've made forts, camped in the backyard, caught lightning bugs, played at the park and more.  Life is never dull with 5 kids.  :)  And since I can't leave this post with such an unhappy picture, I'll leave you with this:

Chicken Pox

A quick story to lighten the mood today.  We saw some turkeys in our yard this morning.  I pointed them out to Sweetie and Tank who were sitting in the kitchen.  The conversation went like this:

Sweetie:  Oh look, there they are!! 

Tank:  Cool!

Sweetie:  You have to be careful if you are outside with them because they bite.

Tank:  I know!!  Mom even got a bite on her forehead once.

Mom:  No I didn't.

Tank:  Yes you did, you showed me that mark!  The one on your forehead.

Mom:  You mean the scar that I have from chicken pox??

Tank:  No it wasn't chicken, it was from the turkeys.

Mom:  I think  you're confused... my scar is from chicken pox, which is not actually from a chicken (or a turkey), its a type of rash. 



Well, it made me laugh anyway.  :) 

Summer has been crazy around here.  Crazy weather, and lots of restless kids.  Its hard finding things to keep them all occupied.  They like to play outside but the mosquitos are horrendous this year, so we have to be relentless on the bug spray.  Especially since Twister has such an allergy to them.  Have I shown you this picture before??

He swells up like crazy with a single bite.  The picture was from last year, but we've had some doozies this year as well.  It helps when I get some hydrocortisone on it immediately. 

Anyway, this summer is going well despite our crazies.  :)  We're excited for next month when we are going on a small vacation and meeting up with my old college bestie and her family.  :)  It will be a blast!! 

Just a pic for today