New Read

My new book is quite intense. I'm about 100 pages into it, and I really have to tear myself away from it.

It is really good. It starts in Shanghai in 1937, when the Japanese begin their invasion of China. Her writing is exciting- detailed but not painfully so, and clean. (ie, I don't have to visually weed out gobs of offensive language) I have a hard time putting it down, which is why I shoved it under the bed today while I got ready for my in-laws' arrival tomorrow. Too much to do to get ready- if I'd have picked it up, there would have been no turning back!

The Birthday Downpour

So this past 6 weeks has been a whirlwind of birthday chaos. Beginning with Brad's 14th, then Hannah's 6th, then my 38th, then Kaylee's 8th, and wrapping up with Joe's 40th and my mom's (well, she won't appreciate me writing that, now will she?) it was a virtual storm of wrapping paper, gifts, thank you notes and cake. I don't even like cake, but somehow I end up consuming what must be 3 lbs of it during this 6 week time period each year.

It's been a good ride, though, you know? Being a parent in a sizable family is undoubtedly exhausting, but I really wouldn't trade it for anything. Today I assisted my youngest daughter as she read her first "real" book, I taught my 8 year old her first multiplication lesson in math, laughed hysterically with my 11 and 12 year-olds over the content of our favorite website (cakewrecks.com) and watched as my 14-year-old gave me his most recent progress report, grinning from ear to ear, as it contained all A's and one B. Every day brings a new adventure- some good, some hairy, but all worth the ride.

Happy birthday, Brad! We thank God for every minute of the 14 years you've been with us!

This sweet little face has been in our home for 6 years now- our little Hannah-Banana!

This lovely crew brought me breakfast in bed on my birthday. (it was 7 am, which makes the gift all the more wonderful!) I love these kids!!!!!!

Last day as 7-year-old and 6-year-old! (can you believe there really are just 2 years between them? Talk about the tall and short of it! :)

Happy birthday, Bug! Kaylee was given the choice of 1) a full outfit from Justice, accessories included, or 2) an ipod shuffle. She chose the clothes. We are in for it, I think. :) She is such a joy, we are continually amazed by her multi-faceted personality.

So there is a glimpse of the last 6 weeks. To go along with all the celebrating, we also had one minor car accident, which left our car in better shape than it was prior to the accident, thanks to a great body shop and a great repair shop. Fortunately, the accident was not Joe's fault, and the girl who hit him wasn't cited because she slid into him when she was unable to stop in the snow.

Now that the Olympics are over, I am ready to resume my normal tv-watching routine. Sadly, I have one. I love the Olympics, so I was almost mourning its ending, but I look forward to The Biggest Loser (yeah, Jillian scares me, too), American Idol, Lost, Psych, and Glee. It's really ridiculous, I know. Last night we watched the Marriage Ref after the Olympics and we laughed hysterically. I have no time for any more shows, dang it! Oh, and Parenthood looks good, too. Sigh. Maybe I just need to pitch the thing out the window. Thank goodness for my DVR or I'd have to watch those shows when they actually come on, and then I'd really be in trouble. :)

Meet our new Yellow Belts!

Recently Joe, Brad, Lindsay and Nathan passed their first Moo Lim Do testing, and are officially yellow belts! Woo hoo!!

The Resurrection of the TV

So after finding out that the tv would cost $400 to fix, Joe resorted to banging it with his mag light flashlight. After four or five good smacks, he put the motherboard back in and turned it on.

It worked.

If that had been me, it would have burst into flames. I am thankful for a handy, if not slightly magical, husband.

Happy New Year!

Well, I have decided to reenter the world of blogging. My silence sure is not due to any lack of excitement around here; as a matter of fact, quite the contrary is true. We have had a whirlwind of a fall, and I am sorry I blew off my blog during those months. Oh well, what's done is done. I will post a slideshow at least for those months, even if I don't fill in the details.
Right now we are getting ready for Christmas, like the rest of America. The tree is up, the stockings are hung (using command poster strips for those 5 lb stocking hangers, those things are weapons!) and the baking has commenced. We were pounded with an amazing snowstorm a week or so ago, and the kids have had a blast building a new snow fort. One day they were out there for over 4 hours. I'll post a pic of their hard work, as soon as I trudge out to the back 40 with my camera.
Thanksgiving was amazing. Our dear friends, Chris and Ginger and their girls Alex, Audrey and Lily, came for a week from Arizona. They are such a breath of fresh air, and we had a blast with them! The entire time was exactly as we hoped-the kids were so happy to be together, the schedule was clear of almost all activity, and our time was joyful and relaxing. And the food was AMAZING. Chris put together a fabulous feast, with contributions from everyone else. We hosted, with CR, Amy, their kids, my mom, and our friend Sharon and her two kids, Jason and Rachel. Despite the number of kids (13!) and adults (8), we were able to set places for everyone and enjoy a sit-down, gorgeous meal complete with table decor and real dishes. :) Leftovers were great, too, with us going back and forth between our house and the Oldhams' to munch down all the yummy food over the next few days. The only sad part of the whole thing was saying good-bye to our friends, who left on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We sure weren't ready for them to leave!
This Christmas we will have the pleasure of hosting, and we will have all of Joe's family in town! We are so excited for everyone to come. We will have Joe's parents, grandmother, brother Kenny and wife Celia and Kenny's daughter Juliette, sister Annette, sister Theresa and husband Eric, and their 3 kids, Katelyn, Bethany and Ben. It will be the first time we meet little Ben (he was born in April 09) so we are all looking forward to that! Also, my mom will come, and possibly my family (Aunt Bobbie, Uncle Ray, Steph and Charlie), and maybe even Sharon, Jason, and Rachel. It will be a full house, literally, though the only overnight houseguests we will have are Juliette, Eric, Theresa, Katelyn, Bethany, and Ben. We are thankful for our big house, so the kids can run around in the basement and we adults can be unaware of the mess. ;)
We are hoping for no more home casualties, as in the last month we have replaced a dishwasher, toaster, 2 doorknobs, a furnace motor module, and our downstairs tv died, too. We aren't going to replace that, though. We'll just have to live without it for awhile.

Here are some pics from October, November and a bit of November.

Fall 09

Put Me in the Zoo

Oh wait, I'm already here.

In the last week we have acquired two new pets. One is cute and fuzzy and soft, doesn't bark, and loves to cuddle. His name is Corbin. He is a dwarf something-or-other rabbit, and is so darn cute!

Meet Corbin.

Isn't he adorable??? I'm a bunny person, so I'm kind of partial to his cuteness.

Our other new pet is named Phoenix, after our former home. He is, well, not cute. He is scaly, squiggly, slithery, and most definitely not cuddly. He is red and orange (like a Phoenix sunset) and he eats mice. Little, hairless pink shrively mice.

Meet Phoenix.

Phoenix is a corn snake. Our children were first introduced to corn snakes at a friend's house, and we all were quite taken with them. They can grow to be 4 to 6 feet in length, but we're hoping this little guy stays smaller than that. Phoenix is 2 months old (same as Corbin!) and Brad paid for him with his own money, aquarium and all. He has been saving for nearly a year.

Add these two to our one mini schnauzer, Ivy...

And three fish (David, Lenny and Benny)....

And one visiting chihuahua, the "daughter" of my mother-in-law....

I do believe our pet quiver is full, thank you. We now own one more pet than we have children.

Yes, we've lost our minds. Thanks for asking.