Boy Crazy

Abi's Fishy Birthday

2012-01-28T14:45:00.000-08:00

Last month my niece, Abigail, turned 7 yrs old. She took her bestest, best little BFF, along with her sister, and her boy cousins, to the new aquarium here in town. It's no Seattle Aquarium, but the kids had fun. Maybe too much fun. It was more like a wet petting zoo, really. And there was an iguana. At the aquarium. Who knew? I guess when a place is built on donations, ya take what you can get. The whole aquarium consisted of 2 rooms and a hallway....pretty much. But don't listen to my negativity. I grew up in Seattle & went to the SEATTLE Aquarium for Field trips, where there were exhibits bigger than my house, and where part of it was submerged in the actual sea. The kids didn't know any better & all of them LOVED our little local aquarium.

Look! It's Nemo!!!

Starfish tank

A crab, I believe.

Anemones & stuff.

Grabbin' a shark by the tail.

Shark egg!!

Inside the shark egg: baby shark!!!

Yes, Jarod's hair is WET. He got a little carried away trying to make contact with the sea life. We left shortly after this picture was taken, to avoid being kicked out.

Jarod making friends as usual.

His pal, Ray.

No, you can't take it home, Gideon.

Back at the ranch, we had the usual birthday celebration with cake, presents & noise.

Auntie Heather loves you, Abi.

So much.

Fall Stuff I Forgot to Blog About

2011-12-15T20:13:00.000-08:00

#1. Olivia's birthday. She likes cats.

I bought her a bunch of kitties from the thrift store cuz I'm cheap like that. But it made her happy anyway.

Auntie Emmy made her an awesome Hello Kitty cake.

#2. Justin's birthday. He turned 40. He's still a handsome young stud to me. But I am much, much younger than him.

#3. My sister-in-laws, Jubilee & Melanie came to visit. They brought their friend, Gina. They also brought my nephew, Aiden, whom I had not seen since he was a newborn. I performed the amazing feat of rocking him to sleep, which is something he usually only allows his mama to do. Even though my youngest baby is now almost 3 whole years old, I've still got the knack.

#4. Uncle Joshua & Auntie Heather came to visit.

#5. Halloween happened. Wait. I think this should have been #1 or #2. Oh, well. Not gonna fix it now.

#6. In the middle of my frantic packing for our trip to WA, for Thanksgiving, Seth decided to go for a bike ride, hit a pot-hole, fly through the air for a bit & "break" his arm. Very inconvenient for me when I had to load everyone up in the car & head off to the ER for our monthly visit. However, it was just as well, because the staff was starting to miss us & wonder if we were OK. Heaven forbid. But I suppose it was no picnic for Seth either, as it was his arm which was injured....poor kid. I felt so sorry for him that I did his chore, the dishes, for the whole next month. (Yes, I do dishes on vacation. But when you have teenagers, they should help, right?) When we returned from our vacation & had the doctor re-X-ray his arm, it turned out to not be broken after all. Simply sprained. Hmmmmmm.....Suddenly, he's able to do the dishes again. Thank you kindly.

#3: PART 2: When Jubilee, Melanie & Gina were in town, Justin's work was having an early Christmas party. I asked them to babysit the boys so that I could go with him for a date. Not only did they watch the boys all evening, so Bonnie & Clyde could go out on the town, they (along with the boys, whom they paid) cleaned my house from top to bottom. They cleaned & scrubbed things I had forgotten even existed. That was a HUGE blessing & I can't tell you how loved that made me feel.

Another highlight of the evening, for me, was when I beat Justin at poker. That has never happened before. He beats me at every game we ever play......cuz he's smart like that & I'm.....not so much. Well, technically, I just finished ahead of him (that's the same thing, right?). I also relieved a bunch of guys of their chip stacks, so I was pretty dern proud of myself. A good time was had by all, except for the guys whose chips I stole.

Stay tuned for upcoming posts about our vacation.

Homeschool Study Hall

2011-12-13T12:31:00.001-08:00

I feel like I have been living an alternate reality the past 3 weeks. Justin, the boys & I went to WA for Thanksgiving week. I knew my Grandma was doing poorly & that I'd likely be seeing her for the last time. We stayed at my cousin Regina's house & had a wonderful visit with many family members from Justin's side of the family & even more on my side. I did have a chance to visit with my Grandma & say goodbye to her, after Thanksgiving. I thought she probably had a bit more time left, but I knew that I would probably never see her again, alive, as I live so far away. The morning we were planning to leave to come home, my cousin came into my room to tell me our precious Grandma had died a couple hours before. Justin had bereavement time available at work, so we just stayed there to wait for the funeral. All in all, we were gone from home for about 3 weeks. It was a wonderfully bitter-sweet time. I became very close to my cousin Regina, who was an angel (as was her husband, Chris), to house 8 people....6 of whom are fun-lovin' & rowdy boys.....for almost 3 whole weeks!!!!! I think there may be a special place in heaven for her. But now we're finally home. Half of December is suddenly, mysteriously, just gone. The boys got somewhat behind in their school work. Reality is sometimes a big bucket of cold water. It's Seth & Jarod's finals week & all of the boys are catching up now....or trying to. Mama is trying not to freak out about it all & just have them do the best they can. Mama is also bribing them with King-sized candy bars at the end of the week if they work very hard. Around here, with all of our happy chaos, we do what can to get the job done, ya know? The boys have their own special way of trying to focus as well, and shut out the constant distraction of active littler brothers (see below). I have taken a break from the SweetTarts & am trying to prepare for Christmas. I am nowhere near ready. Haven't even decorated or done cards. I plan on blogging some highlights of our vacation, as the days go on, if I can find a moment here or there. But don't hold your breath.

This is what an angel looks like, in case you were curious (the pretty one holding the less-angelic one):

Pumpkins Painting

2011-10-27T14:58:00.000-07:00

We don't do things the "normal" way very often. We don't carve our pumpkins. We paint them. It's just what we do. It prevents a bloody mess from carving-knife-mistakes, it saves on the mess of gooey pumpkin innards getting everywhere & it provides the children with a lovely, round, orange canvas to let lose their creativity upon. It only stains the carpet, their hair, their skin & any clothes they might be wearing ("washable paints" is a bold-faced LIE), but that is a positive, since it all just blends right in to all the pre-existing stains. For clean-up, I just take them out back & hose them off. I get to laugh while they shiver. Everyone wins. OK. I don't really do that (in cold weather), but painting does seem an easier clean-up (& safer) than having seven children carving pumpkins & trying to make sure no little ones get ahold of any knives. Yup. I do take the easy way out way out when I can. However, it's kind of become a tradition on our house & the kids love it.

Pumpkins painting pumpkins.........

Artists at work...............

A couple pretty lil' pumpkins.

My Mr. Potty-Training-Do-it-Myself-Backwards-Underpants-Pumpkin had a jolly time painting his pumpkin.....so long as I didn't try to help him, heaven forbid.

Mr. Creative & Unique-Artist-Pumpkin's interpretation.

Mr.Perfect Pumpkin was very proud that he was covering every square inch of his pumpkin in green.........in his favorite shirt even. I was very proud of him for not getting upset about the mess on his shirt, which did actually come clean with an Oxy & bleach combo in the wash.

Artists left to right:

Abigail, Isaac, Jarod, Mommy (the only pumpkin with decent eyebrows..I'm just saying...) , Micah, Gideon, Titus & Olivia (squint at your screen, look really close & you'll see it....it's the one in a rock disguise). Seth was far too cool to paint his own pumpkin.

......and the Pumpkin Family lived happily ever after, until they all rotted & had to be thrown out.

The End

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-22T16:35:00.000-07:00

I truly have had writer's block the past couple of months. You'd think I'd have all kinds of fun stories of the boys saved up in my brain just waiting to explode out of pen & onto paper. But, alas, my brain has been absent of late, so there goes that theory. That said, I will do my best composing this post.

We went to the Pumpkin Patch.

It was fun. (How am I doing?)

We made corn angels.

We played with corn.

We played IN corn.

Some of us more than others.

We went on a hay ride.

We picked out pumpkins. The virtual academy we are a part of paid for our admission to the pumpkin patch as well as our pumpkins. The kids were each allowed to pick a pumpkin that they could "carry out".

Some of them

took this very seriously.

Titus had to find the perfect pumpkin, of course. He inspected each one he came across quite carefully for the perfect roundness, size & color. This was not his pick, but it was a close second.

We ran into some fellow homeschoolers/church friends at the pumpin farm.

Was hoping to maybe get a nice picture for the Christmas cards I probably will not end up making this year.

It was not meant to be.

Maybe I'll use this American Gothic replica instead.

Rockin' the fanny-pack. Don't be jealous. And, yes, I have lost some weight. Thanks for noticing.

The pumpkin that finally made the cut.

Happy trails to you!

Nasal Object Extraction 101

2011-09-27T20:04:00.001-07:00

Today consisted of school lessons, girl-cousins visiting, a bead pulled from a terrific two year old's nose, more picture fun with my cam wow app & lots of giggles resulting from said fun with cam wow app. Those were just the highlights, of course. Yes. A bead. I am an expert bead-from-nose-extractor, didn't you know? Isaac came to me and started yelling at me hysterically, to "take it OUT, Mama! Take it OUT!!!" He was so anxious to have it removed, I thought that just maybe he might hold still while I worked on him. HAHAHA! Oh, sorry. When the holding still thing didn't work, I swaddled him in his old baby blankie, with his arms pinned down. I had Seth hold down his legs, to prevent thrashing & avoid nasal injuries. His scream changed to, "Leddeee down, Mama! Leddeee DOWN!!!" I used a pimple popper to extract the bead. Hey, don't knock it! It has that nice small, curved, NON-SHARP, tip.....unlike big, bulky, sharp tweezers, which tend to push an object further into the nostril. I was able to get gently behind the bead & push it forward and out in under 10 seconds!!! I am just that good. Isaac giggled happily about his vacant nostril....... then promptly yelled at me to, "Give it back, Mama!!! Give it BACK." I did not. Other stuff happened today too. Feeding kids. Comforting kids. Settling kids' fights. Practicing for a gig on Friday. I'm singing lead in the 2nd set. Aaaack! Excited! Scared. Mostly excited. And scared. Feeding kids. Comforting kids. Settling fights. Yup. That's it. Oh. And poorly constructed blog sentence fragments. The usual.

Clarification

2011-09-26T17:03:00.001-07:00

In regards to my last post: I do not really think two year olds are terrible. Most of my readers seemed to understand the gist of my point & my slightly sarcastic tone. However, OCD boy, Titus, inherited his quirkiness (i.e. slightly abnormal obsessiveness) from someone. Eh-hem. I have a need to clarify things often. Then, after I have clarified something, I feel the need to clarify my clarifications. Not only do I NOT think my 2 yr old is terrible, I am thoroughly enjoying every minute of being his mama. (Oh, wait. I think I said that before somewhere.) He's my very last baby & I am in no hurry to get past this stage. I will weep when we do graduate to the next level. Copiously. It's actually one of my very favorite stages & I laugh at him regularly, even when I should probably be firm & serious. At least he snuggles me & says he's sorry when I fake-cry (unlike certain teenagers I know. OH! Not that I think teenagers are terrible!) Not only is Isaac a tenacious, tender, terrific, & only-slightly-"terrible"-two year old.....he also has a great sense of style! Oh, but I don't really think he's terrible. I yub him yots. Ok? Ok. And by that I mean......oh never mind. I'll save that clarification for the next post.

Testing

2011-09-25T21:41:00.001-07:00

Yes, Heather is blogging from her IPhone, playing with her new Blogger app & her new Cam Wow app.

The Terrible Twos

2011-09-24T17:58:00.000-07:00

During the course of my 15 years being a mother, I have jokingly and lovingly referenced, to different people, my toddlers as being in their "terrible twos". I have gotten a bit of flack in response to that. I've been told, "Gasp! It's not the terrible twos! It the terrific twos! It's the wonderful twos! It's the sweet & adorable twos!" Yes, yes, yes....those things are true. But there's a REASON it's called "the terrible twos".

Take, for example, my little Isaac. In the morning, when he wakes up, he might smile at me sweetly, climb out of his toddler bed & up into my bed to snuggle me. (His bed is next to mine because that's the way I do things. Don't judge me.) He might wrap his little arm around my neck & kiss my nose & say,
"I love you, Mom."
Me: "I love you two, Isaac."
Isaac: "Oh YEAH?? I love you three!"
Me: "Oh YEAH?? I love you four!"
Isaac: "Oh YEAH?? I love you five!"
Me: "Oh YEAH?? I love you six!"
Isaac: "Oh YEAHHHH??? I love you seven!"
ME: "Oh YEAH? I love you eight!"
Isaac: "Oh YEAH? I love you three!"
Me: "Oh YEAH?? I love you four." (Trying to put the numbers back in order.)
Isaac: "Oh YEAH?? I love you nine!" (Hey. Don't laugh. Can YOUR toddler skip count to seven? Didn't think so.)

OR.....in the morning, he might wake up, peek his head up over the side of my bed to scowl at me and say, "I hate you, Mom." and flop back down on his pillow with indignance that I had dared to smile at him. To which I respond in my mature-mommy way, pretending to be very hurt. Practicing for all the future mommy-guilt trips, I start to do my fake crying bit. He jumps back up to my bed & says, "I sorry, Mom!" THEN come the snuggles and kisses, followed by:

Isaac: "I want Diego."
Me: (I get up out of bed to put Diego on for him.)
Isaac: "Wait. I don't like Diego."
Me: "What do you want to watch?"
Isaac: "Ummmmmmmmm............I waaaaaaant........UmiZoomie!"
Me: "OK. Here's UmiZoomie."
Isaac: "Wait. I don't like UmiZoomie."
Me: "Sigh. OK. What do you want?"
Isaac: "Hmmmmmmmmmmm..................I like Wonder Pets."
Me: "OK."
Isaac: "Wait. I don't like Wonder Pets."
Me: "What. Do. You. WANT."
Isaac: "Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..............I waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaant DIEGO!"
Me: "OK. Here's Diego."
Isaac: "I hate Diego."
Me: "OK. No TV."
Isaac: "I want Diego!!!!!"
Me: "Say please."
Isaac: "Buuuhhlllleeeeeeeeeeezzzze?"
Me: "OK. Here's Diego."
Isaac: "YEEEEAAAAAHHHHH!!!"

Nap time goes something like this:

Me: "Isaac! It's time for nap!"
Isaac: "I HATE nap!" and runs into the bedroom. His escape plan is somehow flawed.
Me: "Do you want a baba?"
(I still give him a sippy cup with milk at nap time, but not at bed time. I know, BAD mommy! BAD! I just quit nursing him a few months ago! He's still my baby, OK? Don't judge me. Don't worry, I brush his teeth a lot.)
Isaac: " I hate my baba!"
Me: "OK. Get in bed. No baba."
Isaac: "I want baba!!!!"
Me: "OK. Here's your baba. Get in bed."
Isaac: "I don't like get in my bed."
Me: "Do you want to snuggle mama?"
Isaac: "I don't like-a-snuggle mama."
Me: "OK. Get in your bed."
Isaac: "I wanna snuggle you!!!"
Me: "OK. Come snuggle mama."
Isaac (snuggling mama): "I don't like go-to-sleeeeeeeeep!!!"
Me: "I know, baby. Close your eyes."
Isaac: "I don't like-a close my eyes. I hate my baba!"
Me: "OK. I'll put your baba over here for now."
Isaac: "I want my babaaaaaa!!!"
Me: "What do you say?"
Isaac: "Buuuuuuhhhhlllleeeeeeeeeeezzze?"
Me: "OK. Here. Close your eyes."
Isaac: "Heeeheeeheee (literally....he says "heehee"). I love you, Mommy." Snugglesnugglesnuggle.....

Going potty:

I try to help Isaac put the potty seat on the toilet.
Isaac: "I do it myself."
Me: "OK. You do it."
Isaac tries for a minute. Then: "Will you do it, Mommy?"
Me: "Sure, honey."

Picking out clean big-boy underpants:

Isaac: "I want Diego pants."
Me: "Those are all dirty. How about the buggie pants?"
Isaac: "I HATE the buggie pants!!!"
Me: "How about the SpiderMan pants?"
Isaac: "I don't like the SpiderMan pants."
Me: "OOOOO!!!! I know! How about Buzz LightYear pants?"
Isaac: "I hate the Buzz LightYear pants. I want Diego pants."
Me: "The Diego Pants are dirty. How about the....."
Isaac: "WAIT! I want the buggie pants!"
Me: "OK. Do you want mommy to help you?"
Isaac: "I DO IT!"
Me: "OK.".....................................................
.................................................................................
.................................................................................
Isaac: "Mommy, will you help me?"
Me: "What do you say?"
Isaac: "Bleese."
Me: "OK."
Isaac: "Thank you, Mommy. One little pooty (counting his feet while he puts his legs in the holes), two little pooties......"

Snack time:

Isaac: "I want a nana."
Me: "OK." Open banana & hand it to him.
Isaac: "I hate a'nana!!!" .................

I agree......"terrible" is a little too strong of an adjective. Maybe we can compromise. Instead, maybe we should call it the "completely-opposite-of-everything-mommy-says-twos" or the "I-do-it-myself-twos" or the "I-love-you-I-hate-you-I-want-it-I-don't-like-it-twos", as well as the "terrific, sweet & adorable twos", although that would be quite the mouthful. To put it more simply, yet accurately, maybe it should be the "Trying & Terrific Twos"..........and I wouldn't change a minute of it.

                                     Me: "Are you my baby?"
                                     Isaac: "No. I Isaac."
                                     Me: "Oooohhh. OK, my Isaac."
                                     Isaac: "Mommy?"
                                     Me: "What, Isaac?"
                                     Isaac: "I you baby."
                                     Me: "You're my BABY? Oh good."

EC2 is Here!!!!

2011-09-16T01:52:00.000-07:00

I am happy to announce that the book I participated in writing, An Eclectic Collage Volume 2: Relationships of Life, is here and ready for sale. I am honored to have co-authored this with many other lovely ladies from the Pixie Chicks' Writer's Group. I need to admit, if you faithfully read my blog, then you have already read my submission to this treasure. I posted it on my blog at the same time as I submitted it to the Freundship Press. That may have been a mistake. At the time, I just really needed something good to post on my blog! I wasn't thinking it might be a spoiler. However, you have not yet read the beautiful submissions of the other many talented Pixie Chicks! You may order your copy from me personally. I have several copies in hand that I can sell to you. I will pay the shipping & handling myself because I'm nice like that......and because it's cheap (like me). You may also order it here:

http://www.freundshippress.com/products/an-eclectic-collage-volume-2-relationships-of-life/

                                             Happy reading!!!
                                            Heather

Boy Crazy Academy Entertains Special Guests

2011-09-15T01:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, cousins Abigail & Olivia came over to visit. The girls begged to "do school" with us, so I let them. They are all wearing hats in the picture because the language lesson had a poem in it about a boy with a frog in his hat. We made dogs, cats and frogs. Then we put them in our hats. OK? Good.

BTW...........don't you love the boat on my decorative shelf? Thrift store bargain: $2.00! Don't be jealous.

The five little children were SO well behaved & studious, I must say.

The older kids? Mmmm....not so much.

This was their recess time.

I love our tree. It is beautiful and ever-growing. All of the older boys have grown up climbing in it. It was much smaller when we first moved into this house ten years ago. This tree has taken a lot of abuse: kids climbing in it, swinging from it, kids hitting it with bats, kids breaking it's branches, but it keeps on growing. It keeps on providing a lovely & enormous shade for my back yard. I love to sit in my reclining camp chair, under its shade, to read my book & listen to my children playing. There are so many good memories attached to that tree, it almost feels like part of the family. If we ever can afford to move into a bigger house, I will miss our tree immensely.

I really don't know what is UP with Jarod's facial expressions & hand gestures lately, but I am concerned that he may have a serious illness called Adolescence.

Abigail is taking monkey lessons from her cousins.

God made dirt & dirt don't hurt. (Especially Titus. He doesn't even let it touch him.)
OK. That's obviously not entirely true.

Note the cleanliness of Titus, even though he is allowing himself to play (*gasp*) in the MUD.

Olivia is good for Titus.

However, I'm pretty sure he is without a shirt because he'd gotten a couple drops of water splashed on it & one simply cannot have that! No shirt is better than a microscopically wet shirt!

Ya-ya does LOVE her mud pies!!!

Auntie Heather LOVES Ya-ya.

This is Isaac: the orneriest boy on the face of the Earth.

He is also one of the six cutest.

He is almost a "big boy" now, but I am in constant denial about that.

I'll let you know when he is not my baby any more.

Ya-ya & Titus LOVE Sethy!!!

Attack of the Man-Boy-Aliens

2011-09-07T00:10:00.000-07:00

Seth turned 15 years old on the 31st. Just as in my last blog post, regarding Titus' birthday, I have decided not to blog about my feelings on this matter. I might start crying........and never stop. Seth wanted doughnuts instead of cake. Grandma gave him a very nice Ipod. Great Grandma sent him some birthday money. He wants an electric guitar from us, for which we are still searching Craig's List.

Suffice it to say, if he would like to go back to being THIS age, I would be just fine with that.

Now he is a big, GIANT, part-man, part-boy, part-alien, whom I hardly recognize anymore. He has big, giant, boy-man-alien friends, who eat a lot of food ( that was probably mostly due to the deliciousness of my burritos)......................

.............make a lot of bad smells (also because of my burritos), laugh loudly, talk about girls when they think I'm not listening................

.....................and try to kill each other at overnight birthday parties hosted in my house. But I am very glad they are a part of Seth's life. They are great kids! They all say "please" and "thank you". They don't get mad when Justin & I make them fast forward through the bedroom scenes in movies. One even knew the movies so well, and was so nice, that he warned us when something was coming. Seth picks good friends. He is a great kid too. I am so very proud of the man he is becoming. But I digress....... *sniff sniff*

It should be noted that, while Seth & his friends may all be man-sized & man-smelling, they DO giggle like little girls when it is 4 o'clock in the morning.

They gave Seth some lovely gifts that would please any Man-Boy-Alien: a gift card to Subway, a CD, $20 cash, a movie DVD and a butterfly knife, with which he has become quite adept at flipping around. No phalanges have been severed as of yet. One buddy gave him a giant, handy, metal & red clip that could probably attach an entire house onto his belt loop if the need ever arose. Yup. Handy.

No story here really. Counter was dirty. Told Jarod to wash it. He recruited Isaac. Thought it was cute. Took a picture.

We tried to go camping today. I stayed up till the early morning hours, pre-planning my menu (being on a diet while camping is a PAIN). We spent the whole first part of the day packing up the camper. We finally got everyone ready and loaded up into the Suburban, drove about 10 miles, and then came back home. The Suburban was having some issues. Justin spent the rest of the day trying to figure out what those issues were. We still don't know exactly what the problem is, but I know he'll figure it out. He's pretty amazing like that.

Jarod was a little bit happy that we stayed home tonight. There was an 80's party for the middle school kids at our church tonight. He had thought he would miss it because we were going camping, but when we came home, he got his hopes up about maybe being able to go after all. Justin was thinking that it would only take him an hour or so to fix the car, but he was wrong.

Jarod was VERY disappointed that he couldn't go to the party.

He was the saddest little 80's rock star you ever saw!!

I took a picture of his costume & texted it to his youth leader. He texted back and promised to give Jarod a coupon for a coffee drink at our church's coffee bar, for having such an awesome costume. Yes, our church is that awesome and, yes, Jarod is allowed to drink coffee sometimes, because he's old enough. I think he might also be trying to turn into a Man-Boy-Alien as well. *sigh*

                                                Now he's a happy rock star.


                                                 Will we go camping this week? Stay tuned...............

Um.......August? Where did you go?

2011-08-23T12:31:00.000-07:00

TITUS' BIRTHDAY:

It was Titus' 5 yr old birthday last week. Or was it the week before? Yup. It was the week before. Oh. No. Wait. It was the week before THAT. Apparently, in my brain, it's all blending together as one giant, endless (but enjoyable) week. I really meant to relax this Summer. Funny. Micah owns his own ice cream maker, so he made the ice cream. Jarod, my little chef, made the above cake for his little brother: complete with a cherry on top, as requested by Master Titus. Below is Isaac's contribution to the cake decorating process.

I feel like I always say the same basic, sappy, sentimental type of thing, every time one of my babies turns yet another year old. You all probably grow weary of hearing me say the same exact thing 6 times a year. So this time I'll try not to say anything mushy about my baby growing up & how it's all happened so fast & how I wish he'd slow down & how it seems like only yesterday that he was a just chubby little 10 month old lard bucket who could only roll around on the floor, like a lumpy bowling ball, to get where he wanted to go. His infinite rolls of chub prevented him from up-righting his own body. He was quite the talented roller. And then, somehow, he walked. After that, he turned 5. He has grown to be surprisingly quite petite......and less likely to roll around on the floor, lest he get dirty or wet. That would be my little OCD-boy's worst nightmare. It is bittersweet, because he's such a smart, sweet, big boy now, but he used to be my "little" baby. And this week, he is STARTING KINDERGARTEN (at home of course). *Sniff. Sniff* The end. No mushy stuff. How'd I do?
Titus' nice big brothers gave him presents from their own toy boxes. We were broke that week & had to wait till payday to buy him anything. That kind of thing happens occasionally in a family this size. But he was perfectly happy with what his brothers gave him, so his birthday didn't totally stink. He very much felt and acted like he was king for the day, no matter what presents he received. He was just a happy boy the whole day long (which is highly unusual for him, as he is usually whining about someone getting water or dirt on him.....especially water). He, of course, got his "real" presents from Mommy, Daddy & Grandma later. But I think he liked them about as much as he liked the presents from his brothers.

ABOUT DANNY:

Last weekend (I'm pretty sure it WAS last weekend), my "adopted" son, Danny, stayed with us for the weekend. There are some things you should know about Danny. He loves Jesus. He can break dance. He likes music. He will eat 2 whole tuna sandwiches with dill pickles, because he LOVES dill pickles. He also LOVES life, even though he hasn't had the easiest one. He will talk your head off about Jesus' love, touch your heart & make you cry a little. Then he'll go blast some Justin Bieber for the "enjoyment" of the entire household. Eh-hem. He also blasts songs which have lyrics like "super duper cute" in them & which I know, logically, I SHOULD find highly annoying. Instead, I find myself singing along & smiling........because he brings a little extra sunshine into our home when he is here.

He is also occasionally prone to random & spontaneous planking. And if you don't know what that is, you're just not "with it". (But don't worry, you aren't missing much.)

Random, spontaneous planking is apparently contagious.

Silly boys!

ANOTHER CAMPOUT
We went camping on Thursday & Friday. Yes, it was this past Thursday and Friday. I'm sure of it. I think. It was only a one-night trip, but it was wonderful, fun & relaxing.

Isaac had fun. Really.

There was snorkeling,

T
parting the seas,

exploring & brotherly bonding,

floating with no rafts & a little tushy pain from big river rocks.

Happy puppies..

......happy boys & unhappy mussels. They found about 200 of them.
But we had no idea what to do with them so we threw them back into the river.

Jarod made a friend.

Dirt happened.

Mushiness prevailed.

Went to the lake on our way home. It was deliciously calm and warm. Justin & Seth kept trying to drown each other. They looked like a couple of bears wrestling on a Grizzly Adam's episode. Not that I would know if bears ever wrestled on a Grizzly Adam's episode. Or did they just snuggle? Either way, this was their father-son way of bonding & snuggling, so it's all the same. Seth actually managed to dunk his dad once. He's now bigger and taller than Justin, which I am still in shock over daily. Daddy's still stronger and tougher, but Seth now gives him a little run for his money.

A few scenic pictures of the land I love.

                                        This, however, is my favorite scenery.



                                                MONTHLY EMERGENCY ROOM VISIT:
       After all the outdoor adventures & possible dangers of drowning & such......we made it home safe & sound. Then, yesterday, THIS happened:

At my friend's house, Jarod decided to use a home-made stilt (yes, the kind that clowns walk with) as a golf club & Micah decided to get in the way of his super-mighty golf swing. So, basically, Jarod (accidentally) hit Micah in the face with a 2 x 4. He felt so badly about it & wanted to accompany Micah to the ER with Justin. Micah said it just felt like a little punch and didn't hurt very much. The little tough guy! He's sore today though. I apologize if this picture grosses you out, but for me......it's par for the course. Eh-hem. Sorry.

EXCITING NEWS!!!!
I submitted my "Heather Goes to VBS" essay (which I also posted here a couple months ago) to my friend's publishing company "Freundship Press". It was accepted an will go into THIS BOOK:

It is being published at this very minute & will be available for sale very soon.

I can say that I am a real, published author now! I know it's not a whole novel or anything, but it's a start & I am very excited.

COMING SOON!!!

#1. The SweetTarts have 4 gigs in the next few weeks. One gig is tomorrow at a cool diner, who is giving the band members free food and soda and $25 to share. We're in the big time now, baby!!!!! If you want details to this event you can find our SweetTarts Facebook fan page here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/SweetTarts/199825853393485

#2. Uncle Joshua is coming tomorrow.

#3. The boys' school is starting tomorrow.

#4. Seth's birthday is in a week.

#5. I get to weigh myself in a week and see how much weight I've lost on Prism this month.

#6. Hopefully I will actually blog again before October.

#7. Hopefully we can avoid the ER until October. A girl can dream, right?

#8. Probably a couple more little camping trips.

#9. Isn't that enough?

Who Needs Girls?!

2011-07-31T14:37:00.000-07:00

No, all the testosterone in my house has not caused me to become a chauvinist. I'm simply stating that one does not need girls.......to have a beauty parlor/spa day. Not that I intentionally set out to make it a family thing, but, last week, Jaord & Micah saw me dying my hair red (with black streaks) & they wanted in on the action. I had a little of each color left. Micah wanted red. Jarod wanted black.

Gideon wanted the ladies to love his lashes.

Micah can be pretty too!

Before

After

My results!

I surprised myself. Since I'm a poor lil' stay-at-home-mama, I can't afford to go to a real hair dresser. I was afraid it would look like I spilled a can of black paint on my head......in which case my back up plan was to go all black. But I did pretty well, if I do say so myself. The stripes in the back, top section of my hair were particularly difficult. I found myself standing on my tip toes to try to reach way back/up there & then realized that it didn't help much. My eyes almost got stuck, rolled halfway back in my head, trying to see what I was doing. Very stressful. I don't recommend it. I've had a few requests from friends for me to do their hair too. The answer is no. I will not, but thanks for asking. Unless you are willing to go all black if I mess up. And pay me $50. Or bring me an ice cold diet Coke. I'm on a diet, short on gas money......and have nothing else to live for (in terms of food & beverage anyway). BTW.......I went to WalMart to get the cheapo $15 haircut, lest you think that I did that myself as well. I'm not that good. I might have ended up looking like I got a little too close to helicopter propellers AND spilled a bucket of black paint on my head. Willing to risk the paint bucket look, but not the propeller accident look. So, no, I won't cut your hair either. Unless you bring me TWO diet Cokes.

Watch Out! Crazy Mama's Bloggin' Again!

2011-07-30T17:52:00.000-07:00

This has been a bit of a difficult month for me. As you know, I sent Micah off to camp (for. five.whole.days) three weeks ago. True to my word, I followed him there after a few days. I told him that, since he was only nine years old (and not ten, like his brothers were when they first went to camp), he could only go on the condition that he let me "stalk" him. I had only stuffed about fifty-three post-it-mommy-love-notes into all the pockets of his pants, his shoes, his bag of toiletries, his Bible, his note book, his hats, his gloves & his underpants. You know, so he wouldn't forget about his mama. Seth & Jarod remembered, fondly, when I did the same thing for them on their first trips to camp. They lovingly recalled reaching into their wallets for soda money, in front of their friends, and pulling out a love note from Mommy. With such sweet memories in mind, they vigorously begged me not to inflict the same fate upon Micah. Their plea fell on deaf ears, as I did not want him to feel unloved! Or to forget about me. Mind you, I know & trust all of the youth leaders & children's ministers in our church. They are absolutely amazing & I appreciate everything that they do for my children. They are such blessings to our family & are truly a special breed of human. But Micah is my baby and, well, I worry. And I missed him. A lot. I don't really look forward to sending any of my children away. Some people think that makes me crazy. I've never disagreed with those people. His camp went Monday through Friday. On Thursday we packed the camper and drove out to Micah's camp ground. I thought he might be home sick by now. I found him in the chapel, watching and performing skits with all his friends. I didn't want to interrupt, so I snuck in quietly and sat down right next to him.

He suddenly looked up, saw me, turned red, gasped, "MOM!" and buried his head in his hands.

I said, "Hi, honey! It's nice to see you too! Are you having fun?"

"YES, MOM." in a whispery kind of hiss.

"Do you want to go camping with us tonight or do you want to stay one more night?"

"STAY. ONE. MORE. NIGHT. MOM."

"Ok, honey! I love you! Bye!"

"BYE, MOM."

So, even though I knew he would really, really miss me & be very, very sad.........I let him stay one more night. We camped in a parking lot about five miles away, picked him up the next day (when all his friends were getting ready to leave as well), and set off to enjoy the rest of our camping trip.

I was happy to have my baby back.

The rest of the week went like this:

Camp fires

Shooting lessons from Daddy

Playing in God's play ground

Nature walks

Pretty flowers

Pretty stream and pretty trees

Crazy-weird-cool trees growing out of other trees. OK. I only saw one of those.

Livin' it up in the wild, dinos & all!

"My nose is right here, mommy."

I love that I can send them to their room, even when we're camping.

Sadly, this trip, Jarod still wasn't able to shoot himself a squirrel for dinner, even though he did pack his special squirrel seasonings in his camp bag, just in case. Maybe next time, buddy. He did shoot some killer paper-wear!

Be vewy, vewy quiet. We're hunting wabbits.

The boys' favorite part of camping, I believe.

Such adventures!!!

This one is my favorite.

So is this one.

And this one.

This is my favorite doggy.

This is my other favorite doggy.

After three days we went home, unpacked, cleaned, did lots & lots & lots & lots & lots & lots of laundry & sent Seth off to camp with his buddies.

Seth came home & the next week, we sent Jarod off to camp with his buddies.

Now everyone is finally home, safe & sound.

For the most part.

This month I had a bit of a thyroid cancer scare. I spent a good portion of the month waiting for a biopsy result..........and waiting for all my babies to come home. I didn't feel very inspired to blog. I did, however, pray more than usual & I finally wrote a song. It's just been ages since I've written any music. Apparently, cancer scares remove song-writer's block. The biopsy came back negative, though the doc wants to re-scan again in six months. THAT I can live with!!! Right now, NO CANCER. Thank God. All my babies are home safe. I do not have cancer. I have written a new song, which I may record soon. Not professionally, as I lack proper recording equipment at this point. But I should be able to make a good enough recording that I can share it with you, along with some others. All is well. I am thankful for TODAY. I am at peace. Hopefully, more blogging shall henceforth commence. Or commence henceforth. Or....Oh, whatever! Hopefully I'll be blogging more often. Sheesh! Picky.

Micah Goes to Camp

2011-07-11T10:30:00.000-07:00

This is my sweet sleepy headed little Micah John on the drive to be dropped off for church camp this week. He's nine years old. I wasn't going to let him go to camp until he was ten, like I did with Jarod & Seth. But he wanted to go sssoooooooo badly. I know the children's minister & helpers a lot better than I did a year ago, when we were fairly new to our church. I know they do an AWESOME job with the kids. It's only two hours away. And, really.............would YOU be able to disappoint that cute little face??? Micah is an easy-going, sweet kid who doesn't ask for much. I had to let him go. But that doesn't mean I have to LIKE it.

Brother hug!!!!!

All ready to go!!!!!!!!

So excited to spend the week with his buds!!!!!

Group hug!!!!!!!

On the bus! I think he's a little too happy to be leaving me.

Boys dog-piled on Jarod while we waited to wave goodbye to the bus. Seth had disappeared somewhere with a friend who was there. While this still looks like a lot of boys, there will be a big hole in my heart until Micah is home.

          However..........we are ALL going camping this week (in a couple days). Coincidentally, of course. In the near vicinity of Micah's camp. Of course.....that is also a coincidence.

         Oh, but......if they see a strange woman lurking in the bushes outside the camp ground with a pair binoculars, it's NOT me. Nope.

         I feel pride that Micah is well adjusted enough, being the poor, sheltered, home schooled boy that he is, that he desires to spend a whole week away from his family with other friends. I am often asked if I am worried about "socializing" my children. Not really. I think my kids are pretty well "socialized". I kind of wish they were a little LESS "socialized" & wanted to stay home with mama. Forever. *Sigh* But eventually, they all want to leave me. My kids going off to camp, for some reason, is always a reminder to me that God only is letting me borrow them for a while. When they are born, it feels like they are MINE. All of a sudden, when they appear into the world out of no where, it's as if they've always been there, as if I've always loved them & I can't imagine life without them. First they go to summer camp. Then they go to college. Just like that. And why do I have to love them so very much, just to have them leave me?! It hardly seems fair. But at least I know they are "socialized" & will make lots of friends wherever they go. And now I'm going to go have a good cry.

        Incidentally, does anyone have a really good pair of binoculars & a set of camouflage fatigues I could borrow? No reason. Just curious.

The 4th

2011-07-09T17:59:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Independence Day with my mother in law, Auntie Memmy, Auntie RaRa & Cousins Abi & Yaya. Mom made dinner, Sarah (RaRa) made strawberry shortcake. Of course we lit a few fire works. The usual. Justin used his cigar to light them. As you can see, Titus appreciates the woodsy scent.

The boys did bad things (as I said, "the usual"). The first five minutes we were there, Micah somehow managed to pull Mom's TV down on his head during a fun game of "hide in the TV-stand". The TV & the head were fine, don't worry. Isaac pulled Mom's clean towels out onto the floor in the bathroom just for fun. Some boys climbed Mom's wall. Literally. They found her rubber band stash & ran around the house shooting each other.

So we sent them to the back yard, where Gideon "helped" Mom by "weeding" her yard. Except it wasn't a weed. Isaac dunked all the dogs' stuffed toys into the kiddie pool. They dumped potting soil into the pool. They hung on her weeping willow a little too fervently & climbed her big planters.

So we went out front to blow stuff up.

Justin is really the best Uncle & Daddy EVER.

And just look at those sexy big muscles.

{Is it time for him to come home from work yet?}

Ready for fireworks!!!!!!

This reminds me of ET: "OUCH"

You know Micah means biz when that tongue comes out.

Love their enchanted faces.

But need a better camera.

It was a great evening. God bless America! How was YOUR 4th?

Heather Goes to VBS

2011-07-05T18:00:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, I, Heather, have a bad attitude. I know. It’s hard to believe. Last week was our church’s Vacation Bible School. I admit, I was kind of grumpy about it. I partially raised my five younger siblings, when I was growing up. As a teenager, I was the neighborhood babysitter. After high school, I was a nanny, a daycare worker, ran my own in-home day care and taught Sunday school for years, all the while birthing my own permanent daycare of six boys. As much as I love my own children, and have loved other peoples’ children, one does become burned out eventually. Kids start seeping out of one’s ears and one’s brain starts to melt. I decided years ago, melted brain and all, that helping in the children’s ministry at church was not my calling any longer. My own kids became my main ministry. It’s the most important ministry I could have. I have spent many years in churches where I took on far too many responsibilities, becoming overwhelmed and spiritually spent. My passion is music ministry, as well as helping young moms. Since I have my own children whom I am immersed in daily, I need a break from that when I come to church. So my brain won’t melt. I set some healthy boundaries and have allowed myself to only be involved in the worship team, and occasionally bringing dinner to the high school youth group meetings. I badly needed these serving limits in my life, for my own sanity. But having so many children whom I place in childcare at church for others to watch during church, I have felt somewhat guilty for not helping in childcare ministry. To be honest, I’ve only helped out with VBS the past couple years to alleviate that guilt on a once a year basis. As VBS grew closer this year, I found myself less than excited about the early mornings, dragging six kids out of bed, dragging myself out of bed, driving my husband to work (we are a one car family right now) and then driving to church to deal with someone else’s cute little brain-melters. And here you thought I was this nice person who loves all puppies, kittens and butterflies. Sorry to disappoint. Actually, I do love most puppies. Well, I don’t really love them. I strongly like them and want to hold them and pet them and snuggle them and smell their cute puppy breath and hear their little puppy snorting and scratch their fat puppy bellies. But I digress.

The past few years, I have struggled with truly feeling God’s love for me. I have caught glimpses of it from time to time. When my kids lie and fight and hurt each other and knock holes in the wall with their Tonka trucks, paint their clean shirt with my new lipstick, when they decide to urinate in the front yard in front of all the neighbors, when they turn the bathroom floor into a swimming pool, when they keep me up at night and head butt me in their sleep………….I find that I still love them dearly. When they hug and kiss me, when I see them angelically snoring away at night (I firmly believe God created sleep so that parents would not eat their young), I find myself thinking how dearly God must love me to bless me so. When my kids hug and love each other and share with each other, it warms my heart deeply. As a mother, I cherish those times. Those times are less common than the times of fighting and mess making. I know that God must love it when his children love each other and show kindness to each other. He is probably sad when we do not. Maybe one way we can experience his love for us is by loving each other. I know this logically. I also know logically that God sees me as his child and loves me no matter what I do. Actually feeling the truth of that is another matter. It is mostly likely my own fault as I have not spent the time in prayer that I should. I have not given God much opportunity to show himself to me lately. He does not force himself on a person, so I have often gone about my life without drawing from that source of strength, although he is good and often aids me in ways I do not even ask him to. I have also found myself highly unmotivated to seek him. I cannot see him, touch him, or hear his literal voice. That is a problem for me. I have often asked him to pull me to him, to make me desire him, because on my own I do not. This is not something I am proud of, but it’s the truth.

VBS week arrived. The getting up early, the driving and the stress of getting to VBS daily was as I feared it would be: tiring and stressful. We also had to be at church every night that week for the older boys’ youth group meetings, for church (we go to the Wednesday service rather than the Sunday service), for VBS family night and for Celebrate Recovery. I felt like I was either in the car or at church. It was a very busy week.

While I do not volunteer in children’s ministry often, I apparently made a name for myself during last year’s VBS. Last year I had ten children in my crew, with no one to help me. The kids loved me. I’m not completely sure why. I just acted like a doofus, bribed them with candy and they fell for me. I ended up loving them in return and having a good time. I guess that the children’s minister thought I did so well last time that I had actually been bored and could really use more children in my crew this time around. So she placed me with fifteen kids. Bless her little heart. I was assigned two helpers, but I was afraid I would not bond with the children as well this time, due to the sheer number of children, the fact that I would be sharing them with two other helpers, and the potential for chaos. There were more kids over all attending VBS this year as opposed to last. Trying to keep track of fifteen children, in the midst of three hundred other children, moving from activity to activity……it was all a little bit frightening. I had two boys who kept trying to run away. I had some children who were shy and seemed sad. I had some children who really wanted to test me and see what kind of shenanigans I would tolerate. I had some children who could not keep their hands to themselves if their lives depended on it. I had a little ladies’ man who kept asking one little spit-fire of a girl to be his girl friend. She did not like that at all and came very close to beating him up. One of the older boys tried to tell me, during Bible discussion, that Jesus shows his love by helping him to poop. Really, kid? Do ya know who you’re dealing with?! Ya gotta wake up a lot earlier in the morning to shock this mom of boys! Besides, I supposed there was probably some truth to that. I just agreed with him and moved on.

As the week moved along, my crew became increasingly attached to me, and I to them. When they would misbehave I just made funny faces, dangled a bag of tootsie pops in front of them and they stood in formation at attention. We had a lot of fun just being silly. They gave me lots of hugs, pokes, attempted to pull my arms off and other such forms of affection. They even said nice little things like, “I like you, Miss Heather.”

All the while, the words of the children’s simple VBS choruses were seeping into my heart. “When I am afraid I will trust in you.” “I look up to Jesus, my help. I know I can’t do this myself.”

The missions focus was The Free Wheelchair Mission. We saw videos of people in poor countries who suffer because they are crippled and have to drag themselves on the ground to get around. We saw men, women (even pregnant women), children, old people…..there are millions of them…..who are disabled and live on the ground. The toll it takes on their bodies is horrendous. When they receive one of these cheap, easily assembled wheelchairs, it quite literally changes their lives. They are so incredibly happy to receive such a cheap, simple thing. My heart ached when I realized how often I spend sixty dollars on something so easily for my family or for myself. We have everything we need and more. One donation of sixty dollars to the Free Wheelchair Mission changes one life immensely for the better. I saw that some of God’s children were helping some of his other children to suffer less. As a parent, this touched me. I definitely don’t know why God allows some of the things that he allows in this world. I am not God. But I know that, if we are created in his image, and we mothers and fathers love our children so much…..that his love for us much be similar, if not greater, since we are all his children, since he died for his children. I know I would die for my children. I suddenly realized how it must touch his heart when he sees his children loving each other. He must hurt so deeply when we are cruel to each other or when we don’t care about the suffering of his other children.

Throughout the week, there was a lot of cheering during assembly times. The children’s minster would throw giant beach balls into the crowd of kids. Cheering, excitement and chaos would ensue. Bless her heart. There was cheering when Big D and Dude (a couple skit guys playing the part of some totally gnarly surfer dudes) would come up on stage. There was a lot of cheering on the days when the boys collected more money than the girls. There was a lot of cheering on other days when the girls collected more money than the boys. Our goal for the week was to raise enough money to buy twenty wheelchairs to help twenty people to get up off the ground and have a better quality of life. We wanted to show twenty people that someone cares for them, that God loves them and that he has not cursed and forgotten them because of something that they did wrong. On the last day of VBS, when the children’s minister announced that we had actually greatly exceeded our goal and raised enough money to buy one hundred and forty one wheelchairs, the cheer that went up from all three hundred-plus kids, in unison, was the most massive, ear-splitting, heart-rending cheer of the entire week. I admit it. I cried like a big fat baby. These amazing children were not only happy about who had won the contest, or about the crazy beach balls, or about the totally tubular surfer dudes. They were happy they helped one hundred and forty-one people to have a wheelchair. It was the most genuinely happy and excited cheer I have ever heard. It seared deep into my heart and soul and I will never forget it. It made me think that maybe God himself was cheering with them, that maybe he felt the same way as the children. Maybe he was cheering too because some of his children were loving some of his other children and easing their suffering.

Jesus said, “When you do it for the least of these, you do it for me.” I understand that. If someone were helping and loving my child, I would feel as if they were loving and helping me personally. My children are a part of me. A big part. They are my HEART. We are God’s HEART.

I don’t know how to explain it, but God used VBS week to show his love to me. It was something I thought I was doing “for the kids”, even though my heart was not completely in it. But God used those kids to show me his deep love for his children, including me. Me. I’m not saying that this feeling will last forever and that I’ll never struggle feeling his love again. I am not saying that I will diligently read my Bible and pray every day as I should, or that I am now a perfect person and that I am “fixed” now. But I actually want to be closer to the Lord because of his love. I don’t just want to be “good” or want to want him. I desire him. That is the gift he gave me through Vacation Bible School and through those amazing, sweet, naughty, gross, funny, brain-melting and loving children.

Saying goodbye to my crew was incredibly difficult and sudden. It was over in a blink. The week seemed so short to me. I miss them. Who knows? Maybe I will become more involved in our (gasp!) children’s ministry. At some point. Maybe.

Right to left:
Seth: "Do I really have to pose with my FAMILY?"
Jarod: "Am I handsome, or just contemplative....or both?"
Isaac: "OOooo! This candy I found on the floor is yummy!"
Me: "I hope I can get at least ONE picture of all the boys smiling. What? A girl can dream."
Titus: "Bam! Look at my awesome tat, man!"
Gideon: "We're having WHAT for dinner?"
Micah: "What is that shiney thing over there?"

***I should mention that Seth was a crew leader and Jarod worked in the nursery. They were both very hard workers, did a GREAT job & I was proud of them. There were a LOT of volunteers there who worked MUCH harder than I did, so don't feel too sorry for me. ;)

Micah made a little friend in his VBS crew. She did not want to let go of him and he was too sweet to ask her to. However, she did not like me, as I was her competition. Every time she saw me, we would fight over Micah. She would say, "He's MY PERSON! You can't HAVE him!"

During story time, she would glare back at me as if to say, "He's MINE!!!!!" It turns out she is the youth leader's neice. I wonder if I have found my future daughter in law? If she has her way, that will be in a couple years.

Daddy got to play dress up on stage during a relay race on family night. Isn't he cute with his floatie?!

I wanted to take pics of my crew, but we were so busy, I never got a chance. Sorry to gyp ya'll like that. They were pretty cute kiddos.

If anyone wants to donate money the Free Wheelchair Mission to help someone like this:

or this:

click here:

https://www.kintera.org/site/c.fgLFIXOJKtF/b.5018607/k.C161/Donate/apps/ka/sd/donor.asp?c=fgLFIXOJKtF&b=5018607

The Visit

2011-07-02T14:17:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month my baby brother (AKA: Uncle Mark), & his adorable family, came to visit us for a WHOLE WEEK!!! They are one of the cutest, sweetest families God ever made. AS YOU...

CAN...

PLAINLY...

SEE!!!!

Of course, my niece Aven was absolutely taken with her Auntie Heather.

There was plenty of snuggling............

............head crushing..................

.........sword fighting.............

.............Asher & Titus bonding.........

..............the utilization of small human shields.............

.................some much needed beatings.............

.............bonding time with Uncle Mark & his IPhone...........................

.................lots of cousin play time............

................trips to the park..........

                    Uncle Mark was more fun than the jungle gym.
                                               Can you tell his nephews like him a little bit?

Cute Aven.

Cute Asher.

Yup. One of the cutest families EVER.

My baby brother & I have changed a little over the years. But he's still so cute.

That "WHOLE WEEK" seemed awfully short by day 7. Gideon wanted to go home with them. I felt the same way. I am very proud of the wonderful father, husband & man that Mark is. I am proud of my sis-in-law Tracy for what a good mama & wife she is too. Had such a special time with them. Cried like a big fat baby when they left. Wish they would come back. The end.

The Date

2011-06-14T13:23:00.000-07:00

On June 3rd, Justin & I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary. I have been married to this adorable man for 17 whole years! Auntie Rara & Auntie Memmy watched the boys for us so we could go on a date. A real, honest-to-goodness DATE! It's been simply months since we got out of the house alone together! And a lovely date it was! He took me to my favorite restaurant, Red Robin.....so I could have the french onion soup I've been begging him for since our last date, which was probably at HIS favorite restaurant, Texas Road House. Our dates usually are at Texas Road House. Every. Single. Time. Almost. Which is fine. They have good steak. However, it was my turn to choose. I didn't get a chance to choose, though, because Justin announced to me that we were going to MY restaurant this time! He can be sweet like that. Afterward, we went to a movie. I really, really, REALLY did NOT want to see Thor. However, I think there may have been a method to his afore-mentioned "sweetness". French onion soup sitting happily in my belly, how could I say no to the man? I mean, just look at his cute little face!!! I've always had a problem saying no to that face. Hence our 6 children. I have no idea WHY, but I actually LIKED the movie, as cheesy as it was. It might have just been the company I was in; I could enjoy brussel sprouts with that man! Anywhere HE is, I am happy to just be with him. Except for the auto parts store. I'm not very happy there, so I just stay in the car & read my book. But I look joyfully forward to his return. Oh. Or the sporting goods store! Zzzzzzzzz!!! And the electronics department? Forget about it! But everywhere else, I'm just happy to be with him. He's my FAVORITE person to watch dumb movies with.

Seriously, I am so in love with this man. I know I will get all kinds of eye-rolling & groans from some of my readers.....especially from Justin's sisters (aka: Aunties Rara & Memmy), cuz....EEEWWWW......he's their icky BROTHER!!! But this man is my hero, best friend & lover. Every time I see him loving our boys, I love him a little more. Every time I see him raising his big, strong arms in worship, I love him a little more. Every time he holds me when I cry, I love him a little bit more. He makes me feel safe, beautiful & cherished. He is the knight in this family who fixes everything and rescues ALL the damsels in his family (meaning his sisters, mother & myself). He works hard to support me & all of our little squatters. Meanwhile, I get to stay home & live out my dreams of homeschooling, of mothering, of writing & of music. If I was a single and/or working mom, there's no way I would get to do all the things I am so privileged to enjoy in my blessed life. Even though the boys tend to break & destroy everything they touch...........and everything is this house just somehow falls apart........constantly......Justin manages to repair what needs repairing. As often as it's needed. Which IS often. Very. Often. Has marriage always been easy? Nope. It's been hard work for both of us. I am no pic-nic. And he snores REALLY loud sometimes. But I'd marry him all over again.......as long as he promised not to make me go into Shucks. I think he should watch Anne of Green Gables with me next.

THE GIG!!! {AKA: Heather's 2nd Childhood}

2011-06-13T18:40:00.000-07:00

Being a part of SweetTarts has brought out the 8th grade girl in me. The one that never got to SHINE, cuz my loving mama never let me dress like THIS:
{Yes, I was posing for self portraits in front of my mirror with my IPhone. Don't judge me. And please ignore my husband's water-pic.}

Or wear my make-up like THIS:

Poor deprived little 14 year old that I was.

*sigh*

NOT!!!

Anyway, I found myself, like, having a TOTALLY RAD time, expressing my inner 14 year old.

I might have, maybe, sort of (OK~ so I kinda went off the deep end a little), had a bit too much fun getting dressed for our gig. I didn't match anything! Purple, turquoise, red, zebra stripes, etc!!! And I tried as hard as I could to get my bangs to stand straight up. I tried! I really did! I curled. I ratted. I sprayed. Then I curled, ratted & sprayed some more. Couldn't get the mega-bangs no matter what I did. I think they have just gotten out of shape in their old age........like....other stuff. But I was very proud of my bright blue eyeshadow & giant purple bow. I forgot to put on my giant turquoise hoop earrings until after my "photo shoot". Unfortunately, I still had to wear my mom-jeans & mom-shoes.....cuz I didn't have enough money for a poofy skirt, leg warmers & Keds.

The gig itself went great! Several loving & supportive friends & family came to see us play.......as well as people just walking by downtown. We even had some people who stopped on the side walk and danced to our tunes. It was a blast! Michelle's sister, husband & their 2 adorable boys were there, cheering us on. Of course, all of my boys & Justin were there as the work crew, helping to set up the equipment, as well as showing support. They stayed through both of our sets, standing out in the cold for hours, bless their hearts. My fingers were half-frozen on the keys through it all. But I was able to stay warm enough with all the adrenaline of my nerves & trying not to mess up too badly! We played several great tunes: Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams", Gloria Gainer's "I Will Survive" (which we ROCKED, if I do say so myself), U2's "New Year's Day", Madonna's "Borderline", Simon & Garfunkel's "Hazy Shade of Winter", Heart's "Magic Man" (which Michelle blew out of the water with the amazing notes she hit) & many more.

Here's a little VIDEO sample Seth recorded for me. It's not great sound/image quality as it was taken with my phone. It's not our best song either; Seth didn't record my VERY favorites. But it'll do.

Michelle: Angelic Lead Vocalist

Carrie: Totally AWESOME Drummer Chick!!!

Chris: AMAZING Electric Guitarist & Vocalist; also very secure in his masculinity to be a "SweetTart"! He is kinda like our coach as well & helps us hold it all together, musically speaking.

Shayne: ROCKIN' bassist & also my dear, dear friend!

Just lil' ole me: pretending to know what I'm doing....& havin' fun!

It was fun & all went well. Don't know if I'll do this forever...........but it's sure fun for right now! Thanks to everyone who came out to see us! Thanks, as well, to my loving husband.........who lets me out of the house for band practice & supports pretty much any little ole thing I try to do. How dearly I love him.

The Camping Trip

2011-06-12T15:22:00.000-07:00

Our camping trip was.......wet & COLD. We got rained on, hailed on & even snowed on. But that didn't stop us from having plenty of fun & adventure.

Justin & the little boys got some fishing time in, though I'm sure all the fishies were hiding under rocks in the river somewhere, trying to stay warm. None of them were kind enough to take the bait.

Seth finally got to try out the bow & arrows he got for Christmas.

Jarod & Micah got to shoot the BB guns they got for their birthdays.

I was pretty nervous about the boys going around shooting real (& sort of real) weapons in the woods, but Justin thoroughly instructed them on weapon safety & conduct & how to NOT accidentally shoot your brother. I made them come up out of the woods to the camper, practically every 10 minutes, to drill them on the rules & make sure they were still alive, eyeballs in-tact & all. Kind of a nerve-wracking thing for a mama......but I guess it's something I'd better get used to. Boys & their toys. *Sigh* Can't we just stick with Nerf guns, please?!!!! (There were plenty of Nerf gun wars as well, BTW.)

All of my men had fun chopping wood for the fire. Their contests of strength were quite entertaining, as you can see in this video:

We did lots of exploring......

.............and playing in God's playground!

The sun came halfway out ONCE, for a couple hours..........

.....so I let the kids play in the sand & water a little bit.

Especially frightening & traumatizing for me was that Justin let Seth drive (for the first time ever) the Suburban..... 20 WHOLE feet. Is it REALLY time for the driving thing to start??????

My little bouquet from Justin & the boys. They are so sweet to me.

Justin tried to get a little fire started. He managed, somehow, to ignite wet wood. He's pretty amazing like that.

The mommy & baby Hobbits warmed their feet by the fire.

We spent most of our time INSIDE of our lovely camper (which I am so thankful my man bought for me this year), wishing the sun would come out & the rain would stop.

It was a little challenging trying to keep the kids entertained during the many hours we spent inside the camper.

I rather thought Jarod's creation of winter trees was appropriate.

DAY 2: Relatively clean & happy!

DAY 4: A little less clean & happy.....

We all did lotsa snugglin' to stay warm!

Even the dogs snuggled for warmth.

Seth had the immense privilege of studying for his finals while camping.

For fun in the camper, I made a tent in the boys' "bedroom" & gave them flashlights, so they could....like...you know.....pretend they were camping!!!

We had planned to camp for a whole week, but by the evening of day 4, we were ready to come home to dry out & warm up!


      At least Jarod had something to show for his "hunting" endeavors. ;)

Ballet Recital: Check! Micah's Birthday: Check! Camping Trip: Check!

2011-05-31T17:46:00.000-07:00

So far, I made it through a few things on last week's to-do list........alive & well. The first thing being Abi's ballet recital. She was the cutest mermaid on the stage!

The second thing checked off the "to-do" list: Micah's birthday. (And I didn't "DO" much as Auntie Ra-ra made his cake & Grandma let us party at her house & not mine.) Micah John is the smartest, sweetest, most thoughtful & loving 9 year old boy that I know!!! I am so proud of him. He is ever the peace maker of the house, always ready to giggle hysterically & always thinking of others before himself. And I have to brag a little. He scored ADVANCED on ALL of his state testing this semester. He is in the 99th percentile in math!!! He is just a GENIUS!!! I'd like to take the credit for his success, but I had to google the spelling of the word "genius".....so....you know.......it has a little something to do with his RIDICULOUSLY SMART BRAIN!!!! He says he wants to be a doctor when he grows up. I believe he will be.

We had a small family party for him at Grandma's house.

He got some lego-type stuff............and a Red Ryder BB gun!!! As you can tell, he was pleased.

A very fierce dragon was conquered by some brave knights & ladies.

I just wanted to share this adorable picture of my adorable mama-in-law & her adorable babies............who are both twice her size.

I must admit: I am a little "Girl-Crazy" too.

Beware: the Mighty Dragon Conqueror!!!!!

The third thing I made it through (alive & well) is our camping trip. It was very fun, very wet & we came home early, which is why I have some time to blog & relax a little. I was disappointed & relieved at the same time. I think I'm going to be OK after all. ;) I'll post about our camping trip in the next couple of days. Right now, I have a SweetTart gig to get ready for!!!

Off to Live the Good Life!

2011-05-21T14:40:00.000-07:00

Today:
sitting here thinking about all the stuff I should be doing & not doing it.........and kinda dealing with sick kiddos, needing to run to the store to stock up on bug spray, bug bite stuff, band aids & cold meds for the kids

Tonight:
niece Abi's ballet recital, pack for camping trip, go shopping for Micah's birthday

Tomorrow:
church, pack for our camping trip, do some lessons with the boys, run Seth back & forth to youth group, Micah's birthday at Grandma's house

Monday:
make the kids work like dogs on getting school work done, pack for camping trip, practice for gig

Tuesday:
more of the same.....screaming & hair loss may be involved

Wednesday:
more of the same, early doc appointment, leaving for camping, hopefully the kids are well

This Thursday through next Wednesday:
GOIN' CAMPIN'!!! playing in the dirt, fishing in the river, not bathing, reading in my chair, hiking, singing songs to Jesus & telling spooky stories by the campfire, wishing for a shower by Sunday, practicing for gig (keyboard has to come with me), making the boys study in the camper, applying bug spray to kids, applying sunscreen to kids, hanging up their wet clothes, putting on their warm dry clothes, taking off warm, dry & MUDDY clothes, putting on less dirty clothes, rinsing & hanging their muddy clothes, applying more sunscreen, applying more bug spray, not losing kids in the woods, doing first aid on inevitable injuries, more playing in the dirt, reading & not bathing, snuggling with my favorite man at night, listening to the river roll by us.......ahhhhhh.........bliss!!!!

Next Wednesday:
come home early, unload, get everyone clean, go to our final-pre-gig-band-practice

Next Thursday:
unpack camping stuff, clean, make boys do more end-of-year lessons & studying for finals, go to SweetTarts' gig!!!

Next Friday:
more boys' mad-dog studying, church in the evening & worship team (cuz I can't say no to music!!!)

Next Saturday:
Get the house clean & ready for MY BABY BROTHER, SISTER IN LAW, NIECE & NEPHEW TO COME STAY WITH ME FOR A WEEK!!!!!!!!!! ( I'm just a little excited. :)

The week after:
Hanging out with my brother & his family, Seth's final exams.........and maybe slowing down a little....? Maybe......?

Maybe, all broken down.......it doesn't look as overwhelming as I thought it would.......but have you ever packed all the camping clothes & STUFF.....for SIX KIDS??? For a WHOLE WEEK??? Have YOU??? OK. Maybe some of you have. If you have, you know it is quite a brain-melting experience. And I can't even describe the pressure I feel, with the end-of-school stuff going on as well. Pressure I mostly place on myself, but stressful none the less. A big part of me feels like this is the WORST POSSIBLE time of year to go CAMPING...for me anyway. But I am actually DYING to go........I just feel guilty & stressed about doing it because there is so much going on right now...and I feel like the world might fall apart if I neglect anything (as I sit here playing on the computer).

So.......maybe that means.........this is actually the PERFECT time of year to go camping. I actually can't wait. Seriously.

We did take some time to go to the park on Thursday. It was a beautiful, perfect, fun, happy, relaxing day.

I got to sit on the big girl swing & swing with my baby, with the warm breeze & sunshine on our faces.

Pushin' my babies.....but not tooooo high!!!

Micah relaxing in his own, unique way.

Sethy & Daddy "snuggling".

Titus is a tree hugger AND a tree kisser.

All my "little" boys playing & getting dirty together & warming my heart.

The big boss man.

How Gideon "smiles for Mommy".

My little OCD-boy has come SO FAR!!! It makes a mama proud! *sniff sniff*

I didn't like it & I didn't inhale.

Oh. Here is that picture of Chris, our OTHER SweetTart & SUPA-DUPA talented electric guitarist!!! He is such a SweetTart!

For all my whining about how stressed & busy I am, I am also very HAPPY and THANKFUL that I get to do SO many fun things: be outdoors, do my music thang & spend TIME with my amazing family & friends. I'm so thankful to God for so generously filling my life with my favorite things & people. He is so good to me!!! I am a blessed, blessed woman!!! But I may not be blogging for a few days....or weeks......I'll be out enjoying life. (And likely dying the new greys in my hair. :) God bless!!!!

Hopefully I'll see lots of ya at the SweetTarts' gig!!!

You Know Your Toddler is Ready to Potty Train When.........

2011-05-19T11:26:00.000-07:00

You know your toddler is ready to potty train when :

1. He takes off his diaper, says, "I naked, Mommy" and then proceeds show you how talented he is at peeing on the kitchen rug.

2. When you tell his big brother, Jarod, to put a diaper back on him & that big brother has to wrestle the toddler to the floor because said toddler is kicking & screaming, "You DOOPID, Darod!!!" (translation: "you're stupid, Jarod"). Um. He might not want a diaper on.

3. When you are in the store & said toddler is throwing a fit, for all to hear (because he missed his nap that day) & then suddenly realizes that he has peed in his diaper & starts wailing all the louder, "MOOOOOMMM, I PEEEEE!!!!!!!!! MOOOOOMMMM, I PEEEEE!!!!!!!"

4. When he gets so excited about his potty seat that he uses it for a hat. And then Daddy has to get it UN-stuck from his head.

5. When he is sitting on the potty, and you are sitting in front of him to cheer him on......and then suddenly realize that he doesn't quite understand about "pointing it down", as a nice warm stream hits you in your mid-section.

6. When you have to keep a large supply of Diego underpants because nothing else will do.

The "END"