Our Tootsie Pop - Eating a Tootsie Pop!

BED HEAD!!



Weaning Elli...

There are so many developmental milestones I look forward to in the lives of my children.  The first time my baby smiles, holds his/her head up, rolls over, babbles, sits up, scoots, crawls, walks, talks, waves....etc....so so so many.  I love these times, and I love cheering my kids on and watching them progress past these milestones.  That being said, I can also say that there are also many developmental milestones that break my heart.  I don't think I am alone in my feelings, so you moms that are reading this need to leave me comments and remind me how normal my feelings are (if they are indeed normal :)).  You would think, that after 6 children I would have toughened up and outgrown these heartbreaks.  But, no.  It still makes me ache when my children outgrow crying for Mom when she leaves, when they outgrow their baby fat and start to look like toddlers, or in Brandon and Trevor's case - teenagers.  I have a few relatives and friends who are dealing with their children leaving home - God help me. Ok, I am not going to focus on THAT ONE now or I am going to lose it!!  Right now, we are graduating from me feeding Elli, to Elli taking a bottle or cup, and normal food.  We started out last week by pumping up the volume on the amount of food she eats at each meal, and introducing a bottle and cup (not sure which one she will take up more quickly).  That might sound like a "false start" to alot of you, but let me say that this was truly a challenge because Elli would much rather nurse than eat food, and having never had a bottle or a pacifier (she is the only one of my 6 six children to not want one), she thinks the bottle and cup are a toy to chew on.  So, having done that, and being somewhat successful, "somewhat" because she still plays with the bottle and cup more than she drinks from them, this week we began skipping the morning nursing.  This step is much harder.  Elli usually nurses in the morning to take her morning nap.  Needless to say, she has gone 3 days without a good morning nap:(.  It really is pathetic and hard.  It takes every ounce of strength that I have to NOT give in.  I feel bad for Joshua - who hates to hear his sister cry and is trying to concentrate on homeschooling - and for the twins - who are making requests for milk and bathroom trips and having to repeat themselves a hundred times because I cannot hear them over the crying, or because I just got Elli to sleep and am fearful to move lest she wake up.  I took some pics of Elli today, finally falling asleep, and some pictures of the twins making my day a whole lot better by their silly antics...ENJOY...

Joshua working so hard in the background, and Elli finally giving in to her sleepiness...

 

Reagan playing Indiana Jones...amid heaps of laundry - ugh...

Jason playing a much gentler Max Steel...he is a character in a book for those of you not familiar with him...

Today my blog is dedicated to my sister, Lisa.  For the past 4 days, my sister and I have been the same age.  You see, my sister and I are Irish Twins.  “Irish twins” is used to describe two children born to the same mother within 12 months of each other.  I turned 40 last Friday, and today my sister turns 41.  It was always such a fun thing for me growing up to be the same age as my sister for 4 whole days - I tormented her;).  I have to say that it is still fun!  Happy Birthday Lisa, I love you!

Can you guess who is who?

Happy Birthday to Me!

Friday, November 5, I turned 40 years old.  This blog is dedicated to my husband and my children for making this day so special for me.  Chris was actually in Boston, Mass. on the 4th and 5th last week, on a  FBI SWAT OP, but, before he left, he made sure that certain details were taken care of so that my birthday would be special.  The boys stayed up till 2 am on Thursday, rather Friday morning, and were up at 7 am, making sure that the plans were carried out.  What can I say except that I am a blessed woman with an amazing husband and wonderful children.  Thank you Chris, Brandon, Trevor, Joshua, Jason, and Reagan, for your thoughtfulness and love on my 40th birthday!!

These are the presents, wrapped thoughtfully in very pretty Barbie paper,

that the boys stayed up till 2 am wrapping...

 These are the yummy sticky buns, pre-ordered by Chris, and hand delivered to Brandon at 7am,

by Chris' co-worker and friend Ryan...

 This is the Birthday cake, pre-ordered by Chris, and picked up by Chris on his way home from Boston...

 This is me cutting the cake...

 This is Reagan watching me cut the cake...;)

This is Elli enjoying the cake... 

This is me getting ready to open presents... 

I received jeans from Daddy... 

The twins are going to be well practiced in opening presents before their 4th birthday in January;)... 

I received a book I have been wanting to read from Brandon... 

Trevor made me an apron at school... 

He hand-stitched the front... 

Joshua made me a new keychain...

The Rices gave me two books on how to make the most amazing cupcakes ever

 (I am certain there will be a blog on that in the future;))... 

My mom gave me the sweetest card on the planet (she put it inside a bag that she decorated with my childhood pictures), and money to go shopping... 

Daddy also gave me planters, and outdoor bird feeding stuff - my deck is going to be beautiful this Spring (another thing that I am certain will be blogged about;))... 

My Father-in-law, Mother-in-law, and Sister-in-law gave me new slippers, a robe,

and yummy smelling bath stuff... 

And...my favorite gift was a new vacuum!  My husband totally spoiled me and got me a super deluxe vacuum!  I love it! (you can see the dirt that I have vacuumed up;))...

Thank you so much, my wonderful husband and children, for making my 40th birthday so memorable and wonderful, and thank you to all my family for all the wonderful gifts.  I love you all!



Happy Thursday!

No School Today or Friday - HAPPY DAYS!!

Elli is not quite sure what to do with all these boys home all day...

Happy Halloween 2010!!  I still cannot believe how quickly it came and went!  I also cannot believe how good our costumes came out with all the last minute plans.  Just a side note here...I think our family's favorite thing about Halloween is dressing up...I think, perhaps, that stems from playing dress up year round.  Our kids have always had a bin filled with bandannas, hats, gloves, play guns and holsters, capes, eye patches etc.  Our older boys, seriously, plan their costumes months ahead of time (probably because they don't play dress up any more - and deep down they miss it - and deep down they wish they could play dress up without looking completely crazy;)).  Let me make a minor correction...Chris' favorite thing about Halloween is not dressing up (he still gets to play dress up at work with all the swat clothes, guns, holsters, batons, shields etc).  Chris' favorite thing about Halloween is seeing how many houses you can trick or treat, and how many bags of candy you can collect (probably because he is the disciplined one in the family who never eats candy;)).  OK - enough with the side note!  We all had a great time in our new neighborhood - seeing and talking to new faces, meeting newer ones, and eating candy! 

Joshua dressed up as Scooby Doo's Fred...

Yellow hair and all...

The twins were the cutest little Scarecrows on the East Coast...

I have been told so many times by Chris that I look like Olive Oyl that I dressed up as my twin... 

Brandon dressed up as Indiana Jones...(a very handsome Indiana Jones;))...

Elli dressed up as a little cupcake, whip cream, pink frosting, foil wrapper...she looked good enough to eat(although she did get called Sweet Pea a couple of times because of my costume;))...

Trevor was a Marine Sniper...a little bit of a scary picture, but that Trevie smile is under that make-up, I promise...

 I hope you all had a fun Halloween!