Mother of Five and Other Tidbits

Yep, four wasn't hard enough so I got me another one. =) Just kidding. Kind of. Sandy's cousin's son (got that?) is staying here for awhile and while we are not solely responsible for him at all, we are his authority many times. He's 12 years old and he's a big guy going into the 7th grade. Think big, not teeny tiny junior higher.

It's been hard to keep all the kids entertained and happy. The boys would probably play video games all day if I let them, but I don't. Sooooo, the fun begins. Of course, John David wants to be with his cousin non-stop and his cousin (being the all so grown-up age of 12) wants to be left alone much of the time. I get it - my 7 year old and 4 year old are annoying (what little kids aren't in large doses?), but this is where we live. And much of the time Joshua or Aulora are sleeping so I can't just tell the older ones to go to their room. This is a big house but we're busting at the seems here. It's made for lots of fun [insert sarcastic smile here].

The HAPPY news is that in 5 days we'll be on our way to Colorado for our summer visit. Yea!!! Cooler weather, yummy food, fun stuff to do, my good ol' dog Pudge and cat Poppy, and of course MY FAMILY! Yes, happy news indeed. =) My parents are flying to Oklahoma city to help me and the kids fly back to Colorado with them. John is interning at the court of appeals now and there was no way I could fly with all 4 kids by myself! Can you even imagine?

On a totally different note: I had a momma bear moment today. I walked away before I turned full-on bear fortunately. Someone hurt my boy intentionally - twice within a short period of time. Ooohhhhh, I was hot. Still not quite over that one! I totally get those people who go after criminals who have harmed or killed their own children. I always have but even more so after today. I can honestly say that it would only be God's strength that could keep me from seeking retaliation on someone if they did something to one of my babies. It's just an animal instinct. My heart still beats faster when I think about what happened today. M-A-D. That's what I was. And that's what I'm trying not to be.

We found a house that we are interested in for the coming year. It's a fixer-upper for sure but nothing major. It's probably too premature to even mention it since we've only seen all the pictures online and then gone over in person to look through windows and stuff. We have to find out all the comps for sure, but I think we could do ok. It would be a great place to live for a year and then give us a nice small profit when we sell. "When we sell" would be the key though. I'm kind of apprehensive to buy a house that we would have to sell so soon with the market being what it is currently. The area is a desired one though and I do have confidence in our ability to make the house itself very desirable. So before we head to Colorado I plan to check into it further. We just absolutely can't stand the thought of renting for a year and never seeing that money again. And as wonderful as John's parents have been to let us stay with them, I really need our own place again. I'm a homemaker. It's what I do. And it's been more than challenging for me to live where I don't have complete rule over all things related to keeping a house. Plus, the kids tend to be more boisterous the more people are around and there are certainly more people around here. It's amazing how relaxing it is when it's just me and the kids in the house. Wow. But, when it comes down to it, I'll do whatever God will have us do. It's not like we're living in a shelter or something. This is a beautiful home filled with wonderful family. There are good days and there are difficult days. I choose to be content whatever the situation. Moving on.....

Am I the only person out there addicted to the game Bejeweled? How dumb. It's the only game that came on my new Palm Treo (I never mentioned that did I? Yep, I was blessed with an awesome new phone!). I've gotten really good at the game and although John usually is better at any given game than me, he is not better at this one. He claims it's because he has a life and doesn't sit around playing all the time. I love it that he thinks that's what I do. Yeah Baby, I'm playing Bejeweled ALL DAY LONG so I can beat you and yet, somehow, all of your laundry is magically washed, your dinner is cooked, and your four little ankle biter children are cared for. Not to mention that I am dressed and have my hair curled and my make-up on. Just let me have this one game that I'm better at. We'll all be happier. =)

So much talk of exercising and getting healthy is going around these days. Our church here is doing "Choose to Loose". It's a competition based on "The Biggest Loser" and the winner gets some huge spa package. I didn't sign up for several reasons, the biggest being that we're going to be gone during the month of July. Clay is doing it though and so is Matt. They are really dropping the pounds, let me tell you. Matt and a friend went for a run tonight (a three mile run) and when they came back they were still alive. They made it seem easy. So easy, in fact, that I decided I could do that. I want to lose that weight too!

So when all of the kids were finally in bed I put on the only shoes I have that are even close to running shoes (slip on Sketchers - haha!) and went out. I'm not a good judge of how much is a mile, but I'd be willing to bet my sweaty shirt that at most I did half a mile. I just had to stop though! My knees were hurting and, well, I'll just stop this sentence now before I embarrass myself (probably too late for that). So I'm thinking that if I buy some fancy running shoes and then get some nice cushy white socks to wear with them that I would probably do better. Because I am in perfect shape. It's not me, it's the shoes. Most definitely the shoes......

I'm off to play Bejeweled.