The First Good Bye

I had to watch Clay, Sandy, and Julia pull out of the drive way this morning and head to Tulsa. Clay starts his new job right away and Sandy will be getting their new house ready. She and Julia come back on Friday, but it was still sad.

It's been a long 11 months living all together, but it has been a really great 11 months too. Nothing like living with family to grow closer to them! We lived the last 7 or so years without any family around so I know we can do it, but now we've been spoiled. I don't want to do it again! Whah whah whah.

Sandy's not officially gone yet so I'm not going to be sad about her yet, but Clay is gone. He now lives in another state and I'm sad. We have a lot in common and sometimes he was the only person who kept me sane! I'm going to miss his teasing and dry humor, the way he never let me help clean up after dinner, and really how he took care of us. If I had a busy day or was tired, he would bring home dinner from wherever we wanted. He spoiled me bad, I'm afraid.

I'm going to miss him. He's a wonderful man....

Moments To Hang On To

I have a lot to get done tonight, but I just didn't care when it was the kids' bedtime. It was their time. John David read quite a long story to us while Julia combed my hair some. When the story was over we all laid on the floor on our sides and scratched each others' backs. Then we rolled the other way and scratched some more. All of my babies love to be scratched! After that, John David was a horse for Julia and Aulora. This was no ordinary horse though - it was a bucking horse! Aulora kept slapping his behind saying "Yeehaw, Bubba!" Then he ran around the room giving Aulora a piggy back ride while Julia and I cuddled close and sang to each other. Dog piling was next. We were so squished together and then Aulora came and sat on top of Little and jumped up and down on him. We were laughing so hard!

It was all lots of fun for sure, but then I had to calm them down to go to sleep. That took a few minutes, but it was worth it. Man, I love those kids!

Miss Sneaky McSneaky Pants

It's no secret that Julia LOVES sweets and candy. We let her have some in moderation, but if it was up to her, she would eat nothing BUT sweet stuff.

This morning, I was about to make her bed when I noticed something poking out from under the quilt. Hmmm....what's that?

Breakfast in bed, apparently! I thought she looked mischievous when I walked into her room this morning. Now I know why!

Then there was this under the piano. I don't even know what to say....

Brother Sister Love

I can only hope this stage of their lives will pass sooner rather than later, but I'm a little doubtful. John David and Julia love each other and sometimes I can clearly see it as they play together or ride peacefully in the car. BUT, most of the time, they act like (what I would assume) most brothers and sisters act like.

John David constantly does annoying boy things - scary faces, monster voices, teasing, chasing, tormenting, blah, blah, blah.

Julia constantly acts like a little squealy, four year old girl. John David can just look at her and she starts shrieking. (In her defense, he rarely just looks at her. He almost always does something or at least looks at her in a scary way.)

I've had a hard time finding the right way to handle all of the behavior. Boys will be boys and girls will be girls after all, right? More times than not, it's just good natured fun anyway. Like tonight.

Lately, Julia always says she has a song to sing to me at bedtime. Even though I'm always needing to tend to something (or someone) else, I try to always listen to at least one song. (Sometimes there are 3 or 4 songs she has composed.) The songs usually have the same theme - flowers, rainbows, sunshine, friends, cupcakes, and toys. Oh, to be a little girl again. Sigh.

Anyway, tonight was no exception - Julia had a song she wanted to sing to me. She began singing (and I began practicing patience since Joshua was crying for me),

"The flowers are red, the sky is blue. The sunshine is yellow, and the grass is green. The rainbow is so colorful and all the clouds are white......" (You get the picture.)

Julia was singing all of this from her bottom bunk. When John David caught on to the theme of her song, he hung his head way over from the top bunk until he was upside down beside her. That's when he began his own rendition of her song:

"The flowers are BLACK, the sky is BLACK. The sunshine is BLACK, and the grass is BLACK. The rainbow is so BLACK and GRAY!!!!! And all the clouds are BLACK......"

And of course it was all in a scary, monster voice. But then, I wouldn't expect anything less from this particular big brother.....

Personal Brag Moment

Is this allowed? Personal bragging? Because I'm so going to do it now.

Today, at work, I had four baby boys ranging in age from 6 months to about 14 or 15 months. I want to let you know that I got all four of those kids asleep at the same time. It was a very proud moment. =)

Joshua Crawls

Here's the video I've been meaning to put up for awhile now. Keep in mind, I don't have sound on my computer SOOOOO, I have no idea what conversation may be going on in the background! It also looks like he's having a cough attack in the middle of the video. I think he's learned to fake cough already. And be sure to watch his little hand. It's not going on too much in this video, but it gives you an idea of what the child does almost non-stop all day. His hands move all around and it gets more intense if he's unhappy. Such a funny little quirk already.
I'll also point out that Aulora was not liking the fact that she wasn't the center of attention. I think all of my disclaimers are done so, without further ado..........

Going Around

I was sick on Wednesday night (alllllll Wednesday night) with what I thought must have been food poisoning. I'm pretty sure now that it was a virus though because since then, 3 of my 4 kids have been sick and my 4th is currently on the couch holding a bowl. This is so not fun and so very yucky.
You know that show "Dirtiest Jobs"? That should totally be all about moms because we definitely have the dirtiest job ever! That's all I'm saying......

Oh Where is that Video....Oh Where is that Video....

oh where oh where oh where oh where oh whe------r-------e-----------

is that video??????

(the one I made of Joshua crawling and now can't remember where I downloaded it to on my computer. and to think I pride myself in being so organized with all of my digital things. sigh.)

Lest you think I'm weird, that opening is to the tune of "Where is My Hairbrush?" by Veggie Tales. Any one with kids knows that though. Surely.

In Case You Didn't Hear....

John's parents are moving to Tulsa. Clay took a job offer there and they'll be leaving very soon. Everyone, including them, is still a little shocked but Clay really feels like this is the right thing to do.

I say it stinks, but I don't get a vote. Not one that counts anyway.

All I know is that they keep moving away from us. I might get a complex.

I told the kids tonight. I kept it very basic and factual, hoping that they wouldn't really think too much about it. After all, if they did think about it there would be great mourning! They've lived with these grandparents for nearing a year now and have loved it. I kind of downplayed how far away they would be and emphasized how even when we lived in SA we still got to visit them often. They took the news very well, thankfully.

I, however, am still dealing with it.

Life is so very strange sometimes......

Yep, She's Two

Aulora has hit her "terrible two's" running. I hardly know what to do since she's always been so easy going and compliant. Her vocabulary is increasing every day. She can now say:

• Stop it!
• That's mine!
• I want it!
• Go away!
• Quit it!
• I don't like it!
• Give it to me!

Doesn't she just sound like a little doll? You pull her string and get one of those sweet little sayings - "Go away! I don't like it!"

She's still teething (when does it ever end???) and we're still trying to beat strep throat - which means two rounds of forced medicine taking a day - she took it fine until she had her birthday. Seriously.

There are still plenty of precious moments and sweet love (she's such a cuddler!), but my little baby is not so little anymore. She's got huge personality and is now quite opinionated. Sigh.

I got a glimpse of her today as her little class filed into their room for lunch time. She looked so big walking in the line! Goodness!

I can still honestly say that to know her is to know pure sweetness. It kind of makes you forget all the rotten stuff that (surely) she'll soon grow out of.

That'll Teach Him!

On Sunday we all went to eat at our regular after church place - a local bbq place that is reasonably quick, not expensive, and yummy. They even have little fried biscuits with honey for the taking. And trust me, I do my share of taking. =) That's soooo a different subject though....

John David always orders a kid's meal with a bbq sandwich and dorito chips to go with it. He carefully laid out his chips in the meal basket next to his sandwich. Everyone was busy eating their own meals and enjoying conversation when Jake, the friend helping us with our house, reached into John David's basket and took a chip. He he put it in his mouth and when he did, a slow smile spread across John David's face. He announced with a giggle, "I licked that one."

We all died laughing and so did Jake, even though the licked chip was still in his mouth. Such a funny moment. I wish I had it on video.....

Kick Off Sunday

Our church has what they call "Kick Off Sunday" every year to start the college football season. Everyone signs up for the team they want to cheer for and then the sanctuary is divided into sections for each team. The groups also all did some sort of entertainment for the pep rally style gathering. Afterwards there's a HUGE tail gate party where each team sells a certain kind of food. BBQ, gumbo, pizza, hamburgers, fresh squeezed lemonade (better than Chickfila!), fried oreos, and even funnel cakes! It was great!

Our family of course had to cheer for the Aggies. John's brother, Matt, was the "coach" for this team and was responsible for their segment of the rally. Below are the videos from that. John's the front part of the longhorn! hahaha!

Daddy and his girls - they didn't have Aggie shirts but they wore white shirts and maroon colored bows!

Aulora and Aunt Kara who is also an Aggie fan. Being an A&M fan is a requirement to be a part of this family. If you're not one already then you better convert pretty quick.

When it was the A&M fans' turn in the rally, this is what the longhorn fans all did. How rude!

(There were more Aggie fans than what you see in the video, but they just weren't all up front singing.....)

A Few Moments From Aulora's Birthday

Like I said in a previous post, we aren't celebrating Aulora's birthday until Daddy is with us, but she did have a little party at school and I took the kids to McDonald's for dinner. We also went to Target so she could pick a birthday present. She chose a new baby doll even though she already has so many of them.

Aulora's teacher, Miss Jessica, brought cupcakes for her birthday. Wasn't that sweet of her?

Their little party was right after nap time so she has her sleepy eyes.

Here she is at McDonald's trying to hold up two fingers. It wasn't working so well.

All my babies.

Sweet Sisters!

Just for comparison, here's a picture of Julia at McDonald's for her second birthday.

My Job

Here's a few pictures to help you envision where I am whenever you think about me on Tuesdays or Thursdays. I know you all think of me a lot, so I didn't want to leave you hanging. ;) I take care of Joshua plus two more little boys. They are all so sweet! Now, if I can just get them all on the same schedule.....

Can I Get Off the Merry-Go-Round Yet?

Our lives have been a little dizzying for a while now. So many things up in the air, not really knowing what was coming next. We thought we were going to slow down for a little while, but someone just gave our merry-go-round another big push. Ughhhh. My head is spinning. I just really, really want to get off now. A blanket in the grass sounds so very nice......

So Behind!

Aulora turned 2 and Joshua is crawling! My babies are getting old, I'm getting sad, and I'm too busy to even write a sappy post about it. Boo.

I do have pictures from Aulora's birthday (which we haven't officially celebrated yet since Daddy's gone) and I will make a video of Joshua crawling today. Yes, today. In between everything else! =)

Ahahahaha!

Have you ever tried to make one of those phone calls where it's based on voice recognition? "For directions say 'directions', for shipping prices and weight limits say 'shipping info', for......." Yeah, that kind.

Have you ever tried to make one of those phone calls with children in the room? It just doesn't work! The system hears every little sound and thinks you're saying something, but of course it doesn't recognize "dadadada" so it says "I'm sorry. I don't understand what you are saying. Let's start over." !!!!!!

After trying several times, I finally just gave up.

Sometimes You've Just Got To Have A Bagel

I realized earlier that I never even posted about my first day working. We've been so incredibly busy lately working on things for our house and sleep has not been too plentiful. In other words, I was DEAD TIRED! My alarm never even went off on Tuesday because the phone battery died during the night. Normally, I would wake up on my own but, like I said, I was TIRED! I didn't wake up until almost 7:00, which isn't bad unless you need to shower and get ready plus get four kids ready to go by 8:15. Ahhhhh!!!!!

Since I didn't have time to shower and wash my hair it had to go in a bun. I still wore make-up and I didn't smell or anything so I wasn't worried about it. When we got in the car, the kids wanted to know why my hair looked like a bagel. I told them it was called a bun but they insisted that it was a bagel. And then we picked up a 50 year old lady who was going to help the teachers for the first day. She also had her hair in a bun - a detail that did not escape Julia's notice. So quite logically, Julia wanted to know why I had combed my hair just like Mary's hair. Why did we both have bagels in our hair?

Wow. Not only did I have a bagel for my hair, but I also apparently style it like a 50 year old lady. Hmph.

I was determined to get up in time to shower and do my hair nicer for Thursday, but would you believe that I again overslept??? By a whole hour!!! My alarm did go off that time but I was so tired that I turned it off and fell back asleep. Once again we made it in time at the expense of my own personal style. Oh well. It's not like we earn a living based on my grooming efforts. (Good thing, most days!)

So in closing, I'd just like to say "thank you" to Julia for making me feel extra special during my first week of work. She does have a knack of telling it like it is!

The Boy and His Wii

John David started working a couple of months ago to earn a Wii game system. In order to get it, he had to memorize the first chapter of Mark. He finally finished all 45 verses a few days ago and boy was he excited! I plan to get a video of him quoting the verses soon, but for now you'll just have to take my word for it. He's currently working on chapter 2 - he's about 10 verses in. I'm just a little proud of my boy. ;)

Just One of the Reasons I'm So Busy

This is where I found her one night when she went upstairs on her own. John David had taken a shower just a little earlier and he had left the door and the shower curtain both wide open. She climbed in along with Julia's shoes and a Veggie Tale book.

Here she is at Sandy's desk pretending to talk on the phone and type on the computer. Actually, I think she really was typing on the computer. Who knows what she did!

And to think, she's not even two yet!

At Least We Tried

Joshua most certainly does NOT like peas. He readily likes most fruits, but I usually have to coax him to eat vegetables and meat. Oh well. I don't think he has any growth issues. He's a big guy!

I Scream You Scream

Aulora screams for ice cream! She had just taken her diaper off in the kitchen and, before we noticed what she had done, she peed on the floor and slipped. After we calmed her down she decided she wanted ice cream and ran over to the freezer. She was chanting "I-wan i-cream, I-wan i-cream!" She really had me laughing.....

My Red Head

I couldn't resist styling Joshua's hair into a little mohawk the other day. The other kids LOVED it so it was soon mashed down due to their constant touching and kissing on him. Oh well. =)

My posts have been few lately not because there's a lack of posting material, but because I have no extra time! Right now I should be in bed trying to get a full night's sleep, but I just had to update things on here.

(I have no idea why this picture keeps ending up upside down! I liked it too much to leave it out though so just do a handstand to look at it and humor me.)

Following in her Sister's Steps

Aulora's newest thing is taking off her diaper. Usually, she takes it off and then goes potty right on the floor. Beautiful.

She's ready to start potty training. The trouble is, I want to wait until after we've moved. Soooo, in the meantime we're going to have to duct tape the child's diaper on!

Not Looking Like a Great Start

Uhhhh.....tomorrow I'm supposed to work. Today my oldest two are sick - likely with what I've had for the last few days and have only lived through thanks to Tylenol.

This is why moms of four children realistically can't work. There's too high a risk of one of them being sick on any given day.

And of course, as usual, they are sick on a day when the doctor's office is closed!

Freaky Murphy's Law.