A House of Cards

A House of Cards is built .

It took many minutes, much concentration and a whole lot of sweat to build.

And one tiny gust of wind from the biggest windbag ever to blow it down.

Congratulations Little Mama on the cutest, most colorful, smallest House Of Cards I've ever seen, your so smart and always will be !!

Ending The Day With Dirt and Spit

I guess I should first say that I told my husband I was in love with someone else. Then I told him it's my new camera and he will never thrill me like it has in the last few days. Then I told him he can hang around for several reason's, 1) the trash still needs to be taken out 2) really I'm not sure that the camera has a function for ALL my specific needs 3) really I love him more than anything because he approved the purchase of the new camera and 4)he makes the most beautiful babies ever.

I mean look at those brown eyes. They are so dark and creamy. Of course The Stud has blue eyes so I'm not sure how much a part of the eye color contribution he can claim, but WOW.

Although this child, The Stud claims, is alot like me and less like him. I'll take it.

This is the first picture in a long time that is really good of The Rhino. He melts my heart, and look at those brown eyes !!! His hair I LOVE his hair, always have and always will.

Look at these twinkly sparkly delicious eyes. They go hand and hand with some mischief like the others before her but man they are soft and pretty.

During our entire construction process the kids have loved to sit and watch people work, I'm not sure what that's says about their work ethic, because they certainly weren't asking to please get out there and help those guys dig in the hot blazing sun. Anyways they loooove to watch what goes on. This is a few minutes of the action while the guys were digging dirt out of the back yard, the Rhino was kicking back having a cool drink and Little Mama was playing a game of cards. I wonder what it feels like to be the guy standing outside watching these kids in the AC drink and play cards while sweat is dripping off everything? I'm not sure I could do it without flashing the kids a gigantic moon !!! Oh good idea.

And we ended the day with a game of spit between Little Mama and her Oma. You have to be very quick when you play any kind of game with Little Mama, she can change the rules on you in a heartbeat. The sweet part is sometimes she changes them in your favor. I haven't instilled enough of that cut throat type stuff in her yet, she still wants you to win sometimes just because she loves you.

Family Dinner - Post Binky Fairy

This is what/who greated us tonight at family dinner. We were informed that the Binky Fairy had come and after taking the binkys away left this beautiful Ariel dress complete with accesories. Isn't The Princess beautiful !!!

This is The Princess, or tonight she wanted to be called Ariel.

I thought I saw a mermaid in the backyard !!

When I saw these I immediatly thought of some of the professional wedding photographers and how they take the brides shoes and stage them into these very dramatic and beautiful photos. I thought I would get my feet wet, in case I ever decide to be a wedding photographer, and take some pictures of these fabulous shoes that "Ariel" wears.

Aunti Iggy decided we needed even more Mermaid stuff so drew a lovely rendition of Ariel.

Oh this little man greeted us along with that mermaid girl, he is The Lamber. He is so cute I want to eat him.

This is what we had for dinner. Chicken and Pork fajitas. They were delicious. That looks like alot of meat !

Oh I made the dessert and it was great as well. I love box brownies !!!

This is Uncle Steve, he's the one that cooked the fajitas and is the daddy to The Princess and The Lamber. Thanks for the fajitas and The Princess and The Lamber.

This is the talented Mermaid artist, Aunt Iggy. She talks with her hands.

This is Aunt Nia, not because she does nia but because that sounds kind of like her name. She's the mother of the Ariel look alike Princess and The Lamber, she told the Binky Fairy what to bring !!!

Oh Grandpa, always ready to give a hug, and yet really doesn't enjoy having his picture taken.

He likes to kiss the kids ears off, people are starting to ask questions.

This is Uncle Scott, he had a viscous case of pink eye tonight so we all tried to steer clear !!!

These two toe heads come from different families, they are cousins, aren't they blond !!!

And this is The Little Man, he is also their cousin and yet looks nothing like the others.

I'm partial to him of course, he has my brown eyes.

Here he is again, big brown eyes and brown hair, I'll do a cousin comparrison sometime soon just to document how different they really are.

An attempt to capture all 7 kids at the same time with only a small amount of energy spent on wrangling !

Some are playing peek-a-boo while others are barely able to keep their tongues in their mouths. Not really a good representation of any of them, it was the only way to keep it fair.

We ended the evening with some gymnastics in the front yard.

Little Mama's attempt at a somersault, she is the stiffest kid I know.

This is the Little Man's attempt at a somersault, he on the other hand is as malleable as a ball of clay and about as crazy as a loon. I think he was born with very few pain sensing nerves.

Aunt Iggy, always the one to bend over backwards with the kids. She is helping The Bean try a back bend.

And to wrap things up this is The Bean doing a hand stand, which I must say she is really quite good at.

This is the way that family dinner usually goes, every Sunday night with few exceptions. When we are at Uncle Steve's the kids love to play outside, when we are at my house they are almost always putting on some sort of dress up show. It's interesting the different dynamics at each house and since Aunt Iggy and Uncle Scott have just moved into a new house we haven't had a chance to find out what type of entertainment will take place there but I can't wait !!

Will she turn out ok...

.......or am I making her some sort of freak. I must start by saying that I have been trying to get out of my grumpy funk that has been around for a looooong time. I have made a conscience decision to try to see any humor in any given situation, since I love to laugh so much. I try really hard not to laugh at other people but with them but I'm not always sure that works. Take today for example.

Little Mama was over by the basket where we keep the Wii games. All of a sudden she starts this absolute panicky screaming that keeps getting louder, she's actually saying "It hurts, It hurts, it hurts". Now I'm thinking something is seriously wrong at this point and run, well try to run, over and see what's happening. When I arrive the panic in her voice is even louder and more intense and I'm looking in her big brown eyes thinking WHAT THE HELL HURTS. All of a sudden I realize that she has somehow gotten a Wii Game Case, you now the thing that holds the game CD, clipped or closed or snapped, whatever you want to call it, it's stuck on her neck. A little piece of her skin is stuck in the cd case and it's closed. How the bleep does that happen?

Well my reaction is, with Little Mama and The Bean looking at me, to go into hysterical laughter. I'm laughing so hard that my waterproof mascara (which might not be that great) starts running into my eyes and stinging them. I'm still looking at her, or trying to thru the mascara, and she is still screaming like her finger has been amputated and I'm still trying to figure out how I'm supposed to remedy the situation. In the end I settled down long enough to open the case and release her completely unblemished skin with the hopes that she will never do anything like that again. All the while The Bean and Little Mama are looking at me like what kind of monster/mother laughs hysterically when her child is in pain. I'm thinking Oh crap have I just scarred them both for life or do they really see the big monster that I am. Oh well.

See no ouchie on her neck.

After this I begin to feel bad that I thought it was so funny at her expense, but that feeling only lasted for a few minutes and now just thinking about what happened makes my eyes water and I feel this bubble of laughter welling up in me again. Really I don't like to see my children, or anyone else's, in pain but sometimes the things they do just, well it just is supposed to be funny.

Thanks Little Mama for the laugh?

Those Big Reminders

There are so many reminders of the good the bad and the ugly things in this life. Just watch the news and you'll get a good dose of the bad and the ugly, and oh before they let you go for the night they will try to pump you up enough to watch again by feeding you some feel good story that might stay with you for the next 5 minutes. I want/need to be reminded of the great things every moment of every day.

I got a reminder yesterday of something that was just so perfect. I was walking up my front walkway and saw the remnants of the paint from our father's day project. It flooded me with all sorts of feelings, namely the love that we put into that project for Big Daddy as well as how much I truly was in the moment with my kids and loved every second of it. I was overwhelmed after not such a perfect week with all the love that I feel for my family. It kind of makes all the struggles and all the fights worth it. Praise GOD.

Self Portrait ???

What is all the crud on my lens? This is the first time I have taken a picture of myself taking a picture, wait maybe the second time let me check. Yeah the second time but I kind of like this picture.

The Mother of a Movie Star

OK maybe a future movie star. The pressure is on for me to behave and start acting like the mother of a movie star. I mean how can she not be one when she looks like this at 6 yrs old ??? I'm hoping for a career that is less demanding of all her family, I'm not sure any of us are up for knowing someone famous. I love you Little Mama.

This Posts For You

That would be you http://agirlinthesouth.blogspot.com/ . You know who you are, that lady that I find myself on the phone with at least twice a day often for no more than a what's up. I said to her "maybe I should blog about some of my favorite things" and she says to me "why don't you blog about me". So this is about one of my favorite things, my friend Terri. She is a special friend that I share meat orders with and Amazon Prime memberships with and glasses of wine and mixed cocktails with, and those really great belly laughs with and sometimes that honesty that stings a little with and our faith and our church with and The Container Store with and meals of Mexican Food with and the love and use of food with and her mom and dad with and my family struggles with and ohhh so much more. I love sharing these things with her .

I was first "attracted" to her because of the way she was so quick witted. While she is still quick witted I'm not sure I always think she is a witty as I first thought, you know she's kind of like an old blanket. ( Does that sound like a backhanded complement? I hope not but would that be unlikely from me?) It's so soft when you first get it you absolutely love it and then you wash it a few times and now it has some fuzz balls on it but you love it just as much, now you look so forward to sleeping under it because it is so comfortable and most of the time gives you just what you need to be comfortable. Or maybe the luster has worn off, the sheen is gone, the infatuation is over, the gig is up, I am up the river without a paddle and now I find I really like her for so many other reasons than just her quick wit.

There are so many things to say about TERRI, first her name is not really Terri. She doesn't tell many people her real name because no one really ever asks so if you want to know it I'll let her tell you. Also she finds the funniest sites on the internet. One I have been reading and cracking up about lately is http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/, it is soooo up her alley . She likes polka dots, whether she knows it or not and the colors purple pink and green oh and black. We have such different tastes. I think she is a monogram while i am initial, she is a Dr.Pepper and I am a Diet Coke, she is a shrimp and I am a steak, she is a middle finger and I am the pointer finger, she is heels and i am flip flops, she is organized and I am not, she wants to organize me and I want to organize me too, she likes not really big shiny sparkly rings and I LOOOOVE big shiny sparkly rings. So overall I think we fit pretty good as friends. I think we will hold things together for alooooooong time. Don't ever forget to tell me how you feel, oh well I guess that was kind of pointless reminding you to speak your mind.

And one more thing, I hope I don't make you cringe when you read this, my totally overpriced education left me with some very large gaps in my writing ability, I'm more of a visual artist ;)

You make me so proud to be your friend !!!

I told you you were a middle finger and I am more of a pointer finger.

102 Years.....

What an accomplishment, not everyone lives to the ripe old age of 102. This was taken the day after his 102 birthday. It's harder now to get a good picture of Grano because, well because he is 102 and things just don't work like they used to.

In this photo he is waiting for lunch. I have to say about Grano that he sure can pack it away for someone who can't really even see what's on his plate. He has the survival instinct, he just feels around until he finds something on his plate then he eats it. Not unlike little kids when they are learning to feed themselves. They haven't exactly gotten the pincher grasp down but somehow they get the food in.

This sweet face is 99 1/2 years younger that Grano. This visit I was struck with something that I don't think about often. The Elderly. We really enter this world completely dependent and I think many of us leave this world completely dependent. The thing that struck me was how important raising those babies up to be productive and useful seems when they are born. When people get old and need as much care as an infant we often start to feel like they are a burden or even that their quality of life is low. I'm wondering how to change those thoughts. It seems much easier for me to relate to a baby then it does to someone who either can't see me or hear me. This just seems crazy. I have been around more babies then elderly people, I think this contributes to my "uncomfortableness" around people who are old. If their mind is not as clear or present as it used to be should we just go along with the story they are talking about, we do with our kids. Why do we feel the need to make things so "right" with the aged? If they are not always mentally present does it matter if we "go along" with whatever they are talking about? Just some thoughts about aging.

In this picture the Little Man and Grano are 100 years apart. Despite not really being able to see the plate or the food on it, Grano holds his own drink for drink and likes to eat.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Grano and Little Man. It was the last time Grano really held one of the kids and I think he really enjoyed it.

Grano is 102 in this picture. We went fishing and he still keeps a liquor locker at this game reserve. I try to think about some of the things that Grano has done religiously to keep himself in great health and he was always working on it. I think alot of salmon and cocktails as well as a few vitamins along with some exercise and maybe throw in some sort of hormone shots, maybe you too will make it to 102 years strong !!!

Death By ......

I'm not sure what happened to this guy but something is seriously wrong with him. During the move I think maybe he got dropped or stepped on or thrown or plopped on or sat on. Who knows, oh wait maybe he met this guys soon to be fate.

Could it be that the smell of a dirty pair of underwear could be the answer to the entire saga of Star Wars. Well I don't know but I'm sure feeling like it's going to do me in. After moving some of the kids stuff up to their new bedrooms over the weekend, the things that I have seen shoved under the beds is shocking to put it lightly. I pulled out, I kid you not, no less than 10 pairs of underpants from Little Mama's bed. I don't know what the status was on if they had been worn or not but frankly I don't care. I was just thinking how little underwear she had and that I guess it was time to get her some more. Little did I know she's an underwear hoarder !!! On the other hand The Rhino feels no shame or pain leaving his dirty skivvies for all to see. He quite often steps directly on them to get where he needs to go. I think I love these kids !!!

G's 7th Birthday

Soooo much fun!!!! The party was at a go-cart/game room. I'm not sure who had more fun, the little boys or the big boys?? G seemed to have a great time, it all seemed right up his alley !

This is the little toe head, isn't he handsome.

This is G with his dad going really fast on a go cart.

Here are two of my most precious possessions, did I really say that? They are not my possessions but I own them, oh no I mean I run their lives, I mean I encourage them to be the best that they can be and support them with my patience and kind loving words.

Aren't they handsome?

Oh and Aunt Iggy and the Bean had a great time driving the go carts. Aunt Iggy had many wild rides with lots of different kids.

Oh pitter patter pitter patter, that's my heart seeing a picture of my beloved with the Little Man.

This is Eric and G. They too had a great time riding the go-carts.

G's dad with is tongue out, intense concentration, sometimes we call him MJ on accident.

This was after the "cake" was completed. It took about 5 minutes to make this mountain. I must say that I thought it was a brilliant idea and I plan on stealing it sometime in the near future.

A closer look at the army guy, blood splattered, chocolate doused, ice cream extravaganza mountain cake.

One big breathe and the party winds down.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY G !!!!

The Farm

In Chicago, really in Big Rock, or maybe in Aurora, I have heard it located in all these places, there is a farm that holds the key to all our 4 Wheeling Fun. The farm is Gwinn Oaks Farm and we call the 4 wheeler THE RED DEVIL, and maybe all red four wheelers are called that, I don't know, but that's just what I've always known it as. We have such a great time riding on it. If you can believe it I will tell you that our entire family, that's Big Daddy, me and all 3 kids can ride on The Red Devil. There have been some precarious situations with all of us on there but it is such a bonding experience, let me share some pictures :

We always take pictures of the trees, the walnut trees, when we go out there. This helps us to see just how much they have grown over the years. These are some of the Walnut Trees that have been growing about 12 years. They started as little seedlings so really they have grown very quickly, and that's what makes them special, that they grow so fast.

This was 2007/2008 as you can tell by Big Daddys armful.

There is also this Oak tree by the barn that is the biggest tree I have ever seen outside of the giant Sequoias. It is bigger than the barn which is like a small airplane hanger.

This is a view from the road of how big this tree really is. It creates a shadow on the barn.

These are some grapes that grow on the farm. I'm not sure why they were actually planted in the first place but they seem to continue to thrive, especially when no one actually does anything with them.

Oh this sits on the wall in the trailer. It is a caribou that Rob shot sometime before he started dating me.

This is only the tip of the iceberg for talking about the farm.