Twelve years and counting

November 28th is a great day for me. Twelve years ago James and I were married for time and eternity in the Saint Louis Temple. That day seems so long ago. It is weird for me to think about life without my little family. We have been so blessed. We are blessed with five wonderful children. James has a great job, and is going to school. I am able to stay home and be with our children. I am so grateful for that. We don't have the latest and greatest. We don't keep up with the Jones family. We are rich with the love that we have for one another and for the gospel that we have.

Thanks to our friend Cheryl we were able to go to Joplin. It is fun to go shopping without the children. I can actually look at things. We went to Bed Bath and Beyond, Target, Academy Sports, Sam's Club, Toys R Us, and to Wasabi for dinner. We didn't buy much, but we have some great ideas for Christmas. I really enjoyed spending time with my husband one on one. He is such a wonderful person. With his schedule of working and going to school, and me taking care of the children and the house sometimes I feel so far from James. I like the time that we can be together enjoying each others company and making sure that we are doing what we should be doing and what we need to do. It is great to have to not do it all on my own.

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It ended up that I didn't have to cook a thing. We went over to the Holgates for dinner. We went over on Wednesday and I helped prep some food. I washed dishes, peeled, cooked, and mashed potatoes, and enjoyed being able to help. It was great.

On Thursday James took James and Carl to the church for the Turkey Bowl. I stayed home and made pea salad and enjoyed my day with Haylea, Isaiah and Adalyn.

We took our turkey over and Alexis fried our turkey. There was so much food, and so many people. I can't believe the food that was left over. The children played all day with the others, while the adults sat and talked. What a great way to enjoy a turkey day. I brought Adalyn home and worked on some Christmas presents. Adalyn fell asleep on the way home. I enjoyed the peace and quiet for about 1 1/2 hours. It was great. James came with the other children. I really enjoyed Thanksgiving this year, as I do every year.

Why?

Why is it that....
1. when I go to the bathroom I get interrupted with either a question or, "I need to go to the bathroom?

2. when I lay down for a nap I never get to sleep a full hour without being woken up?

3. when I am on the phone someone comes running in yelling something at another child?

4. when James gets out of the Suburban to do something the children go crazy and I get frustrated?

5. when one of my children do something wrong and I go to correct them, there are at least one or two others correcting the wrong?

6. every time I get a drink, all of a sudden there is someone who needs a drink?

7. every time I sit down in my chair I have a lap full and I cannot move?

8. every time I sit down something is needed of me?

9. every time we pickup the house, by the time we get to the end the beginning looks as though it hasn't been picked up?

Oh yes, This would be because I have five children. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I know that this is just for a short time, and this too shall pass.

Silver Dollar City

Last year James and I went to Silver Dollar City for our anniversary. We couldn't go the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving, so we chose to go that Sunday. It was a cold dreary day. We got there a little later than we planned to but with not that many people there we were able to go through the entire park in a couple of hours. With the weather starting to rain and it being cold they closed the park early due to bad weather. We stopped on the way out and long story short we received a rain check for this year.

We realized that this weekend would be the only weekend we were able to go. So yesterday James and I went to Silver Dollar City. We waited in the long line to park. We waited in line to go through the gate, to be told we had to go to the ticket counter. We waited in line for new tickets. We really enjoy walking around and looking in all the shops. We learned that there is an artist in Webb City that has an art gallery at Silver Dollar City. His artwork is beautiful. We learned about making brooms. We bought the children their yearly Christmas ornament. We ate delicious cinnamon bread. Enjoyed the train ride, and all the more than four million Christmas lights that there were. I really enjoyed our visit this year.

Our First Skating Trip

I will apologize for all of the pictures before hand. I really want to remember this experience. I remember going skating when I was little, and I had a great time. I hope that the children all enjoy and remember this time. Sam and I laughed so much watching our children skate. Carl and Haylea did great on the roller blades. James skated with regular skates. Tatum, Isaiah, Carson and Amarie used the skates that go over their shoes. They all got out there on the rink and did great. I think that Amarie and Haylea did the best for not skating before. Carson wanted to skate the wrong way. Oh I had so much fun watching our little ones figure out how to skate. Once they figured it out, they were unstoppable. I am so grateful that I was able to enjoy this day with my little ones.
Tatum doing the limbo

Carson and Amarie

Tatum

Tatum and Haylea

Tatum and Haylea

Olivia Carter and James

Isaiah, Haylea, Amarie and Tatum

The children wanted to skate the opposite way to go and help the one that had fallen. I think that people were getting a little upset with them. I kept telling them that they couldn't go the wrong way.

Carson

James played the game where they roll the dice and you get by a number. He won. He is sharing his icy pop with Tatum.

Carl

Amarie

Isaiah

James

Haylea

I realized that I have a lot of pictures of Amarie. She is just so cute. And she did so well.

When they were done, the D.J. said that it was time to do the chicken dance. I got to hold Libby and take pictures while Sam went out and danced with the children. What a great way to get everyone to take their skates off and get them out the door. It was fun. And now my children know how to do the chicken dance.

All the cousins.

Haylea's first time holding Libby.

They all had so much fun. Haylea keeps on saying that we need to back skating. I am so glad that they all enjoyed this outing and are looking forward to the next outing.

Chicken Eggs

Here they are. We have waited for these. Our first eggs. James brought in the first batch. We are getting about four eggs a day. It is fun to go out and check the nests. James and Carl do a great job of looking for them. Sometimes I will take Adalyn out and we would look for eggs. It is like a treasure hunt. Sometimes we find some, sometimes we don't.

It has been fun cooking these eggs. They are a brighter yellow then you get in the store. Tonight I made everyone try them so they could get some ice cream. Isaiah and Haylea ate seconds. It was exciting. Now we shouldn't have to buy eggs for awhile.

Haylea's Birthday

What a wonderful day we had. Today was the homeschool skate day. We have been planning this for a month. There was no way we were going to miss this. It was great that it fell of Haylea's birthday. Sam took Tatum out of school and met us there to surprise Haylea. We had so much fun. Thanks to James Sr. for taking care of Adalyn while Sam and I took the kids skating.

When we were done skating we took Haylea to Logan's Steakhouse. Right now they have a special where you can get two meals for $13.99. This ended up being a great deal for us. And the kids meals were on sale too. We all got to eat a wonderful meal and wish Haylea a happy birthday also. We went early enough that we didn't have to wait for a table and were finished before the room started filling up with people.

We also went to Chuck E. Cheese. This is a favorite for our children. We really enjoy this. I am glad that they stamp everyone so that you only leave with your parents. Trying to keep track of three little children is not easy. Adalyn walked around and enjoyed some of the rides. We ended up with enough tickets for the children to each get about 180 tickets. They ended coming home with a lot of little trinkets.

After spending about one and a half hours at Chuck E. Cheese we headed home. Haylea stayed awake the whole way home, along with her brothers. When we got home we let her open her gifts. She enjoyed getting all her dress up clothes. She walks around all day long in her little pink heals. HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY HAYLEA.

Haylea is Six

Today our little Haylea Marie turned six. It is hard to imagine that she is six years old. She is such a wonderful little girl. It seems as though it was not long ago that she was learning to walk. Big James would wrestle with the boys on the floor and she would go sit on top of them while they wrestled. Haylea likes to play with the boys and turn right around and play with her girl things. Haylea is a wonderful help to me. She likes to help with the dishes when the boys don't. She is a great help with Adalyn. I believe that Haylea thinks that Adalyn is her little doll. She loves the color pink. And she loves to wear skirts. She also likes shoes. Haylea learned to ride a two wheel bike when she was four years old. One of the training wheels was broken and she got on the bike and rode it without complaining. Before long she was balancing and riding on two wheels. We took off the training wheel and off she went. Haylea loves to read books. She likes to sit and look at books and is excited about learning to read. She also likes to talk on the phone. She wants to call someone everyday. I am looking forward to the many years to come. I am grateful for her being part of our family. She is a joy to have around. Happy Birthday Haylea!

A Week With Cousins

Since Monday the children's cousins Carson and Tatum have been visiting us. We have had fun. For the past week we have had a one year old, two year old, two four year olds, a five year old, a nine year old, and a ten year old. Here are some of the things that we have done:

* We played outside on Monday. It was beautiful. The children played in the leaves and played in the yard. One of our mean pesty roosters tried to bite at Carson and now he will not play outside.

* Tuesday James and Carl had a dentist appointment. I braved taking all seven children to Columbus to the dentist. I am grateful for James and Carl and all their help. If it wasn't for them I wouldn't have made it. And for five little ones being on their best behavior as they could be. We were there less than an hour. They all got to watch the boys get their x rays and the dentist to look in their mouths. I was impressed.

*Wednesday everyone except Carson went out while Adalyn took a nap and burned the burn pile. While it was burning we raked the leaves into our buckets and dumped them on the pile. We did this for about a hour. We got a lot of leaves burned, but there are still more.

*Today we went to Erie to a home school science activity. It was fun. I took some coloring for the littler ones while James and Carl participated in the activity. It lasted about an hour. We sat in the corner and played. After the group was done making their edible soil she allowed us to make some for the little ones. They all enjoyed this. Carson had dumped his cup once before we were finished filling every ones, and once while sitting eating our treats. It was easily cleaned up.

*We have watched some movies. This stopped the craziness for me for awhile. I realized that when they were getting too loud I would have them sit down and watch a movie and they would be quiet, and I could gather myself up again.

*Cuddle time with Amarie. She is adorable. Amarie would come to me and say, "Hold me." Who could resist a cute little red headed two year old. Of course I took the time to cuddle with her.

*Another Amarie moment is when she has to go to the bathroom. She will come to me and say, "I go pee." And of course off we go to the bathroom. She is wonderful about telling me.

*Haircuts. Carson needed a haircut, and also my boys. So I lined them up and cut their hair. I bribed Carson with a bath and a piece of candy. He asked me, "Are you going to tickle me." Oh so cute.

*Playtime. Carson, Amarie, Haylea, and Isaiah played so well. When I was doing school with the boys they would go and play. It was wonderful, except that the boys thought that they should play too. The trains are always a big hit around here.

Tomorrow is our last day. We are headed to Joplin to meet their mom. It has been fun having them, but I have to say I am glad that they are going home to their family. We have some fun things planned tomorrow for Haylea's birthday.

Haylea Lost Her Tooth

Haylea came upstairs to show me that her tooth was about to fall out. She didn't want me to pull it out. I told her that all I wanted to do was look at it. She kept of saying, "Don't pull it out. Don't pull it out." I pulled one time and the tooth came out. It was exciting. Now Haylea and Carl are waiting for the Tooth Fairy to come and take their teeth and leave some money. I went down with her and we put the tooth under her pillow and told her not to move her pillow because if the Tooth Fairy couldn't find it she wouldn't leave anything.

Carrots from the Garden

The other day I thought I would go out and dig some carrots up from the garden for dinner. The first carrot that came up was the big one in the middle. It is the biggest carrot I have ever seen. It was bigger than my hand. Yes that is my hand in the picture. I had to have something to compare it to. The children loved seeing this carrot. We didn't eat it that night so we could show James when he got home from work. We enjoyed eating the rest of the carrots with the lasagna that we had.

Halloween Pictures

Here are the Halloween pictures that I said I would post. I didn't get any of James and Carl. They wouldn't stand still long enough. And Isaiah was Spiderman but by this time he was ready for his costume to be off. I know, I should have taken pictures before, but I didn't. Oh well. James and Carl wore their baseball uniforms. So you didn't miss much. I had a lion costume that a friend let us borrow but I never put it on her. She was cute just being her.

Adalyn sucking on a sucker.

Haylea as Cinderella

Isaiah on the bouncing toy

Haylea bouncing

Haylean playing a game

Haylea playing the ring toss game.

We had a wonderful Halloween and we have already made plans for the following years.

James and Adalyn

Adalyn loves to be where ever we are doing school work. James was working on his vocabulary in the chair and Adalyn wanted to sit with him. She loves to do the things that the others are doing. She really enjoys writing.

The Sunset

We have had some beautiful sunsets the last couple of weeks. James and the boys went out and took some these pictures one day last week. They are beautiful.

Hello baby teeth, goodbye baby teeth

Teeth seem to be the big topic around our house. Last week Adalyn finally got her two top teeth. She is now cutting two more top teeth.

I pulled Carl's took out with some pliers. This tooth has been look for awhile, and the big tooth is coming down but not pushing the little tooth out. This poor child will have to have braces, his teeth are crooked and I know that someday we will have to go through the braces process.

Yesterday I was teaching Haylea and Isaiah, and I was looking at Haylea's teeth and I saw a gap. I asked to look at her teeth and we discovered that Haylea has her first loose tooth. She is excited about this. The boys keep telling her how to pull her tooth out quickly. We can tie a string around it and pull. We can use the pliers like mom did for Carl. You can eat an apple. It is fun to hear all the ideas that the boys have. We will wait for it to fall out on its own. I don't think it will take very long.