Fascinating Trash Trucks

Did you know that trash trucks are extremely fascinating things to listen to and watch? Well they are. They can keep you entertained for quiet sometime. You can hear them coming down the street banging, and making lots of loud noises. Then you can watch them as they stop in front of your house and take away your poopy diapers. And finally you can watch them leave, and amazingly you can still hear them for awhile after that! Wow! So is the life of Evan Daniel. "What's that?" with his little hands up in a questioning gesture. So cute...

You Want to Punch Mickey?

Ian is so excited about his birthday. He can hardly contain himself. Yesterday he was laying on the floor talking so fast and so loud about his birthday and then he bursts out, "Then we are going to Disneyland, and I am going to punch Mickey Mouse." Alrighty then. A little burst of testosterone. Don't worry all you Disneyland bound readers. I vow to keep him a safe distance from Mickey...until his little heart has slowed a bit.

Warm in Washington

It is abnormally hot here. We are breaking records from what I understand. 102 today. Therefore, people here, like us, don't have air-conditioners. Well, we have one in our 15 passenger van, but by the time that cools off I have wasted approximatly $127.38 in gas, so we don't count on that. We just have lots of loud cheap fans. So, my allergies are full blown, my older children are gone, and I am melting. This causes irritability even in the best mother. I thought I would jot down a few things that I have said today.
Stop that you will cut your fingers off!
Stop that you will fall and break your head open!
Stop that or I am going to scream!
Stop that or I am going to...uhhh, my nose is running down my face!
I am on my last straw....
(I don't know what that means. It just came out.)

Pregnant Again

Owww! Gotcha didn't I? This is what goes through my mind in October~What? I am pregnant again? I guess one might say that I am good at having babies this time of year. Maybe I just go on too many vacations in October! Give me a margarita and some time away from home and presto, I have another baby. So now we have the rule of no vacations in October, and no margaritas...in October. That way I can stay stressed out, and with the help of a tubal ligation and a vasectomy I might not get pregnant again. Yah, right...We'll see. We drove by a garage sale today and they were selling all their baby stuff. Steve said, "Those poor people. They are going to get pregnant." It is a sure fire thing that when you sell your baby stuff you will get pregnant. I have learned that from experience also. It has happened to me three times. So we have also added no selling baby stuff at a garage sale to our list of things not to do in October. So basically we don't do much in October...At least fun stuff. I am so glad though that God has blessed me so abundantly with the three summer babies I have. My youngest, Evan, is two today, and my oldest, Tiffani, will be 18 on the 27th. Then there is Ian who will be four a week later. Wow! All miracles...all amazing. How time flies. Sixteen more years and I will be "retired". Steve and I will retire the same year. Isn't that weird? I asked him if we could move to Tahiti and he said plane tickets to see the grandkids would be too much....Bummer. I guess I'll just drive to the beach and have a margarita. Alone of course....
Oh, I just realized the dates are wrong on the pictures....is there a way to change that? They were all just taken in the past couple of weeks.

The Very Manly Man

I know I am a day late, but yesterday we focused on him. He deserves it. Everyday he gets up at 4:00 am to go off into the world to support his family. He does this because he loves us, not because it is fun to lift sheetrock all day starting at 4:00am. Just in case you were confused. This weekend, like every Father's Day weekend, is a reminder of how blessed I am. Not many men would marry a woman with four children on June 16th seven years ago, and instantly become a father of five daughters. He also has a daughter. But he did, and on that day he made a commitment to each and everyone of us to be here with us until death do us part. That is a good thing, but the fact that he actually does it every day, that is a great big thing. An amazingly manly thing. I have no doubt in my mind that he is the manliest man I know. He is full of love, respect, honesty, dedication, wittiness, and a love for God that amazes me. Not only that but he is one fine specimen of a man! And of course you can't forget the two little surprises either. He says that he would have never in his wildest dreams thought he would be the father of seven children, but he is and he does a fine job. So Happy Anniversary and Happy Father's Day, Steven. We love you, and I, most of all, am thankful that God brought you into our lives!

Hats off to the Nice People

Today my kids ran down the street to the neighbor's house. They were having a garage sale. Ian went down with his sister and the boy we babysit. I didn't realize all he had was 4 cents. The lady sold him a stuffed animal for himself, and when he went back up to her and said he wanted to buy one for his brother too she "sold" him another. He came home with a penny. The other kids came home with treasures also. That was nice. I appreciate people who do nice things. So, hats off to the nice people of the world! I thank you for your kindness.

She Smiled, I Smiled Back

Today one of the teens smiled at me, didn't run for cover when I showed up to be the chaperone at her end of the year field trip, and she actually asked if I wanted to bowl with her and her friends. She told people her age that I was her mother. Wow! I rate this day a 10.

Do-It-Yourself French Pedicure

Ironing, eating, running around in a panic trying to get out of the door to beat Friday night traffic to Tiffani's graduation. Can you feel the rush? I had been on the kids all day to make sure they were ready by 5:00 so we wouldn't have to drive frantically to get there on time. Suddenly I decided that I could not wear sandals without a quick do-it-yourself French pedicure that I hadn't done earlier in the week when I "had the time". I began to look through "MY" stuff for the white polish I had bought specifically for myself. Wouldn't you know it, someone had borrowed it and it wasn't where it was suppose to be.

Me: "I can't believe this. I can't have anything in this house that is just mine." Stupid, irrational thing to say in a house with teenage daughters.

Them: "We put it back. We promise."

Me: "I can't believe you aren't looking."

My life is coming to a bitter end because this is something that has to be done!! My oldest is graduating from high school, and someone might notice if my toenails aren't painted!

Them: "I can't find it. It must be so and so's fault. I would never not put your stuff back."

Me: To angry to speak, digging through my craft paints for white paint and a paint brush. Paint toenails with white craft paint and oversized craft brush. The Teens look on in amusement. Toes look like doggy doo, but ok from a distance. Maybe someone will notice, from a distance....

Grandpa who has flown in for this special occasion listens to his out of control, irrational daughter that he helped bring into this world for unknown reasons at this moment: "I wasn't going to say anything, but I was going to suggest you head out to the garage and get some of that white paint your husband used on the house trim."

Me: Uhhh! What do you say to that.

Tired so tired

It is over. It is done. I made it through graduation and Tiffani's open house. I am still standing, and have stopped crying. It went very well, and I think she was blessed. I'll write more later. Now I just need some sleep.

Tiffani Rene

What happened to the last 18 years? I mean really, what happened? 18 years ago I was 20 years old, not quiet an adult but thinking I knew something. Now I look back and realize I don't know much now compared to what I will in another 18 years, but more than I did back then. I know I wouldn't change my life for anything because then I wouldn't be the mother of my baby, Tif. She helped me become a woman. She helps me grow every time I talk to her. She challenges me, frustrates me, makes me crazy at times, but she also loves me. What more could a mama ask for. Unconditional love from her babies. She is the first person that ever looked at me with unconditional love. I still remember the look of recognition on her face when she saw me for the first time. She stopped crying and looked at me. I was her mama and she new it. Now she is graduating on Friday, and she still looks at me with those huge, brown, beautiful eyes and speaks to me silently. In all the craziness of the last 18 years I can say that I have been blessed to have been Tif's mother, but also to have had the privilege of knowing someone so full of love, commitment, strength, and compassion. She made it this far against many odds and I am so proud of her! GOOD JOB, TIF! I AM PROUD OF YOU! YOU HAVE AND WILL CONTINUE TO BLESS MY LIFE! I LOVE YOU!
Mom
(Tears, tissue~ok, now I can go fold laundry. I warned you this might be a hard week!)

Mom Feeds Kid Out of Garbage Can

Yes, this could be the title of some board reporter looking for a write up on malnourished children, but don't worry. I am not really feeding my kids out of trash cans. It is just the perspective of an almost four year old boy. How does he come up with this stuff. He is so logical. We are in Winco which is my absolute least favorite place to be on the planet especially on Sunday afternoon. I would rather be napping or scrubbing a stranger's dirty toilet than grocery shop, but someone has got to do it. Off Steve, the boys, and I went. Ian wanted "squirrel" peanuts (for him, not the squirrels) so I went to the bulk isle and let him scoop what he thought was a large amount of peanuts into a bag. About ten peanuts. $0.44 worth. We tagged it and went on our way. Steve was in the manly meat isle teaching Evan about men's love of meat. We met up with him, and Ian says to daddy, "Mommy got me these peanuts out of the trash can. There was a big shovel there that she let me scoop them with." What more could a dirty little munchin want in life than to scoop food out of a trash can? This was followed by a raised eyebrow from my husband, the father of my children. I translated..."Mommy got Ian peanuts out of the bulk bin with a small, somewhat sanitary silver scoop. Maybe sanitary....It was the bulk isle!"

Ok, Just A Little

I can't sleep. Stupid allergy cough. I'll share a little Ian quote to make you smile. Every Friday I take one of my kids on a date. It is a simple yet great time each week. It gives me an opportunity to catch up with my kids and spend time talking face to face. This was Amanda's week with me, and we went to this new to me ice cream place that we had a buy one get one free dealy....Oh my goodness, I have never seen so much ice cream in a single serving before. I am usually the kiddy cone size but this was, I'm not kidding, HUGE. Anyway on to the cute stuff. Ian asked Steve to take him on a date. This is how he explained his upcoming date to Amanda.

Amanda, "Ian, are you excited about going on a date with daddy?"
Ian, "Ya"
Amanda, "Where are you guys going?"
Ian, "It's just for us men."
Amanda laughing, "OOOHHHH, OK!"

They were so manly. They went to DQ and got a milkshake.

My Parents and My Graduate

My parents are arriving this coming Tuesday for a week. There is lots to do before and once they arrive. Tif is graduating so there is graduation, the open house we are having for her and of course spending time with Mom and Dad that we don't get to see nearly enough. I probably won't write this next week, but I am sure I will have lots of great material before the week is out so look out. Maybe I'll even share a few tears over my eldest transitioning into a new stage of life. How did I become the mother of a high school graduate? Talk to you later.