Who's kid is that?

Tyler, Tyler, Tyler. What would I do without him. Certainly life would be a bit less entertaining. I often look at him and wonder - where did you come from??? His vocabulary has increased dramatically in recent weeks. However some of his new words leave this mother of his *blushing*.

His new phrases:

Kiss my butt

You hit my weina (weiner)

Ridiculous

Yes I can (imagine in a defiant voice)

Not quite sure where he got the first two. I am still doing some detective work on that one. So I act appalled and gasp when I hear him say it...then turn my face and chuckle to myself. What's a mom to do.

JML Detective Agency

Six years ago on the 12th of December, Jonah was born. He came into the world wailing and didn't stop for at least six months. He had the most hair of all my babies until then. It was a wheat color in the hospital but quickly turned red which matched his little personality. He was a colicky baby. He didn't sleep very well. I had a hard time adjusting from two to three children. I would often cry at the overwhelmed feeling I felt.

Well, that little baby grew. He grew and he grew and now he is going to be six years old!!!!

That little baby turned into the sweetest and most lovable little boy. He brings so much joy to my life. I can not imagine one day without him in it. I love all my children deeply and equally, but there is something about Jonah that is special. Maybe it's the fact that he has the cutest little face, maybe it's his red hair or the spray of freckles on his cheeks. Maybe it's the fact that most days he brings me a "treasure" home from school. It is usually a sparkly that fell off some little girls shirt, a ring missing the plastic rhinestone he found on the floor, a rock that looks "cool" he found at recess, or a bracelet he chose out of the treasure box for me. Maybe it's that he calls me "Mama" or still gets upset if he has to leave me. I look at him sometimes and cry at the overwhelmed feeling I feel....LOVE for this little man!

Happy Birthday Jonah boy!

For Jonah's birthday this year we had a detective themed party.

When the kids arrived they had to pass a physical training test to see if they would qualify to earn their "Secret Agent" badge. The test consisted of jumping jacks, sit-ups and push-ups. Good thing they all passed:)

After the test they are fingerprinted and given their official "Secret Agent" badge.

Some of our new "Secret Agents"

They are happy they passed:)

Now that they were official, they had a mission. There were black bombs (balloons) that they had to detonate before we were all blown away!

The cake and the crew.

Stinking blue frosting...going to be stained for days.

Wow. Yeah even Ron's mouth looked like that.

Our favorite baby Brylie. The goody bags had fake mustaches and of course we had to try one on her.

Who is that?

Off to solve a mystery. Maybe they can find the dang missing sippy cup.

Dream

Last night I had a dream. In this dream was a beautiful baby girl. I didn't know who she belonged to. All I know is that I wanted to take care of her. I can still see her face now, she was so precious. She had dark hair. I woke up with a painful longing for her. This has not left my mind all day. I keep seeing her face.

So, what does this mean? Is she my daughter? Is she reminding me that I promised to bring her to this earth? Because, well, as we all know I have plenty of kids as it is and we really aren't planning on having anymore. The question of whether or not we are planning on having more kids is usually met with a "Heck to the NO!!!". Sometimes a less convincing "no". I have felt before that there is someone missing, but shrug that aside remembering how many mouths we have to feed and telling myself that I have more than done my share of "multiplying and replenishing the earth."

Even entertaining the thought of having another child makes me nervous and makes my heart race. It is a lot of work having a baby..do I really want to do it again? The sleepless nights, the sore EVERYTHING from pregnancy and childbirth. Plus I am over 30 now...would that affect my pregnancy? I have five beautiful and healthy children...would I be tempting fate?

All of these thoughts are running through my mind, but are being pushed out by the face of a baby girl with brown hair. I told Ron about my dream and the longing it has left in my heart. He said, "Yeah some dreams can do that." Ha. He tried to change the subject real quick. I told him we need to pray about it. He reminded me our car will not fit another person and how we won't be getting a new car anytime soon. This is true....

So, where does this leave us? I am not entirely sure. I have faith that if I am supposed to have another child that we will be able to make it work car-wise, financially, and sanity-wise. So all I can say is "We'll see".

Stay tuned...

All year long

Halloween costumes are a good investment for this family. We wear them all year long. The boys love dressing up and of course Cierra does also.

Here are just a few pictures.

Landon, Jonah and Tyler

Tyler

Tyler again getting creative with the cowboy boots and mixing up Star Wars and Transformers.

I love that they love to dress up and use their imaginations. Cierra is always the damsel in distress. So perfect:)

The girl lives with four brothers...she deserves a party.

Cierra puts up with a lot. I mean with four brothers, who wouldn't? The poor sweet girl even has a list of rules on her bedroom door.

They read:

No burping

No farting

No picking your nose.

Said boys do not obey these rules within the walls of her room. She puts up with it because she wants company....not happy about the lack of obedience though!

So, we planned a fairy party for her. No boys allowed...although they did make an entrance on the stairs halfway through...dressed up as Spiderman and Darth Vader no less.

The decor. Very pink. Very girly.

The wands. Each girl got one. My friend helped me make them. It was very tedious but they turned out really cute.

Cierra ready for the party.

The girls getting faces and nails painted.

Painting toes.

Pretty fairies!

Zoe Hunt, Isabel McNeil, Alyssa Seymour, Kailey Seymour, Cierra and Karli Reyes

Watching Tinkerbell...love all the fairy wings!

Two doctors, a Transformer, a GI Joe and an angel.

This year our Halloween was pretty mild compared to last year's. Recap on last year here.

We missed our Ward's Trunk or Treat because we were trying to exchange Dylan's costume at the last minute. The same costume that I had exchanged THREE different times. The kid is in between sizes for sure. So after spending an hour plus there we were too late for the Trunk or Treat.

We had a fun Halloween night though. We went with some friends to the Fall Festival on base and then trick or treating on base. The kids didn't get very much candy this year, which I was annoyed about at first, then thankful for because I stay home all day with that candy.

They had a great time and that's all it's about!

The pictures are out of order!

Jonah, er I mean MegaTron balancing a pumpkin on a spoon.

Tyler aka Dr. Love

Landon aka Dr. Death:)

A Seek and Find at the festival. I think he found a MOUSE!!!

The kids at Seaworld with our friends Karli and Kaden.

These two are the bestest buds. I love it so much.

Cierra was an angel...is an angel:)

The clan!
Hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween!!

I've got a feeling...

...that this weekend is going to be a good weekend....

Cierra had a sleepover with her friend and they went to Chickfila for a "Super Hero's" breakfast...turns out it was the wrong Saturday, but they still had fun. She also got to go see "Where the Wild Things Are."

She looks so cute as an Incredible:)

Dylan was finally able to have his sleepover for his birthday. Here he is with his friend Sheldon and Jonus.

At Skateland...I love that skating is still "in".

Motherhood: A reflection

October is a busy month for us. We celebrated Dylan's 9th birthday and Tyler and Landon's 3rd birthday.

It's a bit strange to have a 9 year old. I of course feel like it was just yesterday that Dylan entered this world after 3 1/2 hours of pushing ( had to throw that in ). He has brought nothing but joy and he began my journey of motherhood. Being a new mom I was armed with tons of "I will nevers". Such as: I will never feed my child formula (Dylan had formula starting at 6 weeks because breastfeeding proved to really hard.) I will never say "no" to my child. (Yeah right.) I remember napping with him on the couch..him snuggled under my arm perfectly. It was pure bliss to me. I knew him so well. The first time he got hurt I cried more than he did. He was the smartest baby EVER... his dad and I were convinced that at 3 months he was saying "I love you". I miss those days. The simple state of feeling capable. I felt so capable of being a mother to this one little boy. I was good at doting on him, smothering him with love and spoiling him with kisses.

As life goes on and more children have joined our family I have been amazed at the capacity of love you are given as a mother. There is always more room in your heart for the next child...To love them just as you do the ones before. Feelings of inadequacy come when I feel that I can't possibly give each child the individual attention they need and deserve. I don't think there is a night that I don't lie in bed and do a "time inventory" in my head. Did I spend enough time with each child? Did I make them feel like an important individual? With a lot of kids in our family it can be easy to group them...meaning I focus on the group of them and not on them individually. But then I see them interact with each other and how they cheer each other on, defend each other, love each other, and then I think I may be doing something right.

Tyler and Landon...what can I say....it has been really....interesting.....and wonderful! The early days were a bit hairy. I look back now and wonder how I survived. Two colicky babies, no sleep, crying ALLLL day long. It is no wonder I have a few gray hairs and some fine lines. (Absolutely has nothing to do with the fact that I am in my 30's now;))

I can not picture my life without them. They are a blessing in ways they will never know. They are so loved by us all. They bring laughter and happiness to our home. They are our little entertainers. Landon is my cleaner...always cleaning something up. And Tyler is my little love. He loves to cuddle and give hugs.

I think of the future and how wonderful it will be. All of these kids, all of these personalities, interests and dreams and goals.

My house is loud....and I LOVE it!!

It's official...

I have lost my mind!

We stopped to get ice cream for the kids on our way home last night. I thought I grabbed the ice cream bag.....

but nope, I grabbed my new boots from Ross instead and stuck them in the freezer.

The saddest part is that today (yes they were in there overnight) when I went to get something out of the freezer I saw the Ross bag and I thought to myself, "Why is there a Ross bag in my freezer? Is this a surprise from Ron?"
Hahahahaha!
Nothing yells "Woman in need of a looong break" more than a pair of frozen knee-high boots!

Man, I LOVE these kids!

The kids got a hold of the camera. Dylan must have been doing a photo shoot.

Little Miss Princess with her "Do not disturb" mask, which comes in handy when the tooth fairy is sneaking in:)

Don't even ask...they are insane:)

Passed out on the couch after church.

Tyler is such a good sport. Cierra and Jonah dressed him all up. He loved every minute of it.

Nice hair and muff!

Cierra...the camera loves her.

Heading out the door to school! Happy Friday everyone!

Brothers who pee together.....

I really hope no one reports me for putting this picture up

So the dreaded potty training began about a week ago. I put it off and put if off knowing it would be quite the undertaking..and well, I was right. The only thing that has been consistant is that they keep having accidents. Ok, Tyler did really well yesterday and I don't think he had an accident, but it could be a fluke. Landon is taking his sweet time catching on. He will go potty when I remind him but won't go on his own. If I wait 11 minutes instead of ten minutes to remind him, it is too late...he has already taken care of it in his pull-up. That boy pees A LOT!

We spend a good part of the day in the bathroom and running around without any pull-ups on. It is quite crazy. It's also been kind of crazy because I have been sick all week, so to be on potty patrol on top of feeling like crud is not real fun.

So far I would say that Tyler is about 80% potty trained and Landon about 48.5%. They have graduated to standing up when going #1..on their tiptoes mind you. Sooo cute. It is kind of sad to think that this marks another milestone and says that they aren't babies anymore. *Sniff Sniff*