Check-Up for Tuba

Tuba on the first day of school....8th grade!

I took Tuba yesterday to see his Neurologist. It was a good check-up. The doctor was thrilled that his seizures have subsided and we are only seeing about 1 a week. Much improved! We had a lovely time in the car...just the two of us:) We got to hold hands and chew gum and listen to the radio. My awesome MIL (SuperMIL) came to save the day and watched the other kids. She sang/danced/marched/and read her way through 4 hours...and now has a sore shoulder. The hazards of the job!

We have gotten our travel dates and itinerary from Make A Wish and we are getting EXCITED!!! We are going to Maui for 5 days of POOL time!!!!!! It's hard to talk to Tuba about it since he thinks it's going to happen right now. He goes around asking, "Pool, pool?". Yeah buddy, only about 100 more days:)

This just cracked me up. Of course brother and sister had to get in on the photo too:)

The Small Moments

Yesterday was one of the hardest...if not the hardest days at church I've ever experienced. The babies were in full swing cranky mode....didn't want up, didn't want down, arch the back, scream, cry, hit, fuss, and on and on. Luckily Cam wasn't working and was there to help. It was basically divide and conquer! We spent the service coming in and out of the nave like a revolving door. There we sat...the two of us in the Narthex with the babies. Usually one of us can take kids out and one will stay in the service with the other kids. Not yesterday! Those sweet babes were demanding....too much for one parents. They have begun to push, shove and fight for the attention of one parent. So, we each had a cranky, tired, teething baby. We would switch off...for variety.

I began to get cranky myself. Having thoughts like, "I could be at home in my pj's doing this", "What is the point, I'm sweaty, exhausted, and not hearing a bit of the service". To top it all off during the homily my friend stepped out to inform me that Mr. P and Busy Guy were rough housing and goofing off...up at the FRONT of the church! OH! As I opened the nave door I could hear them giggling over the voice of our priest talking. I had t0 walk in...all the way up to the front of the church, crouch down and inform my boys to get up and come out with me. Super embarrassing!!! I just walked out without looking at anyone. The boys went downstairs for timeouts....AND lost all screen time for the day.

Somewhere near the end of the service...one that seemed like the longest on Earth...I was finally standing in church. I managed to cross myself once, utter a few words of a prayer, sing a sentence or two. I was holding Baby George, he looked up, gasped and pointed up as he yelled, "Mama". He was awestruck looking at the icon of Christ in the top of the church's dome. It melted my heart. It took away all the strain and irritation of the day. I told him, "Yes, that's Jesus". I kissed him on his head and hugged him tight. It made me recall something that I once heard a priest say. He said that as parents it's our ministry to bring our children to church. To raise them up in the faith. Even when we only utter one prayer, say one Lord have mercy, or make one sign of the cross that we are doing God's work. It was a hard, hard day but I do take comfort in those words and in those moments.

Happy Crazy Hair Day!

It was Crazy Hair Day at Mr. P's grade school. Of course Busy Guy had to get in on the fun. I gave him a Mohawk since it was hair cutting time anyway:) They loved it! I had to go into Home Depot with the whole gang today....WOW, did we get a lot of attention.

Walking Boy

Here's a snippet of Baby George walking...mostly for the grandparents to see:) He is getting braver and braver...yet not so willing to perform for my camera. HA! You can hear Sis calling the kitty in the background...."I-Oh"...that's Shiloh in case you don't know. The babies constantly call her, chase her, torment her...and she does bite them...apparently not too hard. And...please excuse the open closet door in the background...and laundry mass:)

What's New

Well...school is going really well for everyone. I've only goofed up on the pick-up/drop-off schedule twice! One of the times we were in the car on the way to drop me off at the Dr. and I screamed, "Tuba is getting off the bus right now". AHHHH! We sped home, collected him and returned on our way.

We finally...after 5 years of having ONE CAR (and one motorcycle....no good it does me) bought a second car!!!! Whoooo-hooooo. So, no more crazy days of all of us taking me to the Dr.:) We bought our friend's used Honda Odyssey. It will work great for us. Cam is starting clinical rotation and he can't ride his motorcycle and not have a locker to hang his wet rain gear, boots, helmet, etc. Plus, we just have too many kids and activities to only have one car anymore.

The BIG news of the week is that Baby George is WALKING!!!! Woot! I'm trying to get video of him so I can post it. So cute...he gets going and all the kids cheer really loud for him. He just beams! Soon he can chase Sis after she takes one of his toys from his hand;) Look out Sis...he's bigger than you now!

Double Trouble

Check this out! Our sweet babies were playing so quietly...that should have my first clue!!!

Copy Cat

I wonder where she learned this? Hmmmm....perhaps here?

Rollin'

My MIL had the best suggestion. She says I should get a motor home to drive around so that the babies can have naps/snacks as needed while I do the daily drop off/pick up from schools. I've seriously put some thought...well, daydream anyway...into this idea. I could have a Mobile-Mom Unit! It would be the coolest...and I could retreat to it in the driveway when things get all crazy...you know that time of day...for some R&R time;) I'd fill it with magazines, my favorite candy, ipod dock, warm socks, snugly blankets....wine bar...Okay, I know I've gotten off track with my daydreaming...again.

Anyway, this is what our schedule looks like this year.

Mon. - Wed. (Thurs. and Fri. are the same except no pre-school)

6:30 Tuba up, breakfast, dressed, brushed.

7:00 Tuba on bus, and onto breakfast for other kids

7:30-10:15 chores, play time, brush teeth, bathe, get dressed

10:15 snack time

10:30 naps for babies, quiet time for big boys (tv/computer/video time, then books)

11:45 lunch for big boys

12:00 leave for school

12:15 drop off Busy Guy at pre-school

12:40 drop off Mr. P at K

12:55 Lunch for babies, play at home, run errands, etc.

2:00 meet Tuba's bus

2:30 leave for pick-up

2:45 pick up BG

3:25 pick up Mr. P

3:45 home, play, visit with kids

4:00 start dinner

5:00 dinner

5:30-7:00 play, clean up, baths, prep for school.

7:00 Babies to bed

7:00-7:30 books, prayers, songs, stories for big boys,

7:30 Day is done...except one more drink of water/potty run...etc.:)

All in all it's going really well! I like the flow...it's a lot to remember. I'm thinking I might need an alarm...or multiple alarms to remember all the times but I am enjoying the school year so far...so good!

Baptism

Our dear Ethiopian friends had their daughter's baptism last week. We were blessed to attend the service. Are those gorgeous kids or what!

My Ethiopian Sister Gabriella gave me this beautiful Ethiopian dress and shawl. It was so fun to wear. It has beautiful silver crosses along the hem.

Together

I think today was the first time my sisters and my nephews have been together with my kids....since before the babies joined our family. So, photo opportunity time!
From left: since I don't use my kids' names...I guess I won't use my nephews' names either...just ages. 9, 13, 1, 11, 8, 6, Front row: 1.5, and 3! Yes, 7 boys and 1 girl:)

Keeping Up

Baby George has decided that watching his siblings play WILL NOT be for him anymore! I was cleaning up dinner and the kids were out in the back yard playing...I saw BG on the deck and the next minute he was gone. I went outside to see where he went. He found the sand table and was in HEAVEN:) Crawling through all that icky (he can't stand the feel of it) grass was worth the effort.

Look Mom...Sand!!!

He loved it so much I think he kissed it...check out his lips!

After I took these photos Sis and Busy Guy decided to sit in the table and pour sand over each others' heads....SUPER! I was combing sand out for about an hour.

Rock'n it!

Mr. P got to go to the climbing gym with Nana last week. He loved it. I was surprised how good he was at it and how fearless too! What great exercise he got. He climbed the wall about 40 times. I was tired just watching him.

Such concentration!

Up, up he goes!

And....this sweet and strong little boy started Kindergarten today. No tears, no fears...from either of us:) He had a great day and LOVED it! Busy Guy will start pre-school next week. Tuba is off to his last year at the middle school (8th grade). He too had a great day and is looking forward to tomorrow. The schedule this year is tough...for me. I'll be driving lots and spending time waiting between pre-school and the grade school...then back home to get Tuba and then back to get everyone and home again. Oh well, it's only one year and I am looking at the positives. 1. I won't be as rushed...which makes for a nicer (non yelling) mommy! The boys have afternoon K & pre-school so morning rush. 2. I have lots of time after dropping Busy Guy off to make it over to Mr. P's school. So...lots of time to visit with other parents and I can take my time:) The only real negative is I'm not sure when the babies are going to nap yet...but I'm getting it figured out. Tuba will be coming with me to do all the picking up so that can be challenging to but we're working on some rewards for him...and he does love to push the stroller. All in all it's off to a great year...I love school:)

Four...

Day 4-6 of vacation. Is anyone getting bored hearing about our trip??? I'm getting tired of writing about it....kind of like watching someones boring vacation slide show? So here's the rest in the quick version.

Played with the sand...

Went on a scenic open air train ride...really fun!

Enjoyed the sunsets...

....on the beach house deck.

Flew our kite...

Snuggled LOTS:)

And....finally.....wheeeeeeeeee had lots of fun!!!

Day 3...More Beach

The 3rd day wasn't rainy...not windy...not sunny but fine for playing on the beach.

Baby George had a good nap on the beach:)

Cam set the backpack down and Sis was kissing her brother and then yelling his name and poking him in the head until his head was covered in sand.

Sis started to really warm up to the sand and loved playing in it.

Busy Guy loves the beach this year...still not loving the ocean so much...fine with his Mama!

Tuba however LOVES the ocean sooooo much. Here he is when we are making him come in for dinner.

Headed into the house...dinner time. Well, sort of dinner...I didn't cook the entire time. Just snack food and appetizers. YUM:)

The boys had such a great time snuggling in the bunks together.

Beach Day Two

Day two was rainy and cold. We headed to the Airplane Museum. It's in an old blimp hangar and way cool. We go every year and always love it. The boys love to look at all the old planes and Cam gives them a history lesson along the way. There are a few old cockpits they can sit in and pretend to fly...FUN!

Tuba's job was to push Sis around. They both loved it...except I had to keep telling them not to run:)

Next stop was out to Oceanside. We have never been there are wanted to check it out. We had coffee and huge yummy cinnamon rolls while watching the waves roll in.

Our last stop before checking into our beach house was to Fred Meyer to stock up on junk food...oh, I mean groceries;) We let the kids have sugar cereal...only on vacation so they had made their list and were ready to head to the cereal aisle. Since I do online shopping at home I found it really hard to shop in the store...especially with everyone in tow! As we were heading out I snapped this one of Baby George who had found the grapes....Mmmmmm.

Vacation...Yipee!

We've just returned from our annual vacation to Rockaway Beach, OR. We love the beach! The trip began with all the kids packed into our van like sardines. The DVD system we bought last year has been worth every cent!!! The boys watched movies the whole drive down.

We had booked a 4 night stay at one of our favorite beach houses. We have stayed at the Sea Mist 3 or 4 other times. But, we were feeling like 4 days wasn't long enough so Cam booked an extra night at a hotel just down the road. Yeah! It was a gorgeous day...sunny and warm. We checked in around 4:00 and headed down to the beach. Sis was a bit unsure of what to make of the sand and surf.

Baby George loved it! He rode on Cam's back and smiled the whole time yelling "WAWER"! He loved it when Cam waded out into the surf with the big boys.

My job (which I prefer) is to watch the kids who are not so fond of the water. Sis and Busy Guy loved digging in the sand.

Tuba of course headed straight to the ocean. It speaks to him. He will dance and sway in the waves for hours...seriously...hours. We had to drag him out to go have dinner. And...after dinner he and Cam made a trip to the emergency room. Yes, no vacation would be complete in our family without a visit to the local ER. Sheesh...we've been to the ER in 3 different states! Tuba had a big scab on the top of his big toe. I noticed it in the morning as we were getting ready to leave. By the time dinner was over it was hugely red and oozing and spreading to the next toe. Cam took him in and the Dr. gave him an antibiotic. We don't know how he hurt it but it sure did get infected fast. Thank the Lord for insurance and antibiotics.