Time flies

Decllan is already five months old; I can hardly believe it. He is such a joy to have around the house and all the kids have really been a big help. After all how could you not love this face.


He is working hard at trying to crawl. He goes up on his knees and rocks back and forth, sometimes making a little forward progress only to push himself back and have to start all over. He has a ready smile for everyone he meets, especially if you smile at him, it's just too cute. We are working with him on his sitting up skills. A Mommy prerequirement for being able to start solid food.

He has also been working on his two bottom teeth for about the last month. They sure do seem to be taking their sweet time coming in. Soon I'm sure, I think I felt a rough edge of one about to pop through.


He loves to reach and grab for things and is always talking his little nonsense talk. Ben was amazed one day and asked if he talks like this all the time. I said yes. Even more so when the kids are not watch a show.

Each day is one more day of fun and adventure in our house. I can almost hardly wait to see what the next one holds.

Resolutions

Now I do not usually like to make New Year's resolutions because I think sometimes people set make these resolutions and do not follow through. With that being said these are my goals for the New Year. Sounds better right:

1. Keep my house clean, so that if someone popped over I would not be embarassed. (we'll see)
2. Complete 5 scrapbook pages per week
3. Take more pictures of the kids (read Decllan)
4. Update my blog once per week

So far at this late hour this is all I can remember. At least I did take more pictures of Decllan. Here he is showing off his skills at reaching and grabing at things, on one of the rare early January days where the temps were in the 70's. This was a bike riding, trampoline jumping, pinic kind of day. He is so focused!


What do you plan to accomplish in 2012? You can leave the short list.

Kidz ONLY

We had a kidz only New Year's Eve party and everyone had a blast. I think that the trampoline really helped, these kids burn off some energy of being around each other and just to have some fun. They jumped, danced, played, watched a movie and rang in the New Year with friends.


We had about ten kids over for the holiday and allowed those that wanted to, to spend the night. All of the girls stayed the night but the boys went home. Kind of strange but probably for the best, Bear likes his own space.


I think that this might be our new tradition and it will only get better as the years go by. I can already see the party grow, we just might have to rethink the slumber party.

Merry Christmas

Wow I can hardly believe that Christmas is already here. I'm pretty sure we just had Christmas and Isabelle was just born. Well I guess not really since we now have four kids and just a few years have passed. Each one more exciting than the last.

This year was great. We had the chance to stay in our hometown of Arlington, Texas and celebrate the holiday with my parents, Ben's parents, and his sister Penny. The kids really enjoyed themselves and so did the adults.


Isabelle got the chance to "perform" in the church program this year as an angle, when before she was supposed to be a sheep. She was a little sad about the change of character but she handled it well and went on with her new roll as planned.


The boys were wild and crazy little things but they enjoyed presents, food and family fun as well. They are still waiting for a good windy day to fly their new kites that Santa brought. I hope it is windy soon since I think these kites are going to rock.


Our elf made is final debut being a little naughty himself and wrapped the tree in toilet paper. Pretty fun, or so the kids thought. Isabelle was sad when he had to go back but we told her, he would be back next year. I'm not sure how effective it was but Cooper sure did find the elf at other people's houses, it was kind of cute.


Until next year and another round of madness can begin. Maybe in 2012 I will plan better and get their presents ahead of time. Ha, like that will happen.

7 All ready

Isabelle is 7, I can hardly believe it, now she is closer to 10 than before. Where does the time go. I am constantly hearing great things about her from other parents, teachers and the people she meets daily. This kid is wonderful! Who could have asked for a better child. Her personality is really starting to come out in her everyday life and it just seems to blossom and grow each day. I can hardly wait to see what the next year holds.


I'm sure we will have lots of soccer, possibly baseball, maybe some tennis, Girl Scouts and so much more. She is doing great is school and loves her teacher and new school. I could not be happier with her progress. She has learned so much and come so far, in her learning. I hope that she will continue to love to learn through out her life.

Santa

This is the first year that I have gotten a picture of Cooper and Santa where he is not crying or trying to get away from "the man." He was actually pretty excited to see Santa this year and did pretty well going up to him and taking a picture. Bear of course went right up and jumped in his lap, and proceeded to tell him what he wanted for Christmas. If you guessed toys, trains, a new bike, or nerf stuff you would be wrong. Bear wants money for Christmas. Do you think Santa will deliver on that one? He is just too much some days. At least he is pretty darn cute. And then there's Decllan, he really had no idea what was going on, but knew that people were looking at him, so he of course was cute as can be.

4 Months Old

I can hardly believe that Decllan is four (4) months old already. It seems like yesterday he was just born. I know four months is not that long, but I think about all that we have done time just seems to have flown by. This little baby boy is getting bigger and doing more each day.

He watches those older kids with an eye of interest, and awarness, just taking it all in, each and every action. Watch out we have another boy on the fringe. He really likes to watch Cooper, I can already see their bond; before long they will be thick as theives.


In the meantime here are his stats: Height: 25 3/4 incesh, weight: 13 pounds 13.5 ounces. He already rolls over from front to back and back to front. He holds he head up really well and I think he is contemplating crawling. I'm sure by the end of the month he will be up on those knees trying to figure out how to make them go. He loves to play on his play mat; trying to reach out to all the hanging objects. Decllan really enjoys trying to pull down the one toy with a plastic end so that he can put it in his mounth.

I am always telling the big kids to make sure nothing is on the floor so that he won't get anything dangerous in his mouth. He also likes to watch his hands and see how they move and what they can do. He is trying to grab onto items and move them around. He follows objects really well and just love to smile.


This kid can light up anyones bad day if you just take a look at him and give him a little smile. His whole face lights up when he smiles and it is just perfect. I love this kid!!

The Tree

As I watched the kids getting very excited about decorating the tree I could remember how my childhood was just like that. I could not wait to see the next ornament that came out of the box almost as much as I could hardly wait to see what that years ornament was going to be. They were so cute looking through the box to decide who's ornament was who's and trying to remember when they received said ornament. Then of course where should they place the ornament on the tree. Bear of course was one extreme or the other, the very top of the tree or the very bottom one. Where as Isabelle was all over and Cooper was right about about Cooper height. Of course Decllan got a chance to put his "First Christmas" ornament on the tree as well, with the help of Mom. It was some rowdy, crazy, fun. But once those kids were done or had lost interest that was it. So hopefully the tree still looks pretty good.


I pretty much need a second tree of the same height in order to get all the ornaments on, but for right now I love to focus on the kids ornaments. I love the fact that nothing matches and each one has a different story for each kid. I hope they enjoy their ornaments as much as I do when they are older. It is so much fun to see the history and memories each year.

Lemonade

Today in school one of our activities is to make lemonade. The boys had lots of fun squeezing out the juice and then adding sugar and water to taste to help make it just the right flavor. I had a lot of lemons to use and this was the best thing I thought of to use them for. I did also save some of the juice for fresh lemon juice in cooking. Hopefully it will last a little while, not sure about that one.

Elf on the shelf

We have joined the masses in using the Elf on the Shelf book and Elf to help the kids be extra good these last few days before Christmas. I think it is going to be a lot of fun coming up with fun places to put the Elf and see if the kids can find him. I hope they enjoy it as much as Ben and I will. So here is where our Elf named, Candle Chippy landed his first day here.

Thanksgiving

What a weekend! So much to do in so little time. But I think all the kids had a blast visiting with their cousins and being away from school. Here are some of the highlights:


* Crafts, crafts, and more crafts

* Food, beer, and wine

* Car races (wooden not real)

* Decllan's Baptism

* Christmas - all the kids with Grandma Susie and Grandpa Bernie

Everyone had a wonderful time and now we just have to get back onto a regular schedule. Pretty hard to stay on schedule when you are with that much family. Isabelle won the car race, her car ran the fastest down the ramp, even with Grandpa Don's silly starts.



Cooper did not feel good by Saturday and this is where he fell asleep. I just left him there because he looked cozy and I figured if he was asleep he needed the sleep.

Ornaments

In the tradition that has been carried on in my family for years, I started when I joined Ben's family the tradition of giving ornaments to the kids, so that one day they will have a ready made Christmas tree. Plus it gives them something to look back on and remember the holiday's from the past. I love to look at all my ornaments, and each year the kids get more, and so do we and we just need a bigger tree. Oh well, so this year I decided to personalize ornaments and make them myself. It was a lot of fun and they turned out cute. No I did not come up with my own idea but I stole and idea from this website. Very cute, and you can see that her picture is better than mine, go figure.

Happier note

My flowers are very confused. This iris just bloomed, I don't think it quite knows what to do after the horribly hot summer we had, and all the yo-yo weather we have had this month. At least it is pretty to look at for the short time it will be here for. Plus I got a little bonus iris action.

The Nerve

The nerve of some people, I cannot believe. Isa, Decllan and I are walking out of Target via the cross walk, and this woman talking on her cell phone barely stops in time not to hit us. As I'm walking and talking to her and Isabelle, we pass, she rolls down her window to ask me what I said. I told her that maybe had she not been on the phone she would have been able to stop sooner for the people who were walking and using the cross walk as directed. Then she had the nerve to suggest that I text when I drive and call me a bitch. Then she darted off before I could say any more. At least if you are going to insult someone let them defend themselves or make a comment back. I can hardly believe how some people act when they are driving. Well she can kiss my ass.

The Big Change

In less than five (5) hours Ben will be leaving his job at YRC for good. He has been with Roadway, now YRC for over 14 years and is finally cutting the apron strings and moving on. After the past three years and the stress that has been building due to poor management from the upper dudes, Ben has decided to take a position with a much smaller trucking company. I can hardly believe it! We are all very excited and a little nervous. Mostly me, because of insurance reasons but I think it will all work out in the end.

Ben must have been sending out I'm ready for a change vibe, because about a month or more ago, he had two (2) recruiters call in within 20 minutes of each other. Both wanting to have him submit a resume for review. He went through the process of interviews, phone interviews, and much more, before finally settling and deciding on one company over the other.

The new company is a family operated trucking business, and Ben hopes to help them grow their business and develop a stronger knowledge in the brokering side of trucking. Plus much more but I would hate to bore you with the details. He feels that this is going to be a great opportunity for him to let loose the reins and develop professionally as well as personally. He has equated this move to be more entrepreneurial than his previous position.

I know he is not sad to leave his post at YRC, since things have been completely different since we moved back to Texas. Especially after the move the company made to combine both entities. But that is another story best left in the past. Even though there are those who will be sad to see him go, I think it is for the best. Had it not be for YRC we would not of made our moves across the country and back. And we would not have met so many wonderful people and friends along the way.

So pray for us and send good wishes for our next exciting adventure that we are about to embark on, it can only get better from here.

So Cute

Look at Decllan, the other day Ben put him down for a nap and one of the kids handed him a toy. He actually fell asleep with it in his hands. Too cute! What is more precious than a sleeping baby.

My little crazies

My kids are so silly, somedays they take great pictures together while others they are just not all together. Oh well at least I have some funny memories of them being crazy, and silly together. I would at least like to get a semi-decent one for the Christmas card. Who knows if that will happen. One more try maybe at Decllan's Baptism. For now I just have a good case of the sillies.

The GYM

I never realized how much going to the gym affected my life, until I was unable to go until just a few days ago. Ok so right after having a baby is understandable about not being able to go and I was prepared for that. I had to wait until the doctor said that all things were looking good and I could proceed with normal activity. Then I did not anticipate the gym making me wait until Decllan was three (3) months old. That is just crazy! At least it is to me.

I have never been a good work out from home person, my kids wake up too early or they just don't take a long enough nap. Or I find that I have one million other things to do during nap time; laundry, cleaning, laundry, facebook, laundry, and more laundry. Not really I try hard not to do laundry everyday but some weeks it just happens.

Either way, I figured I could get Decllan into the gym when he turned 12 weeks, that's three (3) months right, after he was born? Yea no, they actually would not let me add him officially to the account until November 5th. Good thing I did not add him before he was born. I thought about that, because they were having a special, add a new member for free. Luckily I did not have to pay to add him to our account but still I had to wait. And of course the 5th fell on a Saturday, and usually we don't go to the gym on Saturday because we have a million other things to do like laundry.

The gym for me is more than just a time to work out and stay fit. It is my little break from the kids on a daily basis where I can gain back some of my sanity and work out my issues in my head. That is always what I have done when I run, and I really need that. Not to have had that over the last three months was a struggle. Sadly I missed going today because of a meeting and when they let the babies into the gym. I have to wait an entire hour after they open the child center to take Decllan. That really messes with my day.

I had it all worked out that I was going to go to the gym right after drop off, so I could get there usually by 8:15am do my thing and be home a little after nine. We could do school and life would be good. Oh no, I can't ever get Decllan into the gym until 9am and I have to make a reservation for him every time I want to come in with him. So if I don't go to the gym one day I have to call and I can only make an appointment two days in advance. I think I could at least make a weeks worth in Utah, I don't remember. At least right now they have been open and I have not gotten a "no you can't come in at that time for that long."

I guess I just have to figure out a new schedule and make it work, because I need to go to the gym for the betterment of my mental health. I'm sure my kids will appreciate it if I do. I don't feel like I have been a very good Mom since having Decllan and the very, horribly hot summer we had. Needless to say I am way past ready to get my workout on, since I have not been very successful at home. I think when I workout at home, I keep thinking and seeing all the other things I could be doing at home, instead of working out.

Hopefully this too will pass and I will feel better about where we are all at and I have a regular workout scheduled, to help save my sanity. Who knew I needed it that much?

The Onesie

Now my last child has finally worn "the Onesie" I no longer have to worry about keeping it super clean, after all it is white. So hard to keep clean with boys. Anyway, I would like to present Decllan Jude in "the Onesie."



For those of you who don't know one of my college friends thought it would be funny to give me a baby onesie as a wedding gift. He said to put all my kids in this onesie and to be sure to send him a picture. So each of the kids have worn this onesie and have had their picture taken while doing so. They all looked too cute and it was a very clever idea. I should send him one as a late wedding present, and hope that he does the same with his kids.

Marble Painting

This past week for school we painted with marbles. Very cool, easy way to paint and have little mess to clean up. Plus the boys just loved the activity and trying to figure out which way to make the marble go so that it would run into the paint. Both boys are very proud of their art work and I think we might submit them as pieces to The Modern. Do you think they would take them?