Tim's Birthday Guitar

Watch this for a fun look at Tim playing his new guitar! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7B0DHxewzk

new post

A new POST! I'm not going to waste time apologising or explaining. I am going to jump right in! First of all, updates on the fam:
Alex went on a mission for our church. To Tacoma Washington. He's been gone a month today and I'll be the first one to admit it was a lot harder to say goodbye than I thought. I completely melted down when it came time to leave him at the Missionary Training Center, and actually yelled at Blair to "put my baby back in this van NOW!" (can you say, irrational?) Blair sped out of the parking lot and took me to walmart where I was treated with pepsi, chocolate and a new shirt. Sigh. It's so sad how I can be bought.
Melinda is the the Marching Band again this year. She is taller and if it's possible even more beautiful.
Rachel is in the school play right now. I sort of promised her she could do both musicals (the school does 2 every year) but I'm regretting that rash promise. The costumes are expensive and time consuming and the rehearsals sap all of her good will and evergy. On the other hand, she has a lot of fun and the production is very rewarding...but is it rewarding enough?
Jessica is the vice president of her school:) It was a very cute campaign and well fought. I don't think leadership is everything she thought it would be, but it's going ok. It's her last year at elem. school and I can't believe my baby girl is going to jr high next year.
Daniel is busy with piano and scouts and his new job of 'oldest boy at home' which he is taking very seriously. It's very cute
Timothy is progressing albeit slowly. I'm worried about an increase in the number of seizures he's been having...up from 1 a year to 8 in 2 months. I guess it's time to revisit the medication question. As long as he's able to at least function where he is and is happy, then I'm happy. He's an angel and my top priority is his health and happiness.
Nick man, this kid is cute cute cute. But made of BIG FAT Trouble. This year he has flooded 2 bathrooms and was responsible for the replacing of a toilet. He threw his new shoes into the canal in back of our house. He nearly took out the laptop, ruined the downstairs couch and may be the cause of global warming....the jury's still out on that one.:)  He calls me by my first name and refuses to speak to Blair. He bosses Jessica around and always tackling and tickling Melinda. He can take Rachel down. His favorite question is "But why?" Trouble, but unbelievably cute and affectionate and fun.

Vacation Without Kids

I have to take a minute to say there is no underestimating the value of a little vacation without the kids. Or atleast without most of them. ;) We had a great time in Vacationland with only one baby. I have always tried to slip away by myself for an hour or two on a Saturday but I have noticed that when I come back, it doesn't take long (about ten minutes) before I'm angry mommy again. Now that I had a week with my husband, without three of the girls, I can honestly say I did not become angry mommy again until Saturday night. That meant a week vacation equaled about two weeks of niceness from me. Hmm, perhaps I should work on making that last longer. Or perhaps I should take more vacations.

Cousin visit!

For the last few days, I have had little Blossom, Buttercup and Bubbles at MY house! We are loving being knee deep in little girls. They have been so funny and cute. On Friday morning, I took the cuties to my scrapbook group where one of the moms shared her stickers. Two of the girls came up to me with stickers all over their faces and asked, "Do you know us, Aunt Maren??" I pretended to think about it while they giggled, supposedly incognito behind Christmas stickers. Finally I identified them and they ran off laughing at the good joke. On Saturday, after their baths, we were dressing them when the littlest started yelling, "I know a dance!" So I said, "What dance?" She and her sisters yelled in unison, "THE BUM-BUM DANCE!" Then they proceeded to dance all over the living room doing the funniest dance moves. We were all laughing hysterically. The next night, we were trying to talk them into jammies when the middle girl escaped. It was so hilarious watching my girls trying to wrestle this little 4 year old into footed jammies. These people are better than television:) And thank you to my dear sister for trusting me with her little chicks while she is off galavanting....(actually at a wedding, but if you don't have 3 of your little kids with you, can't it be a little like galavanting?)

Update

It has been a while since I've written, and I'm hopefully turning over a new leaf. Although I will confess that the garbage is full of them! Since I last wrote, Timothy finally has his leg braces. It was a huge sigh of relief for me and I'm so happy to finally have them. How satisfying it was to velcro those straps to his little legs and how glad I was to be shopping for shoes to fit them. It was  a proud moment putting him on the bus to school with DAFOs (Dynamic Ankle Foot Orthosis) on his floppy little feet. He seems happy too, and was cheerfully licking the new plastic contraption.

I have a long list of big jobs to do...projects I don't want to start, and people I don't want to call, but it sure was nice to cross this big one off of my list. And, it made me feel like a good mom. The kind of mom who makes sure her babies are loved and well taken care of. The kind of mom who can get things done, and make things happen. Do I dare say...a MOTY (Mother Of The Year) mom?? Maybe not this year, but in my heart, I felt it, and my eyes welled when I saw the little boy staggering up to the front door wearing his DAFOs and smiling at me.  I felt like a good mom.

I have always believed that it is good for kids to believe in Santa. It plants the seeds of faith, it's like a little practice for later, deeper, real faith. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but that's what I think.
Anyway, the other day Buttercup and I were talking about what she wants Santa to bring her for Christmas. I was saying, tell mommy what you want Santa to bring you. She thought about it for awhile and she said, Do I have to tell you so you can pray to Santa to bring it?
(ummm, long pause.)
Then I just blew the whole thing and said, We pray to Heavenly Father honey, Santa is just for fun. Oh well.

Okay, apparently the real price of friendship was never blogging again. That advent calendar, while beautiful and fun, is a time sucker! In my spare time when I used to blog I am sewing little pockets like crazy. That is if little Gem is asleep and not crying to be held. ahem. Yes, I do know that December has already begun and I have also realized that we are going to be out of town for bro-in-law's wedding for about a week, so an advent calendar might not be the greatest project for this year. But at this point, I just want to finish it before Christmas Day, so I can hang it on the wall and admire my handiwork. We'll get to it's actual function another year. :)

Speaking of bro-in-law's wedding, I can't believe how crazy it feels to plan a trip right before Christmas. We won't get back until Christmas Eve, so we have to have everything done by next week. The Professor is swamped and panicked at work, and I am swamped and panicked at home! That is not to say that I am not enjoying the Christmas Season. I love it. I'm bleeding money, I'm speeding recklessly toward Christmas without brakes or steering, a kid under each arm and strapped to each leg, but by golly I've got my Santa hat on and a smile on my face!