Summer

Here are a couple of recent shots from the inlaws. I love going to visit BUT in the summer they aren't big fans of really putting the AC to good use. That and the fact that the kids come home with ticks (icky!)


Little man is quite a ham and quite a handful. He loves to ride the gator. That is probably the biggest attraction there besides Nana and Pop.

Pop is growing a nice veggie garden this summer and the kids are really getting interested in where their food comes from.

One day I plan on having my own garden but for now I need to get someone potty trained and let the dog mature a bit more. Hopefully next year!

Doodle's new activity

Here is Princess #3, well technically she was born 2nd so I guess she is 2. Anyway, she loves her Daddy almost as much as she loves Pizza and playing on the computer. He is her security blanket. I try not to be jealous but sometimes its hard. At least she connects with someone. That is such a blessing when you have a child with classic autism.
There is so much talk these days of autism. I hear people in the grocery store casually throw around, "oh my son has autism" I look at the son and he is smiling and talking to mom or the cashier and maybe he gives a little screech or repeats a phrase he just heard but I am thinking "really?" Umm No your child is "on the spectrum" and that is a whole other ball game. Being on the spectrum is nothing like having full on autism. Its like night and day and I don't understand why they are even considered the same thing. It makes me mad, sorry. But when people say their kid has autism so casually it really makes light of the heavy load the kids who are really afflicted (and their families) carry. If your kid can't tell you they love you, or what they want for dinner, or why they are crying at 3 am or doesn't even look at you when you come into their room at school, then you know what I mean. Otherwise your child is on the spectrum or has PDD-NOS. They do not have Autism per say. Yes I know there are different levels of severity. Something about this just really makes me angry. Sorry. But on a lighter note . . . We have a new equestrian in the family!! Doodle has started horse therapy and she LOVES it!!
See that smile? It lasts the entire 30 minutes she is riding. And she is getting better and
more independent each week.














These are some of the volunteers at the farm she rides at. They are awesome and some of the kindest hearted people I have met in our journey so far.

Musings of a Wal Mart Shopper

We have no idea what it really means to be inconvenienced do we?  I mean yes, sure, when my two year old decides to explode his diaper just as I am checking out - that is an inconvenience.  And maybe when my Aunt from Alaska calls just as I am drifting off into a delirious and happy nap experience - inconvenient.  But really, take the Wal Mart experience . . . Love it or hate it, you have convenience as a way of life now.  Most people live only a short distance from one of these mega discount retailers. 

Up and down the aisles you can wander and find nearly everything you want in one store.  You can ponder the important questions of life - Does it make me a bad person if I don't buy the detergent that cost 2 dollars extra and sends its profits to Haiti or Katrina Victims? (no, I prefer to send my donations directly and buy the cheaper detergent)  And the less important . . . Do I really want my armpits to smell like Cherries?  Yes they have that "flavor."

I really don't like considering myself a Wal Mart Shopper but alas with 5 kids it is inevitable.  HOWEVER, were I to win the lottery you would probably never find me on the inside of one again just to avoid the random weirdness that occasionally crosses your path there.  Does that make me a bad person?  Don't answer that. Now let's see I am thinking lemon might be the right choice. . .

Summer Begins

I love this shot! Not bad for getting 5 kids in one place at one time. I think this may be my Christmas card for next year so if you are on my list forgive me. Do you know how hard it is to get 5 kids dressed up, hauled across town, and forced to smile by some overly eager worker at a portrait studio who you know is thinking "SMILE DA***T!!! - I hate my job!!!!" Well they don't all think that . . .that is until they've experienced my crew. The quads are seven and Budgie is two and change. Its great that they can help out with the little guy now. By this time next year he should be well out of Pull Ups, yay for the budget!

A good shot of Buddy's new waterproof green cast. He earned this about 2 minutes after the picture above was taken by falling off the monkey bars - How Cliche?

Princess #1

Princess #2.

Princess #3 will be in very next post showing off her new activity!

Gone is the mop flop

Ok so my baby boy was starting to look like a mushroom.  His hair that is.  He wears his mop adorably shaggy and this began not because it is in style, I actually didn't realize that but was relieved to find it was because it SO took the pressure off me to get his trims regularly.  His older brother has always submitted to the shears and clippers very well.  We videoed Big Buddy's first cut and it was so cute.  Budgie on the other hand screams as though he had nerve endings in each follicle.  Sheesh!  What a melodramatic event his trims are.  I feel so bad for the stylist and every customer in the shop and I constantly find myself apologizing to the room.  Oh well, what can I do.  I am learning there is little we are in control of as parents, as far as personality goes.  HE has what God gave him, and God gave him a huge personality that almost has difficulty being contained in a two year old body. :) Here are the before and afters.  He is still just as cute and now you can see his giant eyes even better.  What a love.

Happy Mother's Day!!

I know I have been a slacker for not posting in a week but since I don't hear any complaining . . .  I have some random things to comment on and motherhood in general on a later post.

Random things:
1.  Am I the last person on Earth to catch on to this super annoying trend of kids collecting these glorified, animal shaped rubber bands?  Silly Bands are all the rage in the south and probably elsewhere too.  Some body is making a load of cash off this "duh why didn't I think of that" idea.  I,
however, being smart and all ordered some quickly and then turned them into rewards they could earn one band at a time.  It will eventually wear off probably this summer but until then they are motivated to earn them instead of me just buying them and going "here have this junk that everyone else has too."  Earning them will make them more of a hot commodity I think!

2.  I got exactly what I wanted for Mother's Day!  No cooking, cleaning, poems from the kids that they made at school and a gift card to Mecca  (Barnes and Noble) for some books and coffee, hopefully kid free!

3.  My husband is taking a new job.  He is switching from High School AP to Elementary and that means he will be getting home much earlier and not working ball games and banquets three nights a week!  I am supremely thankful for the change that is going to bring about in our lives.  He is the best.

4.  We have new comfortable patio furniture finally to go on our newly painted deck so I have a nice place to drink coffee in the morning if I can get the dumb dog to leave me alone!

Cool stuff I am doing these days

Ok here is what I contend with on most days recently, what I like to call the messy screaming, Elmo loving, eating machine. I spend my days alternately giving in/putting my foot down with no apparent rhyme or reason. Let me tell you - not working so well in the tantrum containment department :) So though I do want to write a book some day in the future, you can pretty much bet it won't be on positive discipline or anything along those lines! After five kids I still don't have a clue, but I keep trying and that's all I can say. Good thing God made him extra cute.

Here is my little thrifty, green, no thinking decorate on the fly tip - buy a bunch of these Alostrisomething or anothers once every three weeks and plunk them on a high spot little fingers cant tip over. They cost 3.99 and come in lots of colors and make your kitchen look terrific. They look great for three whole weeks then start to fall off on the counter. Love em!

Here is my somewhat successful attempt at decorating my front door. Also very thrifty. We just plunked out a wad to have the house painted so I am in no place to pay 30 or 40 bucks for a fake flower wreath.

1. I took my old Christmas wreath and pulled out all the red berries and pine cones.
2. I bought two sprigs of flowers I liked that didn't have that super bright fakeness to them. Cost 7 bucks for both.
3. I used my little jewlery wire cutters to cut each stem off the bunch and then alternately tucked them in the wreath - no glue, no wires nothing. Super easy. And that's it!  Not bad for 7 dollars and I can change it out for fall pretty easily.

I have been working on getting my front porch the way I wanted it for a few weeks since I finished my Spring Cleaning project. I have a very simple blog on my new years goals and organizing/cleaning the house which I actually completed, yes me, I finished it and I an really proud. It's super boring but if you want to look at it here it is. Now on to the next room and I am afraid some painting. Wish me luck!