Family Night

As we discussed what movie we may want to watch for family night last night, I repeatedly mentioned that I wanted a movie that would make me LAUGH...until my sides hurt...until I cried....

The discussion continued on and on and we never found a movie that would fit the bill.....but then THIS happened...Mike and I have had an agreement for years and years. We do NOT play "Tickle Mommy" at our house. I am TERRIBLY ticklish. I can't stand being tickled. We've kept this secret from the young ones. The older ones used to defend me against Mike in years gone by..... and Mike invented "Tickle Little Kids" - and I was safe....

UNTIL HE TURNED ON ME!

Did I mention that I can't STAND being tickled. He figured it would be a good way to make me laugh....and those little ones? They didn't defend me....until I finally managed to gasp out "the OLDER ONES always helped me!" Then the real fun began.

And THEN it became "Tickle Little Kids"


When I said, "WHY"? I was told, "You WANTED to laugh!"

Later on Mike brought me these!

The camera had gone down $75 - 80 in price....It was $175.00 at Sam's Club...and I really like this little camera. Of course, it doesn't hold a candle to the Nikon Dwhatevernumber it is - 70 or 90....but I love the ease of slipping it in my pocket.

Jamin made us homemade Chicago Style Pizza....Josiah bought Meet the Robinsons and surprised us.

We are talking about Sabbath celebrations and how and WHEN we could fit this in.....some of us think that pizza isn't a traditional Sabbath meal.....but there is not ONE time in the week when all of us are home from Sunset to Sunset. We spent some time before the ticklefest discussing what we may do with this.

Conquering Fear

Stacia seems to have conquered her fear of the Kirby!

Family Olympics

Unbeknownst to the world at large, and mothers in general, yesterday was the big, fantastic, humongous Family Olympics. It took place in our backyard, house, and front yard during produce co-op.

The results: The girls win at fence jumping - The boys win at jump roping....

Thanks to Deja for grabbing photos while I peddled produce ::snort:: and for allowing her children to make guest appearances on the blog.

Yep - that's us - breaking all stereotypes!











Eric was the all time jump roping champ!

NOTE for the GIRLS & Grandparents

There's been some discussion that Arielle looks like Bre in a few photos. I'm here to tell you that while all have commented on how tall the boys are growing and changing voices - you are going to be shocked at Arielle. She's hitting 5 feet....I'm telling you she's going to pass the girls and I up in a year or so. LOL

You'll be shocked - and she's looking forward to your shock with glee. She spends HOURS reading these days....she's gone through all the Nancy Drew, all the Little House, all the Boxcars, all the Mandies and she read Hittite Warrior and Mara, Daughter of the Nile this week. I'm telling you - she's GROWING UP!

Be prepared....and yet she still has the photos of when you all shared a room all over.

Parenting is HARD

Today we had one of those "ARGH - this is tough" parenting moments.

If you've read the blog for a bit of time you know that we have a few challenges in parenting. ::snort:: It's OK - God is on the move and God created these children with their personalities because they will NEED these personalities to fulfill His call in their lives.

We went to a football game today. It was the game of Caleb and Andrew - sons of one of our deployed chaplains. It was perfect weather for a game. Both boys made touch downs - Hoot! Hoot! Mike took zillions of cool photos to send to their dad. I'll print a disc and give them. All good.....

However, AFTER the game I was told this by Nolan: There were two boys that were calling Zander dirty names. They were rude. They were pushing him. Zander walked away and they followed and continued. Nolan asked them what Zander had done to make them so mad. They were Nolan's age - 3 to 4 years older than Zander. They said, "Nothing. It's just fun to make him mad." WELL - THAT would have been a good time for Nolan to have come and told me. Evidently this went on for a good part of the game...and we were totally unaware. ::sigh::

At the very moment I was being told this, Mike was being told on the other side of the field that Zander was "very rude" and told "everyone to shut up" and "pushed a boy". Obviously not behavior we condone.

Mike found me. We compared notes and had the full story. Ugh. I wish he'd told me earlier. We dealt with Zander's rudeness. He said they were not leaving him alone, they kept taking things, pushing him etc....Nolan and Arielle confirmed this....so I see WHY he finally had had enough and pushed them and yelled at them all to shut up and leave him alone...but that is not acceptable either.

Parenting doesn't always have cut and dried answers. We talked about how to continue to act like Jesus when others are being mean to you. Zander informed me that Jesus doesn't want them to be bullies...all true...all true.... ::sigh::

Mike is back at work....and I need to go set up for co-op tomorrow and find some cuddle time with the kids.... I don't feel like a great, on top of it, aware of their circumstances type mom tonight.

Our Stick Family
I'm so VERY excited about this. I've been wanting to get these little decals for a lonnnnnggg time. About this time last year I saw a car with one in front of me, I followed her and asked where she'd ordered them because I liked them so much better than others I'd seen. Yes, I stalked the woman in the sport black SUV. ::snort::


We couldn't agree on a style that we all liked. Then I was pregnant. I put it on the back burner. Today I saw Cindy's stick family. We just love them. The younger ones and I decided to burn some time making our family. Mike saw it and liked it - so it's ordered. I'm so excited. We had to leave pets off....it was getting far to cluttered....and we had to add Stacia separately as they only had space for 10 members. They told us they would graft her on. They also promised that Krista's HEAD will not be at her feet in the final product. Here's Stacia. You can have fun with the stick figure here.

Thanksgiving! Only 30 days away! Hmmm...29 - I forgot to post this last night. ::snort:: {simply no TELLING what I have in draft}


Years ago I became bothered by the rush THROUGH Thanksgiving and decided to slow down and focus on being Thankful and the THANKSGIVING holiday.

We begin in October. Our Thanksgiving tree just arrived - and I'll share that later....but for NOW - look what I found. You can read more about this here. This graphic and "challenge" is hosted by Two Little Vikings. I am so excited to find a great graphic to help slow the focus of the holidays.


Here's an excerpt from the blog: This challenge is not meant to be difficult or complicated. Simply make a list (written or mental) of thirty people in your life that make your daily walk easier: friends, family, those that have made you smile when your day is somewhat blue.


Then, resolve that every day from today until (Thanksgiving) Day you will send a note (either snail mail, hand-delivered, or electronically) to one of those folks.


I love the simplicity and focus of this challenge. Often the "leaves" on our Thankful Tree are people - and I like the reminder to TELL them that we are thankful for their presence in our life.