The Perfect Day

Today was a perfectly lovely day. We started off the morning with going to church, which normally just drives us crazy because we have children who get bored during sacrament meeting, and aren't afraid to say "it's boring" or "I'm bored" outloud, usually when it's quiet! Anyways...all 4 of them were very well behaved today, we didn't have to take a single child out into the hallway! All of the kids have been really well behaved today, this is the first time we've had a day like this in a long time! It's so nice. It's a great reminder of why we have families, and the joy that a big family can bring! We watched the Bills WIN today, woo hoo, what a game (It's a tradition on my side of the family to watch the Bills play, I can remember being bored as a kid while my parents watched the game. It always seemed like it took forever.) We had a lovely dinner and all of the kids ate with minimal complaining (that almost never happens). So after dinner Mike and I decided to go on a walk around the block with the kids. As we stepped outside all bundled up because of the slight chill in the air I looked at them and thought "this is perfect." The weather is only 57 degrees, but it's my favorite time of year. The air smells wonderful, the leaves are starting to change, and there was my happy family enjoying each other's company and looking so cute. I had to take a picture. I don't think any of them realized I even snapped the shot, which makes it more special for me. I love it. I love my family, my wonderful husband and kids. I am so grateful for them. I'm grateful for the Sabbath day that helps me to reflect on the gifts that Heavenly Father has given to me, and the sweet Spirit that confirms that all of the struggles that I go through with the kids are worth it. We are an eternal family, and this is what I hope the eternities are like.

Target Deals

I spotted this on my friends blog and thought I would pass it along! Happy Shopping.

If you're still looking for various school supplies, or want to stock up, check out your local Target stores. All remaining school supplies are currently 30% off, and will probably be 50-75% off within the next week!

Goodbye to Good Friends

Our good friends the Burnett family are moving tomorrow. I'm so sad that they are going. They moved her so Matt could go to medical school 5 or 6 years ago. We have had some fun times with them. One of my favorite memories is their New Year's Eve party when we played MadGab. Matt is the MadGab king. If you've never played that game, you should. Anyway. Matt has been sick for some time now with cancer, and gone through a liver transplant. They really have struggled, I don't know how Christine does it, she's been so amazing. All of their families live on the other side of the country and that has to be hard. They have decided that it's time for them to move home. I knew they would move someday when Matt was done with school, but there was the chance that he would do his residency here, so I've been hopeful. They really do need to be by their families now. It's been so hard for everyone here who loves them to see Matt get sicker, we really feel for them. I know I've cried many times for them, and I hope that each time I do, maybe a little bit of the hurt will be taken away from Christine, Matt and the kids. Benjamin, Joshua, Anna, and Maria are precious kids. We've always enjoyed having them over to play with my kids. I am amazed how much food her kids eat! They out eat my children hands down! Anna and Brooke are so cute together, most of the time! They argue and fight just like they were sisters, but I know they enjoy playing. I have some really cute pictures of them together over the years. They are only months apart. I remember driving home with Christine from a Relief Society activity and telling each other we were pregnant. The girls are now 4 yrs old. That was a long time ago.

Here is a photo of the girls in all of their girly glory.
Brooke has matured a lot with her emotions. Yesterday in Fast and Testimony meeting Brooke heard Matt and Christine bear their testimonies and heard that they were moving. She looked at me with panic on her face and asked if Anna was going too. I said yes, she can't stay here without her family because she'll be sad. Brooke started to cry and then asked me if she will still come to church when she moves far away. When I told her no because it's too far away she looked at me and said "but Anna is my best friend." She was so heartbroken I couldn't help but start crying. I've only seen her cry like this once before when there was a stray cat hanging around and the animal control came and got it. She truly was hurting. She asked me why she was moving and I explained that Anna's daddy is sick. (Our kids have known that he's sick because we've prayed for them as a family.) I told her that Anna's daddy wants to be by his family because it might help him feel a little better. What really broke my heart was when she asked me "Can Anna move back here when her daddy feels better?" I couldn't talk, the tears were just streaming and I was hurting inside for her and for myself and for Christine and her family. I couldn't explain to her that Anna's daddy isn't going to get better. She's just too little for that. She cried for the rest of the Sacrament meeting and into Primary a little bit. She didn't want me to leave her side. I'm so sad for her. It's hard to lose a friend. I can only hope that someday when they are grown they will meet at college or some activity and remember, probably with some help from Christine and I, that they were such good friends. They are moving TOMORROW, so I decided to have the girls get together and play for one last time. We really will miss this family, and I hope to be able to visit them sometime in the future.

I'm a Big Boy!

Tyler wants so badly to be able to do the things that the other kids do. I caught him helping himself to some lunch recently. The older kids love to eat warm tortillas with butter melted on them. I used to eat them when I was a kid after my mom made homemade tortillas. They are delicious. Well, with Tyler's allergies, we don't use real butter much, we use the Wegmans tub'o'love spread. Tyler wanted butter on his tortilla, he didn't care that it had chicken on the inside already! That little boy is very coordinated for his young age to be able to work a butter knife like that!



Ok, you pulled another story out of me...About 3 weeks ago we were at my friend Rebecca's house for a picnic after she had her baby christened, and Tyler grabbed a plastic fork and was handed a mini-straw, one of those coffee stir sticks. He was able to put the straw on one of the pokey things on the fork. I thought that was pretty impressive for an 18 month old to have that eye hand coordination and the fine motor skills to go along with it!

End of the Olympics

Olympic Medal winners at NBC Olympics.com!


I am so proud to be an American. I have loved watching every minute of these Olympics. China did a fantastic job hosting, and the closing ceremony last night was beautiful. Sadly, I had to work on opening night, so I missed that performance. So many world records were broken and broken again by these amazing athletes. America finished in the lead with the most medals won, while China had the most gold. What an awesome way to show the world coming together in friendly competition. In our Sunday School class that Mike and I teach, the 12-13 yr olds, we were talking yesterday about anger and controlling our anger. Mike brought up a good thought, what if leaders of countries challenged each other to a game of chess instead of war when there are problems! It made me think of the Olympics and how all of that can be set aside and people so different from each other in culture can stay in the same housing and spend over 2 weeks together with no problems so they can have some friendly competition. Makes you think.

Baskets and Crayons, What more could you want?

Tyler is so funny now, he does things so we'll laugh. It's amazing to me how early kids develop a sense of humor. Tyler loves to be inside of buckets or baskets or under blankets. He's learned how to say "boo" and jump out at us. It's very cute! I am proud to say that my 19 months of pulling shirts over his head and saying boo every time his little head popped out has finally paid off! So anyway, I bought some plastic bins to store some of my things in because of a mold/flooding problem in the basement (I won't get into it right now, but soon) and they were in the front room just waiting for a tiny person to climb in! So here is Tyler in all of glory with his bagel, keepin' it real (that one's for you Mike!) in the plastic tub. When he does something cute and he knows it's cute, he does his "cheese" face at me to ask me to take a picture! He also tipped the tub over and though that was hilarious!





So of course, Brooke has to get in on the action because she saw how much fun Tyler was having, and had to get in on the photo op too! She's just a little bigger though, and barely fit. I just had to laugh. Since Brooke stole the plastic tub, Tyler had to move on to bigger and better things, like...the laundry basket! He's so crazy!




Tyler is so busy now, it drives me crazy. I don't know about everyone else, but I forget for the most part, from kid to kid what they are doing at what age, so it's almost a surprise to me when they do new things. I got used to telling the older kids, we color at the table on paper and they just do it. It's been a long time since something was colored on around here. Until yesterday. Tyler went a little crazy with a black crayon he pulled out of our junk drawer and then kept pulling out of the garbage can because I kept throwing it away. HOW does one little boy and one black crayon travel so far so quickly? The fridge, a dining room chair, the silverware drawer...

the dining room table(these are just remnants because McKee cleaned it up), and the garbage can.

So, being the mean mommy that I am, I made him clean it up. He has to learn some time right?

Family Picnic 2008

Once a year my mom's side of the family gets together for a reunion/picnic/camping at my Uncle Denton's house in Nunda, NY. We usually have a great time and most of the family comes. My mom is #9 of 13 kids, 12 are still alive, and there are 51 cousins. We have so much fun. My uncles all play together in a band, so there's music, and food and Uncle Denton has a pond near the camp site. My kids love going because they can run around and do almost whatever they want with my cousins who are their ages, and my cousins' children. We roasted marshmallows, fished, danced, and talked. Only 4 of the 6 of us were able to make it this year, me, Dave, Michael, and Matt. McKee was in Myrtle Beach with Damon, so he wasn't there either. Here are a few pics.