i have a family here on earth...

...I always want to be with my own family, and the Lord has shown me how I can. The Lord, has shown me how I can.

One of my favorite primary songs.

Of course we've been thinking a lot and talking a lot about eternal families. H and J have both been sad for their friends.

I love they hymns of the gospel. They bring such peace and comfort to my life. I often hum or sing a hymn in my head and it gives me courage, or comfort or a peaceful feeling. I also like the primary songs so much.

Some of our favorites are

Popcorn popping (Lucy's)

Army of Helaman

Scripture Power

Be Constant as the North Star (I don't think that's what it's called...what is it's name?)

Love Is Spoken Here

and many others...

I love

Because I Have Been Given Much (not a primary song but I thought I'd mention it for the sake of randomness :))

killer bunnies

Today was DH's off Friday. It rained. We did have some windows of dry time when the kids dashed to the pool and played.

little kids playing killer bunnies at the kid table

I worked out this morning, as we do every M W F. It was early. With summer here our whole schedule slide late and it's even harder to wake up and go.

We had book group. We had a small group but it was fun.


Big kids playing at the grown up table :)



Tonight the Cook's invited us and the Smith's over for dinner and to learn how to play killer bunnies. The kids were so excited to go over and play.
The big girls had other plans and since S can drive that is a do-able thing. Which is awesome. J had a bunch of friends who went to the movies. S drove and Z went too. After they came here to watch more movies, in fact they are upstairs now.

Dinner was yummy, the game was very fun, and the company was great. It was a good night.



This is a funny game, complex in the multitude of rules but once you figure out how to play it's fun and fast paced.

update

Ben Howard Family

Little Esther passed away today. I guess she wanted to be with her mom. The family has a web-site now. They have a fund set up and information.

sad news

Sad news. Our friends had a tragic accident. Tori came over this evening while we were eating dinner. She asked if Sandy had gotten a hold of us because she had been trying to call. Well, no she hadn't. We were outside in the pool taking advantage of a few sunny, although chilly, hours and were getting dinner ready and had been in and out all evening. Janine H, who is Sandy's sister-in-law and a good friend of ours, was driving with her kids to Sandy's house. Ben was going to meet them there. A truck was coming the other direction and swerved into their lane and they had a head-on collision. Janine was killed. Matthew, their oldest son, was killed. The other three kids are in the hospital in critical condition. Rachel, who was a little younger than J and a friend of hers, is the only one who is responsive. The two little ones are maybe not going to make it. Esther, who is H's friend has had brain trauma and they think she won't. We are very shocked and saddened. H cried during scripture time that she was scared and wanted to know about Esther; where she was and would she die. J said she just saw Rachel at camp last week and she can't believe her mom is dead now and her brother.

Right now we don't know what we will do. DH and Ben have been quite good friends since we've moved to TX and he is thinking of going to Utah to try and help in some way.

Such a sadness.

I am grateful to know that Janine was a good person who tried to do what she thought was right. She and Ben were sealed and will be together again. I feel sad for Ben and worried about his family and how they will cope.


While the big girls and I were doing the dishes we talked about them a lot. We played remember when... remember when we did this with them, or that with them. I hate that game.

The thing is you never know. The Lord knows each of us and knows when our time on Earth is over. We don't. So we have to make the most of each day that we have. We have to laugh, and love, and learn, and be the kind of person we want to be while we have a chance to do that. Sounds like a bad hallmark card but really it's true. I don't want to have regrets, and I don't want to waste my time.

Ramble, ramble.

I am grateful to know that because Jesus Christ died for all of us and because He conquered the grave and rose again we can too. What a wonderful gift! What good news, even in the face of sadness and sorrow.

training in earnest

Lucy wants to be a big girl. She's been sitting on the potty a lot. Nothing happens, until yesterday. She sat down and made some little poops. Wow. We danced and cheered and praised.

So I guess it's time to get down to business. I got some plastic pants, underwear and treats and we're off. To tell the truth this will be the first time I ever potty trained anyone. When D was a baby and hit "the right age" I thought I'd better be a good mom and get to it. It didn't go well and after a few days I decided to wait. Well, one day when she was near three years old she said to me "mom, I want to go to Wal mart and get Ariel panties." Okay. We went and she never had a single accident. Not one. This was the plan for me. That same method worked swimmingly for S and J and E and pretty much for H with a little more coaxing and some fine tuning needed but that's a different story.
Lou doesn't really talk well, although she is improving, and is still in her crib at night and seems like the baby but she is almost 2 1/2 so I guess it's time to teach this old mom and new trick and we'll be jumping through the training hoops for awhile. Wish us luck. If nothing else we'll be having M&M's around and thats a good thing:)

sounding like a broken record...

The sun is peeking out of the clouds this afternoon. It's still only in the 80's but maybe maybe we'll be summery soon.

Today we lucked out, my friends came to visit teach me and I Have A Good Life needed a baby-sitter for a couple hours so the kiddos got friends to play with.

Little D did well and K and C always are great to have over and she brought happy meals for the kids. I absolutely got the better end of this deal:)

K and H played Mancala. First they played on our game set, then they went outside to play like the African children do in the sand. I don't think that went as well but they were happy to be out of the house.


S is off to the movies. She has a VERY flaky friend who drives me nuts. She always lets S down when they have plans. When she asked me today if they could go to the movies I really, really wanted to say no but I didn't. Sure enough when S went to pick her up she told her now she wasn't going to go. Shortly after she got home she had two other friends to go with and they're off to the dollar show. It's really annoying to see S get taken for granted like that time and time again, yet she is a big girl and should be able to chose her friends and make choices about how she spends her time; and if she wants to play with her I feel like I need to say yes. I have talked to her about it and pointed it out to her. This part of being a mom is the hard part.

still ray-ning...

we are having a wet, wet June. Leaving us lots of time to fill that would have otherwise been happily spent splashing about with our friends.
Brother has been playing with his guys. Today we constructed his monkey gear thingy. It took a while since I was his partner and reading the plans and figuring out what it was supposed to do was a bit of a challenge for one of us. Then he put his guys all over it and had a fierce monkey vs jedi battle.

We painted our toe nails patriotically.

We went to the aloha carnival at the rec center. It was crowded but the kids had a fun time. H won a medal for the crab crawl.

I got some "good mail"! Thanks SoDak Angel we were so excited to get some! and we mailed some off so the timing was fun for the kids as they wondered what I was doing and then were excited to see some in our mail box.

We read, played the piano, cleaned, grilled in the rain, and the girls had mutual.

Tonight J is off to spend the night at Kelly and Nicole's with plans to watch scary movies all night.

Our Ensign arrived today and I have had time to read almost all of it. I always enjoy it a lot but this month seemed particularly uplifting as it talked of the importance of home and family and of rejoicing in the opportunities we have living in these days, instead of dwelling on fear. Loved it!

rain rain go away....

another rainy day. What are we supposed to do with rainy days in June?

Today H worked on her 3-D picture. She's almost done and it looks really cool!
Lucy colored, ran around feeding her babies and looked at "boups".


Brother played with his guys. An activity he LOVES!

S and J played the piano, watched a movie, J and I went to Sis. Killingsworth's to talk to her about quilt making. She's making one for one of her personal progress projects. S went to Blockbuster. We all did chores.

This afternoon Brother got to go play at Mason's. The rest of us ran errands. We had a lot of things to do today and got them done in the rain. We had to go to J's two schools, the one she just finished and the one that she is going to next year. We had to go to the pharmacy, go to the scout office, go to the bookstore. We wished we were swimming but we need rain so I guess we can't complain.

I finished "Can't Wait to Get to Heaven". I ended up liking it. After the big surprise twist I wasn't sure I was going to. It wasn't as funny but after a couple more chapters I started to enjoy it and ended up feeling satisfied with the ending. Elner was a good woman with a lot of faith. Her good heart and kind nature made a big difference in the lives of people around her. It was a fun look at "the meaning of life".

Today I'm Five!

Today is brother's birthday. He turned 5! The past few weeks have been filled with a lot of discussion about how to celebrate. He had lots of ideas that ran the gamut from a big party with a bouncy house, to a couple friends going to play putt putt. Finally we decided that since he had a big party last year this year he would chose two friends and celebrate with them. He chose Ryan and C.

The plan was to go play putt putt golf, come home and play x-box, eat cake and then swim.

When the boys arrived it was getting overcast. We headed out and they had a great time. We started with a round of golf. It was so cute to watch them play. They would hit the ball a good number of times, or just scoot it with their clubs. When it finally fell in the hole they'd shout out 2 or 3! very enthusiastically.

After golfing we went to look at the rides. We had a Monday madness pass that gave them each one ride. First they wanted to ride the race track, but C wasn't tall enough and R didn't want to so then they decided on the airplane. Which they liked.

When they were done we went and let H ride the go cart and the boys cheered. By that time they were hot and thirsty so we went inside and everyone got a soda and then we played games.

After the games, and an hour at the prize table with four kids each spending 100+ points on tootsie rolls, erasers and other 5 pt prizes (the part of the trip where I had to take a couple deep breaths as I kept track of every one's points and how many they would have left if they chose any number of combinations of wonderful prizes, while I silently cursed the makers of little plastic doo dads and whirly gigs) Finally everyone had their prizes chosen and we were done.


When we got home it was raining, which put the kibosh on the swimming plans. The boys still had so much fun. We opened presents and they played with them. We grilled hot dogs and ate cake and sang Happy Birthday.

Very Very FUn!!!

of books and wasps and polka dot dresses!

I won! I'm participating in Maggie Reads' Summer Reading challenge and my name was the winner this week. I am VERY excited since I never win anything:)

I just finished reading "The Bean Tree" by Barbara Kingsolver. It was a fun, quick read. I read "The Poisonwood Bible" a few years ago and really liked it. This one was very different. It was about a girl from Kentucky who is tired of her small town life and leaves. Along the way she acquires a baby(not the way you think), a bunch of unlikely friends, a job fixing tires and a world view that she had previously not considered. I really enjoyed seeing her goodness and her optimism.

She gets involved with an underground railroad helping Guatemalan refuges. I really liked that Taylor tried to do the right thing even if it was hard. You could see her character grow and evolve, she went from a young woman running away from something to a confident, hard working , young mother that will stop at nothing in her quest to make the world a better place.


Now I am half way through "Can't Wait To Get To Heaven" by Fannie Flagg. I chose it because have you ever heard a more southern sounding name than Fannie Flagg? And it has been a delight, it's laugh out loud funny. It's about an old lady who is stung by wasps and dies. She goes to heaven and people in her small town miss her so much. Doesn't sound funny but it really is. She was a do-gooder and touched so many people, which I love to read. Her enthusiasm for life jumps off the page and in typical southern story telling style is best read out loud so you can fully appreciate the flavor and color of the narrative. I have been really enjoying it...but something just happened in the last chapter that I read which just shocked me and throws the whole story for a 180. I am not sure how it will go now but I am curious to see.

On a non-literary note H is growing so much. This cute dress has seen it's last Sunday as she's outgrown it. She'll be 8 this summer and is turning into a young lady instead of a little, little girl. She's still a little girl, just not as little!

everyone's home again

S and J are back home. It's good to have everyone back and safely tucked in their own beds. I had to pick S up at 6:30am. Which meant I had to get up at 5:15. Not my favorite time. Still I was looking forward to getting her and hearing about her week. She had a great time. She said the classes were great, her counselors were awesome, she loved her group, danced every dance but one at each of the dances, and made many friends. Now she can't wait to go to BYU and have that kind of fun all the time. She and her roommate got along well and it sounded like the whole week was wonderful.

We went to pick up J around noon. She also had a great time. Unfortunately she was sick the whole week and almost got sent home because she was running a fever. She wanted to tough it out and got to stay. She had stories to tell about Bro. Nahoolewa killing a snake, fun activities, passing the swim test in the lake, a tiara wearing ice cream eating testimony meeting, and Bro. Cook wearing a tee shirt way too small that made all the girls laugh and then one too big that made them laugh more.

Besides picking up the girls we cleaned and did laundry, hit the pool and read books and otherwise spent a nice Saturday.

Saturday evening we went to the temple with the Cooks. It was very nice. On the way we saw many accidents including seeing one actually happen. A little car rear ended a truck and then everything in the truck bed flew out on the street and onto the car. DH and BC ran out to help while Teresa and I called 9-1-1. Luckily everyone will be fine and eventually we were on the road again. The temple is always so peaceful and it's nice to leave the craziness of the world behind for a couple hours and go inside to focus on the Lord.

After our session we went out to eat at a very fun and yummy Mediterranean place called Fadi's.

sum sum summer time!!

I love summer time.

I love the smell of banana boat sunscreen, I love spending the day in the pool and reading stories on the couch and watching the kids share Popsicles with their friends. Very fun.

Yesterday we went to the library, went to mom's house to check on things, had friends over for pool time and Popsicles and DH fixed the lawn mower...again!

Today we went to Target, went to Friday swim~ it was at Alison's and her pool was packed. This afternoon have some friends coming over to play while their mom works for a couple hours. The kids are excited.

Tomorrow the girls get back from their various adventures. I hope they are having fun and am looking forward to hearing all about it, and having them home again!

give away

nothing says summer like fireworks, the smell of sunscreen and homemade ice cream!

Click on the button and sign up to try and win a brand new ice cream maker...I did (not win, but sign up)!

loved this quote

"If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep the streets even as Michelango painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well."--Martin Luther King, Jr.

I found it on Happy Mommy's blog a week or so ago.

too many books, not enough time!

One on my joys is reading. I have always loved to read. I like to read to my kids. Especially when they sit nicely and get into it, which they usually do. I read a lot to the kids when they are small and I love children's books. What has surprised me is how fun it can be to read aloud with older kids. J and I are reading "To Kill A Mockingbird" together. When we read H often comes in to listen as well. We are having a lot of fun with it. We have to stop and laugh a lot. Atticus is such an awesome character to read about with a teen. He is moral and good and does the right thing even when it's hard. Luckily for me her assignment is to, among other things, underline lessons Scout or Jem learn. This gives us ample opportunity to stop and discuss. I am anxious for her to get home from camp so we can continue.

I just finished reading "These is my Words" by Nancy Turner for book club. I really liked it. WARNING: spoiler ahead so stop if you haven't read it yet. It took me a little bit to get into it but I ended up loving Sarah Prine, the main character. She was someone I could really relate to, even though our lives are not really very similar at all. She loves books. She tries really hard to be good, although secretly she doesn't think she is and feels if anyone knew her true nature they would be shocked (we all feel like that...right?)

I loved when she said this about her children, who she loves fiercely, "children are a burden to a mother, but not the way a heavy box is to a mule. Our children weigh hard on my heart and thinking about them growing up honest and healthy, or just living to grow up at all, makes a load in my chest that is bigger than the safe at the bank, and more valuable to me that all the gold inside." And when she said she loved her four children so much and they brought her so much joy, and at the same time she was glad they weren't eight. I LOL!

I loved that she was hard working and strong.

I cheered when she and Jack finally married and cried when he died...what do you do when the love our your life is gone but your life isn't done yet? And, here's the big question...will she finally read the Duchess of Warwick and her Sorrow by the Sea now that her beloved Jack (a man worthy of great love and devotion and of strong character and bravery himself) is dead?

critterman

J got off to girls camp this morning. She had to be at the church at 6:30am. We had a big storm last night again so it was wet and cool this morning. Hopefully she'll have a great time.

Later in the morning I took the littles to see Critterman. They were impressed with the live animals. They had an alligator, a hedgehog, snakes, a legless lizard and others. H got picked to go up and assist with the hedgehog. It was very fun.

This afternoon we had some friends come over to swim.

unwanted swimming guests

Tonight DH was swimming with H and E while I was fixing dinner. Millie started barking her head off at the bushes and was real upset, DH went to look and saw a big snake eating a bird. They didn't know what kind it was so the kids got out of the pool and ran inside, screaming "there's a rattle snake in the pool, there's a rattle snake in the pool!"

Grizzly Adams came inside and got his shot gun and went back out and shot it's head off. Then we lifted it up and saw it was a rat snake, non venomous but a biter!

Our neighbor came over to check it out, he had killed one in his garage recently.

This morning we had more pleasant visitors as Angela and her girls came to swim with us. Also the Beria's, my friends since I was a kid, came to visit and it was so fun to see them. Andrea, who is my age, moved here to Fort Worth recently. Her parents were just visiting for two days. It was fun to catch up. Andrea and I are going to get together with our families later in the summer.

J went to the orthodontist. We went to story time at the library.

Millie is our hero!

bedtime, I laugh at you!

In the summer we have a horrible problem with getting to bed. It's light out so long, first of all. Last night after dinner it was hot and the girls wanted to swim. DH and brother were playing Battlefront. So we called up the stairs to them and told them we were going outside. Before we made it to the gate little man was with us (this being made possible by the fact that he never takes off his swim trunks in order that he will be ready at all times to hop in the pool at a moment's notice) Big man was not far behind (apparently he can get changed really quickly when needed).

When we came in it was 9. Then I went to get J and Amy and took them home, then we had FHE. By the time DH and I got to bed it was 11, with no time to relax and watch our favorite food network shows before turning off the lights and going to sleep.

I don't even know when the big girls go to bed...I hear the keyboard until midnight or later sometimes and they watch movies that start at midnight.

Benjamin Franklin would shake his head at us!

so glad my high school days are done...

Do you remember high school and the kind of stinky ness of it at times? I do. And with teenagers I get to re-remember the parts I blocked out :)

We had a day of teenagery activity. This morning I drove S to EFY at UNT, after a few vital and critical last minute errands. She went last year and had SO MUCH FUN! This year we wanted to send J and S w/ friends. Sadly the session we tried for was full and this week was girls camp so J couldn't go but S said she wanted to even if she had to go alone. We got there and found her room and got her settled...and then the uncertainty started. Her roommate wasn't there yet, and what if she never showed up, or what if S made no friends, and what if she wanted to come back home with me. So I waited with her, and told her it would be great, and she was friendly and fun, etc. Finally though I had to go because J had the kids and she had another baby-sitting job at 2. Luckily just then her friend Z texted and they agreed to meet somewhere and "be bored together", which was good because yesterday they weren't speaking (remember having a boy for a friend that you kind of liked but kind of weren't sure about and all that drama?) So I left with my fingers crossed and went home.

When I got home I found J and the kids and a few extra teens. I love having extras around but not when I am not there so I reviewed the rules with J and the consequences, and she was sorry and helped clean up. And now she understands the absolutely dire consequences that will come with any further infractions.

Then she went off to watch P-man and Lou napped and I took the kids swimming. Then Lou woke up and joined us.
Next we had the student council getting to know you swim thing which I was driving J and friends to. They arrived at our house and we filled the car with wet kids and laughing loud girls and drove to the house where the festivities were to be. For those of you not from TX everything here really is bigger. You can drive a good 15-20 minutes to get to someones house in your ward or school. This was the case. I got there, it was packed, they hopped out, I drove home, the phone rang, "can you come get us?", no questions asked, "yep", I drove back. I went inside to find the girls and it was packed. Lots of kids, lots of noise. Outside by the pool I saw my three little freshmen girls sitting together, chatting. They looked happy to see me. The poor boy sitting alone at the table looked like he wished he were somewhere else as well.
one great thing about being grown and married is you always have someone to sit with a party, someone to go to the movies with, and a car to leave places you'd rather not be.

I am glad those days are over for me, and hope I can be there for the kids as they go through it...and that I will remember and empathize.

S later texted that her roommate got there and she was cool. Whew!
J and girls are happily swimming at Sophia's pool. Whew.

Tomorrow's another day. Right now Lucy wants me to read her a "boup", so off I go... you gotta love a two year old :)

Happy Father's Day

Today is a day set aside to celebrate fathers. I feel very fortunate to have an awesome dad. Here he is with Lucy dancing in the living room.

I have always been crazy about my dad. When I was little he was always kind and gentle with us. He worked hard, always having two jobs, yet came home and was patient and interested in the family. He never complained about helping at home and did a lot of work there too.
He's not an avid sports man but I know he went to my brothers games anyway, and he spent countless hours on the bank of the lake "fishing" with them. I am sure he doesn't love shopping, yet he would go and stand patiently while we looked for whatever it was we needed. He was always willing to go on an emergency run for forgotten items too. Every night he would come in my room and sing me a song, and sit on my bed to talk. Everyone morning he woke me and dragged me out of bed, if I needed it, to go to seminary.
He is a wonderful example of having Christ like charity. He always thinks the best of people, always tries to help, always tries to do what's right. He is obedient and brilliant. He values education and knowledge.

I am so glad that he has lived in TX near us the last two years. My kids have gotten to know him and love him and have been influenced by his great spirit.

I am excited to hear of his adventures as he now travels and does missionary work.

I love you dad! Happy Father's Day!

saturday rain

We've had a rainy weekend. Which keeps things cool, and who can complain about that? Well, besides the kids that crave the sun and cry to swim.



We deep cleaned the kitchen as a fun family project. Then we cleaned the bathrooms. I read with J in her summer reading book. She has to read "Life of Pi" and "To Kill A Mockingbird". S has to read two books I have not heard of, which annoyed me. Number one thing that annoys me is that many of the girl's friends, although equally bright and capable as my girls, are not in honors English...why? Because they don't want to do the summer reading. Which is two books. Two books in almost 3 months. Frankly this is appalling. The lack of reading, of satisfying natural curiosity, of delving into the words of great minds and letting them influence and expand our own, of getting to know characters and stories that enrich us individually and collectively is criminal. Second, if the kids are only going to read two books why pick something obscure? Something that will not contribute to their cultural literacy? Now, at the same time that I am being annoyed I realize that the two books on the list, just because I have never heard of them, could be perfectly wonderful books and of great value to read. I will read them myself and of course S will and I hope that they are. I am just sad that more is not expected of our young people. And that our education system has broken down to the lowest common denominator to such a point that a high school diploma is almost meaningless.

Last night we took brother on a date with us. He always cries and wants to come so we told him one day we would take him. Last night was his lucky day. We went to see Pirates 3, which I had very low expectations for and I happily found that I enjoyed. It was long, and I didn't like the end but over all I liked it a lot more than the second and was glad we went. E loved it.

Star Wars

Our museum has the travelling star wars exhibit. We were excited to go and decided to take DH's last vacation day to do it.

I had an an appointment in the morning with my favorite chiropractor and then we went.

The lines were out the door crazy. I was very glad that we are members and could go into the uber short member line. We got our tickets and went to stand in the next line.

Finally it was our turn. The displays were neat and the kids enjoyed seeing everything. It didn't quite live up to all the hype and I was glad we paid the member $4. price and not the $15 it would have otherwise cost. It was worth $4.

Lou wasn't impressed and I ended up going down to kidspace with her before H and E were ready .
J came with me and we painted each others faces while Lucy played.

I was kind of sad because I had been invited to go out to lunch that afternoon for Robin's birthday. I wanted to and was going to go but lunch ended up being at 3 o'clock and I couldn't do that and take the kids.

Well, there will be other lunches.

We grilled, mowed the lawn, cleaned up, J swam with friends, S went to hang out with friends.

After the kids were in bed DH and I went to Quinn and Sandy's to say good-bye. They were almost done packing so I helped a little in the kitchen and DH helped Quinn schlep stuff. Then we hugged and felt sad and ran out into the rain to head home. I hope they will be happy in Utah.

Moving good news, my friend Julia is moving here to TX. Her husband works for Lockheed too and is transferring here. Hopefully they'll find something in our ward :)

back to "normal"

We're home. The bags are unpacked, the laundry is done, the house is dusted, the buggies are being evicted (why is it when you are gone you come home to extra spiders and other unwelcome guests?), Millie is back from her stay with Tahoe, and the pool is full of teenagers.

it's as normal as we get around here!

Amazing Race~ Disney Style

Aloha!

home again home again, jiggity jig

We're home.
Our trip was awesome! The beach days were lovely. The gulf water is so warm and clear and we had so much fun on the boats, playing in the sand, and all the beachy stuff.
Disney was wonderful.
Brother's favorite thing was the Lion King Show.
H loved breakfast with the princesses.
I think Lou's would be either Small World, or the hotel pool!
I will have to survey the big girls and see what they liked. Some day we will go back and see more, there is so much there. It really is a magical place.
Yesterday we had decide whether to stay one more day or drive home.
It was a tough choice. Only S was clear on her vote to come home. I was torn, I didn't want to end the fun and another beach day would be nice but on the other hand we were exhausted and anxious to get that drive behind us so we drove.
Right now, sitting on the couch watching the kids run around and play with their long lost favorite things, I am so glad.
Yesterday: not so much.
We had a long drive.

Things overheard in the car as we drove:

• Lou crying
• "she's touching my car seat"
• Lucy saying "I stink" (a ploy to get out of her seat for a diaper change...pretty desperate)
• "put your nose by her bottom and see if she really stinks"
• "she always stinks...but I think it's just her seat I smell"
• "pass me a water"
• "pass me a bag of chips"
• Lou crying
• "pass me the water"
• "what is that smell?"
• "her foot is touching me"
• "pass me the...."
• "we already watched that one"
• "H is touching the fast forward!!"
• Lou crying.
• "what state are we in?"
• "are we in TX yet?"
• repeated a billion times over the course of 14 gruelling hours

I love my kids so much. I think they are smart and cute and fun to be with. The older they get the more fun they are. I am glad I am a mom. That said...there are days. Days when I wonder what kind of insanity made me feel like this was a good idea. Days when I am trapped with tired cranky kids for hours of driving, for example. Some days when I take them out in public and wonder if they were raised by wolves, and then I remember oh, that would be me that raised them but I am pretty sure I don't approve of this wildness. Other random days, that I don't remember right now, which is probably why I have six kids. I have a bad memory :)

Destin, FL

Tom and Diana were so nice to let us stay at their home on our way back from Disney. In exchange for feeding their cats, and taking out the trash we get to spend the night in their house, wash our clothes in their washer and spend a day at the beach! Pretty good deal:)
Emma and Tori flew in to spend the day with us. We were excited to have them come and everyone was looking forward to a day in the sand.

We got to the beach in the morning, picnic in tow. The weather was perfect, the water was cool but not cold and the kids dove right in.
We had a fun time. The big girls and DH took out the snorkel gear and looked for fish. H also enjoyed using the mask to look for stuff. The waves weren't too big but they enjoyed body surfing and brother was actually pretty good at it. I guess he was light enough to get on top of even the baby waves!
We brought a picnic and snacked and swam. One of us even got to sit and read a book...hint: that was not me;)

Later in the afternoon we started to hear some rumbling in the sky. After not too too long it started to pour and we had to make a run for it with all our tons of stuff!

We got soaked. We were going to go home and clean up before dinner but the showers let up so we turned around and went back to the beach, then they started up again but we were committed at that point and went ahead and showered in the rain and "cleaned" up. Then we were off to Fudpuckers. Even though we got there before 5 the wait was already 45min to an hour. We got our buzzer then ran over to "Wings" to get cheap beach stuff and when we got back it was time to go to our table.

Since it was raining so much we couldn't feed the alligators but we did see some hiding from the rain under the bridges.

When we got home we got to clean up our beach gear.

So:

we spent 2 hours getting ready to go to the beach.

3 hours on the beach.

1 hour cleaning up from the beach and another couple doing beach laundry.

I'd call that a good day.

Sunburns, rain and hiding alligators aside it was very fun. We wish we lived in Florida!

for DH, who didn't like my photo pick

hightlights part two

my favorite ride "Pirates of the Caribbean", except they changed it so much it's a different ride. Still fun, but not what I remembered.
Our hotel was the best! This is the lobby, it was so pretty. We ate there several times, and my favorite was the African Stew, which I loved. We also loved the pool, and seeing the animals and all the cool activities!
J in Morocco~ after the rain started.

Nana, Abba, D and G in China~ before the rain.
The "hot" bagpipe player in Canada~ when the rain was down to a drizzle.
We were so busy but didn't see a fraction of what was there. It is a whole world, they are not kidding. It's huge and has so many fun things; maybe too many. It was hard to chose and I know we missed most of it but we had an awesome time. It was great to have everyone there. I miss D and was glad she and G could come. I like him better each time we are together.
We will go back some day, maybe when Lucy is 8ish. H would have had enough stamina to keep running more but we had to take breaks for the littles and someone stayed in the hotel with them each night so they could get to bed.

Today we drove back to Niceville and tomorrow is beach day!