It's Not FAIR!

How many times have we heard that line? Okay, to be fair, how many times have we said that ourselves? "She's so cute, it's just not fair", "Look how fit she is, that's not fair", "I wish I could go on trips like they do" etc.... But hey, Life's NOT fair. Although I have momentary lapses of reverting back to childhood, complaining (in my mind only, of course) about the unfairness of life, I have grown up and realize that's just how life is. With my adult perspective I'm actually thankful Life isn't Fair. Where would the fun, growth and challenge be?

Well, since I have 7 beings in my home that haven't yet reached that conclusion not a single day goes by that I don't hear the phrase, "That's not fair!!!" Here's the latest one:

One of our goals this summer is to get our home organized from top to bottom. I told the kids that by Friday, June 27, their bedrooms need to be deep cleaned and organized. Yesterday I gave another friendly reminder. One of my daughter's reminded me she would be gone all of next week on a fun trip with her friend. I nicely informed her that she could spend the next two days doing it, making sure it was done before she left. "But...", (okay here it comes),..."That's NOT FAIR!!!, she wailed. Everyone else gets to play today and I want to play too." My response, "You're right, it's Not fair it's just the way it is. If it WERE fair then each of your siblings would get to go on a week long trip as well. But instead, while you're off playing for a week we'll be working, cleaning the house, strawberry picking, making jam, etc...."

When I first had the wailing and gnashing of teeth that life wasn't fair, I used to panic and try to set things "right". Anything to get rid of the noise that wailing and gnashing of teeth make. But now when I hear the cries of "It's Not FAIR" it usually makes me quietly laugh and yes, it's also brought on some out loud belly laughs from me.

Sweet Hannah Kate

Today Hannah is 6 months old. That went by so fast. She's growing up and learning new things daily. Hannah is now 18lbs 14oz and 27 1/2" long. Her hair is thinning (taking after her daddy) and also getting lighter. She can sit on her own, although not for long periods of time, is a momma's girl, her first two teeth came in this week and of course she is SMOTHERED in LOVE!

Ron and Tanner said while I was gone they were playing a little game with her. When one of them held her she'd turn and reach out to the other one. As soon as she was in the 2nd person's arms she'd turn around and do the same thing. They tried to show me when I got home but of course she wouldn't do her little monkey trick, she only had eyes for me.

Hannah's first time in the pool! Cousin Elle is among the many that dote on her.

Hannah can't resist a cup when she sees one. We went out to Applebee's for her Grandpa's b-day. The empty cup was enough to entertain her.

Here's a video of Hannah. Yummy Yummy, her first time to eat solids! She couldn't get enough. Bekah was the lucky one to feed her first. (After me, of course)

Schoooools Out For Summer!

As of three hours ago my 5 school aged kiddos are out for the summer. ARGHhhhh! I love my kids, I truly do and every other year I would say, "I can't wait for summer".

This year seems different. I think it's because we have such a wide range of ages, with one being an infant. My younger kids are content to swim at the pool, hit a different park each week, do the summer reading program at the library and all the fun events, going to the free movies downtown, and just hanging out with neighborhood kids. My bigger kids aren't entertained as easily.

At this moment I have three 13 year olds sitting on the couch eating their convenience store stash as they watch t.v. There are two neighborhood girls here visiting Camille, one for Harris and a friend with Dallon. That makes 12 kids at my house. I guess that's not too bad, I know families with more kids than that. How DO they do it?

I am looking forward to not having to wake up at 6am to get kids going in the morning. Of course Hannah's schedule is my schedule and that's about the time she wakes up (hmmm, we'll have to work on that). I'm looking forward to no homework, at least no homework assigned by someone else, I'll be giving some out. (I know, I'm such a mean mom! I've heard it before, nothing new). I'm looking forward to neighborhood, cul-d-sac, gatherings in the evening. Moms and dads visiting while the kids run around and play. I'm looking forward to family togetherness, tons of fresh fruit, the canning that goes along with it and possibly a trip to Switzerland (Ron has been working hard and we're waiting for end of year, June 30, to see if he qualifies for the company trip). I'm looking forward to getting my house organized. (One of the perks to having a large family; more helpers, or "slaves" as my children would say). And I'm looking forward to lazy days by the pool IF we ever get some summer weather. Here is Camille with her friends Summer and Preslee as they walked home from their last day of 2nd and 1st grade.

Who would have thought they'd be needing coats.

BRRrrrrrr!!!!

I am FREEZING! Yes, I know what day it is, June 10th 2008 (at least that's what my calendar says). It feels more like January.

• My wonderful husband bought me a hot chocolate from Dutch Bros.
• As I drove to the store my car thermostat said 47 degrees
• I stood outside visiting with my sister (as she sat in her WARM car) after sending my kids off to school. The sky got grayer, the air cooler, and a small mist became heavier. ENOUGH ALREADY ... I said a quick good-bye and ran inside.
• I've been shivering while working on the computer, finally gave in to do the dishes. AaaHhhhh, HOT water!! To bad I only have breakfast dishes to do.

I shouldn't be complaining. Soon enough we'll have 90 degree weather and I'll be sweating from no AC. I'll enjoy my cold day cuddled in a blanket, in cloud cast darkness watching a movie or reading a book. Make that a warm blanket. I'm off to put one in the dryer.

Ooops, still learning

Heart Strings Tugged ...

... and diaper changing skills tested. In the "about me"portion of this blog I mentioned I cry easily over certain things. I didn't realize how quickly I'd prove that to be true.

Today being Mother's Day the primary children were on the program to sing. It's something I always enjoy. Having a Sunbeam this year I was looking forward to it more than usual. With a shy gene that hasn't seemed to skip any of my kids, I was wondering what Dallon, our Sunbeam would do once all the primary kids were called to come forward.

I sat at the end of our pew mentally checking off each portion of the program as it finished. We were down to the youth speakers, then it would be the primary children. When the first speaker stood up to speak a fussy Hannah (4.5 months old), with tones escalating, was quickly passed through six pair of hands to her final destination, me! (My kids are always begging to hold Hannah, it's interesting how quickly that changes when she's poopy and screaming). I rushed out of the chapel and hurried to the mothers room figuring I had a good five or six minutes before both speakers were finished. Racing against the youth speakers I was trying to get diapers changed and back to the chapel before they finished their talks. Although I could have heard the singing from the mother's room, nothing beats seeing their sweet faces as they sing.

Forgetting to bring wipes I hurriedly wet a paper towel and proceeded to do the dirty job. In the middle of it I heard the last speaker, a young man finish his talk. I pictured him making his way back to his seat and all the three to eleven year olds storming the stand. Changing diapers becomes a little more challenging on Sunday when the infant is a girl and is wearing tights but in this particular situation I think I set a personal speed record. We rushed out of the mother's room just as the angelic voices were starting to flow out into the hall. Only one side of the chapel doors was open and there was a dad with his infant standing right in front of it. Okay, I'm tall and usually can see what I need to over other people's heads but this time I just didn't have the right angle to see where my sweet boy was standing. The dad turned to me and mentioned that his little girl didn't get up to sing, "Well, then get OUT OF MY WAY" was my internal reaction and I impatiently squeezed past him and positioned myself in the back corner of the chapel. I hurriedly scanned the stand to find our debut singer. I mentally acknowledged Camille (8), good she's there. Oh, and there's Bekah (9). Scanning the group I spotted him standing with six and seven year olds (he's tall and blends in with the older kids) and I felt my whole body relaxing, ready to soak in the precious moment. They sang one of my favorite Primary songs, a new one called, "If the Savior Stood Beside Me". As I let the Spirit touch me through the beautiful words and the sweetness of the children my heart was tugged and the tears began to swell.

Okay, I just read this post to my sweetie and got chocked up when I got to the last sentence. He smiled and knowingly said to me, "and they're beginning to swell again, aren't they?" All I could do was nod.

I'm a BLOGGER!

I can't believe it! For some reason it makes me all giddy, I couldn't even settle down and take a nap (even though it was desperately needed due to a total of 5hrs of sleep broken into two segments) my brain was going so fast and I was anxious to get my blog started.

I'm so far behind the times. Blogging has been going on since 1999 and here I am, nine years later starting my first blog. I was first introduced to blogging five years ago by my friend Monique. It felt so above my head and intimidating I didn't want to give it a try, didn't even want to read other blogs. "Give me paper and pen over the computer", is what I thought back then.

Fast forward five years and I'm surrounded by people who have blogs. My sister, sister-in-law, friends, my 64yr old mom and even my nine year old daughter (she has two). Blogging seems less intimidating now because in the past five years I've begun to use computers in my daily life and would now opt to send letters through e-mail versus the mailman. (the receiver is more likely to receive letters now than in years past. It's much easier to hit "send" than put paper in envelope, write address, find stamp, etc...

I'm looking forward to having a blog. I'm not eloquent in my writing, or even humorous but I'll enjoy having a place to put down my thoughts and our family's experiences for us to look back on and for others to"peek in" on our lives.