Spelling Bee Boy

Parker won his class Spelling Bee and was able to be in the school Spelling Bee. He did his best but was super nervous. He will never forget how to spell the word Frolic I am sure.But he is still a winner in our eyes!

When she laughs

When she laughs she makes the whole room laugh. You can't help but laugh along when you hear it, its a deep belly giggle. Truly one of the best sounds to my ears. Don't ever change that Molly Ann,your smile and awesome laugh makes this world a better place.

Six Months

Huddy Buddy turned 6 months on the 9th. He is so happy, squishy and ticklish that it is adorable. He chews on everything in sight. He still sucks his fingers but has added his feet and toes to the mix. True talent I tell you!
He started eating rice cereal with veggies and fruit mixed in on Christmas Day. Hudson is the best eater I have had he gobbles it up barely missing a bite. He smiles and coos and does everything cute to get your attention.
He is entering my favorite age. He laughs,babbles and smiles when you look at him. He still loves the swing . No words yet but I think he attempts to say Hey, time will tell on that.

New York City

Brian and I went to New York for his work a few weeks ago. I was able to go for Friday-Monday thanks to the help of our family. Brian worked there in the New York office till Wednesday. We had alot of fun! We went to China town, Little Italy, Brooklyn, Time Square, a Greenwich Village Comedy Club to name a few places.We walked a ton and rode the Subway several times. We enjoyed some really good food and getting to experience a real winter for a short time. We aren't really touristy type people but it was a fun trip just doing what we wanted.

1 year post accident

The picture above is my Girl Scout troop (Macy in stripes) with my Mom. I asked Mom to help us with a sewing badge and the girls are wearing hats that they hand made for a service project that gives hats to children with cancer.

A year ago we were dealing with recovering from brain surgery right now, I'm sure everyone remembers how traumatic that was. Mom is a living miracle and life will never be the same for any of us.

My parents are facing hard times. My Dad was laid off the day after Christmas and shortly after had to have knee surgery. They are strong people and this will be their newest hurdle but when you've already seen a miracle happen you know anything is possible. I love them both and hope this uncertainty is short lived.

Brotherly Love

Twelve and a half years apart. One day I will have a First Grader and a Senior at the same time. But they love each other even though they won't share the same interest they are brothers and that alone makes them close.

Christmas Pictures

Click the picture below for a slide show of our Christmas season
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Christmas 2008

The decorations have been put away for another year. Christmas 2008 went off without a hitch. The kids had a nice year getting just the right amount of stuff. We had warned them that we were scaling back on presents but all in all it was just right.

The biggest surprise was something Brian and I referred to as Project Coconut. Project Coconut had been something we had tossed around for some time. Mid December Project Coconut went into action. We added a cute little pup to join our family at the Funny Farm. Brian and I fell in love with her right away. She is a miniature Dachshund that is dapple colored( a mixture of colors). I wanted to give her to the kids already named to cut down on the arguing. We mulled over every girly Christmas-y name and we agreed on Candy Cane. So on Christmas Eve Brian went a brought home our new baby girl. Our 10 year old Dachshund Patty is doing okay accepting her but really wishes the puppy would just leave her alone. The kids are thrilled with Candy and so far no complaining about tending after her. She is so laid back and she loves being spoiled.

We enjoyed time with both our families. We had plenty good food and alot of laughs too. It was a nice holiday for us all. I have alot of pictures to sort through and I will make another picture Christmas post soon.

Hoilday Cheer from the Funny Farm

These pictures were included in my Christmas card this year. The card that those of you that normally get a card from me it should arrive in a couple of days. Let's just think of it as a New Years card, Can we? Time kinda slipped away from me this Christmas more so than ever before.

But life here at the Funny Farm is going fine. Santa's early present to Collin was the gift of hearing. He had his 4th set of tubes put in on Friday after the Doctor had delayed surgery twice . I have been teasing Collin about making sure tubes were on the top of his Christmas list. I think he just wanted to squeak one more hospital copay out of me for 2008.

Hudson is growing and changing. He is a smiling little thing now. In the last few weeks he has found his feet and he holds on to them and tries to put them in his mouth alot. He has a cute laugh too.

The older kids are thrilled to have a break from school. Brian and I are thrilled to have a break from school too. Nice change of pace.

We are all set for Christmas. Presents have been wrapped and the kids are getting giddy with anticipation. Just looking at the tree and pile of presents reminds me how blessed we are. Tomorrow we go see Santa, yes we have waited THIS LATE to see Santa. I really am running behind , remember I already told you that. Tomorrow the girls and I will do some baking and candy making for our neighbors and friends. A tradition Macy and Molly really love and look forward to. If I don't find time to post again before the big day, Merry Christmas Ya'll!

Celebrating Life

My Mom celebrates a birthday today that almost didn't happen. Her life has taken a whole new course and she has embraced and accepted it far better than most people would. It wasn't her time to go and I thankful everyday for that. Mom, your are a special person. We love you and hope you have a great birthday!

Cutest Santa Ever

Elf the Moons!

This is so funny. They would only let us add 5 pictures, so we could not get Huddy Buddy in the video. Stil, it is hilarious.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Waving Franticly

Wow, I just realized I haven't updated in almost a month! Life has been definitely interesting and blogging kinda got put on the bottom of the list . But don't fear I am back for now.

Let's talk Thanksgiving. I know it's old news especially since I went and decorated the blog for Christmas but humor me. Our Turkey Day consisted of parade watching along with coughing and Kleenex, yummy food from rubbermaid containers,and a nap. Half of the family was sick so we didn't host or attend the Thanksgiving day meal. Brian was our meals on wheels delivery service and went and filled up plastic bowls with all the good food his Mom and Grandmother had prepared. It was alittle sad but it will be memory for sure because we have never missed a Turkey Day with Brian's family.

Friday was followed by both the lil one's (Collin and Hudson) visiting the Doctor. Poor guys were so sick. Hudson with a double ear infection , and Collin with ear infections and bronchitis. Collin needed a breathing treatment and inhaler. I went with Doron to a few store to hit the sales , we didn't do our normal marathon shopping just went to 3 stores. And then I went to the drugstore to pick up the $120 worth of medicine for the boys. Ouch!

So any money I saved I handed over to Walgreens for drugs. My best purchase was a Onieda 85 pc flatware set for $47. Small forks and spoons have a way of disappearing in this house. I had bought new flatware 4 years ago and there are no small forks to be found. I have been buying plastic forks for awhile because I don't want to raise cavemen. Every time I would pass out the plastic forks I would give my speech on how we used to have nice forks but they somehow grew legs and walked away. I am very protective of my new forks and usually count them to make sure all 16 are still present. So far so good.

But the boys are better. Yea! And Collin gets a brand new set of tubes in his ears next Friday. Set number 4, our ENT must love us.

I have alot of pictures to go through and will post some ASAP. Hope everyone is happy and healthy. Now that we recapped Thanksgiving it's on to Christmas. The house is decorated and the gifts are in the works. Next week is our annual Santa picture. Lots to do but it seems more fun doing everything this year without morning sickness. Merry Christmas ya'll!

Superman boys

Reasons for being a bit busy

1. Homecoming festivities. Helping prepare for the event. Including the parade and the game day events. Football every Saturday all-day-long for the last 8 weeks . Which is now over and it couldn't have ended soon enough for me this year.

2.Attending field trips. Not because I just love going to the pumpkin patch for the hundredth time but because it's a huge deal to the little pumpkin patch goer that I can share in such an event.


3.Fall festival at school. Our class won best booth for 2nd grade and the prize was cash to be used for something new for the classroom. The kids loved playing Candyland at our booth. It was both educational and fun!I put a few days work into with the help of the other room Mom. Time consuming yet fun for the kids.

4. Halloween. For a person with a few kids this isn't such a hurdle but it is like putting on a production for the kids at my house who like to think of costumes you just don't buy off the rack. (pictures coming). The kids got a good bit of wear out of them by not just Trick 0rTreating but also wore them to a festival at a local church on Wednesday night before. Sure fun for the kids but work for me.

5. Cleaning up and griping about all the candy wrappers and sucker sticks that have been laying around. Because 5 kids can really get a ton of candy and we all know how hard it is to actually walk to the trash can.

6. Cooking meals, washing clothes, doing dishes and being the over all Bossy butt of my family. Making sure teeth were brushed , homework was done , feeding and diapering the littlest member. And the list goes on and on.

So all in all it's busy and at times the chores that keep my head above water is all that gets done. Sometimes clean enough is where the bar is set. Someday these times will be past and I hope I can look back on the job I did and be happy I was on a field trip while there was laundry piled up at home. Sure my inner neat freak hates it really hates it , but theres a life to live and therefor a price to pay for it. I am not Super woman but Wonder woman, wonder what the heck I was thinking.

I am waving hello for New Orleans. :) Miss ya'll!

Costume Preview

Hey, It's Franklin! Franklin is a Turtle from a cartoon/ children's book series.
Spider girl and Sonic the Hedgehog
The Garden Gnome!!

Just for laughs

Hudson is thinking.............Why does she do this to me???

Homecoming 2008

Last week was Homecoming for our school and ball park . What a busy week it was. Above are some pictures of the kids in the parade and the girls going to the High School football game.

3 months old

I have held this little guy in my arms for 3 months now and I am still in awe of him. You'd think by time you have baby number 6 it would old hat but I still find him amazing.

He has started to coo, smile and be entertaining. He loves for anyone to talk to him so he can talk back.

He will eat anytime it's offered and you can see by the looks of his thighs he is well fed.

His name fits him well but he is called by his nickname Huddy Buddy most of the time.

He usually has a serious look on his face. He is definitely the most serious baby we've ever had.

He is so sweet and so loved. I feel so lucky that I am his Mommy.

Happy Fall!

I love the fall. I love the sights, smells and fall events. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays too. My kids and I have lengthy conversations about who or what they want to dress up as. We sit and look at websites to gather ideas. We plan and prepare for several weeks for that one night, Halloween. This years costumes are starting to come together. We have a few ideas and have started working on them. The older kids are saying they aren't dressing up (for now) but I am already working on Mommy's costume. So happy Fall Ya'll!