You just need to be patient, girl!!! My birthday celebrations are not that exciting, but here goes. We used to combine kids who were close to each other. Adam and Ashley are Dec 10th and 12th...that was a given. Then the 3 middle boys are in May, June, and July. They were also together. Austin never really got parties per se, because when he was in school it was hard, since his birthday was RIGHT at the beginning of the school year. We knew no one at that point. And then the older he got, the more it seemed kind of corny because he was older and didn't know alot of kids his age. So, last year, I decided to do one giant party in August for everyone. I don't know if you've ever watched kids by the dozen, but the Jeub family did a family celebration and I loved the idea! So, we invited everyone we knew and had a huge bash. We had a swimming pool set up for the little kids, with a sprinkler, a huge tub of water balloons, a volleyball net, horseback riding, and water guns. It was hot as all get out, but still fun. People brought food, we provided drinks and cake...a huge cake! Everyone either brought a gift for the kid of the same age as their own, or some even brought gifts for everyone. Some gave gifts to a few, and not all. It all worked out fine, and the kids had a great time with their friends. It was more than the gifts for them...but that part was nice. LOL!
If we did it again, we wouldn't wait until August because it was almost too hot...adults brought chairs and we had shade tents up, but it was still way hot for those who didn't play in the water.
Happy, Michelle?? Huh??? :)
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
Rachel asked....
Hi Rachel...love your name, by the way!! :) She asked if there were any activities my kids want to do that either we are unable to do, or just don't want to do. Well, hmmm...that is a hard question, because my kids would love to do anything and everything ever offered. Seriously. I make the joke that they would be the first in line to attend a funeral just to have something to do. I hear other families kids say they don't want to go somewhere and that shocks me. So, in some form, I am sure they feel slighted. We don't run all day every day. LOL!
The oldest two were in, or going to be in, basketball this year, but there weren't enough kids wanting to play. This surprises me, as we have a huge homeschool group. My third kid is in basketball currently. The oldest three were in robotics until recently. The youngers have been in basketball and soccer through the YMCA. They all do homeschool bowling once a month, and 4-H once a month too. I honestly try to discourage much more than that. Homeschooling has the tendency to lend itself to being way too busy, but then you put a large family into that mix, and that is a recipe for disaster. They would love more, but that is just their personalities, not because they are lacking.
Any more questions? I love a good topic starter. :)
The oldest two were in, or going to be in, basketball this year, but there weren't enough kids wanting to play. This surprises me, as we have a huge homeschool group. My third kid is in basketball currently. The oldest three were in robotics until recently. The youngers have been in basketball and soccer through the YMCA. They all do homeschool bowling once a month, and 4-H once a month too. I honestly try to discourage much more than that. Homeschooling has the tendency to lend itself to being way too busy, but then you put a large family into that mix, and that is a recipe for disaster. They would love more, but that is just their personalities, not because they are lacking.
Any more questions? I love a good topic starter. :)
Sunday, December 13, 2009
In bed on a Sunday with nothing to do but type...
Well, fooey! My back is out again, and boy does it hurt. I am stuck in bed until whatever is locked up is let free again. Tony just took the whole group to church by his self. That should be interesting, but they are good kids, so it won't be bad. Then they eat lunch at the church. I wish I could enjoy this alone time without being cooped in a bed hurting, but I guess I will take the quiet however I get it. :)
Ashley just turned 16 and Adam just turned 12. Birthdays in a row, that used to be shared in the party sense, but not anymore. I think we will wait until January to have a party for each of them, since Dec. seems so busy. We did the huge family party and that was awesome, but hard to organize. I would love to do one every year, because that avoids the whole party all the time thing that comes with a large family, but we didn't get to it this year, so now I am stuck with the party kids wanting something. It will be small, whatever it is. Adam wants to go to laser tag or Incredible Pizza which is a huge pizza place with games and a go kart track. Pretty fun, but expensive. And far away... Not sure if that will be a reality or not. Ashley really doesn't care what she does, but she just wants to get together with a bunch of giggling girls and do something girly. LOL~!
I discovered today that Conner can draw on an etch a sketch....do you realize how hard those things are to draw on?? That is pure talent right there! I took a photo of one of his drawings to keep..it was a boba fett or jengo fett slave ship from star wars. Not bad for a 6 year old, huh? I might try to upload it on here so you can see it.
When I announced on facebook that we were having another boy, someone commented that this just means MORE LEGOS. I had to laugh out loud because that is exactly right. That's all these boys do all day long....we own so many legos and we look like a store. They are never picked up and I step on them all the time, but they DO learn from them. So, it will be my burden to carry, I suppose. HAHA!
Rachel the happy child has turned into Rachel the grumpy child. I don't like this new little change, because nothing is making her happy. We feed her, she is still grumpy....we give her a toy, still grumpy. I don't know what is going on with her, but boy howdy...She needs to get over it soon or this house will become a bit more stressed out than it needs to be. At least with a typically developing child you can send them to time out, or if need be, give them a spanking when they are being unreasonable, but with her like an infant, it wouldn't work. She had no understanding of cause and effect, so there is no way I will be spanking her, ever! And putting her in time out just makes her cry harder, and then momma feels bad because she has this baby who is so sad....argh!
Well, I need to take some pain reliever and lay down. I know they say that laying in a bed is the worst thing for a bad back, but this is different. My spine at the bottom actually goes crooked, and makes me all out of kilter. My shoulders actually are different heights when this happens, and my hip joint starts to rub itself when I walk. the pain is awful and I have tried so many things to kick it back in place, and nothing works. It must be a nerve or something, but there is no walking or stretching it out...It is gone, down for the count, until it lets go, then I am completely better with only a little soreness. Weird.
Ashley just turned 16 and Adam just turned 12. Birthdays in a row, that used to be shared in the party sense, but not anymore. I think we will wait until January to have a party for each of them, since Dec. seems so busy. We did the huge family party and that was awesome, but hard to organize. I would love to do one every year, because that avoids the whole party all the time thing that comes with a large family, but we didn't get to it this year, so now I am stuck with the party kids wanting something. It will be small, whatever it is. Adam wants to go to laser tag or Incredible Pizza which is a huge pizza place with games and a go kart track. Pretty fun, but expensive. And far away... Not sure if that will be a reality or not. Ashley really doesn't care what she does, but she just wants to get together with a bunch of giggling girls and do something girly. LOL~!
I discovered today that Conner can draw on an etch a sketch....do you realize how hard those things are to draw on?? That is pure talent right there! I took a photo of one of his drawings to keep..it was a boba fett or jengo fett slave ship from star wars. Not bad for a 6 year old, huh? I might try to upload it on here so you can see it.
When I announced on facebook that we were having another boy, someone commented that this just means MORE LEGOS. I had to laugh out loud because that is exactly right. That's all these boys do all day long....we own so many legos and we look like a store. They are never picked up and I step on them all the time, but they DO learn from them. So, it will be my burden to carry, I suppose. HAHA!
Rachel the happy child has turned into Rachel the grumpy child. I don't like this new little change, because nothing is making her happy. We feed her, she is still grumpy....we give her a toy, still grumpy. I don't know what is going on with her, but boy howdy...She needs to get over it soon or this house will become a bit more stressed out than it needs to be. At least with a typically developing child you can send them to time out, or if need be, give them a spanking when they are being unreasonable, but with her like an infant, it wouldn't work. She had no understanding of cause and effect, so there is no way I will be spanking her, ever! And putting her in time out just makes her cry harder, and then momma feels bad because she has this baby who is so sad....argh!
Well, I need to take some pain reliever and lay down. I know they say that laying in a bed is the worst thing for a bad back, but this is different. My spine at the bottom actually goes crooked, and makes me all out of kilter. My shoulders actually are different heights when this happens, and my hip joint starts to rub itself when I walk. the pain is awful and I have tried so many things to kick it back in place, and nothing works. It must be a nerve or something, but there is no walking or stretching it out...It is gone, down for the count, until it lets go, then I am completely better with only a little soreness. Weird.
Friday, December 11, 2009
robotic competition...
Hey, so don't forget to comment on my delurk post! Thanks to those who have already said something. It is so great to "meet" you and to be able to go to your blogs too!! Lord knows, I love me some blogs. :)
I never told you all about the robotic tournament that we went to. We drove up to Arkansas Thursday night, and let me tell you something....Holiday Inn Express Suites are awesome. We all camped out in one hotel room on our trip to California this summer and we were cramped! This hotel room here though?? Was huge!!! We had no problem whatsoever fitting all of us in there with room to spare. And it was only 70.00 a night!!! There were two queen beds and a sleeper sofa, so that fit 6 of us, then Rachel in her pack and play, Nathan by us on the floor, Austin by the wall on one side and Aaron by the wall on the other side and we were set. It was so nice. Moving on. LOL... Kids got to swim and all that stuff Thursday night, and then went to the college bright and early Friday for check in. The competition was Saturday starting at 8 am, and was "supposed" to last until 5 or 6 AT THE LATEST. Oh, such a funny statement. We had to check out of the hotel at 11, so the plan was to go watch the competition from that point on. There was no reason to go early with all the little kids, so we all stayed back to pack and enjoy a leisurely breakfast etc.
We get to the college, and boy is it LOUD!! I hate loud...really. So, there I was, trying to figure out whether or not I wanted to leave. I brought ear plugs, but really didn't know how to put them in all the kids ears too. I tried that, but throughout the day, they kept bringing me them back saying they fell out. Argh! So, I improvised and stuck wadded up sections of baby wipes in their ears, which actually worked, but looked odd I am sure. The announcer of each round was loud, the music they played during each round was loud, and the kids were loud. Why did they feel the need to be so loud, is beyond me, but I guess I am old...
Our team made it to 11th place at the end of the seeding rounds, of which they went 8 rounds for that part. The top 14 teams (out of 40) went on to the semi finals. Then the top 4 went on to the finals. We didn't make it that far. The stuff kept messing up and had to be redone so it was frustrating to say the least, but I suppose it was messing up on everyone, not just our team. I was so proud of our team though!!! We had never had a team even make it to regionals, and then to make it to the second phase of that even. Woohoo.
Oh, maybe I should mention, since I did it all in caps earlier, that it was supposed to end at 5 or 6. Well, it didn't end until 8:30. The redos, and the fixing things that were breaking, and the sheer time to go from round to round was excruciating, however we lived....and made it home safely.
They did awesome building the robot, driving it, etc. My oldest 3 children are now engineers. :) Who knows.....maybe this planted a seed in one of them to pursue engineering as a degree?
I never told you all about the robotic tournament that we went to. We drove up to Arkansas Thursday night, and let me tell you something....Holiday Inn Express Suites are awesome. We all camped out in one hotel room on our trip to California this summer and we were cramped! This hotel room here though?? Was huge!!! We had no problem whatsoever fitting all of us in there with room to spare. And it was only 70.00 a night!!! There were two queen beds and a sleeper sofa, so that fit 6 of us, then Rachel in her pack and play, Nathan by us on the floor, Austin by the wall on one side and Aaron by the wall on the other side and we were set. It was so nice. Moving on. LOL... Kids got to swim and all that stuff Thursday night, and then went to the college bright and early Friday for check in. The competition was Saturday starting at 8 am, and was "supposed" to last until 5 or 6 AT THE LATEST. Oh, such a funny statement. We had to check out of the hotel at 11, so the plan was to go watch the competition from that point on. There was no reason to go early with all the little kids, so we all stayed back to pack and enjoy a leisurely breakfast etc.
We get to the college, and boy is it LOUD!! I hate loud...really. So, there I was, trying to figure out whether or not I wanted to leave. I brought ear plugs, but really didn't know how to put them in all the kids ears too. I tried that, but throughout the day, they kept bringing me them back saying they fell out. Argh! So, I improvised and stuck wadded up sections of baby wipes in their ears, which actually worked, but looked odd I am sure. The announcer of each round was loud, the music they played during each round was loud, and the kids were loud. Why did they feel the need to be so loud, is beyond me, but I guess I am old...
Our team made it to 11th place at the end of the seeding rounds, of which they went 8 rounds for that part. The top 14 teams (out of 40) went on to the semi finals. Then the top 4 went on to the finals. We didn't make it that far. The stuff kept messing up and had to be redone so it was frustrating to say the least, but I suppose it was messing up on everyone, not just our team. I was so proud of our team though!!! We had never had a team even make it to regionals, and then to make it to the second phase of that even. Woohoo.
Oh, maybe I should mention, since I did it all in caps earlier, that it was supposed to end at 5 or 6. Well, it didn't end until 8:30. The redos, and the fixing things that were breaking, and the sheer time to go from round to round was excruciating, however we lived....and made it home safely.
They did awesome building the robot, driving it, etc. My oldest 3 children are now engineers. :) Who knows.....maybe this planted a seed in one of them to pursue engineering as a degree?
Thursday, December 10, 2009
delurk post
I get a bunch of people coming to this blog. I am a curious person by nature, so with that in mind, could you please tell me who you are? I know alot of the same people come back, so I want to "meet" you. This relationship feels so one sided. LOL! Tell me a little bit about yourself too...We gotta even this thing out. :) Thanks!!!!!!
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
It's a............
We had our ultrasound today...everything is fine. Baby measures nearly 2 weeks bigger than supposed to, but that can be expected. We are so excited that all looks well, especially since I feel tiny this time. I thought the baby would be too small. Oh, and we are having a boy!!!!! #7 for the boys, in case you are keeping count. My 2 daughters and I are soooooo outnumbered. :)
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