Thanksgiving Trip '09 Top 10

As many of you know we embarked on an 18 hr road trip with all 4 kids to Grand Rapids, MI. It was a long, long drive but the kids were really great suprisingly. We have more meltdowns on the way to just pick Heather up from school then we did on the entire trip. Here are the top `10 things I learned while on the road.
1. The $200 we spent on the overhead DVD player was worth every penny and then some.
2. Aleyna can now say backpack and speak in Chinese thanks to Diego and Kai Lan.
3. Make sure that you have the clean bag of bottles actually in the car when you leave Michigan.
4. Gas stations at 3:00 in the morning are some crazy places. We saw three guys getting arrested at one and at another Brian was asked if he wanted to buy some hot tools at a great price.
5. When you drop a whole spewing Dr.Pepper in the floor board of the car at 1:00 in the morning and ask for help from your sleeping husband don't expect to get any, you are on your own sister.
6. All the snacks we bought and packed were never even opened.
7. Shoes and pacifiers get lost in the van never to be found again.
8. We can actually all get along for 18 hrs in a confined space not that there were times when we all slightly hated each other.
9. ALL McDonald's are closed on Thanksgiving. That would have been nice to know when I promised the kids that on the way home we would stop and play at McD's. At the 800 mile mark no MCd's, 700 mile mark, no McD's we ended up at Cracker Barrel.
10. Angels still exist. When we finally did stop for dinner at 8:30 everyone was tired and grouchy. Aleyna was CRAZY. She let out several ear piercing screams in the restaurant and disturbed everyone's peaceful Thanksgiving dinner. We were mortified. Zion peed through his diaper and had to be completely changed. Heather's insulin pump went bad while we were sitting there and she had to go back to shots for the meal. When we got up to pay for our meal the girl at the cash register said that our meal was already paid for. Some man in a black coat paid for the whole thing. Awesome, put us right back into the holiday spirit.

A new Weapon in our Arsenal

Aleyna has always been a climber, lately though it has got a little out of control.

She climbs on everything the couch, the chair, the bench and her latest and most dangerous conquest the kitchen table. We flipped chairs over, stacked chairs up and bungee corded them together but nothing worked. She still climbed on the table, she did dances on the table, she made it her goal in life every day to be removed from the table at least 50 times.

Until we were cleaning out Brycen's room yesterday and found Patrick Star. Aleyna ran screaming when we showed it to her. A light bulb came on and I put Patrick on the kitchen table. And just like that Aleyna does not climb on the table anymore. She does not even try. In fact when she walks by the table she looks over her shoulder the table to make sure that it is not coming after her. Is this considered child abuse? If it saves my sanity oh well. So if you come by my house and you see a large pink stuffed starfish on the kitchen table he is my new friend and he is your friend too.

Can we all just get along?

This is what happens when I try to get a group picture of the three little ones.

I swear five minutes ago before I got the camera out they were all smiles.

Aleyna is getting pissed off, Zion is fearful for his life and Brycen is still smiling

Aleyna said screw this I am out of here, Zion gets an elbow to the head and Brycen is STILL smiling.
Take one kid out of the equation and back to smiles all around.
Look at that gap between her teeth, I love it.

How did this happen?

Where has the time gone? When did this little girl turn into a woman? I know this sounds a little sappy but looking at these pictures really has hit home. Where did my little girl go?

She did have a great time at homecoming and her dress looked really cute. And she totally picked the dress out without a fight. No slutty dress or stilettos. Cute and age appropriate. I must be doing something right.

I have some funny kids

Here are a few funny pics from the summer

No Mom, I did not steal the baby's pacifier and blanket

Brycen really thinks he is cute in this hat

Why buy toys when you can play in a laundry basket?

Zion is crying and everyone is trying to make him feel better. It is not working maybe due to the fact that Aleyna gets an occasional eye jab and hair pull in.

Pure joy

Things I have learned since having 4 kids in the house

1. If someone is crying it is O.K., unless it is a cry of pain everyone can wait for five minutes it is not going to end the world if some tears are shed.
2. If you change a dirty diaper, wash your hands and throw it in the trash...the other one will have one 15 minutes later.
3. The whole not sharing germs thing is difficult when you have a pacifier thief living with you.
4. A load of dishes and clothes must be done every day or you will pay for it the next.
5. Going out in public is impossible unless I have Heather or another adult with me.
6. Sonic corny dogs are a meal.
7. No babysitter really wants to watch my kids and I miss spending time with my girlfriends.
8. The cradle swing is my best friend.
9. I have discovered the best diet in the world...the I don't have time to eat diet. The weight just falls off of you and you don't even realize it. The only problem is I don't have time to put make up on or fix my hair so who really cares if I am skinnier.
10. It is possible to get all three little ones asleep for the naps at the same time...it doesn't happen every day but the days it does are bliss.

And Zion smiled at me today. The craziness of having all these kiddos makes it totally worth it when you get to see that first smile.

Family Updates

It has been a long time since my last post. It is not that I have not thought about posting it is just at the moment things are so crazy around here that I barely have time to eat or sleep. So here is a quick update on the kids and what everyone has been up to.

Heather: She started high school last week. We decided to transfer her to Prosper and she LOVES it. Which makes life a heck of alot easier on everyone in the household (well except for the whole driving back and forth part). She has also fallen in love with expensive clothing thanks to Prosper high. She bought her first pair of True Religion jeans this week and paid for them with her own money she has earned from babysitting. So ladies keep booking her for babysitting, next pair of jeans she wants are Mekos.

Brycen: He started to school this week on Tuesday. He loves school and it is an awesome feeling to not have to peel him off of my leg when I am dropping him off to school. He still is in love with all girls and wants to marry a new one on a weekly basis. He also announced this week that he loves brown babies and wants to have all brown babies when he grows up.

Aleyna: We had her one year check up yesterday. She is 19 lbs and 28 inches long. She is walking, running, climbing and loves to shake her booty to music. She has Napoleon syndrome and is the busiest one year old I have ever seen. She rules the roost and bosses everyone around. And she is so darn cute that she gets away with all of it. Her birthmom does get out of prison on Sept 16th so keep us in your prayers that she will just leave her here where she is happy and loved. I have faith that it is all going to work out.

And the newest addition:

Zion: This little man arrived at our house on August 14 when he was exactly 2 weeks old. He was an emergency placement because the family that was supposed to take him was sick. The other families that were waiting for babies only wanted caucasian babies and we were the only other family open to taking African American babies. He really is a great baby and Brycen is so happy that he does not slap him (unlike some babies that we won't name). He is healthy, happy, eats well, does not spit up, does not collic and loves to snuggle. Now if he would just get his days and nights straight so I can get more than 4 hours of sleep a night that would be fantastic!

So there is everyones updates. We are basically just going with the flow and praying that we keep our sanity.