Happy Birthday Chance!!

Happy Birthday Chance!

Happy Birthday Gabe!

What kind of mother am I? His birthday was Jan. 23 and I am FINALLY wishing him a happy birthday. He did get presents and cake and ice cream on his birthday, don't feel too sorry for him!! I even took him to do 2 of his favorite things. To.......

We had a great time and LOVED the movie!! It's a must see! Anyway, take a look at some pics of Gabe over the years.

Let me explain this one. When Jeff was home, he said that Gabe was getting a fu-man-choo (please excuse the spelling!) and showed him how to shave. Then he had to go back overseas and so we were thinking that we should exaggerate things a bit and send him a pic. This is what we came up with.

Braces! You gotta love 'em!


THE hi-tech game system of the day. Gabe when he was 10 or 11.

Hello Mr. Suds!

Pig nose. Need I say more?

Yo Gabe! You are cool!

When hugs hurt.

"The wheat and barley did just fine this year. Gollllly!"

Chunky Monkeys!

Batman's here to save the day!

Snuggie VS Slanket

Snuggie vs Slanket.  Who will prevail?  Is there room enough for 2?  You decide!

These commercials crack me up.  Who in their right mind would spend $20-$30 to look like a weirdo!  What's really funny is how my husband and kids react to the commercials.  They always make fun of the colors that these things are offered in and how they have these strange "Price Is Right" models rubbing their hands all over them.  Too funny!  

Did you Know. . .

Hi it's Ravyn!! Here are a few things you may not know about me. . .

My name is Ravyn
I am a member of ecoteam
I love to sing
I love to blog
I do not have a blog
I wish I did
My mom's friends think I look good in bangs
I know they are saying it because they are my mom's friends
They say no
I say yes

I am sad, I couldn't show you myself singing because Gabe was featured and didn't want anyone to see. I could have shown you. I am sorry guys!!!

These are a few of our favorite things.....

Our Favorite Roller Coaster

This is the Hulk Roller Coaster and we all loved riding it. Liam was the only one that was too short to ride it. Jeff took the 4 older kids on it first and then insisted that I go on too. The lines were too long to ride together but if you go and stand in the single rider line, you can get through in about 10 mins. I took Ravyn and Chance with me and they said they wouldn't mind riding alone. We ended up getting in the same "car" but in different rows. Anyway, they told me it was really fast but I wasn't prepared for it. You know how when a roller coaster first starts out, you slowly creep up the incline and then when you get to the top, that's when you really take off? I was expecting this ride to do the same thing but when we got a little over halfway up the incline, we take off at lightning speed. It was the most terrifying ride I have ever been on. I screamed the entire ride. The people that sat by me were eyeing me when the ride was done. I never once opened my eyes which made walking afterwards pretty interesting!! Ravyn and Chance had to let me lean on them because I couldn't seem to keep my balance. When did I turn old? They also have pics of you on the ride that you can purchase and mine was hilarious! My mouth wide open in a scream, my hair huge because it is, and my eyes closed shut. If I wasn't so cheap I would have bought it but $30 for a picture? Really!?

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Spending Time with Daddy

Here's some pics of the kids with their Daddy. He's left on an assignment overseas and we miss him terribly! I told him he has to stop being so fun to be with and it would be a lot easier!

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Our Favorite Visit with Friends

We got to see our friends, the Simons, this summer. We have known them for about 10+ years from our old Army days. They have 7 kids and we have 5. We used to go to Savannah to hang out together and go walking around and it was like a big parade. We always got lots of attention--not always good attention. One time a lady scolded me for not having mittens and a hat on my kids because it was a chilly 55 degrees! Silly lady!! They haved moved again and we miss them but we are positive that we'll see them again. Besides, Liam and Sophia are going to get married some day!

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Our Favorite Family Vacation

This is a picture of all of Jeff's side of the family when we went for a visit to Sturgeon Bay, WI. We have color coordinating shirts for different families. The gentleman in the green shirt that looks a lot like Jeff is his twin brother Jason. I'm kind of in an awkward position because I was the one that had to press the timer button thingy and then run to get in position. I almost tripped on those darn rocks a couple of times!

Things you didn't know you needed.

Aren't these funny? I like the last one the best. Who said you couldn't cuddle anytime, anywhere? LOL!

The albino squirrel

Have you ever seen anything so cool and strange in your life? He lived right outside the room that we rented in Florida. He would taunt us. He'd be all cute and sweet and then when you would bring out the camera, he'd run and hide. Has anyone ever seen one of these before? I never knew they existed!

Brace-Faces

OK, so this didn't happen today. It' s been an ongoing process. First, poor Ravyn, then Gabe and Simon. Simon went in yesterday and got the hardware put in his mouth. It's called a Herbst and what it does is bring his lower jaw forward. all within his mouth. No outward gear. When Ravyn got hers put in, a substitute teacher at school said, "What's in your mouth, your Dad's whole toolbox?" What a wonderful thing to say to an impressionable young lady that is in pain!! And you are in the teaching profession because......? I was so annoyed by the comment that I mentioned it to her teacher who ended up mentioning it to the principal. Don't mess with my kids!!! Anyway, Simon was a trooper. Not a complaint out of him! I though for sure that he would have a hard time but he surprised me once again.

Ahhh.. the sweet times!

I was putting Liam to bed tonight and he's at the age where he has a million questions. Why do people wear clothes? Why do feet stink? You know, those kinds of things. Well tonight he had disaster on the mind and asked me plenty of questions. What would happen if a tornado hit us? We'd hide in the middle of the house. What if it got to us in the middle of the house? I'd hide us under a mattress. Why? Because then the flying debris would hit the mattress and not us. What if I broke both my legs? I'd put you in a wheelchair. What if I broke both of my legs and arms. I'd still put you in a wheelchair but I'd have to push you. What if I broke my arms and legs and they never healed? I'd take care of you. What if I got hit by lightning? I'd take you to the hospital. What... Excuse me, this is the last question. What if I smell really, really bad? I'd wash you. Please go to sleep now.

Let's get medieval!

What better way to spend some quality time with your family than to go and watch knights duke it out! Swords, lances, axes, ball and chain (which I might add that Chance used to call a "Bomy Knocker"! LOL!), & shields. Our knight was the black and white knight and sadly, he met his maker the first fight! What?! What kind of knight is he!! The kids were sad. They didn't get enough heckling in!

Ravyn's Hair Disaster

WOWWWWWWWW!!!!!!! This is me . . . Ravyn! I can't believe I let my mom cut my hair like this!! It is a horendous sight! Why would anyone get their bangs cut . . . for some reason I did!!! I didn't know what I would look like, so cut me some slack, but come on, I look like a monster puked me up and ate my bangs or something!! That may be a little exagerated, but I think this picture says enough! I was sooooo stupid, you think I would look better in bangs! Now I am wearing a headband all the time! If you see me wearing a headband don't you dare pull it down I would HUNT YOU DOWN. DON'T THINK ABOUT IT!!! DON'T THINK ABOUT IT! STOP THINKING ABOUT IT!!!!!! DON'T DO WHAT YOU KNOW YOU WILL REGRET!

Little surprises on my camera

BOY DID I FIND A GEM!!!!!! I was downloading pics to the computer and look what I found!! You can tell Chance is getting to be a teen. Take a look for yourself.

My sweet, funny little Liam

Here are a couple of funny stories. The other day, Liam was getting ready for school. Now mind you, he's in 1st grade and he could go to school with his hair sticking up like Alfapha (sp?) and he wouldn't notice a thing. On this particular morning, he came up to me with all seriousness and a sparkly gold necklace on, "Mom, can I wear some bling to school today?" First of all, how does he know about bling and second of all, where is he getting this said "bling". I think he must have raided Ravyn's room. Being a supportive mother, I said, "Sure honey but please don't hurt anyone with this bling, OK?" Later that day, he came home and I asked him where the necklace was and he said, "In Mrs. Tankersly's drawer." "Really, and why is in her drawer?" "Because I was swinging it around like a lasso and accidentally hit a girl next to me and she took it away." "Ahhhhh...."

Liam is a funny kid and I have so many funny stories about him. I went to see his teacher one day to see how things were going with him and she said she had a couple of concerns. Nothing major, just some things that she thought he could work on. I'm thinking, spelling, handwriting, etc. Turns out, he needs to stop using his sleeves as weapons. Apparantly he chews on them like they are chew toys and then swings them around and hits kids with them. Who raised this kid anyway?! Also, he got very angry with a boy in his class because the boy told Liam that his hair was blond, NOT dirty blond!! Of all the nerve!! Liam got so mad at the kid that he just exploded. His teacher said it was like watching a rocket go off. The steam was just rising from his head until he couldn't take it anymore and he exploded. The funny thing is that I remember that day because he came home all upset that this kid had the nerve to say that his hair wasn't dirty blond! Oh the things that bother you when you're young...

Just so I never forget some of the things he has had trouble saying in the past, I'm going to write them down. He has a hard time saying his r's and so saying the word "girl" has been a tough one. For the longest time he has said "gir-low". Something with the r and the l together were hard for him. Same with squirrel--he said sqirr-low. It was just so cute. He now is able to say them correctly and all his brothers and sister were so bummed. He also used to say Chick-a-lay instead of Chick-fil-e. Gabe says that he is going to teach his kids on purpose to say it wrong because he loved it when Liam would say it wrong. It was soooo cute!

A gingerbread house and a visit from Wendy

Here's the gingerbread house that took a family to build. My kids say that it is condemned. Just look at those windows--they're boarded up! Liam was ready to eat it the moment they stopped building it. The other kids said that they wanted to leave it for Santa to eat. You should have seen Liam's face! Santa is going to get all this sugary goodness?! Oh the travesty!

When did Wendy come for a visit?

"Am I attractive cuz I think I am steaming hot, peepers!" (Chance wrote that!)

Captains Log 29034:
Test subject 07, the youngest of member of this familial grouping exhibits an extraordinary trait as is evident in the image included with this data file. As you can see subject's skin shows an unusual amount of elasticity. Perhaps this is some new mutation in subject species. Continued monitoring has been suggested by my science officer. He has proposed use of an elastics testing device upon specimen to determine the extent to which this trait is developing. I have misgivings with regards to the proposed experiment and at this time have determined to postpone such direct contact with subject specimen.

Captain's Log 25872

December 2006

Captains Log 25872: Several months later we returned to Earth to check on our survey subjects. I'm struck with the strange behavior of this primitive species. In this picture you can see that this group of siblings appears to be enjoying a yearly celebration that my science officer tells me is based on the ritual celebration of trees. Note the strange hats placed upon these children's heads by their parental units. Research data is limited on the purpose of these devices but my science officer postulates that these are some sort of mind control devices intended to keep the children in a festive spirit despite rigid parental control.

Captain's Log 24659

Oct 26 2006:

Captains log 24659: On an away mission to the planet called earth we happened upon some very strange inhabitants. (Refer to the picture inset to the left) This subject was participating in a strange ritual knows as Haloeeen [an indigenous word for a festival in which individuals dress up in strange costumes, presumably this is some sort of strange mating ritual according to my science officer]. I don't know if this fellow had much success.

New Additions

The day my kids have been dreaming about has finally come! They've always wanted a pet and yesterday they got 2! Two little kittens. A brother and a sister. Their names are Boots and Mitzy. Take a look! They are so cute!