Snow Day

All week long we've been preparing for snow and ice. Today was the day and what a bust. No Snow. My poor kids have been talking about building a snowman all week. Now their play date has been cancelled because mom doesn't drive on ice and they are stuck inside. Oh, to be like the mom next door who threw her kids outside by 8:30 this morning so they could check out the ice.

I decided to set up stations for the day to keep us from going crazy. Really, I can't take listening to Caillou any longer. Goose has decided he doesn't like "learning shows" anymore so instead he watches the most annoying show around. Somehow he managed to hit record without our knowledge so we have more than ten episodes with more popping up each day. And let me tell you, Caillou is the biggest baby around. This show explains the Baby Hulk's sudden inability to walk down the hall by himself. I really don't let my kids watch television very often, but I must admit with sick ones and me being super tired, I have allowed a bit more television than usual.

Today we are making a St. Brigid cross, reading on the couch, having a snack, doing a chore, having lunch, silent reading and puzzles. We'll end with popcorn and a family movie. Not bad, but still not the same as building as a snowman.

Here are some pictures from Wednesday. Squirt's surgery went well, and he should be able to actually breathe out of his nose soon. The doctor assures us that he will be fine after this surgery, but since this is the third surgery of this type, we're not convinced.

I often find Baby Z with toys surrounding her from the boys. The boys were really worried about Squirt and thought their animals would help him feel better.

We didn't make it to Mass on Wednesday to have our candles blessed so Lance did a blessing at home for us. No David LOVES his new candle. We, and by we I mean Lance and I, made candles over the weekend and I bought the cheesy ones at HEB for the kids. They were so excited about them!

Braces!

Before and After

And They're Off!

School started today. And we made it. So far. We got up and ready in record time, I even managed to get my hair done on time. We left the house without rushing and were inside with ten minutes to spare. And then Goose decided he didn't want me to leave. He didn't talk to any of his friends from last year and looked just miserable. Despite being told to leave the kids in the teacher's hands, I walked with Goose to his new classroom. He finally smiled upon seeing his locker. (A locker in first grade! WTH!) I hope his day improves, and he likes his new teacher and classmates. Unfortunately, most of his friends are in the other first grade class. To make up for the time I spent inside, I brought the rest of the boys donuts from the parent coffee. Squirt was so relaxed on the way to school, much different than last year. He wasn't interested in taking a good-bye picture though.

I hope this year is a wonderful year for my boys and that they excel in all they do. I want them to enjoy learning and go beyond what is required of them in school. I want real learning, not memorization and hopefully they have teachers, especially Squirt that will inspire this type of learning. May God, the Saints, Angels and Mary watch over you every day that I am not with you, Squirt and Goose. I love you both so much and already miss you. The Baby

Hulk and I will be making cookies for you guys today.

Oops

We had a huge storm this morning and a large branch fell from the tree in the backyard. Since the trash is scheduled to be picked up today, I asked Squirt to throw it over the fence. He did. He threw it right into our neighbor's yard. Nice.

Scenes From A Birthday

He was so excited every. single. time.

The birthday boy

Yes, this is my adorable niece

waiting





The kids loved that Mimi bowled too

Brothers

Surprise!!!!

Goose's present...buddy bucks from HEB

Our Family

The Fifteen Year Old

Another birthday down for Squirt. I can't believe you're fifteen and becoming a young man. You are becoming your own person, and I'm so proud of who you are. Your passion for the Army has grown even more than I could imagine this past year. And while I'm terrified at the thought of you one day entering the military, I couldn't be happier that you seem to have found your niche. JROTC has been great for you this year, and they are lucky to have you on their team.

It's hard to think of you without thinking of your brothers and that may seem a bit unfair since you are your own person, but the brother you are shows just what kind of person you are. You are so proud of your brothers, constantly bragging on them. When I make a comment about one of them being your favorite you get upset, never wanting to hurt anybody's feelings. Sure you can get upset with them, really upset, but your love for them never changes. I can still see your face as you met each one of them for the first time: wonder upon meeting Goose, fear and worry about BH, and annoyance because St. Luke's didn't bring Kobra to the room. Remember not letting Mimi hold Kobra? Do you realize that every time you leave the house the first thing you ask upon return is if the boys did anything cute while you were gone? You are interested in them. You're not too cool for your family. I hope the little ones act the same way.

No matter how annoyed I am in the morning and that is my problem, unfortunately becoming yours at times, you always turn and wave good bye to us. Always. You have no idea what this does for me. Last week, you had to wait for several cars to go before we passed you, but still you waited and waved. It makes my day and is a constant reminder of just how sweet you are.

Your musical talent and ability to do push-ups nonstop amazes me. Although really, I think I should get credit for your push-ups! You can do anything you want, Squirt, if only you apply yourself and use the talents God gave you.

14 went by so fast, I still remember the first day of high school when you had the saddest look on your face until I went over the speed bump from hell at top speed. You finally relaxed! I am proud to call you my first son and wish only the best for you. I promise you that I will always have your back. I pray everyday for your well being and happiness and am so thankful God gave you to me. Happy Birthday, my son.

Quotes of the Week

Goose: "Mom, if you lived when Louis Armstrong lived, you would have to sit on the back of the bus because you are dark. I would be in the front and that would make me sad." Then he got tears in his eyes. (I wonder what he would think of Arizona right now? Probably not much, me either.)

"Just because we can't go to church doesn't mean we can't give glory to God today." Love it. The only problem is that this quote was followed by him antagonizing his brother.

"Who is the patron saint when you hurt yourself?" I love that he wanted to pray and ask for intercession. He gets it.

Squirt: "I thought I had a right to privacy in my bedroom." This could be the funniest thing I have ever heard. As far as I'm concerned, there is no such thing as privacy, Squirt. Just ask any of my ex-boyfriends.

One Left Standing...

It's Tuesday afternoon and we're down to one person: ME. Thankfully, I have yet to catch this virus, but I'm not an idiot, I know it's coming and I'm sure it will arrive at the worst possible time. The bright side of this is that everyone else will be able to take care of me!

Squirt's downfall came pretty fast in the middle of Sunday night, but he was still unable to return to school today. He didn't seem to mind except that he is confined to his room again. (This makes two weeks in a row for him. Last week it was due to bad behavior. He has already made sure he can come out as soon as he comes home tomorrow!)

Here is Kobra yesterday at the ER getting an IV. As you can imagine, he was less than thrilled with the procedure. Poor kid, he is using all the signs he knows to get more than a tablespoon of Gatorade every twenty minutes.

Mr. Cool

While Lance and I were on a date Saturday night, Squirt had his first formal. A Military Ball! He has been waiting for a chance to wear a tuxedo for years. He wanted to wear it after we picked it up Friday night. He told me that I could take pictures if I wanted. As if he had a choice in the matter. Doesn't he look so handsome?!

My handsome boys!

Should I Be Sad

I just remembered that I have the perfect Easter outfit (as in shirt) for Squirt. The only problem is that it doesn't match (color wise) what the rest of the boys will be wearing. I told him this and asked if he wanted to match his younger brothers. He said no! I assured him that was fine, but reminded him that I won't be making the same concessions for him at Christmas. He rolled his eyes at me! How I long for the days when he wanted to match his brothers. I guess I would be more worried if he wanted to match at age 15.

HOW???

I had one more post for today, as if I needed to write anymore. It was going to be about how Squirt and I went to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid and loved it. What's even better, he chose me to go to the movie with over Lance. Ha! Then, I walked into his room to find a toy and it was a mess. As I checked out the mess, I saw his glasses. THEY. ARE. BROKEN. AGAIN. And he doesn't even wear his glasses anymore unless his contacts are bothering him, which is never. HOW, I asked, did this happen? Why weren't they put away? How is it that he can break his glasses more than twice a year, every year since he was six? I finally see the good part of the most recent miscarriage : I can have a XANAX. God knows I need one because I am livid. I think he's happy he's at CCE at this point.

Percy Jackson

Last night was a blast. Squirt and I met my friend Shea and her son Will for our movie night. Four people who loved Percy Jackson going to see the movie on opening night- total geeks. I even bought tickets earlier in the day and arrived fifteen minutes early for the movie. Who believes this about me? It's true. Shea is one of those people who is always on time, so I didn't want to disappoint. (Interesting fact about me. ALL of my friends are timely. They must get so annoyed with me.) Anyway, being early didn't matter. We still had to sit on the third row of the theater. It took some getting used to, but I handled being that close without complaining too much. After all, the night wasn't about me.

Will sat there in silence the entire movie, while Squirt chit chatted throughout most of it. He is so like his dad!

I was a bit scared about this movie because of the director. He's fine and all, did the first two Harry Potter movies, which were enjoyable until you saw what every other director has done with the series. I didn't want to be able to tell that this was a Chris Columbus movie. While it was definitely Chris Columbus, it wasn't bad. There were huge changes, which would have bothered me more if I had recently read the book. The acting was decent enough for a kid movie. Sounds like a good enough movie, right?

What went wrong? Well, the audience for this movie (and book) is about eight years old to maybe fifteen years old. The eight year olds are just starting the series this year and the fifteen year olds read the fifth book last spring. They have been waiting for this movie for at least three years. Nothing in these books was inappropriate. Yes, there were a few things to explain to an eight year old, but nothing sexual in these books until maybe book five where there is a kiss. The movie was a completely different story. The girls who were supposed to be Aphrodite's daughters, and therefore beautiful, were identified by their slinky bikinis. The scene where the main characters are supposed to be playing video games in a casino is instead a scene where the kids eat Lotus flowers at a nightclub. You could totally tell the kids were "on" something. The entire scene was sexual and inappropriate for kids, even my fourteen year old. It was a PG movie. When we read the book, we imagined a huge arcade type of place, not a night club with people acting high on lotus flowers.

Lance asked me if I was uncomfortable watching those scenes with Squirt. I wasn't and was actually able to discuss my opinions with him. I'm not sure if he fully appreciated what I said, but as a mom, I was really happy to have this opportunity to discuss what I found wrong with those scenes in the movie.

Overall, I enjoyed the film, I just thought the changes that were made for the sake of money, I'm sure, didn't need to happen. Afterwards, we went to eat and sat around and talked. It was really nice to spend an evening with a good friend who I don't see very often and my oldest who I don't get to spend a lot of alone time with either.

Thanks for hanging with the other kids, Baby. Hope your evening was as fun as mine!

Date Night with Squirt

Tonight is the night! Squirt and I are going to see Percy Jackson and the Olympians! We are so psyched about this movie. Squirt and I LOVED this series of books. He is starting to sound like an adult though. He has certain expectations about this movie and doesn't want the movie to suck. I am super excited about seeing this movie with just him. At the beginning of the year, for two years now, one of our family goals has been to spend time alone with each child. It's not like we have tons of kids, but it does get hectic trying to schedule alone time with each child. So thankfully, he's not too cool to spend time with his mom on a Friday night. First, we're hitting Costco for samples, then we'll see the movie and after that have dinner. I couldn't ask for a better night!

A Few of My Favorite Things

My boys playing so sweetly together. I love that Baby Hulk misses his big brothers when we drop them off at school. (I have company in my misery.) Listening to them play together is nothing short of wonderful, especially when they play pretend. It cracks me up to listen to them. They are a creative bunch.

I know Kobra has known what I've been saying for a while, but I love how he responds these days. He mostly listens to what I tell him, but there are times when he voices his displeasure very clearly. Today he tossed all of his animals out of his crib and put them all up when I told him to do so. He was probably also telling me to go eff myself at the same time.

Clementines...I buy three five pound bags a week. My kids love these things.

I love this place! And they just opened one around the corner from us! I love burgers and have tried all the hot spots in town. Miller's is probably my first choice for a burger in Houston. I have a feeling I will be here on a very regular basis.

The sweet, almost 16 year old next door. I love this girl so much. She is the reason I have unlimited texting now. You should see the way Kobra lights up when he sees her face. Goose has been sick this week, and she has checked on him each day. You always hear comments about "kids these days...". Jessica couldn't be further from the norm. She is quite the girl, and we are privileged to have her in our life. Just more day, sweetie!

Kobra will soon have a new nickname. This kid has started climbing ALL OVER THE PLACE. I continually catch him on top of the kitchen table and on the table in Goose's room. I now have something new to worry about with my little spiderman.

Big Love has to be my absolute favorite show on television. I think it's even better than Mad Men and that's saying a lot. I love, love, love each of the sister wives for various reasons and can totally relate to each of them. I'd much rather be one of these women than the dumbass chicks from Sex and the City.

Baby Hulk's love of sports. Please, God, let this kid be good at sports. I already know Squirt and Goose aren't going to be my professional sports players. And that's fine, they have other talents they can focus on and they don't seem to be too interested in playing sports anyway. The Hulk is another story. This kid loves sports, he talks sports, he already has favorite teams and he already hates teams. His first words were baseball and basketball. He just gets sports. He is signed up for spring soccer and is so excited. I just hope he lives up to the hype because honestly, nothing sucks more than a kid that doesn't know he isn't good.

Reading to the boys has to be hands down my favorite thing to do with them. Maybe this is why Goose is such a nerd. I'm kidding, he's not a nerd. I just literally catch him reading several times a day and that can only be a good thing. (But really, what would you call him?) I used to read to Squirt when he was younger, and we had our favorites, which are now Goose's favorites. Now Squirt tries to give me books to read. I'm a little behind on his current recommendations, but I enjoy that he wants to share this with me. Goose is really the best audience and will ask for several books during the day and at night and not just to avoid sleep. When he doesn't like a book, it doesn't bother me because he reads so much that he has definite opinions on what a good book should be. Baby Hulk is finally starting to be interested in listening to me read to him. It has taken almost three years for him to really like me to read, but now he can't get enough of it. I really like how he recognizes the artwork of Tomie De Paola. Of course, he probably does read at night to avoid bedtime. Kobra...well, I have to follow him around with a book to get him to listen to me. He will turn and look at the pictures, then run off. He refuses to sit down and listen to me. I think my shopping spree last fall was definitely money well spent.

My friend Stacy...She just knows me. Thank you, my dear friend for all that you do for me.

Fresh roses...my wonderful hubby had three dozen roses sent to me today. They are absolutely gorgeous. Thank you, Baby!

District Inspection

For the past several years, Squirt has had it in his head that he is going into the Army. He decided to join JROTC at his high school to see if he might want to participate in ROTC in college. He has worn his uniform each week with such pride. He is even teaching the younger boys some commands. This week he had district inspection during which the head guy (forgive my ignorance of the proper title) came to inspect the entire program. Each cadet had to be dressed perfectly and answer several questions. Friday was the BIG day.

On Wednesday, Squirt couldn't find his belt buckle. He freaked out and couldn't eat that night. Then after he went to bed, he couldn't find his socks either. He was a little happier on Thursday once he realized that he turned in his entire uniform to be cleaned. He had to be at school on Friday at 6:30. I dropped him off, and he didn't seem nervous at all. By the time we arrived for the ceremony, he was nervous. Not too nervous to show off his little brothers, but you could sense some anxiety.

We couldn't hear what questions were asked, but we did hear the main man say "are you sure" more than once. It didn't seem like a good sign to us, and Squirt's face was miserable. It was so sad, and he had to stand at ease, which is pretty close to attention if you ask me, for almost an hour.

Finally, the names were called. Squirt passed his inspection and received the coveted Gold Cord. Lance and I are so proud of our son. If he chooses to continue along this path, I know he'll be a great asset to the Army. We love you and are so proud of you, Squirt.

Showing off little brother

Watching big brother

Intense questioning

Happy

The Gold Cord

Colonel David helping with the Gold Cord

Kobra was even interested

Thanks for supporting me twice in one day, Mimi

Proud Parents

First Words

I know people won't believe me, but it's true. Sebastian's first clear word is Squirt. Okay, really it's Squirt's name. It is clear as day to me and Squirt! What I love about this is that one of Goose's first words was the same thing. It was said with less clarity than Kobra's, but still distinguishable. Squirt LOVES this.

These little snippets of love between my boys make hard days so worth it!

BTW, Baby Hulk's first word: cookie.

Smiling Jack

The one thing I wanted when we went on summer vacation was a family picture. I had the perfect outfits planned for the picture and the perfect person to take the picture. My friend Sarah was willing to take hundreds of pictures if that is what it took to make me happy. Well, we didn't get one family shot this summer. The one time we tried, Squirt refused to smile. It might be a cross between being a teen and thinking family shots are dorky, but it is mostly the fact that he hates his teeth. He needs braces and is getting them this year, but until then I just want a smile and not a smirk for family shots. I was so annoyed and totally jealous that Sarah's family seemed to take perfect photos every time someone snapped a camera.

The way family pictures go is for me to get everyone stressed and uptight for the photo and for dad to threaten everyone to smile so that mom is happy. Really makes for a Kodak moment. Two weeks ago we used the timer and took several great shots with everyone looking at the camera. It was not without fussing or eye rolling, but I was still happy that we were making progress. All but one child was looking and smiling at the camera.

Today at Baby Hulk's birthday party, I had my sister-in-law take some shots of us. I said one thing to Squirt beforehand about smiling, and God must have been smiling down on my family. I have five shots to choose from and Squirt is smiling as big as he can in each shot. FINALLY! (And yes, I told him how happy I was with his smiles today!)

We only have five of six looking at the camera, but with three of four kids five and under, I think we're doing pretty good! CHEESE!

Quotes of the Week

1. After seeing what I had set out for him to wear for the day, baby hulk screamed "I don't want to be handsome." He equates handsome with church shirts.

2. After getting in trouble Goose said, "it's not my fault when you yell at me, it is your fault." He's right, we can only control our own actions, not those around us. I hope he remembers that when he is older and losing his temper.

3. "Where is Turbo's retired jersey?" (Turbo is a mascot.) "Is it true you were going to name me Kyle?" "How old do you think those little dippers (break dancers) are?" All said by a 14 year old at a flipping Rockets playoff game.

Celebrating Baptism

Happy Baptism Day, Squirt! Tonight, we celebrated our oldest son's Baptism day. He was actually baptized on April 19th, but due to a hectic schedule this week, we haven't been able to celebrate this important day until tonight. Just like a birthday or other holiday, we celebrate each child's baptism yearly. We have a special dinner on our wedding china, look at pictures from their special day and light the Baptism candle. About a month after lighting his candle, my oldest son always asks when he gets to light it again.

After my son lit his candle tonight, my husband prayed for him and for us. I wish I could repeat what he said because it was so beautiful. He reminded us that God bestowed grace into our life that day and that we became members of the Body of Christ, how important it is to live a life of faith and when we fail to ask for forgiveness and know that with Christ we can do anything. I know that I depend on the grace from my baptism daily, although sometimes it seems like I turn my back on that grace. Thankfully, I had a reminder this week to open my heart and allow that grace to work within me. As my son grows older and faces more challenges in life, I pray that he too will open his heart to God's grace. I love you so much, Squirt and wish I had a picture from that day to share with everyone. (I didn't have a digital camera back then!) You were so proud to be baptized. May God bless you always, Squirt.