Yard Art

You will NEVER guess what happened to us! No. REALLY. You. Will. Never. Guess. What. Happened. To. Us.

Last night I was single parenting it again while Josh is out of town on another business trip. I had put all the younger kids to bed and was up with Emma and Kaidon in the living room. Emma was making some flip-flops and Kaidon and I were watching all of the Survivor episodes we had tivoed. Our dogs were chewing on some bones just hanging out when they both perked up and started barking. Now, our dogs just don't bark, we can have a whole pack of coyotes in the back yard howling and those dogs act like they don't hear a thing! One of the greatest benefits of having dogs when I am home alone is that they will protect me and the kids, so you'd think I would have taken their "warnings" and done something with it but instead I yell "NO! GET IN HERE!" and keep right on watching Survivor. I'm so glad Tyson is out....they need to get rid of Coach he's so full of *&%$!@ he drives me crazy. I almost want Emma to quit soccer because he irritates me so much...but then I realize maybe that's just not rational! I may hold a grudge against her coach though....oh sorry,off on a tangent, back to the story.... a few minutes later the dogs get up and run to the front door barking again and I call them back in and this time I make them "chill out" (they aren't allowed to move when this command is given) on their beds and we finish up the show. I sent Kaidon to bed and released my dogs from their hostage state but Emma begged for us to watch Biggest Loser because she is right in the middle of another pair of flip-flops (yes, we're reality t.v. junkies, although I don't like table for 12, those kids are so naughty! I don't want to give them positive feedback for bad behaviour...the parents or the kids!) P.D. has a bell at the back door he rings when he wants to go out, because like I mentioned before, he just does not bark so that is his signal that he needs/wants to go out. Knowing that he had already done his pottying I tell him no because after dark we have a slew of coyotes on our land and I don't want him to end up being a meal. Although he is very persistent and I keep telling him no over and over again. When we are finally ready for bed I start turning out lights in the house and that is when I realize that I never had turned on our outside front porch lights I flip the switch and through our glass front door and side lights I see something moving. The glass is tempered so I couldn't really tell what I was seeing I just knew something was out there! I run to the dining room and look out the window in there and that is when I am horrified at the sight:

WE WERE FLAMINGOED!

Yes our good friends, The Hansen's, had gotten away with flamingoing us with two guard dogs barking and having fits! Can you believe it? I think it is absolutely hysterical! Emma is mortified that all of our new neighbors are thinking that we have some new yard art. You should see how slow people are driving by the house and staring and of course the sign is pointing towards our front door so they have no clue what is going on. I figure if people are allowed to have llamas and peacocks, chickens and roosters then I should be able to have flamingos. Maybe the key is to put up a cage around them? I don't know, I suppose the fun in it all is trying to get away with flamingoing someone else. It is a great idea actually. In order to remove my flamingos and pass them on to some other unsuspecting soul I have to give a $25 donation to the high school, for just $15 more I can buy "flamingo insurance" so I never get them back. Fun! Watch out...I may be getting YOU!

Monsters Vs. Aliens
I know, I know you think I am savvy enough to be doing a movie review but I am absolutely not. No, I am just going to explain how sometimes (more often than not) my home is just like monsters vs. aliens.

My kids are great! They are respectful. They use their manners...most of the time. They acknowledge when a person is hurting and in need. They recognize when a peer or an adult needs help (even today I dropped Emma and Kaidon off at a friends house and when we pulled up their mom was outside unloading groceries from the back of her car and they went and helped her finish unloading before chasing after their friends!). They support each other and cheer at games and practices for each other. A lot of the time I find myself saying "it's just part of being in a big family, you just learn to help out and not be as selfish much quicker than if you were part of a small family" and I really believe that! It's definitely not our parenting skills because, quite frankly, these kids are raising us! BUT....they ARE still kids!

Often the kids are getting along and having a blast with each other. If they get sick of one person they regroup and find someone else to bother...er...play with. Mihya has this tactic down pat, yep she will beg from the top down (Emma to Kayela) until she finds some poor victim to manipulate into doing exactly what she wants (hhhmmm...do I squelch that "gift" of persuasion?). Although, we usually have a game of 3v.3 something going on, their are those moments when not everyone is happy and I have to put on my "judge" hat and find out who the victim and who the culprit is! I swear to you, people, no matter what happens those little freaks split 3v.3 EVERY TIME!! My jury tears in half and fights 'til their eyes are popping out of their heads. No backing down, the person they are fighting for is innocent. Monsters vs. Aliens I tell you! They never stick with the same person either, nope it's not like Mikael always sides with Kaidon or Mihya always sides with Emma huh uh, that would make it too predictable for me. Which in turn means that we never get to the bottom of anything. Just today I heard crying from Mikael who was downstairs with Kaidon, Graysie, and Mihya for a little game of air hockey. I go down and ask what was the matter and he says Kaidon hit him and Kaidon says no, he lifted him up to get the puck from the middle (short arms) and he just started crying! I look at the girls who in unison say "Mikaels right" and "Kaidons right". OMG! They are KILLING ME these little monsters vs. Aliens! I just have to laugh.

I guess this is teaching me at least one thing...their is always more than one side to every story! These kids are great at teaching me "life lessons" I hope I am as great at teaching them some along the way too!

Good Belly Laughing!
We've been in "survival mode" Yes, with all six kids home for spring break and still two weeks to go, soccer, Josh out of town all last week on business and leaving Wednesday for another trip, soccer practice,the septic backing up, the snow storm losing us power for 3 whole days which means our well doesn't pump leaving us without electricity or water (you know you're a redneck when....), soccer emails, preparing oodles of paper work for a baby that seems to not be showing up anytime soon, soccer games,and.....well need I go on? We've just not had any good belly laughs lately and today we dodged the bullet of another day passing without a moment of silence due to hysterical laughter by "The Hunt Clan".

It was just after lunch and I had put Kayela in her room to take a rest (yes, I acknowledge she is five and starting Kindergarten in the Fall, but give me a break people I need just a couple of hours each day without the word factory following me around). Graysie needed something out of there and so she went in and when she came out she walked to me in the kitchen with a puzzled look on her face. I asked her what was up and she said "Kayela said I have a spider on my hoodie....do I?" and she turned her back to me. I check her out even turning her hood inside out while she tells me "Kayela was smiling so I don't believe her" trying to be sure that my five year old understands that she cannot tease her sister like this I holler "Kayela come here!" as Graysie turns around to face me again when I see this GIANT (giant is a relative word here) white spider crawling up the string of her hoodie!! I think Graysie saw the surprise in my eyes and starts making this obnoxious moaning sound "uuuuaaaauuuuaaaa" while brushing her hand everywhere..... but at the spider. Being the brave soul that I am I say "brush it off Graysie.....brush it off Graysie...brush it off Graysie...brush it off Graysie...brush it off Graysie!" as I am walking, very quickly, away from her. The spider just continues walking up her drawstring towards her neck and kids start quietly piling into the kitchen to see what all the commotion is about. When out of Graysies mouth comes "MOMMY....HELP ME, MOMMY!" Which is the very moment I realize I've been running from my child who is being attacked by a spider, and the same moment the "mama bear" comes out in me (if it were a movie they'd be playing the "Indiana Jones" type hero song at this moment). I race towards her just as the spider is creeping into her sweatshirt and swat it away.....PHEW we are safe.....shrieks of gratefulness comes from Graysie and the kids cheer.....but wait where is the spider? OH GOD! when I yell "HELP ME GRAYSIE, WHERE IS THE SPIDER?" The kids run from me just as I had done to Graysie earlier while I am in panic mode looking for the ugly white beast! Moments later we find him all shriveled up on the floor (guess my swat was powerful), and we all look at each other and fall to the ground in a heap, laughing so hard tears were streaming down our faces. Had anyone walked in they would have turned right around at the sight of us. We sounded like a pack of wild hyenas! The kids all kept doing instant replays of the whole ordeal which made the situation that much funnier!

I love the sound of laughter in our home!

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Introducing.....

Tait!

Here are some pictures of our newest little bundle. I think he's adorable, Josh thinks he will get better with age...ha! Hope you enjoy your first glimpse.

Update: Last Thursday we heard from the caseworker who had some really hopeful words about Tait arriving sooner than later. We were given these pictures of him, although still haven't gotten to meet him in person. Today, however, we found out we are looking at a few more weeks to get some of the paperwork and Miscellaneous things processed. Bummer! We are just so anxious for his arrival that even a days delay seems like an eternity. My kids are out of school for spring break so we are going to occupy ourselves and hopefully the time passes quickly! In the meantime, we sure could use all of your thoughts and prayers. We will definitely be having a celebration when this sweet guy eventually shows up, you can bet on that!

This Stinks!
We have a whole new love for a sewer system now that we have "experienced" a septic issue! Yes, the CRAPPY thing backed up. Good thing is that the poop pumper came to pump it out, bad thing is the last lady had poured a sidewalk right over the cover of the septic! I mean seriously, why would that even sound like a logical thing to do? So now we are knee deep in this turdy task. The lady is saying that this is our issue, although we've only lived here 40 days so I am not sure how much she uses the bathroom, but we couldn't have possibly filled the thing up in just 40 short days.

What's a family to do when we can't use the bathroom, sink, shower, dishwasher and worst of all the LAUNDRY ROOM? We must work together to get ourselves out of this stinky situation. Even the smallest members of our household are equipped for the job. See, Kayela was giving me some moral support and much needed weight for sucking up the sewage out of my carpet before the professionals could get here.

The other really nasty thing is that because we are total city slickers we didn't even know what to do. We called in the poop pumper who only really ....well.....pumps the poop. He informed me that he does no excavating. Once he left I called in a plumber to help with our little back-up who took me for $650 just to land me in the same boat I was in before he got here! Yes, at this point we have another poop pumper coming who can hopefully bring us back to actually being able to use the facilities we are desperately needing to use. We've been given a whole new thought to the saying "full of ......POOP" (family blog)!

Easter "Hunt's"

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Where's the Baby?

OK, people...........it's a waiting game! We appreciate every one's anticipation of our new baby and as I think I mentioned in a previous post that I HATE this part of the adoption process. I really, really hate it! I wander around my house in a daze just wondering what is going on. I am sounding crazy to even myself because every excuse I have is centered around the baby coming. Yep, I had a dishwasher to unload yesterday and I couldn't ya know why? "because I want to wait until the baby gets here!" Then, what about planning a vacation? Uh, no, "we need to wait until we get the baby and see what he's like so we know what type of vacation to plan" we have no food in the house but....."I can't go to the grocery store because I don't want to go now and then get the call to pick him up tomorrow and have to go get baby supplies at the store tomorrow!" I am not saying these excuses are rational, as a matter of fact they are most definitely not rational and that is probably why Josh HATES this part of adoption even more!

I am thinking of making a book called Where's the Baby. Yes, this book will be like the "Where's Waldo" books that came out that you search and search through the pictures until you find Waldo. Once you find Waldo you can solve riddles and find other items like his camera or his shirt. My book will just be pictures of our family in a crowded room and you have to find the person asking "where's the baby?". The second series will hopefully be pictures of our family in a crowded room with someone FINALLY holding him and you'll have to find which one of our family members is asking "where's the baby?" I think it may be a hit!

Unfortunately it is our reality right now so it isn't as much fun as it sounds! Yep, hurry up and wait is our new family motto! Trust me, the first thing I will do when we get the call to finally be able to pick him up, is post on the blog. When we do get him I will be posting pictures and videos on the blog....TRUST ME...YOU WILL ALL KNOW WHEN WE GET OUR NEW CHIEF!

Date Night!


No, it is not as "romantic" as it sounds. Last night Josh took the four girls, and I took the two boys on a date. Josh took the girls to an event sponsored by our church and I took my boys to Amazing Jakes. The girls were so excited to receive flowers and tiara's (just what mihya needs, another crown). The boys and I had a great time eating and running out of tokens to end up with tickets that purchase goofy little trinkets no one ever really likes. When the boys and I got home from our adventure the girls were still out so we played some pool until the girls came in and took the spotlight as usual (us women are good at that aren't we?).






Emma had such a good time that she requested the first Sunday of each month to be designated as our parent-child date night! What fun, I thought....and then I had an even better idea! What if we really DID make it a learning experience for each of them? What if I taught the boys how to really treat their dates. What if I showed them how to open doors, and pull out chairs. How to respectfully (without expecting anything) walk their date to their front door at the end of the evening and how to ask questions and then listen to their dates answers. What if Josh showed the girls how he expects for them to be treated and how to demand respect without being a girl the boys run from. How to have boundaries they are comfortable with and to be relaxed at the same time. Obviously, in order for them to love this time with us we will need it to be fun and I think we can manage that. I have a bunch of ideas and I can't wait to have my date next month.


Yes, this will be fun!

A Message for Amanda from Graysie

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Obviuosly my kids are as big into the blog as I am when they beg to send "Thank You" cards via the blog! ha! Good kids!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

KW 2009 Gala

Saturday night was the annual Keller Williams awards gala. It is always fun to get all dresssed up and go out. I feel like I am getting ready for prom all over again....except when I was going to prom I didn't come home to six kids asking me "what did you do?".