Sweet Singing

Sometimes your children will do something really cute and sweet and you think to yourself, "Why can't they be like that all the time?" When these things happen, it reminds you about the enjoyable parenting moments. The other night Jeremy caught Piper singing to her music while she was trying to go to sleep. The kids each have a cd player in their rooms that play lullaby praise music for them to go to sleep to. We thought this would be a good idea and hopefully help them to go to sleep easily. It is not really the case, but it's the thought that counts, right?

Now you can hear Piper singing sweetly to The Lord's Prayer. I just think this is one of the sweetest things you can listen to. Maybe I think that because I'm her mom, but listen and you will agree. Hopefully the next time Piper does something that frustrates me or does something that she knows she is not supposed to, I can remember how sweet she can be by remembering this singing.

Jeremy had recorded her singing on his phone. When the song was over he left her room. She called out to him, "Are you going to put more singing on there Daddy?" She was so sweet!

The next time your child does something you do not approve of or deliberately disobeys you, try to remember the sweet things that they do. Remember that they will only be young once. One day your child will be all grown up and will move out of your house and you will only have the memories.

Toothpicks in the Screen

As you can tell by the picture, Seven was a little younger than he is now. He was about 18 months old here. This is one of the funny stories that I need to share that happened before I started a blog. I was sooo tired, so I laid down on the couch for a little snooze before church. Jeremy was working on his laptop. I wouldn't have snoozed if my children were awake and Jeremy was not able to keep an eye on them. That definately would not have been a good idea!

I woke up a little bit later and looked around to see if my children had gotten into anything they should not have. Sometimes when Jeremy is working on his laptop, he does not give them the supervision they need. Piper and Finn had paper and were coloring. I looked to find Seven sitting by the window. I then saw something very odd looking in the screens. Apparently, Seven had found where we keep the toothpicks and found a "better" place to keep them. I thought it was extremely funny! This is one of those moments when you think, "What on earth possessed my child to do that!" We have several of those moments.

Seven was being good. He was being very careful. He only stuck the toothpicks in until they wouldn't push any further. He did not cause any harm or damage to the screens. We have three windows right there together and he had done this to all three of the windows.

Makeup

Last week we went out to eat with our friends, Robert and Lauren. We decided not to take our children. Finn and Seven stayed with my mom and step-dad. A friend of ours, Ashley, kept Piper, Lindsey, and Reagan. While we were eating dinner, Robert received a text from Ashley that read, "First mistake of the night, the girls found my makeup." We all laughed as Robert read the text to us. Looks like Piper and Lindsey need a few tips on how to apply makeup!Word to the wise, if you see these two girls...HIDE YOUR MAKEUP!

Terrific Turtles

Every third Thursday of the month the zoo has a class for pre-schoolers where they learn about an animal. This month they were learning about "Terrific Turtles". Jeremy took Finn while I stayed home with Seven and Rilian. Piper was at school. Then Finn got to go to lunch with Jeremy and our preacher, Don. Finn had quite the day! When he came home, he laid in bed for an hour before he finally fell asleep for his nap. Look at the huge turtle shell in the background! Finn got to touch the inside of a turtle shell.

Craft time...Finn was making his own turtle.

Here is the finished product!

Finn watched a turtle eat.

Listening to the teacher as the turtle eats lettuce and apples.

Finn got to touch a live turtle. Jeremy said the hand that is touching the turtle's shell was steady, but the hand that is on the turtle's foot was shaking alot.

This is one of the kittens of an ocelot family that is new to the zoo. This class was the debut of the ocelots. This was the first public viewing of the ocelots.There were two there.

The teacher walked around with the kittens so everyone could see them. When the ocelot was at Finn, it meowed. It was a very loud meow. Finn said, "I don't like when it meows at me." That's funny because it did not meow near anyone else, which made Finn think it was meowing specifically at him.

When the class was over, Jeremy still had a little bit of time before he was supposed to meet Don for lunch. They walked around the zoo and saw some of the other animals. Finn was feeding ducks here.

Next month they are going to learn about monkeys. I told Jeremy he would have to take Finn back. Piper overheard this conversation. She asked if she will be in school that day because she wants to go. I told her if she doesn't have school that day, she can go. I believe she will still be in school. That was last week. Today is Thursday and when Piper came home from school she asked if Finn had gone to see the monkeys. I told her that is was next month, in May. I was surprised that she made the connection that today is Thursday and it is a Thursday that Finn is going to go and see the monkeys.

Easter

We finally got a family picture taken! It has been 11 months since we had a family picture taken. We usually take one at Christmas, but it didn't happen this year since we went out of town the week before Christmas. We went to my mom's house for Easter lunch and had an Easter Egg Hunt there. My brother and sister-in-law and their two girls came into town.

We tried to take a picture of all the cousins together. This is the best we could get. It is a little hard trying to get a good picture of six kids ages four and under. My nieces, Allie and Mabrie, are in the middle.

Piper and Mabrie take such cute pictures together!

Finn saw Piper and Mabrie getting their picture taken together and he wanted to take a picture with just the boys. Finn is so sweet!

Rilian was laying on the couch and I could not pass up the opportunity to take his picture in his Easter clothes!

Allie and Seven are two peas in a pod!! They are soooo much alike! They even have very similar voices. When they were babies they sounded so much alike that my sister-in-law, Jennifer, and I could not tell which one was crying. You would think a mother would be able to tell her baby's cry from another baby's cry. This is was not the case with Allie and Seven. Even today their voices are still hard to tell apart. My step-dad has decided to move their fence back 32 feet so they have a larger fenced backyard. My brother was helping my step-dad remove the fence posts and Allie and Seven were playing in the dirt.

Whatever Seven does, Allie does. Whatever Allie does, Seven does. Where one goes, the other goes. They are four and a half months apart. Allie is older. I was looking out the back window as I was inside nursing Rilian. I saw Allie come up to the window and she had a look on her face that said she was up to something. I knew Seven would be right behind her. Sure enough, within seconds, Seven was right there with her. I thought "this could be bad," but the were just getting toys off the porch to play with. For some reason Seven decided to lick the chain link fence that is in the back yard.

Allie saw Seven do it, so of course she did it too!

Look at what a good digger Piper is!!! She dug such a deep whole! Just kidding! But I sure had you going, didn't I? This is how deep the whole was that the fence pole came out of. Piper thought it would be fun to climb in. Finn wanted a turn in the hole too.

What was Jeremy doing on Easter day? He was napping with Rilian. I told him we were going outside to hunt Easter eggs and asked if he was coming. He said he was. When the Easter egg hunt was over he was still asleep on the couch. When he woke up for a brief minute he asked about the Easter egg hunt. I said we had already done it. Poor Jeremy didn't get any sleep the night before because we had been out of town and he stayed up all night when we got home to make Seven's Birthday cake.

Do You Know Your Neighbor?

This post is not like my other posts, but it is something that I wanted to share with my readers. How many of you know your neighbors? I am not proud to say that I don't know all of my next door neighbors. I have been living in my house since July of last year. I have met the neighbors that live next door to the south. There is a husband and wife. I can tell you the man's name is James. I feel bad that I do not remember the wife's name. I think it is Annette. Her daughter's name is Amanda, who had a baby in November. I believe his name is Benjamin. There are also two other girls living in the house. I cannot remember their names. They are in 5th and 7th grade. I am not certain, but close to those grades. I know that James and Annette are not their biological parents, but have custody of them. We wave to each other as we see each other pass by. Yesterday and today, I have talked to Amanda and her mom a couple of times. When we run out of eggs, milk, butter, or some other ingredient we need real quick to finish making our dinner, we have knocked on each other's door and asked for that ingredient. I know James and Annette have grandchildren that come over quite often to visit them. They are pretty young. Often a ball or frisbee that they are playing with will come over the top of our fence and they will ring our doorbell and let us know. I then go out back and toss it over into their yard. I would say I know them pretty well.

Directly across the street from us is another family that I have gotten to know as well. It is a mom named Sabrina. She is married to a man in the air force, whom I have forgotten his name. Shame on me! They have twin three-year-old sons, named Christian and Noah. Sabrina is going to have a daughter in June I believe. She told me last week that she is going to name her Olivia. When we had moved into our house in July, she came across the street and introduced herself to me. We had a yard sale about a month later. It was raining that morning and Sabrina was on her way to work. She came across the street and told us that she wasn't going to be home all day so if we wanted to use her carport for our yard sale we were more than welcome to. Wow! What a wonderful neighbor! We hardly knew her and had talked maybe two times and she was offering us the use of her carport for the day to have our yard sale in, that would have otherwise been rained out!

Now we go to the house next door to the north. I have never met them. I wave to them when I see them. I know that they have a dog, a jack russel, I believe. I have seen it through the fence. Our bathroom is on the wall that is near their fence. I know that dog has extremely good hearing because everytime it is outside and I go into our bathroom, it hears me and it barks. Piper and Finn try to climb to the top of the fence to look over at it. Piper has been more successful than Finn at this. I know they have alot of cars outside their house. The dad of the house (I say the dad, but I don't really know if he is the dad or not), works for the Railroad Commission. He has a white truck with that written on the side and it is usually parked out front of their house in the evenings and most mornings when I leave to take Piper to school. I think a girl in high school lives their because she is sometimes leaving in her suv when I am taking Piper to school. It seems that they have about five vehicles at their house. A combination of suv's and trucks. They come and go. I have often wondered about them. I wonder who lives in the house and what their ages are. I see many different people come and go. Yet, I have never stopped to talk to them and introduce myself to them. Jeremy says he has met them, or at least the man of the house. I have heard that a few generations ago, people would talk to their neighbors. The mom's would tell on each other's children. Neighbors would look out for each other. Things have changed.

When I was in elementary school we lived on a road with a farm across the street and a farm beside us. There were about 8 houses on our road that were not farms. Us kids would all play with each other. Two houses down, the lady would babysit my brother and I after school until my step-dad got off work and came to pick us up. Her name was Phyllis. Her husband's name was Jim. They had two parakeets in a cage in their kitchen. They also had a dog tied up to his doghouse out back. I don't remember the dog's name.

When I came home tonight, it was close to 10pm. As I pulled up to our house, I noticed a high school girl sitting on the curb to the house on the north side of us. (The neighbors that I don't know). I noticed the Railroad Commission truck was gone and there was only one other truck in the driveway. At first I just thought she was sitting on the curb talking on her cell phone. Something I hadn't seen from that house before, but nothing really unusual for a teenager to do, I thought. As I was getting the kids out of the van I realized she was crying and upset. I stayed at the van and continued to get the kids out. I looked at her and from my van asked if she was ok. She said she was. As I was getting my kids inside, I started to think about the teenage girl sitting and crying on the curb. I told Piper and Finn to put on their pajamas. And I took Rilian with me back outside to this very sad girl. Jeremy was not home yet. I knew the kids would be okay in the house for a little while. They were supposed to be putting on their pajamas. I walked over to her and knew something bad must have happened in order for her to be this upset. I asked her if she lived in that house. I felt really bad that I had to ask if she lived next door to me. How long had I lived here? Nine months! In those nine months had I bothered to go next door and introduce myself? No, I had not. Wow! Through her tears and sniffles she said she did not live there. I then said, "I know you don't know me, but are you ok?" She said she was, but I knew she was lying from the tears and sniffles she displayed. I asked her if she needed a ride. She said she lived a couple of streets away and her mom was coming to pick her up. I asked her if she wanted me to wait with her. She said no. I then told her that if she needed anything I would be in the house next door. She told me "thank you." Then I left her sitting there crying on the curb. I went back inside my own house. I left the front door open in case she had changed her mind. Perhaps she would feel more invited if I had the door open. Then I finished getting the kids ready for bed. I ended up closing the front door because Rilian was crying and I didn't want outsiders to hear him while I was tending to the other children. I seemed to have more patience with my own children tonight as I was putting them to bed. I am not sure why. Maybe because I was thinking about the saddened teenager sitting on the curb waiting for her mom to come pick her up. Sometimes when things happen, you realize what you have and you don't want to take it for granted.

I said a prayer for the teenage girl. Maybe I should have thought about it sooner and prayed for her when I was talking to her. I don't know if she was a Christian or not. I don't even know if the people living in that house go to church. I should know, but I don't. I do know that the people in the house on our south side go to church. I do know that the family living directly across the street go to church. I don't know why this girl was so upset. I probably will never know. She knows that I am a caring person because I took the time to go over to her and offer her some help. Maybe she would have felt more at ease and more willing to talk had I introduced myself first. I feel good that I tried to help her, but sad that I wasn't able to. Maybe she just needed her mom. I wonder if maybe her boyfriend lives in that house and he broke up with her. I know that would be sad for a teenage girl, or anyone else. I sure hope it is nothing worse! I do know that as a teenager, I wouldn't have talked to someone that I didn't know about what was making me so sad. Will this make me get to know my neighbors that live in that house? I don't know. Perhaps, I will go talk to them and can inquire about the teenage girl that was crying on their curb tonight. That might be a good way to break the ice. Or it might not since I don't know what happened. Maybe the reason she was so upset had nothing to do with anyone in that house. Maybe she just happened to sit down in front of that house. Who knows? I just know I feel so saddened for her.

What would you have done? Maybe you would have introduced yourself to the people living there when you moved in. Then you wouldn't have had to ask her if she lived there. Do you know your neighbors? I hope you are better than me and have taken the time to at least introduce yourself to your direct neighbors.

7 is 2!

Figure out that math! 7 is 2! What? Seven turned two years old on Saturday. I was trying to decide what kind of birthday party he would have. Hmm...what does Seven like? He likes penguins; we could have a Happy Feet party. I did not find anything for a Happy Feet party. He LOVES Barney! Yes, the purple dinosaur Barney. You mean you actually let your child watch that? No, it was his Granny who introduced Seven to Barney. I really did not want to have a Barney birthday party, but it would have REALLY made Seven happy! I did look for Barney stuff and did not find anything. I didn't think I would find anything, but I thought it really couldn't hurt to look. I tried to think about what else Seven likes right now. So we ended up having a Thomas the Tank Engine birthday party. Here is the cake Jeremy made for Seven. He has made all of our children's birthday cakes, except for two.

Seven with his cake. We had his birthday party on Easter Sunday. Jeremy and I were out of town on his actual birthday so we celebrated his birthday on Easter Sunday. Seven, Piper, and Finn were staying with Jeremy's parents. Jeremy's mom texted Jeremy with a text that read, "It's official, the two's are terrible." Jeremy and I just laughed. We were good parents and did call him on his birthday to wish him a Happy Birthday. Although he wasn't in a very good mood when we called because he was in time-out. Jeremy was able to get him to smile over the phone. While my mom was getting a knife to cut the cake, Seven and Finn were picking the icing off the cake and eating it. Piper eventually joined them.

Seven wasn't waiting on a fork to eat his cake. Until he got a fork, he was bending down to his cake and eating it with his mouth. He got a little icing on his mouth.

I'm glad he took off his hat, to eat his cake without a fork, so he didn't get icing on it.

I didn't want to bore you with pictures of Seven opening presents, so here is just one!

Egg Hunt & Western Day at Piper's School

Piper had Western Day last Thursday at her school. They were also having their egg hunt the same day. We looked everywhere for a pair of cowboy boots for her. Apparently, spring is not the time to buy cowboy boots because the stores do not sell them in the spring. We even went as far as to ask a couple of neighbors if they had any we could borrow. No luck. So she just put on a cowboy hat. The students were to take 12 plastic eggs with the numbers 1 through 12 on them to school for the egg hunt. Each egg was taped closed and had candy or little toys in them. Piper put three sweet tarts shaped like ducks and peeps in the eggs while I numbered them and taped them closed. She is standing with her class listening to the instructions from Mrs. Findley about how they are supposed to pick up the eggs. Piper was instructed to pick up an egg with each number on it. She should only have one number 1, one number 2, one number 3, and so on all the way to the number 12. Piper found one of the eggs that we brought. We brought shiny ones. She started looking for all the ones that we had brought. But that didn't last very long as she was having a hard time finding the numbers she needed on the shiny eggs.Piper found all the numbers, except for the number 1. Each of the eggs she picked up did not have the number 1 on them. Mrs. Findley finally told the students that were still looking for the few numbers they needed to just make sure they had 12 eggs. She was posing with her 12 eggs.

Here is a class picture with the students in their western wear and their easter baskets. It was extremely windy that day, so I am glad that Piper had taken off her cowboy hat so I didn't have to chase it outside!

Piper and her best friend Addyson. They were standing beside each other waiting for the class's turn for the hayride.

Piper was holding the camera and I didn't know that she had taken some pictures until I got home and was looking at the pictures. Look at her pretty nails!

Piper's class also got to ride a horse. Piper and Addyson rode together.

Rilian's First Tie

Some friends from church gave us this shirt with a tie on it for Rilian. I thought it was funny. When I saw the shirt, I just knew that Chase had picked it out! I asked Chase and Tabitha if Chase was the one who picked it out. They said he did. Rilian looks so cute in it!

Mommy is supposed to be on top!

Jeremy and I left the three older kids with his parents last night. We went to "A Taste of Abilene". This is a dinner where any restaurant in Abilene that wants to come can. Then you get to go around to their different tables and try food from that restaurant. It was good.

When we went to pick up the kids, Jeremy's mom told us that she was in the other room and heard Piper say, "No Finn, the Mommy is supposed to be on top!" She didn't know what they were doing or what she would see when she went to check it out. Before she got to them she had wondered if Piper had seen what we do behind closed doors in our bedroom. I told his mom I was pretty sure she hasn't seen us doing anything. We would have known if she caught us in the act. Joyce (Jeremy's mom) goes on to tell us the rest of the story.

She said when she found them, Finn was laying on the floor and Piper was standing on his back. This may sound funny, but Jeremy will lay on the floor and ask me to walk on his back so I can pop it. We were all relieved when we knew exactly what they were doing.

My Heaven

Does anyone really know what Heaven looks like? We know what the Bible says...streets of gold. But is that what Heaven really looks like? I saw this picture today and I thought to myself, "This is what Heaven would look like to me. Two of my favorite things...the beach and a jeep! What a beautiful thought!I currently own a jeep wrangler, but I need to sell it. Sad! Why? My family consists of six people. How many people legally fit in a jeep? Four. Let's do the math...hmmm...that is two too many. This is the second jeep wrangler that I have owned. The first one was black. It was a 2002 Sahara, which was the best at the time. (Until the Rubicon came out a few months later) It was loaded. It had a soft top and a hard top. It had a hide-a-trunk in the back. Which for those of you who don't know, jeeps don't have trunks or places to hide or store your valueables out of site. So this hide-a-trunk was GREAT. You could lock cds or whatever you wanted to in there! Then I got pregnant with Piper and for some reason I thought I needed a four door vehicle. Jeremy and I started looking around and I was trying to decided between a Volkswagon Jetta or a Jeep Grand Cherokee. They were both the same price so it was a really hard decision for me. I finally decided on the Grand Cherokee. I really enjoyed sitting up higher than in a car.

A few months later Jeremy and I moved out to Carlsbad, New Mexico because he got a job out there. Piper was born two months after we moved out there. The weather in Carlsbad is much like the weather here. Warm most of the year except for those occasional cold fronts. I kept seeing Jeep Wranglers and missed mine. Oh to see them with their tops off made me drool! The more I saw them the more I missed mine and wanted another one. I told myself that my kids wouldn't be in carseats forever. It wouldn't be that bad to only have two doors. I wasn't thinking that I knew I wanted three kids and three kids would not fit in a jeep! The Grand Cherokee was nice, but it wasn't what I wanted.

For my birthday, Jeremy traded in the Grand Cherokee for a 1999 Red Jeep Wrangler with a black soft top. It wasn't as nice as my first jeep, but I was happy because it was a jeep. Alot of people don't like driving them because they are rough and don't have a smooth ride. I love how it feels driving or even riding in a jeep! I LOVE JEEPS! Have you figured that out yet? Well, Finn was born the next July. And it would have been easier to have a four door vehicle, but I really loved my jeep. So I just dealt with it. Then a couple of years later Seven was born. Now we were too many as a family to ride in my jeep. My days of driving my jeep became fewer and fewer. Unless I went somewhere without kids, which was pretty rare being a stay-at-home mom, I didn't get to drive my jeep. I drove Jeremy's Toyota Tundra. Still a nice vechicle, but not my jeep. I came to realize that a jeep is not a family vehicle. It is only a fun vechicle.

Fast forward two more years...now we have a fourth child and we will not all fit in Jeremy's truck. This means we need a different vehicle. One that will seat at least six people. I want an SUV. I DO NOT WANT A VAN! Jeremy is willing to get a van because it will be cheaper and get better gas mileage than an SUV. I am adamant, I do not want a van! Jeremy keeps pushing and pushing about all the pros of getting a van. We have a friend who was going to finance his van to sell it to us for an extremely low rate. Jeremy was really upset that I didn't care how much of a good deal this was. I didn't care, I did not want a minivan. I mean, I drive a Jeep Wrangler; how can I go from a cool jeep wrangler to a minivan. I finally realized it was a really good financial decision and it will be paid of within two and a half years. At least it has a sunroof. I really like that! And the kids love the "magic door". It has a door that opens when you push the button.

One day I pulled up to a stop light in the minivan and low and behold a jeep wrangler pulls up beside me. Sniff, sniff. I can't even bear to look at the two young guys in the jeep. I felt so sad. That used to be me! I felt like rolling down my window and telling them to enjoy it while then can. One day they too could very well be driving a minivan with their four children! I felt like telling them "don't make fun of me guys! I used to drive my jeep and make fun of all those minivan driving people too." I am one of you. I really am!

I still enjoy driving my jeep on the rare day that I get to go somewhere without my wonderful precious children that I now drive a minivan for. It feels so good to drive it. I know soon (hopefully soon, so we don't have three car payments), I won't be able to drive it anymore. The last time I drove my jeep, I passed a fellow jeeper and got to enjoy the wonderful feeling of the jeeper wave that only jeepers know how good it feels to partake in.

One day in the not so near future I will own a jeep again. Once my kids are all in college, which will be eighteen years from now, I plan on taking a year of hibernation to sleep. When I wake up from that year's worth of sleep, the first place I will go will be to the jeep dealership!

2 Hours to Myself

WOW! What mom wouldn't want just five minutes or even one minute to herself, especially a mother of four children under the age of four! Well, I got just that yesterday.


Jeremy told me at 10:30am that I had a special one hour getaway at 11:30am. Ok, that sounds good Jeremy, but thanks for the warning!! That meant I had exactly one hour to nurse Rilian and put on makeup and get dressed and drive somewhere that would take 10 minutes to get there! Ok. I can do this, right? Things were looking like I would be able to leave soon and not be more than 5 minutes late. I really don't like being late. Then at 11:10am Jeremy tells me that my ride will arrive at 11:20am. That made me feel a little relieved knowing that at least I would not have to drive there.


I did not know exactly where I was going and who my "ride" was but I had a pretty good idea. I am pretty good at figuring out things with just a little bit of information. I didn't want to let on to Jeremy that I had a clue, though, because he had planned a ONE HOUR SPECIAL GETAWAY FOR ME WITHOUT KIDS! The day before my friend Lauren had told me that she was getting a massage at 11:30am on Monday. This was one of the things that helped to clue me in on what my special getaway was. I thought about that. Hmm...today is Monday and Lauren is getting a massage at 11:30 today, maybe I am too. Also the night before Jeremy and Robert (Lauren's husband) were talking outside and I heard Jeremy say "does Lauren know?" That was another trigger. Jeremy and Robert were planning something for Lauren and I. The last thing that made me think I was getting a massage was Jeremy told me my portion of it would not start until 12:30pm so I should take a book or something to read. I asked if I could wear a t-shirt. He said "Yes, you need to be comfortable." So I knew it wasn't somewhere that I had to dress up.


So at 11:25am the doorbell rings. I am ready to go. I open the door expecting Lauren to be there. Well, not only is Lauren there, but so are Robert and their two girls. I was surprised to see the whole family. I was right about the massage, though. We arrived at the massage parlor and since it was Monday and most massage therapists don't work on Mondays, there was only one there. So Lauren went first. Since her massage lasted an hour, I got to sit in a nice quiet place and read a book for an hour. I have been reading a book called "Aaron's Way, the journey of a strong-willed child". I feel it is a very good book for me to read since two of my children are definately strong-willed. Who knows if Rilian will be or not. I would recommend this book to anyone who has a strong-willed child. Now that we took a little detour from the story, let's get back to the real story... Then it was my turn to get a full body massage for an hour. It was WONDERFUL! The massage therapist finished and told me there was no hurry for me to get up. I laid there and stretched and thought to myself "How long can I really stay here?" I knew I must go back to reality and my family. Plus, Rilian would be calling soon for his lunch.


You may be wondering what the two dads did with the six kids while us moms were enjoying peace, quiet, and massages. They all went to Chuck E. Cheeses. Lauren and I got texts from Jeremy saying they had to call for back up, which made us laugh. Jeremy called on one of the teen boys (he is 18) to help. He is home schooled and was allowed an hour to go to Chuck E. Cheeses for lunch. Jeremy assigned Seven to him. I thought that was funny. Seven is a handful on his own. Seven needed one person that would watch him and only him. The other five could be watched by Jeremy and Robert.


I thoroughly enjoyed my 2 hours to myself! Thank you Jeremy and Robert!

Climbing Piper

This video is not for the faint at heart. It is a video of Piper who is a born climber. She was not quite two-years-old at the time. Jeremy was home watching the kids while I was working. Hmmm...

So sit down and brace yourself. Enjoy the video!

I guess it is a little hard to climb back down the shelf when you only have one hand now because the other has candy in it. Did you notice how she didn't cry when she landed on all the hard toys? She is one tough cookie! She only got upset when Finn tried to get her smarties that she worked so hard to get. I'd get upset too! Jeremy is bound to win father of the year for this video! NOT!!! Notice he did not put down the camera to make sure she wasn't hurt. HE KEPT FILMING! The next day he had put some toys on the top shelf and encouraged her to climb up and get them. I told him I didn't think he should be encouraging her to do that. He reluctantly agreed.

Chocolate Pudding

The kids were enjoying some chocolate pudding at Granny's house. They got a little messy! Glad I wasn't the one who had to clean them off!!

Rilian is 2 months old!

Rilian turned 2 months old today. Here are some pictures to enjoy!

Such a sweet smile!

My boysI thought since I was taking pictures of Rilian, I'd take a picture of "my three sons"! Rilian was laying like Finn and Seven are, but he fell over and I didn't know it until I took the picture.