The Willcox/Blanchard Family Story

Fun Times!

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 20:56:06 GMT

LIfe seems to be flying by, but our family has been so busy it feels like a whilrwind! We have gone camping and jet skiing twice, made two different trips to my homeland (aka so. calif) and Disneyland and we survived a very fun Halloween. In the middle of it all Angela has gotten engaged to Stuart, and they will marry on December 27th. I'm honored to be making Angela's wedding dress and the girl's bridesmaids dresses! I am so very excited for Angela and Stuart, and happy to know they will be moving back to AZ just before they get married! Fun stuff, for sure. Also, Spencer received his mission call! He will be serving in the St. Louis, Missouri mission and reports to the MTC on February 4th. I am so excited for him, his mission is huge and it is a beautiful part of the country. I am so very proud of my kids, they are a joy in my life. They're good ones, all of them! Here are some pictures of the above events... and yes, those are my kids at grandma Call's house riding her broom. No, she wasn't home at the time... ssshhhh..

We've been busy, but having a BLAST!

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 22:29:52 GMT

So, in July Austin and I took the littles to a train park and museum in Scottsdale. It is too hot for the out door parks right now, but the kids had begged and begged to go to the park for weeks. So, we decided to go in the afternoon and go to the train park. We went for a fun train ride and the kids had lots of fun. But it was really hot.
Honestly, I saw this fat lady sitting there in the picture and I started working out two days later. Really, true story.

This is just super cute.

The twins rarely want to dress alike anymore, and now that they are big enough to get their own clothes it's fine with me. BUT this day was different. They searched for matching shirts and shorts and walked around the house together showing everyone that they matched. So cute.

Aaron is by far more independent than Rachel or Benjamin. He loves to just go for it. He will lay down and fix his own pillow and cover himself with his own blanket without fuss. Rachel wants her "woobie flat on top of her" and Benjamin will fuss until his things are just right. Aaron climbed up this very tall playground and was happy to do it without help.

Benjamin is very cautious, though fun loving. He wanted to climb up, but was emotional and wanted Dad right close by just in case.

Here's the three inside one of the trains they have on display.

The next night Austin and I went to Beatlemania with Austin's brother, Brad and wife Maria.

Here's a picture of the fake beatles. It was a pretty good show, and lots of fun to get out with adult family!

Last week we heard from Luke, who let us know he has decided to go back to school and will be moving in with his dad! This is GREAT news and I am so happy for his good choice! He goes back to California tomorrow. Angela came home for a week before going back up to BYU for school and we were able to have a full family dinner on Sunday for the first time since Christmas! I was so excited I could hardly eat. After dinner we took some family pictures. Here's some of them.

That's about it for now but we're taking the littles on an overnight camp out tomorrow so I will have more pictures soon. The teenagers were invited but they would rather do teenager things...

Catch Up!

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:31:44 GMT

Okey Dokey!! It's been forever since I have posted, but life has been INSANE busy! Here's a quick update with pictures of what we've been up to since I last posted...

First, Luke was told by the school to not come any more so, you guessed it, he stopped going. I do not know if he will go this coming school year or not, it is up to him. I can't force that kid or talk sense into him so it's up to him. Sounds lame? Maybe but until you've walked in my shoes don't go there. He's a great kid who is making poor choices.

Next, Spencer graduated from High School!!! It poured down rain on his graduation day but there was NOTHING that could get me to leave until the whole ceremony was over! I swear, I don't think I have ever screamed that loud for that long before! I am one proud mama! Here's a picture...

After that Rachel turned 4 years old! Yippee! here's a picture of her with her princess cake...

Now, here's some crazy news. I had found my birth mom 12 or so years ago. (not that I don't totally love my family but I needed to know where I came from and medical history, etc.) So after meeting her she had told me the name of my birth father. After 12 years of looking I found him! Living, of all places, in Orange, California. Geesh. So we made a trip out to Calif to meet him in person. He and his wife are very nice, good people. Another positive experience. Here's a picture of him with Austin, the kids and I.

Now, you probably notice Austin's beard... Well, through all of this we have been in a play! Austin, Robin, Rachel, Aaron, Benjamin and I were in 1856 The Musical and I was totally in charge of costumes for 200 people! What a job! Anyhow, we were able to perform here in Mesa and in Utah. It was so much fun, we learned so much, made so many great friends and had a blast! Rachel found a little boyfriend along the way, too. His name is Brad, he is the boy in several of the pictures below. While we were in Utah, we went to the Zoo, which is one of my all time favorite zoo's ever! You can get so close to the animals it is amazing! Here are some pictures from the zoo and from the play both back stage and on stage. One of the pictures is of my Mom, my Aunt Margaret and my cousin Sherrie! They came to see the play while we were in Utah. Fun times!

This is a great picture of Rachel and Brad. We were at the zoo.

See how close we are to the giraffe?

This is in the green room before a show. Below are more pictures from 1856.

Austin looks like Jesus...

This super cute picture of Aaron was taken on July 4th. We went to a BBQ/cast party with the 1856 gang. Most of the kids went swimming in the pool, but Aaron - who refused a bathing suit - found the water weenie and went to town. He had so much fun we bought one the next day. They have been having a blast in the water all the time now! These next pictures are of some random lady who gave her kids sparklers in their cul-de-sac late at night on the 4th. I don't know who would break the law and get her kids involved, but it looks like they had some firework fun! Really, I do miss the old days when we could light fireworks in the street and watch the neighbors do the same. Then there are the kids with bottle rockets and those who throw fire crackers. Those guys were cool, too. I wish my kids could have those memories as well. HECK! LOOK! They can! minus the neighbors... and until the FD come to tell us to quit. Hee hee.

This last picture is one we took in Salt Lake at the theatre. They had a professional photo thing between the shows on Saturday. We told Robin to meet us there but she didn't come (says she didn't know...) anyhow we took pics and this one came out pretty cute.

The principal is a ringmaster

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 20:19:06 GMT

Ok, so I'm not a fan of dumb people. The principal at the local high school is a dumb person. He is so set on winning plaques for his wall that the "average" student falls through the cracks. Aside from that, the school gets a new football field and track every summer. That's where their money goes, instead of on programs for kids who need it or could use a little encouragement. They lost the FFA program 2 years ago because the Ringmaster wanted to spend the money on football. Yes, I said football. So I have issues with him... BUT... today has to be the best example of his dumbness.

So, yesterday I called Luke when he was at school. I figured his phone would go to VM and I'd leave a message. He picked up the phone, he was in class. His teacher didn't accept that it was his mom and he was worried it was an emergency. She didn't let him explain and sent him to the office. He asked if he could turn in his homework before he left and she said no. So Luke sat in the office yesterday durring that class. This morning the VP called to tell me the principal wanted to pull Luke out of the class for the day as punishment for using his phone in class. I told him I was the one who called, the teacher didn't let him explain, Luke already spent class time in the office the day before and Luke wasn't allowed to turn in his homework. I said they can't pull him out of class, he will fall further behind. I told them to keep him afterschool or punish him durring study hall but pulling him out of class would not be educationally beneficial for him, or any student. The VP (further known as the puppet) said no, the principal (aka ringmaster) said to pull him out of class so THEY CAN TALK TO HIM ABOUT WHY HE IS FALLING BEHIND! I am so shocked that an educational establishment is so backwards that they can't see their job is to TEACH the kids, not pull them out of class when they fall behind.

Now, I'm not saying it was OK for Luke to use his phone in school. I'm saying he was already punished for that yesterday. Then I talked to him about it yesterday afterschool. I told him to keep it off and I will leave a message when I need him to call me back. I swear, if he was the school quarterback they would buy him a phone and let him use it whenever he wanted at school.

Ok, I'm off my soapbox.

HUM.... time is flying by

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 23:50:17 GMT

Seems as soon as something eventful happens something else happens before I get a chance to sit here and write about it! Sorry, but I'll have to pick and choose a few things with time available and just hit some highlights for awhile as life is strangly more hectic than usual these days.

So, our house is still for sale. Currently it's a mess so I'm hoping no one will want to see it until I can catch up. That's a joke because I probably won't catch up until someone calls to see it... it's a vicious cycle. We're still waiting to hear from the bank on the house we bid on, but that's starting to not look so good so we're going out tomorrow to see what else is out there. Who knows what we'll find but it is fun to look anyway.

We auditioned for the play "1856 The Musical" last Saturday. Austin, Robin, Rachel, Aaron, Benjamin and I did anyway. Robin tried out for the lead teen girl role and Rachel auditioned for the youngest child in the lead family. Austin, the twins and I are happy to be in the ensemble cast. Hee hee. Should be fun, something to do together and you can't get more wholesome than this so we'll all stay out of trouble. I'll add pictures for your viewing pleasure.

I'm busy as a bee making some red sequined mini corsets for Rachel's dance class costumes. Their show is in April and their costume came back SO plain I couldn't stand it. I decided to talk to the teacher and dance studio owner and VOLUNTEERED (yes, I'm so stupid) to make one for each girl in the classes costume. There are 10 girls. I'm almost half way done. I'll share pictures of the girls in costume when it's all done so you can see how much cuter they are with some bling.

Oh geeze, I've been attacked by screaming, hanging savages and have to end. Enjoy the pictures!

Geesh, what did I get myself into???

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:09:10 GMT

So, this morning the kids and I were going about our normal business of breakfast, dressing, etc when I got a phone call. It was a realestate agent who had a client who wants to see our house this afternoon. Total and instant panic attack hit me as I spent yesterday making valentines with the littles - which invlolved felt, googlie eyes and glue. Glue that was still on the kitchen counter and felt bits that were still all over the floor, etc. Since we had so much fun doing that, other things didn't get done so I was WAY behind. I made a mad dash to clean like a maniac and decided (after conversation with Austin who gave me better perspective on the matter) that I would dedicate one hour to cleaning up and that's it. You see, I grew up in a house that was never clean enough (though it was spotless) and had the example of my mom, who is an amazing mom, who cleans everything and anything in her path. I will never measure up to that but, I guess because it's how I was brought up it's, in my mind, the standard to reach for. Funny, I know but we all have hang ups LOL. So, as I was cleaing the glue off the countertops I remembered way, w a y, back when my brother, his then girlfriend (now wife) and I had a garage sale. His girlfriend and I had a fun time chatting and such outside with the stuff, making fun of the people who offered us .05 for something we paid $50 for. What a joke. Anyhow, my brother kept dissapearing and when we asked him what's up he told us it was hard to watch people go through his things, even if he was willing to part with them. Although I understood what he was saying then, I don't think I grasped the feeling until today when people I don't know are going to go through my house when I'm not here. AARRGGG! I'm ok with it, I want to sell the house but it is awkward to say the least. So the kids are back from school and sitters, the house is clean enough and we have an hour to kill before we need to leave. I'm hoping I can keep the littles in a bubble until then so they don't drag every toy in the house all over the place. For those of you who know my littles that is a joke as they are into everything, all the time, no matter what. They won't stay in a bubble. :) But I love them and their curious ways.

OH MY GOODNESS! So much to catch up on...

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 18:57:05 GMT

So, like always we've been very, very busy! We put out house up for sale, which means TONS of work to do. There is way too much to keep clean and I'm freaking out but it's ok. Spencer had his wisdom teeth taken out last week (thus the swollen face picture) and we gutted the upstairs bathroom. Our two helpers were nice enough to make sure we were doing a great job by playing in the new vanity cabinet. Ben and Aaron are drinking out of sippy or straw cups now instead of bottles and life, in general, is crazy. Jamie performed in the super bowl half time show (she wasn't directly on tv) she was one of Tom Petty's fans out there with flash lights. The lady who used to clean my house moved back to Mexico so I hired one of her relatives to do a "deep clean" on my house. Two days after working hard she still missed things I had on a list for her so more on my plate to do. We hope to hear today if our offer was accepted on another home. Talk about anxious! Here are some pictures to share.

The brothers with their straw cups. So exciteing!

This was too cute not to share. Benjamin and Casey were watching TV together.

Aaron and Benjamin were great project overseers! Yes, 2 months later Ben is still wearing his Disney hat on a regular basis... We got out money's worth out of it!

Spencer and his swollen face. It was worse but at least I got a picture of some swelling.

House for sale!

Buff Benjamin!

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 22:32:34 GMT

Today we went shopping for a few things, and to return some other things we didn't need. The boys picked out some new shirts with their favorite guys on them. Some with Lightening McQueen and other Cars characters and some with Buzz and Woody. When we got home Benjamin insisted on wearing all of his new shirts right away at once. I tried to explain that he would be more comfortable with one, maybe two at a time but he wouldn't have it. So here he is, sweating it out in SEVEN shirts. (five new, two he already had on) Funny kid.

I'm so proud!

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 22:15:20 GMT

This past weekend we were very busy! We chenged our usual schedule a bit because Austin was running the PF Chang's marathon on Sunday. We had a nice date night on Friday, eating out and going shopping for some fun things for the office and then the Disney store for the littles. It was fun. Saturday Austin took Rachel to the marathon expo where they had fun entering contests and gearing up for the race. Sunday Austin left early and we stayed home until it was closer to finish time I was able to bake some super yummy cookies and some pumpkin muffins. Yum! Spencer, Robin, Rachel, Aaron, Benjamin and I went to the finish line area (after a long walk from the parking lot, weaving 2 strollers through LOTS of people). It was impossible to get all of our gear to the actual finish line so Spencer and Robin were nice enough to hang out with the littles while I crowded in as close to the finish line as I could get. Austin came through, I was able to get a video of him actually crossing the finish line and some still pictures just after. Two day's later he is still really sore but I'm impressed he did it. Running/walking/jogging that far is a pretty big dea. We came home after and just hung around the house watching Highlander (the current TV show on DVD). It was a nice weekend!

Who would guess?

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 18:19:22 GMT

I woke up this morning and was going about my usual tasks. When I got to the sink I looked out the window and this huge bird was sitting on our pool gate. At first glance I though it was an owl, but quickly noticed it wasn't, but it is still huge. He stayed there for about an hour, sitting still and checking out things in the yard. I think he was really hungry and contemplating feasting on one of our little dogs. I got a picture, though it's blury but you can still get the gist. I learned online (now I didn't spend a ton of time on this but was curious enough to look) that he is a sharp-shinned hawk down here for the winter. Pretty bird, nice to see unusual nature in the back yard. Makes life interesting.

Much needed get away and Happy New Year!

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 05:23:54 GMT

The day after Christmas we traveled to California to visit the Call relatives. It was tons of fun having a second Christmas celebration, but what was even better was watching the kids actually play together. They have been around each other before but never actually played together. They scared each other, they tackled each other, they laughed and laughed and not one of them wanted the night to end. It was so much fun to watch and play with them. The next day we took off to Disneyland! Yippee! As we were walking up to the gates I overheard people complaining that they had stopped selling tickets for the day. I was worried it was going to be super crowded and no fun but it wasn't too bad as far as crowds go. We made the most of the day and stayed until 11:30ish pm, with the kids having SO much fun. Rachel saw some kids on TV riding the teacups so she was dying to ride the "cup ride" as she called it. We rode that several times, and we took them on the Dumbo ride. We played a lot at California Adventures, which the kids really enjoy. It was a great day with lots of fun memories. Once we got home we were still in high gear as I spent all of the 31st & 1st painting operatories at our dental office. There were four to paint and after two days only 3 were done. We had to open for patients so I started early this morning on the last room. I have high hopes for finishing tomorrow morning, but I might have to spend more time on it than I hope to. Happy New Year to me as I spent 2 of those hours on the 1st at the urgent care after successfully smashing my left pinky finger moving an x-ray head while painting. I lucked out and didn't break the bone but was told it was a crush injury with deep tissue bruising. The doctor (I'm sure his name was Dr. Doogie Howser) gave me a nice little finger splint but I gave up on that yesterday evening as I kept jamming this huge sticking out pinky finger on everything. It was nice to have a little break, and Austin met me at the urgent care for someone to talk to and moral support. Here are some pictures of our California trip.

This is Aaron in his car seat with his toys.

Ben traveling with Woody.

Food with Family! What a treat!

Grandma in her spot.

Robin, Rachel, Shane and Doug possibly talking about something scandalous...

Presents!

Some distant relative got some new underwear for Christmas.

The kids liked their new toys but they really liked wearing gift bags on their heads. Hum...

At Disneyland, the dentist in front of the disney dental office. Fun!

The twins on the teacup ride.

The animals on the circus train ride.

Austin and Rachel watching the parade.

Since Spencer and Luke took off by themselves for some big boy rides, Robin sayed with us. Here is the only picture of our group all together in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle.

Robin sometimes has an Eeyeore attitude, but she was really charming and fun the whole day at Disneyland. I am glad she stayed with us and we had so much fun.

Austin and his boys.

The boys and their favorite cars.

Aaron and I keeping warm.

Me and the girls I gave birth to.

The boys were so tired they just wanted to stay in the stroller but they didn't want to leave so we kept going.

We lucked out and found Minnie on Main Street!

The castle with snow!

Ben taking a nap the day after Disney. He loves his hat. He wears it every day, even today he wore it most of the day. He is very cute in his Mickey ears hat!

What a GREAT DAY!

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 22:01:22 GMT

Merry Christmas Everyone! and Happy Birthday to those who it applies! We have had a fantastic few days, with this morning's festivities the icing on the cake. We had so much fun, Santa must think we are all very good because he brought everyone lots and lots of fun things! He even wrapped up our living room and we LOVE it when he does that! The suspence of having prolonged secret presnets is amazing. The littles started sneaking in though a rip in the paper they tore while we were having breakfast. Funny, I looked over and saw 4 little feet crawling through the bottom of the wrapping paper into the living room. You can see it in the pictures, it was very cute. We also have some pictures of the big kids breaking through the big entry wrapped spot. Most importantly the whole family was together and that is all the present I needed! From singing caroles to opening presents it has been a fantastic Christmas! We're looking forward to seeing more family in California tomorrow and then visiting Mickey on Friday. Yippee! Enjoy the pictures and have a fantastic Christmas!

Poor Rachel, she really wanted to ride Aaron's new bike but he wasn't ready to share...

MMMM! Breakfast before presents! Traditional home made waffles and all the fixin's!

You guessed it, Aaron and his new bike from Santa! Benjamin got a scooter, but we don't have a picture of that yet...

Sneaking into the secret room full of presents.

More sneaking...

Breaking through!

We always knew Spencer was a teenage mutant but we found out about his secret amphibian nature this morning...

Aaron, sitting in his present, opening his other presents and hanging on to everything he gets! So cute! Love the chocolate face... it's his staple look!

Nothing like three white girls acting gansta.
Happy Holidays!

Christmas is almost here!

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 05:01:26 GMT

Today was over all one fantastic day! It started out with some minor irritations, but it turned out great. My mother-in-law has been here for a couple of days, which I thought would be worse than it was. She was nice and friendly to me and we had fun talking about sewing and baking. She shared some experiences from her life and told me about her kids when they were young. Today she left to stay at another son's home for a couple of days. It was a nice visit but I'm glad it's done. Luke came home!!! His flight landed at the airport just after noon today. We had a nice time chatting and laughing and catching up. He told me some of the differences between our neighborhood and his dad's. Mostly vernacular as it seems ebonics is the primary language there. It was a funny conversation. I had our Christmas stockings embroidered with our names on them and I got a call to pick them up today, so yippee! We will have stockings for Santa to fill this year! It was stressfull for me to hand them over as I feared they wouldn't be done, the shop closed and we wouldn't have stockings on Christmas. I got to make cookies, which is always fun. I took the little ones to the candy/ice cream shop down the street for a treat and they had my favorite ice cream in stock! They had been out for weeks. Did I mention Luke came home? :) I had listed some of my twin's old clothes on ebay, the auctions ended last night and today everyone paid! Shocker! Now all of the little ones are asleep, everyone is happy and life is good. I'm looking forward to some fun family holiday time. Off to the Chrsitmas parties and on to wrapping that mountain of presents! :)

More Fun Times!

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 23:45:16 GMT

So we're still getting ready for Christmas but we're almost there! Which is good because Christmas is almost here as well. We had our office Christmas party at Rockin R Ranch, which is lots of fun. We got to go on a wagon ride, the kids were thrilled with the horses, and we had fun watching the show and eating dinner. Rachel really loved it, so much she was up on the bench dancing with the show. She was really into it because her tongue was hanging out. We celebrated Austin's birthday yesterday, which was his actual birthday! It was fun, I think I get more excited then the family does about their birthdays. Rachel gave him matching sweatshirts and hats for them to wear that said "Big Daddy" and "Daddy's Little Girl". Aaron and Benjamin gave him a picture calendar from Kodak Gallery with pictures from our family through the years. He got a new apple laptop from me, and the older kids got together on some software to play with. For some bizare reason Robin bought him the DVD "The Tuxedo" with Jackie Chan and Jennifer Love Hewitt. Why? No clue but it's the thought that counts. It was just so random. I made him a cake, he requested cherry chip layered with cream cheese frosting. It was looking very Christmasy so I ran with the color theme and used green frosting and red and green sprinkles. It was cute, lopsided but cute. Today I finished up some stockings for some of our kids. One of our kids' stocking is MIA, one had candle wax spilt on it, and the three little guys stockings were just a little small for all of Santa's goodies. They were, after all, very good this year.

Last week was very odd. Several things happened that really made me appreciate my life and my family. Rachel's dance class went to another nursing home. The first we went to was actually an assisted living retirement complex, where older people live but they can pretty much take care of themselves. The place we went to last week was an actual nursing home. It was errily like the one where my dad lived. It made me feel so sad and those emotions of grief came back. It made me wonder if they ever will go away? I miss my dad very much but I'm glad he is in a better place. It was hard to see him in the home. It also made me really hope that I never have to see my mom like that and I really hope I never have to go there. It was a nice place, clean and everything it was just so sad. Those people were so lonely. Another thing is I just about finished making Austin's Christmas present. It was a lot of work but it was made with love. I am so excited to give it to him I can hardly wait for Christmas. It made me remember how creatively talented I can be and how excited I am to give. Another thing was at Rockin R Ranch. They had a big show where they sing and tell jokes, etc. It is very cute. We were sitting watching the show and Ben sat up in my lap and Aaron snuggled next to me and laid his head on my side while we were watching the show. Austin leaned over and said, "Oh! You are so lucky!" He was talking about the boys loving on me but I felt lucky because I have such a fantastic family. I felt lucky to have my twins (who are a ton of hard work and if they ever stop crying it will be a miracle) and I felt lucky to have such a great group of people to call my family and friends. I felt lucky to have a cute little girl dancing on the bench in her red cowboy boots like she was the only one there. I felt lucky to have a husband who cares about the family and is doing his best to be a great husband and father. I really appreciate everything my husband and family do for me and I have just been an emotional basket case about it this past week. :) Luke comes home on Thursday, Angela on Saturday and then we will have a few days to spend under the same roof. I feel like blasting Christmas music through the house and having a big pajama party. Only problem is that I am old and tired and would probably be the first to fall asleep. It is fun to have a big family. Lots of work but lots of fun - all worth it! Enjoy the pictures! (oh, I forgot - one picture is of our dog, Casey. I put my turban on her head when I was playing with her. She looked so funny we took a picture. I think she liked it.)

I really like the smoke in this picture!

Our beautiful, giant Christmas tree!

We've been BUSY and YES! these are MY children!

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 23:10:07 GMT

Okey dokey! I downloaded pictures today of some of the things we've been up to. First of all, we went to the mall a couple weeks ago and took some pictures of the kids in the play area. They had so much fun and they really love to play at the mall. To them it's way better than the park as it's climate controlled and there's no sand. (Rachel doesn't like the sand) Next is Rachel at her little dance demonstration at the retirement center. She is so outgoing and did such a great job. She started out dancing her dance like the other girls and then started making funny faces at me while dancing "freestyle" (aka like a wild child). Then she started slapping her butt like Josie in Never Been Kissed after eating special brownies. It was SO funny. I was bummed I forgot the video camera but I captured some of the butt slapping with the digital camera, as you can see here. Austin was mowing the lawn and Aaron went about helping him, mowing right along side with his little mower. SO CUTE! Last night we went to "A Night in Bethlehem" which tells the story of Jesus' birth and everyone is supposed to dress in biblical attire. Austin was asked to be the lead Roman soldier so we all went as Romans... always the controversial family, I know. We did get lots of compliments on our costumes and lots of people commented that we were the best dressed family there. It was fun. Today Spencer turned 18. YIKES! 18! We had a small family party for him. He was very happy with his new car stereo (which may be worth more than his car... just kidding). I feel oddly accomplished in having a child turn into an adult. Spencer is uniquely responsible and over all a super great kid. It would be hard to be his sibling I suppose. Today is the first day I have really felt in the "Christmas Spirit" as I am finally getting excited about the holiday. I am looking forward to seeing family and exchanging gifts (I LOVE to give presents!) I am also looking forward to the excitement of Santa coming for the little ones. I am so proud of all of my children, the ones I gave birth to and the ones I am privilieged to be married into. Of all the things I've done in life I have to say I am most proud of my fantastic family. (mush mush) I truly LOVE my family!

Blah blah blah

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 03:34:29 GMT

So we got the tree and the kids decorated it today. It looks nice but the tree is huge. I would have gotten a much smaller tree as I would rather have the space but... compromise... It is a beautiful tree and I'm glad it's up and done. I think I am having hormonal and emotional difficulties. I'm not supposed to but since my surgery I have been kind of moody. I'm having trouble deciding what's because of the crappiness of life and what's because I'm messed up. I guess there's no way to tell. I wish I had more percocet. Just kidding. We took the littles to a huge neighborhood Christmas party last night where they got to meet Santa. It was a theme party and the theme was Disney. Many people were dressed up as Disney characters and I did most (all but 3) of the costumes. It was fun to see so many people wear my stuff. Austin and I went as Robin Hood and Maid Marian. After evey one else took costumes there weren't many options. At least I was warm as I grabbed a cloak and my earmuffs. (it has been rainy, windy and cold here). I'm adding the picture from the party, one of Luke from his birthday and one of Tina from her birthday.

Hope you are all doing well and are enjoying this festive season!

Time flies bye

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 19:38:30 GMT

Here we are, four birthday's and one major holiday down, three birthday's and two major holidays to go... I feel like I have to hurry up and get done with one so I can start the next. There is only a few days between each at our house so I guess that's how it's gotta be. We celebrated Christina's birthday yesterday and we will celebrate Spencer's next Sunday. Then Austin's and then we will have a short break before Christmas. The littles and I started getting the Christmas decorations out of the attic today but after chasing Ben down the street three times I gave up on the out door decor festivities and decided to wait for child care help to finish. Thanksgiving was great - our family dinner on Friday was fantastic. I was SO happy to have my whole family together. It was the first time in forever. Angela is doing well in school, though she is pulling a tight schedule. Luke seems to be doing great at his dad's house though I know he enjoyed seeing his friends here in Mesa. Christmas shopping seems like a fantasy that may or may not happen at this point. We went out on Saturday to shop but it is next to impossible to find things for the teens that they will like (I have gift receipts for every thing) and I can't shop with the littles for the littles, plus they have so much they really don't need anything but a couple of fun things. I'm sure it will all come together and be great! I better climb back into the attic and find more stuff to put up. Inside. So the kids don't run away. LOL

Happy Thanksgiving!

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 00:44:20 GMT

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We spent the day with Austin's family and we're looking forward to having our own little T-day celebration tomorrow. Since it was the first time in FOREVER that our whole family was together we took our Christmas pictures. (yes, that means matching jammies) but this year I bought them instead of making them. As you can see in the pictures Benjamin and Aaron were having a blast. We are also glad Luke was able to come home for pictures. He has been in Mesa this week but staying with a friend. He will come home for our big dinner tomorrow (it's also his birthday). Angela is home for one night (or at least she's sleeping here but she's off to a football game). The teenage girls are off to the movies and Aaron and I are spending the early evening together as Rachel and Ben tagged along with driver dad. We are looking forward to seeing Steve and Jen at the zoo on Saturday - I'm sure we will have more pictures to post then!

Love you all and have a great day!

Good times!

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 14:55:11 GMT

We had Aaron and Benjamin's birthday celebration last night. We had pizza for dinner (their FAVORITE) and then opened presents and had cake and icecream. It was lots of fun. The best part was the smiles on the boys faces when they opened their presents and got to touch thier cake. They are not officially 2 until tomorrow but it was super fun to celebrate with them. They each got a giant Tonnka dump truck (different ones) and lots of Cars toys, talking dinosaurs, books, cowboy boots, and action figures. Rachel had a tough day. She was jealous, but kind and troubled when the twins didn't "share" their special new toys. There were pleanty to go around, but she wanted the ones they were playing with at the moment. She was a great helper and fantastic big sister. It was just hard for her to understand why her birthday is in May and their's is in November. I also loaded Spencer's Homecoming pictures from a couple weeks ago. He had his hot date again who drove all the way from Pinetop (3 hours!) to go to Homecoming with him. Funny thing is she didn't want to put his flower on so she had someone's grandma do it. That's the old lady in the pictures pinning Spencer. It was very funny.

Time is FLYING by!

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 03:05:11 GMT

This past week has been crazy! To top it all off I spent yesterday sick and barfing. Today is much better and Luke is coming home for a week on Saturday. It will be interesting to see how he is doing. The twins will be 2 on Wednesday and then it's on to Thanksgiving and Luke's 16th birthday. I'm happy he will be home for his birthday! Then on to Christina's birthday, then Spencer's, Austin's and Christmas (and Natalie's birthday!) Then New Year's and Jamies birthday. We have one big thing a week until the middle of January. It will be fun to watch the boys open their presents tomorrow night and eat their cake. I'll post pictures soon!

Everyone's sick!!!

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 14:11:46 GMT

OH NO~ Austin is sick, Aaron is sick, Benjamin is sick, Rachel is sick... the twins have been barfing as well. Gross! Everyone else is stuffed up (well I think Spencer is healthy for now). AARRGGG! I loaded everyone up with Motrin this morning with high hopes it will cover the crankies.

On a good note, I get to pick out the twin's birthday cake today or tomorrow. I think we're going with a Cars theme as it's the current movie on 24/7. We'll see what they have at Sam's club. We're going to celebrate on Monday night. Should be fun!

Pictures

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 20:47:09 GMT

We took the three littles to get their picture taken last Friday afternoon. Spencer came with us to help. Here are some of the pictures we got. We are usually unsucessful in getting all 3 to sit and smile for us anymore so I am learning to accept individual photo's of the kids. These are very good ones and I am super happy with the way they turned out! Enjoy!

Hummm......

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 14:48:04 GMT

Ok, here's some positive to ease the pain...

No more late night visits from the police
No more calls from the school
No more drama at random times of the day/night
No more walking on egg shells so I don't upset things when they're going well
Less laundry to wash
Less dirty dishes

but I still want him to stay home and I still would rather deal with all of that stuff than have him leave. Mostly I just want him to be clean and to be happy. I agree with Spencer this morning. We were talking and I told him he was finally going to have his own room. He said, yup - but he didn't want his own room this way. I wanted all the drama to stop - but not this way.

Today is honestly one of the 2 worst days of my life. Really.

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 02:53:14 GMT

Ok, today really stinks. For those of you who aren't aware, we are having lots of battles with our 15 year old son. We love him tons but he is making poor choices, still on drugs and sneaking out of the house. He will lie to my face and talk back. We have had the police in our home 3 times in the last month and about a dozen calls from the school about his behavior or failing grades. Until last night I was calm, I told him I loved him and I told him I wasn't mad but I was worried because he faces probation and possible jail time. Last night I got a call at 1am from his friends mom asking if I had seen her son. I went upstairs to ask Luke and he wasn't in his bed. In his place were some pillows under the blanket. So, again with the police and again with him sneaking in and, yes, he was high. He lied about everything and I knew where he was (because I saw him online) and yet he denied it all. The police gave him the talk. Again. We were up until just after 5 am with the drama. I was so angry with him and I told him so. I told him he was ruining his chances of making a good impression with the judge. I told him I didn't know what to do anymore because he is so disrespectful. Today I did some homework on rehab type schools that cater to teens in trouble. They are all out of state, very expensive and they want him for 90 days to a full year. I told Luke when he came home from school that he had severly limited my options on what to do and that we could not continue the way it was going. I told him about the rehab and he freaked out. I told him I could let the judge decide and if he got caught again between now and the court date then it would be on him. I told him I could let go of my parental rights and give him to foster care. None of those options were working for me, but I didn't tell him that. He freaked out, told me he hates me and called his dad. After a very long telephone conversation with his dad (and after I talked to his dad as well) it was decided that Luke is going to move in with his dad. Tomorrow. I am crushed. I fought for the kids their whole life. I have always been their only advocate and now he is leaving and he doesn't ever want to live with me again. I told him I have visitation rights and he will come home for his court date. This is killing me. I am hurting so much inside as I want what's best for him but he doesn't want to change. I hope this is a good decision, we will see. I told him I love him very much and I told him even though he doesn't care about me I will always love him. I also gave him his birthday present, since we won't be together on his birthday.

Maybe it'snot over...

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 14:26:56 GMT

Ok, teenagers are great. After our big Halloween party Saturday night I asked each of the teenagers to put away 5 decorations. I thought they were great - everyone did it right away and the decorations disappeared on a quick attempt to start cleaning up. After putting the big stuff away yesterday morning ( we have huge inflatables we put in the front yard and a real size coffin that was in the entry way) I went about some costume inventory. Of course I ran out of time before I finished so I work up early, did a quick work out and then continued on the inventory. As I was going through the costumes I uncovered a HUGE pile of Halloween decorations from Sunday. Those kids just piled them up in the game room and stuffed them under costumes. Not even in the attic, not in the boxes they came from, not even in the same room where the attic door is! Geesh! And I thought I was making progress. Two steps forward and one step back??? Kids... gotta love 'em!