Works for me Wednesday

Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer is hosting Works for me Wednesday, stop over for more ideas!

My kids hate vegetables, and pretty much any green food. Raw, cooked, steamed, whatever, they don't want to eat it. Well, the boys are getting better, especially the teens who eat anything that will stay put on a plate...

I especially want to get good veggies in my kids, so I decided to sneak them in other foods. I chop up spinach and put it in pizza sauce! And my favorite is to use spinach and grated carrots in meatloaf. They really don't know its there, and can't taste it. But they get their veggies in, like it or not!

The pick the spinach out of Chicken spinach risotto, so this is sneaky! If its chopped small enough, they can't tell its there in the pizza sauce, which normally has little green herbs in it! They do see it in the meatloaf, but they did eat it. You could puree it and they'd be none the wiser.

I bet it would work in chili, homemade hamburgers, soups, stews........ Any other ideas where to sneak in those extra vitamins?

Leave me a comment and I'll add you to my post!

My Mom and the maze that is my home

When Samuel was born my mom came to stay with me for a week to help out, since we knew I would have a c-section. She was the biggest help! She got more laundry done in a week than I'd seen done the whole time I had morning sickness, lol. Of course she PAID my kids to let her do thier laundry! Yep! She paid them $20 to bring their laundry down for her to wash. How could it get any better, I ask you?

But the best part of the week was watching my mom get lost in my house 4-5 times a day! We have a circular path on the main floor. You can walk from living room to dining room to the tiny hall outside the nursery to the kitchen to the hall with the bathroom to the living room again. So, she'd be heading for the bathroom and end up in the nursery. Or she'd be trying for the bedroom/nursery and end up in the hall to the bathroom. Every single day. Without fail! The funniest was when she was in the hallway to the bathroom and asked one of the kids where the bathroom was!

I told her we'd never know she was lost if she'd just keep going, since its a big circle, but then it wouldn't have been nearly as funny, either!

Hi, mom! You knew this had to come out one day! You know, not even Trinity got lost the first day we moved in, and she was only a year old. This is really funny!

But, if you all want to laugh really, REALLY hard, head over to It Coulda Been Worse and read her post on The perfect gift. Seriously pee your pants funny! I was laughing so hard that I could barely read it to my husband, who was trying to figure out what I was in hysterics about. My 17yo ds was wiping tears away, too, lol. It has to be THE best post I've ever read! EVER!

Rememberings #2 Things Drew has done

Things Drew has done over the years.

Drew is a little stinker. He started out a very cute, sweet baby. He was a happy fella. Then he turned 1 ½.

He used to hate being left anywhere. Then he decided he never wanted to return home and would scream all the way home from whereever we were leaving. One time someone even stopped me to make sure he wasn't injured or kidnapped! Another time I was in premature labor and not allowed to pick him up, so I had to hold onto a tiny bit of hair so that he wouldn't throw himself on the ground or run off on me because he didn't want to leave the playground.

He drank everything. There was no place to put things he couldn't reach. And 17 years ago you didn't have access to as many child locks as you do now, and not overseas, and no internet for the most part. He drank a bottle of infant Tylenol. He drank his sister's albuterol. He drank a bottle of Windex with Vinegaurd. (same symptoms as the flu, and not nearly as big a deal as the Tylenol!)

Did I mention nowhere was safe from Drew? He superglued his eye OPEN.

While we were getting ready to go somewhere, he took his blow-up swimming pool and went for a walk. A friend was staying with us and happened to be out for a walk and found him! We had been searching all over for him!

He liked to break my vase collection one by one.

He liked to color things blue. I woke up to blue handprints on my back one morning. And blue lines on my walls and head board and hallway. Not to mention the Little boy blue....... incident.

He also had a knack for bumping his head. Always had goose eggs.

He tried to "help" me iron one day and burned his hand really bad. It blistered. My cousin told him it was teenage mutant ninja turtle ooze in there, so he popped it. She was no longer the favorite cousin.

When he was 7 he told me "When I grow up I'm going to save the rainforest." I asked him why, since we are not "tree-huggers." He replied in all seriousness "Well, I have a mom and 2 sisters and I plan to get married one day, and the cocoa bean grows there. We don't want to run out of chocolate." Seriously. I didn't know whether to laugh, or cry because I am that bad.

Drew has been a preacher/evangelist since he was 4. Telling people in bank lines about Jesus, and friends very feminist minded mom's about Jesus, anyone who would listen got to hear. He's still doing it, too.

Sunday Festivus #3

I could really blow off steam here, but complaining about others isn't the point, right?

Ok, I guess I can blame it on myself, lol. I need to be more forceful with the kids and discipline. And more disciplined myself.

For some reason the kids don't do their chores on Sundays. Well, they rarely do their chores unless I have fits. They know their chores, but have their own ideas about when to do them and how much to actually do.

Then there's the issues of mom saying "no" so going behind my back to dad and getting a "yes." Yep, that one gets my goat! We always discipline HARD for that one, so I don't know why they try that one. I wonder how often they get away with it without us finding out in order to make it worth trying.

And then there's potty training. I think I am getting too old. Trinity is winning. I mean, all the older kids DID get potty trained, so I must have figured something out, but not with her. She downright prefers peeing in her pants to using the toilette at home, in public she loves to use the bathroom. She was dry at church today from 8:30-2! By 4 she'd pooped her pants. She told me to leave her room so she could play, and promptly pooped her pants.

I sent a check with one of my kids for sports fees, and found the check today, dated 12/19! You gotta be kidding me! And why didn't I notice this in my check book balancing??? Yep, not balancing! Gosh, I need to get serious about THAT, too.

No more letting the kids trade in their discipline for work. The work rarely gets done to satisfaction, and usually they don't care because they already had their priveledge restored. Or, it takes days and days to get the chore done. Why should they work at it? They don't have motivation anymore, I can't take away the activity after the fact.

Ok, done griping. I think I need a New Year's Resolution after all. Get strict! And mean it!

Trinity Funnies

So today we are on day 2 of potty boot camp. I am much harder on her than most people should be, because she WAS potty trained a year ago, before I got pregnant. So, we KNOW she is rebelling and is perfectly able to do this.
The rules are if she goes potty in the potty chair she gets a book read to her. If she poops in the potty she gets a popsicle. If she is dry all day she gets a present out of the goody bag. If she goes in her pants she gets a spanking and has to clean it up. (she pees on beds just to pee on beds, its really out of control.)
Yesterday after about 3 spankings for peeing on things I find her without her panties. I sent her to go get them and she starts swatting her own butt! I figured at that point she must have peed in them, cause I'm just that good. I kept sending her for them, and she kept swatting her hiney and not bringing me the panties. So at this point I know she peed. I had to spank her, cause I said so. After her swat she says "Why you do THAT!?" "Because if you pee in your pants you get a spanking." "I spank-Ed mySelf!" LOL
So today she's peeing in the potty chair with lots of prompting from mom and baby Sam. Then I smell something. Yep, she's playing in her poop. So, I haul her off to the bathroom, clean her up, make her clean up the poop and give her a swat on the bum. One tiny turd dropping had landed on the blanket she was laying on so I gave her toilette paper to clean it up and told her to throw it away. About 30 minutes later she comes up to me and says "Mommy, I got the poop out of my nose!"
She did have what looked like poop smear on her finger, but I didn't dare ask if she meant a booger or real poop. Later I found the toilette paper without the turd..... not in the trash....

But! She hasn't peed in her pants all day and its almost 7:30 at night!

Ok, as I typed that last sentence, she was peeing in her pants. 30 mintues away from a prize.

Rememberings #1 The neighbors and the tree

I have been surfing blogs lately, whats new??, and I have come across so many posts that have brought back memories that I just have to blog about! I don't want to forget things, you know. So I am going to start a Rememberings posting.

A few years ago we moved into a rental house. I was pregnant when we moved in and in the midst of horrid morning sickness. I was soooo sick that I had to be hospitalized for it.
The day after I got home from the hospital I hear the doorbell ring. I drug myself down the stairs to answer the door and it is our elderly neighbor's slightly younger than she is, son. Meaning he isn't young, either, probably a grandpa. He tells me to get outside and see what my kids are doing, in his huffy voice. I asked him why. And he just repeated the demand that I get out there now and see what they did. "Look, I just got out of the hospital yesterday, I am NOT coming outside right now until you tell me why and I can decide if I should." So he says my kids cut down branches out of a tree. I was so horrified! "They cut down branches in one of your mother's trees?" "No, they cut down branches in one of your trees."
"You are freaking out at me over a tree in our yard?"
"Well, those branches don't grow back!"
"Umm, really, a tree in our yard and you are over here freaking out at me?"
"My mom has to look at those trees and it is ugly to have one tree with branches cut off!"
"Ok, I'll have my husband look at it when he gets home."
"No, you need to get out here and see what they did!"
"No, my husband will take care of it."
"But they cut down the branches on a tree!"
"What do you want me to do, go glue the branches back on??"
"I'm calling your landlords!" Blah blah blah... you get the drift.
Well, it turns out they cut a few branches off the bottom of a fir tree, which actually made it so we can mow under it and it quit catching all the garbage blowing around town! And the landlords didn't care at all.

But from then on, anytime her cable went out the called the landlords and blamed it on us or our trees and all sorts of things. I went over there to see what on earth they think my kids did to their cable. It turns out that it worked on one tv, not the other. And what does that have to do with my kids?? Yep, she's OLD, and he's a nutcase. They called our landlords and told them we were having an unsupervised fire in our backyard when we were barbequing! LOL The landlords actually came out and saw that they are crazy, so that helped us a ton.

Yep, we moved!

Things heard and done at our house recently

A few weeks ago I was complaining to my mom about Trinity and her little terror episodes and mom asked me "Why aren't you spanking her?" Not because my mom wants her adorable grandbaby spanked, because she doesn't. She was making fun of me because I am definately a spanking advocate, and spanked my older children faithfully. I told this to a girlfriend, big mistake. I was speaking to Sheree on the phone the other day and complaining about Trinity, and she says saracastically "Why aren't you spanking her?" And right out of my mouth without thinking comes this: "Because she doesn't like it!" Oh my gosh the laughter!

Last night, as I was putting Trinity to bed (after dealing with the pee she'd peed in it for fun earlier in the day) she asks me to read her a book. My throat is sore from a cold so I told her no, I need to go clean something. Then a brilliant idea hits me! "Maybe I should read you a book every time you use the potty chair!" And Trinity says "Just a minute, mom!" and she concentrates really hard, then looks back at me and says "I need to go potty!" She found a way to get that book read! LOL

After that story I went up stairs to watch some tv with the hubby. We were watching a CSI episode where a guy in the middle of a sex change operation is murdered. They discovered "she" was a "he" by seeing his huge feet. Devon comes up the stairs and says "My legs feel funny." Dh, being the concerned, fix-it dad that he is gets all concerned "Whats the matter, what part feels funny?" Devon lifts up his pants leg and says "I shaved my legs." Donnie almost starts gagging! Oh it was soo funny! I'm grossed out, too, I mean, my growing man-child has sexy, smooth girlly legs with ginormous man feet! He's a swimmer and sectionals is almost here, he probably wants to shave some time off his score.

Also last night, which was apparently a night for funnies.... Kaytlin, 15, saw my blog about the Superman diaper and said she saw someone at school wearing a Superman Thong and though to herself "My brother will be wearing one of those soon." I did a double take. Huh? Which of your brothers plans to start wearing thongs??? Drew? "No, SAM will be wearing a Superman diaper on his butt soon!" Whew, I was scared for a minute there! (and then later that night the whole leg shaving......)

Thursday Thirteen #3

Thirteen replies to stupid things people say to large families. I have tons more comments that I forgot about, lol, so I could go on forever with this one! I'll refresh your memory on the question/comments and then do the replies.
(Please keep in mind that these are just "comebacks" to people who are actually rude enough to ask someone they don't know about their birthcontrol choices! I am not serious about all of them, just trying to bring humor out, or shock people with how unbelievably rude of a question they have just asked! Or insinuated that kids are not valuable and are undesirable in front of my children.)
1. Are they all yours?
1. No, the rest are at home! or No, I left the ugly ones at home.
2. Don't you know what causes that?
2. Yes, but we just love pizza! or Yes, and we are REALLY good at it!
3. Boy, you sure have your hands full.
3. Yes, full of love, and its great!
4. Why would you WANT so many kids?
4. To pay for my social security when I'm old!
5. Haven't you heard about birth control?
5. Birth control is for ugly people.
6. You are overpopulating the world!
6. Seriously, the world is going backwards in population, and the entire world population could stand side by side in the city of Jacksonville, Fl.
7. Are you done yet?
7. I hope not! or Nope, we're only halfway!
8. Are you crazy!
8. Crazy for our kids!
9. Better you than me!
9. Why, yes, obviously its better me than you, I LOVE my great kiddos!
10. How can you possibly give them everything they need/enough love?
10. Oh, dear, I didn't even think about how I was going to run out of love after 2 kids! Geesh, I should give some away! and The kids have everything they need, and most of what they want, with just enough laking to keep them from being spoiled! AND we don't use welfare to raise them.
11. Are you Catholic or Mormon?
11. Nope, I'm just a regular ole Christian who loves the Lord and all the blessings He deems we need.
12. Are you trying for your own sports team?
12. Actually, we are trying to take over the world!

13. How will you pay for all of their college?

13. College? Whats that? We didn't get college paid for, and we are doing awesome, so will our kids. Finding ways to pay for it is a great learning tool for people, and it also teaches creativity and determination for situations in their futures.

Check out other Thursday Thirteens here!

Cloth Diapering Obsession

Update on 4/4/07: Pic has been removed at the request of the mom whose baby it was on, she revoked the request because I would obey her and not only give a link to the mom who made the dipe but name her and endorse her before I had tried a dipe. She made accusations and lied about me and the pic, I proved her wrong in the public forum she posted it in, and now she wants her pic down. So, at the ranting tirade of a 2yo mom, the pic has been changed to my Mudpie Babies dipe, until someone else with a FF Superman dipe comes forward with a pic of their babe in it! Or maybe the owner would like to volunteer one.

I'm a tight-wad. I hate spending money. I hate throwing things out. Somethings are worth the money when saving time, but generally, I hate wasting money. So, I begged Donnie to let me cloth diaper Trinity. He would not go for it. (knowing I am lazy, he thought they wouldn't get washed and would be ruined) Plus, he didn't want to deal with cloth and dunking and rinsing and stuff.
So, when pregnant with Sam, I showed him some info on the poisons in disposables and the things it causes, like asthma. Then I showed him how much it costs to use disposables, and what it costs to use cloth, even with washing expenses. And then I showed him the resale value of cloth diapers! Its insane! I can almost diaper for free! Upfront costs, but back end sales... I'm all for the money! So, we use cloth for Sam.
I love BumGenius! diapers from Cotton Babies. They are one-size diapers, and fit my newborn and my 3yo! Easy for everyone to use, they go on just like a disposable! I just wash every other day, and I do it, too! I LOVE cloth diapering! Ever hear anyone say that about disposables?
So, since I'm a tight-wad, I surf diaperswappers.com for deals on my diapers. The other day I came across this Superman diaper similar to this pic. I. WILL. HAVE. ONE. My baby WILL be SuperSam! I found the post after the diaper had been sold. Shoot! So I emailed the seller and tracked down the maker of the dipe, and she doesn't make diapers anymore!!!!!! She did tell me she got the logo off ebay, though. (hers isn't this actual pic, its a smaller version) So, then I do the search for more Superman diapers and I found the one that is in this pic. And I advertised that I am in DESPERATE search for this diaper! I got the maker to email me, hehe. But she is almost impossible to hire! She posts two diapers for sale every other week, and you have to sit at the computer when she posts them and be the first to hit buy now!!! This diaper is not a one-size. It will only fit for a little while, and its not gender nuetral. Why am I doing this?? I MUST HAVE ONE!!!

So, I send an email to a group I belong to about it. And the owner of SnootyBootyDiapers emailed me and found a maker for me. The only problem here is that her dipes are more expensive (not Lynda's, but the makers) and side snaps, which I don't like the looks of. BUT it would be a Superman diaper. And then a friend on the list who makes MudpieBabie diapers said she had the materials to make it, but has to find the pattern to embroider it. Her diapers are reasonable, but I'd probably need to go a little higher since she is having to go special buy a pattern for me.

And THEN the lady who bought the diaper that started this whole obsession emailed me and offered to sell me the diaper when she gets it, because while she likes the diaper, it isn't a "MUST HAVE" like it is to me. LOL Wasn't that the sweetest thing ever!?! I won't take a Superman diaper off another cute hiney, though.

So, I am still on the hunt, but I know I will be getting a SuperSam hiney in the near future! I don't know what it will cost me, but I know it won't be as much as this diaper! THATS INSANE! I promise I will never get so obsessed over a diaper that I would pay $205 for it! I will pay over $30 for Superman, though, hehe. I must have one!

And I will be sitting on ff's website waiting for her to post her openings and try to get one of the slots faster than the other 200+ people trying!

Sunday Festivus #2, but week #3

Sunday Festivus is something started by Terrific Teens to gripe about yourself or something other than other people.

I am sick of our family being SICK. Flus and colds and flus and colds and surgery. I've been sick or bed-ridden for the majority of the last 11 months. 22 weeks of morning sickness, then all sorts of pregnancy problems leading to bedrest. The kids even had a nasty week long per kid virus while I was in the midst of morning sickness. I finally have the baby, and spend 5 weeks recovering from the c-section, and find myself in complete agony! Apparently I have a very, very diseased gall bladder. But I can't get it taken out for several weeks because of the c-section. Then we get the flu for a week over Christmas. Then I have the gall bladder surgery. Then we get colds.
I'm ready for some healthy months over here.
What can I do to make this happen? Well, for starters I can make healthier food, and force the kids to make it on their nights. I can also be rigid on bed times so everyone gets enough rest. (thats hard because the older kids and dh and I love to watch Scrubs, and its on from 11 to 12 pm week nights!) I can also start taking garlic oil. And buy some peroxide so I can put that in our ears, it is supposed to get rid of colds. I'll have to try that.

Random stuff

Look at this great photo made out of TOAST. Seriously artistic, huh?!

I've homeschooled my children, and I have some learning disabilities in some of my children, so education is important to me. There is a great video here, click on the purple box, about children and education. Don't let your child be a kangaroo, or a fish!

And now a couple videos to make you chuckle!


And:



And:



I hope you had fun! Everyone needs a good laugh now and then!

Thursday Thirteen #2

Thirteen stupid things people say to large families.

1. Are they all yours?
2. Don't you know what causes that?
3. Boy, you sure have your hands full.
4. Why would you WANT so many kids?
5. Haven't you heard about birth control?
6. You are overpopulating the world!
7. Are you done yet?
8. Are you crazy!
9. Better you than me!
10. How can you possibly give them everything they need/enough love?
11. Are you Catholic or Mormon?
12. Are you trying for your own sports team?
13. How will you pay for all of their college?

Watch next week for 13 replies to those 13 comments! A bit funny, a bit sassy, and a bit of love.

Check out other Thursday Thirteens here!

Works for me Wednesday- Ziploc Omelettes

This works great!!! Good for when all your family is together ! The best part is that no one has to wait for their special omelet!!!
Have guests write their name on a quart-size Ziploc freezer bag with permanent marker.
Crack 2 eggs (large or extra-large) into the bag (not more than 2) shake to combine them.
Put out a variety of ingredients such as: cheeses, ham, onion, green pepper, tomato, hash browns, salsa, etc.
Each guest adds prepared ingredients of choice to their bag and shake. Make sure to get the air out of the bag and zip it up.
Place the bags into rolling, boiling water for exactly 13 minutes. You can usually cook 6-8 omelets in a large pot. For more, make another pot of boiling water.
Open the bags and the omelet will roll out easily. Be prepared for everyone to be amazed.
Nice to serve with fresh fruit and coffee cake; everyone gets involved in the process and a great conversation piece.
Imagine having these ready the night before, and putting the bag in boiling water while you get ready.? And in 13 minutes, you got a nice omelette for a quick breakfast!!!
Good for camping too!

Devon WINS!

Devon takes first place in the 100m Individual Medley! This is a JV race. He is in lane 3. Some of the kids were swimming the 200m, so don't be confused by the kids who kept swimming, they weren't too stupid to stop, hehe.

What superhero are you?

Your results:
You are Superman

Superman 85% Spider-Man 75% Supergirl 70% Wonder Woman 65% Robin 55% Catwoman 55% Batman 50% Green Lantern 50% Hulk 45% The Flash 40% Iron Man 40%

You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

Tag, I'm It!

Tag I am it!
Pam over at Terrific Teens tagged me for this meme... so here goes...
1. If you had to choose one vice in exclusion of all others what would it be? I don't know what would be worse, losing computer or Dt. Dr. Pepper.
2. If you could change one specific thing about the world what would it be? I want everyone to learn about Jesus and have the opportunity to choose Him freely, without condemnation.
3. Name the cartoon character you identify with the most. Jessica Rabbit, I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way! LOL No, really I think people misunderstand me sometimes, maybe the tone of my voice or I just don't explain well.
4. If you could live one day in your life over again which one would it be? There are SOO many. I'd love to go back and stop myself from saying and doing things, lol. Assuming I wouldn't have the option of knowing what I know now, I would choose to go back and enjoy my vacation to FL last summer.
5. If you could go back in history and spend a day with one person who would it be? I actually wouldn't choose to go back to see Jesus, because I am afraid I would be one of the people who didn't recognize Him as the Son of God. I would like to meet my grandmother who died before I was born.
6. What is the one thing you lost, sold or threw away that you wish you could have back? I lost a locket that my dad gave me for Confirmation in a boyfriend's car.
7. What is your one most important contribution to this world? Well, I have 7 kids, and it doesn't get more important than that. But I started a Crisis Pregnancy Center in Germany.
8. What is your one hidden talent that nearly no one knows about? I can sew tiny seed beads in a pretty pattern around glass ornaments. The talent is threading a needle with an eye too small to see. And then fitting it and the thread through a tiny seed bead. And not breaking the thread or glass ornament. I also decorate 3D cakes.
9. What is your most cherished possession? I don't have a big attatchment to things. Especially after having kids who destory everything. I don't own my kids. I'd cry if I lost my house.
10. What one person influenced your life the most when growing up? Well, more when I was an adult, but still immature. My friend Juli who lead me to the Lord. She influenced a lot of things in my life. Homeschooling, parenting, being a wife, and being a Christian.
11. What one word describes you better than any other? I don't know. I'm not a peacekeeper, lol. Hard-headed? Strong-willed? Stubborn? Social. Kind.
I know "Mom."

Please participate!

Boomama is organizing a fund raising for Kelly to help with Cobra payments. Please head over to Boomama's and see what all the fuss is about and try to give to Kelly. Every little bit helps, and when a lot of people give what they can it helps in a big way. God can multiply our givings in amazing ways and every penny we give will make a difference.
Go see what the fuss is about! And please give. www.boomama.net

More Master of Disaster happenings

Oh dear. I left the kids home while I went to a meeting. I was gone for a little over two hours. I left a 17 year old in charge. The meeting was great, we accomplished a lot in planning for our new church directory. We even accomplished some sharing and caring as good friends.

So, I happily stop at the store and pick up a few things then run home. Upon opening the door I find the refridgerator door wide open. There are no kids around. Hmmm. Oh, there's chocolate milk all over the fridge. I head to the bathroom and found toothpaste spread all over the bathroom counter/sink. And some blood. Probably the 3-4th bloody nose of the day for Trinity. Then she comes out of her room and finds me and tells me she pooped. Yep, she pooped all right. She was nekkid and had poop all over her legs and between her toes. I can smell it in her room, but I can't FIND it! There is some under Sam's crib, but I just don't think there is enough for the level of stink and the amount on her.
The baby slept through the whole time I was gone, which is the reason 17yo thinks its ok to ignore the 3yo.

Student of the Month!

Here is Kaytlin recieving her certificate. She worked hard to get good grades, and she really deserves it. The community gave several certificates for freebies, and that thrilled her! She used to get things like that with honor roll in the middle school, but not the high school.

Trinity Funnies

Yesterday Trinity went up to daddy and said "Daddy, I have a bloody nose on my foot." She gets frequent nose bleeds, lol, so she calls all bleeding a bloody nose, apparently. I asked her what happened, why are you bleeding? She said "Cause I picked it." Just like she picks her nose and bleeds!
Our house is almost 100 years old and there are many weird things going on. This morning Trinity was spinning around in my computer chair, she was on her tummy with her legs on the floor pushing herself around. When the chair turned to facing the desk it went sliding right under the desk on the slope that is our floor, and says "whoa, its getting dark!" as she slid all the way underneath the desk, lol.

Thursday Thirteen #1

Thirteen things I like about my kids!

1. I like that they are respectful to adults and call them Mr. and Mrs. and Sir or Ma'm.
2. I like that they are way better in public than they are at home, lol. People think I have awesome kids all the time.
3. I love that they are reasonable, eventually, and will hear what we have to say, even if they don't agree. And they obey it, even if they don't like it.
4. I like how my kids reach out and befriend people. Especially the new kid wherever they are.
5. I love how great my kids are at acting! People always compliment me when they do skits at church.
6. I love how talented they are! Drew is a speech competitor, Kaytlin is learning the electric guitar on her own and playing in the worship team, Devon is a swimming star in the making, and hopefully a track star, too. Cody is an awesome video game player. Hope-Anne is great at drawing, but so is Drew. Trin and Sam haven't developed their skills yet. Now add the drama to the oldest 3 kids, they are incredible!
7. I like how sensitive they are to others. They love to serve and go on mission trips, even to the homeless shelter or France. Operation Christmas Child every year. Or small things, like working around the church for no recognition.
8. I like that my kids are really responsible at what they get to do, like driving. My kids won't even speed when I tell them to. See, more responsible than I am.
9. I like that my kids pick good friends. And the ones that aren't so good are there to be witnesses to. They are all bold, as far as the teenagers go.
10. I like that my teens will be seen with me in public. Although sometimes they do hide their faces in their hoodies, they still come with me!
11. I like that my kids are willing to help out and go without when money is tight.
12. I love that my kids are not greedy and don't expect tons of presents for things. They are happy with getting anything, and don't complain when they are forgotten by others. And are so grateful to people who do remember them.
13. I like my kids because my kids are likeable! And they are MINE, and you can't have them!

I can't figure out how to get the links here, hopefully my husband will try to help me soon! Leave links in my comments if you want, I'd love to come read!

The latest from the Master of Disaster over here...

She did it again. This is actually the third time in

a month that she's done it. Emptied an entire can of fish food into the fish tank. This time it was algae. Look at all algae we were able to get out of the tank, can you imagine how bad it was? That is the tank AFTER we cleaned it. I think our plecostemus will grow an inch after this episode, and our snails should be a mite bigger, too.

The bugger "helped" me at the grocery store quite a bit today, too. I managed to get down the aisle with only 4 items I had no intention of buying. She's been really good otherwise, she even ATE lunch AND supper today! She didn't poop or pee anywhere she isn't allowed to, either.

Congratulations, Kaytlin!

My kids do not read my blog, so really this is a brag on my kid post, hehe. Bare with me. The pic is Kaytlin, 15, and Trinity, 3.
Kaytlin is student of the month! We get to have breakfast with her on Friday at school, must be for some sort of ceremony or something. Kaytlin is an A student all the time. Its amazing. Donnie and I were never on the honor roll, lol. Ok, Donnie was more than smart enough, he just never did his homework. I could not get anough good grades to even make the B honor roll, but its weird because I had a 4.0 in college a couple of years ago, just couldn't get it together in highschool.
In homeschool years I couldn't get Kaytlin to even give me B papers, she had to redo everything all the time. But put her in public school......... She gets all A's. What??? Turns out that since I didn't give letter grades at home, she thought A meant Average and she couldnt' stand to B below average, lol. I asked her what the other grades meant, c-?? D-dumb as dirt? F-Flunkie??
Really, I am just so pround of her, she works really, really hard to get her grades. And she is planning for college, already searching while in 10th grade. This is an honor that will look good on college apps. Not that I would know since I never went applying after high school, hehe.
(I went to an online college 15 years after I graduated high school) Stay tuned for the latest adventure of the little rapscallion up there!

Works for me Wednesday

This weeks WFMW is on healthier eating, and since I just had gall bladder surgery a week ago, this is a bandwagon I need to get on! Shannon at http://rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/ is hosting WFMW.
We love french fries at our house, that was one of the worst things about having gall bladder issues, not eating McDonald's fries! But you can bake fries at home with much less fat.
Oven French Fries
4 med potatoes
1 Tbls oil
Paprika or other spice of choice
Preheat oven to 475. Peel potatoes and slice into 1/2inch wide strips. Dry strips with a paper towel and toss in the oil like tossing a salad. Sprinkle with paprika. Spread them in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 35 minutes, turning fries once or twice to brown on all sides.
You can also do this without the oil, but then you definately want to season them.

Is there a lowfat cheesecake recipe out there?

Six weird things meme

I think I'll join the band wagon on this one. It won't be easy because I think I am normal, hehe. I'm making myself tagged by an open invite on http://callapidderdays.blogspot.com//.

1. I LOVE tape. Seriously. I play with it as often as possible. Dh often remarks he should buy stock in 3M. I especially love the sticky paper around socks, hehe.
2. I am terrified of spiders. REALLY terrified. I can't even touch a dead one with a paper towel. I have been known to call my husband in tears and demand he drive 15 minutes home to kill it for me. And if it comes near me, there will be screaming. And if it touches me there will be screaming and crying and a nap. I won't even go watch Charolette's Web.
3. I'm always right, and if you don't agree with me then you obviously didn't hear me so I need to keep talking until you do agree with me because I am right. I wouldn't argue if I didn't "know" I was right. (this is something I need to work on, I know)
4. I have 7 kids and still I pray for twins. Yes I do. I'd even be jumping up and down for triplets, but I pray for twins each and every pregnancy, except one.
5. I can't let any part of my body hang off the bed. There could be something under there to grab me. Yes, I am 35yo. I still won't put a toe over the edge of the bed when the lights are out.
6. My kids think I am a freak about good customer service. I chew out McDonalds frequently. I figured there may be a problem when my kids started pulling their hoodies over their faces when we went through the drive through. I even went inside to return one container of fries at Arby's because it was cold and told them they were horrible to think they can pass off crap out the window because we're drive through. I got fresh fries and they didn't pull a sneezer, I watched, hehe. I get lots of free food at McDonalds for complaining.

And just for good measure, I will add that I don't eat scalloped potatoes. They make me gag. And what do people bring when you need dinners brought to you? Like when my dh got burned pretty badly? Lots and lots of scalloped potatoes. Every day. It wasn't a good time for me, lol. I appreciated the love, though. I just didn't eat much that week. And I can't put my teeth together to chew if there are raw onions in my mouth, I have to stop and get them OUT. I HATE onions, tomatoes and peppers, but I LOVE salsa, with a passion.
I guess there were lots of weird things about me, hehe. Easy once I got started.

Sunday Festivus

Pam at Terrific Teens is holding a Sunday Festivus at http://mominator44.blogspot.com. Anyone who can tell me how to put this links in correctly will be my hero!!!

I know its not Sunday now, but I thought I would still put some lovely things my dd did on here. She has lots of things to complain about. These pics are a couple of her better drawings. The first is on the wall in Kaytlin's room. The second is in Kaytlin's closet, and Trin says it is Mom, Dad and baby in the picture. Dad has the scribbled beard, hehe.
Trin frequently: pees on things, like couches, beds, floors, and folded clothes, spreads poop on things, yes, POOP, carries the baby around when we aren't looking, gets into the fridge and sometimes breaks 18 eggs on the floor or spills things all over inside or outside, dumps cereal on the floor, plays in poop, writes on walls, books, whatever she can write on, gets on the computer and surfs the net, tears the couch cushions off the couches, throws 30+ stuffed animals all over the room, spills things on my white carpet, POOPS on my white carpet, pukes on my white carpet. Need I go on?? But I can go on! Read my "Essay" post. Spices all over. She recently microwaved a can of raviolis with the lid ON and it blew up in there! Plus she has microwaved my can of coffee grounds, and turned on an empty microwave several times. She put chicken seasoning in my instant coffee mix, oh yes she did! She dumped out the whole canister of sugar and mixed it with water on my counter and floor. She used fabric paint on a wooden hanger and Sam's shirt.
I'll stop there.
I could do another post on grievances against Drew, too, lol. Or Devon, thats several posts, hehe. I love my dh dearly, but there could be a nice long post, too.
Now I need to do some positive posting!

Yeah, Devon!

Devon took second place in 100 meter freestyle on Thursday!!! I guess his relay team didn't do so well, though.
Devon turned 14 on Friday. Wow. I can tell you I did not think he would live to become a teenager, even, lol. He's such a daredevil AND a pain in our behinds, we've frequently told him he wouldn't live to see his next birthday.
And then this past year happened. Devon turned a corner we wondered if he would ever find! He's much more responsible. He's much more reasonable. He's much more obedient. He's much more active and social. And swimming has increased all of that. He took a week off for Christmas vacation, and we all wanted him back in the pool before it was over. He doesn't have the time or energy to pick on his siblings when he is swimming every day. I think when swimming is over we'll be putting him in track, he runs fast, too.

Happy birthday to my Superstar, Devon!

New Year's Meme

This is my first Meme! I'm getting a late start here, but I have good reason, I just had my gall bladder surgery yesterday, AND I have a baby and a toddler AND 3 teens and 2 pre-teens. Yes, I'm busy.
So, here goes, my first meme:

1. What did you do in 2006 that you’d never done before? I started blogging.
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I don't make them anymore. But I do want to get closer to God this year.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Now thats a big YES! I had a baby. My sister and sister in law had babies. 3 women in my church had babies with me. A lady at the hospital I go to had a baby a month before me, and our last babies were a month apart, too, lol. 2 ladies from an email list had babies the same week as I did. Whew, I know theres more.......
4. Did anyone close to you die? My grandma died.
5. What countries did you visit? I stayed in the US this year.
6. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006? I would like to be financially stable.
7. What dates from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? Valentine's Day and the day before. The day before I reached a tremendous breakthrough emotionally in forgiveness, and the next day I conceived Samuel, our promised child!
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? I think the forgiveness was huge.
9. What was your biggest failure? I don't know about "failure" but I feel awful about some parenting issues.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? I puked for 22 weeks. And apparently got a diseased Gall Bladder.
11. What was the best thing you bought? I didn't "buy" it but we went on vacation and it was wonderful for our family.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Devon! he has completely turned around and is growing more mature all the time!
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Drew's. he's on a learning curve or something. he'll come around, but I am so sad.
14. Where did most of your money go? I have 7 kids. FOOD.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? All the babies! Starting a new group for young moms at our church.
16. What song will always remind you of 2006? Music isn't my thing, so probably nothing.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? 
b) thinner or fatter? 
c) richer or poorer? I think I am both more sad and happy, over different things. I am definately thinner!!!! and probably poorer in money, richer in blessings.
18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Playing with the kids.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Puking. But it was for a very good cause, Sam.
20. How will you be spending Christmas? We spent Christmas nursing the flu. But the time with family other weekends was wonderful!
21. Did you fall in love in 2006? With my new child, yes!
22. How many one-night stands? Huh? none here.
23. What was your favorite TV program? I think House is great, but I also love Scrubs, which I hadn't watched before December.
24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? I don't hate anyone.
25. What was the best book you read? I read a series by Beverly Lewis that was terrific!
26. What was your greatest musical discovery? Totally not into music
27. What did you want and get? I got a Kitchen Aid mixer AND my long awaited baby Samuel!
28. What did you want and not get? Better relationship with my oldest child.
29. What was your favorite film of this year? The Lake House
30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I don't think we did anything, but I turned 35.
31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Making a breakthrough with Drew.
32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006? Well, I spent most of the year in bed/on the couch in my pajamas. I'm not into fashion.
33. What kept you sane? Knowing "this too shall pass"
34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? I'm head over heels for Keanu Reeves, thank you very much!
35. What political issue stirred you the most? I generally ignore things political, but it ticked me off that the democrats were all over a repulican who was supposedly going after young boys, though they were actually adults, when the democrates support gays and Clinton going for a young intern. Nuff said.
36. Who did you miss? I actually really miss my grandfather who has been gone since 1988. And I miss my best friend, Sheree.
37. Who was the best new person you met? Well, I have two super new friends that I've become close to this year, Sarah and Jody.
38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006. I learned that I have control over what affects me and I can be happy in spite of things.
39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. I don't know many songs.