December (November Hiatus)

Well, I can not believe I took over a month off of blogging.  Guess I was so incredibly busy, I couldn't devote time to letting you know all the crazy things going on in Blair land...
November was a busy month.  We had company for Thanksgiving and the kids had activity after activity to attend and now that we're two weeks into December, the fun is escalating out of complete control.  We've attended 3 chorus/band concerts, had Ricky's mom stay with us for a week, had over 3 feet of snow fall on us in a two day period, Ricky went to DC for a few days, and many, many more things that are too numerous, and probably a smidge on the boring side to list.

But today, December 11, my sweet little G, lost her 1st tooth!!!  Oh my goodness.  Even with number 4 in the food chain, I never get tired of my children's firsts.  She did about what the others did, as I was pulling, pulling, pulling, she was saying, "never mind, leave it, I don't want it pulled."  And by the last part of the sentence, I had already extracted the tooth and was smiling and holding it above her head as she then screamed and told me to stop hurting her!  (my children have a flair for the drama-have no idea where they get that from....hmmmm.)

So I will post a picture of her toothless smile as soon as she wakes up from a very overdue nap... (remember, Kindergarten is wearing her (and I) out!)

Pumpkins, bones, and Halloween!

I love the fall.  With that said, enjoy the Hallow's Eve weekend photos.   We had such a great weekend. 

These are called no bake peanut butter bones.  It's the same concept behind peanut butter balls, minus the chocolate.  You can actually add chocolate frosting according to the recipe, but we had so much fun making these look like fingers, we opted not to add chocolate.  Now maybe if we had some red frosting...hmmmm.

Here is Big G eating a peanut butter bone.  We ate all those bones gone.  So much for saving some for later...haha.

Daddy cuts open the big ole pumpkin.  Big G and Em are the only ones really interested in sticking their hands in here...

JT watches from a safe distance.  He does later try to "scoop" out the pumpkin guts with a spoon...very sad...

Little ME is just having a ball watching it all transpire.  She is very interested in the peanut butter bones, too.  Notice JT's arm.  He's sporting the spoon at this point trying to gut the pumpkin.  He gives up eventually when he realizes the spoon just doesn't cut it.  Literally.

Oh yea, the pumpkin gut getters. 

Someone had to finish her dinner before she could get crazy with the pumpkin.  That pesky dinner and those pesky parents for forcing her to eat....shame on them.

Each child helped design this pumpkin.  Big G designed the eye on the right, JT the eye on the left (eyebrows included), little G the nose and Em the mouth.  Let's get serious here, do you really think the 2 year old could draw a design?  She again, enjoyed watching it all transpire.  And those pesky bones...

Ahhhhhh...scary pumpkin with the initial test for proper candle light put out...passed with flying colors!

Bwahahahahaha....spooky music sounds right now and you are very scared, very scared...

JT is hugging the pumpkin as we set it up the night before Halloween to do a trial run. 

Now with the flash.  Must have blinded little ME...Take note of the dead mums that I forgot to water...

Yummmmmm.... this has to be my MOST favorite part of Halloween.  The delicious pumpkin seeds that are drying out over night before I bake them with some olive oil and garlic salt... oh my.  Deeeeelicous.

Ob1, school teacher, Principal, ballerina, and bunny rabbit.  It's only about 39 degrees at this point.  It dropped to around 35 during the actual trick or treating.  Needless to say, little G was the first to quit (she did the same last year) and then big G and THEN little ME and the others.  Very impressed by the 2 year old stamina.

Getting started across the street!  Very exciting.  They trick or treated with our neighbors.  They had a ball.

The rabbit with dad.  She did so good. 

I'm back!

I know you missed me.  You can just keep it all bottled up for only so long and then one day, BOOM.  You'll let it out!  I have posted a picture of a bunch of golden retrievers.  This is exactly what our golden looked like when we got her almost 13 years ago.  Poor Abbi died of cancer a few years ago.  Very sad. But on a happier note I wanted a picture of a bunch of my 'children' and when you google a picture of a mom with lots of children, well, let's just say, I didn't get what I expected.   But I did have a very rude awakening of the dangers of letting my children peruse on the Internet without adult supervision.... uh-hum...

Anyway!  Did you miss me?  of course you did!  I have been in Arkansas for the last week (ok, only 5 days, but that almost constitutes a week!)  I stayed with one of my very dear friends whom I absolutely adore and respect and admire and just love.  She had her fourth child a month ago and it was the first boy in the family.  It was very exciting.  I was very thankful that she decided to have another baby so that would be my excuse to come visit....  ;)

So I was there from last Wednesday until yesterday.  I had a terrible time saying goodbye.  I didn't cry until I got on my plane and thankfully I was sitting by myself and just stared out the window as my little tears ran down and I tried to pretend I was getting a terrible cold...

The visit went so fast, but I tell you, last night I felt like I was a part of a Brian Regan skit.  Both flights were delayed and in fact, my flight from Atlanta to Buffalo was delayed almost an hour because about 10 minutes after boarding the already 15 minute delayed flight, the pilot came out and said they found a flat tire.  Wow.  I guess plane tires have changed, because I thought they were HUGE.  So you would think they could spot that, oh, say, from the next plane over at least.  Nah.  I guess when he went through his final run through, he kicked the tire and noticed a gash... just kidding, he didn't kick it, but there sure was a lot of tense laughter on the plane as though we all were thinking the same thing-Shouldn't we get off to change the tire?  I'm certain my husband would have my hide if I tried to change a tire on the van with all the kids inside...and seriously, what kind of jack do you need to change a plane tire?  

So that put me getting back to Buffalo close to midnight.  We didn't go to bed until after 1 am which was ok, because we were able to wish each other a Happy Anniversary... 14 years ago today. 

I'm glad to be back. I'll try to do a better job of blogging.  I need the outlet and you need the entertainment.  Have a blessed Tuesday.

Two more nights! (ok- 1 1/2 really!!!)

This could be me!!!

It's Wednesday!  I usually get excited about Wednesday because it's "hump day" and "hump day" in our world means two more days until the weekend!  Today I'm especially excited for a lot of reasons...

1) I have basically one full night and half a night to go without my better half.  (he flies in late, late tomorrow night...)

2) I had my Martha & Mary prayer group this morning at my house and it was a small, intimate group of four of us this morning and it was the most spiritual and uplifting time I've had since, well, the last prayer meeting last hump day!

3)You would not believe how powerful it is to watch them pull up those Chilean miners.  I got so teary eyed when they brought up number 17 who had 6 kids and a wife at home....I could NEVER imagine my wonderful Ricky being trapped for 69 days... What a MIRACLE we are witnessing!!

4)I am one week away from my trip back home!  Whoohoo!!!  I can't wait to help my friend who just had a baby and see some friends I haven't seen in a LONG time...should be a very blessed weekend...

5) Found out today that little ME starts her speech therapy tomorrow morning!  Yay!!! Looking forward to helping her become more verbal (I know that sounds so crazy-but I would love to talk to her!!)

So that's about it as far as the excitement of "hump day." 

I hope your "hump day" is filled with many blessings as well.  Sometimes it means taking a step back to see the blessings.  We can become blind to them.  So, step back, breathe deep, and praise the Lord, for He is good-His love endures forever!!!

Sweet, Sweet Mary...

That is the title to a song that my children sang at the Christmas program at our Church every year until we moved.  It's really a sweet song, goes something like this;

On a day, long ago, to a woman named Ann,

There was born a baby girl, she was part of God's plan.

Sweet, Sweet, Mary.

As she grew, people knew, she was special indeed,

She was good and so kind, to all people in need.

Sweet, Sweet, Mary.

An angel came, from above, and said she would bare a son,

'Be it done unto me,' she was God's chosen one.

Sweet, Sweet, Mary.

Now we know, Mary lives, up in Heaven above,

She is mother to Jesus, and mother to us.

Sweet, Sweet Mary.

Sweet, Sweet, Mary.

Anyway-I have the cd of when big G was in school and the song is on it, but I can't seem to figure out how to download it onto my Blog...maybe my children could help me...

With all this being said, my "sweet, sweet Mary" was anything but sweet for me today...

So she is in baby prison...

This is her "prison."  She is actually getting ready for nap time, but I told her it was her prison for now...she is hiding from me in this picture.

She pops her head up and says, "Ta-da!"  Trying to woo the prison guard to lighten up her sentence... I'll have none of that...

Now she's really trying to woo me with her smile....

alrite-after nap time you can get out of prison...stinky girl...

Four more nights....but who's counting?

It's Columbus Day.  A day normally that I get excited about because Ricky is off and we have a three day weekend.  But not so much for this weekend.  I believe he was at the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park this weekend.  Poor guy.  Looking at all those awesome sites, hiking, seeing elk, moose, and other wildlife and I get to be here all weekend by myself with the kids...

I'm not bitter. 

No. 

Not one bit.

But an interesting fact.  Four years ago, this past weekend (Columbus Day weekend,) there was a snow storm that dumped two feet of snow on WNY.  It did all kinds of damage because the trees still had leaves, so trees fell, knocked power lines down and people were without power for quite some time.  The gentleman I spoke with yesterday said they had no power for 8 days.... wow!  Kinda reminded me our Arkansas ice storm in January 2009....Funny thing, Ricky was out of town then, too... hmmmm....
But I'm not bitter.

God bless you.

Little G's friend, Big Lip is no more!

Wow.  God is amazing.  One of these days I'll realize that.  Here is a picture of the sweet little G this morning after we fixed up her hair and got her dressed for picture day... She woke up and said, "Mommy, I'll still be pretty for my pictures because my lip is ok!" 

Love that G. 

So just to let you know in the spirit of waiting for the candid camera crew-After I dropped JT off at school at 7:30 this morning, got big G on her bus and got Em and little G ready for pictures by fixing hair and finding clothing parts-the girls missed their bus and I had to take them to school.  But that's ok!  We will survive...

Where are they?

I'm referring to the hidden cameras that are strategically placed all over the place in my world.

Ok.  Let me back up 10 steps.  Have you ever felt like you had to be getting videotaped because there is no way that so many things could go wrong at once?  yea.  That's how I'm feeling right now.  Have you ever watched that goofy show 'punked?'  It's that 12 year old who is married to Demi Moore, Crutcher dude?  yea, him. He goes around setting up spoof/pranks on Hollywood stars and then appears and says they've been 'punked.'  I know, it's as goofy as it sounds, but I'm waiting for him to jump out of the bushes and tell me I've been punked.  Either that or I'm waiting on candid camera people to jump out and tell me the same thing.

We had our first non-rainy day with a hair of sunshine in six days today and so we were going to go on a family walk after dinner.  That is, if I could convince little ME to actually cooperate with me and put some clothes on.  It appears beginning this morning at our prayer group, that little ME's favorite thing to do is to strip down to her diaper.  So when we got her out of bed after nap this afternoon, she was completely naked 'cept the really full, hanging down so nice, diaper.  My neighbor dropped by to see how I was doing since Ricky had left on Sunday and all of the sudden, that cute little turkey is standing at the glass door, naked, waving, and screaming for my neighbor to look at her (or so we think that's what she said).  That was the beginning.  She wouldn't eat dinner dressed and the kids were a little crazy tonight.  It's been so cloudy, I have no idea if there is a full moon or not.  So it came down to the wire after dinner-are we going to get the kitchen cleaned up so that we can go on a family walk or not?  Well-we did it.  The older two roller bladed, the next two scootered on their scooters, and little ME rode her totally recalled bike that I'm not supposed to let her get on and I'm actually supposed to wait 8-12 weeks for the replacement part before I let her get on it.  Right.  Well, little G survived on the bike when she was two, surely this one will be fine, too.  So we're illegally riding her bike and I'm walking.

It started out ok, the kids were riding and scooting and laughing and having fun.  But it took a turn for the worse.  Big G was telling everyone to hurry and cross the road, but to be careful and not to wreck,when little G crashes into her and causes big G to fall. Mind you, she is too cool to wear the wrist guards, elbow pads, and knee pads anymore.  I believe she'll be wearing them next time, but until then...She was convinced her hand was broken and wanted to go home.  She began wailing and crying. Well, I tell her, we're heading that way.  Little G cried because she didn't mean to hurt her.  Em ignored me when I told her to cross the road and head back.  JT claimed he was just following Em.  Chaos ensues...

We get in the house and we're supposed to shower and bathe.  ME needs a bath.  I have two "very helpful" children wanting to "bathe" ME but instead they wind up helping ME dump half the tub of water on the floor.  At this point I haven't started wondering where the Crutcher dude is...yet.

Once out, the baby needs lotion and pajamas and so as I was doing that, I was inquiring in the most loving and sweet way I could, if all the children were ready for bed.  No... So I calmly ask them to finish getting ready so we could pray the Rosary together.

Finally ME is ready to brush her teeth.  Where is the stool?  Well, the little stool she steps on is not in the bathroom of course!  Why would it be where we are supposed to leave it?  How silly of me to assume my children would put it back if they borrowed it.  So I ask everyone to look for the stool.  Well, unbeknownst to me, little G is on the top bunk getting her bed ready.  She is wearing a long nightgown and "crawls" over to the edge of her bed, to look to see if the stool is in her room, where she then falls, and busts the holy, ever lovin' CRAP out of her mouth.  I did not know what happened.  I just heard a rather loud crash in her room and really thought nothing of it. Little G is always crashing around in her room.  Suddenly she starts screaming for help, but it sounds eerily strange, as though muffled by a funny liquidy sound.

That funny liquidy sound was blood that was literally pouring out of her mouth.  Somehow she managed to catch herself from falling completely off the top bunk and was hanging basically in mid air by her stomach and blood was dripping from her mouth.  Talk about an early Halloween nightmare...

Somehow I flipped her up and got her off the bed and into my bedroom.  Big G was about to faint at the sight of all the blood and tried to run out, but I forced her to get me a rag and ice pack to clean up little G's mouth so I could check to see if she had any teeth left... (well-it's possible, you know)
I put her face under the faucet to wash her mouth out and make it cold to help stop the bleeding until big G came back with the ice pack.  I was internally dying.

Why does this always happen when Ricky is out of town? 

So I get her cleaned up as best I can and check her mouth praying out loud, "God, please let her have her teeth.  Please don't make me have to go to the emergency room."  Mostly because I don't even KNOW where the hospitals are in this area!!!!  (relax-I have since located and found the place we will go for the next emergency)

Her mouth seemed ok, looked like a definite nasty cut on the underneath of her top lip, but her lip was the size of a collagen lip injection gone WAY BAD.  Little G already has such luscious lips anyway, so any amount of swelling is going to be shocking, but this was outrageously shocking. I mean her lip was GIGANTIC....so of course I start freaking out over the fact that tomorrow is PICTURE DAY!  And I JUST wrote my life away with a check for pictures!!!!!

Well, it will be the school year we won't forget.  That is for sure.

So I'm waiting on Ashton Crutcher, or whatever his name is, or the people from candid camera, to come ring my doorbell any minute now...cause I'm done with this "fun."

I shall leave with a warning.  There is a picture of my sweet little G with her big busted lip.  It's pretty horrific.  Don't look if you don't think you can stomach it.  And yes, I had to take a picture to send to her daddy to see what he thought about it.  (and to show him all the fun he was missin out on, too.)

God bless you tonight.  And may Christ's peace bless you the rest of the week.  I have 9 more nights of this...

My little G and her friend, Big Lip.
Poor baby girl.  She looks like a sad little angel baby.

12 Nights...

Sounds like the title to a movie doesn't it?  No, it's in fact the infamous count down of one crazed wife with five crazy children waiting for her hubby to return home.  Twelve nights he'll be gone.  Twelve very long, very brutal nights.  Some of you are probably very irritated by my "attachment" to my better half, but when you've spent your ENTIRE grown up life with one person (we've known each other almost 19 years!) you tend to be a little fond of that person and miss them terribly when they're gone.... Not to mention - it helps when it's 5 against 2 instead of 5 against 1. 
So.  Twelve nights.  Twelve nights of scaring the bajeebas out of myself as I wind down to sleep and grasp my Rosary like it's a weapon (ha! it is a spiritual weapon, but I'm referring to the kind my hubby carries around on the job), thinking every pop, crack and snap is a burglar.  Oh how I love my bed and how I can just sleep right in the middle, but it's never a restful sleep when he's gone...
Twelve very long, very tiring, very irritating nights of battling with who needs a shower, who has homework, who has gymnastics, swim team, choir practice, and on and on.  Oh and who has to be dropped off at school 4 mornings of those 12 nights by 7:30AM?  Oh, looking forward to those twelve nights...

Pray for me. 

Outdoors almost complete!

 Finally I have some pictures to post!!!

The patio was poured at the end of August.  We made the flower bed and planted some plants and rocks around it.  ME is my show model...

Here is the finished product.  The rock pile is our fire pit all stacked up.  We have to design it with one level because apparently rocks can explode when they get too hot.  Wow.  Glad we found out from word of mouth and not from experience.  Notice the little yellow and white picnic table.  A friend of mine found it, fixed it up, and gave it to ME for her birthday.  It's awesome!

The future fire pit.  (once we scale it down to one level and widen it out a bit)

This is one of the unfinished projects of the outdoors.  We had the pad poured for a shed, but ran out money (and energy) to build the shed.  Next summer's project.  We still had our awesome rubbermaid toy storage bin, so we jammed it full of junk.  (ok, snow blower and lawn mower are not junk).  Ricky's john boat is on the pad and fire wood for the fire pit is behind it. Notice how there are new sprigs sprouting.  We literally added a truckload of dirt around the pad to bring the yard up to be level with the pad.  (see why we're tired?)

Ricky's pinned in garden.  Protects the garden from various rodents, such as GIANT DEER, and those pesky geese and the occasional loose child who gets away.  There is a zuchini plant growing from Em's first grade planting project last spring.  It survived a deer trampling and feast and has come back strong this fall.

First note the green (awesome) grass.  My wonderful hubby spent a boatload of money and time to reseed, refertilize and basically REDO our yard.  It looks WONDERFUL!  This is also the potential spot for our next outdoor project next summer, the swingset!!!  (Notice the two dead Christmas trees to the right.  I'm very devesated by their death. I love those trees...)

My landscape is coming in soooooo beautifully.  I can't believe we did all this by ourselves...If we weren't so exhausted, old, and too busy, we could go into business...haha.

My awesome house.  I thought the fall decorations showed better, but there are mums on the porch, and my wreath on the door, and our scary light up pumpkin on a stand.  I love the fall!!!

We also had a pad poured beside the driveway for the BOAT Ricky drives to work.  It fits perfectly in this spot.  That's how big his work car is...too bad we can't use for our family!!

I hope you've enjoyed the photos.  I hope to have more soon! 

Have a blessed Friday!

I will never be...

I will never be the person who has the most immaculately clean home. I have five in house servants in training who I am currently in the process of "teaching" how to clean a house and it takes every ounce of will power not to come along behind them and "redo" it.

  I will never be the person who has matching pictures, furniture, carpet, nor home decor.  I have children who break lamps, barf on couches, destroy pillows, leave hand prints all over walls, spill juice on carpet, scratch wood floors, stab the kitchen table with their forks and try to see just how far they can pull the blind strings.

 I will never be the person who has a perfect wardrobe with a perfect outfit to wear with every event whether glamorous or boring.  I have 2 pairs of jeans I wear constantly, no shorts (minus the painted on ones from last years paint fest), a handful of random tops, and a mickey mouse jacket that I have worn to the bone. I do have a shoe fetish, but never actually buy the shoes I have a fetish for, so it's tennis shoes or slip ons for this gal.
 I will never be the mom who gives her children everything they desire.  I believe no should be said far more than yes because we have to teach our children that life is not fair and the sooner they learn it, the better they will be.

I will not be the mom who caves in and buys a phone for my 5th grader, or my 4th grader, or my 2nd grader, or my kindergartner for that matter.  Where on earth will my almost 11 year be that I won't?  I have yet to have anyone give me a LOGICAL explanation for that one.  My children will learn the good old fashion way of getting in touch with us.  A thing called a LAND LINE.  And quite frankly if they go somewhere there is no phone, they have no business being there.

I will never be the woman who signs up to "chair" all the parties, PTO president, volunteer of the year at school.   There are plenty of moms out there that God created for just those positions...

I will never have a beautiful dining room set with a gorgeous china cabinet and hutch to display my awesome china (which I now have unpacked at least in the cupboards in the kitchen).  I'm fairly certain my dining room will always be either empty, or full of baby stuff, and maybe one day if I'm lucky and I strike gold at a garage sale, I can find a really nice fairly unabused dining room table.  I'm going to be cautiously optimistic!

I will however, be the person who invites people over for dinner, regardless how badly I need to paint, replace the couch, buy new pillows, get the carpet cleaned, and probably save up for a new chair.

I will be the person who tells friends it's ok if their baby pukes on my couch, spills their juice, bangs on the table and tries to rip the blinds down, because hey-I've been there and done that and I know what they're going through!

 I will be the person who gives a stranger the coat off my back, or hears about someone needing some article of clothing, or some baby item, or some piece of furniture and if I don't have it, I'll go buy it for them, because that's what we're called to do.

I will be the person who gives my children unlimited access to me, my hugs, my kisses and my advice on anything they need help with.  I will encourage them to be good citizens, be Christ like in all they do, and always help a friend (or maybe a kid they see in trouble) in need.

I will be the person who tells my children they have sooooo much more to look forward to in life since I am not buying them every new trend or phase that pops up at Toys R Us, or digital "toy" that quite frankly if I survived without, they surely will.  What great dreams they can plan and scheme as they earn their own money to buy that ridiculous item... (I won't tell them it's ridiculous, my own mother never told what a fool I was to spend my first paycheck from Baskin and Robbins on a 94.00 Liz Claiborne purse, because she taught me that if that's what I'm going to waste my money on, then I have to take responsibility for not having the money for the things I NEEDED.  A lesson I still value to this day.)

I will never be the person who comments on a family's size, whether they have one child, three children, or 10 children.  God calls each of us differently and opens our hearts at different times. 
I hope you are the person who smiles at others today, laughs with your family, brings someone hope, and prays daily for God's will to be done in your life.
God bless you today and always...

Two for the price of one!

I'm talking about two blogs on the same day?  Could you be so lucky?  And the sad thing is, most of my captive audience is probably more interested in the pictures that I have YET to download from my camera...Oh well.  Don't read any further if you're only interested in pictures...wait, maybe I'll find something fun to put on here...you'll have to read to the end to find out...
Well, my great and wonderful hubby is driving back from DC.  I didn't mention earlier that he and another agent had driven down to DC this morning (yes, I believe it's a 7 hour drive from here) to pick up some equipment that apparently would only be available today.  Whatever.  So they got there around 4 and left again for home by 5.  Driving.  Did I mention it was 7 hours one way?  Yes.  So he'll probably get home after midnight, well, since that's in like 30 minutes and he's still a few hours away, it's more like, since he will get home after midnight, he gets to be off tomorrow!  Yippee!!!  I love these work times (well, love them as much as I can stand him being gone). 
Tomorrow is also a big day for me in that my MOMs group that I belong to at my church has its first meeting tomorrow!  Some of you will not be surprised, but I volunteered to be a Team Mom.  Another mom and I are the Eucharist group.  I'm very excited about it about this year because our theme is the seven sacraments in the church.  Baptism, Reconciliation, Eucharist (my group), Confirmation, Matrimony, Holy Orders, and Anointing.  Each month we'll have a speaker and a mom will also give us information about one of our sacraments.  I can't wait!  And I'm leading a Martha and Mary prayer/scripture study once a week that I can not wait to start either!!!  Busy, busy, busy!!
And-Ricky and I have volunteered to help with the new group at church called, Marriage Matters.  I am very excited about that because it involves Ricky and he didn't mind me signing him up to help with the couple that started it!  Yay!
So, I'm up late, finishing up mom stuff, making that blasted sausage egg casserole that really tastes delicious, but you have to prepare it the night before and cook it in the morning-yummmm-and as you have already read in previous posts-I never sleep well on late nights without my hubby...
Have a GREAT Friday!  It should be warm and steamy here in WNY-82?  Where on earth did that weather come from?  But don't worry-it should be back in the low 60's by Saturday in case you were worried...
Blessings to you and yours!

Sweet little ME...

No, I'm not talking about me!  I'm talking about my little number 5 angel girl who is 25 months old and today had three visitors come and evaluate her for services.  My little ME has been developing wonderfully in all areas starting from birth but I noticed about 15 months that her vocabulary was definitely not expanding like the others.  And I know, number 5 will have things said and done for her, but I have an early childhood background and I have been around children long enough (with 4 previous at home work studies, ha) to be able to detect when in doubt-get help.  So I casually asked our pediatrician in AR what he thought and he of course said, wait until 18 months... wait wait wait... people have entirely too much patience it seems...so we waited.  We moved during the transition of her being 18 months so she was actually 19 months when we got into our new pediatrician up here in WNY.  Again, my doctor said to wait until around 20 months but if I still didn't notice any increase in vocabulary to call the Erie County prevention services.  Well, 20 months came and went and I thought I would just wait until school got back in and she was two and perhaps could have a few more words added to her already "huge" collection of 4 words.  Momma, Daddy, wader (water) and G-g.
At 24 months we had perhaps improved to 10 words so when I called the prevention services a wonderfully nice lady came to my house and we filled out mounds and mounds of red tape, oops, I mean paperwork, and I jumped through a hoop and stood on my head and finally set up an evaluation date.  That was today!
These awesome ladies came to my house with all kinds of fun toys and books and really cool books that have pictures of different things to point at and they of course were charmed by sweet Mary.  They thought she was the sweetest little thing and apparently (I'll take no credit) were very impressed with her abilities...(well, she is my daughter...)
But her speech, vocabulary, articulation, inability to say syllables in the middle of words (mo ee is monkey), is a definite red flag and according to their scale of ability, she failed miserably... ok, didn't fail, but she only made it to 12-15 months in that area.  All her other ares of development she was 27 months and above and one was even 33 months and up.  Go girl!
So this means that in about three weeks, once the red tape has been dotted and crossed and I receive the IFSP, we'll start speech at our house once a week for 3 months and then re-evaluate to see if there is improvement and if not, change the number of sessions, or change the therapy work...
I see a silver lining in all of this-we are very blessed to have these services.  I remember how hard it was to get JT into speech in Arkansas. I felt like it was me against the world-trying to convince people he had a problem and then how fast it was corrected once he started speech.  I am blessed to be where I am right now and can sooooo see God at work in everything...Wow.  Don't ever worry about making wrong decisions if you really pray and discern.  God really does show His hand.  If you pray, and I mean pray with earnest and sincerity, and openness, He will lead you.  He does know best...He is our Father!
Have a blessed Thursday!

Imaculee and more...

I am so sorry that I haven't blogged since our "illness."  And fortunately, it was just big G that was sick... poor thing. 
We've really gotten back into a school groove this past week.  Little ME and I have enjoyed our time alone.  We've gone to noon Mass almost everyday.  That has been incredible.  She and I sit on the very front row and she does great!  

Friday evening I had a "girls night out" for the first time in a LONG time.  Two of my very good friends from church and I went to see Imaculee Ilibageza (I'm sure I'm destroying her last name).  She is a very devout Catholic from Rwanda, Africa.  She survived the genocide in 1994 when over 1,000,000 people were killed including her parents, grandparents, and two of her brothers.  (her oldest brother was out of the country studying). 
It's an amazing story, Left to Tell, if you haven't read it.  I highly recommend it.  Inspiring and spiritual and very informative about a situation most of the rest of the world ignored...very sad.

She talked for almost 2 hours!  We had no idea how long it had been because we were just mesmerized by her story. 

Anyway-I'll have more pictures soon.  I am watching Indianapolis beat the New York Giants.  Sorry-I'm a huge Peyton Manning fan...great game so far!!  (poor Eli-if he had only gone to UT...)

God bless you today and have a wonderful week!

Sickness already?

Did I mention I have 5 children?  Yes, well, with that being said, you would think I would be used to sickness?  Not really.  Because minus the 32 colds we each get a year (I don't consider colds sickness), my children are insanely healthy... I contribute that to many things, 1) the grace of God 2) a healthy diet 3) playing outside ALL THE TIME and perhaps the most important 4)at some time, eating large quantities of dirt from various objects, food on floor, licking fingers after digging in it, and of course, just feeling the need to put some dirt in their hands and chomp down the good ole' fashion way. 

I may be wrong about my assessment of my children's health, but bottom line, they are extremely healthy kids for living together in such "small" quarters.

Anyhoo-big G goes to bed last night by 9 at the latest and seems perfectly fine.  I awake at 12:33 (I looked at the clock!) to the moans and groans of something, of course, I didn't think it was an animal! 

I jumped out of bed and was extremely disoriented because all the blood had drained from my brain when I jumped and therefore there were black and white stars floating around my head as I stumbled to the kids bathroom to see what all the commotion was about.  There on the toilet was poor G.  She was wailing and complaining that she was going to throw up... ding ding ding-my signal to alert the dad in the house that it was HIS illness turn.  I do NOT do throw up. 

I'm half asleep, half dizzy from the black and white stars and was trying to find a barf bucket (those of you who have ever had Blue bunny ice cream, the bucket when emptied and cleaned makes a GREAT barf bucket for those children who can't seem to figure out how to puke in a toilet-which would be ALL my kids)
There's no barf bucket.  I'm getting flustered because G is my child who says she has a stomach ache and can't tell if it's gas or barf so I'm really wanting to find this bucket quick to avoid the mess I'll have to clean up if I don't. 
I'm yelling at Dad, "Where are the barf buckets?"  he is then alerted and begins his stumbling around in the dark (both of us wear glasses, so that doesn't help the thrashing about in the dark).  Someone tells me they're in the van.  OH yea, when we went to Knoxvegas, I brought 4 for just in case... You might think this is an obsession of mine...

I get her one and Dad gets the thermometer.  103.9.  Yikes!  She hasn't had a fever like that in YEARS.  I mean, seriously, YEARS.  I'm talking at least since she was 5?  So I start to freak- thinking-flu?  Great...none of them have ever had the flu, why not start now the first week of school?

I get her chewable Tylenol and she wails that she'll throw up if she eats them (again, had I had my wits about me I would have seen the box said meltaways, she didn't even have to chew!)  So I get her the liquid Tylenol.  Now, an almost 90 pound 10 year old has to drink half the bottle to get the right mg of dosage...she drank 3 teaspoons and cried for about the next 3-4 hours before the fever (or the Tylenol) finally calmed down.  She was miserable.  I'm not one to give medicine at the drop of a hat, so for me to beg borrow and plead for that Tylenol to kick in, was massive.  Finally at 5:30 I told her after we had done compresses on her head and told her the air outside was a tad too cold to open the windows (it was a balmy 50 last night??), that she had to try to relax for the next two hours until I could call the clinic (mind you , I had already called the doctor on call at midnight to make sure 104 was still ok to not be see immediately).  She calmed down, and actually stopped moaning and may have even slept for a few minutes.  I went in at 7:15 and she was actually cool and her temperature was 97.5.  It's been almost 10 hours since I gave her the Tylenol and she's taken a bath, eaten a little breakfast, and is already back to driving me insane. 

Can she go back to school now?


God bless you.  Give your children/husband/friend/family member extra love and a hug tonight and thank God for their health and your fortune to be with them.  This life is but a snapshot compared to the eternity you will spend with them in Heaven with our Lord.

Have a great Friday!!!

Already September?

Wow.  I can't believe August 24th was my last blog.  We have been BUSY!  The last two weeks before school was jam packed with bowling, picnics, swimming, tubing, park time, and library time.  School started without a glitch Tuesday.  Little G absolutely LOVES Kindergarten!  Her teacher is Mrs. CLIFFORD!  Isn't that awesome?  At the end of every week, if their card stays green all week, they get a treat from the "doggie treats!"  How cool!  (no, it's not a real dog treat, her name is Mrs. Clifford-guess what her classroom theme is?)
EM loves 2nd grade.  Her teacher is really good.  She also met a little girl who's dad works with Ricky-so that was neat!
JT was nervous about 4th grade.  He was starting at a new school for the 3rd time in a year (4-6th grades are together here).  But he has a great teacher and seems to be enjoying it.  (minus the fact that on the first day, he said it lasted FOREVER...)
Big G is really liking 5th grade.  Her teacher is really good, too. 
My only complaint was the fact that I spent nearly 300 dollars on school supplies for 4 kiddos and then found out the first day back we needed a few things, and the second day-the art teacher sent home a new "list."  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
Do you think Target, walmart, or anywhere else for that matter, has ANY supplies left?  and what on earth am I buying art supplies for?  I know our budget has been cut, but my 8400 in taxes should help some... ;)
Anyway-after going to FOUR stores last night, I finally found all the things she needed for art...I bought double of everything because JT goes to art today...
Good grief!
But it's September here and apparently people here get Septemberitis.  Meaning a feeling of dread is settling, but hopefully I can bring a glimmer of hope to these people... I absolutely LOVE this weather!  My windows are opened, it's been 65 during the day and mid-50's at night. It's AWESOME!  I keep telling everyone the weather here is great, and it's really no lie. I have been told I will eat my words come January and February, but we're looking forward to snow, too!  I am ordering a really cool tube (man, they're expensive!!!) for us to use at the parks this winter.  We can't wait!  But until then, we'll enjoy the lovely cool weather.
I hope your Thursday is well and blessed.  God has definitely been good to us.

Here we are again...

Well, the kids and I spent an awesome afternoon and evening with our "cousins."  Yes, for the first time in 14 years we are actually less than an hour away from relatives...Ricky's dad has a cousin who lives in Youngstown, NY.  It's less than an hour from here right on Lake Ontario.  The wife of Ricky's dad's cousin (that's a mouth full) invited us up today to swim in their pool with her granddaughter, and later 3 of her kids (she has 4 grown children all around Ricky's age and younger) would come over for a cookout.  It was so much fun and Ricky even came over after work and ate and visited.  They live in a very beautiful part of WNY... I took the scenic route today, which was very cool, because 1) I avoided those blasted toll roads and 2) I avoided all those crazy NY interstates which at times scare the bajeevas out of me because I've posted how these people drive up here... I swear they have spare cars somewhere...
So the scenic route took me up several small back roads and seriously into Amish country, an Indian Reservation, and about 2 dozen little side of the road stands with all kinds of fresh veggies...man I need to carry cash...
It was beautiful.  But the drive home, we thought it would be better if we drove the interstate and of course, there are two seasons in WNY when it comes to the road system, snow season and construction season.  I have a hard time driving across a bridge that should have two lanes of traffic flowing the same direction, but instead it has two lanes of traffic driving the opposite direction.  FREAKY.  Anyway, it took a million years to get home and Ricky got a phone call that he had to go to work. I swear, I think I married a night shift worker...so he's at work again and yes, you read the blog time correctly, it's 11:35 pm.  Why am I up?  Why not...
So we got home at 10:30pm.  Kids are exhausted, but the concrete dude has been here and the extra driveway pad is poured, and my back porch steps are poured, the pad for our future shed is poured and tomorrow they'll pour the patio pad!!!!!  And in a week I'll be able to put my table and chairs out back and have dinner on the patio and the next day we'll pack it up for the snow.... Just kidding, but it will seem like that...
I'll try to post some pics of today and the concrete on my next blog-but until than-you sit tight...
Have a very blessed Wednesday and God bless you!!!

Sunday Evening...

Things are quieting down here on the home front... laundry is "caught up" not that laundry for 7 people is ever really "caught up" but after being gone a week, it's in a controlled state again.  House is straightened up, (yes, I even cleaned like a mad woman the night before we left, but you know what happens after a trip, everything gets dumped right in the middle of the family room), yard mowed, kids cleaned, mom and dad refreshed after finally sleeping in our own bed... (even though we desperately need a new one...any ideas out there?)

So it's Sunday evening and I just LOVE Sunday evenings.  We always cook a big family dinner (yea, that term is relative considering the size of us), eat on our fine China (might as well, it's getting no other use) and pray the family Rosary.  We offer our prayer intentions for anyone/anything we might be thinking of and tonight, as usual, that stinkin' little G says, "And all those with fires in their homes."  I don't know.  I personally think she's an absolute loon.  I know what this stems from, whenever we pray for anyone we know, or if someone has asked us to pray for them or someone they know, she always distorts the prayer request and for about six months after, her prayers involve some of the most bizarre requests.  Tsunami?  Yea, for six months we prayed for people who had water in their houses.  It's so completely sweet and innocent I love it... too funny... that G.

But tonight Ricky is in the shower because for the umpteenth time this month, he is working a midnite shift.  For those of you who know what he does, this is pretty much normal since moving to WNY... I guess in his line of work, you can't really do the stuff he does in broad daylight.  People might get suspicious.. but he's helping to protect America and I'll be honest, some of this stuff scares the daylights out of me... so send prayer requests our way any time, day or night...

I hope you have had as blessed a Sunday as we have.  I am so blessed beyond what I deserve.  Mass this morning was awesome.  I can't get enough of it.  I am tickled with our new church.  Have met some really awesome families, I hope that trend continues...

God bless you.  Say a prayer of thanks today.  God has blessed you, too.

We are back!!!

We are back from an incredible whirlwind of a trip... We arrived in Knoxvegas last Saturday and Sunday started the crazy festivities...
Had a birthday party for JT and little ME.  They had a ball.  Got to play with their cousins for the SECOND time in one season-never happened before!!
Visited my Mamaw who will be 91 next month.  She still lives on her own and she is hysterical.  I get a kick out of talking to her.  We enjoyed our visit. 
Had dinner at Ricky's moms.  We also got to visit with his Grandfather who will be 98 in October.  WOW.  He's doing good, but his memory is not as good.  He didn't know who we were, but that's OK.  He still looked good and to be alive almost a century is truly amazing to me!  (what's in HIS Wheaties??)
We went to the GREAT Smoky Mountain National Park and hiked the Chimney Tops.  My dear sweet Ricky had asked me to marry him exactly 15 years ago on the day.  (And yes, he made me climb all the way to the top).  I'm ashamed to say I didn't make it up the rocks to the very top...I'll say that one of us needed to be rational and not climb up a slate of rocks where one false step and you're a gonner...yea, that's what I'll say...
We went to visit my grandmother who is not doing as well as you would think an almost 90 year old should be doing.  She has congestive heart failure and she's getting more frail, but I'll tell you, after spending a few hours with her Thursday, you'd never know it... She still lives on her own and gets around fairly well all things considered.  She was fun to talk with and catch her up on all my kiddos.  I do love my grandmothers. 
Friday (yesterday) we spent 12 hours in the car with 5 nutty & sick (4 out of 5 have some nasty sinus issues) kiddos.  It was grueling, but we made it.  Little G only threw up once.  (she gets car sick terribly when we travel).  I must look into Dramamine.  (or something similar!!!)
So that's it!  I'll post some pics!!
Have a great and blessed weekend.  Don't forget Church on Sunday.

A Pooh Cake for little ME and a Cars cake for JT...

He LOVES the remote control police car...

If you're gonna live up north-you gotta learn how to play hockey... This is the easiest way to learn at this point (before we try the ice version of the game!!)

Yea-Aunt Erin won the "best gift" award.  He was so excited.  Is listening to it right now, too!

Little ME opening some of her very fun gifts.  She hasn't taken the dress up shoes off since we got home...

My most awesome Mamaw and 5 of her great grandchildren.

Grandma Blair!  A delicious dinner of ribs, corn on the cob, broccoli and salad... yummmm.

At almost 98, I would say he looks pretty darn good, wouldn't you??  Great Grandpa Burriesci!

The hiking crew about to set out...

The view of the Chimney Tops below...

The view of the Chimney Tops from above...

Cooling off in the water at the Chimney Tops picnic grounds.  We had a ball.  (not to brag, but I fell in quite gracefully...)  ha.

My grandma Grace.  She is one awesome lady. 

Wow! 5 days and counting!

I am on a ROLL here!  Five days in a row?  I must be doing something good... :)

Today was a great day.  The weather was absolutely perfect.  Mid-70's (I'm sooooooo very sorry to my friends down in LavaLand, Arkansas who are melting...but up here?  WOW. Tonight the low is expected to get in the mid-50's!  Isn't that CRAZY?  I LOVE it!

But swim lessons this morning were a tad chilly.  Poor things.  They were shivering and had purple lips.  Only little Gi really is effected by it, the others shake it off and keep on swimming, but poor little Gi has to get out and wrap herself up.  It's probably because she is just skin and bones...

Little ME played in the wading pool.  I enjoyed a wonderful conversation with my BFF (as my children call her) from AR.  It was a good day. 

Oh, and Ricky came home, too...

That makes any day a spectacular day!

God bless you this weekend.  Don't forget to go to church.  If you can give everything else in your life a piece of your time, why not worship with others of your faith for 1% of your week? Try it, you might like it.

Blessings to you and yours.

Should I or Shouldn't I???

That is the question. This really has been you're lucky week, getting two blogs on Thursday even though the last one was written when it was Wednesday night for me technically.

The question.  Should I or shouldn't I. 

My 5 children are playing Barbie's and Lego's (yes, didn't know the two went together so well, but when you have one boy in the mix, it can!) and they are having SUCH a wonderful time.  They are cooperating, working on math skills, (sorting Lego's), decorating skills (dressing a barbie is decorating in the finest sense), building, laughing, working out issues, BARBIE DOES NOT DO THAT, is a phrase I heard.  I'll not worry about it, since they usually run up here pretty quick if it's anything "bad." 

But the problem?  It's 8:30!  It's getting late and Mary really needs to go to bed, and the others need to clean up and wash, brush, and read books, but they are playing SO WELL...

I should end it now before it ends in a disastrous fight.  You know how that goes.  Kids are playing so nicely together and then WHAM, one slight problem and suddenly chicken little is running like mad because the sky is falling....  "he did this, she said that, I don't like her, she bit me, he lied, she stole that from me..."

You get what I'm saying...

Alrite.  The tension is starting to rise a bit in the basement (I am in the office right above where they must be set up because I can hear them perfectly...), so I shall take this opportunity to end the game...

Daddy is coming home tonight!!!  YESSSSSSSSS....

God bless you today and always.

Why is it...

It's 12:30 Thursday morning.  I have been visiting with my neighbor across the street on my front porch until the wee hours with a few glasses of wine.  So when I say, please don't reply hatefully to the post, I mean it.  But I was glancing over my facebook page (why did I create a new page?  It really stresses me out, but for some reason, it's like I'm afraid of missing out on something), I found a post from someone that posted-Way to go California.  Prop 8 sucked. 

Ok, call me an idiot.  But didn't the people of California vote for prop 8?  I mean, seriously, what is an election for if you can't vote, and then have all the votes counted and then have someone (judge) over turn the vote? 

I'm sooooooooooooooo sorry, but marriage has been defined long before all the crazies in the western world decided to delve their little hands into it, as a union between man and woman.  It's a sacrament in the Catholic church to be taken very seriously.  I don't understand how you can look at the definition of marriage as a sacrament and think otherwise. 

I'm not a homophobe.  That word is actually made up.  There is no such word as homophobe  Someone made it up and gave it a meaning.  I guess you can do that in this world now.  But I do believe that God created man and woman and created them to multiply.  He didn't create Adam and Alan.  He didn't create Eve and Eva.  He created Adam and Eve. 

But Amy, those are just STORIES.  The old testament is just a collection of stories to teach the ignorant about God. 

Regardless of how long it took God to create Earth, whether it was 6 days, or 6,000,000 years, the idea behind it was that God created everything and He created man and woman and He created them in His image and likeness. He created them to pro-create (sorry Oprah, but there is a necessity for men and marriage) and He created them to love each other as He loved them. And He created them to have children so that mankind would always be here.

So when I talk about Prop 8, which was voted by the MAJORITY of the people of California to keep marriage defined as a union between man and woman, I'm simply stating that there are obviously a LOT of people who feel marriage is defined as a union between man and woman,  to be truth.

I do NOT hate people who feel attraction towards the same sex.  I do not approve of the "act" of homosexuality.  Hate the sin not the sinner, remember?

There are too many bible verses to go into about this topic, but I think the fact remains....

Why is it, that because I believe (my religious background) that an act is morally wrong and should not be upheld by a COURT system to be ok,am I considered a bigot or racist, when, others who support such actions, can call me such judgemental names? 

Double standard? 


You bet.

But, not to give into to way my husband use to think about things, we can not shoot them all and let God sort them out.  I believe what I believe and I always will hold true to the teachings of Jesus Christ.  He is my light and my salvation.  Of whom should I be afraid?

God bless you tonight, or today, or however you want to look at it...