Family Pictures

These are some pictures that were taken on Saturday at Shelly's (Rob's sister) house.

This is Shelly's husband Chuck with all four of their amazingly awesome kiddos. They were seeing who could eat a twizzler first with no hands. Chuck won!
These are Rob's moms parents, Martha and Stan. They're coming up on 59 years of marriage!

We went through a lot of Rob's moms pictures over the weekend and there were a lot of pictures of different sets of cousins lined up from oldest to youngest. So, to keep with tradition we took another one. We're missing the Hansen kids, but this will have to work until we can get everyone on the same side of the United States!

And this is all of the Buhl kids with their families and Rob's dad and step-mom. Weston's there... behind Suzy... see? Shelly is amazing, she hosts all but four of these people when we come up. I want to be as hospitable as Shelly when I grow up (er, if I grow up!).

This is the position that Titus takes for most of his time at Shelly's house--on Josh's back! Josh takes such good care of the boys when they are up there. He runs and bounces and chases and builds and creates and even supervises sleep-overs with the boy cousins. You're the greatest Josh! I don't have any pictures of Leeann with Ashly and Amanda this time, but they do the same with Leeann, only with Polly Pockets and Littlest PetShop stuff!

And here is a picture of the next generation of cousins. KayLee, Landon, Josh, Amanda, Ashly, Weston, Leeann, Logan and Titus. These guys are a hoot together!

Grandpa Time!

We went up to Washington on Thursday of this week, and Rob and Titus got to meet Rob's dad, Steve, for lunch and some fun at a park near Steve's work. Grandpa took Titus to a place where he could see brand new Boeing planes take off. Titus LOVES planes (and trains, and anything else with wings or wheels), so it was a lot of fun for him! It was good, also for the boys to get some time together. Thanks GPB for taking the boys out!

My little Picasso's

A couple of weeks ago I came upstairs to find Hope and Titus displaying some beautiful art work on the walls. And the doors. And the dresser. And the desk. And the bunk bed stairs. And the toys. And the carpet. And the window sill. And the other wall. And the outside of the door. And the end table. And the rubber maid container...

Yes, to say the least, I could have lost my lid... but I didn't. I stuck them both in time-out and took my aggression out on the walls with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser (those things are amazing!).

If you click on the picture above it will get bigger and you can see a number of very nicely written T's on the bottom of the door. I have to say, I smiled to myself and was proud of Titus when I saw those... he hasn't yet written his T's on paper, so I was strangely proud of his creation!

Hope and Titus spent a number of weeks grounded from crayons since neither of them learned their lesson that time. They've both since tried fine-tuning their artistic skills, despite my best efforts to hide the crayons from them!

DISNEYLAND!

This is a picture of our family along with Rob's mom in 2007. It was such an unforgettable amazing trip! We're sad that Mee Maw won't get to be there with us, but part of her legacy lives on in each of our future Disneyland trips. May they come often and be full of fun!

I went to Disneyland for the first time after I graduated from high school and spent 3 days in the park.

I went again after I graduated college and spent another 3 days in the park.

I went for 1 day in early 2007 as part of a children's ministry conference.

I also went for 2 days in late 2007 with Rob's mom and our family when we down to Southern California for Mike and Becka's wedding.

As we were on our way back from our last trip we decided that we were going to start saving and planning for our next trip. We determined that we wanted to go during a slow season (our last trip had been in August and it was hot and the lines were long!), during the Christmas Season so we could see it all lit up with Christmas lights, and for at least 5 days. I've had so many short trips, that we're ready for the do-all, see-all trip of a lifetime!

So we started to put money away, $5 here, $50 there. Anytime we had money left over in one of our budget categories we'd skim a little off the top and put it in our Disneyland envelope. We've put nearly every gift card we've been given for the last year and a half into our envelope to use on our trip. Most money that we've been given as a gift, or that we've earned above and beyond our regular pay-checks have gone into the envelope too. Lo and behold, thanks in-part to a nice tax return this year our trip is fully funded and we're still 6 months out. We're SO EXCITED!

Okay, the kids and I are excited, Rob is OBSESSED! I truly don't think there's been a day that's gone by that Rob hasn't used the word Disneyland at least 3-5 times. He watches the Disneyland planning video for fun--often. He watched it 8 times this Friday and Saturday alone!

We were able to finalize some of plans yesterday, including a super, beyond incredible price on a hotel suite thanks to connection of one of my best friends. So, we'll leave by train after church on November 29th and it's going to take us 28 hours to get there. We'll spend 6 days in the park, and we'll have several down days relaxing by the pool too! We'll even get to enjoy Titus's Birthday at Disneyland!

The dates are set, the money's saved... and we're counting down the days (er, months!) Disneyland, here we come!

Just Say... Yes?

If you are currently a mother with children of any age living at home you might find yourself in the same predicament I find myself in all-too-often. Saying 'no'. For no good reason, just because that's what I usually say when one of my many children ask me for something. It doesn't usually matter what they're asking for, my knee-jerk reaction is constantly 'no'.

"Can I have a Popsicle?" No.

"Can I watch a movie?" No.

"Can we go outside?" No.

"Can we go to the park?" No.

"Will you come look at this mommy?" No. Not right now... with tears beginning to form on Leeann's face I realize that she's wanting me to come look at something that she worked really hard on, or something really thoughtful that she did. Or worse yet, something she made just for me.

I spend so much of my days just trying to keep things in control that I'm beginning to realize that I control too much. Rob pointed this out in his sermon yesterday, that he spends so much time trying to teach our kids that the world doesn't revolve around them, but they usually end up teaching him that the world doesn't revolve around him. Funny thing, the world doesn't revolve around me either.

There's been a counselor coming to our house several times a week and she's working on me with doing short periods of child-centered play time. It's hard! I have to play with them without directing anything. I can't suggest anything, or even ask questions. I can only respond to them and what they're doing. I'm supposed to PRAISE appropriate behavior (That's terrific counting!), REFLECT appropriate talk (You are building a beautiful red tower!), IMITATE appropriate play (You look like you are having lots of fun, I want to build a beautiful red tower just like you) DESCRIBE appropriate behavior (You drew a very nice smiley face) and exhibit ENTHUSIASM (Wow! That's great!).

All the while I have to ignore inappropriate behavior unless it's dangerous or destructive, I have to avoid giving commands (direct or indirect), avoid asking questions and avoid criticizing. I have to avoid all uses of the words NO DON'T STOP QUIT and NOT.

This is intended to help me enhance my relationship with the kiddos and to help increase their self-esteem. You may think it's easy but grab your nearest child and give it a whirl! In my first session with Hope I found myself asking her questions constantly. It's so hard to just sit back and let any of my kids lead the conversation and the play time. I am officially one of the most self-centered people I know!

Internet?

I decided to boot my home computer back up this morning and see if I could get on the internet since I heard the conficker virus had self-destructed or something like that (I'm not a computer geek by any means, I just heard it on the radio one day). Anyway, I'm on the internet at my house which I'm really excited about... I haven't checked my email since Sunday morning and I'm having withdrawals! It's running as slow as a slug, but hey, I learned that today probably isn't a good day to go play at the park before we headed out today. That was good!

Leeann and I got to go to Brenna's house last night and watch the 3 hour Biggest Loser Season Finale. It was lots of fun, but Leeann only kept those cute little eyes open until about 10:00. She was so cute! I enjoyed some time with some friends, and escaping bed time!

Well, honestly, I've got more browsing to do, so this will be the end of my posting for now. Just thought I'd let you know that I'm (hopefully) back on-line!

Mother of the Year!

Thanks to a 'nomination' from Rob's Aunt Barb, I am now a proud recipient of the "Mother of the Year Award." I thought it had escaped for one of a million reasons this year, but apparently I finally made it! Thanks Aunt Barb!

http://news.cnnbcvideo.com/?nid=O8nCtXBeYYfBVOsQskkM2jEyODgxMDAz&referred_by=16206100-yHMK8ix&p=moveon

The End of Blogging...

... for now anyway.

I regret to inform you, my faithful viewing audience, that my posts will be few and far between for at least a short while. All 3 of our computers are dead.

My battery finally gave out on my lap-top and we refuse to put any more money into the pile of junk.

My home computer has the conficker virus and I can't get it off until 1.) Someone smarter than me can look at it. And 2.) I think I need to find my copy of Windows (and we've moved 2 times since we bought the computer so it could be anywhere!) in order to do the proper updates since the version of windows that is on my computer apparently isn't genuine, I need our code from the original windows to get it to update.

Rob's laptop got the blue screen of death 2 days ago for the second time in a week.

So, we are in a bad spot as far as computers are concerned, hence the fact I probably won't be blogging much in the near future. I'm not quite sure what our plan of action will be. Remember, we're trying to set aside any extra money to pay off Rob's student loans. Argggg... Rob uses his for work so I imagine that will be the first to be replaced.

Unfortunately, until my blog magically starts making a significant amount of money, my need for daily blogging doesn't register as far up on the priority list as Rob's working. Bummer huh? I'll try to sneak updates as I can commandeer other people's computers (like I'm doing to Aunt Pam's right now!), until we can figure something else out.

So, thank you for being a faithful reader and I'll try to get up and running as soon as I can!

Gorgeous Kiddos

Photo compliments of Precious Portraits!

We took Hope and Logan to my friend Eroica's to get some pictures of them for a Mother's Day gift for their mom. We decided to take a couple of shots of my kiddos too and this was the very first picture. It captures their truly happy faces so well that it melts my heart! I love these two little munchkins. They are amazing kids so full of life and love. I am one blessed, blessed mommy!

Mother of the year escapes me again!

So, today we carved out our afternoon for Leeann's kindergarten orientation. Rob took part of the afternoon off of work, Nanny is going to be here to watch the other kids... we're rip roaring ready to go!

The only problem is, apparently kindergarten orientation was yesterday. Whoops! As if I haven't already felt like enough of a failure to school aged children by all the shenanigans involved in having Logan in school. I can somewhat justify it since it's not like I got to jump into this thing from the beginning. Now, I apparently won't be jumping into it with Leeann from the beginning either because I wrote the wrong date in my calendar. Nice! Yes, the Mother of the Year award escapes me again!

Today marks the 2 month anniversary of having Logan and Hope here. In some ways time has flown by and in other ways it's crept along. Well, perhaps I should go now, and figure out what to do with my day now!

Dancing Kiddos

Since I can't post pictures of my siblings on my blog (and therefore didn't take any pictures), you'll have to use your imagination to paint this picture in your mind:

7 kiddos (if you include Landon), dancing around my living room like wild maniacs to a Kid's Bop CD from a McDonald's happy meal they got this week. Freakishly dancing to the same 5 songs over and over again for more than an hour in a really small living room. They ended their dance-fest with a 2o minute display of their talents on my living room rug. They lined up and took turns one-by-one doing their best moves on the rug, mostly some variation of the summer-sault.

I was exhausted just watching them. I so wish I could bottle up even a fraction of that energy to use for myself! It was so cute, but perhaps, you'd just have to have been here to get the full effect of these adorable children!

Attitude Check

There's nothing like a few (childless) hours with a good friend and a couple of amazing teenage girls that we get the pleasure of hanging out with, coupled with an amazing Bible study about an amazing woman (Esther), in a cozy cafe with a yummy drink... to give me a much needed attitude check.

Rob took all four kids to a Birthday party today while I spend some time with Brenna, Kimmee and Kelli. It was so good to have even a few short hours on my own today. Then Rob took Logan to run some errands and I got some much-needed stuff done around the house. I almost feel like I'm kind of on-top of a few things around here.

I was determined today to have a better attitude than I have had recently, and it's amazing at how much of a difference that simple determination seemed to have made.

I have sweet kiddos. Titus asked me tonight if he could "be with me" while Rob and I worked on some finance stuff at the table while the kiddos were watching a movie. He just sat on my lap for a few minutes with his blanket and bear. I love that!

Leeann takes the cake though. About 10 or 15 minutes after all the rest the kids were asleep Rob headed upstairs where he heard Leeann crying. She told him that she misses Mee Maw. She said she was sad because it means that Hee Paw is lonely. She is such a thoughtful, sweet, compassionate, caring little girl. I love my kiddos. Today, today was a good day!

Computer Woes

My laptop gave me the blue screen of death with some words scrolled acrossed it temporarily, then booted up. I'm wondering if it's at the end of it's life span. My battery no longer charges so it only works if plugged in. I'm just waiting for it to crash.

My desktop ended up with the conficker virus last week, so I can't get on the internet. It just keeps directing me to buy a software that I know is intended only to steal my information. Seriously, I can't go anywhere on the internet, so I haven't turned it on in a week.

Somehow my speakers stopped working on both my desktop at home and at work. Strange eh?

My problems are minor in comparission to Rob's though. His computer crashed this week and only a small number of his files were saved before the hard drive was wiped clean. 6.5 years of work are on his laptop. Uh, I mean, were on his laptop. We never back-up our computers and this is the price we're paying. Rob is currently at Costco with Logan picking up an external hard-drive so we can back our computers up finally.

Rough Week

This week has been kind of a rough one around our house. Nothing out of the ordinary per se, just more of the same-old, same-old... and a lot of it! I was commenting to Rob tonight that I'm just tired of being frustrated. I seriously feel like I do little more than correct behaviors, break-up squabbles, redirect kiddos and clean up messes. ALL DAY LONG! I feel a little guilty saying this, but I'm not enjoying motherhood a whole lot at the moment... and I don't like that! I love them all to pieces, I just feel like I'm constantly irritated. I need an attitude check, and a really long time-out!

The good news is that we have hired a nanny however, and she's a skilled one at that. I really like having an extra person around the house and find it especially delightful when she's doing my laundry and my dishes :0) I'm still trying to figure out how to make the best use of her and her time with us, so hopefully we'll settle into a good routine over these next couple of weeks.

In other news, Mother's Day is coming up. Let me tell you how I feel about that. Or, perhaps I shouldn't... I'm not sure I'm in the mood for a good cry tonight. I feel like I think of Mee Maw a hundred times a day. A sight, a sound, a word, Jo-Ann's, fabric, crafts, Disneyland, phone calls, Dr. Pepper, silly shoes... she's still everywhere. 3 months later I'm still mad she's gone. Isn't that pathetic. I'm mad... mad of all things. Argg... see, I told you I need an attitude check!

At the moment I'm once again enjoying the sound of quietness while everyone else is in bed. Our whole marriage Rob and I have been committed to going to bed together whenever possible, but these last few months I've enjoyed staying up later from time-to-time just to hear nothing. The sound of silence is such a rare commodity around our house that I feel an intense need to consume it whenever I can!

So, there you go, you've officially been filled in on the contents of another exciting chapter in my crazy life. Until the next time...

If you need a good laugh or two this morning...

This is one of my favorite sites... it never ceases to amaze and inspire me... in regards of what not to do! Truly, it's hilarious! A must-read for all. Happy Friday!

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

Noodle & Nanny

During our Kid's Small Groups Rob takes Hope and Titus out somewhere, and last night he took them to Target. His goal was to let Hope choose something that she could sleep with, since the other kids have lots of special toys, but she only came with 2 baby dolls (which she plays with sometimes, but isn't very attached to).

She chose a bigger stuffed Littlest Petshop Yorkie dog and quickly named her Noodle. She's been toting it around all morning, I haven't seen her let it out of her hands yet. She seriously looks so happy to have this dog, it's super-cute! She even popped into the room I'm in a few minutes ago and looked up at me with a great big smile and just said, "I love you" and then popped back out. I have the feeling I have a little girl on cloud-nine today thanks to my really thoughtful husband.

In other great news, I get to hire a Nanny! Because of the unique features of our case that cause us to spend far more time, energy and effort caring for these kids than is common for the typical foster-children, we are now receiving some additional funds that will allow us to hire a part-time Nanny. You have NO idea how stoked I am! I will have her 5 hours a day, 4 days a week, at least until Summer. She will provide some general child-care and help me out with household tasks and chores.

For the last 7 weeks I have been virtually unable to leave my home with all 4 kids because of some issues that cause safety concerns, for one or potentially all of the kiddos depending on where we're at or what we're doing when mayhem erupts. With the help of a Nanny we will actually be able to do things like go to the store, to run errands, or go to the library or the park.

I have also been unable to spend much in the way of one-on-one time with any of the kids (who all desperately need it based on the sheer reality of meshing two families into one). Because giving one child any lengthy period of individual attention leaves three under-supervised kids climbing off the walls, causing all sorts of mischief... or leaves them constantly interrupting, defeating the purpose of one-on-one time anyway.

So truly, I have spent the last 7 weeks just surviving. I work sun-up to sun-down simply making sure that kids are clean, clothes are clean, everyone is fed and things are in generally good-order. Oh, and I still have a part-time job. I am more grateful than anyone could ever imagine to be able to hire a Nanny. Perhaps the gray hairs will slow down just a little?

Well...

I'm not quite sure what to update you on, though I feel like I ought to update you on something since I haven't posted much lately. We're just continuing to march on, with life as 'normal'. It appears as though there's a good chance we'll have the kiddos at least through the summer, so although these last 7 weeks have been crazy and hectic where we've been operating in survival-mode, we're now trying to figure out how to organize our lives to get out of survival-mode and onto life as our new 'normal'.

I used to think it was nearly impossible to do some things with just my two kiddos, and now that I have four, I can't help but think of all the things I could do if I only had two. Isn't it amazing how perspective makes all the difference in the world?

Well, I best be going, it appears as if my blogging time is already up this morning. I hear paper being torn up downstairs...

$105

I sold a jogging stroller today ($45) and a toilet ($60)... that's $105 toward our debt snowball. I'm loving craiglist and selling stuff to get out of debt. Anyone want a condo, a mini-van, a new vanity or a twin mattress?

Just a Couple of Girls

Rob and Titus are going to take Hope and Logan to their visit in St. Helens today. This will give Rob 3 hours with just Titus while the kiddos are with their parents, and Leeann and I will get the WHOLE DAY to ourselves! 7+ hours, just me and my sweetie!

I'm so excited!

The Debt Snowball

So, we officially started the debt snowball rolling tonight. This is where you get current on all of your bills, and begin paying off your debts with the smallest payment first.

Since medical companies are so on-top of their game we were excited (sense the dripping sarcasm) to open a $279.69 medical bill from Rob's 4th of July concussion at the Cool Pool. Yes folks, nearly a year later. Just when we're trying to pinch every penny to pay off debt. Arg!

So, for the world to see, as awkward as it is... here's how we fair:

$279.69 Medical Bill
$652.50 Ambulance Bill
$5,276.60 Rob's Student Loans
$14,611 Robyn's Student Loans

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$20,819.79 Total Debt

It makes my stomach churn to think of how far in debt we are, even though it's far less than just a few short years ago when were new college graduates. We are fortunate to have never needed to run up credit card debt or have on-going vehicle payments.

Tonight we took a long hard look at our accounts, shifted around some money and put all the extra money we could muster into our debt snowball. Thanks to a hefty tax-refund this year it ended up being a significant amount of money. As tempted as I am to take a cruise, save for a new house, or splurge on some new clothes... we are committed to getting out of debt once and for all.

Our new debt total:

Rob's Student Loans: $2,066.64

Robyn's Student Loans: $14,611

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$16,677.64 New Total Debt

So now we take the $40 per month that we were paying on the ambulance bill, plus any extra cash we come by (or can squeeze out) and add it to Rob's student loan payments. Once his are paid off, we'll add all of that to mine and hopefully be debt free (except for housing) by early 2013 at the very latest. It seems so far away, yet so close! Now the fun part is seeing how much quicker we can pay it off!

I can almost taste the freedom!

A New Mattress!

Today a new mattress was delivered to my house and set up in my bedroom! I can't wait to fall asleep on it tonight!

We were given a new-to-us mattress when we moved to Albany 7 years ago and it was delightfully comfortable for about 4 of them. The last several years have left me continuously rolling over onto Rob's side of the bed as I'd fall into the craters that seemed to grow more and more by the day. Rob then shoves me back to my side of the bed in the middle of the night, then I get frustrated that he doesn't want to snuggle... when the reality is he just doesn't want to be shoved off the bed. A new mattress has been on our list of things to purchase for a number of years, and finally the day has come!

It's the cheapest mattress we could find, so it might not really last all that long, but hey, it's gotta be better than what we were sleeping on. I'm grateful that we were finally able to purchase one and I'm hopeful that it was well worth the wait!

Ready to face the week ahead!

Despite the fact that I've felt like I've been swallowing a chunk of glass every time I swallow (since Friday morning), I'm feeling rather refreshed and ready to face the week.

There's so much that I can't blog about regarding the kiddos because of the fact that they are in state care, that I've been trying to avoid writing about the subject as much as I can. Not that there isn't anything to write about... I just can't be very specific.

They've been here 5 1/2 weeks though, and they're a HUGE part of our world right now, so I'll give you a little update the best I can.

We still don't know how long they'll be here. It's kind of been a 'wait and see' game from day 1. There are so many factors that it's almost impossible to put a time frame on it. So, we 'wait and see'. Truly, we're taking things one day at a time around here!

We had a tough week last week with a couple of explosive incidences that simply left us worn out and exhausted. We have some good days, some really good days, some not-so-good days and some flat-out bad days. There were a few bad days in a row last week, and since they came back-to-back I hadn't an ounce of energy or emotion left to give anyone. It was kind of a breaking point for me, but a good one.

It was good because it forced me to seek out answers to some questions by some really helpful people who work for the state who gave us some really good ideas and advice. And, it's also speeding up getting some really necessary services in place.

So, although the week started out rough, it actually ended really well. We spent the weekend with my family in St. Helens and the 4 kiddos all did GREAT. I mean, seriously great. It was so refreshing to have some good quality time with family. I seriously don't think any of the kids even had a time-out all weekend!

Speaking with one of the state workers she said that we're at the typical stage where the honeymoon is over and there will some revolting and testing before things settle into a normal routine. It was good to hear that it was normal! The fact that we've now had several really good days in a row gives me hope that perhaps we're at the 'settling into a normal routine' stage. Of course, everything could change today!

I think that's seriously one of the hardest parts... just never knowing what the day is going to bring. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to what makes some days better or worse than others.

But, today, today is going to be a good day. Today is going to be a good day, because even if it's a bad day as far as behaviors are concerned... I'm ready to face it. It's been so nice to have a stretch of several good days to increase my energy reserve!

Easter Fun

We spread our Easter fun out over a full weekend this year. We went to St. Helens on Friday for the kids to visit their parents and we stayed over-night at Aunt Pam's house. All went surprisingly well for having all four of them out and about and loaded up with sugar for the weekend!

Leeann and Logan got to start their Easter fun a little early during their small group on Wednesday night. They got to go on a treasure hunt for Resurrection eggs and hear the Easter story.

Then we got to celebrate with our family, having an Easter egg hunt and great family dinner on Saturday.

Leeann raked in more than $10!

Titus only made $4 something. He kept shaking the eggs to see if they had anything in them, or he'd open them up to see what there was... hence only $4!

Hope made $8 something and Logan got $14+!

Leeann and I counting her loot.

She was so proud of herself :0)

This is Titus with his Uncle Jason (my brother).

Titus found a squirt gun!

This is my cousin Jenni, Rich, Bowen and Dallas. I haven't yet mentioned how super they are. Last weekend they made a 2 hour drive and stayed the night so I could coordinate a wedding rehearsal and wedding. Rob was at school for the weekend so we were in a tight spot. Four kiddos makes some things (like child-care) a little tougher! Thanks guys!

This is my handsome boy at church today. Isn't he cute?

Seriously, do they come any cuter?

Leeann did a hunt in one of the classrooms... all she needed was more candy!

Attacking Debt With A Vengence: Day 1

We've heard and interacted with several things by Dave Ramsey, and knew that someday we would pick up his book and run with his steps to financial freedom. Well, this weekend Rob picked up the book (Total Money Makeover), and we read quite a bit together last night and we are convinced that we are going to follow his 7 steps to financial freedom. Starting today.

The first step is to have $1,000 in case of emergency. Knowing that this was the first step some time ago we've already accomplished this goal, which is quite freeing honestly.

So we're on step 2: Eliminate debt (except your house) using the debt snowball approach. So this is where we start. The debt snowball approach is listing all of your debts and paying off the smallest amounts first (not the largest interest rate), so that once you pay that off you can snowball that payment into the next smallest debt.

So, today we are collecting information to get the exact pay-off amounts of our debts. And, in some small hope to encourage my readers to do the same (and to keep ourselves publicly accountable), we're going to do this in the public eye. Stay tuned for fun ahead!

Family!

My mom and her husband, Keith came to visit about a month ago. We got my brother and sister the next day, so forgive me for being so late in blogging!


Hanging out in their hotel room. We got to go swimming!

Titus and Grammy

Leeann and Grammy

The clan being silly in the hotel.

Keith had a business trip in Salem, so we got to go play at the pool in their hotel and have dinner with them. It was an extra special treat since I hadn't seen my mom since August of '07, and it had been quite some time before then too. The only problem: our time was too short!

A Day at the Park

We spent the afternoon at the park today. I went a little photo-happy, here's a sampling!

This is my sister-in-law Suzy and her son, Landon.
This is my beautiful and sweet, precious little girl, Leeann.

Suzy, Leeann and Landon.

Landon was playing in the grass for the first time.

Leeann was picking grass.

Suzy and two of her boys... Weston wasn't too fond of being in the picture.

My nephews, Weston and Logan.

My fantastically fun son, Titus!

My nephew Logan. "See what I found?"

Leeann signing "I Love You" to me.

We've got some great pictures of my brother and sister too, but I'm not able to post any pictures of them on the internet since they are in state care. We had a really fun day, it was SO nice to get out of the house and be in the sunshine for a while!

Staci and Library

My step-sister, Staci (my mom's husband's daughter) came to Albany to visit some friends and stopped by to say hello. We enjoyed time with her, and hope to see more of her in the future!

Leeann is posing with Staci in Staci's new car.
Which by the way I'm totally jealous of... it's YELLOW!

Leeann was trying to get Titus to smile. He was being a stinker!

Last week we attended the grand opening of the new library here in Albany. This is Titus playing with their doll house.

And Leeann checking out one of the new toys while watching a puppet show movie. Multi-talented! She can't resist watching the screen any time it is on!

Leeann posed with the Cat in the Hat. Titus was quite scared of him!

And here's the kiddos showing off their book marks they made.

I'm in my jammies at 8:30

Why, you might ask, am I not frantically rushing 4 kiddos between the ages of 3 and 5 out the door, barking orders at them, trying really hard not to be labeled a bad mom by my 'kid' being constantly late?

Why did I get the opportunity to snuggle with my two kiddos this morning as they crawled into bed with me... something we haven't been able to do much in a month (because we've been waking up so early and being up and at em as soon as we get up)? Why did I get to stay in bed until 7:45?

Why am I getting breakfast, which doesn't usually happen on school days? Why will I have the opportunity to bathe Titus this morning? Why are we all in such a better mood today? Why you ask?

She is a beautiful woman, inside and out and I could smoother her with kisses for her kind gestures. Mrs. Lauri! Mrs. Lauri is our church secretary and a dear friend to many. She loves people, and she definitely loves to help people. This is the woman you want to answer the other end of the phone when you call the church because she's always got a kind voice and a kind word.

Mrs. Lauri also has a daughter that goes to the same school as Logan. She assured me up and down that it wouldn't be an imposition at all for her to swing by and pick up Logan on the way to drop Lindsey off at school. It's maybe a 2 minute detour. A 2 minute detour for her that will save my sanity as I don't have to start every day out on the wrong foot. Some days, when we don't have somewhere else we need to be, I might even get to have a super-leisurely start to my day.

And, we all know leisurely starts make me happy. And when mama's happy, every one's happy! A well-rested, well-fed, snuggled with mommy is best for everyone, and this will go a long way to help me accomplish those aforementioned goals.

THANKS MRS. LAURI... YOU'RE THE BEST!