Too Many Kids???

I just got a call from our piano teacher. Our oldest 4 kids all play piano (we start them when they turn 7). She is nice enough to let us drop them all off at her house for their lessons ...for 2 hours!! While 1 kid is having their lesson, the other 3 do their homework.

Today after John picked the kids up, the piano teacher called and asked... "Guess what you forgot???" (I could hear the grin in her voice...."

"Adam forgot his homework and backpack... AGAIN!!!????" I replied......

"No...................he forgot Olivia...... "


WHAT!!!!

This Week for Dinner....

On Saturday I sat down with all the kids and asked them each what meals they would like for dinner this week. Some of their responses surprised me!! (but pleased me!!)

Katie - Taco Salad (Aunt Sheryl's recipe on Fritos with Honey French Dressing)
Rachel -Homemade Southwest Hamburgers (with shredded pepper jack cheese, fajita seasoning, a touch of ground sausage and diced jalapenos mixed right in the meat - served with guacamole and salsa... YUMMY!)

Adam - Shrimp Jambalaya (I love that my kids will eat this.... it has been a family favorite for years... with Chopped rotisserie chicken, smoked sausage and shrimp - a bit SPICY!)



Olivia - Oriental Lettuce Wraps (at Sams Club.... EASY and fast!)

Eric - Pizza (no surprise there....)

It was a really fun week.... the kids got so excited when I served their meal and it was nice for me to not have to come up with this weeks meal ideas!

Lion House Shrimp Jambalaya

2 Tbsp. butter

1 1/2 tsp. chicken bouillon granules

1/2 c. sliced celery

1/2 tsp. paprika

1/2 c. copped green or red bell pepper

1/8 tsp. thyme

1/2 c. chopped onion

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp. finely chopped fresh garlic

1/8 tsp black pepper

1/2 c. uncooked long-grain rice

1 small bay leaf

1 c. cubed, cooked chicken (I use left over rotisserie chicken)

1/2 pound fresh or frozen raw shrimp, shelled, deveined and rinsed

1 c. water

1 16 oz can tomatoes with liquid

1/2 pound smoked sausage, cooked and cut into 1/4-inch slices

Hot pepper sauce

Melt butter in a 3 quart saucepan; add celery, bell pepper, onion and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, over medium heat, until vegetables are tender (4 to 6 minutes). Stir in rice, chicken, water, tomatoes with liquid, sausage, bouillon granules, paprika, thyme, cayenne pepper, black pepper, and bay leaf. Over high heat, cook until mixture comes to a full boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until rice is tender (20 to 25 minutes).

Add shrimp; continue cooking until shrimp turn pink (4 to 5 minutes). Remove bay leaf. Serve with hot pepper sauce.

A trip to Phoenix

Last weekend we decided to take the kids on a fun adventure.

We rode Phoenix's new Light Rail into downtown and explored the sites.

It was a pretty long ride.... so we kept Sophie entertained with bubble gum.

I think she ate 4 sticks of Juicy Fruit along the way.... :)

We started off at Bank One Ball Park....

and stopped by a Mining and Mineral Museum...

and ended at the State Capital where we looked at all the war memorials.

Above is the anchor to the USS Arizona sunk at Pearl Harbor.

... looking up at the flag pole of the USS Arizona....

Afterwards we rode a city bus back to the light rail stop....

Ya gotta sit in the WAY back you know!

On the way home we stopped in at Rosa's for dinner.

It was a really fun day for the whole family!

Thank You Friends!!

I just wanted to make a short post to say "Thank You" to all my friends that have called me, posted , and commented to me in person about my previous post. The response to my last post was amazing....

I even had one of my best friends from high school who also was a roommate at BYU call me out of the blue a few days ago. It was amazing.... not to mention extremely timely!! We have always stayed in touch but we haven't always called or written as much as we should. Luckily neither of us has ever taken offense at the lack of communication.... we both know we are both busy with life.... my 6 kids and her 4 boys!! Anyway, she called after reading my post and thanked me for being such a great friend to her in college. Leaving her family was very difficult for her and my happy, partying college girl ways helped her a lot to get her mind off of her troubles and to help her through it! What can I say.... I wanted to have a really FUN time in college... and we DID!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR CALL DEBBIE!!! It meant a LOT to me that day!!

Anyway...no worries!! The day after that post I woke up feeling better.... Like the clouds had parted and the sun was shining! I am happy... I am healthy... and I am FEELING GOOD!! I am going to make an effort not to dwell on the things I didn't accomplish but rather on what things I am going to accomplish! I am going to be positive and happy.... its the best for my family, for me and for all my amazingly supportive friends!

THANK YOU ... THANK YOU... THANK YOU!!!

I LOVE YOU ALL!!

Happy Birthday Rachel and Olivia!

Happy 11th birthday to Rachel and 7th birthday to Olivia!!

Gotta LUV Christmas birthdays!!

We started off with Dinner at Logan's....

The waitress had them stand up on the bench and totally embarassed them!!

And then we had a family party with cousins!!

(we only do the big parties on even years at our house!!)

Gotta luv new clothes!!!

and CUTE scripture bags!!

Twilight

As I was looking for "Bella's Lullaby" to add to my playlist for our blog, I realized I had never posted pictures from my awesome Twilight evening!! Katie and I went with my sister-in-law, Sheryl, and her daughter Kendall to see the movie on opening day. Both of the girls had read the book and were DYING to see the movie! (As were we...!)

We went to the theater our friend Sarah Plewe rented out and then to dinner at Pei Wei. We all wore our matching Twilight T-Shirts that Sheryl designed and had printed just for us!!

It was a BLAST!!

(It was quite the experience sitting next to my daughter during the kissing scene.... when I was "wooo-who-ing" at the screen!!)

A Few More Pictures.....

Here's a few more for you Grandma and Grandpa!!!.....

Joy and Sadness and Puppy Breathe

Yesterday morning I woke up to our pregnant dog crying to go outside. I let her out and then waited for her to come back in. The moment her paw hit the floor inside the back door, her water broke. Less than 10 minutes later a puppy was born.... or something resembling a puppy but was actually more of a malformed fetus that would never take a breathe.

The next 6 hours were rotations of calming her down, walking her outside even taking her for rides in the car. The next puppy just wouldn't come. For those who do not know... more than 2 hours between puppies can be a sign of big trouble. We were just on our way up to the reproductive specialist up in Scottsdale when she finally delivered a squealing, healthy 11 oz baby girl in the back of my Excursion. So we head back home.

And then we were back to waiting.... and waiting... and waiting. Three hours pass and we load up to go to the vet.... again. This time I decide to go to Jake Degraffenried instead since he's closer. Jake examines her and can't find anything wrong so gives her a shot of oxytocin. This kicks her into hard labor and she pushes out a healthy boy followed shortly by another healthy girl.

We had done an ultrasound so we know there are 6 or 7 puppies. I decide to drive home so that we can be back in our own house to deliver the the last 2 or 3 and not on the dirty floor of the vet clinic.

When I get home (less than 10 minutes) I open the back of the Excursion and there is another puppy. dead. I don't know if he was born dead or not. I wish I had just stayed at the clinic.

An hour later she delivers another puppy. I am right there and even tear open the sack myself. This puppy is dead too. I worked and worked on her.... with visions of a happy ending like on the 101 Dalmatians movie.... but this life definitely isn't a cartoon. The puppy never takes a breathe.

At this point it has been 10 hours since the first puppy. I am exhausted and finally just break down. I am not the business like breeder. Losing puppies is really hard.... especially on the kids.

Two hours pass. We think she is all done but John gives her one more shot of oxytocin to make sure. Half an hour later she pushes out another puppy... no sack.... not moving. I cut the cord and whisk him away......and I rub and rub and rub. This time I get my happy ending. He sputters and coughs and lets out a little squeal. I think we should name him Miracle...

In the end, we have 2 boys and 2 girls. Right now its almost 6 am and I have only slept for 2 1/2 hours. We have to keep a very close eye the first couple of days to make sure mom doesn't accidentally lay on a puppy..... especially since its her first litter. There are only 4 of them and they are so very tiny - the biggest only 13 oz. We have to keep them safe. Luckily mom is a very good mom. The puppies will grow big and fat quickly..... because there are only 4. (Golden Retrievers usually have between 8 and 12.)

Its a good thing we love puppy breathe so much around here!

Finding Joy in the Journey

A few nights ago I had the wonderful opportunity to go out to dinner with a good friend. We spent the evening talking about our current stages of life, about our kids and even our relationships with our husbands. A big topic was President Monsons's talk about Finding Joy in the Journey.... We had both seen a post about it on Mindi's blog.

This time of year can be so stressful and busy.... it is so hard to stop and actually enjoy the moment. There is sooo much Christmas shopping yet to be done, Christmas cards to finish, presents to wrap, more decorations to put up, Christmas dinner to be planned, bought and prepared, too many teacher's gifts to put together, goodies to be baked for all the friends and neighbors..... not to mention volunteering to handle ticket sales and to help with costumes for the Gilbert Fine Arts upcoming youth production of Thoroughly Modern Millie (that Adam, Katie and Rachel all have parts in.....) and oh ya.... puppies are coming this weekend!!

How do you enjoy it all when there is so much that it is totally overwhelming and you just can't wait for it all to be over?!

That great evening out with my friend really helped me to put it all in better perspective. NOTHING is more important than our families. Nothing is more important this holiday season than teaching them about Christ and the significance of his birth. We can't let ourselves get so stressed that we can't enjoy those special little moments..... watching the lights in their eyes while decorating the tree together as a family, taking each of the kids shopping by themselves so they can buy a gift for their brother or sister, taking that quiet moment to talk a little about the Savior.... maybe even while you are baking sugar cookies for the neighbor! ANYTHING!

I just keep thinking that Katie is already 12 years old. She is running out of Christmas Holidays at home! We only have so much time with her under our roof....under our wing! We only have so much time to teach her all she needs to know before she heads out into this crazy and often scary world.

I don't want to miss anything. I don't want to miss ANY opportunities to share a special moment.

I DO want to find joy in the JOURNEY.....even though it is so HARD sometimes ... but I am in no hurry to be at the end, are you?

A Great Photographer = Photos You Love!

We did it!!! We took family pictures with 6 kids and a crazy stressed out mommy! (and a very patient and tolerant daddy!)

I spent hours looking for matching outfits. Then I took them all back and started over. I started with fairly formal black and pink and ended on brown and denim.

...and then there was the hair accessories, shoes and jewelery.....

A date..... Trying to get every one's schedules to work with the weather and perfect lighting.....

We finally decided on a location. We wanted something a little more funky and different from the more formal pictures we usually take. We thought about the Riparian Preserve, inside our home, inside a beautiful custom Tuscan home (that I WISH was our home...), in a field, by a farmhouse, in a cute, shabby Chic hair salon..... and finally decided on the Mesa Arts Center downtown.

Getting everyone ready is tricky.... Sophie definitely needs a nap and it would be helpful if Eric slept too. That worked out real well... NOT! Four girls is a lot of hair to do.... especially with almost waist length hair!! And oh ya..... I would like to do my hair too! Dad does the boys hair..... ooops..... Oh well...better luck next time!

Two hours, dozens of Sophie meltdowns, Eric being a clown with his finger continually up his nose, mom having a few stress meltdowns and more than 600 pictures later..... We were finished!

She even took pictures of John and I .... together and by ourselves!! Definately a first!

And we LOVE them!!!

THANK YOU APRIL! You are AWESOME!

I posted just a few.....