12 Years Ago Today

My world got rocked by A-Dog. LOL!

The picture quality is awful because 12 years ago there were no easily acquired digital cameras, and if you did have one (Dad) it was ridiculous. Remember having to wait 3-5 minutes seconds for the picture to snap? Ya, that was fun. Good times. Back then you could have your *film* camera put onto a floppy. Not even a CD yet, just a floppy. I nearly had to borrow a floppy drive to convert them a few months ago. Luckily, my computer is composed of random components and it actually had one. Pure luck I tell ya!

But there he is. All *pixeled* up and everything :- ) He was about 1 month old here.

To me, most babies look the same anyway, so what are a few pixels off anyway???

Here he is today. Never mind. I just looked on the camera and those were blurry too. Geez, maybe its user error!  Ok, here he is recently...

OOPS! Did I accidentally insert their silly picture? Oh, my bad!!!  Here we go...

Ok. There. That's better!

Our A-Dog is honestly such a true blessing to us. I can tell you with all certainty that he is the easiest child to discipline in this house. I'm not saying he's perfect - but as a young child he did not like loud noises. Raising my voice 1 slight octave was enough to stop him in his tracks. Obviously by me saying this, the other 3 are NOT like that :- ). Obviously. 

Now that raising my voice is used to simply be heard around here, so that doesn't work. BUT, I have other methods now. Can you say "yard work"? The boy HATES it. I don't know why, but daddy's other kids will spend all day outside with him. Not A-Dog, he would just  rather be outside throwing the ball - any ball - or swimming. ANYTHING other than doing yard work. So, it's an effective threat tool!

He has an obsession for sports, baseball in particular. He loves the game and loves to play it. He has made All-Stars 2 years in a row and is hoping for his 3rd next year. He is loved by all of his coaches because of his awesome attitude and willingness to learn and play.  He also hates criticism of any kind, even if it is simple. That is of course, because he already knows everything :- )

He is a fabulous brother and adores his brothers and sister. They think he is the brightest star in their day. Mini P likes to sit on his stomach (when he's lying on the floor at night) and brush her teeth with her feet in his face. She knows it bugs him, and it makes her (and him) laugh. Monkey likes to body slam him when he's in that same position. (Maybe he should sit up???). Agent P could play hide and seek all day long if A-Dog could tolerate it. There on only so many places you can hide before everyone knows all the spots!!!

We absolutely love spending time with A-Dog! He is so funny and witty - and well, frankly, he gets my humor. Our kids must get humor, sarcasm and understand they will be teased if they plan to survive in this house and with our family! Plus it builds character.  But really, he hasn't quite gotten to that hate my parents part of life yet, so we still enjoy each other!

A-Dog, if you are reading this, which I know you are - we love you. We love you no matter what. We are proud of what you have become and the pride you take in being that person. Always remember that.  Happy Birthday and enjoy the next 365 days until you are a teenager :- )

Pumpkins and such...

Here in the typically dry/hot desert, we rarely carve our pumpkins early for fear of them becoming soggy and droopy before Halloween. Often, it is carved the day of and we hope that it lasts until the next day for the sake of the kids. We don't have the "advantage" of living in a climate where October brings cold and dreary days. Of course except today. Just last week it was 95 (crazy above average temps). Today is only 55 (below average temps), yes, as the HIGH, and super windy so it seems colder.  I'm certain all of you Michigan/eastern people are laughing at my depiction of "cold and dreary". Let's face it, you think 80 is hot. :- ). And to us Natives, a dip below 70 brings out long sleeves and jeans! Ask around, you'll know I'm right!

Anyway, with the intrusion of a cold snap into my perfect Fall weather, we decided to carve our pumpkins last night. Plus, Halloween is on Saturday, so why not?

Let's back up just a bit and reminisce about the day we picked our pumpkins...a couple weeks ago:

Like when Agent P's hair almost turned into a helicopter propeller and lifted him off the ground.

Or when A-Dog tried to use his arm as a shield to the gale force wind that took the fine dirt from the ground and whirled it at us like we were metal in a sand blasting machine. And there's Mini P - running for her life so her brother could protect her. Or, maybe she was running because she is competitive and didn't want A-Dog to get a better pumpkin than her. That's hard to say...

There was no time for cute "sitting by the pumpkin" pictures of all the kids. Just these 2.

And certainly not toegether.

Pretty much the only 2 kids I could find (that were mine) and who appreciated a good picture with some really cool pumpkins. A-Dog felt too old to go and sit himself on a pumpkin and smile for his dear old mom. I don't blame him. But no one offered to take my picture with the pumpkins.....but my hair was a mess....

Honestly, I have no idea where my sweet husband and Monkey were. I just can't remember. Maybe taking all the pumpkins to the truck while we got ready to pick produce?

This is what we picked:

We saved a whopping $5 by picking it ourselves. Good thing too, I had to spend the extra cash on cleaning out my truck and the kids :- )

On to the carving.

I spent way too much time cleaning up the pumpkin seed and prepping pumpkins to be carved. Not enough photos. BUT, look how cool they turned out:

Such a busy time of year for us, tomorrow is A-Dog's birthday :- ). So many things to say about that boy!!! But you'll have to wait until tomorrow!!!

Life's a Beach -

And then you cry.

After 3 straight days at Disneyland - a morning at the beach is just what we needed!

Air temperature: 70 Degrees (perfect)

Water temperature: 68 Degrees (a bit chilly)

A day at the beach where 3 of the 4 kids don't care how cold the water is....priceless :- )

Monkey has a low tolerance for cold water. His comfortable zone begins at 86 degrees.  He did not enter the water, play in the water or appreciate the water like the other 3 did!

Goodbye Old Friend...

I have had a pair of jeans. A fabulous pair of jeans. You know the jeans. The jeans that you can wear anywhere, anytime, any shoe - flop or boot. They fit perfect, the bend perfect, they look perfect, heck, your might even look amazing in them (but probably won't admit it , but MAN do you feel like you do, they are JUST that fabulous)!!!  Those are the jeans I'm referring to.

I have had a pair of those jeans. I bought these jeans because my cousin said that "Lucky Brand" are the BEST!!! After I passed out from the price tag, I bit the bullet. She was right. They were the BEST and it WAS worth the investment. (Trust me when I say, it's an investment) I owned those jeans for at least 6 years.  Never did I see them in my closet and say "I can't stand the way those fit" and put them in a bag to donate. NEVER. Trust me, other jeans have endured that demise.

Those jeans saw me thru the 2nd trimester - twice.  YES, I wore them until I was 6 months pregnant. With Wyatt. OK, maybe not with the twins. That might be an exaggeration. It might have only been 6 weeks with the twins. Months, weeks. Either way it's all relative. They were wonderful jeans! Then they waited patiently in my closet until I lost weight it was their day to shine again. I'm telling you; they were fabulous.

Until yesterday.

Sadly, yesterday they sustained an irreparable tear in the knee. I knew it was coming because there was a small (ok, 2 to 3 inch) tear already that Agent P was perplexed by. I assured him it was merely there for my knee to breathe and it was supposed to be there. 

But then, something happened. I can't even remember what it was it was so traumatizing.

No longer do I have a slight hole, I have a ginormous TEAR. And because the jeans were on their last leg anyway, so to speak, I'm afraid the tear will continue to worsen.

Yes, I have thought of repairing it, but let's be real - there is not an iron on patch that will look good on MY knee. Plus, I'm telling  you, the material is very, very thinned out...if the rip wasn't there, believe me, it was going to be somewhere else.

Like "in the rear-end".

I do have to say, I am extremely grateful that THAT didn't happen! Boy, that would have been embarrassing!!!

So, today I say Goodbye to the best dang pair of jeans a girl could ever ask for. The other pairs that are in my closet will never ever come close. Thanks for always letting me believe that my butt didn't look big!

16 months and 16 days

That's how long we A-Dog endured braces. I did not have to have the wires changed and tightened. I did not have to have a rubberband linking top teeth to bottom teeth to align my jaw. Nope. Not me! I merely endured monthly trips to the orthodontists office with 4 kids - 30 miles each way, mini rubberbands in the laundry, on the floor and other random places and always reminding A-Dog to get the food out of his teeth. That's all I had to do. Oh, that and hold his hand while they pulled out 2 teeth that were bigger than Hank's (our 100lb lab) canines. I had the easy part.

So today was the day! The excitement had been building since last weeks ortho visit - and today was the day! I think I was more excited than A-Dog tho... :- )

A-Dog went from THIS:

Day of "before"

Day of "with new braces"

Day of removal "before"

Day of removal "after"

Up Close "after removal"

So, now until "forever" (is what the orthodontist office told me) he wears a permanant retainer located on the inside of his teeth (top and bottom) that they will check in 1 month and again in 6. Boy, I sure will miss those orthodontist visits! What WILL I do with that extra time and gas???

Nice huh?? Tonight I will be serving up a favorite meal to celebrate - RIBS!  YIPEE!

The Surprise Trip!!!

Well - the TRIP wasn't so much a surprise as the destination. It is so rare I am able to keep a secret like this for so long - one that I know will make my kids happy - but I did! I have to admit tho - Agent P saw the shirts I made hanging in the closet and knew we were going to Disneyland. Tell me this...how does a 4 year old who has NEVER been there, have any idea what it is? 

This is Monkey in one of his shirts...(ignore the grouchy face, it didn't last long). I made green and yellow - yes folks, count 'em up, that is 12 shirts. Smartest thing we ever did! We were out numbered 2 kids per 1 adult - and NEVER had a hard time spotting each other! And, we brought them all home :- )!

So after 9 hours 25 minutes, 3 stops and awesome traffic...we found ourselves in Anaheim, where from the rooftop deck we could see DISNEYLAND!

THEN the big boys were excited. When you can see it so close like you can touch it, then you know it's real!  I was a bit remiss about taking appropriate photos for my blog, but let's face it, I was at Disneyland. I got caught up in the excitement of the Magic!!!

But, here are a few to get you started!

Lunch break in the truck

Good Ole Pluto!

Waiting for the Pixar Parade

Mini P gettin' some love

Me, A-Dog and Mini P

We spent 3 very ride packed days between the two parks (Disneyland and California Adventure). It was busier than we thought, but rarely waited too long for rides. I'm pretty sure that we walked about 800 miles a day :- ). 

A-Dog will tell you that his favorite ride was either California Screamin' or Space Mountain. Both were awesome and he had the good luck of riding it twice as often as we did! (Since he got to ride with each of us as we rotated watching the little kids)

Agent P will say that his favorite ride was the Astro Blasters.

This shot is a bit blurry because my Cybershot is not good at action shots :- ) I guess my sweet husband liked the ride too :- )

Mini P and Monkey liked every ride. I think Mini P got a little scared on Pirates of the Caribbean. Other than that, they were real troopers and did anything we wanted to!

I still have a few more days in our vacation to post, but I will let you digest that. I don't want to wear you out or anything!!  Luckily the next few days after Disneyland were relaxing!  Think BEACH and POOL!!!

I'm now a .....

GERM-A-PHOB. (note: picture below are germs, pretty sure that's what they look like too!)

Or, maybe I'm just more of a "germ-a-phob". After our recent visit to Disneyland (posts and pictures to come after my germ post!), I've come to that conclusion.

I noticed more people sniffing, hacking etc - and touching absolutely everything. I warned them all (my family) to keep their hands to themselves. I am the only one who listened (tho, pretty sure my sweet husband did too...but then he touched the kids...).

They say the typical family structure has 2.3 kids. We have 4. That means our opportunity to acquire illness is higher than typical. That also means that I will get to care for more sick people than typical (I might get sick, but that just adds to the people I have to take care of). 

So, of course after 2 days of Disneyland, there are sniffles in our midst. Luckily, it is just sniffles, runny noses and little coughs. Could have been worse. It could be the stomach flu (I endured that when the twins were about 4 months old - nothing beats infants with the stomach flu except TWO infants and a toddler at the same time...). 

How lucky that 2 of them are going to spend a couple days with Grandma and Grandpa, leaving me with only 2 sniffly (is that a word??) kids.

Love ya guys!