A Few Things

I'm finding my heart full often. The little blessings continue to fall into our lives, and we continue to give praise to God for every little thing. 

    Last night we were driving home from Target and Dale turned down a sidestreet, spontaneously.  My heart leapt when I realized we were dropping in for a visit at my brother's house. They welcomed us into their home at nearly eight o'clock and cheered our surprise visit enthusiastically.  It's a gift every time.

   The realtor sent me a message yesterday to let me know that the dishwasher blew out last week in our new house, but because it was under warranty, they were able to replace it and POOF!  Just like that, we have a brand new dishwasher just waiting to be loaded with our dishes!  These little blessings, they blow me away.

    Homeschooling is going well for the first time in a very long time.  I have the time and attention to give to each of the kids, being that we have most meals served to us and maidservice.  I know that it won't last, but having a jump start and a few good weeks of learning will help my attitude and the kids' attitudes going into some chaos as we being the moving-in process.  This is a huge blessing because, while I am whole-heartedly a homeschool advocate, I am not very good at it and sometimes I really dread the responsibility.  Having a few good weeks in a row is a big deal.

    And one more thing...  Dale found out that he has training out of state the week we were scheduled to move into our house.  We moved the closing back, which means the day the  movers come to unload boxes, he'll be gone.  However, God in His infinite wisdom worked every detail out beforehand.  My mom and Dale's mom are both on spring break that very week!  So, thankfully, I will have lots of help navigating through the boxes. 

Thank you God for these precious blessings.  You are so, so good!

PS Please forgive my typos.  With the new blogger format, I am unable to locate the spell check and frankly I've become dependent on that blasted thing and no longer keep a dictionary at my side.  Obviously that will need to change because it's just too embarrassing having misspelled words everywhere and being unawares.  xoxo  You are so kind to overlook my ridiculous idiosyncrisies.

Been awhile...

Oh hi there, are you still here?  HAHA!  I think of you often, and honestly, I miss you often.  It's just that, well, I got a little busy when we moved across the country.  I'm living in a hotel, see, and I have six kids.  Here in the Bible belt, it snows whenever it wants and so I'm stranded while the four-wheel-drive is incorporated into the commute.  My mornings start early and I am busy keeping all of the children busy with a schedule that won't quit.  If I don't fill their time, I risk being thrown into the street from the fighting and bouncing off the walls.  It's just the way it is.  But I'll return.  I feel feverish to write lately.  It's what I love, it's what I do.  I need to be here everyday.  So thanks for never giving up.  You make me always want to come back and start again.

lvb

The Party

So I told the kids that we would have a little party this week before they go back to school.  I don't know why I offer these suggestions up.  It's really laziness, initially.  I make these promises to give them something to look forward to and then I don't want to do it.  I don't want to do it at all.  I spend the whole day hoping we'll need to cancel.  It's so mean, but it's real, folks.  I mean, how many nights of being a happy party mom can I be, really?

This photo freaks me out a little.  Kennedy having friends that are older than the other kids is fine because they don't look that much older, except THIS friend.  The boys are all in love with her because she's gorgeous, and she's tough, and she beats them all up at school.  Did I mention that she's ten and in real life she looks older than Kennedy.  They are in a different age bracket.  It's strange, but it's real.  I'm about to have a teenager in my family. **sigh**

Micah spent a lot of the night schooling Nick on table manners and appropriate conversation for mixed company, but he somehow forgot when they started an extended, detailed debate about puss.  I'm just glad it didn't happen at the table. 

The kids each invited one friend over and I made them pizza.  When they got there I didn't have any done so I made some breadsticks to hold them off a few more minutes until I could get some real food on the table, then it came out one pizza at a time, which they promptly descended on like vultures.  It was crazy!  I would set it down, and it was gone.  There was a point when I honestly thought they wouldn't stop eating, and I would have to tell them there was no more food.  I put less and less sauce and cheese on each one so that if I had to make a second batch of dough I'd have something to put on top of it.  I ended up making two pans of breadsticks, six pizzas, and two dessert pizzas for 11 kids.  It seemed like a lot, especially when they ate pickles and popcorn during the movie.  YEEOWWW!! 

I managed to get them all in this magical shot!  They didn't spend the night, we just had a couple of kids show up in their jammies with their pillows and blankets so the other kids quickly followed suit, except the big girls, of course. 

I was hoping this was it for the parties for a while, but Jas is making plans for her birthday in two weeks.  I am really dreading having another bash at my house, any suggestions?  

lvb

HAAAAAP-PY NEW YEEEEEEARRRR!!!

We had quite a celebration, here in the Sutton house. These two drank soda all night long and thought they were living the dream. The fact that they only drank tablespoons at a time didn't seem to bother them a bit.

This was the calm before the storm.  It got crazy real fast once the music started.

  

Deisha went down first at a record 8:30.  Leila managed to hang on until about 10:30.  I knew she was tired when she started trailing me while I cleaned up the house.  I finally said, "Go snuggle up on the couch and I'll come sit with you when I'm done."  That was all it took.  A blankie, a movie, and a corner of the couch put her out in minutes.

There we go, Micah's heating it up now~!  We had to start the night with the dance party because, frankly, I get crabby and I didn't want to risk nixing it later.  So while we made the food, the kids took turns as dj blasting music through the house.  I do have some video footage of the crazy dancers, but I can't figure out how to load it on the new program... hmm...  At least I managed to catch this moment.  Kennedy was having SOOOO much fun!

And here is the little ray of sunshine toasting the new year with me.  This is proof that when you have a big family, all you need is food and a happy mommy to pull of a great party.

Happy New Year, everybody!  May all your New Years dreams come true!!!

To Dale

Hi.  I really, really love you.

Leila's Scarf

I forgot to mention the chenille scarf Dale made for Leila.  It turned out so cute.  She wore it to bed that night.

So last night I made a long list of things I want to get done this week.  I'm such an overachiever that I quick did a couple of things to get them off the list before I went to bed, as if I had no time at all in the next week with no school and no other schedule requirements from now until Sunday morning.  Seriously, I am a free agent. 

Know what I did this morning?  I'll give you a clue!  ZZZzzzzz  That's right.  I slept on the couch for a very long time.  Now that I'm up I think I'll make myself some breakfast and get going on the list.  If I can get it all done before the kids start back up with school, I'm taking them to Chuck E Cheese!!!  HAHA!  There's some good motivation.  I'll let you know my progress.

Dale's Homemade Christmas

I will post more pictures of this sweet action soon, I just couldn't wait to share some of Dale's gifts from the homemade Christmas.  This a gocart that he made for the boys.  You can't believe how excited everyone was to ride this.  There are fights over whose turn it is everyday.

He made Deisha a hat.  Isn't it sweet?  Jasmine kept sneaking away with it and wearing it when Deisha wasn't paying attention.  When the new neighbors walked by though, she ripped it off and asked me if her hair looked ok.  Where does that come from???

He also made Jasmine's scarf, and Kennedy's hat.  I  know, right?  He made me a scarf too but I don't have good picture of it yet.  You can kind of see it in the next one, but I'll post a few more so you can see the true craftsmanship.

 

Who knew that hulking beefcake of a man was so good with a crochet hook?  He still surprises me.

Rippin'

Trebo got a ripstick for Christmas.  Now, on top of wearing the helmet, the elbow pads, and the knee pads, he also walks around all day wearing a chest protector.  He also comes running in the house crying about every half hour.  He's a wild child, it's his nature.  So I don't coddle him every time he comes in the door, I just make sure he's not really hurt; usually he's not.  Then he runs back out the door to the top of the hill to give it another go.  Tough guy.  I'm sure he'll eventually go pro.  At something...

Confessions

Awhile back a friend of mine made a comment about how blogging is the modern-day confessional.  People get on the page, write their secrets, their failures, their realities, and in the privacy of their own home, usually from a quiet room to a silent audience, they have this sense of relief.  I sort of resented that; it's true and I do it, but I more consciously filter.  I want you to know that I have real problems, but I don't want you to think that it's because of me or that I am as much of a joker as I really might be.

Like right now, I've been hustling around all day trying to catch up, reorganize, sort and trash this whole place.  When my kids announced that they were going to bed at 7 so they could watch movies in bed, I was thrilled.  Ecstatic, actually, at the possibility of being able to get the rest of my work done without having to trip over or physically remove children from my path.  I'm kind of wretched that way.  Only the thing is, they've been outside most of the day.  They did come in and leave trails all over the house, but it was a mess anyway because of my reorganization project so you never would've known they were here.  And now at the end of the day, I just want some peace and quiet.  Sometimes I feel so guilty about that.  They are no trouble to me, work,  yes, trouble, no.  They're my dream come true.  But I spend all this time scooting them around and figuring ways to busy them so that I can have some time to myself, and then when I get that, I feel guilty.  Is there no rest for a mother?  My mom says it's a mother's curse.  I have to agree. 

And guess what else.  I took our tree down before Christmas Day was over.  YES I DID!  I know. Dale kept calling me the Grinch.  I'm Bergermeister Meisterberger.  (I secretly hate toys).  I just couldn't stand all the clutter for one more second, and there was a lot of it.  Besides the decor, we had the crafting supplies, all the new gifts, the boxes from gifts, and the usual run-of-the-mill mess.  It was driving me crazy.  I'm moving soon.  (HA---LE-LU-JAH!  HA---LE-LU-JAH!!!)  The list of todos is really starting to jack with my head.  Once the kids go back to school, we start the countdown.  I need to get as much done before that day as possible.  It's really quite overwhelming. 

Today my neighbor came to my house and I was so embarrassed about how filthy my house was, how I was still in baggy workout clothes and my hair was in a messy pony tail, that I didn't even invite her in.  Now I feel guilty, like I should call and give her some sort of explanation, but at the same time, why?  To let her know that this isn't how I really am?  She looked so pretty with her makeup and hair do... Me in my clutter and mess.  I'm kind of a trainwreck sometimes.  People ought to know. 

Jammies

In keeping with our Homemade Christmas, the girls had requested some "old time" nightgowns and caps.  Initially I searched for an online pattern and planned to crank them out myself, but after some thought I decided it may be better to delegate the project.  You can see why I'm glad I did!

It's a pretty common thing for my mother-in-law to make pajamas for the kids each Christmas, so when she asked if I had any ideas, I gave her this one along with a few others.  I gave this idea to my mom too because I knew they would get a thrill out of getting two different "old time" gowns, which they immediately requested the morning after sleeping in these: another one in a differen color.

  Look at my little antique angels.... just dahhhling!!!  They make me laugh.  Look at all their slippers too!  Thanks Aunt April, they were a big hit!