Somebody get me a paper bag to breathe into...

I just got home from school with Clare and Adell. The girls are eating lunch while I am trying to figure out where to get some photos printed--quickly.

Clare just came over and stood by my side with a big shy grin on her face.

Clare: "Hey Mom, do you remember that guy Sam?" (Sam is not a guy--he is a little boy in her kindergarten class)

Me: "Yhea...why?"

Clare: (Grin getting bigger, shoulders creeping up to her ears) "Well tooooooday he told me he was in LOVE with me!" (Hands fly up to cover her giggling face)

Me: "Ohhhhhh."

So--do I pull her out of school today, right this very instant or what?

It's Great to be Eight...

Wyatt was baptized on Saturday.

I wish my kids would stop growing up.

I mean, where do they get the idea that it is OK to grow up and get all accountable and stuff?

I certainly didn't say it was OK.

I squash my kids into clothes that are two sizes too small and let them drink caffeinated soda for a reason--it stunts their growth.

Happy Baptism day Buddy.

I am proud of you--but don't tell Clare or Adell. They'll only think they can grow up too.

November 25th...

Oh baby. My baby is 2.

Here are a few things I know about 2 year-old Adell.

She has recently fallen head-over-heels for Disney Princesses. Her top two favorites are Bell and Cinderella. We watch one of those movies just about every day.

She is ready to be potty trained but her Mother thinks it is easier to have a child in diapers than to teach one to use the potty.

She loves to eat turkey soup, the milk in the cereal bowl--but not the cereal, candy, oranges, strawberries, frozen blueberries, crabby-patties (hamburgers) and french fries.

She loves to sing, all the time. She sings primary songs, princess songs, children's songs and made up songs.

She loves to dance.

She loves her Daddy and squeals "Daddy!" the loudest when he walks through the door every night. She likes to play "Where are you going" and "high jumps". The first being a game where she sits in Daddy's arms and when he asks "Adell, where are you going?" she flings her body backwards while he holds onto her legs. The second having anything to do with being thrown high in the air by her Daddy.

She loves to play hide-and-seek.

She is very opinionated and demanding.

She does not like other small children or babies to take any of her Mother's attention.

She is tolerant of her older siblings and some times she loves them.

She is a turkey and we tell her so all the time. Usually when she is spilling salt on the table, spilling water on the floor or spilling dinner on her high chair tray.

She is funner than a barrel of monkeys and we all love her--very much.

Where are their Super-Hero capes?

So, I've been wanting to put a couple posts up about Adell's birthday and other holiday happenings around here. But every time I open my blog I go to Dave and Angela's blog instead.

I just think Angela is Super Woman. Seriously, if you don't know this family you should. I just read over Angela's telling of Sadie's diagnosis. She wrote it really well and I was bawling by the end of it. This whole process with Sadie has been something out of a dream--or nightmare. Every time I visit Angela I am blown over by her composure and strength.

She is Super Woman--I am telling you.

Her husband, Dave, is really super too.

Enjoy!

Here are some freakishly awesome dance moves brought to you by The Robot and dinner at McDonalds...very classy stuff.

PS don't try and drink a beverage right as you hit play--you will only end up spraying your beverage all over your computer screen, probably through your nose.

Peace out.

Sadie Baby...

I got to visit Sadie in the hospital on Wednesday. She is doing better. Angela started blogging about Sadie's story and she can explain it all so much better than I can.

I am not sure if their blog is private or not, but if you are interested, check it out:

http://www.ourfamily-forever.blogspot.com/

Honesty...

Clare bit the dust on her way into school one morning. She smacked her face on the sidewalk pretty hard and got a big red scrub under her left eye. When she came home from school I told her she should tell Daddy that she was in a fight. I also encouraged her to say the kid she was fighting limped away with a broken arm and two black eyes.

I thought this would be hilarious.

She looked at me with a stern expression and said:

"I'm not gunna lie!"

Yay, for honesty.

Well, imagine my surprise when Clare called her Dad over to the family room couch saying "Hey Daddy, come look at my face!" When Daddy responded with the appropriate shock and worry, Clare said: "I got in a fight!"

"WHAT!!!" both Will and I chorused at the same moment.

"With the sidewalk!" Honest-Clare responded as she laughed at our shock.

I guess honesty can be pretty funny some times.

We put her hair in sock-curlers the night after her face plant. I thought it would help distract from her face scrub. However, when she got home she complained: "All day people kept saying 'What happened to your face?!?' and 'Why is your hair so curly?' I had to tell people like a million times!" Distraction failed.

Reactions...

Here are few quick picts of my big kids opening their birthday presents. I always expect my kids to jump with joy at the reveal of every present. Some times I am disappointed and some times they nail it.

Here is Lorien...what do you think she opened?

Did you guess a fist full of diamonds? Well, it was a digital alarm clock--for sure, my favorite reaction.

Here is Wyatt opening up the present he has been dreaming about for weeks. The present he specifically guided me to at Target three days before his birthday--a not so subtle hint, hint.

His reaction, the most bland "Oh." you could imagine. Not my favorite reaction.

A Little Love...

Have you ever been delivered bad news so scary you thought your heart might burst through your chest cavity al-la the alien in the opening scene of Aliens?

I don't think I could really answer "yes" to that question--but last week it felt pretty close.

Last week, on my kids birthday to be exact, I got a phone call from Will. I had missed several texts and messages from him earlier and so was blissfully unaware of what he, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law had been going through.

Last week, my little niece was diagnosed with Leukemia. Here is a darling picture of Sadie from the 4th of July.

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Isn't she adorable? I am telling you, you have never met a more cheerful-rosy cheeked-cherub than Sadie. This little doll smiles at every one and every thing. She is a love, through and through. She has sparkling blue eyes and a personality to match. So it was heart-breaking enough to hear that Sadie had been sick for a month with what seemed like one severe cold after another.

Here is a picture of Sadie, Luke and Adell from August. I think this picture was right before Sadie started getting sick?

I am not this baby's Momma--I am this baby's Aunt--but I sure love this baby (all those babies up there really...and all those babies and big kids down there...).

If you love babies, and big kids, and grown-ups or anyone send a prayer up to heaven for Sadie and her family. They have received some scary news and need all the prayers they can get to keep their hearts inside their chests.

They have also received some "good-Leukemia" news? Sadie's Leukemia is very treatable and has a high success rate. Hopefully, she will get to go home before long and all this will be something that happened to her when she was a baby.

What were you doing at 2:30 this morning?

New born baby Lorien

New born baby Wyatt and his birthday-bumped sister, Lorien.

I hope you were sleeping. I wish I was sleeping at 2:30 this morning. Instead I woke from a peaceful sleep to the sound of childish chit-chat. I thought one of the big kids must be talking in their sleep--a biological tick they get from one of their parents. (Their Mother!) However, the chit-chat went on much longer than the usual slurs and mumbles that constitute our family dream conversations. So I walked down the hall to find Lorien and Wyatt snuggled up in Lorien's bed talking excitedly about the day.

Some how Wyatt woke up in the middle of the night and confused the light from our outdoor house lights for the rising sun. He hurried into Lorien's room to wake her up so they could get started on their Birthday.

At 2:30 in the morning.

They just about didn't make it to see the rest of their birthday. Instead of murdering them I wished them a happy birthday and sent them back to their own beds.

I know Wyatt did not fall back asleep. I heard him get up and down several more times before the sun was actually up at 6:00 am. He is so excited, but I predict a serious emotional crash some time around 2:00 in the afternoon. It is going to be a good day.

Happy 10th birthday my darling Lorien.

Happy 8th birthday my handsome Wyatt.