why not?

be comfortable while you are redecorating the christmas tree? This would be Rose's ingenious idea....she now has a chair pulled up to the tree so she can sit while she rearranges the ornaments.... on an hourly basis I might add, thus the need for the chair.... I must admit it's quite brilliant on her part. Ok not even going to touch the fact that she "is" touching the tree.... sometimes it's just good to go with the flow.... and it is rather entertaining watching her enjoy Christmas in her own little way. This year has been such a wonderful reminder of what truly is Christmas...nothing like little people to remind you of the simple wonder, the simple magic, the simple joy that is this season. No commercials necessary, just simply them being little blessings.

christmas pics...

Baby moses....age 4 months

Brandon and Grace,

and one of all the cousin's (notice yahaira is so happy to be doing this)

rosie doing what she does well, removing ornaments from the tree, (so the tree has been up since saturday and she has rearranged all the lower branches on an hourly basis....life as a 1 year old is wonderful!

gracie...and bitty baby

this would be Yahaira's view on picture taking....she is definately "2"

yes all these little people currently reside at our address...life is fun!

this is Alonso, Pedro, and Moses

Rose, Yahaira, and Anthony

yikes!

8 kids

3 adults

1 photographer (who is a saint)

and this is what you get..... insanity, pure and simple

thanksgiving

so much to be thankful for:
my husband,
my kids,
my faith,
my family,
my friends,
my job,
my health,
my home,
my hobbies,
my life.....

how could I not have had a great thanksgiving with all those blessings?
simple.....life is good!

100

numbers seem to be a frequent part of my posts these days...either marking milestones or occupants of my home (that number seems to change daily) ...and this one is another milestone...my 100th post.
wow! that's a lot of thoughts and ramblings. Pretty certain most weren't witty or thought provoking, I just don't lead that type of life. Often it's quite boring...mixed with a large does of busy/crazy. It is what it is.... and I wouldn't change a thing....loving this ride I'm on, loving the people who share it, just simply loving this life I have.

18

This pic was taken on Sunday, November 12...the day she officially turned 18. 18 years....it's hard to imagine..... she was our last, the baby (a burden she has carried well, and on occasion used to her advantage just as well) the third child in 4 years (what were we thinking, we weren't it's as simple as that) She put up with over tired parents, sharing everything, bossy older siblings who were quick to remind her that she was the baby, the hand me downs, the just wait a second comments, and she survived. She is my moody child,and yet she is quiet, she is a reader and would choose a book over any other activitiy.... and I simply can't imagine life without her. She has taught me to slow down, to enjoy the simple things...often in the chaos of life when just trying to get out the door was a challenge we would find her pausing to watch a row of ants...unflustered by our hurry up let's go attitude...she reminded us by example that it's the little things that matter. She has tested me, beyond limits sometimes and yet she is the one who always gives you a hug when she leaves and say's I love you. My life is better because of her, fuller, and complete. It has been an amazing journey... she faces life with a quiet determination, accepting that somethings are more challenging and yet never gives up...she sticks to her goals and reaches them. I admire her strength and determination. I am a better person because of her....and I am thankful daily that she i s my daughter. Love you Cassandra, being your mom is one of my greatest gifts.

well....

we survived the weekend, I think.

Traveling was ok weather wise, but the traffic end of it, now that just simply sucked! wouldn't care to travel in that mess again for an incredibly long time. The hotel was great, the pool and waterslide fun. Saturday morning Linette and I headed to the scrapbook convention, some new products, and venders, not so many as in previous years...in the afternoon Cassandra and Josh joined us to attend Bodyworks at the Science museum...amazing! well worth the wait and cost...indescribable. Linette headed home saturday we stayed until sunday, but we pretty much stayed in the hotel. ...I underestimated the time and energy it takes to keep track of 5 little people....I'm still tired. We went out to eat sunday for Cassandra's birthday, (will post her birthday another day, she deserves her own post for this milestone, year 18 yikes!) arrived home to a freezing home, the furnace stopped working sometime during the weekend, and one of the hard-wired smoke detectors back up batteries was beeping a low battery warning....ok after an hour of the beeping I was ready to scream...Kevin arrived home (he had to take josh back to austin so was behind us by an hour or so) we pretty much tracked and tried to determine just where the darn beeping was coming from, when finally located of course neither of us remembered how to take the battery out...good grief it is a nightmare of course the little piece that fell out as kevin finally figured out how to open the door turned out to be a major and important item....needless to say when we finally replaced the batter, (which required a trip to the store to buy a battery, we have every other battery size under the sun but not a 9 volt) the door wouldn't close completely thus the beeping continues, since the detector couldn't detect the new battery....a note if you want to drive some one crazy this would work, the beeping every two minutes is annoying to say the least...so I decide to try....which was simply to just disconnect the whole thing, sounded good in theory...but! perhaps not so great in practice...needless to say we are replacing the entire unit....ahhhh but there is no more beeping. Life is good. as for the no heat that we didn't get fixed until yesterday afternoon, so sunday night everyone slept in our bedroom, (we have a small space heater) there were bodies everywhere...but hey it was toasty warm, even the dog slept in the room, of course she shook all night, we think it was the trauma from hearing the beeping most of the weekend...poor dog. So for now all is good, no more home issues, things are put away from the weekend, just need to catch up on sleep :) (ok I know that isn't going to happen) and honestly I don't need to go away for a very long long time.

It's snowing....

:(

ok if I didn't have to travel in the white stuff that would be smiley face. It is the pretty snow, white and fluffy,perfect for snowmen and snowballs, this snow I like....unless I have to travel in it. Bother one can't have it perfect can you?

Trying to pack for 5 little people, assuming Josh and Cassandra can handle their own packing. (Beckie isn't able to join us on this weekend get away) and yes you did read the numbers correctly we do have "5" little people (under the age of 5) the end of this week has been an enormous adjustment for all. Of course I didn't take the day of entirely, just done early, so trying to juggle work, with packing and all sorts of other life issues, has me wondering why? do we ever want to leave home? Wondering if I am remembering everything...knowing I won't. Hoping the weather cooperates so driving won't be too much of a challenge, (we have to take two cars, those numbers above won't work in one vehicle) which is why I am worried about driving, usually Kevin drives and I never worry at all about the weather....oh bother.

lot's planned, so much to do, thinking I'm meeting myself as I move thru the house, trying to get everything in order.

have a great weekend....I plan to.

it's wednesday

and where did this week go? Kevin is on vacation the kids are loving that he is home all day. Even if it does mess up my schedule :( Getting alot of things done around the house that we just never seem to have time for. I voted yesterday, I'm relieved that at least for a little while we will have a break from all the ads in the mail, on tv, and radio. This year seemed to particularily nasty in tone. Wondering why it was neccessary. Yesterday was also the release of the Disney movie Cars. Anthony was thrilled to say the least, of course we had to watch it yesterday afternoon. I'm happy to say things are actually calm around here...for now :) I'll leave you with some random pics from when we visited Dennis just before Halloween. (notice Anthony's costume...yes the boy is nuts about Cars!

10 years

a decade
120 months
520 weeks
3650 days (give or take leap year dates)

unmeasurable moments, events, milestones......


It was 10 years ago today that my mom died. I can remember the day vividly. I can recall feelings so clearly that my body still reacts today. I remember moments so completely, the look on some one's face, the hug from a friend, seeing my dad cry, the kindness showed by so many.
The overwhelming emotions, shock, uncertainty, fear, sadness, emptiness, amazed a body could feel so much and still function. Decisions being made, and throughout the whole process inside I was fighting it with everything I had...honestly I was horrified when I stood in a room full of caskets, and yet the decisions had to be made, picking out a cemetery plot, the very kind man presenting places as easily as a Realtor would present land to you...wrong on so very many levels...my dad looking to me for answers (when did that happen, I still felt like a kid) "what do you think" he asked at a particular plot, inside I thought does it really matter, do you think she cares if she has a view? what I spoke was I think it will work. ( I have learned now that the plot isn't for the person who died, it truly for those left behind, I have over the years found peace in visiting that little piece of land that 10 years ago I in disbelief chose.)
I struggled for so long with the numbers, at first it was it's been a week, then two, wow now it's a month. I wondered if the 6th would ever just be a number again in my life. I knew when it was coming, I could tell you how long it had been faster than taking a breath. eventually it did stop being so big...although November 6th will forever be etched in my memory. I expected holidays to be bad the first year, they were and yet we got thru them and it wasn't so dreary and sad we survived, I learned it isn't that obvious that gets you it's the unexpected...my birthday was horrible, I was crabby, tense, unpleasant the whole day, no idea why until later that night when the phone rang and I realized I had been waiting for her to call, something she had done every year without fail, something until then I had not even registered as important until it was gone. I had simply took it for granted. The books written on grief are endless I read a good share of them, I never did find the answer, rather I found the answers are there inside you and you need to be ready to see them before you can accept them. I have moments of anger at her, for not taking better care of herself, for missing so much in our lives, those are brief thankfully and actually pretty selfish on my part. I have moments of tears, when I just simply miss my mom.
and I have moments of complete joy that she was in my life, no matter how short. I wonder what she thinks of her grandchildren, I have often sensed her at moments in their lives, I found comfort in thinking she was still a part of them,watching over them.and I wonder what she thinks of the new little ones in our lives, I know she would have loved them as completely as she did each of the other grandkids. I wonder what she would think of the person I have become... at times there are questions I would love to ask, advice I wish I had, just to simply see her, take in her face, her smell, her love. I have learned we miss most what we can't have. and I do miss her still 10 years later.

Trick or Treat

a few pics from Tuesday night...the kids heading out to Trick-or-Treat. Our neighbor Jay and his sister Katie joined us for the walk around the neighborhood. It of course was cold, annoyingly cold...monday morning the temps were in the 60's now that would have been perfect weather...oh well at least we didn't have snow to deal with.

candy overload

we survived Halloween....what an adventure, hilarious, exhausting, cold, and amazing all rolled into one. Rose loved the idea of candy (how do they figure that out so quickly?) she didn't love the idea of us removing her pumpkin pail each time we put her into her car seat, bother what a ruckus she would raise. Yahaira was completely into the whole going to the door and getting candy thing until someone she didn't know was near then she completely hid and wanted no part of this experience, and Anthony was just hilarious, he would race to each door (of course being Lightening McQween from the movie Cars may have added to that racing atmospere) he totaly was in the moment, how fun to watch his excitement, how fun to hear Yahaira's "tickrtreet" and "hanks" at each house, and rose was just fun...watching her "try" to walk in her pumpkin costume was entertaining in and of itself. of course the best part coming home and sorting thru all that candy....hilarious! Now to just find the will power to stop eating all that chocolate...