easter

Only enough time to post pictures for now.....but as you can see, they speak for themselves!
I'll be back this weekend to write all about the past couple of weeks, but for now, Im enjoying my company :)

recovering.....

i am now recovering from my long awaited double mastectomy.
I had surgery on Monday, the 6th....and i think i'm doing pretty well !
The worst is behind me, that's for sure.
I'll be back to blogging in no time :)
(especially with Easter right around the corner)

aunt cathy's house

( yes, in the name of breast cancer........thats PINK you see)

we took the kiddies to aunt cathy's house in WV yesterday.
they wanted a fun day for all of the kids, so everyone on ricks family pitched in and got a couple of rockin' moonbounces for the day.
what a bunch of sweethearts!!
Here are a few random pics......

the best year of our lives..happy birthday sweet natalie grace

Our sweet baby girl had her very first birthday yesterday!
She had a perfect day.
The sun was shining, her brothers and sisters only had a half day of school, she went to the store and picked her very own present,



AND who could forget the cupcakes!





don't forget to click on the video's below!!

our new friends.....

Here's how you can brighten your kids day for $1.
We already had the bowl, and the shells from all of my shell art (that i havent gotten around to showing).
So, i headed to the pet shop and bought 10 little goldfish for a buck.
Yes, they are considered 'feeder fish', the ones that are squished into a big tub filled with millions, so we rescued them from being fed to other mean creatures.
Unfortunately these fish typically dont live very long, but as the kids know, at least we'll give them a good life while we can!

prayers needed

Devastation has struck our family once again.
My aunt cathy's (aunt seems so generic, she is more like my sister, my best friend always has been, always will be), cancer has returned.
I am praying for a miracle from God.
she's been my strength, and such a light in my life, my whole life.
please keep our family in your prayers.

AAAAAAAAACCCCCCCK.

Seriously, all 7 of us have had this stomach flu/upper respiratory virus for over 2 weeks!
Hello?
Don't these germs know that I don't have time to be sick?

Cae's birthday party is this coming weekend and so is my cousin's sweet sixteen!
I've got 2 school projects for sierra and carson that are due tommorow. yeah.

All while I'm trying to keep the other kids from bugging the crap out of eachother from being cooped up for so long, and taking care of little natalie.
Did I mention bob's been home from work for 2 days, sick?
One sick husband, is far worse than 5 sick kids.

So, I shall return, unless i completely lose my marbles by then.....
because as you might know, on a scale of one to crazy, I'm a penguin.
toodle-oooh

bit of an update!

Okay, so don't blame me, but my laptop has been broken.
Which means, i cannot access any of my files, including photos, hence the lack of posting!
I'll have to wait for another laptop, so in the meantime, I'm using my husbands.
I can however take new pictures, and posts those, so here are a couple, plus 2 video's.
wow, it must be your lucky day.....haha.
No seriously, i feel so bad for not posting, and will be thrilled to catch you all up on missing photos soon, until then, here goes!
And by the way, I officially have not a pre-teenbean, but a real TEENbean.

Caeleigh turned 13 on valentines day, can you believe it?
I told her the happiest day of my life was 2.14.96.......my heart has grown every single day since then.
She had a cheer competion on her birthday, so her big "winter luau" is this coming friday.
I painted a little art desk in her room, and a big chalkboard on her wall, using the oh, so, delicious smelling chalkboard spraypaint. I'll take pictures of that too.

Here's a picture of her and our Tim-timmity, her lifelong best buddy.
(and lucky enough he lives right next door.)
Ever since we moved in, the day they first met, when little caeleigh asked little timmy (while she was crouching on the ground gathering random grass making a strange and exciting form of a birdsnest),
"do you want to play?"

I remember thinking how lucky we were to move next to such a sweet boy, and now, like caeleigh, he's all grown up and i thank god that he blessed us with such a caring , and thoughtful young man.
I will be so lucky if my boys turn out like Tim-tim.
He's been a big brother to them, and like a son to me, we all love him, and apparantly, sierra will marry him one day, and they will live in our backyard in a little house. haha.
Now that i've given you his life story, here's the pic.

Aren't they both so cute? I hope they'll always be the best of friends and never lose touch.

Next, here are 2 pictures of miss natalie, my little noodle.
I cannot believe she is turning ONE next month!



Finally, the videos.
The first one is of the noodle and the second one is just kind of funny, its all of the cheerleaders from the competition dancing.............except mine.
Yes if you look closely, mine is the one standing smack dab in the middle of the floor "texting" like a ferocious beast!

okay, c'mon let me have it....

I know it, I've been a M.I.A blogger.
The holidays came and went so quickly this year, it's all been a big blur.
I'll tell you all about it tommorow when I have some free time.(promise)
Until then, here's a little video of the old man, the little lady, and my silly lishy.

.

Split second..

cuz...seriously, that's all I have!
I've been so busy and am so run down, that by the end of the day I feel like I can't breathe.
I don't do 'busy' well.
Well, okay, with 5 kids I'm always busy, but it's my comfort-zone busy.
Not forced busy.
Forced- busy meaning pertaining to any and everything outside of my typical, already busy day, (ever tried to cook 2 separate meals with a baby on your hip , while helping 3 kids with homework, so that I can then give them baths and read 4 chapters of junie b jones before bed, while your oldest child is at cheerleading practice, and your husband is still at work, and you have 7 peoples worth of laundry all over your bedroom floor?)
Go ahead, try it, it's super fun!
Nah, I can handle that, it's my everyday life and believe it or not, I'm in my total element when I'm in super-mom mode.
My children give me complete and neverending joy, faith, and love.
All of lifes everyday problems seem to melt away when we're cuddled up together.
They make me laugh so hard I cry, and cry so hard I laugh, they make my heart feel like its so full that it will burst , although somehow,each new day, it seems to have more room, I just don't know how I got to be so lucky, and I thank God for them every day of my life.
So adding the 'forced-busy' days full of dr. appointments, Christmas shopping nightmares, school projects that take 5 million hours, having the tremendous stresses of financial worries, and thoughts of my upcoming surgeries (in february by the way, ho-hum) , poops me out.
.... throw any extra busy at me and that'll suck.
Ginormously so.
I'm the type of girl that sticks her fingers in her ears, closes her eyes, and says "lalalala i can't hear you" and poof, those problems are shoved to the back of my mind in a little black box with a big pink bow for another day...
I need to be able to wear my jammies all day, i take and pick up the kids in my jammies, the teachers always look forward to seeing which ones i'll be wearing.
Today it was my white fleece jammie bottoms that have merry Christmas written in green and red all over, with my long green and white striped shirt, and my red sweatshirt, and my lime green and yellow nike's.
Come on, don't be jealous.
I need to go at my own pace, in my own little world, and chillax with the kids.
That's the way we like it.
Friday, the kids have a half day followed by 16 days off for Christmas break.
I'll be able to breathe then.
Are ya'll finished hearing me babble?
Are you sure, cuz I can babble some more ya know.

Here are some recent pictures...
The first set is of Nattie....I just can't beleive she's 10 days away from being 9 months old! My sweet and silly gooseball. She's my precious little doll.
The second is of Carson the night of his pre-k program. We had a special cake and gift for him afterward because he was such a big boy singing up on stage.
The 3rd set is lil' bobby's birthday party.....although his birthday is in october....yes, life has been THAT busy, that we just had his party in december.

Another greenbean tradition!

We had lots of fun making our gingerbread house this year!
Everyone was high off of sugar, that's for sure!

Except Sierra, she was high off of ginger, so she says!

I told her I was putting this picture on here....bahahaha

Carson, showing me his cute ginger bread man's face, before he ate him!

Bobby......showing me......uh.....ginger boobs.
Yes, that's right, he decided to put boobs on his ginger bread man.
Thunk of it all by himself.
Men, I tell ya.....sheesh.

VOILA!

The end!