Georgia Trip

Thursday morning was our flight to Georgia. With our luck (or lack of) the plane was boarded and we sat there for over an hour...and then had to "de-board" the plane for maintanance. Our flight was 3 hours late in departing!!! It was okay, though. We just hung out and relaxed.



Waiting in the airport. Laz slept until we boarded the plane (for the second time) and then was awake the whole flight...of course. However, he was wonderful and did not fuss a bit!









Hi Daddy!!! We were not able to sit together (sniff sniff) but we were close by.










Nate picked us up at the airport...so sorry we ruined his half day off by being 3 hours late!!! This is Nate and Court's new SUV....soooo nice!


We all went to Woodstock to eat at the Kani House (Japanese Hibatchi) and Josiah's mom Stephanie watched Laz for us. Nate, Court, Josiah and I had a wonderful time...and the food was AMAZING.






COUSINS!!!! Lazarus Jude and Hannah Grace.
Actually, we had numerous people say they look alike...what do you think???






So sweet!!! :)




On Friday Court and Tiff began the day by making the rounds at a few garage sales. FUN!!!
After that we got ready and went to La Parrillas for lunch.
YUMMMMM-O.
We met several of our good friends there to hang out and chat.








Court and Hannah






Everyone!!! Thanks to my dear friends Tracy (and her kids Corbin, Tristian and Leila), Tim and Audrey, Mark, Jon, Noelle and Fin, Kerri, Diana, Nate, Courtney and Hannah for coming out to see us!









All the kids loved playing with Laz!







Everyone enjoyed hanging out and talking..we all had a good time.




After lunch Josiah, Laz and I along with Jon, Noelle, Findlay, Nate, Courtney and Hannah loaded up the cars and headed out to Washington, Georgia. The drive is about 2 and a half hours...but with 3 babies with us it took around 4 hours.





A Chick-Fil-A pit stop. All the sweet hubbys are holding the babes...and Josiah is giving me "the look" for making them take a picture! Sorry honey!!! :)







Here you will find a short independent film by Tiffany...her first film of this nature.
A 3 hour car ride with 3 babes...by definition, a good time. (or self inflicted torture...whatever floats your boat.)










As soon as we got to Washington we had to go out and meet the horses!








Jon and Noelle's home in Georgia. They live on several hundred acres in Washington...a beautiful little town east of Athens. This place is simply breathtaking. I know this picture looks like a postcard-but I took it! It really is this lovely.
The home was built in the 1790's and is FULL of stunning antiques, furniture and original pieces.









Hannah loved Charlie!









The big front porch...a wonderful place to hang out and play. Hannah loved running around on it.










Jon holding Fin.








Morning. Coffee. Front porch. Rocking chairs and porch swings. Family. Wonderful friends.
AAAHHH.
This is the life!
We should all quit our jobs, move out to Washington and live on their front porch.










Hannah loved sitting in the hopped up Georgia Bulldog golf cart.











Hannah loved Uncle Josiah!!!









The Washington farmers market. It was so quaint and cute...in the summer the place is teeming with vendors and local folks. I cannot wait to come back again!










Findlay enjoying his shopping trip.








Laz and Hannah in the slings....and loving it :)










Jon's brother Jay and his kill. He went out and got this wild turkey off their land. Actually it was quite beautiful. I had never seen one up close before. And unfourtunately I will not be there when they partake of this bird. I bet it is yummy!








Josiah and his corn-cobb pipe. I made him shower, put on cologne and gargle before I would come near him again.








While the boys were smoking their peace pipes...the girls were in the hot tub! It was heavenly :)










Noelle, Courtney and Laz






Nate and Laz. Two handsome boys :)






Tiff and Hannah







Jenn Bailey, Noelle and Tiff






Noelle and Tiffany






Noelle's garden!!! I am coming back out to visit when everything is ready to harvest...YUMM-O.






Josiah is putting the electric fence back up...yikes! Be careful honey!







Laz being adorable...of course.






IKEA.
Need I say more???
Yes.
I have never been to the store...I was an IKEA virgin. No longer!!! I was in absolute shock as I was walking through the store...it was almost the most fun I have ever had.
Noelle and I filled these bags...well, almost. Remember I am now a Dave Ramsey freak, so I noted that this store must be Dave's greatest nightmare...and I bought some stuff. Cheap stuff we needed and could afford. I was SO GOOD.
Until my next trip there.
I will need a U-Haul truck.









The babies chilin while the mommies shopped.







This is the warehouse!!!!!!!!!
AAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Far to soon, the trip was over. We got home late Monday night and the boys were very happy to see us...and we had missed them terribly as well! Next time we MUST take all the kids!!!

First Church of Oprah

I saw an interesting video today.

Linked below, it is a video speaking of Oprah's new "church" or belief system..a feeling, if you will (her words...perhaps her feelings do not change from day to day?)

Personally I am just not surprised. She is an icon and millions of people tune into her show(s) daily to see what Oprah thinks. I have always taken issue with her stance on "self" and have written a few little snippet's in the past years on this blog about it...and received quite a bit of negative feedback because of my unpopular words. Nevertheless, I will continue to stand against her beliefs and what she is pushing to millions of people every day.
It boils down to this:
Oprah is leading millions down the wide path to destruction...tickling their ears all the way, making them feel good about themselves and their sin. From a Biblical perspective she is a false teacher and someone needs to expose her teachings as new ageism.
The narrator of the video (I am not sure who it is or who put it out) says a few things that I do not fully agree with...and it seems as though he left out some pertainate information...however, it is a good start at sheading the light on what Oprah is about.
And there is mention of a political candidate as well that Oprah endorses. A lot can be gleamed from the fact that Oprah supports him. I don't think this video is supposed to be political, but it does mention this fact.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW4LLwkgmqA


So let me know what you think!

Random Items to Discuss

Josiah and I attended the Dave Ramsey conference in Colorado Springs this past Saturday...LIVE! Dave was fantastic! I have always liked him/his books/radio program, but Josiah had never heard him speak...so we had a blast. We got a ton of good info for investing for the future, debt (ahhh!) and teaching the kids about money (another ahhh!). We are also going to take the weekly class to get all this info in small, bite size pieces...I am so excited! So I guess now I am a Dave Ramsey freak.


Josiah and I are flying to Georgia this Thursday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I really can hardly contain my enthusiasm.
We are only taking Laz so I feel like it is technically a "mommy and daddy only" trip.

So here is the low down:
We are meeting all our peeps for a lunch on Friday at La Parrilla in Woodstock...and we want YOU to come! (yes, this is the official redneck invite). Lunch will be at around 12 p.m. After this lunch we are going to Washington, a to stay with Noelle and Jon so you better come on Friday if you wanna see Laz! :)

It is 41 degrees outside (after a weekend in the 70's) and snowing. Yes, snow at 41 degrees. Only in Colorado!!!

I took a nap on Sunday and was awakened by Tarin, who was quite upset. Upon my inquiry of why he was so vexed (I love that word...it is a Jane Austen word) he answered, "Because Kellen took my Lego person and froze him in carbonate!!!!!"
I found this amusing. I had to get onto Kell for freezing Tarin's Lego guy in carbonate.
HA!

Pictures

We L-O-V-E waking up with our baby every morning! Having him smile and laugh with us first thing is SO wonderful! What a blessing! Here Laz is still asleep snuggled in our bed....for only a moment....soon he will be almost 11 years old like Ethan....so I treasure these times.









Shopping at Banana Republic...such fun with 5 boys!
And YES, I am one of "those" moms that carry their camera everywhere they go. I honestly do not want to miss one minute of life with my sons!









Laz asleep on Josiah's lap.








Yeah. My man is HOT. Yeah baby.









AND he is great with babies! A double threat! (oh...and he can build anything...so we are looking at a triple threat here folks)








Shopping is so fun...when you can SLEEP through it!








"Ummmm....Mom, I think this hat is to big for me..."









We all scream for icecream!!!









This picture is classic...Kell is fed up with me telling them to look at me and smile.

Another Quote

Yepper, I found another quote I like...and it is from a mom that gave birth with baby #1 in a birthing center with midwives...and baby #2 in a hospital with midwives and an epidural (insurance reasons...she says baby #3 WILL be a homebirth).


"Epidurals are for tolerating the hospital...labor is the easy part".

I love it! :)

Science and Pink

My older three sons go to a homeschool enrichment day once a week at a nearby church...and they LOVE it. This week they had to participate in their first ever science fair! Now, keep in mind that this mom does NOT like science very much (unless it is health/body science) and so it is nice to have a class where they can do fun science things...cause they ain't gettin' it at home.




My sweet Ethan! He did very well during his presentation. His project was on the effect of cigarette smoke on the lungs. We did some experiments using candle smoke and match smoke on a white towel. We also got some pictures of a normal healthy lung vs. lungs with cancer and emphysema. NASTY is all I have to say.



My Kell Mell. Poor little guy! He was SO nervous about public speaking that he was in the bathroom prior to his presentation about to throw up. (obviously he does NOT take after me...the gal who could talk a hind leg off a mule)He woke up this morning "sick" and wanting to stay home...crying, BEGGING me to stay home.
He told me later that he was shaking so bad while he was presenting that the kids in the front rows could see him...aaawww!!!!!
His project was on osmosis...we swabbed the inside of balloons with onion, garlic and tuna to see if we could smell it through the balloon membrane. We could! It was a great way to explain osmosis to kids.
Kellen ended up doing FANTASTIC and I am so proud of him!!!!! His science teacher was very happy with both the presentations and had never seen those experiments before.



Laz is going to look funny in this outfit, hu? HA! I got it for my little Hannah. I am going to see her in 1 week and 6 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But who is counting?!

I hope to see all my Georgia peeps there :)

Poll!!!

------------------------------------------------------->

Perhaps you have noticed my NEW poll?! I am quite excited to ask any sort of random question I want and see what my peeps REALLY think :) However, I did not know it would cut off my last sentence (blogger is gently trying to inform me that I talk to much)....the last sentence is supposed to say, "Who cares...either way I am moving to Costa Rica"

Which, of course, was MY vote :)

Easter

I took the younger 3 boys on Saturday to the Wildlife Experience (we have a family pass!) for their Easter Eggstravaganza...and the boys got to decorate cookies...as if they did not have enough sugar.
Josiah and the older boys were skiing all day...and they had a BLAST.






Moo-Ma and Poo-Pa with little Laz.



The kids ready to dig into Easter lunch. And no, we did not adopt another son...the boy in the front (Ryan) was our guest for the day, along with his mommy.








The whole Family....AFTER church, cooking, eating, cleaning. We were exhausted!

I love my Mac

Cause first thing in the morning Pres and I (and Laz) can have some bonding time with photo booth...it rocks!

It's Easter!

Happy Easter morning everyone! As I am getting kids ready, getting breakfast, finishing last minute preps for a big lunch after church and preparing to go worship my Lord......I look out my window, on this beautiful sunny day...to find....snow.

Everywhere.

Snow. On. Easter.

Welllll, looks like we are all going to freeze in our shorts sleeved shirts and my dress that I broke out for the occasion. Pictures later...

If he weren't so cute....

....I would have killed him!!!!! (not literally, you DFCS loving individuals!)

I was washing a load of clothes (see post below) and heard Laz in my room starting to cry. I quickened my pace so I could run upstairs and get the baby. Meanwhile, Presley went into my room to "talk" to Laz and keep him happy till Mommy could get there.

*or so I thought* (lesson #791,425 from having kids: NEVER take the word of a 4 year old)

I finished loading the clothes and ran upstairs. By now Laz was WAILING and my Mommy hormones were buzzing. I needed to get my baby!

I reached for the doorknob at about 20 miles and hour...and...it would not open. -puzzled- "Hummm...Pres? Are you in there"? I am talking to the door. No answer. "PRESLEY"? The pitch of my voice began to rise...matching the pitch of the baby.

"P-R-E-S-L-E-Y!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" His name has now taken on 3 syllables (and the thought is occurring to me that he is not in the room).

I hear a weak and eerily calm "Yes"? from THE OTHER ROOM DOWN THE HALL.

*this is where Mommy freaks out, kids*

Pres is in the other room. The door to my room -where little helpless crying baby is- LOCKED TIGHT.
At this point I am absorbing the fact that my adorable Presley has locked the door to my room and ran into another room to hide from me knowing that I am contemplating the worst possible punishment for him..my cute Pres! My little man! A MONSTER!!!!!

What takes place in the following moments is, in a nutshell, a hysterical mother screaming to her hysterically crying infant -through the locked door- "Mommy is here!!! (Presley you are in SUCH big trouble!) Mommy is coming to get you Laz!!! (Pres, when your dad gets home you are dead meat!)It's okay honey!!!! (Presley you are not coming out of your room for a year!!)Mommy loves you sweet baby boy!!!"
All the while trying to BREAK THE DOOR DOWN and thinking how much her hubby is going to want to KILL HER for doing so. Well, the door would not break down. Piece of crap.(mental note to self: increase weight on hand weights and do more shoulder reps) I called hubby -at work- and tried to convey the situation to him without bursting into tears and making him question the sanity of his little wife. He is so awesome. He calmly talks me into a calm, sane person and sweetly tells me where to find the toolbox, screw driver (Phillips), how to unscrew the screws without the whole knob falling off, how to turn the innards of the doorknob (who knew it would be so complicated?) and open the door.

AAAHHH!!! -singing angels, light shining from above-

I hang up the phone, rush into the room, lean over the co-sleeper, reach to grab up my infant son...and my eyes fall upon....a peacefully sleeping baby. This being the first and only time he has cried himself to sleep, poor thing. I had not noticed in my hysteria to open the door that he had stopped crying (which is good because had I noticed I probably would have been convinced he was struggling to breathe and I *might* have gotten an ax -firefighter style- to chop in the door).

I need a vacation.

Best Shopping Day EVER

All this for....ONE dollar?! Yeah baby!




Ummm....the "Home Grown" baby stuff just captured me with it's all natural cuteness. Maybe I overdid it.






So yeah, I love to shop. No surprise there. Retail therapy is highly under rated.

What REALLY gets me going is when I find good deals. I feel....powerful, like somehow I am beating the system...that "they" couldn't rob me blind this time.

Yesterday I went to Macy's to exchange some Easter shirts that GGmom got the boys. I returned 3 shirts (got a $37 store credit) and went to look for other sizes. The sales were fantastic! Example: 50% off...take and EXTRA 40% off and an EXTRA 15% off if you use your Macy's card. Basically they are paying ME to take these clothes home.

I came up to the register with 7 shirts, a sleeper for Laz and an outfit for Laz.

I still had $7 left of the store credit.

SCORE.

Then I headed to the Gap...a wonderland of suburbia attire. I had a $25 store credit to spend and I wanted to find something cute to wear Easter. Well, since I am a fat cow still from baby #5 I found nothing that would compliment my figure in any way. What to do? Head to the baby department, of course!!!

I grabbed several outfits and onesies and went to the register to see what added up to $25. (I am broke and did not want to spend any "real" money)
The outfit I so desperately wanted was just to expensive...$30. No way I am going to spend that much on one outfit for one kid that he will wear for another 2 months or so.
I ended up putting a dollar towards the 2 outfits and 1 onesie that I bought...and told the sales lady to TAKE AWAY the cute little outfit I loved..."Take it far, far away"!!! I said. (all the while trying to scheme how I could possibly get it...credit? No. Future paycheck? Unlikely).
I was finished checking out...my heart aching from the pain of leaving this adorable little outfit behind. I was asking the lady how long they would hold it for me (after asking her to hide it and she refusing me)and the lady behind me (with about $500 worth of SHORTS for her kid) stepped up and said, "Here, I will buy it for you".

Now.................I was in NO WAY fishing for a freebie. Did not even cross my mind. There are times when females can get freebies by using our feminine wiles, but this was NOT one of those times.

"Oh no!" I said, truly shocked and humbled by her offer.

"Please. Allow me to get this for your baby! I WANT to...really, it is NOT A BIG DEAL"....the sweet angel from Heaven stated.

After a few moments of her insisting and me refusing, she bought it. $30!!! On a strangers slobbery baby!!! She did not want my thanks, she said she just wanted to do something for me. She would not give me her name (finally I got a weak "Cindy" out of her as she was leaving...after stalking her through the store) she just wanted to be kind.

K-I-N-D-N-E-S-S

There is apparently kindness still in the world!!!!!!!

Anyway, by my obvious blubbering I am still in shock...and so humbled by the generosity of this kind stranger.

Presley...

Presley....as we are pulling out of the gas station...

"Mom, can you smoke the tires"?



Apparently he has been hanging around Granddaddy.

12 weeks

Laz is 12 weeks old today...*sniff sniff-wiping tears*...so here is the low down:

He is 14 pounds. A big guy to most, but on the small side for my kids. Yeah, crazy. He is laughing out loud...and if I knew how I would post the video I took with my camera. Adorable. Take my word for it. He also tries to sit up and roll over...although since this is strictly forbidden we are not encouraging this behavior. His hair looks like a light brownish/blondish/reddish color, and his eyes have not decided what color they will be. I am going for blue since we have 2 brown, one green, one hazel...and a blue would complete the package and prove we are nothing but mutts around here. No purebreds.
Enjoy the pictures! I have taken a million today but only wanted to bore you with a few.
And check out a few that my cousin took...her site on the right (www.dawnsparks.com) click on "blog" to see me VERY pregnant (about 3 days before I gave birth) and a few of Laz when he was 10 days old. And do not believe a word of what she says about me on her blog...it is all a facade!!! :)














Good morning sunshine! Actually, I call him my little monkey. I am prophesying, I know. In this picture he is totally milk drunk. Smashed. Sloshed. And enjoying life.











Just adorable!!!













Mommy and her baby.........looooove.
















Laz and the ole Mom.....soooo in looooove!

A Quick Story...

...quick because I am not the one telling it :)

http://rixarixa.blogspot.com/2008/03/on-your-back-please.html



New favorite motto...

(up there with "It is not the same birth, different location...it is an completely different birth DEPENDING on the location")

..."Stand and Deliver! Don't Give Birth Lying Down"!!!!

A Few Random Pictures

Just a few shots from the past week...mostly consisting of Laz, of course!




Smiley Baby boy!



Ethan making funny faces so Laz will laugh.



Josiah and Pres



Tarin, attacking the bowling ball....he WON the game! Out of us all! No kidding! He throws the ball SO HARD that it sounds like it is going to put a hole through the alley...but it doesn't, it just knocks down all the pins.



My sweet Ethan



Cutie Pie Kell



Laz in one of his many hats. I LOVE hats on babies!!! It may be 70 degrees outside, but he will have on a hat...until he gets older and rips it off his head...



My life is good....REAL GOOD.
(said with a slight Mexican accent Nacho Libre style)

the Grocery Game

I am trying something new to save money....
the Grocery Game!

Go to this website to read about how it works www.thegrocerygame.com...but in a nutshell ("Help! I'm in a nutshell"!!!)the site tells you all of the sales on for that week at stores in your area...you can look through your paper for the coupons and you can print them off the site to save money. The "list" tells you the best deals and even what will be FREE that week with the coupons! Yeah! I said FREE!

With 5 sons and a hubby that eat like ravenous wolves I needed a way to easily take advantage of the discounts offered at different stores.

The other good news...if YOU sign up for a membership (4 weeks for $1 to start) then I can get weeks free as well!!! So if you join, please enter my email address as your referral and help me also get discounts on my discounts :)

Out of the mouths of babes

The other morning I passed Tarin in the hall and he said, "Mom. I am as cold as hell".

I picked my chin off the floor and tried to compute what exactly he was saying...other than what he was saying. He doesn't watch bad TV, we do not talk that way around here at all, his friends seem very innocent of such things....WHERE???????

He then went on to say, "Not the hell like the lake of fire, but the hail that falls from the sky".

OH.

I said I was sorry he was so cold...and perhaps next time he should say he is cold like ICE instead of hail.

My 5 Sons

Josiah and I are just so blessed...I praise the Lord for all His goodness and His mercy towards us!!!
I have about 3,971 pictures to post...but blogspot is taking forever right now so I am going to wait till later...however, here is one from earlier today!




Presley, Kellen, Tarin, Laz and Ethan
Feb 21, 2008

FOUND!!!!!!!!

I found it......the camera cord!!!!!!! This is big news around here! But first, a report I also found......



A wonderful little video report from CNN about c-sections on the rise and how to avoid one...I am impressed!!!






http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2008/02/18/cohen.csections.cnn






I FOUND THE CORD TO THE CAMERA!!!!!!! (have I mentioned that and how excited I am?!)

I can finally post some pictures of my beautiful baby Laz...when I get home from the field trip I am taking the boys on. ("Music Man" at the Christian Youth Theater!!!)

But for now....a little look at two of my boys last night....

Quick Update and Birth Story

A neat birth story from a fellow doula here in Paradise!



http://health.msn.com/pregnancy/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100194329


I know it has been a while since I posted...but I am still needing the wire to transfer my camera pictures to the computer so I can post them.
Update:
Laz is 8 weeks old!!! He is the BESTEST baby ever...never fussy. He is smiling and laughing all the time and we all love him to death!
We are moving Saturday...so I am extrememly overwhelmed at the moment! We are moving just down the road to another (cheaper) house. I am sad to leave this house becasue I love it...however, it is for the best in the long run.
My little niece Hannah (link to their blog on the right) is turning 1 already! It seems like yesterday I was in Georgia to be a part of her wonderful birth. My sister-in-law and brother were SO fantastic during the labor of 3 days...wow! And the midwife, Claudia (my midwife with the first 4 boys) was also amazing. *sigh* Such good times! :)