Happy 9th Bday!!!

At the beginning of the month my Little Buddy turned 9 years old!!!

It is soooooo hard to believe.  How can my baby be that old??  Next year, he'll be in double digits!!!  That is just wrong!

It's funny because I think he'll always be my baby. Even when he's 20, 30 or 40.  It's just something about that youngest kid.

There are 4 years between him and his brother.  For a long time we thought we'd only have 2 kids.  When we decided to have a third, it was so exciting.  We were older, wiser (so we thought..Ha!) and had a little more money.

We really focused on each stage and tried to enjoy it.  We tried to just be in the moment.

So, now he is 9!!!

He is such a cool kid.  

His sense of humor is incredible.

He loves sports.

He has unlimited energy. 

He loves to read.

He loves God.

He loves his family.

Here are some pics from our celebration at Medievil Times.  He has been wanting to go there for a couple of years.

(It's a little pricey, but they have some really good deals online if you want to go.)

It was a lot of fun!!

I love you and am so glad that I'm your Mom!!!

So what did Mary & Joseph do while waiting for baby Jesus??

Apparently they played Bakugan!!  I thought this was funny.  My 8 year old left his Bakugan balls here before he went to school.  I did a double take when I walked by...it really looks like they are playing doesn't it???

Fun Day!

Today was a fun day.....first Little Buddy had Twin Day at school.  He was actually triplets with 2 friends.  They all wore jeans, white t shirts, and spiked their hair into faux-hawks....fake mohawks.  He looked GREAT!

After the kids went to school, I went shopping with a friend and bought 13 Vera Bradley Bags!!!  Don't worry, none of them are mine.....they are part of the prizes for Charlie's Baseball team's Vera Bradley Bingo.   It was so much fun....and even better to be spending someone else's money!!!

BTW...if you live near me..the Bingo is at the end of Jan.....we'd love to have you come!!!

F. D. O. S. -- Tears of Sorrow or Jumping for Joy??

Yes, I'm still here....we've just been super busy with the last days of Summer and the First Day of School!!!

Here are the pictures....

10th Grader!!

(She wasn't too thrilled because the cheerleaders had to all dress alike for the first day...polo shirt and flip flops that they made.  Normally, she loves the cheerleader spirit days....but not the very first day of school.  I thought she looked cute anyway!)

7th Grader!!!

The middle of Middle School!

3rd Grader!!!

The year of playing the recorder and learning cursive writing!

The Middle School bus stop.

The Elementary School bus stop!

(35 kids are at our Elementary School bus stop.....it looked like they weren't going to fit on the bus, but they did!)

And they're out of here!!!

So, what did I do????  First, I met some friends at Panera for Back to School Bagels....then I met up with another group of friends and went out to lunch at Mimi's Cafe and hit Tar-jay for some shopping.  I spent the last hour of my time back at home all by myself enjoying the sound of silence!!

Ahhhh.  

Usually, I am sad on the first day of school.  I miss having the kids around.  This year though, no tears for me.  I am happy for them.  It is neat to think of all that lies ahead.  I am looking forward to seeing what the year brings for each one of them.

What about you???  What does the first day of school mean....

Tears of sorrow or..... Jumping for joy?????

Sorry, I took down the pics of my kids with the signs...because they had their real names on them....brain cramp!!  So, if you're just now reading this...imagine them all holding cute little signs with their names and grade!!!  ~Kath

Trifecta!

It has happened, the sun, the moon, and the stars must have all aligned themselves.....my 3 kids are away until tomorrow!  That's right, you read correctly.....all 3 kids....left Sat with GMa & GPa and won't get home until Tuesday afternoon!   

We've hit the trifecta.  Believe it or not, this rarely happens. Both sets of grandparents watch our kids once a year while we have a work trip to attend, but other than that the trifecta rarely happens.

 

I can literally count on one hand the number of times that all 3 kids were gone....even for a few hours at someone else's house....and we were at home.

  

Staying at home with my kids is a decision I've never regretted. However, 13 years without a break is a long time.  Even though they are now all 3 in school, it seems as if the moments alone still are not enough.  Does that make any sense?  I don't know if it's our busyness, or if it will just take awhile for me to get there.  

Lately, I have to confess, I've been feeling run down, worn out....kind of 'over it'...if you know what I mean.  Summertime will do that. This break has been such a blessing. Thank you, thank you, thank you...M & D.

This morning I came across a blog that a friend of a friend started.  (I told you I do that sometimes....it can be dangerous!)  Anyway, this couple just lost their baby boy a month ago. He was born healthy, went to the hospital for dehydration and things spiraled from there.  He ended up seeming to have one problem after another and eventually died.  He was just 6 months old.  I had been following their story the whole time Baby J was in Hopkins through their hospital website.  Today was the first time I'd read her blog.

Understandably, she speaks of unimaginable sorrow, and how she's just trying to survive each day.  She and her husband have 3 other kids.  Here is something she wrote:

"I pray for the millions of parents out there.  I pray that they know the true gift and miracle of being a parent and that they use that gift wisely.  May they see the magic in their child's eyes and NEVER take a single moment for granted."

Whew!  I think that one was for me.  I am hoping and praying that by the time my kiddos return tomorrow, I am rejuvinated, ready to engage, and ready to be a better mom.  I have much to be thankful for.  It is sometimes so easy to take it all for granted.

If you want to check out my friend's, friend's blog, her name is Amy and here is the link:

www.findingsunshineagain.blogspot.com

I wanted to leave you with a short funny story.  This was what I was originally going to post about today, it's funny how sometimes you sit down to write and something entirely different comes out.

At the beginning of the summer, some neighbors of ours were getting ready to have some work done on their home.  A small sign was placed in their front yard listing the company's name and # and a port-a-potty was delivered and placed on the side of the house.  We happened to be driving out of the neighborhood while the port-a-potty was being taken off the truck.

Mike TV was with me and he says to me:

Mike:  Cool, it looks like the Joneses (not their real names) are putting in a port-a-potty. Awesome!  

Me:  I think they are getting their basement finished.  The port-a-potty is for the workers to use.

Mike:  Oh, so you mean when their basement is finished, they will take away the port-a-potty?

Me:  Yep.

Mike:  That is too bad.

Is that the way an 8 year old boy thinks, or what???  :)

Have a good day.  I'm out of here.

Tiger & Twirling

Last week Little Buddy was part of a golf camp.  He was soooo cute!  Look out Tiger Woods.

The golfing cousins!

My Girl marched in a parade and then twirled in her last competition of the season.

The Love of a Parent

This past week my family has been under seige........

by this......

......................................................a bird!!!

Sure she looks innocent, but looks can be deceiving. In her mind, we are the enemy.

  

It started about a week ago.  We noticed her hanging around a bush on the corner of our house. The following day, she'd make all kinds of noises if you walked in her direction.  I told the kids that she must be the Mommie bird and that she's probably protecting her nest of eggs.

They were all fascinated and thrilled at the prospect of possibly seeing the nest, eggs......and one day soon, the baby birds. I told them, they'd have to wait until the eggs hatched, because we didn't want to disturb the nest.

Shortly thereafter, the full on assaults began.

If one of us would enter our front yard at all, the bird would go nuts.  Making all kinds of noises and flapping her wings.

That evening Charlie was messing with the bird and trying to get it riled up, by walking in our front yard....that's it, really, just walking into the yard....and she flew at him about 90 miles per hour and nipped him in the butt!

We noticed that the next day another bird joined her....the father, I presume.

Sometimes our dog likes to go out front and lay in the yard.  That day, I noticed that when Dakota went out the birds were in a fit, making all kinds of noise and doing lots of fly bys. Apparently, Dakota is Enemy #1, as far as the birds are concerned. I decided to try not to let her out front anymore just to give the birds some peace.

The following morning when I was outside taking pictures with my new camera, I let Dakota out in the backyard to go potty.  The birds took about 3.5 seconds to figure out that Dakota was in the backyard and this time there was lots of noise, and fly bys, and then it happened, she was attacked....3 TIMES!  Poor doggy!  The birds just nipped her from behind, but she was so startled.  She had a look on her face as if to say, 

What in the heck??  I'm just trying to pee here.

The rest of the day, the birds would be up in arms, mounting tons of fly bys if any of us entered the front OR back yard!

Now it has reached a new level.  Veruka and Mike were sitting INSIDE of our house, in the Study. (That's right, I said inside!) Veruka was on my laptop sitting on the floor, by the window, when the birds started up again. They were fired up that she was invading their territory!!!

Thankfully, the eggs have hatched.  We can hear the baby birds, but have yet to even see the nest.  Veruka was the brave one who took the bird picture....thank goodness for my new zoom lens!  (Just a little aside, when she took the pix and zoomed in she noticed the bird had a spider in it's mouth.  She was disgusted and said, "Who in the world would want to eat a spider?"  I answered....."Uh....a baby bird."  :)

The kids said the birds are crazy, but I told them that they are just parents who would do anything to protect their "children."  I can totally relate.  I can take all kinds of injustices against myself.   People can hurt my feelings or wrong me, and I'll just turn the other cheek. However, when it comes to my children, it's a different story.  I will defend them to the end. 'Don't mess with my child, if you don't want to mess with me.' Do you know what I mean?

I guess that is love.

That is what these kids do to us.  They make us want to fight any battle for them.  They make us want to protect them.  They make us want to provide for them.  They make us want to make it a better, safer world for them.

That is the love that a parent has for their child.  Wholehearted, unconditional, complete love.

  

I remember when each of my kids were born, I was just amazed at the depths of my love for these brand new little babies.  In fact, I was smitten before they were even born.  Just like the Mommie & Daddy bird....protecting their babies before they'd even hatched out of their eggs.

I remember one night as I sat rocking Veruka, thinking that I couldn't imagine my own parents having that same depth of love for me.  But guess what?  They did and they still do.  It is mind boggling.

As I lay in bed last night, I was thinking about all of this, something occurred to me.

  

This same kind of parent-child love is the love that God has for EACH of us.  Not just for a few special people.  Not just for those who go to church.  Not just for those who walk a certain path, but for EVERYONE.   We are all His children.  He loves all of us wholeheartedly, unconditionally, and completely. How is that for mind boggling??

I miss being able to enter our front & back yard without fear of attack.  Hopefully, by the time we get back from vacation, the whole family will have moved on, and we can have a cool nest to remember them by.

PS.  Yes, I know that you don't spell Mommy with an 'ie'....I just like it that way.  :)

Little Buddy's weekend as an ONLY CHILD

Last weekend, both of the Big Kids were away on a church youth group retreat. This meant our Little Buddy got to be an ONLY CHILD for an entire weekend! We had a lot of fun hanging out with him.

The weekend kicked off with him bringing home his Spring school picture. Check it out...."Mr. GQ".....is he adorable or what??

Friday night, the three of us went to Movie Night at his Elementary School. The school has this event almost every month, but it is always on a Friday night which is when we usually meet with our church community group. This was only our second time going this year, so he was thrilled. We saw "Meet the Robinsons." I have learned that apparently I am able to sleep through a movie, in public, at the school I teach at, in the midst of a crowded cafeteria! The beginning and the end of the movie were great.....I couldn't tell you a thing about the middle! :)

Afterwords, we brought one of his good friends home with us to have a sleepover. The boys were up bright and early Saturday morning, so after breakfast, Brian returned the friend to his home and he and Little Buddy went fishing together.

After fishing, the two of them headed over to get their baseball pictures taken. Little Buddy went home with a friend. His friend's Dad took them to the DUMP to throw away some old windows....how cool is that????  They also went to McDonald's for lunch.....where I was informed that my little buddy tried to order a 20 piece chicken nugget happy meal.  Thankfully, Mr. Jon didn't fall for that....he settled for a 6 piece meal.

Next on the agenda was his baseball game. Bri coaches the team and the kids have a blast. (What a treat for us to only have ONE game to attend the entire weekend!)

Here are some pics:

Warming up with Dad, before the game.



Is that a smile like his Dad's or what?

Our team of fine young men and coaches!

Catching, just like his Daddy used to.


Pitching

and hitting!

After his game, we stopped at home to quickly change and then surprised him by taking him to the Orioles vs. Yankees game.....which the O's won 6-0!

The next morning we got up and went to church, where we collected our tired Big Kids. What a great weekend!

Pressing On

So now reluctantly, we move forward.

So many people have been hurting and sad and broken. I am ready for some healing to begin. However, even saying that makes my heart ache for Suzie and the kids.....as I wonder how they will ever heal.   Time continues to move on, as much we don't want it to.  As I write this, I am reminded of a Tommy Nelson Bible study that we did a few years ago, with the Lawyer Community Group, on the book of Ecclesiastes.

"Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.  The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises......What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again;  there is nothing new under the sun."  Ecclesiastes 1:4-9

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace."

Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8

(By the way, go ahead and have the Rocky Road ice cream, life is too short. :)   

Kevin's death has touched so many people.  People who've been close to God and those who are far from God.  Even if it's just been to take a minute and hug their spouse and kids and say "I love you."  We never know when our time will be.

It makes me smile to think that Kevin has finished the race.  He's won!  The rest of us are still here. We have a lot of running left to do.  We must press on.

I wanted to share with you 2 cute Charlie stories.  (By the way, it is SO strange to write about my kids using other names....but I will, for you Dad.)

Story #1

Last week, we all went to see High School Musical, the play.  Our tickets were for Wed night. When the day came, B & I felt like all of our kids really needed the change of scenery.  It was a great show and I loved seeing my kids laughing and smiling after almost a week of sadness. Even Bri sang along and danced to the songs (much to Veruka's dismay.)

Mike was cute, only ever having seen one other play, he didn't like that it was not exactly like the movie.  More than once during it, he leaned over and said, "Well, they got that part wrong."

After the play, we were asking the kids what their favorite parts were.  

Mike chimed in, "I liked it all EXCEPT the kiss between Troy and Gabriella at the end. YUCK!"

I responded, "Well, that was probably a fake kiss since it was a play."

Charlie responded with authority, "No, it was real, because they are mature people.  Mature people really kiss.  The only people who fake kiss are little kids and Wrestlemania."

Me:  "Huh?????"

Me:  "Wrestlemania???"

Charlie:  "Yeah, everyone knows Wrestlemania is fake. I've seen them sneak a kiss in there once and awhile and it's a fake one."

Me:  "Okay???  If you say so!??"  :)

Story #2

As you all know, my boys are "all boy."  Lots of tackeling each other, rough housing, football & baseball playing, video game-aholics (well at least Charlie is) and just all around loud.

This past weekend, Charlie had one of his friends from church spending the night.  I told the boys that they HAD to have the lights and TV off at midnight and go to sleep.  (We've had way too many sleepovers that didn't involve much sleeping.)

At midnight I went downstairs to make sure everything was off and to say goodnight.  I also wanted to see if they wanted to say a prayer.  The 2 of those 6th grade boys laid there, heads on pillows, tucked under their blankets, and said a prayer for their buddy, Josh.  It was so touching and sweet to see those boys lifting their friend up in prayer in his time of need.

It was one of those moments where I could see a glimpse of the man that he's going to become, and I liked what I saw.

Cute Prayer

Monday night I was at a meeting and B put the kids to bed. Our Little Buddy was saying his prayers and he asked God to let him have a good Primary Election Day.

B said he was totally serious too.....not just day off school, or Election day, but PRIMARY Election Day!

Future politician??? Hmmm.

Real things my kids have said to me.

I love you.

You're the best Mommy in the whole wide world!

You're mean.

You're the meanest Mom in the world.

I bet all the other Mom's are nicer than you. (Yes, I'm sure they are.)

You're lucky because you got to have Grandma for a Mom and she's way nicer than you. (Hee hee, that one always makes me smile. This has been said about BOTH Grandmas!)

You never let me do anything.

I should be allowed to go to the party because ________ is going and her parents are strict like you guys.

Just drop me off and when you pick me up, don't talk.

My friends all think you are cool, but they don't know you.

Why do we have to get another minivan? I want a convertible Mustang. (Oh wait, sorry, that was me.)

Mom, don't let Dad do or say anything that would embarrass me. (As if I can control him!)

You never let me drink soda. When I turn 21 I am going to drink nothing but soda, soda, soda. (I should have gotten that one in writing!)

Actually, I'm glad you are my Mom.

I love you.

My Baby is 8!!!!

I cannot believe it, but my baby is 8!!!! It is just amazing how quickly these past 5 years have flown by since we moved back to Maryland. It seems as if someone has hit the fast forward button on my life, and as hard as I may try, I can't stop it. Does anyone else feel this way?


Why is it that when your kids are babies and toddlers, the time seems to move EXCRUCIATINGLY slow, but just when they get a little older and things finally seem to get a little easier, the time flies by at the speed of light??

I mean, for Pete's sake, in 3 1/2 years we will have a kid in COLLEGE! I digress, this post isn't about her, it's about my baby, my Little Buddy. So let me get myself back on track. (We've called him "Little Buddy", since he was born. It's always "The Big Kids" and "Little Buddy." He'll probably be a 6 foot tall, 30 year old, married man....but he'll still be my "Little Buddy!")

All right, now I'm really going to get back on track. This year he really wanted to have a sleepover. We tried and tried to convince him to do something else. I tried to push the laser tag party on him, but he wasn't interested. Finally, B & I sat down and talked about it. Why were we trying to convince him to go somewhere for his party? We'd end up spending $250-$300 for a party, and it wouldn't have been what he really wanted!! So, with fear and trembling, we decided to let him have the sleepover.

Because he has an early January birthday, we usually wait a few weeks to have his party. It turned out that we are so dag on busy time(isn't this supposed to be our easy time of year?) that the only time available was on a Sun to Mon when the kids had off school for MLK's Bday. That was fine, but Bri had to leave first thing in the AM to head to a meeting in the Bahamas. I'd be on my own for breakfast and the boys departure. Yikes!

Actually, the party was great!

He had invited 9 friends, but one couldn't make it. So it ended up being 9 boys total, including him. They did a cool Amazing Race type scavenger hunt. The boys were divided into 2 teams and they were given a clue to lead them somewhere in the house. When they got there they had to complete a task and then they'd get their next clue, etc, etc, until they were finished the race. Both teams got prizes. (I have learned something over the years and years of parties!) Thank goodness for the big kids. They were both great helpers! Then, they played lots and lots of football, the two teams were supervised by B.....just to make sure there wasn't any rough tackling going on! We did gifts and cake. The boys played video games and watched 2 movies. Then, they all went to sleep....well, all but one. The last kid stayed awake until after 4AM! (Thankfully, it was my nephew!) Most of them were asleep by 12:30AM. They had a blast.

Here are some pictures. The first one is from his real Bday. His gift from us was a BMX bike. Now he's just like his Big Bro!

Check out the pix of B's Kick-off by finger. Funny!

New Names for All!

Hey Everyone!
I just wanted to let you know that from this entry forward, my kids will be listed by their nicknames in my blog. Since this blog is just hanging out there on the great big WWW... I figured it's better to be safe than sorry.

"So, what are their nicknames?" you ask
Veruka
Charlie
& Mike TV

"Hey, those names sound familiar," you may be thinking.....that's right, you know where they're from.

Yes, we really do call our kids these names.

Veruka got her nickname first when she was in second grade. She was CONSTANTLY saying, "Daddy, I want....." or "Daddy, I need...." or "Daddy, I should be first because....."

The boys nicknames naturally followed.

Charlie, because he is so much like Charlie in the movie.....good kid, follows the rules, succeeds in life. Also, his Dad's nickname was Charlie when he was growing up and he is a lot like his Dad.

Mike got his nickname because if the TV is on....he must watch it. He goes into a deep, meditative, trance like state, regardless of what is on.....seriously, it can even be a commercial. This is a kid that CANNOT multitask...so he will sometimes zone out in mid sentence, if he notices that the TV is on. We joke that his brain must be saying, "TV is on.....must watch TV....must watch TV." (He reminds me a lot of my future son-in-law :) ... R.H.)

Also, if you know Mike...we swear he is the next Jim Carrey. He LOVES to be the center of attention and can do dead on impersonations of Owen Wilson, Ben Stiller & many others....

So, I've gone back and changed their names in all of my past posts and from this point forward they will go by their nicknames.

Hope it brings a smile to your face.
Enjoy!

PS. M & J....check out your little girl's nickname under the Thanksgiving entry.

Mike and his Crutches

Okay, I am slowly catching up.

Last Wed (on my sister Krissy's Birthday), we had our first snowfall of the season. It was beautiful! We ended getting 5 inches and the kids got out of school 2 hours early!!!

They all came home and went back out snowboarding and sledding. I was so excited because the boys went alone...without me!!! I sent them with a walkie talkie and off they went. I had finally arrived. I'd made it to that glorious moment where all 3 of my kids could be outside alone, without me right there. They like to go to the "good hill" about a block away. (I think every neighborhood in America has that one "good hill.") They were gone for a couple of hours...and checked in by WT with me every half hour or so. I was living the dream! My fireplace was on, I was nice and warm and dry and my kids were having a blast.

That night when Brian came home, he decided to take the kids out again. Once again they trekked down to the "good hill". Well, I hunkered down on the floor next to the fire with my current book, and thought to myself, "Now this is the good life!"

Well, no sooner had I said that to myself, when the door opened and in came Brian carrying Mike. He had gotten hurt snowboarding.....it was his knee....and he couldn't walk on it. Well, we checked him out...it didn't look that bad....and put ice on it.

The next morning he still couldn't walk on it, so I took him to the doctors and then to get Xrayed. There was a questionable area on the films right at the inside part of his knee, where they couldn't tell if it was fractured or not. So we were to keep him off of it for 4 or 5 days and see if he felt better. If he did, it would just be a sprain, if he didn't it would be broken.

Well, Mike and I went to pick up his crutches and he says to me,

"Mom, will I use these in school tomorrow?"

"Yes," I reply back to him.

He says to me, "This is a dream come true!"

So here he is, on his crutches.......

Isn't he cute????

He went to school Friday and got to live out his dream.

Good news, he is doing great now, and can walk on his leg....so it turns out it was just a sprain. Monday, he'll return to school without the crutches.

So, Mike got to live out his dream, and at the same time my dream died.

No more sending the boys to the "good hill" by themselves.....I guess I'll have to trek along and stand there in the cold. :(

What do you want to be when you grow up????

So, Brian is driving in the car with Charlie and Mike and asks them,
"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

They think for a moment...and.....


Charlie answers, "I want to be an NFL football player."

Brian asks, "Why?"
Charlie replies, "Because it'd be awesome!"

Then Mike answers, "I also want to be an NFL football player." (Little brother is alot like Big brother!)

Brian asks Mike, "Why do you want to be an NFL football player?"

Mike replies without missing a beat,
"Three reasons, Dad.
The fans
the fame,
and the chicks!"

Family Pictures.....A great way to torture your kids and yourself!

Well, we had our family picture taken last week. We were due, since our last family picture was 5 years ago. In the last family picture, Mike was 2 (awwww!) , Veruka was sitting on my lap and still didn't have her front teeth, and Charlie had a buzz cut! Yep, I'd say they've changed!

Getting a family picture taken isn't as easy as it sounds.

First, I had to break the "good" news to the kids. Nobody was too thrilled about it.

Then, there was the chore of deciding what to wear. This time nobody wanted to dress up, so we went with jeans. However, there still was the matter of coordinating everyone's shirts.

Then, I had to find a time where all 5 of us were available. (That alone was next to impossible!) We came up with one time that worked.....it was an early dismissal day for the kids.
(You can imagine how thrilled they were!)

The day of the picture came and I have to say, that the kids looked so nice. Well, I should clarify that...Veruka always looks nice...the boys were the ones who looked better than usual. When they were all dressed I told the kids, that "before I had kids" this is how I thought my kids would look all the time. I mean, they looked like a catalog ad! (I had no idea that in real life boys would want to wear shorts 95% of the year, with jerseys and sweatshirts. Who knew?)

So, we got the pictures taken, which was honestly much better than when they were younger. (They have learned that if they smile nicely, the torture will end sooner.)

The great thing was that we got to select and take home our pictures that same day. Great in that we got it all over with at once. Not so great, in that I had to figure out exactly which pictures we wanted while Brian and the kids stood around bored to death. We ended up not really liking any of the pictures of the 5 of us, so they even reshot them. (Yea, the kids were soooo happy about getting to do it again!) Thankfully, those came out much better. Brian took the kids to the pet store to hold some puppies while I made the selections. After about an hour with my list and calculator, we were done.

We got to leave the Mall, mentally exhausted, pictures in hand, with 3 kids whining, "Can we please, please, please get another dog???"

I am not posting the picture, because it is going to be our Christmas Card this year. (I should have had them print a caption on it that says, "This is how my kids never look.")
So when you get it, you can think of all of our hard work that went into it. :)

***************************

Update....July 2008....I've added the picture, for your viewing pleasure! Of course, it was taken right before I got my sassy new haircut....it figures, doesn't it???