We REALLY DO Have a Cheerleader Now!! :)

Often when people comment on all of the boys we have we hear lots of comments about having a basketball team, but the comment always ended with something about having no cheerleader. Well, we have a cheerleader and she got her first cheerleading uniform. Too cute!! We are thinking about taking the kids to the LSU/Arkansas game at the end of the month so we are getting everyone LSU gear.

Where's Mady?

Thought I would share Mads favorite game. She likes to start the game herself and I still laugh everytime she does. I don't think ANY of the boys were playing peek a boo by themselves at her age now (and she started doing it at five months old).

Wanna play peek-a-boo?

LSU Game

Daddy got two tickets to the LSU game today. He has a friend at work that has season tickets and gave him two tickets. The boys all wanted to go (of course) and THEY decided that they should pull sticks to see who goes. Dad and I decided that took the pressure off of us and since it was their idea, maybe those that were not going would not be as upset.

It worked, more or less. Obviously, by the above picture, Isaac drew the short stick, was what was decided to be the winning stick.

They are beyond the nose bleed section. Daddy said they were in the talking-to-God section. They got there a couple of hours before the game started (which is when this picture was taken). He said they were having conversations with God while it was quiet. We will see if those conversations help the Tigers win the game!

As of now, the score is 17-13, LSU....I will update when the game ends and add any pics Dad might take at the game.

Christmas Shopping

MY CHRISTMAS SHOPPING IS DONE!!!!! YAY! Santa still has to get a few gifts and stocking stuffers....but Santa is AWESOME and that is his job, MY job is done!

We went yesterday while the kids were at school. Daddy was home to help. Two buggies, a stroller and a baby in my arms was a bit crazy, but it is done....before Thanksgiving. More importantly, before the major crowds!

Toys R Us was having a pretty good sale and there were a lot of people already taking advantage of that at 9:30 Friday morning.

Andrew likes to "help" with things when I am busy trying to get stuff done. If I don't give him something to do he will just get in trouble, so I usually play along. This morning while I was trying to clean he kept getting into stuff, so I told him to go make sure all the bedroom doors were closed. No, they don't NEED to be closed, just gives him something to do! :)

I hear SLAM, SLAM, SLAM, SLAM and then the pitter patter of his big feet running toward me. "Otay, doors cosed."

Go make sure Beaux is okay (he is in his kennel at the moment). He comes back after a few minutes "Mommy, Beaux otay!"

We did this for a bit and I was running out of pointless projects (really they aren't pointless...they are to keep him busy and out of trouble).

"Andrew" I say as I kneel down to him. "Yes mommy?"

"Andrew, this is REALLY important. I need you to do this for me."

"Otay Mommy, what?" he says as he sweetly hugs me'. :)

"I need you to listen. This is really important." he turns his ear toward me.

"I need you to go and check on Andrew and make sure he is okay."

"OTAY.....I GO CHECK ANDEW!"

I THOUGHT at this point he would realize what I had said and stop. He realized what I said, but he didn't stop. He ran to his room! He came back and "ANDEW IS OTAY!" with such enthusiasm. I had to stop what I was doing and give him a big hug.

Now, he is lying next to Madeleine reading to her.

Sleepy Madeleine

Mads was SO tired Sunday evening. She started off eating fine....but this is how we ended it:

YUMMY!!

Paul made grilled pineapples with a sour cream/brown sugar/ginger sauce. Andrew really likes pineapples, but he LOVED the sauce!

The Load That Defeated Me

Black and red crayon in the dryer with a load of lights. Do I need to say anything else?
Usually I manage to get it all out. There was no way with this load. We lost four or five pairs of pants.

Guess what the boys are getting for Christmas!?!

Turkey Tom

Every year we have to decorate a turkey for Thanksgiving. Bryce had to decorate Turkey Tom as well as he could so he was disguised and did not get shot for Thanksgiving dinner. He decided to make him a fireman (I know BIG SURPRISE!!!)
This is what he and Daddy came up with. I took it to the school because we did not want it on the bus (and it was raining). As soon as I walked in the school people started commenting on how great it looked!

Fixed Finger, Mended Heart

Andrew took the tape off his finger last night when he went to bed (which I figured he would do). He did keep it elevated, because that is the hand he sucks his thumb with.

This morning he got up and came out like every morning. After a minute he realized he still had tape on his chest. Then he grabbed his finger, looked at it and smiled at me. "Finger fixed!" Then he gave me a big hug and said "I need kiss you!"

MOMMY IS ALL BETTER NOW TOO!!!

He is bending it and it is not swollen anymore. He says it no longer hurts.

Magic Voovoo

Andrew watched a cartoon yesterday and they were using a magic wand. This morning HE has a magic voovoo (don't know where he got the name). He is running around doing magic on everything.

I tried to use the magic voovoo to make him poopoo in the potty. Apparently, it ONLY works when HE uses it. So, I got to clean out underwear. ARGHHHH!

Growing Up

Mads has been crawling for the past couple of weeks, but up until the last couple of days she was doing the army crawl. She was pulling herself around with her arms. The last couple of days she has been using her feet to push herself and her arms to pull. Today she has been up on her knees.

It does not matter HOW she gets around....she is getting around and getting into everything!

She has also been working on a tooth for quite a while now. For the last month+ she has had a tooth that would come right up to the surface and then disappear. Last week we had a REALLY bad day....she screamed all morning and nothing would help. She was drooling everywhere, chewing on everything and just miserable. Nothing helped. She would not let me put her down....even for nap, without throwing a fit. I was sure her tooth was going to break through. It didn't and the tooth was gone the next morning.

Yesterday the tooth was back and the gum seemed to be split. She was cranky, but not as bad as last week. Today, the gum looks split even more and I can feel the tooth, but it is still not through. Hopefully, it will be through tomorrow!!

Hurt Finger and Broken Heart

Andrew had his finger slammed in a door this evening. Ironically enough, Isaac did it. He felt SO bad after though, because he knows all to well how it feels!

Andrew SCREAMED and SCREAMED and SCREAMED! I put frozen peas on it, made his even more mad. I tried kisses. Didn't help. I tried everything. Nothing would make him stop squeezing his hands and crying.

He eventually gave up on me I guess. He went to his room, still crying. Daddy went in a few minutes later to check on him. He was sitting on the floor in the corner saying "Mommy no help me!" over and over. Daddy told me so I called Andrew. He said "you no help" and would not come. I went to his room and kneeled down at him. He said "you no help" and ran out of his room.

BROKE MY HEART!!!

We gave him some tylenol and I got him a popsicle so I could use the stick on his finger (he would not bend his finger and it was swelling). I handed it to Daddy to open because I had my hands full. I asked him if Mommy made it better. He said "no, Daddy gave me popsicle."

After he ate his popsicle, I took him, his blankie and monkey to my room. I wrapped his finger up, put some first aid tape on his chest as a sticker and laid down with him. The tylenol kicked in and he calmed down. After that he said "Mommy fix my finger."

Let's hope it stays fixed through the night!

TOO SWEET!!!!

Baby Blues

Her denim jumper really shows off the fact that this babies blues are a denim blue. I love how four of the five kids have blue eyes, but they are all different shades of blue. Each unique, just like them!


I love holding her and just staring into her eyes and talking. SO RELAXING! I don't know who is going to miss her bedtime routine more, me or her, when we have to eventually end it! Everynight I rock her to sleep. We sit in her room with her dim light on and I sing with her lullabies cd (she might prefer skipping that part...but I like the songs) until she falls asleep. The perfect way to unwind from the craziness of life!

I just can't believe she is the last one :(

Some of the Many Faces of Madeleine

Coming Soon....

I got video of Caleb dancing to Michael Jackson's Thriller. They have been learning it in PE lately. There is a video (actually 40 videoclips) that teaches the steps. I had the final video on the big tv tonight and he danced it.

It was so bad it was HILARIOUS! I will try to get it on tomorrow.

Thanksgiving??? Already?

I was printing out the boys lunch menu this morning (I print it out the beginning of the month and we mark who is taking/buying when) and realized that Thanksgiving is in 2 1/2 weeks. WHERE HAS THE YEAR GONE??

Caleb has a birthday in nine days :(

What a sad early morning realization!

Well, Mady is officially teething.

This is NOT a good thing!

She appears to have ONE tooth coming in, and she is MUCH more dramatic than ANY of the boys ever were. The boys usually had 2 - 4 teeth come in at a time.

I am sure you are laughing....saying "you wanted this!"

Laugh it up! Although I have listened to her scream ALL morning, dealt with her clinginess and grumpiness and held her while she THRASHED around, I am still so happy to have another HER in this house.

She is wearing her Drama Queen shirt today. It is only fitting!

I have done tylenol, orajel and cold teethers. The only thing that has even attempted to help is a pacifier, that she is chewing/sucking.

What are the odds that the tooth will come through and she will sleep tonight?

Strange Feeling

I was talking to a teenage girl from across the street night before last. Just a normal conversation. She was talking about where she had been (I had not seen her in a while), school, what she had been up too, etc. She was also telling me about what she did for Halloween. She had gone trick-or-treating in the neighborhood of my next door neighbors boyfriend.

I know....so what.

For some reason this statement made my heart ache. I have heard MANY girls talk about their boyfriends and their friends boyfriends and I have never given it a secong thought. But, this time it devestated me. I have these thoughts going through my head that this teenage girl is too young to be trick or treating in her BOYFRIENDS neighborhood. She is too young to HAVE a boyfriend.

Yes, the thought of boyfriends already gets to me. I am not exactly ready to begin thinking of the boys girlfriends either, but I don't get the same feeling of doom with them that I get with the word boyfriend now.

Guess I should start getting used to the idea now. Someone is going to have to stand up for her against her brothers and Daddy when it comes to her and boys. Guess that falls on me!

I Tried To Tell Them

I tried to tell "them" that we had JUST gotten Madeleine on a good, regular SLEEPING sleeping pattern.

I tried to tell "them" it was not in her (or my) best interest to change the time back an hour.

I tried to tell "them"!

"They" obviously did not care.

Mady was going to bed around 7 and getting up anywhere between 5-7 in the morning. We did have one AWESOME night the other night where she slept a SOLID 13 1/2 hours! I had to go check on her, it was so abnormal.

Saturday night she went to bed around 6:30....she just could not stay awake. Sunday morning she woke up at 5, ready to eat and play. Not at all interested in going to back to sleep.

Last night, she fell asleep before 6. We could not wake her up. She was up at FOUR this morning, again ready to play and eat! She is still on HER schedule. She does not understand or care about some stupid time change. I do not get to go to bed an hour earlier to make up for her lack of time change.

I tried to tell "them"! I even PLEADED with "them"!

Now here we go again trying to get her BACK on a good schedule. I forsee this happening....oh, about the time "they" change the time again!

If only "they" would listen!

Meow

Earlier today Andrew was jumping around on me and making noises and then he suddenly tried licking my face over and over. I started laughing and told him to stop and he made the noise again. Only this time I recognized the noise as a "meow."

"I cat Momma, meow." he said proudly as he jumped and tried to lick my face again.

Our cat was NEVER a licker. I don't know where he put those two together.

Halloween 2009

Our city had a set trick or treating time (as most areas here do) from 6-8. It is great living in a neighborhood like ours because it is so kid friendly and safe. Cars are not flying around, the roads are full of people, four wheelers and golf carts.

The kids did great. Especially Monkey! He held Daddy's hand while going from house to house. Then he would go to the house and say "trick or treat" and then "thank you." It was funny though, most of the houses the people were sitting outside on their porches or driveways to hand out candy. AJ would go to EVERY person standing outside and say trick or treat. He also would get his candy, walk back to us a couple of steps and then turn around and go back and say "trick or treat" again. Everyone thought he was so cute he ended up with LOTS of candy doing these "tricks."

I carried Mady in the front carrier. She got SO much attention and comments. She wore her hat the WHOLE time. I didn't think she would last long with it. She kicked and waved her hands and jabbered the whole time.

The other kids just did their typical racing from house to house and trying to get the most candy. Almost half way through the neighborhood we ran into our neighbors. His dad needed to go home and was going to take their little boy (Bryce's friend) and I offered to let him finish the neighborhood with us. There were lots of headcounts going on (especially since it was dark)!

We got home about 7:15 and handed out candy to those kids still going around. We get lots of kids that don't live here that come to trick or treat here. The kids sat on the porch eating their candy. Then we came in and the sorting, comparing, and trading began. I gave them a while to eat all the candy they could stuff in their mouths and then called it a night!

The oldest three are zombies watching tv, Mads is alseep and AJ....well, his leg has a continual "tic" and he is sucking his thumb and beating that hand with his other hand. I think someone is on a sugar high right now! He isn't used to this yet!

A Playground or Bed?

I spent the day emptying Bryce and Andrew's closet, drawers, bookshelves, under beds, etc etc... The room stinks and needed a clean out and THEIR idea of a clean out and MY idea are SOOOOOOO different!

The room was almost done when Bryce got home. He helped me finish it and said (as he ALWAYS does after I clean his room) "I am going to keep it like this FOREVER!" (should I mention now that he had it a mess within 15 minutes of me finishing or should I wait til later? He was excited because he could find all his toys....go figure!)

I just got Andrew's big blanket out of the dryer and went to cover him up. He was asleep, but in his bed I found a tub of legos, a tub of dinosaurs and seven shake and go cars. I covered him and tried to quietly remove all the toys from around him. Shake and go cars and just that....you shake them and they make a revving sound and start going. So EVERY car I picked started loudly revving.....right next to his head, of course!

What was the funniest thing...the tubs of toys were not even open.

These Are a Few of HER Favorite Things....

There are a couple of things that Madeleine loves right now and I just have to laugh. Other than her favorite game of peek a boo, she is obsessed with my hair and diamonds!

She loves playing with my hair. She likes pulling it, eating it, wrapping it around her hand, etc. Anything to get her hands on it!

And diamonds....well come on - they ARE a girls best friend, right? I am always wearing the earrings, necklace and ring Paul got me. She holds them and stares at them. It is like they hynotize her every time she sees them. She has not tried to take them yet, but I am sure I need to start hiding them the rare occasions they are not on me!

Rare Appearance

We actually took pictures of US with Mady. The boys were too busy to be bothered with us and a camera...but Mady wasn't! :)
Look at that smile as she holds her Daddy