Apples

My kids love apples.

They love the red ones, and the green ones, and the multi colored ones.

They just love them.

They sneak them too.

I will find apple cores under beds, in drawers, on shelves, behind books, in cabinets, under pillows.  EVERY WHERE!!!  

I guess I am ok with the fact that they are sneaking a healthy snack.  AND I have convinced them that all they need to do is ask, and generally they can have one- IF and only if they throw their core away.

It's also a good thing I have a good apple corer on hand!  

Definitely A Christmas to Remember....

This Christmas started out like any other.

The church Christmas dinner with all of us having the sniffles.

That is where things just kind of went awry.  First, Hubster and I just started to feel run-down, but nothing major.  Chunk and Z had to be taken to the Dr. with a double ear infection (Z) and 'just the flu' (Chunk).  So we started drugging the poor babies and they perked up nicely.

Well, we were doing a live nativity for the Primary at church.  Joseph was playing Joseph and I was playing Mary.  I had a solo.  One of my greatest fears in life is singing solo in public, but it was a short little song, and I am determined to break this fear of mine so I (grudgingly) agreed to sing.  As 'Joseph' was standing next to 'Mary' who was actually not doing so bad, he knelt down mid song- where it was actually talking about "Joseph watching thru the night.." type thing.  Everyone thought it was a great dramatic effect.  And it was!  Well, as 'Mary' finished singing and the Wise Men started to make their way over to 'Mary and Joseph'.  'Joseph' leans into 'Mary' and says,

 "I think I might pass out.  Either that or throw up"

"WHAT?!?!"

(now keep in mind this is all being whispered out the sides of our mouths so not to interrupt the reading and the Wise Men)

"Oh gosh I think I might be sick!"

"NO!!  Not here!!  If you have to leave, LEAVE!"

And that is when 'Joseph' left 'Mary' at the manger.

Good news was that he did neither pass out or barf.  Bad news is he was visibly not well.  So his mommy took him home while I finished with the kids at church.

When I got home, I fed the kids, and got them down for naps and such and checked on him, and he was warm.  Super super warm.  So he was then given drugs, and some chicken noodle soup and made to sleep.

Now when all the Mabey family gets together, we have decided one family gets a meal a day while we are all together, it's awesome to get to try everybody's styles and such.  Well, Sunday night was our night, so after church I finished getting dinner ready for 18 people.  It was nice dinner and it was nice to be able to spend time with everyone- but poor Hubby was stuck in bed still sick.

Monday was an EXTREMELY busy day.  We had a great lunch of fried turkey at Mimi's house where Hubby thought he was well enough to go and hang out, (for the record I didn't think he should) and he shot some paintballs with the guys and stuff.  He was promptly wiped out and put back into bed shortly. It was then Christmas Eve.  I still had not wrapped one single gift.  Lets think about that fact for a minute.  Christmas presents for a family of 6 plus the extended family.

Not. one. single. thing. wrapped.

We had a good time though, we had the Mabey Cookie Family making with cousins!.

Monkey

Jacob

Chunk

Claire

(This Mr. Manly's that I made for him)

JellyBean

Z

And Me

Dinner was again over at my house because with the kids and stuff it's nice to send them upstairs and then be able to hang out with the grown-ups.

It was shortly discovered that under my sink was leaking.  A lot.  And remember my plumber is sick in bed, still running high temps, and slightly pathetic and understandably sad to be missing everything.  So I then had to empty out, and clean out under my sink.  Not. cool. on Christmas Eve.

After everyone left, and we did our Christmas Story reading sans Daddy, and everyone went to bed, I still had to clean everything.  That took about an hour and a half.  It is now about 10 pm and I can now start to wrap.

So I wrapped,

and wrapped,

and wrapped some more.

Poor Hubs was feeling awful about not being able to help.

I was up until about 2.

Soooooooo awesome.

At like 5 I had an excited little boy come down to see if we could open presents.

Since we didn't want to spread germs, and such I promptly took him upstairs and snuggled and 'slept' until about 6:30 where as then I had 3 VERY excited little boys up.  So downstairs we go to JellyBean's room to make them wait until I can get ready.

Poor Hub snuggled on the couch feeling absolutely awful (we figured it was a flu but everywhere was closed seeing as it was Christmas), and watched us all open the gifts.  It was a fun morning.  After seeing what Santa brought us, we had a great breakfast and then the fun began!

I love how Santa takes a bite out of everyone and leaves a note.  The kids love that too.  They always guess where he will bite them!

It was after all the hoopla I noticed I felt like poo.  And understandable so, but what did I expect not having gone to bed until 2am!  Right?!

After a bit we all headed over to Mimi and Paca Clint's house.  The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins and Paca Clint.

It was shortly after that we noticed it was snowing really REALLY hard and fast and boy howdy was Chunk excited (see THIS POST)  it was so great.

After getting everyone in bed, I crashed.  Hub was feeling a bit better but not 100%.  It was a 'nice flu'  High temps and sore eyes.  But there was no.... 'exploding' from either end (that was a different bug going around) and you still had your appetite!  So it wasn't totally horrible, but still miserable.

The next morning, he was feeling significantly better, but still was not totally well, so we decided to check the Dr. offices.  Well, at about 8:15 after I just got off the phone with them, (they were going to squeeze us in) the power goes out.  That is when we look outside and see 6 inches of heavy white stuff everywhere!!!  So we pile in my car that was not easy to scrape (at this point I am feeling worse) and we head back to Mimi and Paca Clints to find out that the Little House where Rachel (older sister) and her family (Clinton, Jacob, Claire, and Issac) doesn't have power either.  So they had 18 people in that house ages 12 to baby.  It was crazy.  I promptly took him to the Dr. (we tagged me onto the appointment- I figured he'd tell I had a cold and not to stay up till 2 am again).  We get there to find that Hubby is getting OVER the flu, and I am just starting it.  I also have Laryngitis.  Yuck.  We both get shots, and I get an RX for Tamiflu, and we head on our way.  It really hits me then.  I get light headed and weird.  We have to stop at the hardware store to get a gas heater, we can't fit all night at Laura's house.  When we get home- I bundle up on the couch while he installs the gas heater, and I stay toasty warm with my temp and all the layers.  Super Husband (who still should probably be in bed, but can't since I am loopy and heavily drugged and getting sicker) goes to help the other grown-ups with OUR kids that they've had ALL day.  (oops)

It then hits me that his other sister (Kelsey) and husband (Brandon) and 2 kids (Ethan and Jay) are coming in tonight- and their room isn't clean, at all, and my house looks HORRIBLE.  So another sister (Jessica) and Laura come to clean my house.  HOW GREAT IS THAT!!!!  I felt horrible!  Both physically and because of the fact I couldn't even take care of my sicky husband and my 4 darlings. It was rough.  Well, the power shortly came back on, and I was herded to bed when they got back.  I then had to stay there during all the festivities.  It was sad!

4 days later, everyone was gone, and I was better.  What a harsh week!

Afterwards, I was able to look back and see all those that helped and all those that served us in so many ways.  Between child care (lots of that) and meals (lots of those too) and helping with leaky sinks, and the cleaning, and the nice texts ("get well soon!  sorry you're sick stay away from me I don't want your germs!  lol  <3 a="" blame="" but="" don="" either.="" ep="" i="" nbsp="" p="" real="" t="" text="" that="" them="" was="" you="">

All in all it was a harsh but good Christmas if you ignore all sickness!

Here is to next year!  It can only get better!

So as I took these sweetest kids to get the seemingly endless list of school supplies- we decided to make into a mini date.

School Supplies.

Dinner.

Bowling.

It all equals one of the best nights.  I don't think they will remember this night in 20 years.  I might not either.  But right now I am holding onto these memories with an iron fist.  They are so young and precious and happy.  I want to keep them in this bubble forever.

I love you babies.  I love you so much I really can't show you all the ways.  So for now I will just continue to fold your endless amounts of laundry, and make you food that you sometimes whine about eating, and I will carpool you around.  Because as crazy as it is.  I am just glad that I am there for you and we get that time together.

Summer Catch-Up

It was a good summer.  Of course we had our good day and our bad, but I must say, I truly enjoyed each minute I was able to snuggle my kids at will and play what we wanted in our jammies if we wanted no less.

Jelly bean was hard to come by- she spent so much time reading at times she was like a stranger.

I honestly can't say that I blame her.  I also can't say that I wasn't trying to hinder her at all- trying to get her expand her horizons, sure we went on walks..... to the library, and we talked about things that were imaginary.... that she read about in her book.  But it's a healthy habit- I won't complain!

This boy grew up.

So did he.

And especially him.

It was hard watching my babies grow up.  All of them.  To see them change and discover each others 'coolness' and play together melted my mommy heart.  To hear Monkey ask for Chunk first thing in the morning was awesome.  Then to see Z chase them down, and then to be included brought tears to my on more than one occasion   My favorite were the fashion shows.....

I had to post this boys- I'm sorry.  Chunk I believe your alter-egos name was 'Snow Flake-a' and Monkey yours was 'Sparkala'.  Jellybean did give the names to you, but I have 5 minutes of video to show what willing participants you were!  It was so cute to see you all working so well together and to see you play in NOT YOU FAVORITE way, but so your sister could be so happy.  Truly an awesome sight.

We also went roller skating.  Crazy?  Probably.  I stayed out of the rink to keep an eye on those not skating, and as hard as it was, your dad was a great sport and he dragged everyone around that rink just to hear your giggles and help you stay upright!    

Watching things like this just made it that much more clear to me as to why I married the greatest guy ever!

Z still had his broken collar bone.  This is how he got around the rink.

His squeals of pure delight were so great!  Everyone at the rink was watching him and laughing at his squeal.

Monkey was not in the best of moods when we tried to get him to stop to take pictures of him.  And when we finally did get him to stop he went straight for the arcade.  The only picture we got of him were too far away and too dark to see anything...

An official vote by Chunk was taken, and they all decided it was too hard and that we should stick to bowling.  It was much more fun.  Therefore we have made plans to go back this fall!  The better they get the more they will like it that is for sure- they sure liked it when they were there!

The library every summer has different shows and activities going on.  One of the shows was a Bubble Lady.  

Z ended up being sick- and so our friend took her two kids and then the three older kids.

They all had a lot of fun!!  It only increased their ginormous love of bubbles! 

Z decided that he was going to be my special helper in the kitchen.  At. all. times.  That makes things an adventure most times.  He is getting a firm understanding that when I say 'hot' and 'owwie' I know what I am talking about and mean it when I say it.  I think he will have to be one of these kids that has to learn and discover on his own.  'Here-say' will not work with him I think.

One week we had a few things from amazon come in.  Whatever it was came in BIG boxes rocket ships.  The boys were so excited about this fact.  They played for a good 4 hours the first day with these, and then they were loved until they were no longer functioning boxes!

During one of the many fashion show that Z and I received- he was not easy to keep entertained during the costume changes.  So we took pictures.  This one just happened to be one of my favorites.  That gigantic smile is such a common sight on his face.  He is such a happy baby little boy.  When did it come to the point I couldn't call him my baby anymore?  Ugh.

One thing that brings JellyBean more joy than anything else is making a a dress to look like a princess.  Oh and she does it often and well.  This is a blanket that she used to make a dress using all her flower hair bows.  This was a common thing, princess garb out of anything and everything.  Her friend Sissy (her brother Bubba and momma Glenna) came over twice a week at times to let the kids play.  These girls are super cute with each other it's rather adorable.

Summer was good!  We bonded.  We played.  We ate.  We had an all around party and I loved it.

I'm already looking forward to next year when we can do more do less all at the same time!

The Enjoyment of Surviving Summer

So you know how summer begins and everything is 

WONDERFUL,

All that happens (besides the occasional chore list) is

playing,

running around,

laughing,

games,

experiments,

play dough, 

water hoses,

lakes,

pools,

EDIBLE play dough,

more games,

more  laughing,

more playing....

well you get the picture.  All this bliss is what summers are made for.  Then reality sets in.

One must do their chores everyday.

The toys are still the same as yesterday.

Siblings don't want to play the same game.

It then hits them,

They are bored.
There is nothing to do.
He is touching her,
he has 'my migueen',
he won't give her pony back.
Then summer isn't super cool anymore.
That makes me sad.
Sigh.

Then at the store and you see all the back to school stuff.
Part relief,
part sadness.
But the excitement of summer is re-kindled.
The lake splashes better,
the running is a bit faster,
the hose has new attachments and excitement,
the play dough is squishier,
the edible play dough tastes a bit sweeter,
the laughing is more often and deeper,
the experiments have a bit more depth and meaning,
the camera is pulled out a bit more often,
the moments a savored and relished more fervently.
Because it is realized 'life' has to start again.
Life will rush on again.
All the sweet moments will be put on hold while everyone
grows up just a bit.
But those quiet moments when the rush seems to pause
the glimmer of whats to come is
all it takes to make until next summer.

Stuffed Pepperoni Peppers

So, one day, Monkey thought he would tease me and act like he cared about going potty ON the potty.

So as I was sitting there in the bathroom waiting, and praying, for him to actually USE said potty, Jellybean and Chunk took it upon themselves to make dinner.  They decided to they wanted to make stuffed peppers like their daddy had.

So, while I was upstairs thinking that they were playing in Jellybean's room like they were.  In real life they were in the kitchen seeding and cutting up peppers from the garden!

Totally freaked me out since they were using our good super sharp knives.  They did do a really good job though.  they even tried to put the toothpicks in them so the peppers would stand up.

I came down to them sprinkling them with cheese discussing how to turn on the oven and how to get the pan in the oven.

Again, totally freaked me out.

I asked them what they were thinking, and not in a very nice way I might add, and their responses?

"Mom, we knew you were busy with Monkey, so we wanted to help you and make dinner!"

Totally melted my heart.  How sweet are they?!?!  We then had a very long, in-depth discussion about not using knives or the oven.

I think it was kinda anti-climatic for them.  But when Joseph got home, he looked at them and decided that he would make a stuffed pepper with them.  With pizza sauce, pepperoni, and cheese.  Make that into a paste-like food in the food processor, stuff, top with more cheese and bake for about 10 minutes at 350 or until the inside cheese is melted and outside cheese is all bubbly.

Cool and eat warm.

So.  Stinking.  Good.

Here is their creation!  Such sweet babies!

I truly have the sweetest most thoughtful babies!

Aunt Jessi, Baby Ellie, and Aunt Cait

So the end of October Aunt Jessica, Ellie, and Aunt Cait came to visit.

It was so great to see them, and get to spend time with them.

I love this picture of the two of them!

Here is the most adorable little Ellie ever.  She is such a sweet good little baby!

It was so fun getting to play with them!

We love it when we get to see family and we get to spend time with those we love- too bad it doesn't happen more!

Love you guys!