Christmas 2011

I just downloaded or is it uploaded?? Anyways all the pictures from Christmas this year were taken on mine and Clays cell phones. HA HA So needless to say they are all a bit grainy and I really dont think I will be making a photo album this year. I did however just come across this picture and even grainy I LOVE IT!!!

Funny thing about this picture is this is ROUND 2!!!
When they first came down Clay was holding Abbi and we forgot to put her in the picture!! The kids ran down and saw all their presents and were so excited to start opening, when I looked at Clay and saw Abbi. I said "OH NO!! Abbi was not in the picture!! We got to go back to the steps!!" None of the kids cried or fussed about it, it was almost like they were used to mom messing up and forgetting something (HA HA)

This year we did something new with the kids for Christmas, we spent a portion of our gift money on making "Compassion bags" for the homeless.
 In each bag:

• track card from church
• handwritten letter from Clay
• bottle of water
• juice box
• cup of apple sauce
• can of meat
• crackers
• power/energy bar
• fruit snacks
• tooth brush & paste that was donated by local dentist

We were able to make just under 50 bags. Clay also packed up a lot of his warm clothes into a bin to hand out to who ever we found. Neither Clay or myself were mentally or emotionally prepared for what we did find. I think in all honesty the kids handled it all better then Clay and myself did. The kids went head first right into it. How do I explain it all. The day we put the bags together Carly and Jacob both wanted to help. Clay added his special touch with his letter. The kids and I added our touch writing "Jesus Loves you" on all of the bags. We put them all together on Christmas Eve. On Christmas day after Abbi's morning nap we headed to downtown Raleigh. The kids were asking a bunch of questions and Clay and I had no answers. We finally just told them we had no clue, that we had never done anything like this before and we had no idea what to expect or how to answer all their questions. We drove around downtown and got a little lost but found exactly what we were looking for!! There was a large court yard common area type yard with a bunch of different church vans handing out Styrofoam plates and singing carols. Clay parked the van, got out and asked one of the distributors if it would be ok to hand out the bags we had made and got an "Of Course!! Please do!!" The kids could not get out of the van fast enough. They stood there a bit dumbfounded as did I when I first got out. Then I just held Abbi tight and walked into the crowd. Clay and Jacob carried the bins of bags and we were swarmed by the homeless. For me it was a bit unsettling just because I was mom there with 5 kids and I watch way too much crime TV shows and I was scared something would happen to my babies. I was not scared of the people, just what could happen to my children. My children had smiles on their faces and nicely handed bags out and danced around to the Christmas carols. They noticed things like the shoes on the homeless feet and our children told us "When we come back next year we need to bring shoes."
After all the bags were given out Clay went back to the van to grab his bin of clothes. This was a moment I dont think I will ever forget. A man came out of nowhere when Clay held up a pair of pants and yelled that he needed pants and made his way through the crowd. He looked like he had been homeless for quite some time. He then proceeded to ask Clay if he had any "underwear". This really hit me. Still does. Underwear is something I have always had. I have never had to go a day in my life with out any. I just take it for granted to have things like shoes, underwear, socks, clothes. Never have I not had any of these things.
We had a mom come up to us and ask if we had anything for little girls. Carly then stepped up with the 2 jackets she had grabbed from her cubbie and the few toys she had grabbed from her stash of toys and handed them to the mom.
This was definitely an experience like none other! My own kids taught me so much!
We will definitely make this a yearly tradition!

Hide & Seek

At this very moment Jacob and Carly are sitting right next to each other, both at a laptop and they are playing.........
wait for it


HIDE & SEEK!!!!

Ummmmm really??
My 4 legged children are the ones running around just like my 2 legged children usually do playing tag around the first floor steps. It is so odd to watch. The dogs are actually stopping in the same spots as my kids and pausing and turning the opposite directions. It is a bit eeerie.

Flushing $$$ Money $$$

So Katrina found a nickle and was carrying it around upstairs while I put laundry in the washer.
As I walk out of the laundry room I hear the toilet running.
I walk in there and look in it, and jiggle the handle thinking "Hmmm that's strange." but dont give it another thought. I then go into the girls room and grab Abbi who is just waking from her morning nap.
A few minutes later Katrina comes in my room.
I ask her where her money is cause I dont want it left where Abbi can get it and put it in her mouth. I am a freak about small things since Abbi's trip to the ER to get x-rays after I thought she ate a Lego.
Katrina answers me with "In the toilet"

One day this story will make me laugh!!
Right?!?!


Carly, Jacob and I went to visit Aunt Karen, Kaz and Sam this past weekend in Mt. Airy. While there Karen told us not to use the sink in Sam's bathroom because he had put something down the drain and she had not had a chance to get it out yet!!! AHHH The life as parent!! A never ending adventure!!

WOW!!

My children are AWESOME!!
Let me brag about my kids!!
I posted a bit ago about our idea for compassion bags, remember?
Anyways just this morning a Godly lady friend of mine posted about Jesus and Santa. LONG STORY short I decided that today was the day we would talk to our kids about the TRUE meaning of Christmas and how we are to be giving instead of receiving etc.....
At brunch I got out my "compassion bag" sample from MOPS and went on to tell the kids about how I wanted to do this for Christmas this year and how we were going to spend money on these bags this year instead of gifts for under the tree.
Can I tell you, I am tearing up just writing this post. My Angels on loan from God wanted to drop everything and do these bags right now!! Their hearts are so big!! We also explained to the children how we gave a portion of the gift money to a needy family on our street who may loose their home.
My fear of their being tears and anger about not receiving for themselves this year were totally unnecessary!! We have raised our kids to want to help and want to give to others!! I am so proud of Clay and myself and I am so proud of our children!!
Thank you God!!

Carly is EIGHT "8" EIGHT!!!

EIGHT!!!
WHAT THE?!?!?!?!
How in the world has 8 years gone by?
She had quite the special day. 


Woke to the living room being decorated in Happy Birthday fun. For breakfast we did the typical Beane donuts and a couple gifts from her siblings.







Clay, Katrina, Abbi and I surprised her at school with cupcakes for her class.I had worked it out with Ms Pride and begged her not to say anything and let us surprise her. Carly's face was Priceless!! When she turned the corner you could see the look of confusion then complete joy!! It was AWESOME!!

She got to go on a date night with Clay and I all to herself. (Thank you Stacy Pleasant)
We ate at Ruby Tuesdays then walked over to TOYS R US where she got to pick out whatever toy she wanted cause she had $$ from all her grandparents!! Thank you Grand parents!!
Boy was that a tough decision for her to make!! She just kept putting her hands to her head saying "There is so much to choose from!" It was precious!!

Then we went over to the ice house and went ice skating with her new Cinderella doll who by the way just so happened to have an ice skating outfit that you could purchase! But hey it was buy one outfit get one free so that was cool. She is now in her pjs going to bed with Carly.

When Carly went upstairs to go to bed she said
"The was the BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!"
How great is that!!
I love my life!!
I love my little girl!!

Thank you Dr. Alverez & Dr. Hawkensen for saving her little life!!!

Abbi is ONE!!!

WOW!!!
Where did the year go?!?!
How can 365 days have passed already??

What a year!!
Abigail you have been such a blessing in our lives. After Katrina was born the doctors told me there would be no more baby Dillards because my thyroid had stopped working. God obviously had other plans. In November we found out about my thyroid. In February we found out I was pregnant with you!
Every day with you has been complete joy! I always wanted 5 so you are my last baby. I try to take in every moment and just love it even if you are screaming your head off. I just can not believe a year has gone by so fast.

In June, 2011 Pop & Barb came for a visit and brought the loft beds he made so all the girls could fit in one room. The lofts are AWESOME!!

If Abbi wakes up before Katrina then the first words out of Katrina's mouth when she wakes up are "Where is Abbi?" If I put Katrina in her bed because she is having a temper tantrum Katrina asks "Where is Abbi?" like Abbi has to be in her crib if Katrina is in her crib. It is so very cute. The two are so close in age they wont know "life" without each other, sorta like Carly and Jacob.

You and Katrina are BEST BUDS!!
This is a picture taken at Halloween. Neither went trick or treating Halloween night. This picture was taken during the day before all the commotion of the night started. Katrina wanted nothing to do with Halloween again this year. She is scared to death of anything Halloween in the stores. So much so that I could not do practically any shopping while they were decorated for Halloween.

This morning Abbi decided she did not want to miss a beat. So she woke up at 5:30am instead of her usual 7am. I ran in there and grabbed her real quick before she woke Katrina up. Then it was just a matter of keeping her awake and happy until at least half her siblings got downstairs to do the BEANE DONUT BREAKFAST!! Carly and Katrina finally made it downstairs along with Daddy so we finally busted out the DONUTS and sang Happy Birthday. She couldn't care less about the singing and just wanted her donut!!

After the birthday girls morning nap I decided to get everyone all dressed up in their Christmas outfits and get our Christmas pictures. Boy was that chaos but we got some really great shots! My favorite has to be this one of Clay and Abbi!!! She looks just like her daddy!!


Happy Birthday Abbi Lynn you are truly a blessing from God!!

Compassion Bags

Not sure if any of you follow my Carlykins Boutique blog so I thought I would share this here too.

Here is my latest blog from Carlykins (in purple), you will have to read this to understand what I am talking about.

Compassion Bags

After much prayer I have decided that from now on I will be doing MORE with the money from Carlykins. I felt so honored to be able to help my friend April earn money to help 3 orphans from the Ukraine this year for Christmas! I want to keep the Spirit of giving going.
A few weeks ago I found a post/pin on pinterest.com about "Compassion bags" (Compassion Bags are basically anything you can fit in a ziploc bag that a homeless person could use. i.e. soap, toothpaste, tooth brush, crackers, apple sauce, juice, note about Jesus etc......). Later that night after the kids went to bed I talked with my husband about it and told him I wanted to start doing this with my Carlykins money. He was very supportive. I then sent an email to my DGL (discussion group leader) at MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) about somehow doing this as a group for the area homeless.
Long story short, she talked to the other leaders and as it just turns out one of them does this with her children. The next MOPS it was talked about with the whole MOPS group AND a sample bag was sent home with everyone!! So everyone could make their own decision with whether or not they want to do it and not feel forced to do it as a MOPS activity.
How cool is that!! Even if just 5 of the women in MOPS decide to do it, and if they make 10 bags each with a little prayer card in there, that's 50 homeless!! COOL COOL COOL!!!
Please pray for this mission!! 

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I would like to take this idea even FARTHER!!

Again I went to my husband and told him I wanted to do even more.

My thought was, If Jesus were to come on Christmas day how would he want us spending the day of his birth? Would Jesus want us all sitting around a tree exchange silly gifts to each other that none of us really NEED? Or would Jesus want us out spreading the word and giving to the needy?

Clay and I have decided to take half the money we have planned to spend on Christmas gifts for the kids and take the kids to buy all the supplies to make compassion bags and then spend Christmas afternoon handing the bags out.

Cuddle time

Clay is on a "Clay weekend" at momma K's beach house in Morehead. It is so nice having momma K's beach house back!!
Abbi has not been feeling well which means not sleeping at night. Last night I was up with her till 2am. I ended up falling asleep sitting up in my bed with her on my chest. Boy she tossed and turned for the longest time. Then she sort of snuggled in at my side facing the ceiling and I guess that opened up whatever was clogging her up so she could now breath and suck her pacifier at the same time and she conked hard. She was snoring just like when she was a newborn sleeping on my chest. I was so tired but all I could do was smile and smell the top of her head. I finally laid her down and got on Clays side of the bed and went to sleep. I got 4 hours in which I think I conked hard after 2 sleepless nights I so needed a hard conk ;)
This morning about 6 I felt her tiny little hand on my cheek. She is such a dear sweet baby. I grabbed her in close and she just cooed and giggled, which made me giggle. I am so in love with being a mom!! The thought of not having another baby makes me so sad but I know that chapter is over for me. I will take full advantage of the time I have left with Abbi.

Days like this.........

Momma said there'd be days like this!!!


Ever have one of those days??


Today is that day for me. What better way to handle it then through humor.......

Ohhhhh Carly

a conversation with Carly and Clay from this weekend just popped in my head and I want to cherish it forever!!!
Carly: "I have a crush"
Clay: "I know you told me about him last night"
Carly: "I did? Whats his name then?"
Clay: "I dont remember"
Carly all giggles
Me "Carly whats his name?"
Carly all giggles
Clay "Greg, John, Michael, Carter" etc.......
Carly all giggles "He was behind me in line at the slide during recess and asked me what his name was, I said ____ (sorry cant remember the name she said) and he said "No" and I told him it was"
Carly starts giggling again
Clay "So you were arguing with him about what his name was?"
Carly all giggles "Yes"
Me "Carly?!?!"
Carly all giggles with a snort
Clay "That's my Carly"

She is 1 in a million!!
Some man is going to be very "LUCKY" one day!!
I just cant figure out who she reminds me of??

Fun with Letters (Part 2)

I had so much fun doing this craft with Katrina that I just HAD to do one with Abbi!!
Today I taped off the poster board and broke out the finger paints. Katrina made hers with washable poster paint and a brush.
I wasn't quite sure how Abbi would feel about getting her fingers dirty. Carly seems to be my only child so far that will stick her fingers in absolutely anything.

 
At first Abbi wasn't too sure about it,

but then she really got into it, thus the blurry picture.

Right after this shot the paper went FLYING off the table!! 
Abbi could not get enough!

I think she would still be sitting there painting if I had let her!  

When I switched up the colors her curious face was priceless.

Her finished painting!!

I love it!!
LOVE IT!!
I am so excited to take the tape off of it but will definitely wait till tomorrow since a lot of it is GLOBBED on there!!

Fun with Letters

Katrina is one lucky kid!!
I guess I did crafts with the other kids when they were little but nothing like what I do with Katrina!!
This large order with Carlykins for Basil the Cat on Etsy has really changed things around here!! And in a GREAT way!! I did not want to just stick Katrina in the living room in front of a movie every day whether it was an educational movie or not. So I started thinking of different crafts she can be doing ON HER OWN (just across from me at table) while I glitterized flowers. It has been so much fun watching her learn and enjoy and just be a kid all while I "work" if I can call it that?!?!
This latest craft was one I found on Pinterest.com. It is so simple yet so fun!! Get a poster board and tape out the childs name with painters tape, then let the child go crazy with paint!!
Katrina had a BLAST!!!
AND I think it is by far one of my favorite crafts!! I am going to frame it that is how much I LOVE IT!!

Here it is with just the tape. 

Katrina painting it.

Before removing the tape.

Finished product.

Sweetness & Love

Yesterday when the girls got home from school I had a basket sitting on the kitchen table with pink unmade headbands on my computer. Of course Carly and Paityn were very curious thinking it was CRAFT TIME again!! My girls are like me and LOVE new crafts! They started asking questions about the basket and I reminded them about the orphans in the Ukraine that I am trying to help raise money for with Carlykins. We had a short little conversation about it all and I put the basket away so no little fingers could get everything dirty and I went about preparing dinner.
In the middle of making dinner the girls started fighting about the markers and who was using which one and so forth. I typically try not to get involved in sibling fights cause then my involvement would be never ending. I turn around and ask them what they are fighting about and how they can solve it like I usually do then saw what they were working on and got curious my dag gum self. I asked Carly what on earth they were doing and she told me "working on some crafts for the orphans"
My heart melted! She wanted to show the orphans LOVE and AFFECTION through crafts!!
How flipping cool is that!!
Thank you God for letting me an influence on my children like this!!

AND Thank you God even more for showing me and not letting me miss it by cooking the family dinner!! Thank you for the sibling bickering! You always know how to get our attention dont you Father!!  

Bath tonight

This was just a hilarious moment that I wanted to capture on the blog to savor FOREVER!!!

Clay took the 2 older girls as usual to football practice and I had the little two. Around 7pm I took the girls up for bath. We were sitting there singing and splashing when all of a sudden Katrina got "the face" and I mean serious like too!! I started asking her "Katrina, what are you doing?" all the while just knowing in the back of my mind. To make the situation a little more difficult to establish there were bubbles in the tub and the only way to see past the bubbles is to move them. Well the only way to move them was with my hand. And really what mom or parent wants to go there.
So I ask again "Katrina, what are you doing??"  
 to which she finally replies
"I Pootootin Mom! I Pootootin! (puts her own hands down there) and states "Dat Cool!!"
I just imagine that scene in Nemo!!

Sponge #2

Abigail!!!
Abigail is amazing!!!
Following right in Katrina's foot steps.
I have started working on her word cards with her, a little late, Katrina started at 9 months. Abbi does exactly what Katrina used to do and stare at them till you pull the picture out. So cute!!
Abbi gets to hear the ABC's, Days of the week and months of the year all the time with Katrina so I am sure she will pick that up quickly!!
Abbi will wave bye-bye and point, she will pick up the tv remote and look at the tv, pick up the phone and put it to her ear (not sure where she learned this considering I dont ever do it), she will make a smacking noise with her mouth when she wants something to eat. She is just amazing! I wonder if the older kids did this sort of stuff and being a "new mom" I just didnt put it all together?? This could totally explain why Garet and I are the smartest most determined of the Beane 5!!! HA HA HA Suckers!! I know none of my siblings are reading my blog so I can talk smack!!! HA HA
OK off the computer to work on Carlykins.

Days of the Week

Katrina is absolutely AMAZING!! I know I have posted about her before with her learning skills but I got brag some more.
I dont really know how to lead into this so I am just going to post the video clip of her singing the Days of the Week song.
(Please excuse the dirt on her nose and black marker on her arms! She is a very hands on creative child!!)

This song has been sung at our house since Jacob was in preschool. Recently 3 nights a week I have been in charge of the two littlest while Clay has the big kids with him at Football. So during bath time we sing the ABCs, Days of the Week and Months of the year songs. Katrina the other night started singing them with me and I was shocked!! She slurs her words a bit but home girl is TWO!! Do you understand me!! TWO!! She is absolutely amazing!! She is a little sponge and soaks it all up!! We are still working on months of the year and now I want to introduce the 50 States. A friend just shared 2 video clips that she found on YouTube. So those will be next if I can teach myself the song!! HA HA HA

My Handy-Man

My husband really surprised me this past weekend.
When hurricane Irene hit our gutters took on a lot of rain. The wood under them was pretty rotten and the very top gutter gave a good fight but was drooping in the middle (I should have gotten a before picture). Clay said he was going to fix it himself and boy did I get scared!
See my husband is a genius when it comes to computers but when he even talks about going to the hardware store I have a mini panic attack. Now don't get me wrong he can build a table or a book shelf but when it comes to home repairs.......ayyeee
A few weekends ago he bought the wood and has spent a weekend or two just painting the wood. I was able to put off the actual job for many weekends but I ran out of things this past weekend and he went to work. I was so nervous! Especially when he said he was going to have Jacob help! Talk about your heart sinking! My son and my husband on the roof........ayyeee
I decided I would just sit in the living room with Katrina and Abbi, watch some Elmo and try to forget about whats going on. Then BAM BOMB LOUD CRASH and I go running out there...........it was the gutter. They had gotten it off.

  In this picture you can see the gutter down, Clay holding the ladder as Jacob climbs it to get the wood off and Carly sitting on the roof watching. Jacob did not stay up here long. I dont blame him!

Here is Clay ripping the old rotted wood off. I wish I had snapped a picture of what it looked like when he got the wood off.

Here it is all fixed. The gutter still needs to be cleaned but it looks Marvelous!! I am so very impressed with my handy man!! He did a great job and was done so quick!! I was shocked!!

Priceless!!!

It is not too often I wake up in a wild mood, but this morning was one.
Clay came down early with Abbi and gave her her bottle, shortly after Katrina and the girls came down. After snuggling with Katrina and Carly for a second I decided to lay on the floor where I always change Katrina and Abigial's diaper and I started smacking my diaper area telling Katrina

"I got poop! I got poop! CHANGE IT!! CHANGE IT!!"

Her look of confusion was absolutely PRICELESS!!

She eventually got down off the couch and came to where I was and got on her knees and said
"Pants off Momma!"
Carly and I both started laughing hysterically.
Once I could breathe again I pulled my pants down a bit and said again
"I got poop! CHANGE IT"
Then all of a sudden I felt tiny fingers lift the side of my panties and look in there and Katrina's head popped back up and she said
"Nothing in there Momma. Nothing in there!"

OH SOMETIMES I LOVE MY LIFE SO MUCH I CANT STAND IT!!!

I was going to post this on facebook but then wasn't sure if people would find it as funny as I so I thought I would blog it for myself to last forever!! Its moments like these ones where I wish I had a video camera implanted in my forehead so I can just giggle and giggle at it all the time!!

To understand this story a little better Katrina is ready to potty train. She will fill her diaper lay down and practically change it herself. She will grab a wipe and a new diaper and likes to even wipe herself (when its just pee I let her) but home girl REFUSES to go to the big girl potty!! Refuses!! She will pitch a fit and kick her feet and cry while banging her head on the floor if I even ask her about the big girl potty. In all honesty I am ok with not potty training her! The very worst part of Motherhood for me is potty training!! I hate it more then anything! The thought of being in a public place and taking a potty training kid to the rest room absolutely disgusts me more then anything. I do not know why kids always grab the toilet seat! Oh just thinking about it makes me want to gag!!
Potty training Jacob was awful!! It was almost enough for me to never get pregnant again!! Carly I honestly do not remember. I think it was so bad I blocked it out! I honestly can not remember it. When Paityn was old enough to potty train Carly did it!! No joke!! Carly potty trained Paityn or Paityn would still be in a pull up. Sometimes I think she still should be when I use the bathroom after her, but I try to never complain since I was not the one to train her. HA HA I have already told Carly that she will be the one to potty train Katrina when she is ready!!

Crafty Bats

A friend of mine posted on facebook a cool little blog craft she found.
Me being the crafty diva that I am decided I wanted to do the craft too.
We make a trip to the grocery store today to get all our groceries and supplies for this craft.
Katrina, Abbi and I get home,put Abbi down for her nap, I decide to let Katrina skip her nap so we can have some fun crafting together, I get the radio on Mark Schultz, the paint laid out on the table, brushes, paper plates, sit down to start taking the tops off the paint and Katrina goes into complete  FLIP OUT MODE!! Drops to the floor kicking her feet screaming yelling fists pumping!!! 
Typical!! So very typical!! I get all excited and worked up and pumped to do something fun and exciting (at least to me) with one of my kids and they FLIP OUT!! I swear this never used to happen with Jacob. Its just my girls!! Seriously!?!?! Really?!?!?! Have I ever told you about how when I found out I was pregnant with my first girl I went into counseling!!! HA HA HA HA Seriously!! Though I did!! Well in all honesty we were already in therapy cause of Clay deciding to take on the FBI but I called for an immediate 1 on 1 session!! I am so not ready still to this day for all the drama this house has coming to it in just a few years!! DEAR LORD PLEASE HELP ME!!! My girl friend Stacy has a funny prayer she says that starts like that. Lets just say her kids know to RUN FAST when she starts saying it!!! DEAR LORD PLEASE HELP ME!!!! HA HA HA

OK back to my fun bat craft (phew, sorry I am horrible about babbling)
So Katrina decided to throw a fit so I picked her butt up carried her upstairs laid her down in her crib closed the door and turned off the monitor sat down and ENJOYED making my dag gum bat all by my lonesome!!

Here is mine!! I had so much fun making it!! Then to top it all off, while I was making it my friend Rebecca from across the street came over with the most precious baby boy Cole (Abigials future husband!) with a plate full of cookies!! Crafting with cookies!! YES!! It was a perfect quiet afternoon until...........
The big yellow bus dropped the big kids off and of course Carly and Paityn wanted to make a craft too!! This is when having girls is fun!! Carly and Paityn LOVE to do crafts!!

Mine is the Pink Bat on top. Carly made a Pink Piggy, and Paityn made.......well Paityn made something that turned out Cute as all get out!! Even after waking from her nap Katrina did not want to do the craft. Go figure.

My MOPS experience

For the first time ever I signed up for MOPS and as usual the only question I have for myself is
WHY DIDNT I SIGN UP SOONER??

Today we learned all about giving our children age appropriate chores. (These are my notes from what I got out of it)
They shall do said chores, without being paid for them, as their contribution to the family, just like mommy changes poop without expecting anything in return and Dad goes to work every day to pay the bills.
A spoiled child turns into a spoiled adult.
As moms our gift to society is to teach our children instead of spoiling our child.

I came home today, put the girls in their cribs for naps and sat down to work on getting this big Carlykins order prepped. As I was cutting paper for the clips I thought hey these stripes would be perfect to write each individual chore on, a magnet on the back, and a chart on the frig!! So that is exactly what I started doing!
(Sorry for some reason it will not accept it when I twist the picture the right direction)

When the kids got home from school. They noticed my chart right away and of course started asking questions. And just as I thought at first there was a bunch of "Aww man chores" but then when I went on to explain how they got to choose their own and they only had to do 3 of the red ones a week and 1 daily chore they really got into it and even started fighting about who would do what chore! It was amazing!!

Jacob wanted to wash the back doors for me! Which was awesome! The dogs had really gotten them muddy considering there is no grass back there!!

Carly choose to mop! I was shocked! And remember before you mop you must ............SWEEP!! So she actually did 2 chores!!

Paityn choose to empty the dishwasher for her chore but I did not get a picture because she required a little assistance. She also sets the table every night for dinner and LOVES it!! She really gets into it if she has the time too. She loves putting table clothes on and fresh cut flowers from my garden. She can get really creative!
I really learned so much this morning at MOPS! I am so glad I signed up for MOPS finally!! I have a great little group of women and we all seem to mix very well.

My Little Sponge

I posted a few blogs back about our night time routine with the kids remember??

Tonight is football practice so I have the two youngest all to myself. Abbi has been a little fussy since lunch (she misses her boyfriend Papa Rod, but I don't dare tell Momma K). She has had a bit of an upset stomach it seems. Now that I think about it more I don't think giving her a cinnamon rolls at Panera was my best choice for lunch. I don't think cinnamon is good with baby tummies, thus the reason you are not supposed to eat it while breast feeding
OOPPPSS
OK on to the point of my post.
Katrina is a down right sponge!!! Every night I sing her the same song to go to bed followed by the Lords Prayer. Well tonight when I started to say prayer I got the first line half way spoken and she finished it, then the same with the second line right to the very end!! I was crying I was laughing so hard and Katrina chimes in with "You happy mommy? You happy?"
Its moments like these that need a <PAUSE> button

Here is a picture of her skating the other night at the ice cream party Susan Hernandez put on!! They are those beginner skates that fit over your shoes and this was the first time she put them on!! I was more nervous then she was!! I kept wanting to hold her hand but she kept wanting to let go! She is absolutely amazing!! She wants to try everything! And once she does it once she typically knows how to do it!! I see her traveling the world speaking 10 different languages!! She is just amazing!!

My MUST HAVE's

A friend of mine told me a few weeks ago that as a mom of 5 I probably have a great MUST HAVEs list!!
So I figure I would start my list!

First thing I would say you must have even if you only have 1 child is a DOG!!
All homes with children should have at least one dog!! And I am not just saying that because no dog deserves to be KILLED in an animal shelter! I am saying it cause a dog will clean up messes that you did not even know were there! A dog will also clean up messes that you do not want to clean up! Jacob, my first born, had a reflux issue and would spit up constantly!! And when I say constantly I mean CONSTANTLY!! Got me!! Ok so Angel was our dog when Jacob was a baby and let me tell you she would come running from anywhere in the house when she heard him burp cause well the burps were usually followed by something else! Princess Coco Rosebud Dillard is our dog now and she will do the same thing with Abbi!! Thank God for dogs!! I could not imagine how often I would be vacuuming snacks or cleaning up puke if I did not have a dog!!

Second thing on my list would be a white noise machine! It doesnt matter if you only have 1 baby or 10 babies! If you live in a neighborhood or out in the country a white noise machine can and will block out all noise and for some strange reason the noise they make calms babies down. Come to think of it I even have 2 white noise apps on my iphone right now! When you are stuck in a doctors office waiting room for 45 minutes you can totally calm a screaming baby down by turning on white noise! It is amazing!! I even sleep to one of the white noise apps on my phone! I love white noise!

Third would be Pampers Swaddler diapers!! I do not know how exactly to describe these diapers other than THEY ARE THE BOMBDIGITY!!!! They have this liner that I just cant explain. It pulls the pee away from the bottom so there is less chance of diaper rash. Does that make sense? Who cares if it does THEY ROCK!! They are a must have!! By the time baby reaches size 3 diapers it is time to switch to LUVS brand diapers cause the Swaddlers are Expensive (but so worth it)!!

Forth would be a fenced in yard!! So you can put the Dog out back and the CHILDREN and not worry that they will escape!! HA HA We just got our fence this past Spring and the only question Clay and I ask ourselves is "WHY DID WE WAIT SO LONG" it has been the best investment EVER!!

I know I have a few more must haves but right now my MUST DO is Abbi's nap!!

Nothing to do

Does there ever really come a time in life where  "There is nothing to do!" like my kids always say?

I just got 3 girls to sleep while Clay has the older 2 at football and all I want to do is experience this feeling of "There's nothing to do!"
I grab my laptop to blog about this feeling so there is yet another "something" right?
I wonder what this feeling of "There's nothing to do!" feels like. I know I said it to my parents many a times I am sure but for the life of me I can not feel or recall that feeling. Nor can I remember what they would tell me. It was most probably something along the lines of "You need something to do. I can give you something to do....." I do remember polishing the leaves of my moms indoor ficus trees MANY A TIME but not because I had nothing better to do. I was always given that chore when I was in trouble.
Oh well, I have sat here long enough blogging!
Back to picking up toys and straightening before the big kids get home. 
 

Happy Moments

writing quick so they don't slip my mind!

last night at dinner for our 10 year anniversary the song I walked down the aisle to my Prince Charming came on the radio!! Faith Hill "Breathe"

today while walking to Food lion with Katrina and Abbi there was thunder in the distance and I said "Ah oh we may get rained on walking home. Did you hear that thunder?" to Katrina. She immediately threw both her hands to her forehead (on either side) and said "Oh No!! Whatyagonnado!! Whatyagonnado!"

priceless moments I wanted written down to never forget!!
but there was one more just cant remember it!! That seems to happen a lot these days!!

9-22-2011 Carly and Paityn in the other room playing some make believe game. All of a sudden Paityn screams "You are going to the Principles office to DIE!!!!!" (it was such the *insert evil laugh* moment)
too funny!!!
Paityn has a new chore, set the table. I put out the dishes and silverware for her and she puts them around the table. Tonight I turn around to find that she is also putting tissues under every ones fork!!! Oh that girl cracks me up! Could you imagine Katrina cleaning off with a tissue!! HA HA

Kaz is 16!!!!!

Grayson says it best with "What The?!?!?!?!"

I can not believe Kaz is 16 today!!

Where have the years gone?!?!

I moved down here just a couple months after Kaz was born!!
Her nose was the first baby nose I ever picked!!

I used to spend the night and sleep in her room with her and listen to her sleep and then lay there in the am and just wait for her to make the first stir of the morning and GRAB HER UP!!

How in the heck is she 16 today!!
How has this happened???

When she was about 2 years old she and I used to RACE loudly around the house on anything with wheels!! We used to have so much fun!! So much fun!! I doubt she remembers any of it now :(

Oh and let me tell you about when they moved out to N. Raleigh and I was out there one afternoon walking with her and a neighbors dog that they were dog sitting. All of a sudden a storm started to brew and there was this LOUD LOUD LOUD crash of thunder!! LOL just remembering this story!! Kaz lost all color in her entire body!! She screamed louder then the thunder and just started runnnnnnnnning!!! She could not get to her house and in her mommas arms fast enough!! Ohhh I will never forget that moment!!


Kaz was the most GORGEOUS flower girl ever at my wedding!! (I can not get to those pictures right now because the server is down *AUGH fist in the air at Clay ;)*

When Jacob was born we would spend a lot of time out in N. Raleigh with Kaz and Karen. Jacobs first Halloween was spent out there and his first Christmas picture with Santa was with Kaz! Those were the good ole days!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR KATHRYN!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!

Kaz you have grown into quite the remarkable woman! I am so proud of you! I love you more then you will ever know! I have enjoyed you from the day you were first put in my arms! "Well Actuallllyyy" I have loved you from the first time you were ever put in my arms!!
Happy Birthday Kaz!!

TESSIE (4 legged children)

TESSIE stopped by to visit tonight!!!
Why didnt I take a dag gum picture?!?!?! I had my iphone right there!!! Shucks!!

Here is the most recent picture I have of her



Isn't she just GORGEOUS as all get out!!
She reminds me so much of Angel!!
WOW!!
I really miss her!!
Tessie is Angels first born. We called her Mercy when she was ours. She was the puppy I was able to save with mouth to mouth, a bunch of swaying, rubbing, praying and crying!! A moment in my life that will always hold a very special place in my heart!
When I was petting her tonight through her van window and she got a chance to smell my hair and I think she remembered me. She started to nuzzle me with her nose but then she got spooked by Carly or Paityn.
It was so sweet it was like she maybe remembered me!! She used to always attack my pony tail and take my scrunchie as a chew toy!!
It was so nice seeing her tonight. She was adopted by the sweetest family! They really love her as one of the family and it shows! She had front seat in the van just like Angel used to and her whole top half of her body was out the window taking in the breeze!! She is such her mommas girl! Angel would be so proud!

I look forward to her next visit!!

Firefox & Liz

I posted a few blogs back about how when I cleaned the fish tank I somehow killed Paityns fish. Well Clay took her a few days ago and got 2 more and one of those died, so I took her today to get another.

Side note: do not believe ANYONE if they ever tell you fish are the easiest least expensive pet to get!!! I can not even begin to tell you how expensive this has all become!!

Ok, excuse me, so today I took Paityn back to the store once again to get a new fish. Paityn has named them "Firefox & Liz". How cute is that. She and Carly swear one is a girl and one is a boy and they are going to have babies and live happily ever after! Where do they get this stuff??
These fish are called Albino, red fin sharks! After doing a little research on them turns out you are not supposed to put them in tanks together because they can be aggressive. (Someone better tell the store that because they had about 5 in one tank) The internet also stated that these fish are not ideal for the brand new aquarist.
Ain't that a hoot!!
Oh well.
What do ya do

Brilliant

Katrina Rose is Brilliant!!
When Katrina was a baby I bought into a Infomercial for "Your Baby Can Read" and I bought the complete set! She never really liked the DVDs but she LOVED the flash cards and would ask to do them on a daily basis.
She was talking early and putting sentences together early, so I figure I would start in with other things like letters, colors and shapes.
Let me tell you she picked up her colors and shapes in 2 days flat!! We are still working on her letters but she does know most of them and can even say what sound they make!!
This girl is amazing!!!
She reminds me so much of Carly!! Carly used to sit at the table while Jacob was doing his homework and trace letters!! She was only 3!!

This morning I decided to see what else I could get Katrina doing. I wrote her name large in all capital letters and poured a bowl of Cheerios in a bowl and asked her to come to the table. She did and sat right up and started pointing at letters. She got a couple confused and wasn't sure of a few others but for the most part she did great!! I asked her to place the Cheerios on the letter K and she did. Not along the lines but on the letter K. Then I asked her to find another letter and she did!! She is just amazing!!

When you ask her to count she typically skips the number 1 just like Jacob used to do but she can count all the way up to 16!!

I tried to think back to other things I used to do with Jacob and remembered how we put name tags all over the house. So I started writing things like DOOR and put tape on it and asked her to stick the word on the DOOR after she repeated each of the letters to me. For the most part she got each letter right, but she confuses little a for an o. 

The funny thing was when I wrote the word PHONE and asked her to stick it to the phone she did not want to put it on the house phone. She kept saying NO. I finally asked her "Katrina where is the phone?" to see what she thought a phone was and she went right to Abigails toy box and grabbed the Elmo phone!! It was too cute so I let it slide!!

Tough Love vs. Coddling

I believe there is a fine line between tough love and coddling.
Here is the story behind this post;
Carly and Paityn are both signed up in gymnastics. They both Love it!!
Recently for some strange reason Carly, after begging to be signed up for years mind you, decided she was no longer going to do it. When we would ask why we would get a different variation of "why" each time.
We would make her go anyways and sit on the bleachers and watch.
Here's a tidbit,  recently only Clay had been taking the girls instead of us switching off weeks. He drops Jake off at Football then heads to the gym with the girls for an hour then back to football while I stayed home with Katrina and Abbi and stick to their night time routine of bath at 730 then bed.
Back to the story. Carly has been sitting out instead of participating. I decided this past week to take the youngins and go see for myself what all was going on. When we pulled up Clay got out of the Jeep, came to the van and said Carly was sitting in the Jeep crying and did not want to go in. Clay also informed me that Coach Jo had also come out and tried talking to Carly. I sat there for a moment and took it in and pondered what to do. This is when I love my MOMSENSE from God!! I said "Ok, let her sit there and think about it for a moment. This is not a decision we can make for her. Lets just walk right in with the youngins and go watch Paityn while Carly has time to herself to think."
When we walked in Paityn was being walked over with Coach Steven to sit out. He informed us that she said she was not feeling well. I look over at her and she is now sitting playing with the toys. I told Steven and Clay that I thought it was a case of "big sister not being in there". So I walked over to her and told her to sit on the bench and watch her class if she was not going to join. She got upset about it but I did not cave! After about 5 minutes she asked me to walk her back to her class! I was high fiving myself and my MOMSENSE from God!! When I return from walking Paityn back to her group guess who is now playing with the toys and Katrina "Carly"! I walked right over to her and told her to get up and go to the bench, that she was not to play with toys but to watch her group.
She is one tough cookie let me tell you!
She sat on the bench and sulked and refused to go in. Clay sits down next to her and she immediately cuddles right up to him and puts on the fake tears and starts spewing out reasons as too why she is not going in. Again my MOMSENSE comes to play, plus being 1 of 5 and having parents that divorced I know a lot of tricks for getting attention, keeping attention and taking what I want of this attention!! So when I saw what was going on and how Clay was sitting there cuddling and quietly talking with her a MOMSENSE light bulb went off. I sat down on the other side of Clay and asked him to please walk away and let her figure this one out for herself. He listened and took Katrina outside to the playground. I too walked to where Carly couldnt see me but I could see her. She took her shoes off and put them in the cubby (YES!! I was patting my own back) then she sat back down (DANG).
I thought and thought.........
walked over to her and quietly whispered in her ear "You know I think you would be proud of yourself if you go back in" and I reminded her of how she felt last week after not participating. I also told her "Daddy and I would be so proud and come to think of it I was pretty sure Coach Jo will be proud to" and I got up and walked away again. Next thing I know she is standing at the little door playing with the handle (high fiving myself in my head again) and next thing I know she is walking by me towards Coach Jo with one of her little friends from class!! Coach Jo gave her a high five and big hug and off they went!!
I am so proud of Carly!!
She was so proud of herself!!
It turned out Great!!
Thank you God for my Momsense!!
Mom intuition + Common Sense= MOMSENSE 
Thank you MOPS

Nighty Night

So I was just asked to "write a new blog post" my follower ;) ;) is sick of football!

the quickest thing I could come up with was our nightly routine since it is what I literally just got done doing!

I must admit this is one of my favorite but yet sometimes most stressful time of day.
I started a routine when Jacob was a newborn, and let me just tell you it was a LIFE SAVER!! Still is a Life Saver every day!!!
From the get go Clay has been in charge of bath time at 7:30 (precisely like I am Mary Poppins herself)
They stay in bath for about 15-20 minutes then get their pjs on.
When Jacob was a baby I would hold him in my arms and sing him to sleep singing "You are my sunshine".
After Carly was born Clay started reading Jacob stories after bath and I would sing Carly to sleep with "Silent Night" (side story for that song selection is Carly was due on Christmas Eve, she came 3 weeks early thank goodness)
When Paityn came along Carly moved up to stories with Dad and I would sing Paityn "Jesus Loves Me", as a matter of fact I think I can probably still to this day get Paityn to sleep if I sing her this song!!
When Katrina came into our lives I had just learned an awesome different sorta happy up beat version of "Amazing Grace" so that became her song. I sang it to her on the delivery table when she was placed in my arms for the first time. My doctor still remembers that.
Then came dear ole Abbi. I just recently gave the duty of singing Katrina to sleep to Clay before he reads stories to the big kids, while I now sing Abbi to sleep. I still try and get in to sing Katrina to sleep as often as I can but it is few and far between now. Back to Abbi's song; I am not sure of the name of the song I sing Abbi, and I am not sure of all the words but I love the verse/chorus I do know. It goes like this
        "Let the Glory of the Lord endure forever. Let the Lord be glad in His works. I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praise to my god while I have my being.".
I am still friends with a lot of my youth group friends from high school and they have told me the name and given me the words but this verse is most powerful to me so I just sing it over and over.
After songs I say the Lords prayer, which all of my kids typically have memorized by the age of 3 and can repeat it back to you. So awesome!!
Clay reads stories then sings the older kids each their song, says prayer and dream prayer (a little something I started when the kids started having bad dreams! Let me tell you it has worked like a champ! My kids hardly ever come down because they are scared or had a bad dream because of this DREAM PRAYER!!) before he walks out of their room.
With the kids being on such a routine at night I get time with my husband each night which I think is very important even if we are both conked out and vegged to the TV at least we are by ourselves and together. We do actually go outside each night for some quiet reflection as soon as we get the kids in bed! That quiet reflection time is a BLESSING!! but sometimes we both need a little reminder that we can not bring our phones out there!! We got a little addicted to Angry birds and I would always make him complete the levels I had gotten stumped on! Then he loved the game so much he downloaded it on his phone! For a few nights it was a bird throwing mess on the front porch instead of quiet relaxing reflection time!!
OK hopefully this was a long enough blog to satisfy my "sick of football" friend!! Love you!! You know who you are!!  Maybe I should add a Redskin Logo to the very beginning of this blog to throw you off!! HA HA HA HA HA
That made me remember something funny. 
I just signed up for MOPS (moms bible study at church) we just recently had a "kickoff meeting" for the study and we all met at church one night about a week ago. I walk in and to my surprise there was FOOTBALL decorations all over the place. I thought "How strange?". I finally asked towards the end of the night "Ok so whats the deal with all the football decorations and footballs on the table" and they all chuckled and said they wondered when that would be asked!! HA HA HA I am the sucker all the time!! They stuck me in a dunk tank and threw footballs and dunked me!! NO I AM SO JUST KIDDING!! Just making sure you are still on your toes and have not fallen asleep while reading MY BLOG!! The MOPS women did the football theme since it was a "Kickoff meeting" ....... ya it took me a while to put two and two together too!!

4 legged children (part 1)

It just came to me that I have never mentioned our 4 legged children!

Smack on the hand! Bad mommy!

When I was about 8 months pregnant with Jacob, one of our 8 cats went missing. Yes you read that right, 8 cats! Long story for another blog post. Anyways Clay and I went to the Raleigh animal shelter to find the cat with no such luck BUT we did come home with an 8 week old puppy that Clay fell in love with. She was a German Sheppard mix pup and just as sweet as can be! On the ride home Clay said "She is so sweet just like a little Angel" and there was her name "ANGEL".

She was our little baby to squeeze and cuddle and love till Jacob got here. Once Jacob got here I was so over the dog factor. I will be completely honest, for a few months, well maybe years I really disliked Angel. It was like having another kid to watch all day. Clay refused to get her fixed so for 2 months of the year I had a baby to diaper and a dog!! She was like another kid, it was like I had twins. I had to potty train her and even got her so well trained she learned to only stay in our yard when out. Anyways she turned out to be an awesome dog! She would follow Jacob around the house and clean up after him, when I would let her out she would do her business then come right back! Oh she was such a good dog!!
One year she got out around Christmas and got pregnant. 60 days later she went into labor. Since she was 6 years old and had never been through the experience before she didn't know what to do. I stayed awake to help her. It was a crazy ordeal. To make the story as short as I can it was just not going the way it was supposed to. I had already given mouth to mouth to one wet and slimy puppy and revived it but I couldn't the next one. We lost 2 puppies that day, we took her into PetSmart to get the rest out. They were able to save 2, all girls! We named our 3 puppies Faith, Mercy and Grace. They were all so sweet and so totally different! After they were 8 weeks old we found homes for Mercy and Grace and kept Faith for ourselves. Faith was a crazy beast! She looked just like Angel but darker and two different colored eyes. Right after Katrina was born we lost Faith to Parvo. It was miserable for Clay and Carly to have to go through. I was in DC with my mom and Katrina visiting. I am honestly glad I was not here to go through it all. Carly still to this day has a hard time with it all.
Angel really was like one of my kids! She protected the kids and us and shared lots of LOVE with us! She would go to the beach house with us and spend our vacation with us. She would drive around with us and always get her own cheeseburger! God I miss her so much!
Last year we lost Angel to cancer. Angel had a mass in one of her tits, its a long story and still really hurts to talk about. There is nothing about it that can be changed now but I really wish we had done so much different. We should have gotten more opinions from different vets. We got the mass removed and everything went down hill from there. Before we had the mass removed she was still running around and fetching balls etc..... Once the mass was removed she went down hill super fast! It was like she just never recovered from the surgery. So we called another vet and took her in for a second opinion. Clay took off work and took her in while I stayed home with the 4 kids, pregnant with #5. When they got home I could read it all over his face. He got down on his knees and broke it to me. I cant say that I have ever cried so hard. I was loosing my first child. He told me she had lung cancer and at this point there was nothing to do but keep her pain free. Each day she just got worse. I took her out every day and bought her either chicken nuggets or a cheeseburger but it got to the point where she wouldn't even eat it. Then one day I was sitting here with the kids and she just started breathing real hard and she gave me this look. It was like she knew it was her time and she just let out this deep breath and laid her head back down. I called Clay he rushed home we all said our good byes and then he loaded her in the Jeep and took off with her to the vet. Angel never came back home. These pictures are our last with Angel.
The next day we put together a little memorial for her out front where she would spend her days.