Its a ...........

I just realized that I have yet to blog about the sex of #6!!

Can you read what it says in the upper left corner??
Or how about this, do you see whats missing?? HA HA HA

Its a GIRL!!
We have another Princess coming into our lives!!

Here she is!! Isn't she gorgeous!!
"Lauren Ansley Dillard"
I can not wait to meet her!!
I think she is going to look just like Paityn and Abbi but maybe with brown hair like Katrina!!
All I can tell you is January 31st can not come soon enough! Although this pregnancy seems to be going by the QUICKEST and definitely with the LEAST amount of sickness of ALL the pregnancies!! I wouldnt know I was pregnant most day except for this protruding belly that just keeps getting bigger (at least from my angle of looking). All my girlfriends say I need to walk sideways so you can tell I am pregnant. HA HA

 I would have never guessed the Lord would bless us with another girl. I was so sure it was another boy cause of my lack of sickness. We took Jacob with us to the ultrasound to find out sex. We were going to video his response to finding it out it was a boy. She said no video but was willing to let Jacob read us the results. When that lady started writing GI Jacob threw his hands on his head, his head went back and he yelled "NOOOOOOOO!" then without skipping a beat he said "Guess we will have to have another."
What is wrong with the men in my life????? I looked at Clay and said "NO WAY!!"

Here are her little feet to end this blog

To move or not to move............

I know we out grew this house 3 babies ago BUT
I love this house!
I love all the memories we have made here.
I love looking out front and seeing my trees from my wedding. I can picture Jacobs first steps on our front lawn with Grandma Christine on the front porch cheering him on!
I know we have out grown this house big time!!
Every time I start to put my "wishlist" together for a new house I just get super depressed and end up in tears and short of breath! 
Some of my neighbors have become like family. Like Cindy for instance. I know she is in heaven now but I still look at her house every day and think of all the good times I spent over there with her.
Shoot we had our wedding party with all our friends in our back yard cause friends were not invited to the wedding only immediate family.

My wish is to add on to the back of the house and add another bedroom or 2 or 1 bedroom and an office for Clay and most definitely a BIGGER kitchen and open floor plan change to the first floor. I'm talking like we just won the lottery or some such!!

Jethro (aka #6)

Jethro I am going to get you back big time once you arrive!!!
Who makes their momma eat tacos for breakfast?!?!?!
This morning it is actually cold taco casserole from last night but you are so happy!!
Look I will make a deal with you if you continue to do whatever you are doing so I dont have morning sickness I promise to keep feeding you tacos when ever and how ever you want! Deal??
BUT can we please talk about all the pimples you are giving me?
I have never had this many pimples EVER!!
Not even as a teenager going through puberty!!
What up dude??
Don't you want a pretty mommy??
None of the other kids did this too me BUT with that said they all had me puking all the time. So I guess I can deal with the pimples for a few more months ;)

"Mommy Princess"

I am not sure exactly how this got started 

and in all honesty I couldn't care less ;) 

the only thing one needs to know 

is that Katrina calls Princess Belle from Beauty and the Beast 

"Mommy Princess"

I just put the movie on

as soon as Belle showed up on the screen Katrina screamed & pointed

"Its you mommy!! Its you!!"  

I feel like a million bucks right now!!

My Guardian

Yesterday I read a blog titled "21 things your burglar wont tell you".
Seemed like a good read at the time.
I mean dont you want to know?
BUT Not such a great idea when your husband left that morning for the mountains for 3 days!!
Daaaaa Merideth!!
Last night before I even took the kids up for bath the blog tips started coming to mind and I found myself turning on porch lights and closing blinds so no burglar driving by would see our flat screen tv, computers or gaming systems! Then as soon as I had them all tucked in snug in their beds I set the CPI alarm and found my van keys to put by my pillow.
(These are all tips the blog mentioned)
But I must admit nothing made me feel safer than having Princess Coco Rosebud Dillard sleeping beside me!!
One of the comments at the end of the blog was exactly that. Nothing works better at deterring a burglar then a BIG DOG!!
So since I have 2 big dogs I left one out back as a warning system and one inside right next to me as my GUARDIAN!! She is such a good girl. When I got up in the middle of the night to go potty she walked me to the potty. It was just like having Angel back. When Angel was around and I was pregnant she was by my side constantly while I was home.
There is no stronger love than that of your 4 legged child!! I know she would have given her life for me and my kids if a burglar had tried to get in! I have seen how mad she gets at Frisco and just pictured her attacking a burglar just like that! HA HA
Love you Coco & Frisco!!
MISS YOU ANGEL RIP!!

Big News

"Run RUN!!
Mom is expecting another!!" 

 

When we found out we were expecting I tried to think of the funnest way to share with everyone.
This is what I came up with!!
Whatcha think?

God has truly blessed us!
I thought we were done. WE thought we were done!
I tell ya, we make all these plans and God sits up there on his thrown with a bowl of popcorn slapping his knee maybe even shedding a tear or two laughing hysterically.
"Those Dillard's think they have it all figured out!!!"

We thought we would refinance the house to help save some money so we could build Jacob a room. Then in order to pass the refinance we had to get our Master shower fixed. Bonus!!
Then we pass our appraisal and we start to see some of the $$
and
KAPLUUUEEEEEE
our downstairs toilet erupted!
Plumber comes out BAM $70, Plumber has to put camera down pipe to see what problem is BAM $250, Plumber finds a cracked and shifted pipe! BAM more $$$
BUT on a positive note we are getting all new floors on the first floor!!
The problem outside is now fixed and should not be a problem again!!

Now to try and save $$ and build Jacob his own room!
He sure is gonna need it if its a girl!!
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
Carly keeps telling us its twins!!
God is funny but lets hope he is not THAT funny!!

Psalm 127:3 Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.

Thank you father for our rewards!!
We will raise them to LOVE you, Honor you and Share your word!!

Secrets

Ever had a secret you wanted to SCREAM from every roof top you could possibly get on???

I DO!!!!

Its killing me to keep it secret.
I made the stupid mistake of telling someone close. And got ripped a totally new butt-hole!!
Now I am scared to share with anyone else.

With each passing day the fact that I feel I cant tell anyone else because of this one negative person is making me resent this person more and more.
I keep asking myself
WHAT DO I DO??

Come & Go

While we have lived in this house for 10+ years we have had many neighbors come and go.
Some we were happy to see go and some that touched our hearts so much we cried when they moved.
But NONE have touched our hearts as much as Cindy and her boyfriend Michael.
Cindy passed away in February to cancer (I wish I could kick cancers ass!!) and Michael moved back to Florida yesterday.
For the past couple of years every morning I have taken their newspaper up to their door, this morning it sits there taunting me. Every cell in my body is telling me to go get it and take it to the front porch. Just makes me cry! I miss Cindy so much.
Watching Mike drive away yesterday was so very sad. I can not believe it is affecting me so much but I really do miss my good friend Cindy. She was always there for me. To listen to me bitch or cry or just be silly she was always there. She never judged me for my crazy drama. She always just loved me. I miss her. I miss Mike.
When Cindy was diagnosed with Cancer and lost a lot of her ability to take care of herself Michael dropped everything and moved in with her to help. At first we all thought he was crazy or that he had some sort of hidden objective for moving in with her. None of us could imagine that he was so loving and dear that he (a man) would just drop everything to help her. I have never felt such a lump of guilt for thinking so low of him. He truly loved Cindy and he did all he could for her in her last year in a half. I miss him and I miss Cindy. Even after Cindy passed Michael kept a bottle of Vodka for me in the freezer and insisted ;) I come over and have cocktails with him. I found that I was able to talk with Michael just like I was able to talk to Cindy. Michael became a great friend. I miss him so much and he only moved yesterday.
Michael has passed down to me a couple special things of Cindy's to help keep her memory alive. He gave me the huge Gorilla that Cindy loved and even brought to a party or two at my house as her "date". He gave me her Ronald McDonald coffee mug that for some reason was always my cup there for Vodka. He also just passed down to me her Skeleton Halloween earrings for me to keep her Halloween tradition alive. And the very last night I was there he gave me a bottle of Vodka for the freezer and her Halloween witch hat. I feel very special to have such special things of hers but I honestly wish I still had her.
Cindy's house was my refuge, my safe haven, my place to escape, my sanity zone!!
On Mike's last night in the house I of course went over to hang out and we joked about what I was going to do now to stay sane. It is crazy to think of other people living in that house! CRAZY! I dont think I will like whoever moves in for the mere fact that they are not Cindy or Mike!! :-)

Is it even possible??

Is it even possible??

It has been 3 days and I think Katrina is potty trained!!
I am just in shock!!
Never has it been this easy!!
Jacob and Carly were impossible to train!!
And when I say impossible that is putting it lightly! Jacob refused to poop in the potty. Carly would save her poop for nap time, take it off and play in it!! *gagging
Have I mentioned that Carly then potty trained Paityn when it was time!! No joke!!

The first day of potty training Katrina she peed in the first two pairs of panties we put on her. She did not like that felling one bit!! That was all it took. She peed in the potty the rest of the day. No poop at all on day 1. On day 2 she had a full diaper when she got out of bed, went right downstairs and put on some panties and peed in the potty all day with just 1 pee accident AND she pooped in the potty 3 times (she had a little bit of diarrhea).
I am just so shocked at how she is doing! Day 3 1 pee accident with all poop in potty!! Day 4 is today, she woke with no pee in diaper and came running to potty as soon as she woke! Tonight I will put her in the thicker training panties for bed and see how she does!! 

Potty Training SUCKS

For me the very worst part of parenting a child has got to be POTTY TRAINING!!
I would rather send them to college in diapers!!
Ok well not really but seriously I DESPISE potty training!!

With all that said I have stupidly decided that it is time to potty train Katrina.
She is 3 and she can vocalize everything (and very well I might add!). 
I ran to Wal-mart this morning and bought her a bunch of every Disney Princess panty I could find. I also bought her some training underpants just to be on the overly prepared side ;)
I also bought a pack of 600 Disney Princess Stickers and a large piece of poster board.
I hung the poster board over her training potty and wrote "Katrina Potty Board" then let her pick out one sticker to go ahead and put on her board. Now we are all just waiting for her to potty in her potty instead of in her new princess panties!! Thank goodness I bought a BUNCH!

Please pray for us!!
This is the absolute worst part of parenting for me!!

Guidance

I have been going STRAIGHT to the Lord for lots of "guidance" recently!!
Here are some of the Bible verses I found.
I hope they help you as much as they do me!!

Psalm 32:8 The Lord says, "I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you."
James 1:5 If you need wisdom-if you want to know what God wants you to do-ask him, and he will gladly tell you.

CAN YOU ASK FOR ANYTHING MORE!!!
 Thank you God!!

Here is another GREAT ONE
Psalm 37:24 Though they stumble, they will will not fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.
I can say that I have been so scared before that I have asked the Lord to hold my hand and have literally felt my hand warming up as if it was being held!! Our God is an Awesome God!!

This one I went so far as to HIGH LIGHT in my Bible to find quickly!!
2 Corinthians 12:8-10 Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, "My gracious favor is all you need. My power works best in your weakness." So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may work through me. Since I know it is all for Christ's good, I am quite content with my weaknesses and with insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamites. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 

These ones are GREAT to remember for me (and possibly a few others out there that think it is their job to tear others down with their words) 
James 1:26 If you claim to be religious but do not control your tongue, you are just fooling yourself, and your Religion is worthless.  
Ephesians 4:29 Dont use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.
2 Timothy 2:23 Again I say, dont get involved in foolish, ignorant arguments that only start fights.

Cuss words

Sometimes parenting can be down right tough with a side of embarrassing!!
Today a few minutes after the kids got off the bus there was a knock at the door. I thought it was just one of the neighborhood kids wanting to play with my kids. I was so not ready for what was waiting.
There was a little girl that my daughters play with and her older sister, as she stood there rubbing her shorts and twisting her foot she told me "Ummm Jacob was cussing on the bus today with ______."
My heart sank.
Not my child.
I looked at the sister and asked if I could ask what word he was saying. The sister nudged the little girl to tell me and I was floored. It was the "F" word!!
My mind immediately started racing. What to do? What to do?
I thanked her and her sister very much for coming to tell me and I promised them I would handle the situation.

My brain went into overload.
Anyone that knows me at all knows exactly what I mean when I say this.
My brain starts to literally steam and you can see the smoke coming out of my ears.
I kept asking myself what is the proper punishment.
What is a good consequence?
I immediately texted the other mom because she is one of my friends.
I sent Jacob to his room and the other boy home after telling them both that I was very disappointed, and that I would be talking to the bus driver and that I hoped for their sake it was not true.
I then called the school to let them know what had happened and how sorry I was and how I wanted my son to get on the bus tomorrow afternoon and apologize to the whole bus for "littering in their ears with such nasty language". The Vice Principal asked if she too could talk to Jacob about how disappointed she was and I said OF COURSE! I also informed them that all 3 kids will now be picked up by me each day in carpool instead of riding the bus.
After getting off the phone with the vice principal I then went up and talked to Jacob. I told him he had 1 chance and 1 chance only to be honest with me or the punishment would be more severe. I asked him if he wanted a few minutes to think about everything before I asked him my question. He said No. So I asked "What happened on the bus today?"
My son admitted to me that he said a cuss word on the bus. I asked him which one to make sure the stories all matched up. He told me and then added that he did not know what it meant.
You want to talk about overload for this mom!!!! He is 9!! Do I tell a 9 year old what such a word means!! My response was, it is a very nasty word and I do not think it is necessary for me to tell you exactly what it means at this age. I also informed him I would talk to Daddy about it all and get his input on whether or not it was appropriate to tell him. (Clays immediate response to me was "I think it will lead to more questions." so we decided to just tell him it is not an appropriate word for a 9 year old or even an adult to say.) When Clay got home and we were able to approach Jacob together Clay explained to Jacob about how people have made up a lot of nasty words for things, and Clays example was "POOP"!! You could see the light bulb in Jacobs mind turn on. Point made and no more questions of what the word meant. Phew

UPDATE (5-9-2012):

So very proud of my son right now! Yesterday he was too embarrassed to get on the bus and apologize. This morning he stood outside with his Dad and waited for the bus to come. The bus driver knew my plan and was very happy with it all. So this morning when she saw us out there she stopped at our driveway and let Jacob get up. He read the speech he had written about bad language then got off the bus as quick as he could!! He did not shed a single tear this morning!
He corrected his wrong! One of the first steps to MANHOOD!!!
I am so proud of Jacob!!
He is really growing up!!

Mother of 5

People ask me often how I "do it with 5 kids".

Simple answer LIFE IS WHAT YOU MAKE IT!!
I want to be happy so I choose to be happy.
I choose to let things kids do roll off my back instead of stressing out.
I have always wanted to be MOM!
Example: she wrote on the wall in Sharpie marker and nothing will take it off
BUT she is my child and I will love her regardless. Sure she peed all over the floor instead of the toilet. Sure she busted that beautiful vase that the roses were in. These are all MATERIAL things! She is my daughter a human being with a heart and feelings. I LOVE HER and I dont want to choose ____ over her ever.

As a mom of 5 one of the biggest lessons you must learn as mom is how to throw your shoulders in the air and just say "ehhh its all good". I choose to LOVE my kids regardless and be HAPPY with the life God has given me (and I have chosen).

I know when they are teens it is not going to be as easy to shrug my shoulders at their actions but I hope God can continue to teach me that my children need to learn some life lessons on their own even if that means its the "hard way". So much of life is learning the hard way and we as parents take a lot of that learning from our children. Yes its hot but you know what there may only be one way for him/her to learn that and yes it might burn or be too hot but They will only do it once! and Learn the lesson from that ONCE! 4 steps she is trying to go down forwards instead of backwards she has to learn to do it but she may fall a time or 2, THATS OK!! We are ok to fall. Its all about learning! How many times did YOU fall? Are you perfect? NO we learn from mistakes and luckily grow from them. let them fall once or touch something hot that is how they learn.

MY Husband!!

Just a quick note about the Awesome Man I get to call MY Husband for the rest of my life

last night I went to hang out with a neighbor, when I got home I told Clay the neighbor needed to borrow a lap top to finish the final step in some paper work he is trying to complete. Clay got right up from what he was doing went to the kids laptop made the neighbor his own account and password then grabbed the Windex and cleaned the screen!!
My husband is just AWESOME!!
I remember when we were dating he saw an old man get out of his car and go look at his tire. Clay immediately pulled over turned around and got out to help the gentleman. My husband takes my breath away!!
Thank you GOD!!

THANK YOU
Notice the flowers that he stopped throwing ball to let her put them in!!
He is just the best!!
I am so totally blessed!!

Awesome!!!

Today I posted on facebook for all my brothers and sisters in Christ to post their favorite inspiring Bible Verse. Here are some of the ones I got:

Joshua 1:9 I command you-be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Jeremiah 26:14 As for me, I am helpless and in your power-do with me as you think best. 


Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not lean on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will direct your paths.

Isaiah 40:31 But those who wait on the Lord will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.

Isaiah 43:2 When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.

 Phillipians 4:19 And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. 

Psalms  23:4 Even when I walk through the dark valley of death, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. 

Psalms 34:18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those who are crushed in spirit. 

If you have any personal favorites I would love to hear them. 
A friend told me of something neat she learned on a recent woman's retreat and I thought I would share it on here too, "I went to this women retreat and my friend amy spoke there. She suggested starting a spiral notecard book to write down those most inspirational versus that carry you though all times. She gave them all to us with her favorite on the first card. Great to have and keep with you at all times." 
So going to be doing this one!!  

Bug Cakes

A few years ago my little brother and his wife gave us a Backyard Bugs cakelet pan as a gift.
Let me tell you this pan makes the cutest cakes in the whole world!!
AND
the recipe it came with is DELICIOUS!!
It came on the back label for the pan when they gave it to us and I have been able to save it ever since!
I thought I should get it on the web in case the packaging gets ruined.

 

"Vanilla "Bug" Cakes"

ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 16 tbs (2 sticks) unsalted butter melted
• 1 cup (250g) sour cream
• 4 eggs
• 1 tbs. vanilla extract

Have all the ingredients at room temperature.
Position a rack in the lower third of an oven and preheat to 375F.
Grease and flour the wells of the Backyard Bugs Cakelet pan.



To make the cakes, sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in to the bowl of an electric mixer. In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted butter, sour cream, eggs and vanilla until combined. Fit the mixer with the flat beater (I did not do this, I dont have one). Add the butter mixture to the flour mixture and beat on the lowest speed until the dry ingredients are moistened, 15 to 20 seconds. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 30 seconds.




Transfer half of the batter to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Spoon the remaining batter into the prepared wells, dividing evenly and filling each well to withing 1/2 inch (12mm) of the rim. Tap the pan firmly on the counter-top to release any air bubbles. To ensure good detail on the cakes, spread the batter so it is slightly lower in the center of the wells. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean, about 18 minutes.







Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes. Invert the cakes onto the rack and let cool for at least 1 hour before decorating or serving.

Meanwhile, wash and thoroughly dry the pan. Grease and flour the wells and repeat with the remaining batter.


(Williams-Sonoma Kitchen)

Common Sense and Government

The more I pay attention to politics and government the more I realize Government has way too much power and We The People have given it to them.
We The People have forgotten what this country was started for and how America came to be.
Government has decided not to teach about it anymore.
Government teaches you what they want you learning. What "they" feel is important.
Government is taking away Common Sense with silly stupid laws.
I can understand things like car seats but when it comes to what we teach our children, how we raise our children Government needs to back the heck up.
We The People need to "abolish" (favorite word in the Declaration of Independence) this government and start over as WE THE PEOPLE!!
Bring GOD back in!
Our GOD GIVEN RIGHTS!!
Common Sense!!
Law of the Bible!
In God we trust!
Not government who wants to take every thing from you including your God given COMMON SENSE! The right to give your child OREOS!!
I know this all sounds so overly dramatic but LOOK FOR YOURSELF PLEASE!!
The worst are tiny governments like HOAs that can go so far as too foreclose on your home or put a lien on your home. Tell you that you can not have a kiddy pool in your front yard. Tell you where you can plant a freaking tree in your yard. They can charge you $10 for parking on the street and your neighbor $100. They can start their own dag gum court system!! It is seriously scary all the rights that governments Big and Small are taking from us. Even scarier is WE are giving it to them.

having a moment

I am totally "having a moment"

Katrina went to a neighbors house this morning for an egg hunt, Abbi napped from 10 to 12.

My house was way too quiet and I didnt like it one bit.
I kept watching across the street for little glimpses of Trina Rose out there playing. I worked on a large Carlykins order I got last night for Korea to keep my mind off the quiet. Turned the radio up a bit higher so I had some noise.
Now as I hand Abbi a sippy cup of juice I am remembering this morning. And realizing why I am having "my moment", Clay did not give Abbi her morning bottle. Instead he put her in her high chair and fed her breakfast. I commented and he said "It is time Merideth." I did not respond and started doing dishes and kept telling myself not to cry. I gotta let go. She is 16 months and doing a lot on her own.
While the girls were gone this morning I texted Clay and told him this sort of quiet house is not for me and it is time to look into adoption.

Perfect day to color HAIR

I ran to Wal-mart this morning to pick up 2 things.
Dont you think it is hilarious to go to Wal-mart with the idea in your head that you are only going to get 2 things! Now, for the life of me, I can not remember what the 2 things were but I can tell you about the 50 freaking other things I bought!! HA HA HA
So while at Wal-mart I was just walking aimlessly with no children pulling my pants down, or screaming or asking me for every little thing they saw. So I took a bit longer then intended but WHO CARES I was BY MYSELF!!

So I came across this box of hair color that was 3 colors and the bleach to strip the color from your hair before you put the colors in. Oh and the colors are Purple, Blue and Red (the box had sexier names for them). I thought WOW How cool would that be!! Carly loves putting the spray color in her hair I bet she would love this. And I had recently seen a picture/blog on pinterest about doing this (on blond hair). It was only $8.00 so tossed it in my cart!!

Here is Carly with her tips stripped of color. 

 Here I am putting the colors in where and how Carly wanted them ;)

 Here is a before shot of the colors

 Here is mine with the color stripped out of the tips of the very underside of my hair

 Here is Carly's hair with the dye washed out

 Here it is dry!! It looks ,MARVELOUS!!!  Makes me wish I had done all of my tips just like Carly!!

 It turned out pretty darn cool. I did not go high enough up with the color and next time she wants more blue.

With mine you can not really see it too much unless I pull my hair up. Just perfect for a 35 year old.

It was so much fun spending the time with Carly and playing hair salon together! All she kept saying was "Ms Pride is going to scream! Ms Pride is going to Love it!!" She absolutely loves it!! I ended up putting a few colors in Paityns hair too.

You cant see them too well in this shot but I just put a few colors on her hair without stripping it at all. She was excited to be included and I think by that point Carly was ready to share. Katrina and Abbi did not get any. Jacob now wants to do his in all 3 colors in 3 sections. I think Clay would kill me!!

After our hair salon morning I took Carly into Cary to Toys R Us. Carly got an amazing report card!! She achieved two 4's and two 3*'s. Basically 2 HIGH As and 2 low A's according to the teacher. I hate the numbers and wish they would go back to letters.
About an hour of walking up and down every aisle about 4 times each she decided on a doll that I can not even spell. I believe it is called LaLaLoopsie or something close to that. I have absolutely NO Clue what the fascination is with them either but a friend has them and they play them together and she wanted it and in my opinion she earned 4 of them!!
Walking all around Toys R Us a zillion times made me hungry so when we finally left we headed to Skinny Dip. My absolute favorite yogurt bar!! So yummie!! I got my usual Southern Strawberry with pound cake squares and waffle cone chips. Carly got French Vanilla with crushed oreo and whipped cream.

 Isn't she just beautiful!!

WOW!!

Speechless!! 

This is one amazing young lady!! 

I am so very blessed to have her as a daughter!!

I love you Carly Marie

"Dats you Mommy!! Dats You!!"

OK, I will admit it!
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT when Katrina sees the Disney Princess Belle and she screams

"Dats you Mommy!! Dats YOU!!"

(don't tell Katrina my eyes are blue)

For my daughter to think I look like this Princess proves our God is an awesome God ;)
I hope and pray she always sees me in those precious goggles of hers!!

Family Challenge Game

I came up with an idea today that I must admit I AM PRETTY DARN PROUD OF MYSELF for coming up with. *toot tooting my own horn

Anyways, Clay is always complaining about how he wishes we could put our kids in Private School so they would get a better education. Or homeschool so we can teach them the truth as we see it instead of what Public School is drilling into them. I always tell him we can teach them this at home and to find positive things about school and all they ARE learning.
To get to the point I came up with an idea today that I think is awesome.
I called it the "Family Challenge"
We will draw a challenge from the hat and they will have 2 weeks to learn as much as they can about the topic and then who ever can learn/memorize/whatever the most that child wins.
some of the topic we came up with at dinner were

• Founding Fathers
• President
• 50 states 
• each states Capitol 
• put the states in alphabetical order
• solar system
• periodic table
• how many bones in the body (what are they?)
• First 10 woman to_________
• First 10 African Americans to _________
• Memorize preamble of the Constitution

So they will draw a challenge at the beginning of the month, have 2 weeks to complete it, whoever wins gets a night out with Mom & Dad
Clay had a good point though when he said it could not be an outing with both of us because in order to do that the kids that did not participate get a fun night at S'Kids. So we will have to think of something else. I think the prize may differ for each kid. Carly likes toy shopping, Jacob likes video game shopping, and Paityn likes craft supply shopping.
It is still all in the planning stages so please help us by praying for this Family Challenge idea. Also if you have any ideas of "challenges" DO SHARE!! 

Kids say the darndest things...........

I was just thinking about a few of the things my children have repeated to me recently that my husband has had conversations with them about.
Just the other day I was out back with a male neighbor who was pushing his daughter and 1 of my daughters on the swing, Carly informed me that Daddy was "building a second floor on the tree house".
The other dad and I both started laughing.
Jacob informed me the other day "Dad is going to take you to the gun shooting range to butter you up to letting him get a gun. He said that if he takes you to the range and you get to shoot the gun that you would fall in love with it and let him buy one."
Ohhhhh I love my husband so very much!!
Katrina was sitting with Clay on the couch yesterday and for some reason or another lifted his shirt and saw his pit of a belly button. One thing lead to another after many silly questions Clay told her to smell it and she screamed "NO ITS STINKY"

Ms Cindy

My fingers do not know where to go on the keyboard for this post.
There are so many things to say.
Ms Cindy has been a blessing to our family. I know she is in a better place now. I know she is complete in heaven instead of in diapers and pain here on earth BUT I MISS HER! I want my buddy across the street that I can escape to when the kids are driving me insane. Clay always knew when he came home from work and saw the Ronald McDonald mug on the counter that I would be heading to Cindys for a cocktail. Ms Cindy kept a bottle of Greygoose in her freezer for me. God I miss her so much.
Paityn and Carly are so sad. Paityn started crying last night at bedtime because she had made Ms Cindy a picture and never got to give it to her. Ms Cindy was like an Aunt to my kids. She was always here for birthday parties. She would come outside and hang out with us all the time. When Angel had puppies she gave us a travel carrier so the puppies could come outside with us. When the puppy we kept got sick it was Ms Cindy that called me to tell me something was wrong. There was a time I had to call 911 and a fire truck came to the house, Ms Cindy was in her driveway crying thinking something was wrong with "one of her kiddos". Every year for Christmas there was something under the Christmas tree from Ms Cindy for the kids and the dag gum pets!! For Halloween one year the girls wanted to be a witch because Ms Cindy was always a witch at Halloween and I have the cutest picture of all of them. Whenever there was some sort of atmosphere anything Cindy was calling or knocking on the door to tell us to check it out. On Easter she would always make the kids a little basket of candy. The girls would go over in the afternoons and play with Ms Cindy and her costume jewelry. Ms Cindy had a drawer of what she called "crafts" for the girls. She so loved my kids. My girls would pick bouquets of weeds and leaves and some times a random flower or two and take them over to Ms Cindy and just talk and talk.
From the moment Cindy moved in I was drawn to her. Not exactly sure why. My husband calls her crazy Cindy, but in all her oddities I loved her more and more. Hey Rebecca not sure why but I just thought of something. Now that Cindy is gone I think it is safe to ask "are you ever going to return that ladder?" HA HA HA HA Cindy would mention that flippin ladder often but never thought it was my place to say anything. HA HA HA
There was one time after Ms Cindy got sick Jamie, Rebecca and I all went over to clean Ms Cindys kitchen. That was CRAZY! There were cat whiskers taped to the cabinets! Nuf said.
Or the birthday party of Jacobs where we had an inflatable pool out front and all his preschool friends over to celebrate. Ms Cindy was of course invited. She came over with this huge stuffed ape gorilla thing as her "date"! If that wasnt enough she started hitting on Clays father not knowing it was his father. She came over to me and told me he was "hot"! No sooner did she say it did Rachel, Clays mom show up! Oh priceless moments with Cindy. I joked with her about that for years! I miss her so much!
When Cindy would come over she wouldnt knock. She would go to the living room window (we have a large front porch) and wait till we saw her then wave (I am laughing and dropping tears on my keyboard). She was so crazy but in a good way!! Unique like me!! Loving and Accepting of everyone!
When it was Obama and McCain, I had a McCain sign in the front yard. Cindy was for Obama. Oh it was a lot of fun. Still to this day I think it was Cindy toying with me and took my sign!! I spray painted a sheet and hung it from the front porch McCAIN/PALIN!!! HA HA HA
Clay and I were remembering last night how she used to always bring over those disposable cameras for the kids. There would be like 5 shots left and she would tell the kids to take the last few pictures then bring her back the cameras and she would have them developed. The kids LOVED THIS!!! I mean LOVE this!! Loved it so much for a few years we would wrap up disposable cameras for them for Christmas they loved it so much (I think I may buy them each one and tell them Cindy wanted them to have it).
How about the day Cindy found out she was "terminal". This really shouldnt be a funny story but Ms Cindy....Oh Cindy.........Love her to death. Rebecca are you laughing through the tears right now? I am!! Rebecca, my adorable neighbor/friend across the street used to drive Ms Cindy to her chemo appointments while pregnant with her #2 and watching Fin her 2 year old. She is a very blessed soul! I dont know how she did it. OK so Rebecca was with her for an appointment that was supposed to be "in and out" well an hour later Rebecca went looking for Cindy. Not exactly sure how it all went but long and short Cindy was told she was terminal and there was no longer reason for the treatments. As they were driving home Cindy asked Rebecca to stop by the ABC store for you. Not sure if you caught this a few sentences back but Rebecca was/is pregnant with her #2!! Cindy told her exactly where in the store to grab her booze, Rebecca got to the counter and the clerk looked her in the eye then down at her belly then back to her eyes and said "I cant sell this to you", did I mention Rebecca is pretty far along in her pregnancy and possibly ready to POP and she looses it. Starts crying and pointing to her car telling the clerk that Cindy is terminal and asking for BOOZE and she is buying it for her etc.... when the clerk looks out to the car sees Cindy, waves and proceeds to check Rebecca out. OH MY GOODNESS!!! I still laugh hysterically just trying to picture this moment!! Rebecca drops Cindy off with her little brown bag then waddles over to my house in a complete panic. Tells me the whole story. I have all of Cindys sisters phone numbers so I start calling them. Rebecca and I are flipping out trying to figure out what to do. We both come to the conclusion "she terminal let her drink" when Claudia calls me back and says "Oh Ya we have a bottle of booze for her in the car already for our trip there this weekend." nuf said
One of Cindy's favorite stories to tell about me was about the time her tree fell. This was not all that long ago so she didn't get the chance to tell it often so I will share it on her for eternity! ;) anyways Cindy got the biggest kick out of me when I went bizerk on the town about her Bradford Pear tree that had fallen down. The town tried to charge her to come pick it up. I went ape shit. I stormed up to Cindy's door took the tag they had hung around her door knob and started calling every flipping number they had on there. I was not about to let them charge her. Long story short the receptionist for the MAYOR called me and we talked. She offered to pay half the ticket and I started crying. Needless to say no one paid anything. I talked to a few neighbors and they all let me put a little pile in front of each of their houses so Cindy wouldn't have to pay. It all worked out great. Cindy would always joke "Be careful or she will call Obama on you"
Another crazy story involving Cindy was the time she came over and borrowed our plunger. HA HA HA See if Cindy were sitting here right now she would put her head in the palm of her hand and say "Yup she is going to tell the story" see that is just how our relationship was. We are both CRAZY! but in all honesty the crazy part is not her asking to borrow our plunger when I barely knew her. She had just moved in maybe 3 months prior. The crazy part is not her having to borrow our bathroom either (yup there she is sitting there shaking her head) the crazy part is the fact that I had cleaned the bathroom just that morning!!! See I dont clean bathrooms. I will not clean bathrooms. I told Clay when we first moved in together that I will clean every thing and anything but not the bathrooms. And that morning I had an over whelming feeling to clean the bathroom. No sooner did I get finished did Cindy knock. That is just crazy to me!!
Oh and not long after Cindy moved in did the guy that used to live in Rebecca & Pats house tell Cindy that my husband Clay was the FBIs MOST WANTED!! I will never forget when Cindy told me about that and asked me what he was talking about!! Oh that was priceless!! My husband the FBIs most wanted!! HA HA HA
Oh the Cindy stories can go on and on.
I am on my own this weekend with the youngest 2 girls. Clay and the older 3 just left for the mountains to visit his parents for the weekend.

Not sure..........

Not exactly sure where this blog post is going to lead too.
There is so much going on in my sleep deprived brain right now.
Things have been so hard with Abbi for what seems like forever but it has probably been closer to about a month. Teething, ear infections, head colds, growth spurts, etc.......
end result being she is NOT sleeping!!
If she is not sleeping that means either Clay or myself is not sleeping.
For many a night Clay is in charge of waking up with her. I have honestly been very selfish. As I explain to him for 5+ years I have not only carried a baby in my belly (which all of us women know = NO SLEEP), I have woken up with each baby every night all night while nursing, etc...... Like I also explained to Clay I woke Clay up maybe 2 times when Jacob was a newborn, saw he was of no assistance (not trying to be rude but he was really no help) and never woke him again for any of the rest!
Well except the time Carly shot poop in my mouth!
Anyways, thats another blog maybe some day.
So in my brain I thought
"if he wakes up with Abbi now there will be even less chance that #6 will be mentioned"
therefore Clay gets up most nights with Abbi. Let me also state that my husband is awesome with being Daddy in the middle of the night, me not so much unless it is nursing baby, but once they are older Clay does much better being woken up then I do. It takes me a few minutes to snap into mom mode.
Ok so things have been tough recently with Abbi and it has caused some serious stress on our marriage. He wants me waking up, I want him waking up, we BOTH WANT ABBI SLEEPING!!
We just do not know what is wrong.
Countless trips to the doctor.
Countless different medicines to try and fix ears or teething or whatever.
We are both just done with no hope in sight.
This morning I took over at 2am and also did the 6am and sort of had a come to Jesus and decided it wont be like this for long, its just a phase. SHE IS OUR LAST BABY!! We need to just find joy in all of these last baby moments instead of having negative memories to look back on. I want to look back and know we loved her through it all and enjoyed her through it all.

UPDATE!!!
First sorry for never hitting PUBLISH on this post!! It was the sleep deprivation!!
I can say (while knocking on wood) Abbi did not wake at all last night!! And for the two nights before last she only woke 1 time each night!! Clay and I are back on track and LOVING like team players!! I love my husband!! He has been the best gift God could have ever given me! We go through some rough patches but we always come out so much stronger!!!

Oh well

It was a good idea.
I can not believe I have already missed a day with my Bible Verse a  Day idea.
Oh well. I will chalk it up to "life with 5 kids is mind boggling"!! And each day ends up getting away from me. But in all honesty I have learned to be OK with this!!
Life is all in how you look at it.
You can look at it in a negative light. Or you can choose a positive light.
For me it was easy to find the negative and run with it.
I have learned through MUCH Error and a little trial too that my life is what I make it.
I have learned through my children to live each day like it is a new adventure.
I have learned through hardship in my marriage that marriage is a promise to God not a contract between Clay and I.
I have learned through loosing a best friend to LOVE like there is No Tomorrow.
(R.I.P. Lee miss you so much)
Life is all about what you make it.
Wow I just looked up at the title about this blog and it was supposed to be about forgetting to write a Bible verse yesterday and it so went down a completely unmarked dirt road. I do have a tendency to babble and forget my own point often!! Life is good to me that way ;)

OK so on to a Bible Verse (HA HA HA)
James 1:12 God blesses the people who patiently endure testing.

Ummm HELLO how is this not the perfect verse for parenting!!

Jan. 10, 2012

Proverbs 4
1. Hear, O sons, a fathers instruction, and be attentive, that you may gain insight,

I wrote this Bible verse yesterday, to be my verse for today, hit save and walked away.
This morning was MOPS. Our guest speaker was Pastor Scott Wylie. He is the Youth Pastor at our church Colonial Baptist in Cary, NC. He handed out a sheet for us to follow, as I glance down I see most if not all the verses he has written down for us are from Proverbs!! Pastor Wylie talked to us about disciplines and the different stages/levels. He shared some great concepts with us. In fact I think I will contact him about Katrina's fits and how to better handle them.

Blogs Bible verse

I came across this one just now
"A youngster's heart is filled with foolishness, but discipline will drive it away."
going to look it up in a few different versions of the Bible and see how they all translate.

OK
so in looking for another Bible on my app I ran into problems with the app. It conked. Downloaded another app and it ended up being an app that read the Bible to you. I thought how neat and it started off from the beginning.
I went to Proverbs which is where I have been reading from during "mommy time". I sat and listened and Katrina came to check out what I was listening to. I love this verse and thought I would share it
Proverbs 1:10
"My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent."

Which lead me to an idea to toss in the air with myself.
?A Bible verse a day for Jacapaka??
could I do it?
I would love to find 1 a day all about parenting, possibly marriage since they do go hand in hand.
hmmmmm