new heights.

the professor and the boys went on a two-night camping trip with the boyscouts.
i was a bit nervous for them... they were by far the youngest there... and, there was a BIG hike.
the BIGGEST mountain in Texas.
yes.  they DO have mountains in Texas...
Mount Guadeloupe.
9000 ft high!!

i love camp-outs.
i love boy scouts.
i love that my boys have a dad that is an eagle scout.
i love that he takes them camping.
i love that he is so proud that his tent was staked so well it didn't blow over.
i love texas scenery... so different from my virginia roots.
i love that my boys are tuff.  they did it.  9 miles (4.5 up-hill, 4.5 down-hill).
i love that the professor DIED... even though he's been a diligent exerciser... it's always good to be reminded of our age.  :)
i love that they got caught in a 60 mile per hour wind storm (i try to tell west texan's that in the rest of the world, wind mph's are NOT part of the weather report... i'm not sure that they believe me.)
i love that they woke up to SNOW.
builds memories.
and, builds good, strong boys.


[here at home we had a rockin' st. patty's day party- a day late, and watched Shirley Temple's Little Princess, while wearing green wigs.  come to find out, green hair is a VERY important part of a st. patty's day party...  that builds sweet, sensitive, tap-dancing girls- who will someday hike guadeloupe peak. :)]

out to dinner.

sometimes, i love the pictures even when i'm not loving the moment.
sometimes, i love the real life more than the picture.
i definitely love the pictures more when they really show the moment.

tonight, we went to Applebee's.
because, jakob picked going out to dinner as his one fun thing during spring break.
i picked Wednesday night, kids eat for $1 on Wednesday.
(up to 4 kids per paying adult- see, we can have 2 more kids and be fine!) 
that includes FREE REFILLS on drinks.
and trust me, my kids definitely drink their dollar's worth.

here's our pre-dinner smiles.
when i look over these pictures i notice how happy my kids seem.
they are lively, happy kids.
i also notice their messy hair and mismatched outfits...
but, i remind myself that i worked HARD to let go of my perfect children ideals.
allowing them to dress themselves is something i worked hard to be ok with.
so, that makes me smile.
and, the fact that leah is wearing lily's size 18 month shirt, is just a sign that i have a sweet husband who helps, but doesn't care about the details.
and, isn't lily getting so big?
and, my boys... they really are growing up.
(i think jakob wears that shirt every day.)
they're about to leave elementary school and they almost LOOK LIKE middle school kids (almost).
and drew is SO FUNNY when you tell him to smile.  (what a sweet brother he is.)

those pictures really capture my life and happy, not perfect moments.

i had the professor take another picture of us inside the resturaunt.
honestly, this was my day.
finished a book.
did laundry.
fixed lunch.
put the little girls down for naps.
planned to take the kids skating while the professor stayed here with the napping little girls, but anna fell and really hurt her face.  i got scared to take her skating.
so, we went with some friends from church and some neighbors to the $2 movie.
i took 6 kids with me to see Princess and the Frog and the boys went to see The Spy Next Door.  Only, it wasn't playing (the internet was wrong), so they saw Alvin and the Chipmunks.
Then i drove 9 kids home and got ready to go out to dinner.
i was tired.
and, sick of kids.
leah is loud.
and funny.
at the resturaunt she stood up and pointed to the old people next to us...
"See MOM!! Two grandpas, just like SANTA!"
hushed and sitting near me.
"Mom, remember we saw that guy before."  (Pointing to my dark skinned waiter.)
"There are two of them, THEY MATCH!.... See mom, they both have BLACK on their skin!!"
yup.
she wanted "HONEY" or ketchup for her fries and lily wanted every drink that wasn't her milk.
She would drink it and then try to get the ice cubes out with her hand.
Since she's not a big talker, she yells when she wants something.  It's not a long tantrum, just a quick, "HEY!!"

my goal is to blend in.
having 6 kids makes this a bit more difficult.

having lily makes it near impossible.
so, by the end of the dinner, i was covering her hand with my mouth whispering for her to say please.
she will say please, but only after she screams.
she screamed for some ice in the middle of our picture moment.
i was VERY done with 6 kids at a resturaunt.
and, i expected the pictures to show a CRANKY momma.
see for yourself.

i may have just been posing for the pictures, but i honestly think i've learned a skill...
just keep smiling!!

if you are a mother, no matter what is going on around you, if you can keep smiling you look like you have it together.
i remember one young mom coming up to me at an institute class in Michigan.  she said, "i only have two kids and i'm going CRAZY.  then i look at you and you have four young kids and you ALWAYS have a smile on your face.  How do you do it?"
i still laugh at that sweet mom...
that's the trick.
paste that smile on there and endure.
i'd say 10 seconds after the last picture was snapped, we were out the door.  we waited in the car (little girls in carseats, country music on the radio) while the professor paid the bill.
we pulled into our driveway and i promised a surprise to the first 3 kids with teeth brushed AND flossed, pjs on and lights out.  it was a race.
the little girls were bedded (leah only came out of bed twice)
now, my home is silent.
my husband is reading in bed nearby.
i'm almost done with this blog, then time for my jammies, teeth AND floss, quiet reading,
and a big REAL smile.
i made it through this day.
i enjoyed some moments and endured some moments.
and, i kept SMILING.
today, that is good enough for me.

drew.

 

i love this freckley, blue-eyed, no-teeth smilin' kid.

love him.

shiner.

warning- watch out for window sills. 
they hurt.

no giraffes.

on leah's special day we headed to the pet store.
actually, we went to TWO pet stores.
they LOVE us at the pet store.
leah was so excited she talked for DAYS about all the animals we would hold.  she was SURE that we would NOT hold giraffes because they are scary.  (who's afraid of a giraffe?)

at the mall we held puppies and swam with the fish
and at our favorite WALTER'S WORLD OF PETS, we held baby bunnies, got attacked by dogs (no not really), and saw snakes, possums, and other animals heading to zoos...
i love the dialog
"this bunny is just like scampers."
"scampers died."
"he was hard like a rock"
"yeah, i miss scampers."
"and snow, snow was so cute."
"we don't know where snow is."
"she's probably dead too."
"yeah"
"yeah, she probably got eaten or something."
...
"mom, please can we buy another bunny?"

no trip to Walter's would be complete without special pastry treats.
this time, we choose the mouth watering, charming in it's own way, Donut Depot.

dogs and donuts.
what a divine day.
see... i'm still smiling!

granny.

my granny afghan is going much faster than i anticipated.
i LOVE it.
this time of my life is planting not harvesting...
creating these colorful rounds helps to create harmony and balance in my life.
children- not done yet.  laundry- not done yet.  granny squares- 34 done and counting!!

rollin' with kob.

yes, i was scared to name jakob, jakob, because i didn't want people to call him "kob".
no one ever has.
it turns out jakob is a very safe- unteasing- boy name.
the only person who calls jakob, jake, is me.  funny huh?!
i love this kid.

what's better than a top-bunk fort, a netflix on demand movie (Labrynth) and homemade rolls?
this is one reason why we're LOVIN' spring break.
ps.  the rolls had little crunchy specks. 
Kob explained that he used the measuring  cup from the rice to scoop out the flour so some raw rice got mixed into the dough (AND my flour container). 
i think the crunch added to the charm.

un-LUCKY.

so, it wasn't until i checked some blogs this AFTERNOON that i realized TODAY was st. patrick's day.
i'm so mad.
i had fun plans for our GREEN day... that i thought was TOMORROW, Thursday.
Bah humbug.
i even had special LUCKY CHARMS for breakfast and corn beef and cabbage for dinner.
i had grand plans for green cupcakes and green cookies for the neighbors
a fun party with a day-long preparation...
but, WEDNESDAY is Appleby's kids eat for $1... so today we were going out to dinner.
And, we're going skating from 2-5 today.
and, EVERYONE is dressed... NOT in green (we were saving it for tomorrow).

so... if you happen to see my family today.  PLEASE DO NOT pinch us. 
AND don't TELL MY KIDS that all our preparations are really going to be a day late.
the leperchauns were hanging out with the tooth fairiy and somehow missed our house.
today i'm TOTALLY unlucky.

10 inches.

Anna has been waiting a LONG time, to have hair 10 inches long!!
She was SO excited to donate to locks of love.  (find out about it here)

 I like to imagine some cute little girl wearing anna's hair...

i've heard it said, 

if you can't do great things... do small things in great ways.

spring break.

It's spring (not really a) break here in our neck of the woods.
Someday I'll reap the benefits of a husband who also has spring, summer and christmas breaks with us...
i hear that is a perk of being in education.
but for now... we still have dissertations to write and thus a break is no break at all.
we did enjoy a leisurly morning together. so i'm not complaining.  (just "somedaying")

we were going to take a road trip to ft. worth, but it got cancelled so we had to do some last minute re-planning.
i had each of the kids write 5 goals each.
some of my favorite goals were...

-teach lily to walk and leah to be nicer (ellie)
-help with lunch everyday (drew)
-run 34 laps around the court (all)
-read for 30 minutes a day (most)
-do one good dead for everyone in our family (anna)
-bring treats to the neighbors (anna)
-learn how to make ice cream (ellie)
-find my scout book and do one goal a day (jakob)

then, i assigned them each one day.
for their day they got to plan an event and a meal.

Jakob- Go to Applebee's for dinner, Pei Weir for lunch, and learn to make rolls.
Drew- Go to Science Spectrum and have hot dogs, pork n beans and carrots, make brownies.
Anna- Go Skating and have Spam, make cupcakes and go on a mom-date to the movies.
Ellie- Bring a friend with us to the movies, and plan a GREEN St. Patty's day party.
Leah- Go to the pet store and hold bunnies, kittens and dogs.  But NO giraffes.  Make cookies with candy in them.

i'm really excited for our week together...

my computer is totally frozen up so i can only blog on the professor's lap top.
please pray for my computer (or the people who are trying to fix it)...  we haven't backed it up in FOREVER so i may be loosing LOTS of pictures, family history, and recent PTA stuff.
blah.

sorry no pictures!
hope y'all have a great week... i'm off to make rolls!!

pockets.

 hope your days are bright,

and your pockets full of cheese!!