It's a real Mystery...

We live in a rural area of Southern California. Everyone I know has pets, whether it be dogs, horses, cows, chickens, cats, etc... Well, I am not a pet person. I think it started as a child. I was probably the only little girl that didn't want a pony. I always liked to stay clean and was much happier indoors reading a book or watching t.v. Well, when my sister wanted a pony, I ended up with one too. Then there was the job of cleaning the corral, brushing the pony, cleaning it's hooves..ugh. For a little girl that didn't like to be dirty, this was no fun! When the time came for us to sell the pony, I was happy. Well, my happiness was short lived because very soon, my sister wanted a bigger pony. When we went to go buy her one that was for sale, the owner said the pony was in love with another pony and she really wanted them to go together. So, guess who ended up with another pony? Ugh....
Fast forward 28 years....I have four kiddos now and what do kiddos want? Pets! So I bought fish. My youngest son complained that you couldn't pet fish. They wanted something they could hold in their hands. We moved up to hamsters. Okay, not so bad. They're in the kiddos rooms, afterall. But one day, my son saw me on the computer and a picture of a bunny came up. He begged for a bunny. He's the only one that doesn't have a hamster, so I finally relented and got him a dwarf bunny. We named her "Tippy" since she immediately tipped her food over once we put it in the cage. With Tippy, something changed inside of me. I could sit outside and watch her in her cage hopping around and felt peaceful. So what did I do? I went and got the girls a bunny too! The girls named her "Mystery" and she is the sweetest bunny. We let her out of her cage to hop around in the backyard and we laugh and laugh, as she throws her back legs up, jumping gleefully around. And guess what? I even clean out the cages once awhile and it doesn't even bother me. I'm not sure what has happend to me, it's a real mystery.

Fourth of July Fun!

We had such a fun Fourth of July, spent with friends and family. We did our first "Progressive" Fourth of July. First, my house for a BBQ, games and swimming. Then off to my Mom and Dad's for Salad and Bread. Next to my brother's for a Yummy Mexican Dinner. Finally, we were off to my Sister's for Dessert and Fireworks! I think we may have started a new family tradition. :)


The Boys Playing Football...even the little ones were in on the action!






The girls making a whirpool in the pool

I'm Lovin' These Clothes...

I absolutely am lovin' the Christian Clothing from c28. If you haven't checked out the site yet, please do. http://www.c28.com/?adid=st&iid=125439

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow (just not while we're camping)....

We went camping on Memorial Day weekend with another family we've known for years. We had a great time, except it snowed most of the time we were there, leaving our choices to be sitting around the campfire or huddling up in the travel trailer. The kiddos, however, were more than happy to enjoy the snow, hike, play by the creek and play tag, despite the freezing temperatures. ahhhh...to be a kid again.

The Happiest Place on Earth....

Our Family went to Disneyland a few days ago. We had perfect weather and short lines, truly making it a happy time for us all. It was our Baby Girls first time there and she absolutely loved it! She even went on the scary rides. My baby girl is growing up!

Pretty, Pretty Princess!

My husband has red hair, so I was convinced and dreamed about one of our children having red hair. Our first baby boy came out with dark brown hair, which perfectly suited him. Next came my daughter. I was so excited when she was born and saw that she had the most gorgeous auburn hair! It stayed that way for a little over a year and then lightened up to a beautiful blonde. My third kiddo came out with my color of hair...dark brown. When I was pregnant with our fourth, I knew that would be the last chance to get my little red head and was convinced I was having a baby boy with red hair. Well, turns out I had a precious little girl with brown hair. So rather than me have more kiddos, I started begging my Sweet Sister-in-law to get busy and give me a red headed niece or nephew. Well, as I told her a few months back while she had my precious newborn niece laying on her chest, she did good! My little red head has arrived!!

Dancin' Queen (and King!)

Daddy and my Sweet Baby Girl attended the Father/Daughter Dance a few nights ago. Before they left for the dance, Mommy, of course, had to snap a ton of pictures! Here's one of my favorites.....I told them to show me how they were going to dance.

My Little Sickie.

My Sweet Ty is home sick. I called his school to let them know he wouldn't be there today. I didn't recognize the voice of the Gal that answered the phone, so I'm assuming she's someone temporarily helping out. She made me laugh! I told her his name and his teacher's name. She then asked what the reason for his abscence was. I told her "he's sick". Then she asked "Is it only for today?". I laughed and said "I sure hope so!". LOL!

Dirt, Dirt and More Dirt!

My Sweet Hubby thought it would be fun for the kids to build a fort. Well, since we have no spare lumber sitting around, they decided to "dig" a fort and boy, have they been digging. Yesterday, they even had four neighbor kids helping them dig which meant for me, eight dirty kiddos in my house. I now have dirt everywhere! I have dirt all around my guest room sink, dirty little handprints on my pretty pink towels, dirt on my light switch, dirt on my front door, dirt on the tile, dirty clothes laying in a pile on the laundry room floor, dirty faces and dirty hands. But once all the dirt is washed away and forgotten, I have four little kiddos that will have the lasting memories of building (well, digging) a fort and I'm sure they'll have lots of good memories someday of playing in it. So for me, as I start cleaning the dirt, I'm thankful for it and for the fun it has given my children.

I really must clean the kid's bathroom more often!

Two weeks ago I had the grand idea to make a chore chart for the kiddos. The first week was smooth sailing, my little sweeties happily doing their chores and me happily watching them do their chores. Well, I have no idea what happend the second week. The kids had quite a few days off of school because of snow and we just hung out and relaxed. Before I knew it, the week was over and chores were not done. Rooms were not cleaned, bathrooms were not cleaned, etc...

Yesterday morning, my oldest daughter called out from the kid's bathroom saying she picked something out of the sink. I'm thinking "so, she took something out of the sink. What's the big deal?". Then she said "it has roots". I had no idea what she could be talking about so I sauntered in the bathroom and lo and behold, there is a plant growing from the bathroom drain!! This was definitely a new one for me and I probably should have been upset, but it was really cute and reminded me of a Chia pet. It didn't take me long to realize what had happend. My sweet daughter rinsed some of her hamster's food down the drain when she was cleaning out it's food tray several days earlier. Well, some of the seeds sprouted and now we had our own little garden coming out of our bathroom sink's drain. We called the other kids in to check it out and I told them to be sure not to pick it, thinking that my Hubby would let us keep it. Unfortunately when I showed it to my Hubby, he was not amused so tonight he went in and harvested it and it's gone. At least I have the picture to remember it by.....:)

What a night!

Last night was.....hmmmm.....what's the word?? Interesting....chaotic, maybe? I ended up having to take all of the kiddos shopping with me for Christmas dresses and to run errands because my Hubby was having cell phone problems and didn't get my message asking him to watch them until it was too late (Sure! ). So off we went to the first store. Their dress selection wasn't good and Ry kept coming up to me and saying "Let's get out of here", with a nervous look on his face. He is convinced any man/teenager wearing baggie jeans and a du rag is a gang member and, at any moment, are going to rob the store. We left and ran into the 99 cents store and picked up a few things we needed. While in the store, Carly got lost and I was convinced she was going to be kidnapped so I started calling out her name loudly, embarassing the other three kids. We finally find her, paid for my things and got out of there. Only later, did I realize I forgot the main thing I went in for. Ugh! Then, we went to another clothing store to look for dresses. I picked one out for Brenna which she described as "hideous" (I didn't even know she knew that word). While looking for a dress for Carly, I hear her yell from 15 feet away that she has to go "poo" (sorry, TMI, but I want you to get the whole picture of my night). She proceeds to run towards me holding her bottom. Ugh! So I tell the kiddos to "come on" and while holding the hideous dress, find an employee, ask him if they have a bathroom and he looks at me like I had asked a dumb question and answers "no". So we start walking away as Carly is telling me she is going to go in her pants and I mumble under my breath how "they do have a bathroom, just not for Customers" (loud enough for the rude employee to hear). So I put down the hideous dress and we all run over to the Grocery Outlet store. The girls grab the key from the Cashier and head on into the single bathroom. I start doing a little shopping, close to the bathroom, when I see an employee walking a very rough looking man towards the bathroom to open it for him. I tell her someone is in there and she acts like I'm lying and knocks and my girls say they're in there. So she leaves and the scary looking man stands by the bathroom door. My girls are taking a long time and he is looking irritated and so I nonchalantly keep shopping, acting like I'm not a relative of the two children taking so long in the bathroom. Finally, after what seemed like hours, they come out, walking past a line that has now developed for the bathroom. When they spot me, I quickly go around the corner so the angry mob won't realize they belong to me. Carly shares with me that it took so long because she had to go and then Brenna had to go and then she had to go again. So after that, I have Ty begging for a toy, Ryan saying "let's get out of here" (more gang member looking types around) and the girls seeing who could run around the freezer aisle in the middle of the store the fastest. We get to the cashier and she asks me how I'm doing. I answer "I'm shopping with four kids, what do you think?". Then we both laugh and she says she doesn't have any kids and might not ever have any so then I feel lousy and back peddle and tell her how blessed I am to have my four little ones.
So that was our night.