Bruce loves Marsha

Jerk and Jerky

2011-06-29T15:41:00.001-05:00

"Me and Kiersten were naughty today Mama. The boys were being jerk and jerky and they called us stupid and WEINERS! I was so mad at them."

true story by Malia Neu (5 yrs old)

Caleb

2011-06-16T14:48:00.000-05:00

My new nephew Caleb Daniels Lanfear. 9lb 7oz
Born 6.15.11

George Webbs

2011-06-16T14:47:00.003-05:00

We went out to lunch as a family!!!

Library Party

2011-06-16T14:43:00.006-05:00

We went to the opening day party of the Library Summer Reading Program. We had lots of fun with the kids and had a nice family night.

waiting in line. there were so many people there.

face painting

Cam loved his spider

Gabey had fun to

What we've been up to...

2011-06-07T13:27:00.009-05:00

Just some snapshots of what we've been up to lately... Its summer finally!!

we've been busy working

were getting ready for football season in a few months

we are trying to earn money for new sneakers

we are eating lots of food!!

we love to watch movies

we have been busy going for walks

we have been having fun outside

we have been loving each other!!!

Bath times!

2011-05-29T19:23:00.001-05:00

Tonight Malia gave herself a bath all by herself for the first time. She turned 5 last month so she decided she was a big girl and didn't need my help.

She even got dressed and put her own lotion on.

I am such a proud mama.

The bad part of the night was that Gabriel must have been having tummy troubles and cried for 3 and 1/2 hours straight. It was tough.

wrestling mania

2011-05-24T17:04:00.003-05:00

My kids are wild animals. They were wrestling and Bruce lifted Asher over his shoulder and spun him around. It was going good until Asher bit Bruce in the back....

Asher was also pretending to be an animal tonight. He would growl and hiss at me. I had to jump on him to stop. And even then it didn't work.

I was playing as a linebacker trying to block Tristen from coming into the living room. It didn't work to well. Tristen picked me up and threw me over his shoulder and carried me around the living room all while I was screaming for Bruce to come and save me.

When did my kids get so strong??

mama

2011-04-20T15:17:00.001-05:00

Gabey says MAMA!

shiny walls

2011-03-16T13:43:00.002-05:00

Cameron surprised me this morning by telling me to come into his room all excited. When I walked in he pointed at the wall and said "look mom! I helped you. The wall is all shiny!" He had taken the windex glass cleaner when I was dusting and snuck it into his room to clean his bedroom wall.

There was white streaks all over the blue wall. I just put a big smile on my face and told Cam that he was very nice to help Mommy clean. Then I gave him a wet rag and told him to clean it some more. He is so proud of himself.

I'm not sure but I think I may have to repaint from all his "helping."

Conversations with Cameron

2011-03-03T11:35:00.003-06:00

Cameron likes it when I sit in the bathroom with him when he's having a poop. Yup. This is where we have some of our best conversations.

A few days ago I was sitting on the bathroom floor and asking Cameron what he was going to do when he grows up. He said he was going to fly airplanes. And that there was going to be 20 Transformers on his plane.

Where would he fly to? Cam said he would fly to GRANDMA'S HOUSE!!!!! Apparently there is no better place in the world than his grandma's houses. Maybe he'd fly his plane to the park if he had time.

If the pilot thing doesn't work out, he would like to be a Transformer instead!

Conversations with Malia

2011-03-03T11:30:00.002-06:00

Malia and I were talking about her favorite books and she said any book with a princess in it. I asked her why... and this was what we talked about.

Malia: I like princess books because at the end they get married.
Me: Oh that's nice. What happens when they get married?
Malia: Well then she gets a nice shiny ring!
Me: I like rings to. After they get married, then what happens?
Malia: After they get married, they go home, have dinner, and go to bed.
Me: And then what?
Malia: Well then there is a baby in her tummy and she has a baby.
Me: And then what happens after the baby gets there?
Malia: The dad goes to work because that's what dad's do.
Me: What is mom's job?
Malia: Well mom's job is to feed the baby and do the dishes.
Me: That's it? That's what happens after the prince and the princess get married?
Malia: Yup that's it!!!!

Gabriel's 1st sugar

2011-02-19T20:28:00.006-06:00

I didn't want Gabriel to have any sugar until his 1st birthday. Bruce thought otherwise and decided to sneak him a taste of my applesauce muffin that I had just made. Apparently Gabriel loved it so much I had to get my camera out. Baby's 1st sugar!

chompers

2011-02-16T08:27:00.003-06:00

I think Gabriel just realized why these teeth are popping up in his mouth. So far he has 2 on the bottom and 4 coming in on top.

I just fed him some baby jar pears and then gave him a cheerio broken up into 3 pieces. At one moment he looked at me with this small piece of cheerio in his mouth and it was like a lightbulb went off in his mind. He started chomping with his new teeth and clapping his hands with a huge smile on his face.

Its going to be a whole new world of food for Gabe soon!

food stuff

2011-02-10T11:26:00.002-06:00

I am tired of cooking meals Tristen and Malia won't eat. I am cooking delicious HEALTHY meals and they pick at them.

Monday was leftovers. Tristen hates leftovers. His food needs to be fresh. seriously.

Tuesday was Chicken Taco's: chicken mixed with salsa, corn, black beans, and tomatoes. Guess how great that went over... ??!!

Wednesday was Meatloaf, red potatoes, and corn. Tristen still didn't like it.

Thursday (today) is Pork Roast, Tortellini with red sauce, and veggies. Can't wait to hear the complaining...

Friday is probably going to be leftovers again. The older boys are going to spend the weekend at Jill and Kumar's house so hopefully I will get a break from Tristen's food complaints.

Thank God for Asher. He is my best eater out of all the kids. Its strange because he used to be my worst... I love Asher at dinner time. He is always so excited to eat. He says I may be the meanest mom in the world at times, but at least I am the bestest cook in the world.

Five Guys Burgers

2011-02-05T16:30:00.009-06:00

Two weeks ago we went shopping at Trader Joes for groceries. We decided to go to lunch at a restaurant right next to it called Five Guys. Turns out it is an amazing place for burgers. It literally changed my life. Burger wise at least.

Bruce shocked at the huge burger I ordered for him. A whole 1/2 pound of ground beef!

The monster he swore he wouldn't be able to finish

I had the junior burger. Oh it was so good!!!

Cam loved him some fries

Malia loved her some fries to.

Big bites!!!

Self portrait. Beautiful I know.

Stop starting at me Mom.

Oh you know he ate every bite. It was that good.

The great disgusting poop

2011-02-04T18:58:00.003-06:00

By Asher and Marsha.

This is Marsha's side of the story...

Bruce told Asher to change Gabe's diaper. Turns out it was a very smelly poopy diaper. When Asher realized this, his eyes got huge and he screamed and plugged his nose. We told Asher he had to do it. He is 9 and 1/2 and he can certainly manage to change his brother's diaper.

Asher is screaming and crying... NOOOOOOO I CANNNNNNN'T DO ITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT! I said if you don't do it... you can go to bed at 7pm. Asher said fiiiiinnnnnnneeeeeeeee I'll do ittttttttttttttt in a very dramatic voice.

This is Asher's side of the story...

"first of all i chose to do the diaper cuz I thought it was going to be easier. Turns out the poopy diaper was massive. I was crying because I thought that mom was going to change her mind. Then I touched the wipe and tried to wipe his butt but it was to disgusting I couldn't watch. Then my mom finally encouraged me by YELLING to do it and I finally chose to do my job. Then he wouldn't stop kicking his legs and I got kind of mad at Gabe. So my Mom and Dad are cheering me on and um, lets see here, and I finally did it. It made me feel disgusting and embarrassed. Because if Mom took a picture and put it on the blog I would freak out on her. The end."
By: Asher Neu

yuck

2011-01-28T17:34:00.001-06:00

Why does eating healthy have to be so unappealing some days? I just had a mixed green and spinach salad with carrots, cheddar cheese, and cilantro dressing. A cheeseburger would have been so much better.

Blond Moment

2011-01-24T20:38:00.003-06:00

Bruce was heading out the door for work at 7:30pm when I HEARD IT. A loud "whooshing" sound. I was in the hallway and for some reason it put a panic in my heart. Did it come from the attic right above me? Was it from the basement? Did a pipe burst? Was there a stranger in my house in the basement? I ran outside when Bruce was in the car and told him he HAD to come check things out. I kept telling him about the "whooshing" sound and how I thought something was really wrong.

He went downstairs to see if something broke. He told me there was nothing down there wrong and there was nothing in our attic and I was over reacting. Ok. So I said good bye to him and felt better. A minute later I started to smell a nice vanilla smell coming from our bathroom.

Yes, that's right people. The air freshener went off. I freaked out over a mist of sweet vanilla.

I called Bruce and all he could do was laugh over yet another one of my blond moments.

christmas art

2011-01-21T19:31:00.003-06:00

Just a few of the christmas gifts I made this year for my sisters and my friends that I will be visiting soon in Arizona. Tiff and Jess I met through Cafemom. They are some of my best friends now!

baking some more

2011-01-20T19:33:00.002-06:00

I've been baking during the last 2 days. Five dozen muffins and a double batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I bake when I'm stressed. My mom tells me my Grandma Sunshine used to bake when she was stressed to. After her son and granddaughter died in a drunk driving accident caused by a stranger years and years ago she baked up a storm. My mom said that every time she came to visit there would be more and more baked goods. Just one more thing my Grandmother and I have in common. I love learning about her, I think of all her grandkids, I take after her the most. That is good and that is bad. The good part is, is that she was an amazing grandmother. Also, I can learn from her mistakes. Someday my kids will learn from my mistakes as well. Until then... I will keep baking to keep the stress away.

At least my family is happy with all the goodies.

new pics of Gabey-poo

2011-01-13T15:59:00.003-06:00

wii

2011-01-13T15:58:00.001-06:00

This Wii that we got is one of the best family gifts we've ever gotten. It is so much fun and it brings us all together.

new ring

2011-01-13T15:53:00.002-06:00

My hubby blessed me with an amazing new wedding ring. I got it in the mail a few days ago and I can't stop smiling at it. I am so lucky! I got it about 2 weeks after our 6th anniversary.

flu

2011-01-13T15:32:00.003-06:00

We had a bout of the stomach flu last week. It lasted 5 days and 4 people in our family got it. We had 22 rounds of puke. I washed countless comforters and sheets and baby blankets. The laundry piled up. I spent lots of time just sitting with little kids. The baby was also teething during this time to. It was some of the hardest 5 days of my life with kids. But we made it through to the other side. Everyone is healthy now and the house is all cleaned and disinfected. I am surprised I survived it, I seriously thought I was going to snap if one more kid puked on me.

Malia even got puked on her face by the baby! I was holding him and she was standing next to me when the baby started puking. She looked up at me with a wet face and said "thats ok, it was just an accident!" At that moment I told myself, you could burst into tears right now or you could start laughing. Luckily the laughter won. I started laughing so hard I couldn't hold it it anymore. Malia was not amused. She said "its not funny Mom!" I got her to see the humor eventually and we took a shower. After I told her that she used to puke on me when she was a baby. Malia thought that was very funny and for the next day whoever we saw she would tell the story of her as a baby puking all over mommy. She even told the story to her teacher.

Unfortunately, being puked on was what probably gave her the flu... but we won't tell her thats how she caught it...

football and diamonds

2011-01-03T14:26:00.002-06:00

Last night I was standing at the sink doing the dishes watching a movie on the tv. A girly movie. Just the way I like it. All the sudden Tristen, Asher, and a friend of theirs start screaming and jumping up and down. "We are in the playoffs!!!!" I mean they are freaking out screaming and laughing with joy. My husband who was downstairs starts screaming up the stairs to the boys who are yelling about being in the playoffs. He starts freaking out and screaming to.

I wonder to myself... how in the world did I get here? Why am I in a house surrounded by boys? I was meant to have girls and we would play dress up and try on makeup and paint our toes together. My girls wouldn't be freaking out over the Packers getting in the playoffs. I didn't even know who they were playing last night.

Why in the world did God put 4 boys in my life to raise? Definetly to stretch me. Bruce came upstairs and asked me if I was excited about the playoffs. I said no. He said that the playoffs to the boys were like diamonds to me. To me, that makes no sense at all. Diamonds are fun and football is not.

I always thought I would have a houseful of girls. Instead I have a houseful of boys. God is funny that way.

oops i did it again....

2010-12-29T17:26:00.003-06:00

Two years and 20 days ago I wrote a post called "stupid, dumb broiler button." I know this because the memory of the post came to me as I was thinking about the BURNED chicken enchiladas that came out of my oven tonight. Yes, I made the same recipe, and yes I burned them again. I saw the blackened chicken and pulled it out of the oven as fast as possible. It was not quick enough. The whole house was filled with my yelling tonight and a really bad burning smell as I saw my ruined meal. Yup, I did it again. I am never using the broiler button again.

Gabey

2010-12-29T10:24:00.002-06:00

Gabe has been doing some really fun things lately. He says "dada" now. Almost all of us were in our bedroom when we heard him say dada for the 1st time. Bruce is so proud. He also waves hi and bye. Even to his stuffed bears, he waves hi. He got his first 2 teeth in on Christmas morning. Two little white numbs popped through that morning. He's been in a lot of pain, so I'm glad that they finally came through. He's keeping Mommy and Daddy up at night with the pain!

Gabe, Malia, Cam, and Bruce all have colds. Asher and I had it 2 weeks ago. I'm hoping that we all get better soon. I also have a pinched nerve in my leg so Bruce is making fun of me calling me "cripple." Soon, we will all be healthy.

tonight

2010-12-20T16:33:00.002-06:00

I am trying to teach my kids life skills. For Malia, its recognizing her feelings and communicating them to me instead of screaming on the top of her lungs. For Asher, its focusing when he is doing a task. To be responsible and try to have a good attitude when it comes to doing work. For Tristen, its teaching him basic skills that he will need to live on his own. Putting clean sheets on his bed or putting a pan in the oven. Today we worked on putting a stone ware pan of pork chops and rice into the hot oven. Firm stance. Focusing on what you are doing. Being careful. Tristen started off good but then burned a bit of his hand. Just a very small burn, but now he knows what NOT to do. The other day Asher learned how to change a poopy diaper from Gabriel. Tristen has given the little kids baths. Malia learned how to wash her hair the other day.

Its amazing to me how much you have to learn to survive. The things we take for granted that we know, someone had to teach them. For my kids, the job mostly falls on Bruce and I.

Mom Mom Mom Mom Mom Mom Mom Mom. This is what I hear all day long. Sign my stuff, I'm hungry, I want juice, can I have candy, can I have a snack, I want uppy, tantrums, help me with my music, I want to watch tv, I want to go on the computer, do I HAVE to take a shower?

Right now my mood is not the best because I am just coming off a half an hour tantrum from Malia. Screaming. Tristen wanting me to look at the computer and see if he can download yet another thing onto our computer. The baby screaming and coughing and wanting to eat. Cameron begging Asher to help him put his toy together. Kids all asking for sugar. More screaming. The phone is ringing. Putting dinner in the oven.

Thank you Lord for the voice I have to speak to my kids. Thank you Jesus that I have legs that work so that I can move from kid to kid. Thank you Lord I have working arms to hug my kids and pick up my baby. But please Lord, for the love, could you please make my kids a little quieter??

Snowed in

2010-12-12T11:39:00.002-06:00

Today I woke up to kids running in and out of our room, spongebob on TV in the background, and white. We had a blizzard last night. I came into the living room early this morning and saw all 4 of the older kids watching TV relaxing. I opened the curtains and yelled "holy crap!" Yes, this is where my kids get their crass language from. At least we don't swear in front of the kids, that would be way worse. All I could see was white. It became clear that we weren't going anywhere today. Thus began our lying in day.

So far today we all worked together and got our house clean. We've had tremendous temper tantrums from Malia. Bruce has been snow plowing the 2 driveways. We've had a pretty happy baby as long as he is hanging out with his older brothers and sister. Asher, Malia, and Cam have been playing legos for hours. Gabe sits in the swing and watches them talking his baby talk.

This hopefully will be a day of rest for the remainder of the day. This depends on the kids though. I'm not holding my breathe. Maybe if we get lucky, the little kid's will rest and cooperate for the day. I'm excited for nap time. Momma gets a nap to today!!

Favorites

2010-12-08T14:41:00.002-06:00

I'm behind on my favorite things challenge so I'm going to do weeks 3 and 4 now.

This week, instead of dreading doing your household chores, focus on your favorite household chore. Enjoy doing it!

Week 3: I don't really have a favorite chore. I like things that show I've accomplished something. For example, folding laundry and having it put away = clean clothes. Clean kitchen vs dirty kitchen = happy mama. Really, cleaning is not that fun. I just enjoy the results of the cleaning.

This week, enjoy your favorite part of the holiday season! Plan for your family to join you in celebrating this wonderful part of the season.

Week 4: Soon it will be Christmas. This year has gone so fast. It seems that Gabe was born just yesterday and we were dealing with no sleep and colic. I think that the kids all had their first days of school not that long ago, and in reality it has been 3 months already.

This Christmas we are going to have a lot of fun. Christmas Eve we will spend with my family. Christmas morning, after we open our big family present, I am going to make a BIG brunch. Eggs, lots of bacon, ham, hashbrowns, and maybe some other stuff. We are going to spend the day playing and relaxing. In the afternoon we will join my husband's family and celebrate there. This year, I'm really excited.

driveway

2010-12-04T13:53:00.002-06:00

Our first big snowfall of the winter. I shoveled today!!! It was the first time I've shoveled our driveway and the neighbors driveway by myself. Bruce worked an incredibly long 16 hour shift last night and came home at 11:45am this morning absolutely exhausted. He told me that he had to go shovel the driveway before he could go to sleep. His eyes were so red, I've never seen him look so rough. I told him no way, he was going to sit down, eat the lunch I've made him, and go immediately to sleep. So today, I shoveled. It was good exercise and it may be silly, but I feel proud. It may not be up to Bruce's standards... but I think he will be happy.

Black Friday

2010-11-27T14:51:00.002-06:00

Black Friday at its finest. This year I planned ahead for black friday by looking on my favorite coupon websites. I had all my coupons and deals ready to go by Friday morning. This was the largest haul I've ever done so I was lucky that Bruce's friend was cashiering at Walgreens. She helped me with organizing the coupons and register rewards.

I got....
1 pack Gum Flossers, Therma Care trial pack, 6 packs of Kleenex tissues, 3 Olay body washes, 2 Herbal Essence shampoo, 1 Herbal Essence conditioner, 1 Secret body spray, Olay lotion, Tresemme conditioner, Venus razor, Nozema face wash, Old Spice body spray, Right Guard deodorant, 3 chapsticks, 3 nailpolishes, 2 kids toothbrushes, hair bands, Gillette face moisturizer, 2 Colgate toothpastes, 1 Crest toothpaste, 2 Welsh's sparkling grape juice, 2 liters of Sunkist soda, 2 bottles of laundry detergent, 96 bottles of water, 48 rolls of toilet paper.

This was a total of $191.03 worth of toiletries and family stuff. I got it for $64.55. I saved $126.48.

I also got Asher a t-shirt for $6 and a winter coat for myself for $30. It was originally $150. I also picked up Bruce's Christmas presents which I'm really excited about.

We will be set with our stockpiling for the months to come.

Ruined date night.

2010-11-23T12:39:00.008-06:00

Saturday and Sunday nights are our favorite times of the week. Every weekend night at 9pm is DATE NIGHT.

Seeing as Bruce and I are very busy parents, we rarely get to be alone together. So we have put aside every weekend night to ourselves. Much to the older kids frustrations, they are all put to bed at 8:30-9 pm sharp on Sat and Sun nights.

Date night to us means watching a movie, reruns of House, reading a book together, or talking. Food and drinks are Cheddar and Sour Cream Lays Potato Chips, Chocolate, Diet Pepsi, Vodka and OJ. Ahhhh..... we love being together. Sometimes we take funny pictures and just goof around.

This last Saturday night was not so good. In fact, it was horrible. Gabe was sick and he refused to go to bed. As in screaming for almost an hour and 1/2. This was our date night in photos...

Gabriel refusing to go to bed. This one of the moments he was not screaming.

Bruce holding baby and trying to get him to fall asleep.

This was how stressed and disappointed I was. I was ready to cry. We wait all week for our time together and baby ruined it.

This is Bruce's exhausted face right after he finally got baby down for bed. He looks ready to cry to.

And then... baby woke up screaming again. By the time he was down for the night, we just said goodnight and went to sleep. I really hope this weekend is better.

bigger bed plz

2010-11-23T12:34:00.002-06:00

This was the other night that we watched Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving on TV. I had the baby in the rocking chair next to the bed because he was very fussy (sick) that night. It was a nice family time we got in before Bruce had to go to work.

Week 2

2010-11-22T14:18:00.002-06:00

Week 2 My Favorite Things Challenge:

This {Thanksgiving} week, focus on your favorite thing about your husband (or your family). Instead of dwelling on the things you don't like about your hubby, appreciate what he does well. If you are a blogger, write a post about your favorite thing about him. Show it to him; he'll love it!

Well, this is week 2. I have to write about my favorite thing about my husband. My problem... its hard to pick just one! So I will write about a few...

*I love my husband because he is strong. He is physically strong and morally strong. He has strength in character as well.

Bruce is a good man. He is not a perfect man (ahem) but he is a very good man. He is kind and loving. He is helpful and level headed. He is family oriented and wifely (is that a word?) oriented. He is there for us. Even when we were fighting, like yesterday, because we were so overwhelmed with the responsibilities of life *ie: kids* he was still good to me. When we realized that all we wanted from each other was love and affection and ATTENTION, we were free to give each other what we needed without resentment from the fight.

I love the way he puts his arm around me at Walmart while we are grocery shopping. I love the way he thanks me when I save him money from my couponing. I love the way he reads stories with Cameron and Gabe.

He's a good man. Some days he's a great man. Today he is a wonderful man.

Tristen's band concert and conferences

2010-11-18T12:50:00.009-06:00

Last night was Tristen's parent/teacher conferences. Bruce was so exhausted from working he decided to stay home and relax and try to sleep some more. The middle school had some kids that were doing a free babysitting service so we dropped off Malia and Cameron. Asher went to and helped watch his younger brother and sister. That left Tristen and I and baby Gabe all by ourselves!

The middle school conferences were in a big room with lots of tables and the teachers just came to each table. Gabe was so happy to just sit in his stroller and watch what was going on in the room, he was as quiet as a mouse. Tristen and I just got to sit and relax and talk. It was actually a really good time. At one point, one of the teachers came up to us and told us we didn't have to stay to talk to all the teachers. We just said that's ok, we were going to stay! The kids were being watched and we got to have some semblance of an uninterrupted conversation.

When we got home, it was a different story when Asher didn't do his homework from the previous days and had a few late slips for us to sign. That was a bit stressful.

Tristen is doing great in school. All the teachers love him as usual. He is doing extremely well in all his classes and may be on the track to taking pre algebra next year which would give him a heads up in math from most of the other students. For a kid who is already thinking about getting a scholarship to college, that is a very good thing. I just hope he can stay motivated.

I found some pictures that I had forgotten I had taken from Tristen's 1st band concert. He is so handsome!!

The oldest and the youngest

He cleans up good.

I ducked and sat on the floor in the 1st row. He kept peeking at me and smiled at me taking pictures of him.

band concert

concerts almost over...

i love him!!!!!

just a funny picture of me and asher

Asher's girlfriend.

2010-11-16T14:00:00.003-06:00

Asher has a new girlfriend. Her name is Becky and she is in his class. His FOURTH GRADE CLASS.

This kid frustrates me so much sometimes. He came home with a little note that said "I love you." Cute right? Then he comes home the next day and says she is his girlfriend. Then we get a phone call from her and he is telling me he is going on a date with her.

Why am I frustrated? The kid is NINE YEARS OLD for goodness sake.

So the phone call... she calls to say she wants him to go out to pizza with her and her parents. Then when her parents found out, they said no. Thank God.

Today he comes home and I asked him if he still is going out with his girlfriend. He looks at me mad and says "don't say that word to my face." I said I don't understand, that is what YOU called her. He says "yes I can call her that, but no one else can." Ok. So I say "Asher are you still going out with that girl that is your friend?" and he says yes.

Then he wants to invite her over to play. I had to ask since I did not have a 4th grade relationship, what does having a girlfriend mean to you?

He says you go on dates... but not kiss her yet. YET????!!! Excuse me Asher? Hello, can someone please remind my stinkin child that he is 9 years old? That no, we do not go around kissing our "girlfriends?" I got so mad I told him that if he kisses her (this is me yelling) "YOU ARE GROUNDED!!!! THAT YOU NEED TO BE A GENTLEMAN AND YOU DO NOT ACT THAT WAY AND I SWEAR ASHER IF YOU START KISSING GIRLS - THERE WILL BE NO GIRLFRIENDS EVER AND YOU WILL BE GROUNDED FOREVER!!!!!!!"

He said ok Mom, and asked for a piece of candy. I told him yes he can have candy because he is a CHILD.

Uggghhhh. its starting.

Fav thing about being a wife

2010-11-15T13:28:00.002-06:00

November 15, 2010

Favorite Things Challenge week one.

My favorite part of being a wife is that I am part of a partnership. I have a partner I can rely on till death do us part. There is something amazing about knowing you have a built in best friend that you can work together with and play together with. I love having someone so special to me around. I love doing nice things to surprise him, especially if it involves baking for him. I always wanted to get married when I was younger. I'm so glad God made it happen for me.

Favorite Things Challenge

2010-11-14T19:06:00.002-06:00

I am starting my favorite things challenge. This is from one of my favorite bloggers Brittany. She is awesome. Anyone that wants to check out her blog go to http://www.highheeledhousewife.com

Here is the challenge:
November 15: My favorite part of being a wife (or woman)
November 22: My favorite thing about my husband (or family)
November 29: My favorite household chore
December 6: My favorite part of the holiday season
December 13: My favorite part of my home
December 20: My favorite encouragement from the Bible

The point of this challenge is to show what you are grateful for and being positive. I'm excited!

eating healthy

2010-11-09T12:23:00.004-06:00

Some friends and I are watching what we eat and working out. For me, I'm trying to lose the baby weight and also get my family healthier. We started buying sugar free, all natural peanut butter, sugar free jam, and more veggies to start. I am trying to make meals that are less fattening but still tasty.

This was my lunch today. ww tortilla with shredded chicken, swiss cheese, black beans, salsa, lettuce and spinach. YUMMY!

The happenings

2010-11-04T09:38:00.002-05:00

I just realized I haven't posted in awhile. So just quickly I will review what has been going on lately.

*Malia refused to kiss me goodbye when she was going on the bus in front of her friends. She did say it was ok to hug me though.

*Malia is engaged to the boy up the street named Sam. She told me that she was going to marry him so I told Sam. He said no. Malia told him YES I am going to marry you. So apparently Sam has no say in it and they are engaged.

*Tristen has the attitude of an 11 year old. Enough said.

*We are still teaching Asher to take care of his responsibilities. A daily reminder of at least 3 times a day.

*Cameron has a new listening chart. He has only one sticker on it for 3 days now. He sucks at listening.

*Malia has a "no scream" chart for her tantrums. She is doing a bit better than Cam.

*Gabe is still taking his antibiotics for his pneumonia. He is coughing less.

*Today I am taking the 3 younger kids to get their 3 and 4 yr old checkups including shots. Really not looking forward to that.

*I have been eating healthy and working out this week. I'm doing it with a lot of my mom friends on the website cafemom.

*football is over for Tristen. Thank God. They won one game this season. Its been a very stressful season with a bunch of cranky 6th grade boys.

art

2010-10-24T11:15:00.002-05:00

my art. a gift for my mother in law.

my art on top of my Grandmother's art.

Candy Bar Cookies

2010-10-23T20:55:00.010-05:00

It was rainy today and Bruce had worked all night so he was sleeping all day. Today I decided to bake my FAVORITE cookies that my Mom saved for every Christmas. She would bake lots of Christmas cookies every year during the months previous to the holidays. My parents have a freezer downstairs in the basement and that is where she would keep all the cookies.

When I was a teenager I would sneak downstairs when my Mom wasn't looking and take a few bites here and there of my favorite cookie. I couldn't help it, they were calling my name!

Today I thought I'd bring the memories back. In case anyone else wants to make them, here is the recipe...

Candy Bar Cookies (by Mary Burg)

Ingredients:
14 oz caramels
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1 box German Chocolate Cake Mix
3/4 cup melted butter
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1 t vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts
1 cup chocolate chips

Combine the dry cake mix, butter, 1/3 cup evaporated milk, vanilla, and 1 cup nuts and mix together. Divide the batter in 2 bowls.

Spread 1/2 of the batter in a greased 13x9 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes.

Unwrap the caramels and put them in a pan. Then melt the caramels with 1/3 cup evaporated milk on the stove and stir until melted.

Sprinkle chocolate chips on top of the chocolate cake crust that you've taken out of the oven. Pour the melted caramel sauce on top of the chocolate chips.

Take the other 1/2 of the chocolate cake batter and break it up so you can put it on top of the caramel and chips.

Refrigerated for 1 hour.

Once it has hardened... EAT!!!

Gabey-Poo

2010-10-20T13:46:00.002-05:00

Just a few photos of baby Gabe and his Mommy and Daddy.

Cam did it!!!

2010-10-20T13:42:00.002-05:00

Cameron got his "potty trained" party last Saturday. He received his certificate and his transformer toy that has been his motivator for the last few months. We were so proud of him! The whole family gathered around Cameron and cheered for him. Cameron couldn't stop smiling and laughing!

sad muffins

2010-10-20T13:12:00.004-05:00

I was stressed this morning with Cameron's tantrums, so I decided that today was going to be a baking day. Baking always calms me down and I really enjoy focusing on something tasty in the kitchen while the kids play. Sarah and her kids came over this morning, so her kids played with my kids. It was turning out to be a great day. My mom came over as well, and the 3 of us were hanging out in the kitchen. I decided to make a double batch of my family's favorite Applesauce Muffins. A double batch equals about 5 dozen, so obviously it takes a lot of ingredients.

After the first 2 batches came out of the oven, we noticed they looked a little strange. They were small and really pale. They were dry and HEAVY. So heavy I thought it felt like a baseball. It was thick and tasteless. The weight equaled to be about half the weight of this baseball.

So we are going over and over the recipe. I've made this recipe at least 20 times and it's not difficult. What did I miss? We decided maybe I forgot to double the baking soda so I go into the cupboard and pulled it out. Then I looked at the label. I had used baking powder instead of baking soda. Turns out... this makes a major difference.

Instead of throwing all the batter away, I added baking soda to see if the batter could be saved. I baked 2 more muffins. This is how the muffin turned out.

The color, the size, the weight is completely different. The muffin still didn't taste right since the extra ingredient was in it. I ended up throwing it all away. All that work wasted.

I did learn an important lesson today though. The difference between baking powder and soda is huge. I thought about using the first muffins as baseballs, but decided not to. Probably not a good idea that my kids seeing me throwing food.

stuff

2010-10-19T20:42:00.002-05:00

Tonight I made beef stroganoff and brownies. There was actually silence at the dinner table for awhile, everyone was eating and so so happy. Its our family's favorite meal.

I am still working on Gabe's sleep. Last night was good. We will see how tonight goes.

Cam is doing fantastic with his potty training. Its been over a week and no accidents. Amazing. Today he even put his undies on all by himself!!!!!! wow.

Not much to say. Tomorrow I think I will bake.

Feets

2010-10-15T21:23:00.001-05:00

There really is no point to this blog except to bug my Father in Law *Butchy* because he will say that it is disgusting and to make my Mom smile because I am still obsessed with pictures of my feet.

Tristen helping Gabe

2010-10-15T21:18:00.001-05:00

I'm really happy Tristen is letting me take more photos of him now. This was right after he gave Gabey a bath all by himself. He had troubles lifting out of the tub because Gabe "was to slippery" but other than that, he did the bath. He loves his baby brother so much. He loves to make him smile.

Bruce's Love Pie

2010-10-15T20:57:00.003-05:00

I made a pie today. I am not big on making pies. They never turn out very pretty. It seems to tedious for me. I am more of a cupcake or muffin girl. Maybe some cookies at times. But pies... uggghhh. I told Bruce I was going to bake and what did he want? I insisted that I would make him whatever he wanted, no matter how difficult. What did he say... apple pie. uggghhh.

Sarah was over and lectured me about the ease of making a pie. She is the pie queen of Burg girls. Although I do have to say, my Mom makes a really good pie herself. She was the one who taught us how to bake in the first place. So kuddos to my Mommy! Well at the end Sarah sprinkled salt into the pie crust thinking it was sugar. After I screamed NOOOOOO!!!!!!! she figured out what she did. So she compensated by adding more cinnamon and sugar. Well... it worked. You couldn't taste anything but an amazingly delicious apple pie.

It may not look pretty but it sure tastes good. I told Bruce it was his "love pie." Because making that pie even when I didn't want to, should show him how much I love him!!!! hahahaha

Dance Party

2010-10-15T20:55:00.003-05:00

Tonight my kids and I had a dance party after Bruce left for work. It was the best exercise and we all had fun. Gabey sat in the swing and watched us. We will have to do this again soon, this could be my main way of working out and having fun with the kiddos.

whatever

2010-10-14T10:01:00.001-05:00

Did you ever think you would have to tell someone to not stick their finger in the toilet after they had peed in it?

I didn't.

vegan baking

2010-10-08T19:36:00.000-05:00

gluten free. dairy free. vegan. chocolate chip cupcakes.

surprisingly tasty!

Stephy's birthday

2010-10-08T19:06:00.002-05:00

Happy 27th birthday Stephanie!

yummm... baking again

2010-10-08T19:03:00.003-05:00

take a bite of apple strudel. its so so good.

Sarah and I made 4 today. Bruce came home and saw 4 dough impressions on the cookie sheet and was upset when he only saw 2 strudels on the counter. This is how much he loves my baking! hahaha

Our tour of Children's Hospital

2010-10-06T09:54:00.014-05:00

This season for 6th grade football has been particularly frustrating for us and the rest of the team. Almost every Saturday Bruce and I are there cheering Tristen on. I say "almost" because this year we are dealing with Bruce's 3rd shift schedule so that makes it particularly difficult to be watching football and caring for the baby and kids. Tristen's grandma has been there for every game though, she is fully dedicated to his football career so that has been wonderful.

All the parents on the team are frustrated because there has been so many injuries this season. According to my husband, "they are not teaching the kids to tackle, block, or protect the kids that are the best on the team, therefore have the ball more." All I know is every game there is a kid falling to the ground and not getting up for awhile. It was a surprise to us what happened a few weeks ago though, and it all ended with us spending 6 hours at Children's Hospital in Milwaukee.

Tristen was dropped off at the game field by his best friend's parents that Saturday. We arrived 15 minutes into the game. I guess Tristen was already injured by the time we got there. He told us that he got the wind knocked out of him and that he was hit in the stomach. He kept going back in the game to play so we thought he was fine after he rested a bit. Then he got his leg hurt and rested some more.

After awhile though, Tristen's stomach was getting more and more painful. He was sitting on the sidelines and started crying so I went over to him and sat with him. The coach wanted to put him back in but I told him no, he was taking a break for awhile. He kept getting these sharp pains where he would audibly moan and cry every few minutes. His grandma is a nurse and she thought we should take him to urgent care so Tristen and I jumped on the golf cart and they drove us to our van. We waited for the rest of our family to join us while Tristen was still crying.

We went to urgent care and they examined him and decided he would have to go to the hospital for an x ray and maybe a cat scan. They were worried about his spleen being injured. Since they had put an IV into him, they told us he had to be transported by ambulance. This was a first for our family. Bruce let me go with him because he said "kids need there mommy when they get hurt."

While in the ambulance we made friends with Sarah, the EMT that was helping Tristen. Tristen and I both liked her so much we got her phone number and she told me I could go on ride alongs with her sometime!

Tristen has never been in a hospital or had blood drawn so getting an IV was extremely traumatic for him.

Even in the hospital I can't get away from the show SpongeBob. I tell you the truth, it is the most annoying show ever. Yet my children love it.

Soon after this Tristen got his x-ray and everything turned out fine. No obvious injuries. By this time Tristen was starting to feel better and we were getting bored so we started taking more pictures.

Feeling better

Then I climbed in bed with him

I don't think Bruce wanted to have his photo taken. Gabey was with us to and he was really good. Sleepy too.

The doctors came back in and said we might want to get a cat scan just in case the spleen was injured. If it was injured Tristen would have to take it easy for 6 months or so. Telling Tristen to "take it easy" is not an option if his spleen was fine, so the doctors really wanted to do a cat scan.

The cat scan was AWESOME. I have never seen one before and found it incredible.
Of course the cat scan turned out normal. We just thought our insurance company would feel like spending an extra few thousand dollars. We want to leave now, but we have to wait.
Seeing as we are away from 3 of our kids, we thought we would pretend we are on a date. Like I said people, 6 hours at the hospital in a TINY room.
And finally, the doctors cleared Tristen for no major injuries. He was just a bit sore and STARVING. Ahhhhhh what a day.

Cam's in trouble.

2010-10-05T09:34:00.003-05:00

This morning has been a rough time for Cameron and I. Its only 9:30am and we've already had 2 situations. Just when I was so proud of Cam and his potty training, he takes a major step back. He had gone poop in the toilet this morning and we were both so so happy. Then he was left alone for a few minutes and he comes up to me and tells me he pooped on the floor and to come see. In the bathroom there was poop all over. All over the bathroom and himself. It was like a horror movie, only with poop instead of blood. I was ready to give him his present and certificate in reward to finishing potty training, and then this happens.

Then Malia and I were in the bathroom putting on our makeup for a few minutes when Cameron tells me he gave the baby food. I ran over to the baby and saw that Cam had put 2 teething tablets in the corners of his mouth. Cam ran into the kitchen to hide because he knew he was not allowed to feed the baby food. I don't think he will ever do it again when he saw how mad I was. We talked about choking and Cam got a spank.

Hoping this day goes better for both of us. Its to early for this stuff.

can opener

2010-09-29T17:48:00.002-05:00

Sometimes its just not worth worrying about the extra dollar you spend on things. For example, the can opener. At least we got a good laugh out of this cheap one tonight!

Queen of the Poop Stories

2010-09-29T13:58:00.004-05:00

My wonderful Mother has told me that she has never met a Mom that has more poop stories than I do. And I embrace that! I can be number one when it comes to my kid's poop!

So here goes some more poop stories.

We have been poop training Cameron. Let me tell you, he is turning out to be as difficult as training Asher was. To this day, potty training Asher was one of the biggest accomplishment of my life. Only I have a few more accomplishments to add now, including training Cameron.

Cameron cannot be bribed. He doesn't really care for reward charts. We begged, we pleaded, please try to poop in the toilet. Please stop pooping in your underwear. Please!!!! Yet everyday, more poop. We followed him around the house, made sure he wasn't alone and going poo in the other room. We put him on the toilet 10x a day. Nothing. He always managed to go in his diaper or underwear.

Poop got everywhere. Carpet, bathroom floors, all over the rug, on blankets, on his hands, on his legs... I was losing my mind. I was cleaning poop constantly.

It was to the point where I was ready to give up. Is it such a big deal that he poops in a diaper? I'm mean he's got to learn eventually, right?

A few days ago Cam had pooped in his underwear when i was in my bedroom. He took his undies off and put them in the toilet to wash the poop off. So I walk out of my room seeing Cam splashing his poopy underwear in the poopy water and spraying it all over the bathroom. And I do mean ALL OVER THE BATHROOM.

And then a miracle happened 2 days ago. I was at my Mom's house visiting my sister with Malia and Baby. We came home and Cam ran up to me and said he had to show me something.

He did it. All by himself. He put the poop in the potty chair. Yesterday he did it again. I promised him if he keeps it up I will buy him a transformer. This might be the end to one of our family's biggest struggles. Only time will tell. Although, I'm sure there will be more fun poop stories to share. After all, we still have Gabriel!!!

Mama Bear

2010-09-29T13:42:00.002-05:00

The "Mama Bear."

That is what Bruce calls it when I feel that one of my kid's is threatened or wronged. Its a mood that every mother has that can strike at any time. Its the adrenaline rush that gives a mother incredible strength and stamina to save her child.

I first learned about the Mama Bear thing when Asher was 3 years old. I was a new stepmom. Very new, we had only been married for a month or two. Asher thought a bug flew into his ear. To this day we call it the "bug in the ear incident" it was so traumatic.

Asher screamed. And I mean screamed. He screamed for hours on and off. I rocked him in the chair and sang to him. Bruce, being tired, didn't have the patience I had that night. He knelt down to Asher's 3 year old level and yelled in his face to stop screaming. I ran over to Bruce, put my hands on his shoulders and physically pushed him down away from Asher and screamed at Bruce "DO NOT SCREAM AT MY CHILD!"

Seriously Marsha? That was our first incident with the Mama Bear. It was totally wrong of me to physically push my husband. Completely wrong of me to scream at him. Plus, Asher wasn't even my child! What did Bruce do? He just shook his head at us and left the room. He was probably to angry to even be around us, so he went into the bedroom. I took Asher and held and kept rocking him until he fell asleep.

I apologized to my husband, told him I didn't know what had gotten into me. He smiled and said I was being a mom. He wasn't to thrilled with the way it came out, but he understood.

To this day, Asher remembers the "bug in the ear incident" and he remembers me rocking him and singing "his" song to him. Whenever I sing that lullaby to any of the other kids, he tells me that really, it is HIS song.

The Mama Bear. We've seen it many times since that day when Asher was only 3 years old. The problem is when the Mama Bear comes out with Tristen and Asher around their bio mom and stepdad. The Mama Bear doesn't seem to care that I didn't give birth to the older boys, she still comes out. It is hard to control her. Some days, it doesn't seem fair to me that I do not get to be Tristen and Asher's legal mom. I do everything that a legal mom does, yet in the eyes of the law I am a "legal stranger." I love them so much. My biggest desire in life would be to adopt them.

That will never happen. So I've decided to adopt them in my heart. Who needs a piece of paper to declare love?

One thing that I've decided today is to let my husband deal with the boy's bio mom and step dad. I will stay out of all communication with them. I will do what I do best, take care of all the kids. That is the job God has given me, as hard as it is, He continues to give me strength.

giggles

2010-09-28T15:05:00.001-05:00

when you get two 11 year old boys together and add some chocolate shakes, you get lots of giggling and laughing. Gone is the "teenage angst." It gets replaced with just pure fun.

transformers and poop

2010-09-23T08:12:00.003-05:00

Cameron is so into transformers. Every day he informs me he is a transformer. He has special moves that he does also when he plays transformers. It involves him punching the air with his arms and then throwing himself on the floor and rolling.

Yesterday was a big potty/poopy training day for my Cam. It was incredibly stressful for me trying to get my child to poop in the toilet. At one point I had left the bathroom and he got off the toilet and pooped on the floor. There is something about the toilet that is unsettling to him.

While we were sitting in the bathroom (which we did a LOT yesterday) I told him that only big transformers went on the big toilet. Then I made up a big story about transformers named Cameron and how they pooped on the toilet.

This morning Cam told me he had to go potty on the toilet... JUST LIKE A TRANSFORMER! He was so excited he ran to the bathroom to be a transformer.

Now, if only we could get the poop situation down. I have to come up with something soon, Bruce is sick of buying him diapers. Another day of "poop" training.

September 21 and 22, 2010

2010-09-22T12:40:00.006-05:00

September 21, 2010

All morning Cam, Malia, Gabe, Maggie, and Erik played together at their Grandma's house.

11:55am Malia got on the bus.
12:00pm Cam said he was going to bed for a nap.
12:20pm Cam wakes up screaming.
I get him calmed down and tell him to go back to sleep.
12:45pm Cam wakes up screaming.
I get him some Tylenol and tell him to come rest on the couch and watch tv.
Cam falls in and out of sleep screaming once and a while.
1:30pm Cam says sadly "Mommy come sweep with Cam on couch?"
I read my book while Cameron falls asleep on my lap.
He continues to wake up on and off screaming.
2:45pm Tristen gets home from school. He kisses Cam on the forehead.
3:00pm Cam wakes up and says he is all better! He is hungry. He eats 2 hot dogs.
3:30pm We go outside to play with Gabe and the neighbor babies while we wait for Malia and Asher to come off the bus.
Cam screams almost the whole time.
5:00pm Cam and I get to the urgent care clinic. I think he has an ear infection.
5:30pm the doctor diagnoses Cam with a double ear infection.
6:00pm we get home. I give him his medicine.
6:05pm Cam pukes up his hot dogs and medicine on the living room carpet.
We clean everything up and calm him down.
7:00pm Cam pukes up the rest of his hot dogs on the carpet in my bedroom.
I clean him up and scrub the carpet.
7:45pm I put Cam to bed.
8:30pm He is coughing and I take him into my bed to sleep.
10:00pm I go to bed with Cam.
10:15pm Cam sits up and says he does not want to sleep with me. He walks into the livingroom and lays on the floor.
10:20 Cam pukes on the kitchen floor.
10:30 Cam falls asleep on the couch!
I get to go to sleep!

September 22, 2010

12:00am Gabe wakes up to eat. Cam is out like a light.
4:00am Gabe wakes up to eat and Cam keeps me company talking about a car in the water.
4:20am Gabe falls asleep.
4:30am Gabe wakes up because he puked in his bed.
5:15am Gabe calms down and falls asleep.
5:35am I get to go back to sleep.
7:30am Cam walks into Gabe's room and wakes him up.
I have to get up.

mommy needs sleep

2010-09-19T22:05:00.001-05:00

seriously? when will my baby sleep through the night? ever?

none of my other babies ever took this long.

Gabe loves Bananas

2010-09-18T07:13:00.002-05:00

My baby had his first taste of real food a few days ago. So far in his life he has only had formula, breast milk, and a little bit of smelly baby cereal. My baby was in for a treat!

I had Bruce hold and feed him so I could be ready with my camera. These photos are the first 6 seconds of him tasting bananas. I love these photos, they really capture his emotions. As you can see from the last photo, he had to get used to the taste and the flavor. By the 2nd or the 3rd taste, he was very into his bananas. He ate almost the whole jar! We kept telling him that food even gets better than this! There is cheeseburgers, ice cream, and candy to taste someday! But for right now, my baby gets fruit. Maybe next week we will switch to vegetables and see how he likes those.

One of the best parts about Gabriel tasting his first fruit was that the whole family was together for this big event. All the kids were watching Gabe and really excited for him. It was a wonderful family event. I cried, of course.

Indepedance.. not quite yet

2010-09-15T15:43:00.002-05:00

What is up with my kid's attitudes lately???

I don't know if they are just sick of me and my husband, or sick of the fact that they have to listen to us, but SOMETHING must be in the water. And what is in the water you ask???

BAD ATTITUDES

I told Tristen we would be involved in what he is learning at school. We have to sign his assignment notebook every night. God forbid I dare ask what this means on the paper I am signing. We are going to know what he is learning, just like all the other kid's.

According to him, this is a big issue. He feels its none of our business. You know, typical tween behavior. A quest for independence. A quest for discreteness about his life. Unfortunately for him he knows that everything that goes on in his grade is on the website to his school - even down to what he gets for lunch. He is not happy about that. He yelled at me tonight telling me I didn't know who his teachers were and I certainly didn't know their emails to ask them questions. Yup, it's on the website. My child was not definitely happy when I told him that.

Sigh... this to shall pass.

bratty Malia

2010-09-14T20:40:00.002-05:00

Tonight I am to stressed to write much. Malia has not been listening to us all night. She gets really whiny and will lay on the floor kicking her legs complaining "there's nothing to dooooooo." She truly was a disaster tonight. I had to put her to bed earlier than her brothers because she just would not listen and read a book during reading time. She proceeded to scream on the top of her lungs for 15-20 minutes. Even with a phone call to Bruce and 2 spankings she would not stop her tantrum.

Ever since she started 4K she has not been getting her afternoon nap. She has been more whiny, disrespectful, and just generally not listening to me because of that. She needs an earlier bedtime. Now to get her to go to sleep without a tantrum is the issue.

I'm thinking of some sort of reward system for good behavior...

my transformer

2010-09-09T10:50:00.003-05:00

I was making lunch for my kids and this is how are conversation went.

Me: "I love you. I love all my kids."
Cam: "We are not peoples."
Me: "What?"
Cam: "We are not peoples. I am a transformer."
Me: "Oh ok. I love my transformer!"
Cam: "Yea, I'm a transformer. I love you to!"

craziness

2010-09-08T20:18:00.003-05:00

A typical evening.

Tonight between taking care of the baby and feeding the kids, this is what I dealt with along side my wonderful husband.

Checking Asher's homework and him telling me he needs pictures from his early childhood immediately. This requires a good amount of searching, and finding pictures that most likely I don't have seeing as I didn't meet him until he was age 2.

Asher telling me that one of his friend's mothers said he was a bad influence. Then I get pissed off at this mother.

Unclogging the toilet from one of the kids. (Bruce did this)

"Mom, come wipe my butt!!"

Kid: "Mom, is my tooth bleeding?" Me: "did you look in a mirror and see for yourself?"
Kid: "No."

Writing stuff on the calender including what days Malia has to wear a certain color for the next week and a half.

Malia screaming at Cameron.

Cameron running to me because Malia was screaming at him.

Asher coming to me: "I'm bored. Theres nothing to doooooooooooo." (whiny voice)

Asher babysitting Malia and Cam which means loud annoying music and kids running around my house yelling and laughing.

Kid: "I have a sore on my tongue. It hurts so bad. It means I can't read for my homework."

Studying spelling words with a kid. Not exactly the way I want to spend my evening.

At the end of this crazy night, I am dreading the next kid that says "Mom." I'm going to change my name to "Dad" so they don't call me as much.

Throughout the Years

2010-09-04T15:33:00.001-05:00

Then

Now

Throughout the Years

2010-09-04T15:29:00.003-05:00

Cameron's first meal

Gabriel's 1st meal

Throughout the Years

2010-09-04T15:23:00.002-05:00

Asher reading to baby Malia

Malia reading to baby Gabriel

Throughout the Years

2010-09-04T15:19:00.003-05:00

Malia's 1st bath

Cameron's 1st bath

Gabriel's 1st bath

fun sat morning video

2010-09-04T12:48:00.006-05:00

Today we had our neighbor kid's over all morning long. It was great because they kept Malia and Cameron thoroughly entertained. I made some video's on Bruce's new ipod nano. It was a lot of fun watching the kid's play while Bruce slept since he worked last night.

I got bored so I decided to do Malia and Katie's makeup. Katie was talking about how she tries to cover up her birthmark on her forehead. A very light pinkish line. I got the opportunity to talk about how birthmarks and imperfections make people unique and even more beautiful. I showed her my scars and birthmarks and talked about how beautiful both girls are. How beauty comes in lots of different looks.

One of my passions is to encourage young girls to look at themselves as beautiful. I grew up thinking I was fat and ugly. The image of myself was severely distorted and I wish I could of understood that I was a pretty girl. So now, it is my goal to let girls know that different is beautiful. I am always telling my daughter that she is unique, special, smart and pretty. I would like to have a party with tween girls and talk about being unique and pretty, with maybe some spa stuff to. Maybe I will start with Malia and Katie.

Big Girl Malia

2010-09-03T12:23:00.006-05:00

A child's first day of school is a landmark in a parent's life. Your baby turns a certain age and you no longer look at them as a baby. After all, school is for "big kids" as Malia would say. Yes, Malia's 1st day of 4K has arrived. My heart was so full of emotion and pride when I dropped her off. I invited my mom to come along to share the special moment. After all, you can only have ONE 1st day of starting elementary school, and we wanted to make it as special as possible.

Malia and Gabriel with my mom.

2 of my special kids

Malia running to greet me when she got off the bus. This was her first bus ride home from school. Asher took good care of her and protected her. She was so happy to see me as Cameron and Gabriel and I were there to greet her.

The proud 4K girl after her 1st day of school. This is her "I did it!!" smile.

This morning was another first. Going on the bus BY HERSELF to her afternoon school. She was very proud of herself.

As you can see from the photo, she will do just fine.

please sleep

2010-09-01T20:54:00.000-05:00

could someone please tell Gabriel to go to sleep?

1st day of school in pictures

2010-09-01T15:05:00.012-05:00

our day in photos...

Asher with our neighbor and his best friend Ryan waiting for the bus

these new bracelets are hugely popular now with kids

Malia and Cameron waiting at the bus stop being silly. They were extremely excited!

Getting on the bus...

Bye Mom!!!!

Yes I was that mom who waited outside for Tristen and his friends to walk home from their 1st day of middle school. I had my camera waiting and when Tristen saw me he just shook his head and smiled. I know he appreciates the effort I put in to make him feel extra special, you can just tell by that sweet smile on his face. His friends were excited to see me to, they all had a lot to say about their day.

they survived the 1st day! said its WAY better than elementary school.

These are our "official" 1st day of school photos. We took them the other day when we wouldn't be so rushed.

1st days of school

2010-09-01T07:22:00.003-05:00

I just said goodbye to Tristen. He stepped out the door and I said "I love you." He said "love you to" and disappeared around the corner.

My oldest son is off to Middle School. We live so close to the school he gets to walk. My heart feels joyful that he is getting older. My heart is also saddened at this new development. I cannot believe Tristen is starting Middle School. I feel this loss of the little boy I knew. I feel this sadness, almost like a mourning of his "little-ness." He is not a little boy anymore. He hasn't been for awhile, but I guess it seems more real now that he is starting his new school.

This morning he was nervous. We sat down together and prayed a long prayer. We thanked God for Tristen and what a blessing he is to us. We prayed for his locker not to stick, for friends in his classes, that he could find his classrooms quickly, and that he would find his friends to sit by at lunch.

Tristen is going to do great at school. I'm sure he will have the normal bumps in the road, but for the most part he is going to excel. He has mostly an outgoing personality and makes friends easily.

My heart is conflicted. Tristen, Asher, and Malia are all starting new schools or new grades. As a mother I know that I cannot go with them to hold their hands, but I sure wish I could! My heart has been in my stomach the last few days, especially last night. I am just so nervous for them! Their happiness at school is out of my hands. When they are at home, I can soothe them and give them joy to the best of my ability. Now, they are going to be away from me for a good long part of the day.

As a mother I love my alone time. I love "me time." But there will always be this pull towards my kids that no matter how tired I am or stressed I am, I will always choose them before me. That is what a mother does.

I need to let go and let them start their new adventures.

"bakeing" sale

2010-08-30T13:57:00.005-05:00

Asher had his first experience with business the other day. It brought me back to the days of my own lemonade and popcorn stands we used to set up with our cousins on hot summer days.

Asher and his friend Ryan spent 5 hours getting their bake sale ready. They made lemon squares from scratch all by themselves with the help of Ryan's sister. They didn't turn out the best, but ok for their first time baking by themselves. They charged 75 cents for a lemon square and 25 cents for a glass of koolade. They made $6.00 total that day. Mostly they made money from our family and Ryan's family, but they were excited anyways. They did great!

"bakeing sale" love that they spelled baking wrong ;)

proud entrepreneurs

serving their clientele

a satisfied customer

Photo day

2010-08-29T19:00:00.005-05:00

Today we took lots of photos of our family. It took a lot of bribing and begging to get the younger kids to cooperate. The thing that worked the best was when Bruce turned on the hose and the kids watched the water fly in the air. We were so glad we got the pictures, we've wanted to do this for a long time.

Lanfear Family

Neu Family

Whole Burg Family

Our favorite crazy photo

Grandma and Grandpa Burg with all their grandkids (7 so far!)

grow Asher grow

2010-08-27T12:25:00.001-05:00

This is how much Asher grew over the summer. These pants fit him at the end of the school year! I love it when my kids grow, but not so much having to get them new clothes.

in love

2010-08-27T12:00:00.005-05:00

Hello. My name is Marsha and I am a baby-aholic. Yes I admit it. With all my babies, there came a time where I was officially obsessed with them. With Malia, I felt the over-powering love for her after a short 24 hours. With Cameron, the bond took longer to build. At about 3 months, I was so madly in love there were times where I thought my heart would burst. Now, with my last and final baby Gabriel, the obsession is starting. The overpowering, intense, love affair between myself and Gabriel took 4 and 1/2 months to start. To be fair though, Gabe was a very high maintenance baby and I had 4 other kids to care for.

Now that the love affair has begun, I am afraid I am going to drive my husband crazy like I have in the past with Malia and Cam. I walk around with this goofy grin on my face bragging about how my baby studied his hands all day. Of course, this must mean he is extremely smart. I can't get enough of him and the game of peek a boo. I dress him up in cuddly pajamas and snuggle and talk to him for a long time. When hubby and I are together I am dying to talk about my sweet sweet baby. Bruce then reminds me of a time where I was obsessed with him.

Yah, I need to dial it down a notch.

Baby loves his Moby Wrap

See, studying his hands again. They are fascinating.

us this morning right after we woke up

Who needs clothes when you are a baby?

rendezvous

2010-08-27T09:02:00.002-05:00

Every night my love and I have a rendezvous at 3am.

Every night.

I don't know if he is just lonely or hungry, but Gabriel needs to be loved by his Mommy every night at 3am.

Every night.

I miss a full nights sleep. Gabriel is almost 5 months old. You know what that means... 5 months of not enough sleep.

Seriously kid? Sometimes I get hungry in the middle of the night, but I have self control. Every hear of that Gabe... self control? Just because I crave a burger and fries late at night doesn't mean I drive to McDonalds at 3am?

This is how our conversation went about self control...

Me: Gabriel, we need to talk. This whole loving at 3am thing has to stop. I love you to, but I don't want to see your face in the middle of the night. This whole eating thing in the early mornings is not good for you either. I'm seeing a double chin, and don't even get me started on your thighs. You want to fit into your new fall outfits don't you?

Gabriel: stares at his hands.

Me: Ok, I see you are offended. Maybe I was a bit harsh talking about your weight. You have a nice shape. But... seriously... self control is a good thing. Next time you have the urge to chug 6 oz of formula down in the middle of the night, fight it. Your chins and thighs will thank you. I will thank you.

Gabriel: stares at me with a wounded expression.

Me: Ok, you can wake up at 3am and I will feed you. Its a good thing you are cute kid. We will re-evaluate when you get a 3rd chin.

better than...

2010-08-26T17:46:00.003-05:00

Is there anything better than...

a kid who happily eats his dinner with gusto...

or a tremendously happy baby?

A proud mama

2010-08-25T20:36:00.004-05:00

Tonight I am feeling so blessed. Tristen has really surprised me. We have been dealing with some difficult things with him since he has returned home. Lying, stealing, sneaking things, it has been tough tackling these issues with him. Since all that was going on we decided he would sell his video games and IPOD. These electronics were at the root of the bad behavior.

Since he has taken a break from these things, he has really turned around. We even had a long talk about honesty and communication. I told him he could come to me with ANYTHING and not worry about me judging him or blowing up at him. That nothing was off limits to talk about. Since that talk, he has opened up about things that he has been hiding. He has been pleasantly surprised about my reactions to his secrets. He is learning that coming to me, and Bruce, will solve a lot of his issues. That honesty really is the best policy.

He has been spending a lot of time with his friend Daniel. This family has been friends with us for years, starting when they used to live next door to us. They have fabulous christian kids. They are fun and really talented. Tristen and Daniel are the same age and have a lot in common. Daniel listens to christian music and has introduced Tristen to a lot of that music. Turns out Tristen loves it. He is really getting into this new music and Bruce and I couldn't be happier. We even told him he could keep his IPOD if he puts christian music on it and deletes the password. He was so happy today that he got his prized possession back.

I am really impressed with his behavior. I am really proud of the boy he is. We went to his middle school orientation tonight, along with Gabriel tied to me, and learned where his classrooms and locker was. He learned how to do a locker combination. He's excited for school and I'm excited for him. It is going to be a completely different experience for him than it was for me. He already knows a lot of kids there and he is very outgoing. He's on the football team so already he has lots of friends. Tristen is such a great kid. He's going to go far in life.

boy's birthdays

2010-08-25T12:41:00.015-05:00

It has been very busy in the Neu household since Tristen and Asher have come home. I have been running around trying to get the older boys and Malia ready for the school year. Only a few more days to go and school will have officially started. This year is a big one for my kids. Tristen is starting middle school. We are going to his orientation tonight, just him and I, to find his locker and his classrooms. I remember my mom taking me to my 6th grade orientation. Tristen is handling it much better than I did. I was scared out of my mind since I was starting a new school and didn't have any friends yet. So far Tristen is calm and collected. We are really looking forward to seeing his new school tonight. Malia is starting 4K this year. She is over the moon excited to go to school. She is very ready.

Some other big events this summer... Tristen and Asher's birthdays! Tristen spent his birthday at his mom's house this year. When he came for his weekend visit, we had a mini celebration with Grandma and Grandpa Neu. I say mini because he only wanted to stay long enough to eat his treats and then head out to play with his friends.

For his birthday he asked me to make brownies. Actually Bruce and Malia made them this year and they turned out great. Then the night before he was coming home he called me and 9:30pm (I was already in bed!) to ask me to make him cinnamon cookies from scratch for him as well. Since it was for his birthday, I said yes.

Bruce and Malia's brownies that I cut into hearts.

Blowing out his candles (excuse the messy kitchen)

opening his cards

The next big birthday was Asher's. His birthday was at our house so it was an all day affair. Asher is more family orientated so he loved spending the day with us being the pampered one. The night before his birthday, he and Tristen spent the night at my mom's house for a Grandma sleepover. They watched the movie Furry Vengence and played Sequence. Tristen also got to show off his clarinet skills. The next morning Asher woke up with a fever. Poor Asher, sick on his birthday! Thankfully with Tylenol and Ibuprofen, all was well again in the world of Asher.

Asher came home to a decorated house of streamers and banners! Bruce and I did the house up for him the night before. He is at that age where he just loves fun decorations and games. He is just so grateful for any little thing you do for him, from giving him big hugs, to making him a good supper. It truly is so much fun to do things for Asher. His face just lights up with a big smile.

His birthday afternoon was spent resting on the couch watching Disney movies to let his body get over the fever. Once he felt better, we played Duck Duck Goose with Malia and Cameron and Gabriel. You have to have a game on your birthday! We knew it was kind of a babyish game, but it was a game we could all play together and Malia and Cameron understood it. And of course, Gabriel was the winner!!!! That made it even more fun. After that Asher played computer games while I finished up his cake.

lots 'o candy cake

His cake says "I love Ashy"

We went to Grandma Burg's house for dinner. Our whole family, my parents, and Uncle Erik, Maggie, and baby Squeaks were there for the party. My mom made tacos at Asher's request.
yummy dinner

as always, Asher is "Mr. Smooth." Maggie and Squeaks had a front row view of the birthday candle blow out.

the "sisters" enjoying their cake

oh yea, he got the present he wanted!

We had a great time celebrating Tristen and Asher's births.

Of course, at the end of summer begins a new season for our family...FOOTBALL season!!!!
With football season comes week night practices and weekend games. Every weekend. Tristen is 1st string quarterback again this season. He is a gifted athlete. He literally is the best player on the team. He still has dreams of playing in the NFL. If he continues focusing on the game, he could easily get a scholarship to a good college with a good football team. For now, his focus is 6th grade football.

Tristen is the one flying through the air tackling the guy with the red jersey

All my kids are wonderful and unique with different talents. My husband and I are truly blessed.

Before and After

2010-08-19T12:07:00.003-05:00

This is what we spent 2 hours this morning doing.

All this stuff was under their beds. Seriously.

And now, we are ready for the school year!

stormy times

2010-08-14T20:35:00.002-05:00

Sometimes I look back at Gabe's first three months and I am shocked that I survived them. He cried 7 to 9 hours a day. He woke up during the night every three hours. I nursed him for 45 minutes each time. He would stay awake for 45 minutes to 2 and 1/2 hours at a time. I was the only one to get up with him at night almost all the nights because Bruce worked 3rd shift. When I got 6 hours of sleep in a row during the weekends, it was like a dream come true.

I was literally surviving hour to hour, day to day.

Breastfeeding was one of the hardest thing I've ever done. It did not come as natural as the lactation activists all say it will. Pain. Horrendous pain for the first 3 weeks. Round the clock pain. The baby never stops eating to give you a break! I nursed for a total of 13 or 14 weeks. I am very proud of that.

I made it through the storm. Bruce and I both did. Now we have a happy, smiley baby. He is a dream come true to us. He brings us so much joy. We made it through the storm.

sleepy

2010-08-14T20:22:00.000-05:00

You know you are tired when you fall asleep on the toilet...

best buddies

2010-08-14T20:18:00.003-05:00

Malia and Cameron, my Irish twins, are either best friends or worst enemies. Today they were best friends. Both were so excited to get their photos taken.

love

2010-08-14T20:15:00.002-05:00

Asher truly is a good big brother. He loves to play with his younger brothers and sister. He loves to teach them and entertain them with his goofy personality. I am so lucky to have such a fun son!

sleepy baby

2010-08-12T20:28:00.000-05:00

Life is so exhausting when you are a baby.

inside his mind

2010-08-12T10:17:00.002-05:00

Do you ever wish you could get into the mind of an 8 year old? Sometimes I am amazed at the way Asher thinks.

He was really upset this morning because Cameron was getting into his stuff on top of his dresser. Cameron pulls out the bottom drawer and steps on it to reach Asher's stuff. Here is the solutions Asher brainstormed to get Cameron to stop doing this...

*put gates in the doorway so Cameron couldn't go into his own room
*put gates around his dresser
*put a camera in his room so we could watch what he was doing
*get a walky-talky so we could communicate with each other when he is taking his toys

Finally I told Asher that he needs to think more practical, like put his special stuff on a higher shelf or in a box on his dresser.

This is what he told me after he solved his problem... "I put one thing in a box on my dresser, one toy in a drawer in the closet, and my special car, I put by the books and camouflaged it so Cam can't see it."

He is such a doll.

Motherhood at its busyness.

2010-08-11T14:31:00.013-05:00

Yesterday was a day that I really earned my stripes in motherhood. Bruce didn't get enough sleep so I decided I would take care of all the kids on my own while I ran my errands.

The objective: Get Tristen contacts. Pick up dinner. Take kids to Vacation Bible School.

I figured it would be difficult, but I thought I could handle it. Welcome to the craziness...
I loaded all 5 kids into the car and drove to Walmart. Once we checked Tristen in for his eye exam, I asked the woman that worked there to put on a movie in the waiting area. This was at 4pm. I had Asher, Malia, Cameron, and Gabriel sitting on the chairs watching a movie thinking this isn't so bad. At 4:20 I bribed the kids with suckers to keep them sitting and occupied. 10 minutes later Cameron had had enough. By now Tristen was done with his exam and was now into "contact lens school" where he had to learn to put them in and take them out.

Seeing as Cameron was now running around the vision center, I took him and Gabriel to get some pizza for dinner. I figured we would be done shortly and could head home and cook it. Nope. Tristen wasn't done yet.

I was getting tired of trying to keep the kids entertained. They were wearing on my last nerve already. We got back to the waiting area where I watched Cameron run around, climb on top of me, and play on the floor. Asher was annoyed with the younger kids because they were interrupting his movie time. We decide to head out to the toy area. Now it is 5pm.

It was really difficult keeping all the kid's in the same aisle. I kept calling their names to get them to stay together. They were thoroughly annoyed by me. I was quickly loosing patience.

Thankfully there was one kid that was perfect through this whole trip... Gabriel slept through most of it!

And just when I thought things couldn't get more difficult, Malia said "I gotta go potty!"
We trek back to the front of the store. When you have a baby in a cart and 2 other boys, its hard to take a child into the bathroom. I had to stand at the doorway and hold the door open while waiting for Malia. She yelled to me that the toilet wouldn't flush and at that point I just yelled to her that I didn't care and get her butt out of the bathroom.
Tristen still wasn't done. It was 5:30pm. I put the other kid's in the car and drove through the drive-through at McDonalds. We were starving and didn't have time to cook our pizza. We got home, woke up Bruce and ate as fast as we could. Bruce took Malia and Asher to Vacation Bible School and I drove back to Walmart to get Tristen.

He wasn't done yet. It is now 6:15pm. I wandered Walmart (kid free!) and got Tristen some food. Then I went into the room with him and helped him with the contacts to give the instructor a break. Tristen was thourally frustrated but he managed to get the contacts in and was working on taking them out. At 7pm, we had success!!!!

We paid and drove to Burger King and got Tristen his burger, fries, and LARGE chocolate shake. He was so happy. He deserved it after all the hard work he did that day.

We got home, I said hi and bye to Bruce and was on my way to pick up Asher and Malia at VBS. We arrived home at 8:15pm.

By then I tried to get all the kid's into their room as fast as possible. Tristen decided to practice his clarinet and Asher started to jam out on the recorder. Malia decided to add vocals to the music. Where was Cameron? In my room, scared of the loud music. So much for my restful rest of the night. By 9pm I had the kids tucked in bed and couldn't help but be amazed at what I was able to do as a mother that day. It was a successful and crazy busy day!

Squeaks 6 months

2010-08-05T16:52:00.003-05:00

Fighting babies

2010-08-05T16:50:00.000-05:00

Babies 1st fist fight.

our morning at home

2010-08-05T12:21:00.003-05:00

Malia took this photo!

Hands

2010-08-05T12:19:00.001-05:00

Gabriel's favorite toys are his hands. He is always staring at them or chewing on them. I love this photo. Its like he is always surprised to see his hands.

our morning

2010-08-03T13:38:00.002-05:00

What do you get when you combine humidity, heat, and 3 kids? Add an empty fridge and the need to go and buy out almost the whole grocery store. Now, include a little girl who doesn't want to leave her cousin's house and has a screaming tantrum that lasts 30 minutes.

You would get my morning.

Sarah was nice enough to watch Malia and Cameron while Gabey-Poo and I went to Walmart to get groceries. The kid's there had a little to much fun. Combine the heat and the excitement and you get 2 overly exhausted kids. This equals a lot of screaming.

Thankfully I have the two older ones sleeping right now and Gabe is playing nicely on the floor with toys. I have all the groceries put away (and I bought a lot! I could barely push the cart). Now I am making a mixture of wild and brown rice and later am going to cut up some chicken.

Tristen and Asher are coming home on Friday to stay for the year. Its time to start adjusting to having 5 kids again. I feel mostly prepared. Just got to do a little more praying...

laugh!!!!!

2010-07-28T13:09:00.003-05:00

Gabriel laughed today for the first time! He's given a little giggle here and there, but today was his first official laugh. What a sweet sweet sound to my ears!!!!

We were sitting together in the chair, just the two of us hanging out. I was making faces at him and singing little songs. And then... he laughed and kept laughing for a few minutes. What a gift.