Wednesday, October 29, 2008

The new ride

Jeremiah demonstrating the handle located directly to your right as you enter the bus!















There have been lots of changes around here lately! So just a bit of trivia for you....did you know if you have more than 7 children the only vehicle that fits your family is a 12 passenger van?? Thats what I have been driving for the past 2 years. It took some getting used to, and getting over realizing that I'm not the "cool" mom ;) Anyways, we got rid of my 12 passenger last month (ummmm, not really sure if it is called getting rid of when it is leaving on a tow truck while you are upstairs taking a nap?) Anywhoo......we were blessed enough to have loving family members help us get new transportation and this is the new vanbus (that is what Liberty calls it). My Dad & I went to Peoria on a Saturday (Devin had to work) and my Dad couldn't believe that I really wanted to take a look at this thing. When I saw it I knew immediately that Devin would LOVE it. When I called him he said "well? what do you think? do you like it?" and I said, "nope, but you will" while laughing at the same time. Although it is SO not cool, it is SO practical and SO great loading the kids in and out, and packing everyone in....we have moved from 12 to holding 14 now! It has a TV, and I can even stand up all the way inside. It even came equipped with its own no smoking sign in case the kids forget. hehe! Now that I have had it for 4 weeks, I absolutely love it and I really don't mind being the not cool one cuz when you have 8 kids, its all about being practical! (And yes, that is an isle down the middle of the van!!!)

Monday, October 27, 2008

My funnies for the day!

I love it when my kids make me laugh, so I just thought I would share my laughter from today. Tonight we went to a family party (pictures to follow later) and when we walked in Mason was w/his cousin and when he saw that they were watching Iron Man he turned to his cousin and said, "oh cool, I have this movie. It's the #1 movie in America you know" He is such a crack up!!

Then this morning Devins example to our children really shined through when I was driving the kids to school. The air wasn't on and when I turned it on, Austin started messing with the vents and said, "Man, it's hot in here. It must be because Mom's in the car" Devin says stuff like that to me all the dang time and I laughed my butt off that Austin actually repeated it!!

I LOVE my kiddos!!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Our new venture


I don't know why I haven't posted about this yet.....I really kept hoping to find some cool picture to add cuz it bugs me not to have a picture? Anyways, about a month ago Devin & I made the huge decision to leave his company that he has had for the past 8 years with his brothers, and take another job. I could go into great detail surrounding the decision, but honestly, no one wants to hear all tha t boring stuff. :) I will tell you how he got the job cuz it really was a blessing strait from the Lord. He found a position on lds.org for a company looking for a part time installer for ceiling/lighting fixtures. Cool...totally something he can do on the side until business picks up. When he went in to talk to the owner he said to him, "oh I'm sorry, that position has been filled, but let me tell you what I would like to offer you" By the time Devin walked out the door he had been offered a salary position to work as the #1 Supervisor @ this company. Running the store (selling lighting, ceiling fans and ALL kinds of flooring) as well as checking on jobs, measuring out jobs, running crews, stuff like that. It was unbelievable! The owner had two other interviews set up for later that week, but told Devin that he basically had the job if he wanted it. This was even before he got a resume from Devin or anything. We were both stunned and through much prayer and temple attendance we knew that this was the Lords way of helping us to make our financial situation better. It has been a very hard adjustment for both of us. For over 12 years Devin has basically set his own hours and been home anywhere from 2:00 to 5:00 depending on the day. I have always made any Dr.'s appointments for late in the afternoon and he could usually be home for me so I wouldn't have to take any kids with me. I am so used to having him around when I need him. Now he leaves a little before 7:00 and isn't home until 6:30-7:30. I know a lot of you are thinking, "boo, hoo, sad life for you.....after all those years of being spoiled and now you have to live like the rest of us" but yes I have been spoiled and it is taking some adjusting but I am managing. His past work schedule is what has made it so easy to do things I need to do with 8 kids. Now I am kinda on my own! The later in the day the harder it gets. For the 1st 3 days my twins would stand at the front windows by the front door for like 1/2 an hour and just cry for their dad. The kids still aren't used to it. Devin is having a hard time being away from all of us so much too. It was a huge sacrifice for him to give up his freedom to take this job to provide for us and I am so grateful that he has been willing to do whatever it takes to make things work. He is a good man and I am so blessed to have him. We have had the most amazing financial struggle of our lives over this past year, and I know we are not alone. But I know that the Lord loves us and that when we humble ourselves and try to do the simple things that He wants us to do, He is literally standing in front of us with the answers just waiting for us to grab ahold of them. I hope we never have to go through what we have been through this past year again, BUT I am a changed person, for the better, and my marriage is stronger, and I do love the Lord for giving us trials to help build us up and make us better people. He promised us that he will never give us more than we can handle, and every time, just as it feels like the whole world is going to come crashing down around me, He is always there and things always work out for the best. I am very grateful that through all of this that our family has been blessed with our health because I know that there are many families struggling with different medical problems and our hearts reach out to them. I hope all of us can remember that He is there and He wants us to be happy, sometimes it just takes a while to humble ourselves and realize that our happiness is right in front of us. Our families! They are the only thing on this earth that is important. No car, house, boat, RV, or amount of money, will ever be as important as the happiness and love that our family has.

I win coolest mom!


I am the coolest mom!! Yesterday morning my scheduled alarm goes off and we were rushing to get the kids ready for school. Hurry and get the lunches made, hurry and get hair done. All of the sudden I notice that it is after 7:15, which their carpool is never late...whats the deal? So I pick up a school flyer that says fall break is until October 20th. I call my sister in law, "ummmm, do the kids have school today??" "nope, they start back tomorrow" Ok great, cuz we are all up and ready to go to school! DUH!! I turned to the boys and said, "gotcha! that was our trial run for tomorrow and it's a good thing we did that cuz you would have been WAY late!" Emberlyn cried, how cute it that?!? Another point for mom of the year! LOL!!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

oops

I forgot a few important details.........

The swivel sweeper runs off a rechargable battery that lasts long enough for me to do my entire downstairs before it dies. You can buy it at WalMart, BUT you can get it on Ebay for about $6 ot $7 cheaper. There is a new one that has a "no touch" release button to empty the tray, but it is about $15-$20 more. Happy Sweeping!!!!

Friday, October 17, 2008

My New Favorite


This is my new FAVORITE!!! In case you have never been blessed enough to see the fab infomercial for the Swivel Sweeper....you MUST check it out! I have been wanting one since they came out a couple of years ago and since using a simalar Shark rechargable produduct that was more exspensive, thought I would try out the Swivel Sweeper before I purchased the Shark (although I did find a pink one....which is hard to resist!!) This thing is freakin' awsome! It picks up everything from goldfish, (crackers, not real ones.......hey, you never know at my house) to buttons (dont ask why I know that) The VERY best part is that my kids love it and they all fight over whos turn it is to use it. Finally I am happy to let someone else do the floors! Everyone needs one of these!

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

A 6th Sense???

My twins are 28 months old, and I have just now figured out that they were born with a 6th sense! I have named it their mommy sense and this is how it works. AS SOON as I am exactly 10 feet away from them it kicks in...their brain tells them, "shes gone...GO!!" and amazingly it happens in both of their brains at the exact same time! As they bolt for the nearest thing to reap mass destruction upon, their brain is still thinking, "what next, what next, hurry, hurry" Here is an example from this morning....."she's gone, lets make a bottle with the formula using a piece of pipe AND flood the kitchen floor....check......NEXT......


















"We could bust into the bathroom and flood that floor........














AND dump out all the Q-tips and get them soaking wet so they have to be thrown away....check, NEXT........




















"AND even though we have done it a THOUSAND times, lets go throw all of the folded laundry on the floor in the loft...we know how much mom loves to fold 20 loads of laundry......and























we can dump that HUGE bin of clothes that mom folded to be put into storage! Check....NEXT.............



"Then, we could climb on top of the table, put a tub of cool whip on the light on the chandelier to see if it can burn a hole in the bottom of it! Oh wait, we did that last night? Hmmmmm, what next?????? It's only 12:00!!! (I don't make this stuff up people!) ;)

Emmys 1st Cottage Fair




At the kids school every quarter they have a Cottage Fair, which is a little celebration/presentation about the main subject they have been studying. Emmys was "All About Me". We had a pot luck where each kid brought a food that started with the 1st letter of their name and then a short program of cute songs in their classroom. It was fun to see Emmy in her new daily element! Its still weird to think that she has this whole different life away from me during the day. She really is a super smart girl and never gets in trouble in school (thank goodness...I needed at least one!) and she has also been betrothed to a boy in her class who happens to be in our ward who happens to be the son of my super great friend! Life is good!!