The New Cast of Characters

I am Heidi, aka Doodlebelle. I grew up in the beautiful town of Burlington, VT. I now reside in a rural area outside of Charlotte, NC. I have custody of my three step-children, as well as my four biological children. I am trying to navigate this world, keep my sanity, and laugh everyday while parenting 7 kids. Sometimes I do a good job of it. I enjoy reading, dancing, singing loudly in the car, losing my shit, and procrastination.


This is Brittney aka Weirdo. She is the twin of Brooke, (She is the older twin.) She enjoys her horse, reading, and being moody. She also enjoys thrashing around wildly while dancing, and completely ingoring me when I ask her a question.


This is Brooke, aka Miss Social. She is the twin of Brittney. She enjoys soccer, her friends, her phone, and her computer. She also enjoys dancing in the living room while watching her reflection in the TV, and arguing with her siblings. If ever she goes missing, you can find her in the bathroom, straightening her hair or taking pictures of herself for myspace.


This is Kyley, aka The Genius. She is super intelligent, and extremely weird. She enjoys her horse, her music, reading, and watching TV. She also enjoys sighing heavily and stomping when asked to do anything.


This is Andrew, aka Super Recovery Boy. He lives with brain cancer. He is funny and amazingly resilient. He enjoys playstation, computer games, drawing, talking back, and trying to get out of chores and school-work.


This is Rainia, aka Lil Mama. She is bubbly, fun and hyperactive. She enjoys competitive cheerleading, writing, being a princess, eating, telling everyone else what to do, and bossing around whoever she can.


This is Jake, aka Rotten. He is the twin of Joshua. He is funny, sarcastic, and entertaining. He enjoys action figures, bugs, dancing, making people laugh, being the center of attention, trying to annoy people, and ruling this family.


This Josh, aka Sweetness. He is the twin of Jacob, the youngest in the family. He is loving, sweet, and affectionate. He enjoys Computer games, Playstation, sports, singing, Showering people with hugs, and screaming at the top of his lungs when he doesn't get his way.


To contact me: iamdoodlebelle@gmail.com

Holy Smokes Batman!

Our house almost caught on fire last night! And I don't know what is going on here, because I have lived my whole life without any fire issues, and now I have 2 almost catastrophes in the time of one year. It was actually almost exactly a year ago that this happened. And now, This:




Okay, now that I am looking at it, I can see how the pictures are not very clear. Let me explain. In our bathroom, when the door is open all the way, there is a lovely perfectly round hole where the doorknob busted through the wall. Well, there used to be a perfectly round hole, until last night. Now it looks like those lovely pictures. Why? Because the boys were trying to kill the spiders. And we DON'T even have a spider problem! How were they trying to kill the spiders? Well, Jake was the lighter, and Josh was the holder. Josh held the toilet paper while Jake lighted it, and then Josh threw it INTO THE DOORKNOB HOLE!!! Holy Smokes Batman!!!

There was smoke billowing out of the hole, and when we ran in, Rick happened to be holding a beer in his hand, so he dumps the beer into the hole. And it is STILL smoking! So I grab this metal bread pan, because I bake bread so much that the breadpan is located in the bathroom, holding lipstick. I dump out the lipstick, fill the breadpan up with water, and pour it into the hole, and all down the wall, and all over the floor. Repeatedly! Because it WOULDN'T STOP SMOKING! Kyley runs in with a gravy boat (from the kitchen, although that thing would probably be good for holding Q-Tips) so I start using it, because it fits into the hole better. Now Rick runs in with the fire extinguisher from under the kitchen sink, and Oh Shit! It doesn't work! And somehow, now Rick has a pair of pliers, and is ripping the sheetrock with the pliers. So I run into the kitchen, and run back in with a large knife, and now he is sawing away at the sheetrock. I am continuing to pour water. And suddenly the power goes out! "OH CRAP!!! I think I just cut through an electrical line!!!" OMG! You should be dead! Sawing through an electrical line with a large metal knife, while standing in water.

He runs back in with a flashlight, because we have to be sure that the fire is out, and it still looks like smoke, and he is still sawing, and I am afraid to dump any more water in there, because the electrical line is probably exposed, but he reassures me that the breaker is completely off, so I am dumping, and he is sawing. We stop. We take a little break to reevaluate the situation, there in the dark, with the flashlight, and it seems that there is no more smoke. A huge sigh of relief. We examine the electical line with the flashlight, and it actually looks fine. Rick heads to the breaker box, telling me to yell if I see any sparks. I hold my breath, and now the lights are on, and nothing is sparking. OH THANK GOD! There is no smoke coming from the hole, the fire is out, and we still have a house.

Coming Soon: We disclipline two 6-yr-old boys who almost burned our house down

Spankings and Incest (I am not great at this parenting thing)

Jake: Can I spank Rainia?

Me: No.

Jake: Can I spank Josh then?

Me: No.

Jake: When can I spank someone?

Me: Well, you have to wait until you have kids. But first you have to go to college. And then you have to get a really good job and make lots of money. Then you can get a wife. And THEN you can have a kid. Then you can spank it whenever you want to.

Jake: Why do I have to have money to get a wife.

Me: Well, because honey, that's just the way it is. You have to have money, and then you can have a really great wife. What kind of wife do you want?

Jake: Britney.

Me: You want a wife that looks like Britney?

Jake: No. I want Britney.

Me: You can't marry your sister.

Jake: Is it against the law?

Hhhmmmm....You really can't blame the boy, she's gorgeous:

Pajama Mama

I am not a huge fan of pajama's. I don't actually have anything AGAINST pajama's, I just can't seem to justify buying them. At good ole Walmart, kids PJ's cost about $10. Adult PJ's cost about $20. So for us, with 3 kids in adult size clothing, and 4 in kid's sizes, we are looking at about $100 for PJ's, FOR ONE NIGHT! This is why I am a HUGE fan of wearing a t-shirt and shorts to bed. or maybe sweatpants. Yeah, sweatpants make for nice sleepwear.

But, today was 'Polar Express' day in kindergarden. They got to wear PJ's to school, and slippers instead of shoes. They got train tickets, and watched the movie, and drank hot cocoa. So off to Walmart we went, to buy some PJ's, and Oh. My. God. I can't even believe I have been missing out on this. These boys were so cute that I could have eaten them alive. I mean seriously, have you ever seen anything this cute in your whole life?





No, I did not have to ask them to hug each other, because that is what they ALWAYS do. They just love on each other all day. They never fight. Ever.

Tonight

Tonight is the night I've dreamed about my whole life. We got home at 9:00pm. Which is bed time for the younger ones, and reading time for the older ones. After our impromtu date, which NEVER happens, In which I ate at my FAVORITE restaurant. We arrived at exactly the right moment to have to rush around getting bedtime done. The first thing I noticed when I walked in the door was that sound. The sound of the dishwasher running. YES!!! The next thing I noticed was the other sound. The sound besides the dishwasher. The sound of nothingness, silence. What is this strange sound? This strange, beautiful sound. I quickly ran to find my kids, wondering why my Mom hadn't called me when they were kidnapped. (I only wondered that silly question for a quick-second though. I mean seriously, if she had to chose between calling to tell me that they were kidnapped, or just enjoying the silence as long as she could, who would blame her? And she's only next door in case of emergency. The older ones are actually in-charge while we are out)

Then I saw him. Josh was asleep on the couch, his beautiful, normally very loud mouth completely shut. I ran into the boys room. Nothing. I peeped through to Kyley's room. She was reading. I asked her if her homework was done. "Yes." Oh beautiful, beautiful sounds tonight. I then entered the girls' room where OH MY!!! BEHOLD!! WHAT IS THIS I SEE? They too were reading. Without being told. Well, Rainia and Brittney anyway. Brooke was already asleep on her top bunk. "Where is Jakey?" I ask, almost afraid to know the answer, The noisiest, trouble-starting, terror of the house. The girls giggle. "Well, where is he?" I ask. Brittney points up, to Brooke's top bunk. I slowly walk over, and to my amazement, there he is! Beautifully, quietly asleep. curled up on the inside, closest to the wall.

DAMN!!!! I will have to finish this post later. Jake just walked in to inform me that he woke up. SHIT!

One-Liners

Things I have heard in my house lately:

Part of Josh's speech deficit is that all sounds with a G, K, or hard C, sound exactly alike. They all sound like a K sound. So for him, the words got and caught would sound exactly alike. They both come out like "Kot" So just imagine for me, if you would, all G's in the following sentence sounding like a K. And yes, we are VERY sick parents to have found this so funny.

Josh: "I got gum! I got gum!" "Why awe you yaffin? I yuv gum!"


Jake: I need a spoon.
Rick: Well go get yourself one. This isn't a restaurant!
Jake: (takes Rick's hand and drags him into the kitchen, and then points to the wall) "Look!"
Me: (laughing hysterically) OMG! He got you honey! Don't underestimate Jake.

Rick: Boy, that sign says Rest-Stop, not Restaurant! You better get your own stinkin' spoon!


After we saw this:

All the kids thought it was so cool. Then a classic Brooke moment

Brooke: But how did he get his hair to come out the top like that?

All the kids had to laugh, and then all of them tried to explain to her how it was a helmet. That it was made like that.

During a precious moment where Rick and I were alone in the car.
Me: Stop confusing me Bitch!
Rick: Will you stop calling my navigation system that? I LOVE her!
Me: Sorry honey, but what the hell is her name then? You are going to have to name her or I am going to keep calling her bitch.

And the best thing I have heard recently around this house is the word "Mom", spoken many times recently, by Andrew, describing me!!!

Parent-teacher Conferences

Yesterday was parent-teacher conference day. Always a big deal in our house, but this year was different. Having the boys in Kindergarten means we now have 7, yes SEVEN conferences to go to. How do you attend 7 parent-teacher conferences? Let me tell ya. Bear with me, one day my kids will look back on this, and want to know. So here we go...

First of all, for some reason, which I am still trying to grasp, only three out of our 7 dwarfs were responsible enough to bring home the sign-up sheets. On the sign-up sheets, you tell the teacher what 3 times would work for you, and then they send home a note with the time of your conference. So Rainia brought home her sheet, and was scheduled accordingly. As were the Kinder boys. For the unknown reason uummm...irresponsibility, NONE of our middle-sch. students got scheduled. So Wed. I told the kids they better get me a conference time. So Andrew did. They just listen so well. That left 4 out of 7 conferences actually scheduled.

So they got out of school at noon. The kinder-boys and Rainia took the bus as usual, and I headed to pick up Andrew and Kyley. As soon as I got there, Kyley says "I got you a time! And it's RIGHT NOW!" Quick internal conflict: Brooke and Brittney are waiting on me at the other Middle School. Rick is only going to be able to work until 1:30 today. The teacher's are waiting for me in the school. Shit! OK, let me just run in here and get this one down, and that will only leave six more. So I run into the school with Kyley and Andrew, have the conference, and run out. Kyley is on honor roll, 3 A's, 2 B's. PROUD!!!

We jump in the car and quick-drive over to the other middle-school. B&B get in the van. "Did you get me a time?" Nope. "Well girls, you are not getting out of this. Get your little butts in there and get me a time." Brooke runs back out to inform me that the teacher's can do RIGHT NOW. So I head into the school to explain that Rick really wants to be there, and can we get a later time? 3:30 is agreed upon, and we head home.

I get home to find Jake in his underwear and socks OUTSIDE which he knows he is not allowed to do. I quickly get him dressed, grab Josh, and we head to pick up Rick. We get to elementary school, a couple minutes early, so hit the book-fair. After Josh chooses a book for himself and Andrew (AAWWWWW), and Jake chooses a pointer, Yes people, a pointer, we head over to Kinder-building. Jake's conference is first. He is on grade level, did not identify a rectangle for his teacher. (WTF?) He sometimes has trouble staying on task, and Occasionally has attention issues. And oh, by the way, do you know how funny your son is? Uummm, yeah.

Josh is next. He is above grade level in every area, and unfortunately, even though he obviously has a speech deficit, he is not eligible for school-speech because he is reading. He is ready to start the "AR" program (accelerated reading) They will only fund speech classes if the deficit impairs his learning. He knows what the letters are, can identify them, and can sound them out into words (even if the words don't sound right). Internal dialogue: My kid is reading? Hhhmmm, why didn't I know this? Note to self= Have Josh read you a book. Damn, have Josh read Jake a book, let him take care of the night-time story from now on. This will definitely leave more time for wine. Also, apparently Josh doesn't know how to walk. He hops in line, and has to be told on a regular basis to stop jumping, skipping, etc.

We drop J&J off at home, and pick up B&B. We get to Middle Sch.#2, and they are having parent-student conferences, instead of parent-teacher conferences. We flip a coin, which makes Brooke's turn first. She reads off her grades, and the essay she has written on why her grades are what they are, and we are proud! 3 A's, 3 B's, and 1 C. Brittney is next, can someone say Proud Parents? Honor Roll! 3 A's, 4 B's. Then her math teacher jumps on her because she has the potential for an A, and received a B. Internal dialogue: Woman, you have about 2 seconds to shut-up. You are chastising my kid, who is on HONOR ROLL. Leave her alone.

We drop off B&B, and have about an hour before we need to be back at elem. for Rainia's conference. We use this time wisely of course. (We walk around the property, and decide where we will have our HUGE fantasy house built.) We then get Rainia, and head back to elementary sch. Another trip to spend $$ at the book-fair, and then on to the conference. We love Mrs. F, Kyley had her last year, and I use the time to gossip about our middle school kids. Her daughter is in Kyley and Andrew's social circle. Oh-yeah, and we spend some time talking about Rainia. 2 A's, 1 B, and 1 C. Proud!!! Oh, and she is citizen of the month this month, and will be getting an award tomorrow. Plus, she will not be taking Sierra to the bathroom anymore. Sierra is disabled and needs to use the special bathroom in the office, but Her and Rainia have been stopping to socialize with Mrs. Principal, and have been missing too much class-time. Internal=Uuummmm...who socializes with Mrs. Principal? Hhhmmm, my kids are nerds...I wonder if she gets close enough to Mrs. Principal, will she get some sort of award? Will Mrs. Principal take special interest in the boys? You go little brown-noser!!!

We get home with just enough time for the girls to quick-change into cheer-leading clothes, and to grab Andrew. YAY!!! ALMOST DONE! We drop off Brooke and Rain at Cheerleading, and head over to Middle Sch.#1. We are the last conference of the day. (It is 6:45) Andrew is doing great, but is missing his math workbook, and a library book. He has 1 A, 2 B's, and 3 C's. This is really a great report card, considering how much harder he has to work compared to the other kids. On our way out, we check his locker, and find missing workbook, and missing library book. Relief. And we are Done!!!

Until 8:00, when we have to leave again to pick up the girls at cheer. Busy, busy day. And I wouldn't have it any other way. WooHoo!!! We have amazing kids! And are SSOOOOOO Proud, of each and every one of them!

I know he's old, but...

Jake: "Who was the first president?"

Me: "George Washington"

Jake: "Was McCain the second one?"

Jake and Josh are six!

Dear Jacob and Joshua,

You turned 6 yesterday, and it was the best children’s birthday party I have ever attended, let alone hosted. Unfortunately, only 1 out of the 16 kindergarten friends that were invited attended. It was fine though, because we have 7 kids ourselves, and Brooke’s and Andrew’s best friends came, and your cousins Zack and Megan came. So including the girl from Josh’s class, there were 12 kids, and 7 adults. Not to mention all the regular barn people. We had it at the barn, and started with hotdogs and face-painting. Then, everyone took turns riding horses on the trail. You both dressed up like true cowboys, and had a great time. After the trail rides, you all went on a hay ride through the fields of horses, and were allowed to throw hay out to the horses, which made them follow you. Sadly, the hay ride was cut short, because there was a poor injured horse in the field, which had been shot by a real arrow! Oh-my-Goodness the excitement this caused at the barn. We all watched as the horse-men applied antiseptic to the horse, and cut and pulled the arrow right out of the horse’s leg! The horse was fine, but everybody was very sad that this happened.

The Invitation


A close-up of the wanted pictures on the invitations:




You guys in the yard right before we left for the party.


Jake took this picture with his new camera (Rainia getting her face-painted)


Jake took this pic. of Nick and Andrew who are WAY too cool to get their faces painted.


Cousin Megan getting ready to go on her trail ride



After the excitement of the injured horse wore off, we sang the birthday song to you guys, and everyone stumbled over the name part, because there are two of you. You both had your own cowboy inspired cake, and then we went out to hit the cowboy piñata. The piñata actually started its life out as a “Bob the builder” piñata, because I couldn’t find a cowboy one. But you guys are WAY too old for “Bob the Builder”, so Rick covered the Bob part in red wrapping paper, and then plastered it with cowboy stickers. It was so cute. Jake, you went first to hit the piñata, and didn’t even say a word when it swung back and hit you in the forehead with all ten pounds of candy. I would have never even known it happened if I hadn’t noticed the red knot pop up on your forehead. Josh, you went second, and then a couple other kids, but it was your big cousin Zack who hit that piñata like a baseball, and busted it open. You all ran to get the candy.

Josh blowing out his candles


Jake blowing out his candles


Close-ups of the cowboy cakes




A couple pics Jake took of the pinata





After the piñata, we went in to open presents and you guys were so excited. Josh, you impressed everybody, because Andrew’s best friend Nick gave you $5. And then your cousin Zack gave you $5. And you made everyone stop what they were doing, and you yelled “NOW I HAVE TEN DOLLARS!” We were impressed because you had added it up so quickly. After the presents, it was time for everyone to go home, but you didn’t want to go home, and Josh’s friend didn’t want to go home, so all the kids played on the playground while you guys, Raven, her Mom and I walked through all the barns to pet the horses. Jake, you woke up the pig by taking his picture with your new camera, right in his face, with the flash on. Then we ran out of there because he started making some VERY loud grunting noises.

Jake took this pic of Josh's friend Raven skipping to the barn


The pic. that woke up the pig



We all spent some time on the playground after that, and finally came home. We had a sleepover with us, plus Nick and Savanna, and I set up the tents for everyone to sleep in. You guys decided to come inside with us though, and Andrew didn’t sleep out there either. We had a big campfire, and roasted hotdogs. Jake, you actually burned your finger on the hotdog by touching it right after you roasted it, but you didn’t complain about that either. You are tough boy. Josh, you spent more time inside playing your new video games then you did at the campfire. First you got Rick to play with you, then you played by yourself. Finally, you got your Uncle Sky to play with you. You did spend part of the night out with us though, dancing to the music and roasting your hotdogs.



Unknowingly, I documented Jake's injury


A few pics Jake took







Jacob, your favorite gifts were the digital camera from me and Rick, and the boots from Grandma. Josh, your favorite gifts were the “Speed Racer” video game from me and Rick, and the “Basketball” video game from Uncle Sky.

I love you guys SO much, and I can’t believe that my babies are so old.

He Just Might Get It

I had a recent conversation with Jake at Walmart that impressed me. I try to NEVER take all the kids to the store at the same time, because my experience is much like this one, curtesy of the lovely Dawn over at Because I Said So. So I take them 1 or 2 at a time, and they love the "quality time".

Jake asked me if he could get a toy, to which I replied "No Jake, we are not getting any toys today." He proceeded to tell me that when he went to Naz's house, Naz had lots and lots of toys. More than he has. So I took my Mom's advice to take this opportunity as a learning experience. I don't remember why my Mom and I had been talking about this exact topic, oh yeah, now I do. My Mom and I had been talking about the very wealthy girls over at the barn, and how Kyley had recently commented that "Just when you think you have something REALLY cool, someone always has the same thing better than yours." She was referring to her saddle.

So I took my Mom's advice, and this is what I told Jake, to the delight of the older gentleman in the lightbulb isle. "Jake, you are right to feel like that. I'm sure Naz does have more toys than you, and someone will ALWAYS have more toys than you. And then, when you grow up, someone will have a better car than you, and someone will have a bigger house than you. So you need to go ahead and get used to it now." I heard the older gentleman in the lightbulb isle trying to stifle his laughter.

And this is where Jake suprises me. His reply was "I have a lot of toys Mommy. My whole room is full of toys. I don't even play with all my toys." Oh My. The happiness that filled my heart. We went on to talk about the kids who DON"T have a lot of toys, and had a really nice together at Wally world. And then, when it was time to go, Jake didn't even ask for a pack of gum, which he ALWAYS does.

And, have I told you all recently that I LOVE being a Mommy?

They don't get no fine dinin at home

Josh got his stitches out today, and was talking to the PA the whole time she was taking them out. She said to him, at the end, "Do you know how unusual it is for a kid to get stitches out without crying or anything? You're tough." And then he said "That's cause I'm 45 pounds!" and then he said "Do ya want to feel how stwong I am?" and he made his muscle, which he likes to do.

Then we went out to eat, and Josh thought it was his special day, but really I was celebrating having 5 LESS KIDS!!!!!

We went to our local buffet, and Jake cracked me up by eating a whole plate of shrimp with cock-tail sauce, and then asking for another one. Then he by-passed all the cakes, cookies, candies, and ice-cream, opting instead for a bowl of hot-fudge. I started to tell him absolutely not, until he explained to me that he was going to go get strawberries from the fruit table to dip in his sauce. And I said "Boy, that is the best idea you have had all day." And then I joined him. He certainly doesn't eat shrimp or chocolate-covered-strawberries at my house, so now I know how he is living the good life over at Grand-ma's, and I'm jealous.

I swear they love each other!

A conversation I overheard today between Jacob and Rainia


Jake: I'm gonna wear a suitcase in the wedding. And a tie.

Rainia: You're going to wear a suitcase?

Jake: Yeah, it's black. And a tie.

Rainia: Oh, you mean a SUIT.

Jake: And a tie.

Rainia: Well, I'm gonna wear a tiarra, because I'm going to be a princess.

Jake: You gonna be a ugly princess.

Rainia: Well, you're the ugliest troll in the world.

Jake: Is my teacher gonna be nice at kindergarden?

Rainia: You're teacher's gonna be SO nice. If you say I'm the prettiest princess in the world you can play with my slinky.

Jake: OK. You're the pretty princess.

Rainia: In the world.

Jake: Oh never mind.

Feel the love

And a recent Josh-talk:

Jake: Josh, who do you wuv better? Andrew or me?

Josh: Jacob, you awe my twin bwover and i wuv you cuz you gave me a dowwa.

Recent Jakeism's

These are the things that I have heard Jake say lately.

To Rainia: “I hate you, but you’re cute”

To Me: “Your face is ugly but your hair is very beautiful, and that is why I love you.”


And the moral decision of his young life:

Recently Jake lost his tooth:






That night, he put the tooth under his pillow, woke up the next morning to check, and his tooth was still there. Rick and I explained that sometimes the tooth-fairy is very busy going to people’s houses, and it takes 2 nights. He played with his tooth. Yes, I know how disgusting that sounds, but it was in a ziplock bag. Anyway, he played with his tooth, and unfortunately, lost it. He was VERY sad. One of the other kids gave him the idea to write a note to the tooth-fairy, explaining that he lost his tooth, and then lost his tooth. He did this, and to his delight, the next morning there were three dollars under his pillow. He was excited, held and loved his dollars, and then, this evening, we offered to take him to the dollar store. He was very sweet, and decided to take Joshua and Andrew with him, since he had 3 dollars. Andrew declined, but Josh took him up on his offer, and they went to the dollar store, spending a dollar each, which left Jake with one dollar. This evening, as we were getting ready for bed, came his big moral dilemma.

He decided that since it worked to put the letter about the lost tooth the other night, it would probably work again tonight, even though he actually didn’t lose another tooth. So he wrote this:






Wow. I was shocked to the point of confusion. I was both proud and disappointed at the same time. I was quite impressed with his ingenuity, but could not believe that he would feel ok about telling such a blatant lie. I knew that I had to somehow turn this into a lesson, but how?

Rick and I took turns asking him gentle questions. Some of the questions included:

“What do you think will happen if the tooth-fairy finds out you’re lying?”
“How will you feel tomorrow if there IS money, and you know that you lied to get it?”
“What about God?”
“What if there is another little boy who lost a real tooth tonight, and the tooth-fairy is busy coming to our house?”

We left the decision up to him, not trying to sway him one way or the other, Just carrying on conversation. I could see the struggle in his face as he pondered his decision, and he ultimately decided not to leave the note, saying that he had another loose tooth anyway. We both gave him a big hug, and told him that we thought he made the right decision. Later, when it was just the two of us, I asked him why he decided not to leave the note. His answer gave me warm fuzzies in my heart. “Because I didn’t wanna lie mommy.”

Em Bare Assed

Conversation with the doctor today during Jake and Josh’s pre kindergarden check-up

Me: So you’re not going to report me to social services or anything?

Dr.: (laughing) nope.

Me: I just wasn’t home when they got up this morning.

Dr.: It’s typical boy behavior.

Me: The majority of the boys you see don’t like to wear underwear?




Conversation with the boys after the check-up

Me: Jake, you are SO tough! You only cried for about 5 seconds, and you got THREE shots!

Josh: Mommy, am I tough?

Me: Yeah, Josh! You are SO tough! You’re AWESOME!

Josh: Mommy, I wasn’t even cwyin.

Me: You weren’t?

Josh: No. I was pwetendin ta cwy.




Conversation with my mom and Rick after check-up

Mom: Well, that’s better than I thought you were going to say.

Me: Are you kidding? Most people put clean underwear on their kids before they take them to the doctor.

Rick: Well, better no underwear than dirty underwear.

Mom: Well, did that permanent marker ever come off where they drew circles around their nipples?

Quality Time

Written 5/2/08

I have not updated in quite some time, but that is because of all the insanity raising 7 kids requires. I was about to say that nothing too interesting has happened around here but then I remembered that our lives are interesting simply because there are SO MANY of us.

Andrew went back up to Duke for a vision exam. They had told us in Charlotte that there was nothing that they could do about his vision, but after finding so many differences between Duke and Charlotte we decided to get a second opinion on that. Unfortunately they said the exact same thing. There is nothing that they can do about the vision issues. His eye has nerve damage, and the nerve is actually a different color in his “bad” eye. So no vision out of that one. His “good” eye is still not going to be affected by using glasses, they said that his is not a near or far sighted problem, but a focus issue.

I kept the boys home from daycare last Fri. because I didn’t have to work, and wanted to spend some quality time with them. During our quality time, I was in my bedroom watching Dr. Phil and they were in the living room watching Dora. Joshua threw a toy at Jacob, hitting him square in the middle of the eyebrows causing an intense amount of blood, tears, and guilt. I found Josh hiding under Brooke’s bed, I wanted to hide under my own bed, and even Dr. Phil felt bad. I rushed him to the ER, where they glued his gaping hole into a tiny scratch.

Unfortunately, the other boys at daycare can’t seem to resist reaching out to touch the purple circle in the middle of his eyebrows, but it should fall off on its own in a couple of days.

Rainia does have to have the tubes put in her ears, and she was x-rayed today to see if she also needs to have her adnoids removed at the same time. She seems to be very excited at the prospect of having surgery, and I for one, can’t wait to be her caretaker during the recovery process, because I love how she needs me EVERY 2 SECONDS when she has a cold.

Berd

Written 4/2/08

Congratulations to my berd* and her team for winning 1st place in the Battle of the Books for the first time in her elementary school's history.

We got the results back from Andrew's neuro-psycological assessment. It is very interesting, but we are still trying to decipher it. Maybe we should have Kyley explain it to us?

They are getting ready to go on the outerbanks field-trip. Rick is definately not going, but now we are questioning that decision. They said there would be A LOT of walking, students have to carry their own luggage, they will need to wear sweatshirts and coats, shed them and carry them, etc. All normal activities, but things Andrew might struggle with.

Brooke has her 1st soccer game tomorrow, and then the boys start T-ball on Sat.

That's all I have to report for today, except that next week is spring break for our school system and I am SO excited. I need a break.

-Heidi

*berd- beautiful nerd

Y'all jiss don know haow t tawlk

Written 3/25/08

There is a day after Easter story that I can’t delve to deep into, because kids surf the internet. Anyway, I’ll just say that it involves Rainia finding stuff in our room, and my mother explaining to her that the Easter Bunny always leaves supplies for anyone who works in a school system to make baskets for other children just in case the Easter Bunny forgot to visit their house. Rainia, at 9 years old, had one of the saddest moments of her life. She barely spoke to anyone for the rest of the day.

On the flip side, I felt better today. But first I felt worse. I had to go back to work today, so I checked my school e-mail which I never do on my days off. I should make a point of checking it once in a while, because this was 9:30 am. Of course there was an e-mail from my supervisor saying that there was a mandatory staff meeting at 10:00 am. And do not be late. I have never washed myself so quickly in my entire life. I’m sure I missed some spots, but I put on a little extra perfume to make up for it. I wrapped my hair so tightly that when I took it down this evening it was still wet. I hopped out the door on one foot so that I could save zero seconds by putting my other shoe on in the car. I called Rick on the way to tell him my bum luck, and by the way, I may just run out of gas because the car is below empty. By the grace of God I didn’t run out of gas, and I was only 6 minutes late to the meeting.

This is how the whole day went. I got home at about 7:45 since it was a field-trip night. I honestly did not have time to feel depressed all day, and by the time I got home, the kids had already eaten Rick’s specialty. Rick’s specialty is Sloppy Joes. That’s what we called them up north. Around here, they are called Manwiches. I guess Rick thinks that it is ok to cook them, because they have the word “Man” in them. Because of that, I don’t argue the word. I like to argue the difference between Northern and Southern words, weiner instead of hotdog, y’all instead of you guys, and the one that really gets under my skin, toboggan. Where I come from, a toboggan is a kind of sled. Around here a toboggan is a hat. Since it only snows here once a year, and the snow is gone within hours, I believe that I have the authority over the difference between a sled and a hat. You cannot put a sled on your head! But I let Rick have Manwich, because that and soup are the only things he cooks. And the soup is questionable because last week when I was sick, I had some condensed soup WITH NO WATER ADDED. Lord was I glad to see those manwiches tonight though.

Rick says that it was a good thing that I had that meeting this morning, and had to work all day. He made the point that he would be depressed too if he had to spend the whole day in the house. Maybe he’s right. All I know is that I have a doctor’s appointment soon to talk about medication, and I am counting down the days.

Jacob and Joshua were play fighting today, which sometimes gets out of hand, but I was busy eating the best manwich in the world, so I didn’t stop them. Rick and I were sitting at the table when we heard Jake say to his twin, who is ½ in. shorter, but 5lbs. heavier, “You dont know kawate wittle kid.” We couldn’t help but to laugh.

The toe

Written 3/2/08

If it's not one thing, it's another. We spent the day in the ER yesterday with Rainia, her big-toe is infected under the nail. Why do things always happen on the weekends or evenings when the drs. office is closed, so that we have to spend 4-5 hrs. in the ER? The Dr. said there was no cause to her infection, sometimes these thing just happen. Sent home with a RX for anti-biotic. Brooke needs glasses! We have an app. with eye-doc. on Thur. Nothing else too exciting in the last couple of days. But, I will leave you with another Jakeism.

Me: "Jake, I love you sooo much because you're so smart and funny!"
Jake: "Mommy, I love you sooo much, because you're so hot!"

There is something seriously wrong with this. This is what daycare does? Or maybe having 5 older siblings.

lactose intolerant

Written 3/1/08

Make-a-Wish called and asked to reschedule. The woman coming out has her daughter visiting for a surprise visit from Iraq. That was fine with us, because 9:00 on Sat. morning is a hard time for our bunch. By hard I mean still in bed.

I had Rick laughing about reading the post about Jake. He sure is a handful. Example-
"Mommy, is ask a cuss word?"
"No, Jake"
"Well, Andrew sure is a smart ask!"
"Jacob! you cant say that!"
"Why mommy? Is smart a cuss word?"

Or a recent conversation he had with Rick when he didn't get his way.
Jake: "I hate you!"
Rick: "Jacob that's not a nice thing to say."
Jake: "Well, then I hate milk, and YOU'RE milk!"