Braden

Our trip is full of events and silliness. It's part of the joy. Each year brings much growth to all of our families. My children are growing up. No surprise. But at times it does catch me off guard. For so many years Scott or I had to have our eyes constantly on our little ones and now we find ourselves with no little ones.This year the beach was "easy". It still requires lots of planning, but I can sit and not be running. This year I could go cook or play games and not have a horrible fear a toddler would get in the water. My big kids intermingled with with younger ones and they seemed to always be playing the Wii or Rockband or riding unicycles or rip sticks or biking or even chasing the raccoons! Football and basketball at the gym or playing at the park...it seems the bridge in age is shortening and my children all do so well together. The years are flying by!

I enjoy the moments of my trip that allowed me to sit and visit with "adults" and nieces and nephews who are grown. I love that fellow shipping time.

I smiled at a comment by neat Braden (pictured above with his sea foam elf shoes). Braden's older brothers asked him why he did not go to the beach and surf with them. Braden said,"I didn't come to go to the beach,I can do that anytime..... I came to play with my cousins!" :) I feel so much like Braden. I don't go to shop or eat out or even go to the beach...I go to be with those I love. That is true joy!

Braden, who is Julies youngest is a really neat guy. He is a leader and he is a smart cookie!

One day on vacation Bella and Daniel came in the cabin tattling on one another. Daniel was wet from the knees down. He said Bella had shoved him in a mud hole. Bella said she did not.

First you must understand the mud is about 4 feet way from the road Dan was riding his rip stick on.

I walked down to asked the boys outside if they saw what happened.

Seth said, " I didn't see it"

Ryan said, "I don't know but she probably did"

And making me laugh and SO appreciate the intelligence of Braden came him reply, " I didn't necessarily SEE it. But I don't know how he would have gotten all that muddy all by himself?"

As a mother I VERY much loved that! So many times plain old common sense wins our in arguments and disagreements.

BTW...She pushed him because he pulled her hair....now THAT makes much more sense!

Coconuts...

Last night Seth wanted me to look at his head. It was itching. I know I never blog about some things in my life. Head lice would be one of those, seriously, who wants to read about that? Makes me very very sick! The words YUCK! GROSS!! HORRIBLE!! DEVASTATING? and lots more come to mind...but the jest is simple...NO ONE wants to be looking at lice! And I don't like talking about it. But it would be pretty unrealistic to think I could have 21 children in public schools without ever having crossed it more than once. If you want advice...go ahead...ask... it is a very traumatic thing. Just ask anyone who has freaked out trying to get rid of it!

I sighed, went to get my blue glasses(because I have currently lost all my other dollar store glasses), and sat in the light to "look". You know the phrase "nit picking" came from a head lice origin? I do not use that phrase often! After a lot of "looking" I did not nit pick a bit, seems Seth has dry scalp. As I explained it to him he said,"It's prob'ly cause of those coconut stuff in the shower!" I looked up quickly, my coconut shampoo that I have told everyone not to touch?! That coconut? With that thought in mind I agreed, "It probably was the coconut stuff, just don't touch it again." lol:) I then explained I would get him some new shampoo to help his head.

Wish all of life's yucky situations turned out so well:)

Changes my way....

We are back and into a nice swing of things:) Well, I am. Scott spent the day Saturday in Kentucky visiting Sam (he took Carlton and Michael with him). Lita wanted to go too, but only because she thought they were going "Bowling". When Scott explained the name of the town was Bowling Green and that they would not "be" bowling she changed her mind:)

Bella and I have been baking for the family get together (yesterday) We made 5 different cupcakes and had fun decorating them.

I went in Wal-Mart this morning and smiled at the lack of people. Amazing what a few days can do to traffic. I am sure the Wal-Mart Corporation is sad, but I am so very thankful to have been able to walk up to a check out and actually put my items on an already empty conveyor!

I realize that 2010 is going to bring some big changes. I am adding a new son (Bo by marriage) and one son (Caleb) is going to be moving out of the country with the Army. In a funny an older lady asked where he was going and I replied "Germany". She smiled and said, "At least he isn't going overseas!". haha...She was serious.

Lift will be changing. Both of those events are pretty traumatic for me. Perhaps "traumatic" is a bit much...I guess maybe I should say they are both very "impacting" to my life. Good things to be sure, but they each bring a serious change to my status. Joseph is thinking he will move to Texas after he completes his training with the Job Corp (that too is a long way from home). Changes keep coming.

Can you believe that when we ordered out this week they asked me how many children I had under 10 and I only have TWO!!! It was not to long ago we had 11 under 10. Now we are growing up. Next year I will have only Seth under 10....time is moving on. This new year is a testimony to change. I may never remember the write 2010 on my checks (likely a good thing I use my debit card so much!).

As long as I keep myself headed in the right direction I will be okay.

2010 promises to be wonderful and adventurous. My resolution is a simple one...I resolve to take God with me in all my ins and outs of this New Year. He will not be a number on my priority list, He will be IN every moment I experience! What can go wrong when God is with you? I think I should clarify and say....No matter what goes wrong if God is with me and my path still forward facing I can whether any storm, I can manage any moment, I can withstand any evil because my God is with me:)

Camera Camera ...What do you see?

These are some of my favorite shots taken during our week at Gulf Shores:)

This was a sweet picture I caught of Chelsea and Bo. In less than 6 weeks they will be married. I can hardly believe it! How quickly the years have gone and how quickly the next few weeks will go as well!


Victoria her her beloved Grannie! THIS is just one small moment but so indicative of the moments all my children have with thier grandparents!


Scott's brother-in-law John is an orthadontist. He brought tools to triage my crew in order to set up times for braces this year:) I loved this one, Julie (Scott's sister) was taking notes for John. Someone made a funny comment(haha..obviously).


SWEET hands! This sweet hand belongs to my Ryan. As we left the beach he ran up with a flower for mom:) I don't think a mom anywhere gets tired of flowers brought in sandy little hands.


Stuart in the "backyard" ...pretty cool back yard huh?


Sarah and Pa:) Pa was so great! Pa is alwys doing things to make the trip roll along smoothly. This year he took time to take little ones to the Nature Center...a very cool place! I love having time for us to be with him:)


Scott rode a unicycle when he was young. He showed his incredible skill to the kids (and adults). I was very very impressed (although not the least surprised!).


These are our families soldiers....our nephew Ben and son Caleb. I am just terribly proud of these guys!!

Our entire family!! Minus Hannah's sweet friend Elizabeth who took pictures for us:)

Tasha! A wonderful picture. I intended to take these of all the kids, but it was so cold most did not last...glad Tasha sat down first:)

Scott and his sisters: Janet and Julie:)

Braden, Seth and Daniel by the sea.

Caleb skim boarding.

Jacob skim boarding for the first time...this is the picture right before the picture that only shows the board because Jacob is UNDER water!

Jaob singing with the Rockband. TRULY a hillarious thing to watch (and listen) to the playing that went on this week.

Doug playing with the kids. Doug had his Tahoe with us this year and I had a hard tie keeping up with him.

Grannie and Pa. These two people are so incredible!! We are all so very blessed to have them in our lives!!

Daniel on his ripstick. Dan is very good at this and spent a big part of the week wiggling down the road.

Rosie and her bike. Rosie road on the nature trails and had a big time exploring this week.

Wii was a big hit. I caught this bunch racing on Mario Kart.

Mercedez and Janet...beautiful smiles:)

Michael and Gary in thier matching Carhart.

Hannah, Hannah and Elizabeth:)

This picture is really indicative of our family most the time...lots of laughing and mingling:)

As I looked for pictures of Isabella I could not find her! Then I went back and looked up close. Bella is in a lot of pictures...here she is with Bo and Janet...she is listening. Bella doing what she loves most! And ofcourse keeping an eye on mom...she is a smart girl.

Doug and Seth arguing. Seth is the king of Madden football. Undefeated...with the expection of one game won by Jacob (by one point). Doug was talking smack (aka...telling Seth how bad he was going to beat him). The funny part was that Doug now refuses to play Seth:)

Chelsea getting help from brothers with her helmet....priceless!

John and Rachel:) Another backyard picture....pretty awesome.

Joe and Tasha...a house divided shirt:)

Carlton. All week it was pretty cold (except for the last day and that was just one afternoon). Carlton ought to have pneumonia...in a world where "you're gonna get sick if you dont put on some clothes!" actually works.

What do you say?

I sat at the table one evening as my sweet sister in laws cleaned the kitchen behind me. My task? Taking about 200 of the most ridiculous pictures I have ever taken!! Most of them looked like the one above:) I had silly kids (our older group of children ..."older" being the grown up adult kids) taking turns being silly. SO SO SO SO many funny pictures! I love that about our trip. I take a bunch of pictures, my children are almost always lovingly long suffering about posing. But "targets" waiting in a line was so much fun!

Above? Faces surely only a mother could love:) My Sarah and Caleb! Once again amazing me at how much they look alike.

From my porch:)

I try to tell people how very peaceful my "beach" visit is every year. We don't actually stay at the beach (something I am pretty thankful, cleaning up the sand alone would do me in!), we stay in "cabins" (which are really beautiful houses) at the State Park. Our family has a line of houses(5 this year) and we have kids spread out everywhere. We all eat together and we have so much wonderful "visiting". It is really so very relaxing!

From the porch every morning I could sit and see this lovely sight.......The very first morning I woke up to find Michael wrapped in his blanket on the porch watching the sun come up:) I love sweet moments like that! It was one which I didn't have my camera for...but will always carry in my mind:)



From the spot every evening I could see this....

Where to begin?

I arrived home this afternoon about 4:30. Just in time to run to the store and come home to cook Hogs Jowl, Black Eyed Peas and Greens (along with ham, baked beans, rolls and sweet tea). The sack boy at the grocery store wondered by you couldn't just have good luck eating at McDonald's? haha! I was reminded of him later in the evening when Tasha turned up her nose at the majority of the dinner and declared "I make my OWN good luck!" A girl after my own heart:) I love that attitude, I do believe we "Make our Days" exactly as we choose. So much of life is so simply about our choices. Even in the face of difficulty we MAKE the outcome, we still choose our behavior.

I seemed to have gotten side tracked:) I am not sure where to begin. The last week has been SO VERY FULL of fun, excitement and so much plain good times! I and my children look forward to this week all year. It was wonderful:) Jacob told Caleb on the way home today, "Mom will be on the computer for DAYS trying to blog all our stuff, we won't ever get to be on!" haha. I will have to practice some moderation:) I will back track a bit .....and eventually have myself caught up:)

For today? HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! This year promises so many wonderful blessings:)