Granny Update:

Just wanted to let everyone know that my Granny did go in for her surgery this morning. She out of surgery now and even doing so well as to not be on a respirator anymore. They were pretty sure she would have to be on one for a couple days while her body adjusted to missing part of a lung, but she is breath well and should be out of ICU tomorrow. Which is awesome news. This is only the first step in her long road ahead, but she is starting out on a great foot. She is such a strong and beautiful woman and I only wish that I could be there when she woke up. Its so wonderful to know that God is there holding her hand for me. I know you're not reading this right now Granny, but when you do, know that I love you!

When we say anything... we mean anything!

For as long as Carolina has been eating food of the non-baby variety she has been very willing to try just about anything. We have always told people that Carolina is pretty much a goat when it comes to eating. She will try just about everything and the stuff that she really enjoys sometimes borders on being just weird (like apples dipped in ketchup). But last night took the cake, the really funky I cant believe she is eating that (and enjoying it cake). It was by far the strangest and I have to say again the grossest thing I have ever seen her eat & she LOVED it!! We had Chinese takeout for dinner last night and just got buffet to-go. Which meant we had a whole range of things to choose from. I had Lina with me and she was picking out some stuff that she wanted. Nothing to crazy to start with, some fruit, a couple of hard boiled eggs, jello, oh and sushi (the child LOVES sushi!) But then she saw "them" and asked me what they were. I told her that I was pretty sure what they were baby octopuses and I really really didn't think she would like them. She insisted that she really wanted one and hey, who was I to say no?  So here it is folks! Not only did she actually take a bite, but she ate every bit of it! She even   stuck her finger in its head and pretended it was a finger puppet. I know weird right!!!! I cant wait to show her this and tell her all about it in ten years. She will either be completely grossed out or she will make a living eating exotic foods. 

Lots of work!

Okay, so I actually have a couple different blog topics to get on here in the next couple of days. But after redoing some stuff on here I am beat and have to get to bed without even really posting anything good. Well except my tweets that I update all day. I love the new background and the header took me longer then I thought it was going, but I think it looks great. Yeah Photoshop!!!! 

Its been a long week and I'm glad its the weekend. That being said, there is so much stuff we have packed into this weekend that I might be praying for Monday soon. At least then the kids are in school in the morning and napping for a couple of hours in the afternoon. 

Okay so more news tomorrow!

Lots of Love,

Mandi

Days like this...

Warning: This is kind of a sad blog... no new pics of the kids on this one guys. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Days like this make me want to gather all my kids on the couch and hug them and kiss them and tell them over and over again how much I love them.

Days like this make me think about never letting my little family leave the house again.

Days like this remind me that even the smallest act can end in tragedy.

Days like this make me want to call my Mom and my Granny, just to say I love you.

Days like this make me overwhelmingly grateful that I know the love of our Great and wonderful God. That placing my family's life in his hands is the only way to live my life. That he knows how each day will end and that will be there for us, holding our hands through anything. I know life will not always go the way I want it to and that there will be heartache, but that he knows what we can handle and he ALWAYS has a plan. ALWAYS...

There have been what seems like so many things happening over the past week that have scared me. Things that have me asking Him for some of his strength to not only get me through the moments of the day, but also everyone that is going through these trials. Last Wednesday I found out that my sweet beautiful very young 72 year old Granny will be battling Lung Cancer this year. They have found numerous spots on her lungs, but we are just in the beginning stages of the battle and so don't have a whole lot of information yet. We do know that there doesn't seem to be any cancer in her brain. Which is just about the only good news we have right now. I'm scared, she's scared and both of us are trying to be there for each other. Most people who know me well know how extremely close we are. Her and my Poppi (which passed away three years ago) have always been a very big part of my life. They were my safe place growing up and I spent as much time with them as I could. I have continued to have "mother-daughter" like relationship with my Granny during my adult life. Not that I don't have a wonderful Mother. I do! But as family goes I have my Mom and My Granny. Please pray for her and I will update on the blog whenever I have news to share.

The rest of the things that have me down on my knees this week are things that are happening to other people in my world. The blogging world is pretty new to me, but I have reconnected with friends who are avid bloggers and also have made new friends through this world. One of them is MckMama, she is a wonderful (fellow green, organic loving) christian blogger mom. She has a beautiful blogsite and is pretty much a superstar in the mom blogging community. Last summer while she was pregnant with your youngest son they were told that he had SVT (Supra Ventricular Tachycardia = very high heart rate) and would most likely not make it to full term, meaning he would die before he was born. They prayed and prayed and one day they went back and Stellen was healed and his heart rate was normal. He was born full term and has been healthy for the past seven months. Until last night... He is now in the hospital for SVT again and things are not getting better. Please if you have a moment pray for this little one and for his poor stressed out parents that are doing everything in their power to hold it together for him and his three siblings. They are putting it all in Gods hands and praying for him to give them strength and understand for what is going on. Please check out her blog of the full story. It is a beautiful God story and shows what he can do in our lives.

The other things are things that you have all heard about the simple fall of the actress Natasha Richardson that ended in tragedy and horrible plane crash in Mt that ended the lives of so many people. Nine of the fourteen people on that plane were in one family. They all got on that plane with funny thoughts of skiing on their minds. A horrible tragedy to happen to anyone.

I'm sorry for such a sad post, but this blog has become an outlet for me. So at the end of this blog I am asking you a big favor. Please pray for all of these families as they make their way through the tough hours, days and weeks ahead. That's really I any of us can do.

Why do they love the things they love?

So I read in one of my Greener, Organic Mommy Mags that avocado is a great healthy snack for kids. I don't remember exactly why they said it was so good for them, but with most things I read about or hear about that are good for them, I hear its good retain that part and go with it. Carolina and George were way past their adventurous eating stage to even consider trying it. It was just way to "green" for them, but not Laney she will try almost anything or at least at the time I let her try it she would. She has since decided that she doesn't want to eat anything except string cheese, popcorn, pop tarts and grilled cheese. Oh and just about any kind of chip she can get her hands on. Anyways, I got her to try it back then and she LOVES it. I cant scoop it out of the skin fast enough. I couldn't keep enough on her plate. She ate two thirds of the whole avocado. I barely had enough to make the guacamole that I bought the stinking thing for in the first place. Oh look Carolina's sucking her thumb, it must be time for bed or first thing in the morning or right after nap time or maybe its because the TV is on or it might be because she is thinking or it might be just 1:27pm... I guess you get the idea, she sucks her thumb pretty much all the time. We know its bad for her teeth, but what can you do? I think there are worse things she could be doing. Whats better then hanging out on the coffee table playing your Leapster and watching cartoons?

Lazy Saturdays...

Saturdays are normally pajama days around here. The kids love not having to get dressed and I love having one day's worth less of laundry. Doing clothes is not our thing around here. Some how two people who don't mind doing laundry and folding laundry both hate putting away laundry. I picked up this really great tip from Jon and Kate plus eight. We wash each kid's clothes separately. That way once they are washed and folded you only have to go to one room to put them away. It works out great and and makes for a whole lot less unmatched socks! Today is actually a very special day, there is no  more laundry today. I know, crazy right! I cant believe that I can look in that laundry room and see empty baskets!!! So I am going to sit back and enjoy it, because three little bodies and two big bodies we will have started all over again tomorrow. 

Even when she's throwing a fit she cant help but being cute. This was this morning after Ben told her they couldn't play in the bathroom anymore. The new favorite game around here is pulling all the clean towels out of the cabinets for superhero capes. Which means we usually end up with towels all over the upstairs, then I don't know which are clean and which aren't so the all go in the laundry. Doesn't she just look so pitiful...

As you can see the tears almost always work, especially on Dad. What can I say, she is the one that comes running yelling "Dad Dad!!" every time he walks in the door. 

New pics on the way!

I just wanted to let everyone know that I have new pics and plan to post a new blog by tomorrow evening. I learned some pretty tough news yesterday and I am just a bit to worn out to stay up doing it tonight. Stay tuned I promise there will be more soon! 

Mandi

Carolina's St Pat's outfit!

As soon as I was done posting the last post Carolina looked over my shoulder and was very upset that y'all didn't get to see her WHOLE St Patrick's Day outfit. So here it is! Don't y'all just love it? She is sooo the fashion icon. (she should be with as many times as she changes her clothes everyday!)

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Ben is out of town is out of town so we wont be having any super Irish inspired meals around here tonight. Not that we ever really have Irish inspired dishes on St Pat's Day in our house... I guess if I was a "fun and creative" mom I might make the kids milk green. But knowing my luck they would freak out and refuse to drink the "gross green milk". HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY to y'all!!! Its not really something we get into around here even though I'm pretty sure Ben and I are Irish descendants. But it was never really a big deal growing up in TX and so its never really been a big deal around here. So when Carolina got up this morning telling everyone that if they didn't wear green today she was going to pinch them, I was a bit surprised. Not that I wasn't prepared with green outfits for all of them, but a bit taken aback that she knew what day it was. It looked like it was a pretty nice day out so I thought we would go down to the park and feed some duck before lunch. Unfortunately, when we got there the beach part of the park was closed and the playground was covered in water. Not to mention that it was like 10 degrees colder there then it was at our house. We ended up at McDonald's again. I wasn't going to go there, but of course as soon as I said that we couldn't stay and play George had a "potty emergency"! Sneaky little stinkers!

Random Husband Picture Day!!!

I've decided today is random picture of your husband day! I thought y'all might get a kick out of the time Ben decided to grow a mustache when he was on a six month deployment on the USS Hampton. Thankfully he can only do that kinda stuff when he's out to sea, so he never has one at home. Its kinda like kissing a toothbrush!

Oh... what will the neighbors think?

Laney is a creature of habit. She knows that everynight after you put on your jammies you get a vitamin and dont you try to forget about said vitamin. She knows where they are, how to get them and I 'm sure with a little alone time she could most likely figure out how to open the jar. She never asks for more then one a night, but she never ever lets you get away with skipping that part. So after we get her in nice clean jammies with a nice clean face, in goes the vitamin and out comes the drool. I know what your thinking. Just give it to your before you change her. Well that would probably be possible if the only card that we hold to get her to actually change into jammies without a huge scene in that vitamin. Besides, she is the third child... whats a little drool on her jammies? So we have been having a lot of naked nights around here. As soon as the kids are down from the dinner table its off with their clothes. Then they just proceed to run crazy thru the house until we tell them its time to get ready for bed. Well George has decided that he likes sleeping au naturale these days ( he is a little hot box when he sleeps) and is refusing to wear any jammies. Oh, well I guess there are more important things to argue over. So off to bed he has gone for the last two nights in his pink pull-up. Yes thats right, I am making George wear all of Carolina's left over pull-ups. I had hoped at first that the thought of having to wear pink pull-ups would be enough to make him want to wear underwear to bed, thus leaving us with a completely potty trained child. But no, he has no qualms about wearing Dora pull-ups and truth be told the only one it really does bug is Ben. Carolina and Laney join in on the naked time everynight too, but tonight Carolina was in trouble for hitting her brother (who has gotten very good at letting us know when she hits him) and so had to go to bed right after dinner. Thankfully by the time I took this picture I had been able to wrestle (seriously I mean wrestle) little Laney down to get a clean diaper and some jammies on her. She doesn't really mind putting on clothes, but for some reason she HATES HATES HATES to have to lay down to put a diaper on. You would think that would mean that she was ready to potty train, but no actually it just means that she would rather run around in a super full diaper then have to take 3 minutes out of her day to get it changed. I have no idea where she gets this "I have to do things my way" attitude. It really bugs me and gets in the way of the I want to do things!!! Stinkin kid!

Its a pink tutu world around here!!!

Laney is loving this thing. I bought her and Carolina matching tutus and had no idea how much Laney was going to love hers. She sleeps in it, eats in it and even tried to get in the bathtub with it on the other night! Carolina has always been a lover of anything foofy, but Laney is a bit less concerned with anything girly. Well that was until the pink tutu showed up, okay so its only the pink tutu that she is into. She couldn't care less about dresses or dress shoes. Actually she did get her first pair of rainboots the other day (its a big deal around here to get your first pair) and she loves them. She wears them almost as much as the tutu and thats only because we wont let her wear them in bed. The first thing she says in the morning is "shoes shoes shoes" and continues that rant until the closet door is open and she has them securely on her feet. You can actually see them in a couple of the pictures and in the video!

Gifts from a far...

So after spending a very long year in Afghanistan my mom has made it safely back to the states. She spent the last twelve months living in a plywood hut and talking to us over the internet.  We are so very happy to have her back stateside and the kids are even happier to have gifts from her. The kids each got a stuffed animal in camo with their names on the hats, which stayed dressed for all of about ten minutes. So thanks for the super cute outfits mom, they were cool while they lasted. The animals had beautiful handmade bracelets on them that Carolina hoarded almost as soon as the other two weren't looking. As you can see from the pictures there were even a few unexpected "gifts" in the box too. Ben got a really cool antique lock that looks like one of the dolphin fish from his submarine pin and I got handmade ruby earrings and a matching pendent. Everything was beautiful, thank you mom we loved it all and welcome home!!!! 

Mom also send each of the kids some handmade bracelets. 

Carolina believes that you can make an outfit out of just about anything, including the bag that one of the gifts came in...

For some reason the paper towel was a huge hit. The paper towel that one of the gifts was wrapped in... Weird kids!

Its been a while...

Okay, so I have been wondering all day if this story is to private to share on here. But as I'm sure most of you are thinking right now "What something to private for Mandi to share! Is there such a thing???" Here it is:

Carolina is reading these days, alot. So when she sees a word that she recognized she lets you know right away. So this morning she was very excited to let me know that she could read the word love. Actually her exact words were "Mom! It says love on your butt! I can read love on your butt... Mom, why does it say love on your underware?" What can I say... I'm so happy she is learning to read. Okay, most of the time.

Waterpaints are always a big hit around here. Well, I'm guessing they're a big hit in most houses. Each of our kids have their own approach to it. Carolina is the budding artist in our home so she doesnt mess around to much when its arts and crafts time around here. George is a bit of a mess when it comes to artwork. I dont know if he even really likes doing the stuff, he's much more into cars. Where Lina could spend all day with a marker and a pad of paper, George could spend all day moving matchbox cars around the floor. So painting for him usually ends with him spilling his water, getting paint all over his clothes and then moving on. All in the span of about 15 minutes. Laney is just getting into the whole creative thing. She really just does what everyone else does, but everything ends up in Laney's month though. If you ask her if she put (whatever it was) in her mouth she will deny deny deny! 

Valentine's Day (give or take a week or two)

So for Valentines Day this year Ben bought us tickets to the Brad Paisley concert in Tacoma. We had to wait a couple of weeks to celebrate since it wasnt until the 28th. We had so much fun. First we had a really nice dinner and then we parked really far away from the Tacoma Dome. We really didnt have much of a choice in the matter. People were already parking when we drove by at 5pm and the show didnt start till 7:30pm. The good news was that we couldnt find the number on our parking space, so parking was free! (dont judge us! nobody could figure it out! lol) Ben got us good seats, but we were still pretty far away. I went down at one point to see if I could get a picture of Dierks Bentley and found it so easy to get down there I hung out for a couple of songs. Then I went back to tell Ben how easy it was to get down there and so when Brad came on we both went down there and watched the whole performance from the second row! It was so awesome! I felt kinda bad at first for sneaking up there, but then Ben told me that the tickets were almost the same price (ours were pretty pricey), there just werent any left. So it was a great night and I got some pretty good pictures. No great pictures, for some reason my camera was not corperating that night. I didnt even get a go picture of the two of us... It was so awesome to be so close to the stage!