Brads first fall season

Yesterday my two year old looked out the front window and saw the van covered with leaves. He made a little growl and said Mom, the tree fell on your van, can I get it off.
I thought that was so funny. This is the first fall he is actually experiencing and understanding. To him the leaves are a tree, and when they were laying on the van he thought the tree fell on the van.
It is neat to know what kids really think.

Last year- Driving to church the farmers were spreading manure in the fields. Josh (age 7 at the time) said, what are they spreading? I said manure. He thought for a moment and said- Ewww, I am not eating corn anymore. :0)

Well, better go for now.
Talk to you later

Visiting the Hospital

Well, yesterday my husband and I got to go up to the hospital to visit his dad again. (Brad drove this time:0)

Tiffany came to watch the kids-- nine kids and two dogs, poor girl. But by the sounds of it, It was loud but they all cooperated and had fun. Tiffany played pool (and won) although Josh tried to claim the victory. A few bumps and bruises, but what do you expect with so much going on.

I really appreciated her doing that for me, it was not easy I am sure.

My father in law (Jim) is doing better. He can't talk, or swallow or move really, but his condition is better. He does not seem to talk to anyone but Brad or I. When I say talk, I mean he grunts, or mumbles so bad you can't understand him. But we had him laughing so hard I thought he was going to cry. He does understand us. I let him hear a recording of Kayla playing the piano (it was on brad's phone). He listened intently. I hated to leave him. Things could still go wrong. Before all this happened, he was already chair bound, could not walk across the house without trouble. His lungs are almost to nothing. There is nothing they can do for him because they are too far gone. So while he is in the hospital getting better, he could still just stop breathing just because... So seeing him happy (even though not himself) was a great blessing to me. He will probably go to a nursing home for a while for therapy for everything. They say he may not get to 100% but he will make some recovery.

Thanks Tiffany for your great sacrifice.

Dumb mistake

Brads dad is in the hospital (he may not make it very long). So Brad went to visit him and I had to stay home. It is hard to find a sitter for six kids. But after a while I called Lisa to see if she could come here.
So off to Hbg. Hospital I go. Brad says be careful when you go in the parking garage it will be tight. (I am driving a chevy express 12 passanger van, it is pretty big).
so I pull up to get my ticket. the guy says I dont' think you will fit. So park right in here if you can find a spot. I say-- well my hubby is parked on the 4th floor, can't I go up there? He said if you can't find a spot in here you can try.
So off I go. I first scrape that sign that says 6'7", but who'd have thought that that is the REAL size of spots (you'd think they would give a leeway, maybe 4 inches or so).
so up i go, no parking spots where he said.. driving, hit the next sign that says 6'7". (I am driving slow). Scraping something as I go, but I thought it was just the antenea. Oh, by the way, I am ducking in the van the whole time I am driving, thinking Brad said be careful...
Then all of a sudden I scrape something. then bang! Oh, no I broke somethign off the van!!! So right away I pull out of everyones way (on floor 2). and call brad out of the hospital.
the top of the van is very dented and scratched up. Here, I was barely making it the whole way, but they put a water line throughout there I guess for fires, and I hit that metal pipe, and that is what dented it.

Well, brad comes down and shakes his head. He and his brother have to let the air out of the tires to get me out. People were stopping and asking how we got that big thing in the garage and laughing. Brad told the one guy he did not know me he was just being nice and helping. :0)
So out we go, but the van still does not fit under that one pipe (It hung down lower, that is why I did not stop sooner, It seemed like it was okay, just tight, until that pipe). so he backs the van up and lets the air out again. 20 pounds of pressure for a one ton vehicle is not good. So after we carefully got out we carefully drove to the next garage and it was tight getting in there too.(good thing the air was out of the tires).Each turn that we took the tires were squeeling.

After we left brad drove the van to the gas station (I drove his truck-- New Chevy Silverado 2008,,, this was against his will) No, just kidding he lets me drive his truck.
But we made it. All safe and sound. The van will need to be painted on top or it will rust, but it is okay (oh and the dent the whole way down).

So that is my exciting story. I am sure others have done that right?!
I think I will park on the street next time... what do you think.
Talk to you later

Is there rain in Heaven?

Micah, my five year old is just sitting looking out the window at the rain. He says "is there gonna be rain in heaven?" Well, I said "I don't think so" and he said, "I wouldn't think so since it is coming down from heaven."

what a thought. I love hearing the inner thoughts of my children. I love the fact that while sitting quietly their thoughts go to heaven and godly things. Not video games, movies etc.

And would I ever have thought of that, there is no rain in heaven because it is all coming to earth from heaven. I guess he thinks there would be none left.

Well, better get back to work. talk to you later

Too Heavy

My two year old was helping me to get the cereal for breakfast and he ran over to the fridge and said I will get the milk it is too heavy for you. Oh, good thing I have those 2 yr old muscles around to help me with the milk :0)

It is funny what kids do.
Timothy (Just turned four) does not know all his letters yet, but because when things get labeled around here they get a K, J, L, M, T, B for the kids. So timothy thinks that T (it does not say /t/) it says timothy. the other night when we were eating alphabet shaped noodles the kids were spelling out their names. Timothy kept finding T's and saying I found a timothy, and another Timothy. Later Kayla was looking for an I to finish our last name and I said to look in tim's pile I think he threw some I's in by mistake. He said no mom, these are all Timothys. I could not stop laughing. boy will I have my work cut out next year in school.

Micah, who is in first grade with most things (but still only five) does not know all his letter names. He knows what they all say, and can read some stuff, but he does not know that an I is called an "I". so he was finding his letters and he said, I am looking for the /i/ (short i sound). I have the "M" and "C".

Well, better go. I am supposed to be working.
Talk to you later

Stromboli

We went to eat with our friends again. Stromboli is the choice on the menu for our families (the adults). We have not gotten together with them for about a month (or so it seems, but that might be pretty accurate). It was fun catching up. Both Tiffany and I have been sick, hopefully we are both on the mend and working our way to being better.
I love how the kids are together. My 2 year old was calling their three year old to come sit with him. I like that they are close. Even as they are young, you can see their budding friendships. it is hard to find a family with the same goals in life as far as raising a family, so it is nice that we have one, and the kids are the same ages, so they will grow up with friends.

Crickets on the Loose

Okay, so we got a gecko the other week, and they eat crickets. I hate bugs, so I won't feed the gecko. Well, Grandma came over for Timothys birthday and she has never seen the gecko. So the kids want to show her the gecko and someone knocks over the jar that has the crickets in it. Lid comes off and out goes about 50 crickets!!!! Now we are all right there, but they disappear real quick, we got about 8 of them (well, mom did, I grabbed a bowl to throw over them), now all the rest of the day I will see a cricket hop across my floor and I am up grabbing my bowl again to take 5 minutes to get him into his jar again. So I have recovered about 8 more today, that means only about 36 to go!!!!!!!!!!! Argh, whose idea was a gecko anyway? My question is how did we miss that many getting by us when we were all standing in a circle, and where are they hiding and coming out from?
Talk to you later, (if the crickets don't get me)

Happy Birthday Timothy

Today is my son, Timothy's birthday. He turns four today. The countdown is finally over. I always tell them we should not have any more birthdays because i don't want them to get any older. It never works. Timothy is my smilie guy. Brad's mom has pointed that out to Brad and she is right, he is always smiling. It is funny how each of the six kids has a different personality. Still have to bake his cake today, and we have church tonight so his birthday will be cut short, but he won't notice I don't think, as long as I stay on top of everything else that needs to be done and it is done on time, we should be fine.

Babysitting

Today I got a call from a friend. She is sick so I get to watch her kids. We are having a lot of fun. They are right now building with the legos, well, my kids are, Julia is just watching, Mark is drawing with a dry erase board. He has had that thing since he got here. Christmas present idea for only 3.00. And Christy, well, she is being passed around from one kid to the next. They all love holding her. and she loves being held. The kids are getting used to my two boxers. They have not yet been introduced to the new addition to the family, the gecko. Although Mark did see the crickets in a bag (gecko food).

So this is the day in the life of 9 kids (today), what fun. Mine are actually not fighting and bickering, they are all trying to share with the new kids. I should have them over more often. I should get my camera and post pics. After lunch maybe.

Well, talk to you later.