Summer - BTR

"Don't count every hour in the day. Make every hour of the day count."

I can't believe it is August!

Where did our summer go?

It was a great summer.

Camp, vacation at the lake, waterpark, lots of friends and family time.

Our daughter Rachel went to her first concert this weekend.

She went with her friend for their birthdays.

Big Time Rush!

Kendall (her favorite) & James (her 2nd favorite) came right up next to her.

How exciting!

My first concert was Donny and Marie Osmond with my friend Dana.

(Dana lived kitty corner across from me just like Rachel's friend does!)

I didn't get to be up close to Donny, but I still remember how exciting it was.

On a side note: I did finally get to be up close to Donny when I saw him in Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat. Tom and I left the musical and were walking around downtown Chicago when we saw a bunch of people waiting outside by the back door of the theater. I said to Tom "What fools thinking Donny is going to come out that door." Then Tom said "There he is."

I was suddenly 14 years old again and took off running and screaming. Ha ha!

I busted my way through the crowd and got Donny's autograph and touched his hand.

I feel very "giddy" right now. Lol!

So Rachel had a wonderful time and came back with a t-shirt, necklace, and bracelet.

Her friend's mother loved seeing our girls so excited and she made sure they had the

time of their lives that night!

I have been to many Duran Duran concerts and have never come really close to Simon - though I swear John looked right at me at one of them - what an exciting night for Rachel and her friend.

Today my sister and my nephew from Texas are coming to visit.

I am so excited to see them and to spend a few days with them.

Family is the best!



Summer Update

"Stop the Horses!"

(This quote will only be understood by a few - for now.)

It seems that summer and blogging do not mix well for me.

Having 8 children at home - including 2 who love to be on my laptop - makes it hard for me to sit and write when I want.

Right now it is almost midnight and I would love to be in bed, but felt the need to sit and update a little before summer is over.

Our oldest 3 boys went to camp for a week.

They go to a Tourette Syndrome camp and get a chance to meet

other kids from all over the world who have TS and/or OCD.

It is wonderful.

They had a great time!

We picked them up on a Saturday and we were getting

ready to leave for our family vacation the next day.

Made for a busy day.

We decided to go to Lou Malnati's for lunch.

Noah and Rachel had both received certificates for free pizzas

from school for showing great character.

Our kiddos were very excited to be out at a restaurant and

our boys were telling us all about camp while our girls filled them in on what happened at home while they were gone.

Our pizza came - it was the wrong order.

Our waitress came back with the news that our pizza was

given to another table.

Ugh. But they brought us free pasta to satisfy our hungry family

while we waited for our pizza to be remade.

They also gave us a larger pizza than what we had ordered and

didn't charge us at all for it.

Nice.

We decided to go to church that

 evening since we were

planning to leave bright and early Sunday.

While walking in, an older couple held the door for us.

The wife wanted us to sit next to her and her husband.

She loved seeing a big family.

After mass she came up to me and slipped some money

into my hand and told me to take my family out for ice cream.

I told our children.

The next day we made sure to stop while driving to the lake for

some ice cream.

The 4th of July was spent with family at the lake.

We went to Wisconsin and had an incredible time.

Lots of swimming, boating, and hanging with family.

And amazingly enough - I won the adult tennis tournament ;o)

I just might have to take it up.

This week has been a bit stressful.

Little Cameron was hit with a high fever (104.5) for a couple

of days and had a high wbc.

After a couple of tests and lots of prayers - he is doing much better today.

Poor little guy.

He was wiped out from this fever. We are guessing it is a virus.

 He is on an antibiotic until we get the culture back from his UTI test.

And if he still has the fever by Friday they will admit him for tests...but

his wbc is down today and his fever went down to 101.

Praying he is all better soon and that no one else gets it.

So I am definitely sad to know summer break will soon be over.

We are doing the school shopping.

I have really enjoyed having my children home with me.

Brandon has been great with his siblings.

We went to the petting zoo last week with friends and he was

such a great help, esp. with Jakey - who adores B.

Ethan has also been great. We have been watching "thriller" movies

together at night after everyone else goes to bed. It's been fun.

Noah is always great to play with. He is a great older brother.

Rachel, Leah, and Sarah have really enjoyed being together.

They have done a lot of fashion shows and singing songs.

School and Talent Show have been the top things to play.

Jacob and Cameron amaze me with how much they have grown over the summer.

Jacob is talking and has such a great personality. He really looks up to his older siblings. Cameron is walking around and babbling a lot.

He really seems to understand what we say to him. Very observant.

Tommy and I are keeping busy and still trying to declutter our home.

That has been an ongoing goal.

Maybe when all of our children are grown :o)

Cameron is 1

"For this child I have prayed, and the Lord has granted the desires of my heart."

Today we celebrated Cameron's 1st birthday.

What an amazing year!

CJ has been a great addition to our family.

He fits right in.

He is a very happy little boy.

Cami loves to babble and has taken a few steps.

I love how he curls his little toes.

I love how he rubs my arm while he is nursing.

His little head is so soft and fuzzy.

His eyes are a beautiful blue.

His smile is very toothy and sweet.

Right now he is snuggled in my arms, on my chest.

He does not sleep in his crib.

He sleeps between me and Tom.

Bad habit?

I don't care.

I know he will be in his own bed one day.

I am very blessed and my family brings me much joy.

I am very thankful for them.

My Cami

Summertime

"What time is it? --- Summertime!"

And summer break begins....

So far so good.

School was done on Friday. Happy to have our children home with me.

Happy to have late nights and late mornings. (If 6:00am can count as late.)

I will miss most of our children's teachers.

We had a couple that I truly hope to spend another year with in the future.

On Saturday we had an amazing day in Chicago.

Go White Sox!

It was a long game - 12 innings - and we ended up losing, but

all in all it was a fun game. Exciting!

The tickets for all of us, the parking pass, and enough Sox Bucks to keep everyone happy were given to us. Wonderful gift! Perfect gift!

On Sunday we spent the day in the front yard playing in the kiddie pool.

The weather has been beautiful!

On Monday we celebrated my husband's birthday.

The rest of this week looks gorgeous and we will spend it

keeping our home picked up and spending time together outside.

Cameron is almost 1 year old!

He is taking a few steps and finally eating food.

He spent the first 11 months only nursing - would not eat baby food!

He has never eaten a jar of food.

A bite or 2 and then he was done. No interest.

But now that I can give him whatever I am eating, he loves to eat!

Certainly been a money saver I guess.

Jacob got his first haircut at 2 1/2 years old.

I went upstairs to take a quick shower when my oldest got home from his finals. When I came down, Jacob announced that he had cut his hair.

I was very upset. I loved his long hair. It was gone.

Later when our other children got home our oldest daughter pointed out to me that our 4 year old Sarah cut her hair too.

That's when I asked Jacob who really cut his hair.

He said, "Sarah."

Sarah hung her head down and cried.

Then Jacob walked over to his toy fire truck, lifted up the seat, and showed us the pile of hair hidden inside.

I will note here that Tom was very happy that Jacob got a haircut.

I took him to the salon I go to and had his haircut fixed.

He was very good. Sat perfectly still. No wonder Sarah was able to cut his hair.

He does look cute, but I will miss his curls.

Oh well. It's only hair right?

Maybe Cameron will have curls.

Our 2nd child got into his school's musical again.

He has made it every year.

I love that he is not shy when it comes to being on a stage.

I'd like for all of our children to have that self-confidence.

I am starting most of them on music lessons this summer.

Some guitar. Some piano. Some vocals.

Leah wrote a song and was "belting" it out.

It is very catchy. I'll have to try and post her singing it.

May our summer continue to go well.

Our daughters are playing very well together.

So glad they have each other.

And our sons are getting along too.

Our oldest, Brandon is spending time with our 3rd, Noah.

He is teaching him how to use a ripstick.

It's great to see them working together.

Our Journey 2011

"God gave me you for the ups and downs."

I made a video for Tommy for Valentines Day last year. 

I have been messing around trying to put  the video on here.

I have no idea what I am doing wrong.

I'll have to ask my children how to do it :o)

So for now I put it on YouTube.

Well, I put it on my son's YouTube account. 

Not sure how that happened.

Again, I'll have to ask my children.

http://youtu.be/E4lhPw2E_dc

Hmm....not sure how to take off all the empty space at the end or

how to make the link better.

Work in progress I guess.

Catch Up

"Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His love endures forever."

It has been a long time since I have sat down with my laptop.

We've been very busy doing some home improvements.

I love it, but now I'm just waiting for someone to stain our new carpet or couch and someone to nick our newly painted walls.

It was a lot of work! And well worth it!

We still have a ton of organizing to do. We are really trying to cut back on the stuff in our home. I want to try and teach our children to focus on what is really important in life rather than the materialistic things in life.

But now our basement and garage are filled!

We wanted to spend the weekend putting our home back together, but I was hit hard with mastitis suddenly on Friday night. (A boo boo from nursing.)

My body started aching all over, I got chills and a fever.

Then the "pain" got unbearable. I went to the doctor and got put on

antibiotics right away.

So now I'm feeling better, but on my own to go through everything.

I will. I'm going to try and be strong & picky.

Some highlights of the last couple of weeks...

After one of the days spent painting, I got myself a "drink."

Our oldest son Brandon asked me, "What are you drinking?"

I told him I am an adult. I'm allowed.

He smiled and said, "I am actually happy to see you drinking. It means you're not pregnant."

Guess I should expect that from my oldest of 8.

Our 4 year old daughter Sarah was asking Tom to go upstairs with her and tuck her in to bed one night. Tom told her he couldn't go up right then and that he'd be up soon. Sarah whined a little bit more trying to get Tom to go up right then.

Finally she "gave up" and walked around the room giving everyone a goodnight kiss - everyone but Tom. Sarah started going upstairs when Tom asked her where his kiss was. Sarah looked back and with a sweet little smile said,

"Your kiss Daddy...is upstairs."

She played that very well.

Sarah also learned to ride a 2-wheeler. Yay Sarah!

Rachel decided she was going to teach Sarah and within a half hour, she did it!

Now Sarah can't get enough of riding her bike. She is a pro!

Little Miss Leah lost another tooth.

Her first top one.

But she swallowed it.

We were eating dinner. Rachel was sitting across from Leah.

Suddenly Rachel announces, "Leah your tooth is gone!"

And, well, yes it was.

Leah wrote a note to the tooth fairy explaining that she had swallowed her tooth. The tooth fairy was kind enough to still leave a dollar filled with fairy dust.

Cameron has started eating a little bit of "real food."

He still prefers nursing over everything else, but he does open his

mouth when I offer him some of the food on my plate.

He is pulling himself up to stand. He is almost ready to start walking.

(He does dance when he hears music.)

Jacob is really talking now. And he is all boy!

He loves cars and swords and wrestling around with his brothers.

Brandon, Ethan, and Noah are doing a great job "raising" my little boy. 



Easter 2012

"Never ignore a person who loves you, cares for you, and misses you. One day you might wake up and realize you lost the moon while counting the stars."

It took over a week to get my results.

Things look the same as last time, but now they have all the numbers they need.

I will go back in 6 to 9 months for another echo then we will go from there.

We had a nice Easter.

Our family went to church for confession the week before.

On Good Friday we went to our church for the Stations of the Cross done by the Youth Group. Our children Ethan and Rachel sang with the choir. The Youth Choir always sounds so beautiful.

Then on Sunday we celebrated Jesus' Resurrection, Easter.

Our children woke us up early - with coffee in bed - and waited for

Tom and I to come downstairs before digging into their baskets.

After checking out their goodies, we got ready for mass. We were able to walk to church. The weather was beautiful and we were actually ready to go early enough that we had time to walk.

Monsignor's Homily was very good. He talked about Heaven and how it is a place we all want to get to someday, but understandably, none of us are in a hurry to get there. That is because or our relationships we have here on Earth.

So true.

The people in our lives should be the most important part.

And just a personal "vent" just to get this out of my head...

I was just browsing on Facebook while nursing Cameron.

I read one of the most disturbing things I have ever read.

Someone posted an article about abortion.

There was a quote about someone wishing to speak to all the babies killed ever since abortion was made legal.

One of the replies after that was "Well then you'll have to travel to hell first because that's where all the unsaved go."

Why would someone say that? I was so upset by that statement. Is it all just a joke? One woman wrote about having a mass hysterectomy day just so women can have control over their own bodies. Ok - That's a bit extreme.

Just disturbing.

Cameron is snuggled in my arms right now.

He is getting so big - and it is all "me."

Cam refuses to eat anything! All he wants is to nurse.

He will "gag" on cereal, fruit,...I got him to eat two bites of yogurt yesterday. Today he took one little bite and no more.

He is growing and doing well so I'm trying not to worry. I will just try a little something with him every day.

He is standing and cruising along our furniture.

He will be walking before we know it!