In 2006 I was pregnant with my 4th child BEN, and I can honestly say that I was thinking (naively) "I got this." I am 5th of 12 children and I loved growing up in a large family, so 3 little kids was busy but not crazy, it was all I had ever wanted to do. I graduated from college but not because I was really career oriented, I wanted an education but mostly I just wanted to be a mom. The End. This was our family Christmas card photo from 2005. When I look at this picture I strangely feel ... VIEW POST
Sappy Dog Post
Well we have had Tula home for over 2 months now. The first couple days we had her home I was feeling almost guilty- like we had this dog who could do so many things that Ben didn't need (open the door, turn on the lights, pick up a wallet :)) but it wasn't long before I started to see how Tula was really changing his life. We were at the dentist waiting for Natalie and Ben saw a little girl walk in and start playing at the magnet table, he ran over and started playing right next to her ... VIEW POST
Boo Hoo
I started with Boo Hoo because look at those faces? It's hard to want to write about the stuff that is hard. Boo Hoo Poor Me. I don't like to be a whiner. And I know I am sometimes. I have so much to be grateful for that I get really annoyed at myself for feeling depressed and discouraged. Boo Hoo. I have been reading THIS TALK over and over for the last few months because its SO good, and it really is helping me to "look forward with faith" right now. I WANT to feel grateful IN my ... VIEW POST
Super Hero Party
I used to go all out on birthday parties but it has been a few years since I have had the time or inclination. But Ben was turning 7 and really wanted a super hero party so I put together these games with a trip to the dollar store and an old tarp. I am not sure it is really "Pin Worthy but it was a huge hit! The kids had so much fun and wanted to do each game over and over. The tarp toss was just cutting some squares and circles out, lining them with duck tape, then writing a point score under ... VIEW POST
Perfect Match
This is the long post about how we got our gorgeous girl Tallula, Bens CCI skilled companion. Scroll to the bottom for the beginning! May 20 2014 Well we are home now- but I want to post about the last few days of Dog Training. They flew by so fast! Partially because all of a sudden we were all realizing "ack! its almost time to go home and leave all our friends!" which was really sad, and also that we were going to be on our own with these dogs! I felt like I wanted the trainers to follow me ... VIEW POST
Ben
Since I keep mentioning Ben in my blog posts I thought I better give a little background. At the end of my pregnancy with Ben my Dr noticed I had excess amniotic fluid. We did ultra sounds and couldn't find anything wrong but when Ben was born it was quickly obvious that something was seriously wrong. He sounded like he was trying to cry through water. I held him for just a moment before he was taken from me because he couldn't get a good breath. Jonathan remembers hearing the R.T. counting the ... VIEW POST