Today my Ryan turns nine years old. It is crazy to think about! I am always amazed at how fast life goes by on my kids’ birthdays, and today it no exception. Ryan was our second biological child (but is now the third oldest) and has been a wonderful kid to be a mom to.

For his ninth birthday, here are nine things about Ryan.

-Ryan is loud and funny and a total ham…he will do anything for a laugh. He starred in the school Christmas play and loved every second of it!

-He is a friend to everyone and hardly ever needs to be told to “be nice”. He is... more

Happy Monday everybody! I hope that you all had a great weekend… we sure did!

On Saturday we started lazy, and then decided to find a good spot on the mountain and go sledding. I have to say that there isn’t much that is more fun that 10 kids, two parents, one dog, seven sleds, a few feet of snow and 5 gallons of hot chocolate!!

We live in a small valley surrounded by mountains, so it isn’t hard to find a great place to sled…free of crowds. We found the perfect spot, set up the “hot chocolate bar” in a snow bank and set everyone loose.

I did a lot of watching (along with brushing snow off of faces, wiping noses, fixing gloves and picking up Belane). I loved seeing... more

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12:10 p.m. I read a book to Belane and Marcus (10 Terrible Dinosaurs) three or four times, although the last few times they just want to skip to the end where they can growl and wake each other up. :)

12:30- Changed Marcus’s diaper and put him down for a nap.

12:34- Had Belane go potty and put her down for a nap. I left the room to her door open and folded laundry, and by the time I was done, she was asleep.

12:45- Had some lunch…bagel and cream cheese, apple and yogurt. Read some blogs and checked email.

1:15-2p.m.-Worked on blog posts on hair care.

2 p.m.-Belane woke up…we snuggled.

2:30- I went out to sign Maggie and... more

Ok, new category. I have had so many people say that they would love to be a “fly on the wall” in my house, that I thought it would be fun to do a monthly “day in the life of me” post, where I share everything…the good, the bad and the ugly…that happened that day. I was going to do it for the 15th of every month, but it was a holiday from school and I totally forgot. And, I like even numbers anyway, so I will be sharing my days from the 16th of every month. I meant to get this up yesterday, but didn't get a chance, so here it is.

A Day in the Life of Me- Jan. 16, 2007

6:10 a.m. - Alarm went off

6:13- I snuck out of bed so I don’t wake up Belane…put in contacts, brushed... more

The two questions that I get the most…ad nauseum even…are “how do you do it?” and “are you done?”

I never know how to respond to the first question…do WHAT? Maintain my girlish figure? (NOT). :)

Today I am going to talk about the second question, and this post has been brewing in my heart for awhile.

Are we done?

Let me first say that I really don’t like the question, as it is always asked in a way that makes it sound like we are doing something wrong. I completely admit and embrace that the life we have chosen and the family... more

The rest of the weekend was great. The kids went to see a movie (Flushed Away…probably not going to win any Oscars, but they enjoyed it) and then after they picked us up after our appointments, we went and played on a big old playground and had a lot of fun playing freeze tag and running races. Marcus and Belane were very happy to be “free” from the doctor’s offices, and we had a lot of fun.

We went to check in at the hotel, and then went to a mall, where we walked around and looked at the Christmas stuff, rode on the carousel and then let all of the kids each pick their own dinner in the food court, which they all think is the biggest treat. We got some cookies at Mrs. Field’s, (and... more

Did you hear a loud cheering somewhere around 7 p.m. mountain standard time Friday evening??

That would have been me, and all of my kids, when Josh took out Marcus’s feeding tube. FOR GOOD.

Woo hoo!

Yes, while we were in Utah for Belane’s appointments, Marcus also had an appointment. And his specialist agreed with me that he has continued to do super well, and no longer needs his g-tube. Marcus had it put in almost two years ago, when severe reflux had caused serious damage to his airways, and he was aspirating when he drank. He had a Nissen (a surgery to tie off the top of his stomach so he couldn’t throw up any more, to protect his airways from below), and he had... more

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Getting into the van...

That’s when the next big problem came up. We had gotten eight inches of snow that morning. My husband and been gone all day. I had thought he would be coming home to dig us out. I was wrong. Our van was buried…our driveway was invisible.

We had 16 minutes until our appointment, and still had to pick up Josh and get him changed. So there I was, in my SANDALS, trying to scrape off the inches of snow on the windshield. Here is what I learned…my arms are not long enough, even with our massive windshield scraper thingy, to get the whole windshield.

It’s a big van.

I did the best I could and got into the van with... more

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I ordered the fleeces last week and paid for the overnight shipping so they would get here in time for Tuesday night’s appointment. I got an email on Saturday saying that our order had been shipped and we would receive it “within one business day”.

Monday came and went…nadda from the delivery guy.

Tuesday I sent everyone to school in medium-wash jeans and gave a lecture on not coming home soaking wet from the snow or covered in paint or spaghetti sauce or any other noticeable substance on the front of their pants. I told them they could do whatever they wanted to the backs. :)

They came home from school and I kept my eye out for the delivery man.... more

As you read this (if it’s Thursday or Friday) I am in Salt Lake with my kids…taking Belane and Marcus to doctor appointments, and enjoying some quality family time with all of us together…we will be going to a dinosaur museum and the zoo, and Josh will be taking the big kids to a movie while I am doing doctor appointments. We will eat out, which is a treat, and just have a fun two days.

We have two hotel rooms (got $40 a room at a La Quinta on Hotwire…woo hoo! La Quinta is one of our favorite family places to stay).

We’ll be back in the late afternoon on Friday, and I will work on some more of the questions and answers this weekend…there are a few great ones out there that... more