I hope all of you are having a good weekend. Things around here are a bit off. You see, my brother and sister and their “significant others” left on Thursday, after a long and busy week of visiting. We had a lot of fun and it’s always nice to see family (even if it was more like having four more kids in the house than four more adults) :)

But, when they left on Thursday, they took two of my kids back to NY with them. Each summer my Dad brings out one or two grandkids for a week of spoiling. Nathan had the first turn (and had a blast!), then Ryan had a turn, as he was the next oldest (and he also had a blast), and then last summer the whole family went out to New York so all of my extended... more

Sorry I haven’t been the most devoted blogger the last few days…between being out of town and coming home with company, I haven’t had a whole lot of time to be on the computer.

We’ve had a great few days though. We spent two nights in a hotel, and one very full day at the amusement park. Here are two things that were confirmed to me this trip. One, my kids are great travelers and a whole lot of fun to do things with. A lot of people seem to think that these sort of things would be a hassle with our family, but they aren't. They are a blast! And two, my kids are a whole lot braver than I was as a kid! They rode all sorts of rides at the amusement park…even Ben got on two of the roller... more

(This is a random list of "things about me", continued from the last post).

I don’t like horror movies.

I did not pump my own gas even once until I was 23 years old.

My first car was a Dodge 600.

I used to have a terrible crush on Jason Bateman.

I still watch Little House on the Prairie when I “flip” to it.

I hate being alone.

I don’t smoke cigarettes or drink any alcohol.

I got to church (almost) every Sunday.

I bake the BEST Irish Soda Bread.

I got married when I was only 19 and wouldn’t change a thing.

I like pens with blue ink, not black.

I am a die hard Yankees fan.

I love to play games,... more

I read somewhere that you are supposed to post 100 things about yourself for your 100th post on your blog. Well, my 100th post has come and gone, but I still thought it would be fun. So here, in completely random order, are 100 things about me.

I don’t like movies that don’t have happy endings.

Josh is my best friend and favorite person in the universe, and I don’t like being away from him.

I love Marshmallow Peeps…stale.

I love to read, even though I often fall asleep only a few pages into what I am reading.

More than anything in life, I love being a Mom. It’s who I am.

I could eat cereal three meals a day.

I am afraid of fire and car... more

Today we are off to our neighboring state, where we will pick up family at the airport and spend a few fun days together as a family. My brother and sister, along with their girl friend and boy friend, are flying out today from New York to spend a week with their nieces and nephews.

We have hotel rooms for two nights, and tomorrow will be hitting a huge amusement park, which of course has everyone around here really, really excited.

My kids are the only kids in both my family and Josh’s…none of our brothers or sisters have had kids yet. So as you might imagine, they... more

For me, the best thing about summer is having time as a family to do the things that we enjoy. We love to be outside and we love to be active, and truth be told, a lot of us really enjoy being dirty. This weekend we were successful in being outside, being active and getting really dirty and it was one of the best weekends we have had in quite a while.

The fun started with our friends, who were off camping and invited us up to their campsite for a cook-out dinner, lots of playing and of course, smores. We live on the road to Yellowstone, so campgrounds and National Forest abound, and we love to take advantage of it all.

We got to the campsite and the kids took off in 9 different... more

With all of the topics that I try to give advice on, and with all of the emails I get from people asking for advice on adoption, it really makes me laugh that one of the most common things I am asked about is laundry!

Melinda and everyone else, this is for you.

Yes, as you can probably guess, I do A LOT of laundry. It is just a fact of life for large families. For all of you that are curious, I have done some basic math and come to the conclusion that in an average week I wash 91 shirts, 77 pairs of pants, 98 pairs of underwear, 224 socks, 77 sets of pajamas, 10... more

Oh, the things we do in the name of being a “parent”. Yes, this is a picture of my son. But before you go calling my social worker and telling her she has us all wrong, let me explain.

Yes, that is my son, and yes he has his head shaved in an odd manner. And yes, I even let him go to school like that this morning. But wait! It’s “crazy hair day” at school. And when you stop and think about it, there is just not a whole lot that a kid with one inch-long hair can do on crazy hair day. So for the sake of being creative, we shaved a strip of his head almost completely bald,... more

Yes, it is true. Mom has the suds. If you or anyone in your home watches Sponge Bob Square Pants, then you know that means I am sick. I was trying to explain to one of my four year olds that I didn’t feel well and really didn’t feel like going outside to launch rocket balloons, and she said, “Oh, you have the suds Mom. Like Sponge Bob.”

Well, luckily I don’t have green bubbles shooting out of all parts of my body, but I do have a nasty sore throat and a fever that just won’t go away. I am starting to think that maybe it is strep throat…(which I have had enough times to recognize).

And of course this week we have had spring break, a birthday, a baptism, a blessing in church... more

Thursday was one of those days that I was just really, really proud of my kids. This week they are on Spring Break, and while we didn’t have any exotic trips planned or anything like that, we have been doing lots of little fun things, like going to the park, going to the movies etc. I had promised them that we would go out of town one day to go shopping (we live in a really small town…no Walmart, no Kmart, no mall, no real shopping of any kind).

So on Thursday, (which was also Des’s birthday!) we loaded up and headed to Logan, a town in Utah about two hours away from us. We had a long list of things to accomplish. Everyone needed new shoes and an Easter outfit, Josh was going to buy... more