Gabriel has been blessed with all the good quotes and questions as of late. Last night was another good one.
I was outside grilling for dinner(I used to BBQ until I moved to Texas and learned that there is a BIG difference. I do not BBQ, I only grill) Gabe, Caleb, Jacob and Joey were on the trampoline.
We have noticed, lately, a large population of Crane Flies about. The other more common name for Crane Flies are Mosquito Hawks. At least that is what we call them at my house. We used to believe they preyed upon mosquitoes until, thanks to Google, we now know they don't eat anything in their grown up state except maybe a little nectar. Now don't you feel enlightened? Maybe I should include an insect education section in my blog. I've learned a lot. Not just because living here causes one a desperate need to find out "what that heck is that," and "DON'T touch that, I think." And because the bugs here are so large we could be paying them rent. But because for the longest time, from a very early age, my oldest child wanted to be an entomologist. (studier of bugs and creepy things) So as to not *squish* the desire out of him, we would read non-fiction bug books at bed time. I used to doubt his identification abilities and find myself always double checking. But 9 times out of 10 he's right. Even the neighborhood kids come to inquire of his buggy wisdom. "We found this bug. Can Spencer tell us what it is?"
His interests have changed more toward animals in general. He is taking pre-AP science and doing just fine. But wait a minute... This is not what I was going to talk about. It was Gabe's comment.
So I was grilling. The boys on the trampoline. Near me, two mosquito hawks were flying together in a wingy, leggy sorta mess. I knew what they were and what they were doing. But Gabe, in his curious way, caught glimpse of them from a distance and couldn't identify them at first. "What is that?" I shrugged my shoulders, not wanting to have to explain why the two of them were flying as a team. (I'm not good at 'the birds & the bees' when caught off guard) He kept watching them trying to figure it out. "Oh!" he finally said "They're two mosquito hawks mating! Awww, it must be mosquito hawk mating season." Then not missing a beat he looked at me and asked, "When is human mating season?"and in his 7 y-old innocence then added "is it in the winter?"
all I can think is Baa (see Baaa post)
Gabe's full of them.
good day to ya.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Broken record
Ummmm...........
yeah............
We really have been lucky...first break in 13 years...with 5 boys.
We've done stitches...lots of stitches. Mostly with Spencer and Sariah. Actually, Sariah only had 2, so mostly Spencer. Gabe had glue for his nose, but that story is for another day. Come to think of it we've been very, very lucky (blessed) because that is it. Until now...
Saturday afternoon everybody was playing...everywhere(it's useless to try and place everyone in their exact locations mostly because I don't remember.) Caleb, Gabe and I'm sure someone else were in their room.(the 4 younger boys share a room. a bunk bed, crib, and toddler bed.) Downstairs we hear a "thud" and then a wail and then Gabe came down to tell us that Caleb had fallen out of Joey's crib and landed on Jacob's bed with his arm. I was confused and as usual it took a while for us to get the story *understandable*. Turns out Jacob's mattress was off his bed. Caleb had fallen out of Joey's crib (why was he in there? I dunno. ah ha Sherlock Mom strikes again. Caleb just admitted that he had previously been jumping out of the crib onto the mattress. It's all so clear now.) apparently this time he missed the mattress and landed on the floor with his elbow. When this all happened we didn't think too much about it. We get bumps and bruises all the time. There were no real signs of injury. We iced it, gave him some Tylenol and later Motrin and watched a movie. Sunday morning we noted the swelling. Early Monday morning at the table I looked at the difference in his arms and noted the dark bruising in the elbow line and inner elbow. Freaked out a little and decided that he needed to go in. Jason took him to the Dr. then to get the X-rays. Our pediatrician is usually great, but it's flu season so he must have been busy because he didn't call back with the results. So my husband called the answering service, who in turn got a hold of the on-call doc. etc. etc. He called back and confirmed it was broken. Said Caleb should move it as little as possible(he actually said immobilize it but come on he's 4) and that we needed to make an appointment first thing in the morning with an orthopedic guy to cast it. We learned from the orthopedic Dr. a couple of interesting things. The brake didn't show on the X-rays but he had what were called *fat pads* that looked like dark shadows around the bottom of the humorous. This combined with the swelling and bruising(when bones break they bleed) said it was broken. And now we know.
We were concerned about how well Caleb would handle getting a cast. I guess he didn't do so hot with the x-rays. We bribed him with chance of getting a Transformer, one named "Longarm" which coincidently was the name of the type of cast he got. He did fabulously. He will be in a cast for 3 1/2 weeks. Not bad. Unless you're almost 5. The novelty ran out around 5:30 and then the questions and whining started. "Will you take this off?" " I don't want it on anymore." "Please, can we take it off?" "I want my arm strait" and then there were tears, hours of tears. Jason took him to go pick Spencer up from Scouts, as a distraction. It worked and Caleb came back with signatures of all the Scouts on his cast. This morning, we've had a few complaints. But he seems to be enjoying his Transformer. I need some suggestions, however, of more good ways to distract him, otherwise, these are going to be the longest 3 1/2 weeks ever.
Look at his poses. Is it any wonder that he broke it?
Oh, and I want to thank Jen and Maria for watching the two little boys on such short notice :)
and I want to thank Ellie for being the best baby ever, she went with us and didn't make a peep.
Good day to ya.
yeah............
We really have been lucky...first break in 13 years...with 5 boys.
We've done stitches...lots of stitches. Mostly with Spencer and Sariah. Actually, Sariah only had 2, so mostly Spencer. Gabe had glue for his nose, but that story is for another day. Come to think of it we've been very, very lucky (blessed) because that is it. Until now...Saturday afternoon everybody was playing...everywhere(it's useless to try and place everyone in their exact locations mostly because I don't remember.) Caleb, Gabe and I'm sure someone else were in their room.(the 4 younger boys share a room. a bunk bed, crib, and toddler bed.) Downstairs we hear a "thud" and then a wail and then Gabe came down to tell us that Caleb had fallen out of Joey's crib and landed on Jacob's bed with his arm. I was confused and as usual it took a while for us to get the story *understandable*. Turns out Jacob's mattress was off his bed. Caleb had fallen out of Joey's crib (why was he in there? I dunno. ah ha Sherlock Mom strikes again. Caleb just admitted that he had previously been jumping out of the crib onto the mattress. It's all so clear now.) apparently this time he missed the mattress and landed on the floor with his elbow. When this all happened we didn't think too much about it. We get bumps and bruises all the time. There were no real signs of injury. We iced it, gave him some Tylenol and later Motrin and watched a movie. Sunday morning we noted the swelling. Early Monday morning at the table I looked at the difference in his arms and noted the dark bruising in the elbow line and inner elbow. Freaked out a little and decided that he needed to go in. Jason took him to the Dr. then to get the X-rays. Our pediatrician is usually great, but it's flu season so he must have been busy because he didn't call back with the results. So my husband called the answering service, who in turn got a hold of the on-call doc. etc. etc. He called back and confirmed it was broken. Said Caleb should move it as little as possible(he actually said immobilize it but come on he's 4) and that we needed to make an appointment first thing in the morning with an orthopedic guy to cast it. We learned from the orthopedic Dr. a couple of interesting things. The brake didn't show on the X-rays but he had what were called *fat pads* that looked like dark shadows around the bottom of the humorous. This combined with the swelling and bruising(when bones break they bleed) said it was broken. And now we know.
We were concerned about how well Caleb would handle getting a cast. I guess he didn't do so hot with the x-rays. We bribed him with chance of getting a Transformer, one named "Longarm" which coincidently was the name of the type of cast he got. He did fabulously. He will be in a cast for 3 1/2 weeks. Not bad. Unless you're almost 5. The novelty ran out around 5:30 and then the questions and whining started. "Will you take this off?" " I don't want it on anymore." "Please, can we take it off?" "I want my arm strait" and then there were tears, hours of tears. Jason took him to go pick Spencer up from Scouts, as a distraction. It worked and Caleb came back with signatures of all the Scouts on his cast. This morning, we've had a few complaints. But he seems to be enjoying his Transformer. I need some suggestions, however, of more good ways to distract him, otherwise, these are going to be the longest 3 1/2 weeks ever.
Look at his poses. Is it any wonder that he broke it?
Oh, and I want to thank Jen and Maria for watching the two little boys on such short notice :)and I want to thank Ellie for being the best baby ever, she went with us and didn't make a peep.
Good day to ya.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Lots and Locks of Love
Oh my-lanta! it's been a week since I blogged. No wonder my head was starting to no longer think of everything in written text. Well sometimes things happen that must be reported and this one is three years in the making.
When Sariah was a baby she had practically NO hair. Little red wisps that quickly turned to blond almost nothings. And her hair stayed that way until she was two. It grew a bit and when she had just turned 5 we had a bad hair cut experience (mom's fault) that turned into an extremely short bob. This is a picture from when she turned 6 in 2005. Not much growth.
When late August rolled around our family took a little "vacation" to avoid hurricane Rita. We returned home and not even a half hour had passed before Sariah had gone upstairs into her brothers' closet and cut her bangs...(I don't know why) She came downstairs wearing a winter hat. I pulled it off and can you imagine my horror when hair fell out. I thought I had ripped the scalp right off her noggin. Anyway...we decided at that point to just let it grow. And grow it did.
A few years back some girls in our church donated their hair to Locks of Love. This idea of helping kids with cancer intrigued Sariah and she decided that she wanted to do the same. And so the time came when her hair was long enough (and when dad was home so mom could take her to the beauty shop without a mass following of children) for her to get it cut.
Before...
The ponytails...
The first cut...
The last cut...
The best part (I think it is, I loved having my hair washed. Sariah really enjoyed it too)
And the next best part. She was able to give over 13 inches.
After...
When we were finished, Sariah said "I finally got to do something good."
(I think she does good things all the time.) She is planning to grow it out and do it again.
This picture is just to prove that you can still look "cool" while holding a baby...sorta
good day to ya.
When Sariah was a baby she had practically NO hair. Little red wisps that quickly turned to blond almost nothings. And her hair stayed that way until she was two. It grew a bit and when she had just turned 5 we had a bad hair cut experience (mom's fault) that turned into an extremely short bob. This is a picture from when she turned 6 in 2005. Not much growth.
When late August rolled around our family took a little "vacation" to avoid hurricane Rita. We returned home and not even a half hour had passed before Sariah had gone upstairs into her brothers' closet and cut her bangs...(I don't know why) She came downstairs wearing a winter hat. I pulled it off and can you imagine my horror when hair fell out. I thought I had ripped the scalp right off her noggin. Anyway...we decided at that point to just let it grow. And grow it did.
A few years back some girls in our church donated their hair to Locks of Love. This idea of helping kids with cancer intrigued Sariah and she decided that she wanted to do the same. And so the time came when her hair was long enough (and when dad was home so mom could take her to the beauty shop without a mass following of children) for her to get it cut.
Before...
The ponytails...
The first cut...
The last cut...
The best part (I think it is, I loved having my hair washed. Sariah really enjoyed it too)
And the next best part. She was able to give over 13 inches.
After... When we were finished, Sariah said "I finally got to do something good."
(I think she does good things all the time.) She is planning to grow it out and do it again.
This picture is just to prove that you can still look "cool" while holding a baby...sorta
good day to ya.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
picking up strays and If I'm elected...
We went to a furniture store called "the Dump" a little while ago. The sales lady looked at all 7 of our munchkins and asked intelligently if they were all ours. I looked at her with a straight face and said "No, we found some in the parking lot and just thought we'd bring them along."
I then gave her a little grin so she would know I was kidding and so that she couldn't read what my real thoughts were "geez lady of course they are all ours, who in there right mind would take 7 children out if they weren't permanently attached to them." And with a smile she continued to show us the mattresses that 4 of the 7 were already bouncing on. What fun!
These pictures of Spencer were taken 2 years ago when he was in 5th grade. He decided to run for student counsel president. He didn't get it, but his posters were cute with slogans like "Don't sit on the fence, vote for Spenc." and "There's no reason to complain when you vote for Spencer Raine." You can't see it but his shirt says "I have decided to put myself in charge." I'm not sure if he will run for student body office again...Sariah on the other hand seems to be headed that route. She was elected to be the student counsel rep. for her 3rd grade class. I don't remember that stuff starting until Jr. High. What is this world coming to.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Arid times
"Cute Joey" just becauseAs you may have noticed I'm not blogging... My husband is home so, again, there may be a dry spell. I will check in periodically if anything interesting happens. If you feel a lack of connection and a desperate need to fill the void, I feel that my earlier blogs are quite worthy of a visit or re-visit. Until later then... (I'm so full of hooey)
P.S. My husband sent me a Pajama Gram for Valentine's Day. Which consists of PJ's in a cute box with a card and stuff... The ones he sent me say "Insomniacs Do It at night" Which is funny if you went to high school in the early 90's, where we learned that "Swimmer's Do It in the water" and "Debater's Do It in pairs" and "Band Geeks Do It marching" etc...
good day to ya.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Baaaa
"What a good biggest brother I have."
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY to all. My husband will be home tomorrow for a week so I will have a happy valentine's day then.
Last night,while waiting in the car to pick Spencer up from a youth activity, Sariah started the following conversation with Gabe...
Sariah: "Did you know we're animals?"
Gabe: "Yes."
Sariah: "We're mammals."
Gabe: "Yeah, we're sheep."
Sariah: "huh?"
Gabe: "We're sheep...you know...
Jesus' sheep."
And they think they don't listen in church.
Then he cried because we were laughing so hard. He thought we were making fun of him.
Poor Gabe.
If you have watched the same dang movie every day for the last week...you might be a MoM.
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY to all. My husband will be home tomorrow for a week so I will have a happy valentine's day then.
Last night,while waiting in the car to pick Spencer up from a youth activity, Sariah started the following conversation with Gabe...
Sariah: "Did you know we're animals?"
Gabe: "Yes."
Sariah: "We're mammals."
Gabe: "Yeah, we're sheep."
Sariah: "huh?"
Gabe: "We're sheep...you know...
Jesus' sheep."
And they think they don't listen in church.
Then he cried because we were laughing so hard. He thought we were making fun of him.
Poor Gabe.
If you have watched the same dang movie every day for the last week...you might be a MoM.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Honesty and unplesant Words
All of my children look "related" but we have not produced any cookie cutter kids yet, YET?I mean at all, (yes, we're finished) I would have to say that the closest have been Ellie and Jacob
Similar and yet...not quite. They're dang cute though
I have to be honest and say that every once in a while I lose one of my seven children. In the chaos of being dragged in 8 different directions (I always include my own direction)at the same time someone will inevitably be miss placed(it's usually me) . Tonight before dinner while some of the children were up playing and fighting, Spencer was at scouts, I was feeding the baby, I noticed that I hadn't heard from Joey in a while. When I actually notice that someone hasn't been under foot or heard in while I am compelled to go look. and this is what I found at the top of the stairs...
Poor JoJo...
If you have said "Don't...bite, hit, pinch, throw that, yell, say that, look at me like that, don't you dare, you better not, have you seen your brother?" and or "do you understand me?" today...you might be a Mommy of Many.
If you have heard the "f" word about a hundred and fifty times in the last 3 days because your 3yr-old can't figure out the verbal difference between "tr" and "f" and sometimes"fr" and his new potty pants have monster trucks all over them...you might be a MoM.
good day to ya.
Similar and yet...not quite. They're dang cute though
I have to be honest and say that every once in a while I lose one of my seven children. In the chaos of being dragged in 8 different directions (I always include my own direction)at the same time someone will inevitably be miss placed(it's usually me) . Tonight before dinner while some of the children were up playing and fighting, Spencer was at scouts, I was feeding the baby, I noticed that I hadn't heard from Joey in a while. When I actually notice that someone hasn't been under foot or heard in while I am compelled to go look. and this is what I found at the top of the stairs...
Poor JoJo...If you have said "Don't...bite, hit, pinch, throw that, yell, say that, look at me like that, don't you dare, you better not, have you seen your brother?" and or "do you understand me?" today...you might be a Mommy of Many.
If you have heard the "f" word about a hundred and fifty times in the last 3 days because your 3yr-old can't figure out the verbal difference between "tr" and "f" and sometimes"fr" and his new potty pants have monster trucks all over them...you might be a MoM.
good day to ya.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Birhtday Season
It's a nice dry 70 degree day here in Houston and we are joining you today from the Durrant Family Racetrack at the beginning of "Birthday Season." They're all stomping impatiently in anticipation of the start of this 2008 season. February hits and the countdown begins...1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,...10. AND THERE OFF!!! It looks like Gabriel is in the lead, turning 7 on Sunday the 10th, Then followed shortly behind is Jacob hitting 3 hard on March 18th, Not far behind it's a close race with, oh my gosh, 4, did you hear me FOUR birthdays in April. Starting on the 15th, with Caleb and going through the 26th with Joey, including Dad and Mom on the 21st and 24th, they're getting a little old to keep racing don't you think? Coming in around the corner in May is Spencer, officially jumping into teenage-hood turning 13. Oh and don't count Sariah out, here she comes in June. And bringing up the rear in October is that sweet little filly, Elizabeth. Now wait is she at the end of Birthday Season or the beginning of the Holiday season, which now goes right into Birthday Season. What the heck.
We celebrated Gabriel's birthday on Saturday with a nice little Star Wars themed party. He originally said that he wanted a Spiderman/ Star Wars party... and that he wanted Transformers as presents. Can we say that the marketing department is doing its job?
Spencer told us about this pizza he had at a Scouting activity. He said the slices sent from his fingertips to his elbow. We didn't believe him...until we went there. He was right. Sorry Spen. Oh, and they deliver.
When Gabe and I started to plan the party I joked about what games to play. Pin the web on Spidey or Pin the light saber on Luke. Went to Party City and guess what...It was pin the buttons on Darth Vader.
Here is Gabe's way cool friend Isaac. They all ended up sticking it to Yoda. Thanks for the use of your tie Dad.
Knot of Children anyone?
Caleb, Isaac and Sariah in a dead heat.
Now it's down to Caleb and Sariah
Sariah is the TWISTER champ! Isn't she pretty in her Twister glory.
Present time. Gabe got some very good presents
a cool Hot Wheels set from Gracie
Sweet Pokemon stuff from Issac.(look at his face)
He also got two gift cards from Joseph and Joshua and their Grandma(who is Gabe's Sunday School teacher)
He got "Green" cards from Nana and Grandma
a cool new Hawaiian shirt(to perpetuate his fashion sense, see earlier blog 'Tourist Season') from Dawn.
And from Grandma Denny and Aunt Michelle he got the coolest retro present.
MICRO Machines. He had played with his dad's old toys when we visited last year. He loved them and asked Grandma Denny if he could have them. She sent him 5 from his dad's collection and Michelle found another 35 and a van town. Gabe was super happy and all of his little friends were intrigued. One little boy asked me why they stopped making them. All I could think was that little kids like to eat strange things, I'm sure during the late 80's and early 90's Micro Machines were on the top of the list.
Thank you everyone!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GABRIEL
Yesterday was Sunday. Spencer spoke in Sacrament meeting with the other Young Men for Scout Sunday. The night before, when he told me he was speaking, he said he could never be President because he was afraid to speak in public. I reassured him that speaking was not one of his weaker points. Those of you who know him are probably laughing now. And I also told him, as I was writing his talk, that the President had writers so he could do it he wanted to. He did a really good job.
The rest of Sunday was OK. We actually sat in the chapel. I had a little help, and Gabe sat in the front by himself. I didn't get to Relief Society because Caleb decided that his class was yucky and he would rather be with me, whatever.
If you called the Poison Control number because you think your 2 year old may have drunk 1/4 of a bottle of facial astringent, and the lady who answers tells you to give him some milk with a tablespoon of sugar in it, and to not be surprised if he vomits(like I'm ever surprised when someone vomits) and to call them back if he starts acting drunk...You might be a Mommy of Many(MoM)
He didn't actually drink it...just poured it in his sister's room and on himself.
I would love for you fellow mom's out there to join me in the ...you might be a MoM, by commenting your funny. I'll post them. I would like to get a collection. Maybe when we get enough we can make a book.
good day to ya.
We celebrated Gabriel's birthday on Saturday with a nice little Star Wars themed party. He originally said that he wanted a Spiderman/ Star Wars party... and that he wanted Transformers as presents. Can we say that the marketing department is doing its job?
Spencer told us about this pizza he had at a Scouting activity. He said the slices sent from his fingertips to his elbow. We didn't believe him...until we went there. He was right. Sorry Spen. Oh, and they deliver.
When Gabe and I started to plan the party I joked about what games to play. Pin the web on Spidey or Pin the light saber on Luke. Went to Party City and guess what...It was pin the buttons on Darth Vader.
Here is Gabe's way cool friend Isaac. They all ended up sticking it to Yoda. Thanks for the use of your tie Dad.
Knot of Children anyone?
Caleb, Isaac and Sariah in a dead heat.
Now it's down to Caleb and Sariah
Sariah is the TWISTER champ! Isn't she pretty in her Twister glory.
Present time. Gabe got some very good presentsa cool Hot Wheels set from Gracie
Sweet Pokemon stuff from Issac.(look at his face)
He also got two gift cards from Joseph and Joshua and their Grandma(who is Gabe's Sunday School teacher)
He got "Green" cards from Nana and Grandma
a cool new Hawaiian shirt(to perpetuate his fashion sense, see earlier blog 'Tourist Season') from Dawn.
And from Grandma Denny and Aunt Michelle he got the coolest retro present.
MICRO Machines. He had played with his dad's old toys when we visited last year. He loved them and asked Grandma Denny if he could have them. She sent him 5 from his dad's collection and Michelle found another 35 and a van town. Gabe was super happy and all of his little friends were intrigued. One little boy asked me why they stopped making them. All I could think was that little kids like to eat strange things, I'm sure during the late 80's and early 90's Micro Machines were on the top of the list.
Thank you everyone!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GABRIEL
Yesterday was Sunday. Spencer spoke in Sacrament meeting with the other Young Men for Scout Sunday. The night before, when he told me he was speaking, he said he could never be President because he was afraid to speak in public. I reassured him that speaking was not one of his weaker points. Those of you who know him are probably laughing now. And I also told him, as I was writing his talk, that the President had writers so he could do it he wanted to. He did a really good job.
The rest of Sunday was OK. We actually sat in the chapel. I had a little help, and Gabe sat in the front by himself. I didn't get to Relief Society because Caleb decided that his class was yucky and he would rather be with me, whatever.
If you called the Poison Control number because you think your 2 year old may have drunk 1/4 of a bottle of facial astringent, and the lady who answers tells you to give him some milk with a tablespoon of sugar in it, and to not be surprised if he vomits(like I'm ever surprised when someone vomits) and to call them back if he starts acting drunk...You might be a Mommy of Many(MoM)
He didn't actually drink it...just poured it in his sister's room and on himself.
I would love for you fellow mom's out there to join me in the ...you might be a MoM, by commenting your funny. I'll post them. I would like to get a collection. Maybe when we get enough we can make a book.
good day to ya.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Words from Ellie and "You Might be a MoM"
"Holy Cow, I've found my toes...
And my brother's hair."
"My Mommy feeds me chocolate milk, hence the rolls and Buddha belly...
"And what's this thing in my hair?"
"Ahh much better."
If you have pulled half a roll of toilet paper out of the toilet today and didn't have the heart to yell at the 3 year-old because he was so proud he "did it" and you don't want to deter him from ever using the potty again...you might be a MoM.
If you have uttered the words "You are not Superman and I am not your cape," as the 3yr-old pulled your p.j. strings around his neck, while you were wearing them, as he walked in front of you repeating "I'm Superman, I'm Superman."...you might be a MoM.
If you have tried to teach the lesson that TV remotes and electronic remote controlled buses are NOT bath toys, while attempting to remove the batteries and as much water as possible in hopes to salvage them...you might be a MoM.
If you have said today or any day "Highlighters are NOT make-up. And you're a boy so you shouldn't be doing that anyway..." you might be a MoM.
looks a little like he's telling me off, huh. He was... 
It's been a day :| ... I may be back later.
good day to ya
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