For as much time as Lily spent in that thing, I think this is the only picture I reread my last post and thought it made things sound worse than it actually was.  It was a crazy 2 months but I just kept laughing about everything. Seriously, am I not enough of a spectacle getting my 6 kids out of the car and to the school that I need to add a wheelchair and a 5 year old with a cast.  Certainly got more sympathy than ever and people offering to help us. James pre-procedure We had James' appointment for a bronchoscopy 2 weeks ago and everything looks good.  He certainly has the laryngomalacia but everything else looks the way it should.  So now the diagnosis is just time like 1-2 years and he should just grow out of it.  It is great to know that he is doing so well.  He is a very noisy little boy but he is as chubby and pink as ever.  He is also the best baby ever.  He is so patient in the morning as we scramble around the house feeding everyone else, doing hair, packing lun

So this month has just been incredible.  We made it through the stomach flu, we are getting good at the whole broken leg thing so now it was time for some more fun. This morning I woke up to a puddle on my kitchen floor and what do you know my fridge is dying and it also looks like Lily has strep throat so she stayed home today.  Are you kidding me?  Did I mention that on top of all the craziness in my life my husband is working crazy 6 and 7 day weeks and long hours. Thank goodness for a sense of humor, some money in the bank to cover emergencies, and a Heavenly Father.  I feel like there is some lesson I am supposed to be learning but I guess I haven't learned it yet cause it is still pouring.  I will say that I have felt immensely blessed in my capacity to deal but my home is in chaos and I am not getting to all the things I want to do.  Don't get me wrong, I know that what I am dealing with is nothing compared to what other people have going on in their life.  My kids ar

Just wanted to pass along the best idea I discovered for defrosting your freezer.  If you keep a freezer in the garage for extras, haul it out to your driveway.  Get a hose and some towels and rags.  Spray the inside of the freezer with the hose and you will have the ice melted in 5 minutes or less.  No banging, no hot pans of water, and wet puddles under the freezer.  Then  wash and wipe it dry and put it away.  It will take you longer to get the freezer to the driveway then it takes to defrost it but it is totally worth it. One other great thing I learned this week,  substitute half the flour in your pancake recipe with graham cracker crumbs.  Serve with fresh fruit and cream and you will be sooooo happy that you did. Last great tip of the day, don't let your 11 yr old "sonic bounce" your 5 year old cause someone may end up with a broken leg.  Said broken leg may just make your life incredibly challenging because all you need is a 5 year old who can't walk for 1

When James was 10 days old we took him in to his pediatrician.  We brought him in for a check up but we were also concerned about his breathing.  He was making lots of noise.  Not a noise that you would never hear a normal healthy baby make, but he was making them all the time.  The pediatrician listened to him and was very concerned.  I am not sure how she would have reacted if he had not been born with a midwife at home, but she said we needed to go to a hospital right away with him.  So we were told to bring him to the NICU because he was so small.  We brought him in and right away our fears were calmed.  He had plenty of oxygen and he had already exceeded his birth weight. But the hospital wanted to keep him overnight to monitor and make sure every thing looked okay.  He was noisy most of the time that we were there and I was told to burp him better cause he was full of gas.  Also we did xrays, blood work and even had an ENT scope his throat.  But we didn't get any answers at t

Back to School time at my house.  This year I have 4 in school-Jacob, Thomas, Ari and Lily.  That makes for some pretty crazy mornings especially when it comes to packing lunches, doing hair, and finding glasses and shoes.  But certainly worth the mad dash to have some moments of peace in this house with Matt, James and me. Last week school started and Lily went to her first day of Kindergarten.  It is hard to believe that she is old enough.  She is so small right now.  I hope that she has a growth spurt soon.  She came home on her second day disappointed because some boy called her smelly.  She still is very excited about each day and I am glad that she is having some new experiences and truthfully she has been a bit of a handful lately so a break has been good for both of us. Ari is 2nd grade this fall.  She really took off reading this summer and so we are all grateful that her nystagmus is not affecting her reading much.  She is my little sweet heart and goof ball right now.

We were so blessed to welcome James David into our home 1 week ago.  No he wasn't born in the van but we decided that we would just have him at home with a midwife and then we wouldn't have to worry about making it to the hospital.  Turns out the joke was on us and James was in no hurry to get here.  There were lots of perks with our homebirth.  Dave didn't have to make multiple trips back and forth to the hospital and the kids got to see their brother right after he was born. All those of you who have given birth will wonder, I am sure, how everything works out with home birth-the mess, the other kids, etc.  Without going into details, it all worked out fine and luckily I had the baby when all the kids were asleep so no one was traumatized by the noise.  We had some neat experiences-Dave was very involved with the birth, I felt totally in control through labor until it came to pushing, and I love being at home (though that first night I would have loved a hospital nurser

Spring break was on the horizon and Dave and I had planned a getaway with kids to Tahoe for about 3 nights.  We were all very excited for some family time.  But a week before Jacob came down with a fever.  I followed and so did Thomas.   Both of my boys had an extended Spring break because of coughing and fevers.  So we hoped that by the next week it would all be gone and we could have a nice week in Tahoe.  Friday afternoon everyone was feeling a little better and the sun was shining so Matt and the girls went outside.  Matt headed off chasing/herding chickens and the girls were playing away on the swing set.  I looked out the window a few minutes later to see Matt with red stuff all over his head and him screaming.  At first I thought it was some sort of a net and ran out to discover it was blood.  Matt had angered our rooster by chasing chickens and the rooster had attacked.  We were blessed that Matt was smart enough to try to run away and all his wounds are on his head and back.  

My boys are pretty smart kids.  They can read like speed demons and do well in school.  But one area of their education is completely lacking-ORGANIZATION.  I must do a disclaimer here and admit that the apple did not fall too far from the tree on this one.  I had serious issues in my childhood with organization and still am not good at staying organized.  I think of great systems but follow thru is always lacking.  But I feel that I have come a long way. It is soooo easy however to see the ridiculousness of disorganization in my children.  Last night I looked in Jacob's binder which is mostly just for holding lined paper cause he won't organize anything beyond that.  Anytime he needs to write something he just opens his binder to wherever and starts writing.  Then the next time he begins flipping through for 5 minutes to find the assignment lost somewhere in the middle of all that paper.  And if that isn't hard enough sometimes he writes on the front side and sometimes t

Dave finally got his PhD.!!!! After nearly 10 years since we started in Minnesota, he finally completed his dissertation and defense.  It was a long process with certainly many hurdles for Dave but he was certainly blessed this last year for his sacrifice and determination.  Every day last year he would go from work to his dissertation writing and prep.  Saturdays would be spent in our little office with him working away.  He was very devoted and other than Sundays probably only took about 5 days off from January to July.   Needless to say, we were definitely deprived of our husband/father for 7 months.  We feel very blessed though to have felt the Lord's blessing during this time. So this year we have really been enjoying having Dad around a lot more.  Our kids had a week off in February so we spent one night and a day in Monterey, CA.  We found a hotel that let the kids sleep for free so we crowded in our crew and also enjoyed their indoor pool.  Unfortunately due to a chemical

If you were expecting a Christmas card this year from us... well this is the best you are going to get!!  Sorry it just didn't ever make it to the top of my to do list. We had a great holiday season in spite of the stomach flu on Christmas Eve, Day and the day after.  I have come to expect it now for holidays.  I guess that is one of the effects of having this many germ mongers in our home.  The kids enjoyed a full 2 weeks off but we did miss our traditional snow trip that was canceled due to lack of snow.  California has been totally dry where normally we are raining 3-5 days per week.  It is finally in the forecast for this week so our plants will be glad for a drink.   We made up for the cancelled snow trip by a ice skating trip.  Luckily I had the excuse that I had to watch Mamma's boy-Matt and I am pregnant and didn't want to hurt myself.  Otherwise, the five minute jaunt on the ice was not enough to revive 6 months of ice skating lessons nearly 20 years ago.  The oth