Happy Birthday Steven

Steven is 19 today, yes I had kids 1 year and 1 day apart. I loved having kids so close together. Time flies by and you come to a birthday and you think wow he can't really be 19 already. When your kids are turning 5 or 10, you think That was fast but when they are 19 and 20, time, you realize really did zoom by you and took your kids with it. Steven hasn't always been an easy child to raise but now that he is older he has mellowed and we figured out why he was how he was. With proper meds and a great Dr. we got him to where he can be a happier Steven and that life is so different for him now. He has a smile on his face that isn't forced and a new outlook on life. He is such a sweet kid and I love him as much now as the day I gave birth to him. Where did this last 19 years go and where will the next 19 years take us. All I know is I can't wait to see what all you will accomplish. I love you Steven and Happy happy birthday!

It's been awhile

I love blogging but sometimes there never seems to be enough time to get everything done in one day or week. Yesterday I had a son turn 20. I just don't know how to feel about that. I love turning new corners with my kids but this corner could have slowed down just a bit. I didn't get a picture on his 20th birthday because he spent 4 days with his girlfriend in California and won't be home until tonight sometime. He is our fearless, crazy, lovable, smart, goofy, and sensitve son. I love this kid dearly. He is the oldest of 7 kids and sometimes he acts younger then my 10 year old but the only regret I have with Josh is that I couldn't convince him to stay in school. He now realizes what a mistake dropping out was. I recently told him that God has a master plan for all of us. That maybe he was going to have kids one day that wanted to do much of the same as he did and that knowing what a huge mistake it was, he will be able to help his child through this choice. Without having lived this himself he may not have known how to effectively handle this situation years from now. I believe we make mistake to learn by them and he in turn will help his kids one day. Happy Birthday Josh, I love you.

Costumes and dinner...

I finally found some time to add Halloween night. I made chilli with jack-o-lantern cut outs and some mummy hot dogs. I have been trying to do fun foods for holidays. It makes for fun pages and my kids love it. I had it so easy this year my boys wanted to be construction workers like dad...so we dug out tool belts and the bigger one (Jeremy) found my hubbys harness. I found old coolers for their trick or treat bags. the only thing missing was the worn workboots. Zachary went around with us and dressed as a military guy. This is a neighbor I don't even know but I had to take a pic of the costume....I love Halloween and this year my kids coolers were clear full.

Halloween...LOL...I am so behind

We went to a friends house this year to carve pumpkins and we had a blast. I love carving them the day of Halloween. If we carved them early they would go bad here in the desert. This time of year is one of my all time favorites. I just wish we had cooler weather to go along with the fall season. I look at this picture and it saddens me in some ways. I have 7 kids and only 5 are here carving pumpkins. I hate that my kids are growing up and yet I delight with each grown up step they make. My next post will be the Halloween dinner I did with my kids costumes....Thanks for bearing with me in playing catch up.

Voted Early!

So my oldest son can now vote and we went on Halloween to vote early. Why didn't I think to take my good camera!!!ugggg....Thank goodness my cellphone has a camera. So I snapped this pic of Josh just coming out of the voting poll. We are keeping our ballots and the "I voted" stickers and I will do a page with the results for him. Should be fun. Next time I will have more voting. I should have had my other 2 voting but by the time I thought about it it was to late to register them. Next time.... We are huge Obama supporters and can't wait to see if he blows the old goat out of the water...sorry a bit of my father just took over....LOL....anyway this is an exciting time for America, regardless of who wins. Some say scary, but I feel a much needed change...I guess we will know tonight if America will finally get the change needed to turn this country around or if it will be 4 more years of the same old S@#@....

I Have Been a Slacker and now I have much to catch up on.

Back in October I had 2 birthday kids and I never got them added to my blog....shame on me... Jillian turned 18 and Zachary turned 17. I have a picture of Zachary on his actual birthday but Jillian was sporting an attitude that day and her picture turned out really bad. Now normally I take tons of pictures but for some reason didn't. We did however go to a park for all the birthday people in our family so I have those photos to share. I took a picture of Jillian, Zachary, Lou Ann, and Jasmine who all share a birthday in October.