happy birthday to my right arm

Happy Birthday Diane, Dee, deedee, my dear sister, my best friend in the whole world, the best sister a girl could ask for, well, really the best person a person could really have in their life, and I got you as my very own sister! How lucky am I? Have I told you that lately, well, I am telling you now! I mention my "right arm" in the title of this post because when John took you away (ok, so you went willingly, but it was HIS idea!!) to Florida I really felt like my right arm had been physically removed from my body. I did. Which was odd, because at that time our lives were very far apart and very different. I was already a Mom, you had just finished college, we had less in common at that moment than we ever had. Maybe I feared that gap would just get farther apart and I'd eventually just lose you forever. But whew! We got that late night call when you got engaged, then the next year you got pregnant, then pregnant again, then you finally came home! And there we were, raising babies together! I am so very proud of the woman, the wife, the mother you have become, and as always, I am proud to call you my sister. So thank you. Thank you for being my sister. Thank you for being the next best thing to "me" for my kids, and thank you for making sure they know that. I love you, and Happy Birthday!

I am having a bit of diffculty with the picture part of this post-but stay tuned!

Holding off-not holding back

with Donovan's schooling. It is a tough decision for some, but we decided when Donovan was a tiny baby he would not be going to Kindergarten in 2009 (just one month after he turns 5). He is going to be a child for one more year, who wouldn't want that?!! Have you ever met an adult who wishes they could have grown up one year sooner? I don't think so!
Yes, Donovan will be "ready", but I want to give the him the joy of being a child for one.more.year. He will be in a transition program at his pre-school for kids that will be older kindergarteners. Devin has a birthday of 9-16, had he been born one day sooner, he'd be starting college-right now! Instead he is home with us, still in school, enjoying being a kid for one.more. PRECIOUS year! The extra year of maturity won't hurt either-its been wonderful for Devin being "older". Timing wise, Donovan will be one month older than Devin was when he started school.
I have been asked why we are "holding him back". "Is he behind?" " Is he not ready?" " Why would you do that?" Well, he has a late birthday, school wise, if he goes next year, he will have JUST turned 5. I would love for him to have the benefit of being "older". When would I draw the line? Well, a pediatrician once told me that boys with summer birthdays should wait. That timing makes sense to me. But mostly, we are giving him the gift of childhood for one.more.year.
It doesn't get better than that!

Dear Donovan-

Four years ago on August 11, Daddy and I started over (having babies that is)! You were quite a surprise, as Dustin was already almost 13! You have been the single most precious special thing that has "happened" to our family. We were running all over, doing things that big boys do, kinda like a houseful of grown-ups, then POOF!!! there we were dragging your cute little self (along with TONS essential gear) around. You changed everything in such a wonderful way I cannot explain. Everything is so simple when we look at it through your eyes. We just live and love, things went into prespective (for all of us) like never before when you came along . Your three big brothers were there when you were born, they learned to care for you and fell in love with you. So you see, even as a tiny new baby you were making BIG waves around here. Now, you have a sister and are a big brother yourself, I know with the training you've received you will be a wonderful one!
Love-Momma
What can I say about Donovan? He is a bright, energetic, cute as a bug little chatterbox! He is a thinker, wanting things explained in great detail. His little face goes blank whe he is in deep thought, which is usually followed by a zillion questions! He is alot like brother Danny, silly and goofy, yet so very serious and interested in the whats and whys of just about everything. On any given day you will find Donovan outside riding anything with wheels, climbing the trees and fences around our yard, digging for treasure, picking the grapes (to test them for ripeness!). You'll find him in the kitchen cooking or baking with mommy and daddy (all of our kids love to cook, curious to see if our one daughter will too!)and making things out of other things, chattering ALL along the way! Donovan is a problem solver, a logical thinker for his age. Even when we woke up to a dead car battery one morning he decided we should call Danny over since daddy was at work and we might need the car for errands. He reminded his older brothers to call a friend for a ride to school, he thought of everything! And he is a thoughtful little love bug, he worries about his hamsters family and if they miss him, he wonders about people we see that look mad or sad or happy and why they are that way. Well, here are a couple of pictures, you can enjoy the sweetness that is our Donovan! Here he is in a tree, and also with a play-dough dinosaur he made! Um, yea thanks for the 50 pounds of play-dough Michelle!!!

Where everybody knows your, well my na-a-me

My most favorite place on the planet, well as websites/forums go, is DOWN tonight! What the heck am I gonna do? This is where I visit my online friends every. single. day. for almost 3 years. See-I cant even insert a link because right now it won't even go anywhere. Lisa, our site owner is figuring it out now, but this has only happened a couple times since I've joined and it was awful. I miss my Mommas!
http://www.coloradomoms.com/, I can't even explain how much these mommas mean to me, I never thought I'd be one to pick up friends online! Some I have met, and some I will probably never meet in person. Some I see here and there, but these mommas know me all about me (pretty much!) and my family. And one has become a very close friend (in real life!) and a friend of my family too. There are a couple I am quite close with but don't see often because they live far away. Most of the time we just chat and share info about regular momma stuff, but when stuff hits the fan, these ladies kick it into high gear! My mommas went through my pregnancy with Delaney with me, her first photos were on the site within a couple hours of her birth. They watched me become a Grandma, they prayed for my Grandson Evan when he was born with a heart defect (undiagnosed until birth)and needed open heart surgery at 2 days old. They sent us food, and gift cards for Danny and Em to use at the hospital cafeterias. And they prayed for little Evan some more.
We've had babies and miscarriages, weddings and divorces, easy kids, difficult ones, medical scares and realities, new jobs and layoffs, new friends, old friends move too far away, but thanks to the magic of the internet a buddy is only a click away! We really do laugh and sometimes cry together, me and my online crew. We worry alot about someone when they don't show up. Like a bunch of little old ladies babbling about what could be wrong, where our missing momma could be and worrying if everything is OK. We always care about each other. No we don't all want to be best friends with eachother, everyone doesn't like everyone else. We respect each other as women and mothers and the lives we live no matter how alike or different we all are.
I miss you already Mommas, (really its been like 3 hours!)! And since most people reading this probably "get" the whole online friend thing, could you explain it to my dear husband, because he really doesn't!
I really need to get going on properly introducing my kids here. I am waiting on Danny and Emily to send me some pictures and I will tell you all about them first. I am promising myself I will not obsess on going oldest to youngest with my little introductions. OK, well only for a couple more days then I will move on to the next kid. In random order, because if it can't be the right way (oldest to youngest) it needs to be random or it won't sit right in my brain! I will. I think. I will try.
Here is a list of things about my some of my mommas, I will probably add to it , I am tired and know I will miss someone, but for those of you who don't know them, here are a few! They are very talented:
Laura who designs and sews (with a VERY fancy machine in her studio) baby gear
Courtney and Lisa, professional photographers
Valerie is an expert on anything breasfeeding
Melanie is practically a doctor, shes kind of our on-call doc actually Denise is a Momma much like myself, older kids, little kids, kids all over the place!
Cara started Mommies helping Mommies to coordinate our support efforts when they are needed
Jo can feed a family for like $5 a week snipping and clipping and online couponing(call her if you run our of shampoo, or toothpaste!)
Hethyr can research anything you ever thought you might buy, you'll get the good the bad and the ugly, Consumer Report has nothin' on her! Oh, and if you buy it and it get recalled, she will be the first to know!
Nancy-cupcake ninja and night owl, will keep you in STITCHES!
Many Mommas-Cloth diapers are a big thing around here, they apparently are now fashion statement- I had diaper service- these butts get Bum Genius, Fuzzibunz, all sorts of cute absorbant .....cuteness
Katie is the expert on cloth diapers and baby wearing Hethyr again, shes the hiking lady too, and a CD and baby wearer too
Emily and Kate, they knit. and knit and knit and SHOP
Deana and Arin are real estate pros
Smiley Jessica is about the strongest woman on there
I'll add more later, but can you tell, I love me some www dot Colorado Moms dot com!

Smell the Roses? I don't even LIKE roses!

I really don't. Thats not to say I've never seen pretty one, I just do not like them. Rosebuds are nice. But really, they smell like the old Avon cream perfumes my mom used to have in those little jars. When they bloom, they have that ugly glob of seeds and stuff in there, yuck. Anyway, I wanted to name my blog something meaningful to me, something that reminds me every day of something important. It was quite an internal struggle for me to use this name because it didn't fit, I should LOVE the name of my blog right? It was not sitting right in my brain. Then the font. And the color. And the background, and the theme. I need things to make sense in my mind, to coordinate, thats the word, coordinate and be meaningful. And I wanted it perfect. And it was never gonna get done, because I couldn't figure out what that perfect was. Like the bazillion other projects I start and don't finish because I can't get through the planning process. I have a terrible time picking a place and just going for it. A few years back my sister bought a bunch of scrapbooking stuff (oh, every project starts with shopping right-and my sister can shop!), we were gonna crop till we dropped. I never made ONE page, why-because I couldn't decide how I was going to scrapbook. Holiday books, one per kid, one per kid-per sport-per year, one BIG book per year, hmmm maybe one for every vacation, and holiday and kid, and then a birthdays only book too. And each kid needs their own to take with them when they grow up. What is that, like 20 scrapbooks, and I only had 3 kids at the time! So while I awaited my big decision, my kids grew up, grew up. I have boxes of pictures, and we LOVE digging through them, but its not really what I had in mind you know? So, it has become increasingly more important for me to STOP! and smell the roses. Just enjoy the little things, and the big ones too! I do appreciate, and I do enjoy, but I want to really feel it, just enjoy and appreciate the blessings and the people in my life. I have gotten somewhat away from that. My life is blessed with plenty of things worth smelling, I just have not consciously stopped to do so, to really soak it in and enjoy! We have so many firsts, and lasts in our lives right now. Devin's last year of high school, our first grandchild, Delaney is loaded with firsts, she's only 18 months old! Dustin wants to get his first job (he did have a SHORT summer job, but it didn't really count!). Donovan is growing up so quickly, he was 4 last week! I don't want to put off things I cannot get back, little moments in time with my kids, you only get so many of those, and they grow up on you! Now, I have learned that a grandchild is a pretty special benefit of having a grown up kid, oh but I would have them all be my babies forever if I could! Well maybe not, being a Mom to a grown up kid has been something I really enjoy, quite a special relationship, and don't get me started on being a Grandma, I have a whole post planned for that one! I am OK with my little blog, sort of, but it is here, and I am posting, I have finished a project!!!!!! Is there something Freudian about ME choosing a project that really doesn't have and end??!!! So each day when I post here, I am reminded to stop, and Smell the Roses, you should too! ( before the petals fall off and you're left with that ugly little seed pod thing!)

An old bag and a new purse!

Well this is my new purse! A real live, bona fide grown-up purse! (as in, it has NO bottle/sippy cup holder, did not come with a built-in changing pad etc...) It's even cool and hip (well, I think so!). It's by Kathy Van Zeeland and I got it at my favorite store: dadadadadadadada TJMaxx! I admit I had no idea who Kathy was until I bought the thing, but my much younger- and hipper- sister Stephanie said right off the bat, "Oh yea, I have a Kathy"! I was going to get on her about raining on my "I am SO hip" parade, but she's just 30, so being cool is something I'll let her have!!!
See, for the last four years I have been toting aroung a variety of diaper bags, multi-purpose bags, and most recently a backpack designed for moms on the go. I have gone from carrying everything but the kitchen sink in one big bag, to a diaper bag only, putting my ID and debit card in my pocket. Going from kid place to kid place deciding what to do. Do I drag in the whole bag and stroller and everything? Do I grab a few bucks and the kids and hope we don't need a diaper? But wait! I can't go anywhere without wipes, I use them for everything. Ok, so I make the switch. I decide to keep a big bag packed in the car, and throw a diaper and small packet of wipes into my purse. Now, we have the sippy cup dilemma. And here we go again! So, I found this nice backpack, all black, doesn't look like a diaper bag, yet has all the things a busy momma needs. It was just perfect, I could use this for everything, my stuff, their stuff, I hit the baby gear toting jackpot! I put my wallet in there, and the kids stuff, we were set. It's a little urban, a little earthy, perfect for me! I might add that I have never once worn it like a backpack-properly over the shoulders. And each outing left me deciding what to do. If I had a few papers to carry along, could they fit in there too? Before long my nice little pack became an office on wheels, except it doesn't have wheels. And I was caught in public having to borrow a diaper!
So. I have come full circle in the battle of the bag, its called, a purse! And you will never find a diaper or mini pack of wipes in it-they have their bag, I have mine!

Singin' In the Rain!

Here comes the sun, yes we had beautiful sun today! Its not often we go a couple days without it around here! But, on Saturday (when I took these photos) it was still pouring and Donovan got some new rainboots! Big tall old-fashioned rubber ones, he loves them. He jumped in puddles most of the day! Rain or shine the little ones in our lives always make us smile! Still working on the mechanics of this blog, figuring things out as I go. My next step is to introduce myself and my family, but I don't want to get in the habit of posting old stuff, so I am keeping up with that first, and filling in the rest as I go!

Blueberry McMuffins on my mind

I recently started following a blog (see the button to the right to read all about McMama and her baby Stellan due in November). One of her three MSC as she calls them (Many Small Children) goes by the nickname "McMuffin". I have been seeing his name alot lately, and his cute little face too! Since it has been raining for days around here I have REALLY had the urge to bake, is it any surprise that muffins came to mind? I decided on these Blueberry Muffins! It was a great cozy rainy day to break out Dave (he is my Kitchenaid, I often name inanimate objects, one of the many goofy things I picked up from my mother!). The muffins were yummy, the mess, well, was not, but we had a ball! Thank you Mr. McMuffin for your inspiration in the days activites, and thank you NOT for the extra little ripples of cellulite that will undoubtedly pop up due to this little adventure!
Donovan showing off the goods!



Delaney showing off her spatula!
(how cute is that?!)


So, there you have it-this is my first official blog post! I was so excited, I just wanted to get my first post done. Those of you who know me know that I have been fretting over this, the color, the font, the size, shape... to the point where it wasn't EVER going to get done. You'd be proud, I picked something and went with it, I think I might actually like it too! Need I mention, I am NOT a photographer of any kind, I am, however feebly, attenpting to capture the lives of my children on "film"! I HATE HATE HATE putting this blog out there undone, but, I am going to do it! I can introduce my family and all that tomorrow. This CAN be a work in progress, much like myself right?!