Kids Say The Darndest Things!!!

Ok, this one was too good to pass up. Like all of you that have children, you know some of the things that come out of their mouths are the most funny, most clever, most goofy things you will hear all day. The hardest part for me is to sit quietly, listening. Most times I fall over laughing, tears coming down, the whole thing. But unfortunately if I do that, the conversation comes to a complete halt and I miss any further opportunities to hear the rest of the conversation.

This morning I was sitting in between two children, who were having a very heated discussion about birthmarks.

Vanessa (age 6) to Thomas: "Thomas, do you see that mark on your arm? That's your birthmark." It means you were borned.
Thomas (age 7) to Vanessa: "Where's yours?
Vanessa, "It's right here", pointing to hers on her arm.
Thomas to me, "Mom, does everyone have a birthmark?"
Before I could answer, Vanessa says in her best know it all voice, "Of course Thomas. If you don't have a birthmark that means you weren't borned and they bought you at the store!"
Thomas, eyes wide, "Is that true Mom????"
Vanessa with smug grin on her face, waiting for my reply.
Mom, "Thomas, have your ever seen a store that sells babies?" Goofy smile on his face.
Mom, "I didn't think so."

Whew, got through that conversation!!!

One just never knows what will happen when you kick your feet out of bed in the morning. With kids, it's always an adventure!

Music To My Ears!!!

I talked to Sabrina last night. Got the nightly update on her day, she asked how we were all doing at home, etc. I reminded her that tomorrow (today) is her halfway point and to really enjoy the rest of the week. She replied by saying that she can't wait to come home! My mind quickly began processing that comment: Is she not having a good time? Was someone unkind to her? She hadn't mentioned anything bad, what could possibly be the problem?? She went on to say simply,"It's too quiet here." Too quiet, I thought? She's on a college campus, surrounded by hundreds of kids between the ages of 14-18 and she says it's "quiet"? I had to agree with her though, nothing sounds as good as Home.

What is this stuff?

There is actually rain falling from the sky! Now the day is "completely ruined", I have been told. Thank goodness for the Internet. I just found some great recipes for homemade play dough and it looks like we may be playing (and eating!) it all afternoon!!!

Now that's desparate!!!!

This is one of the longest weeks of my life! Wait, it's only Tuesday you say???? UGH. Samantha and Sabrina are at EFY (Especially For Youth camp, sponsored by BYU). They flew to Utah last Saturday and won't be home until this next Saturday. They are having a wonderful time. They are meeting tons of new friends. They are learning tons of new things. They are participating in humanitarian projects for people in other parts of the world. We are so glad they are having this experience. But we miss them.....terribly. Tanner is also gone during the day at Cub Scout Day Camp.

Just to show you how desperate it has become over here, I will share a conversation I had this morning with Levi.

Levi: "Mom, are we going anywhere today?"
Mom: "Nope, just staying home."
Levi: "Are you sure we don't need anything at Costco?"
Mom: "Well Levi, to be honest, even if I did need something we would probably not go anywhere because it's just not as much fun to go places without Sam and Sabrina here to help with the little ones."
(Now this is where his desperation kicks in)
Levi: "Ok Mom, here's what we do: We put Talisha and Savannah in the stroller, Zaiah (what he calls Isaiah) goes on your back (of course) and I hate to even say this next part, but I will hold Thomas and Vanessa's hands!!!"

I had to laugh. That was a very bold thing for him to say. As an 11 year old boy, holding hands with anyone is not something he enjoys so for him to offer to do that just so we could go to Costco was proof of his desperation to get out of the house!!

Now excuse me, I have to go to Costco just so I can see this become a reality! Might even have to take a picture or two!!

Girls with Braids

This is the face I get from Savannah if I ask her to smile....does she look like she's in pain???

So finally I get smart and say, "Everyone smile except Savannah. Savannah, give me your best crabby face!!"

During the summer, part of Samantha and Sabrina's chores include getting their "buddy" ready for the day. They get them dressed, do their hair and brush their teeth. Today both little girls got braids in their hair just like big sister Sami. I thought they looked so cute and wanted to take a picture of them. For some reason Savannah has her "smiles" confused. It's always interesting to take a picture of her because she has this scowl/pained look on her face that she thinks is her smile........She will look back at pictures of herself when she is older and probably ask why she was always in a crabby mood.......and we will explain that it was only when we took a picture of her.......sigh, she will grow out of it, right?

IT WAS QUITE A PARTY!!!

"I ate my hot dog, watermelon and chips. Let's play some football!!!"
In the huddle.

Football game!

Jared, the life of the party!!

What a good looking kid!!!

Opening gifts with friends

"Hurry up and take the picture Mom. I want to eat some cake!"

Here are the ones that made it until 10:00. We lost 3 who had to get home and get to bed.....

Levi's birthday was yesterday and what a birthday it was! We normally only do "friend" parties on their 8th, 12th and 16th birthdays. All other birthdays are family parties. This year was a little different since our friend Samuel was here visiting. Levi invited a "few" friends.......

The party started at 5:00 with a bbq. We were in for a long night. We finally said good-bye to them at 10:00. They played every kind of tag you can think of, ate more food, played football, basketball, swam in the pool, ate more food, opened gifts, ate even more food, jumped on the trampoline and ate a little more.

I guess there was only 12 extra kids plus our 9 there, for some reason it felt like a lot more......wait, that's like 21 kids!!!! Ok, that sounds like a lot of kids at a birthday party but when 9 of them live here, that's not so bad. The amazing thing is when I look at the pictures, it warms my heart to see that 11 of them were adopted from all over the world!!!!

Well, the night ended with only one black eye, one slight concussion and one tooth being knocked out (Thomas left his front tooth in someones arm in a wild game of Red Rover!!!) But hey, it needed to come out eventually!!!

We're done with birthdays around here for the rest of the year. We'll start back up with them in January. Wa-Hooooooo!

IT'S A ZOO!!!!!

Samantha trying to send a text on the ol' typewriter.

3 Boys sitting on tractor seats. Awww, cute.

Girls going for a ride! Hang on girls, Levi is driving!!!

Levi (How long until he gets his license???? Yikes!)

Tanner and Savannah (not enjoying the elephant!)

Talisha sitting pretty on her elephant!

Sabrina and Vanessa sitting by a "friend"

I know, you probably thought I was going to write about something crazy that happened at our house......no, we actually went to the Zoo! The place was packed the day we went and it was more than a little crazy trying to keep an eye on 9 kids but we survived and came home exhausted.

As I was looking through the pictures that we took, I realized we didn't take any with the animals! They were just all of our kids! That's ok, they are way cuter anyway, right??