Spring Break

The six older kids are out on spring break and I have been trying to keep them busy and out of my hair.

Corey has been working all over the state and he needed to head down south.

I took this as the perfect opportunity to not be left alone with all the kids to have some quality family time, so we tagged along.

I took these five kiddos through the Oregon Caves.

That was super cool and very interesting!

We then drove farther down south, through the Redwood forest which contained some of the biggest trees thatyoueverdidsee.

From there we headed over to the coast, just in time to see the sun setting.

We ate dinner on the beach...a little cold but beautiful.

After dinner, we realized how far away from home we were. Ouch.

We actually didn't make it home until almost 2am. **Yawn**

Planning even a day outing like this requires so much advance prep.

We didn't buy any food at all while we were gone.

Not because I didn't feed them although that would have been easier

Instead, we brought along all our own food.

Turkey sandwiches, strawberries, granolie bars, pumpkin muffins, apples, blond brownies, burritos, dried fruit and nuts.

I cooked a turkey and made sun-dried tomato/mozzarella cheese bread for the sandwiches. I've already shared the granolie bars recipe and at some point, I'll get around to posting the pumpkin muffin recipe. They are delish and healthy. Weird, huh?

I made 150 burritos and froze most. The rest of them we took for dinner.

My teenage boys refer to the blond brownies as "a little slice of heaven". They are that good. Healthy too? I think not.

Who's ready for the next adventure?

Not me!

At least not yet.

I'm still recovering from this one...

Happy Birthday Timothy!

Happy 14th B-day Timothy!

I now have three 14 year old boys.

But for only two weeks.

Then the twins turn 15.

My food bill is shaking in terror.

Happy Birthday to my most laid-back, easy-going, heart-of-gold kid.

We love you Slim Tim!

Eagle Court of Honor

Recently we celebrated the twins making Eagle Scout by holding an Eagle Scout Court of Honor.

The twins were awarded their Eagle Scout awards and then we all hung out enjoying some gourmet desserts.

The only hiccup in the whole thing was when the twins were given the Mother's pins to pin on me.

They both scrambled to be the first one to get to "pin" me. Joseph shoved Michael out of the way and announced that because he was the "older twin" (hello Joe, only by a mere minute) that he got to pin me first.

Michael allowed it, but when it was his turn, he loudly proclaimed, "I'm pinning mine higher".

Nice that my Eagle Scouts are such a good example of maturity.

Sigh...

Here are the centerpieces that my brother and sister in law made.

We ripped boards off of our old barn don't panic, we are ripping it down eventually anyway and printed out all the words from the Boy Scout Law. The words were glued to the wood and each table had a different word.

We went to the scout store and bought the 12 Eagle required Merit Badges and each one was glued onto a barnwood plaque. Each table had a different one.

See how I slipped in a fleur in the background of the merit badge plaques? I just can't seem to help myself when it comes to fleurs. I wonder if there is such a thing as fleuritis?

Jo-Ann's Fabrics had actual official Scout fabric. I bought a bunch (with my 40% off coupon, of course) and cut out squares for the centerpieces.

We used three different sizes of canning jars and filled them with rocks and battery operated candles (from the dollar store). Then, a flag went into each large jar. Each table had a picture of the twins in their Scout uniforms, in frames that I also picked up at the dollar store.

I'd been buying cheesy ceramic eagles at Goodwill here and there, and Corey rounded them all up and spray painted them with a bronze paint. This way they would resemble a much more expensive (cough cough) and regal looking bronze statue.

Some random pinecones and knots rounded out the centerpieces, making for a really cute display.

Thankfully because it was a lot of work for just one night we have other Scouts working towards Eagle so I know we will be able to reuse them.

The twins with their Nana

The twins with their best buddy, "Just-cool"

Up and coming Eagles (the one on the right is my Timothy)

Corey's aunt and uncle, along with his dad and grandpa

I have no idea what is going on with Matthew here...

Corey's brother and sister-in-law came from Utah. Have I ever mentioned how much we love these guys?

Our beloved Nana and Uncle Al.

The standard "say cheese" face from Levi

My dad with his buddy, Levi

Poster that my awesome brother and sister-in-law put together for the twins

Pictures of their Eagle Scout Project

Table where we displayed the twins' Award Books, Eagle Scout Project Books and Scout binders.

The twins' Cub Scout uniforms. It feels like they just turned eight and started Cub Scouts. How can they already be Eagle Scouts?

Proud Parents!

My eternal family

One of my in-laws wanted this pix taken. Four generations of family. Actually, my entire family as well, except for me. Still scratching my head on that one.

Great Grandpa with Lily Pad

Levi with his bio grandparents. We are forever indebted to these people. There are no adequate words of appreciation. They could have stepped in and raised this little boy. But they let us. There are truly no words...

My twinerds

Corey's grandpa, dad and our Michael

I love this one of Great-Grandpa with Matthew

Levi with three of his bio siblings. Wish I could show you a better pix, they are all beautiful children. But, I am respecting their privacy.

Levi destroying smelling the flowers.

Joshua and Lily Pad (who has a massive shiner)

My eternal family

Utah pictures

This is one of Corey's brothers and his wonderful family. We just love, love, love this family!

Corey comes from a really large, blended family (he is one of 10 kids) and there is so much that is just so unpleasant about it.

Lots and lots of negativity, materialism, arrogance, abrasive, loud personalities, backbiting, competitiveness...it has totally burned us both out.

Not all of them wear us out, there are a few that we enjoy being around but he has one brother that is, simply put...stellar.

Both him and his wife are caring, warm, genuine, down-to-earth, humble, lovable people and our kids get along wonderfully.

The reason that we made the suicide whirlwind trip to Utah, was because their twins (they have a set too!) were getting baptized. We wanted to be there to share in their special day.

While we were there we got to take the kids down to Temple Square to check out the amazing light display. Breathtaking!

We left on a Thursday in the afternoon and arrived Friday morning. We left Utah the next night, Saturday and arrived back home Sunday afternoon.

I think that kind of trip is called a suicide. Probably because you want to take your own life to get out of the remainder of the trip.

Was it worth it? Driving hour after hour after hour after hour with a van load of kiddos?

Definitely.

Miss you guys!

Twins!

More Utah family

And more

And more...are you seeing a common theme here?

Corey with Lily at Temple Square

Doing the headcount lineup.

What is so remarkable about this picture of Hannah with my sister-in-law is that Hannah does not go to anybody. But, she really took to my sister-in-law and kept going up to her wanting to be picked up.

I so loved seeing Hannah reach out to someone like that.

Corey with all four of his "full" brothers, along with their dad. What totally cracks me up about this picture is that Corey and his twin (on far right) are wearing very similar jackets. Corey is in red and his twin is wearing blue.

Those are the colors that their mom always had them wear. Too funny that they still, unknowingly, do this.

Obviously, they are both scarred for life.

The reflecting pool was amazing!

In the reflecting pool were these little light balls.

I don't know exactly what they are but I need some.

For real.

The view on the way home.

Beautiful.

Especially when it means that home is nearby.

Home, sweet home.

The entire fam damily

I love this picture, taken at Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Utah.

The only exception is that Tim closed his eyes, on purpose, in every. single. picture.

Luckily Utah's Child Protection Laws are much more lax then the ones here, so I beat him after this was taken.

Kidding people. I jest. Please don't call DHS.

And this "outtake" cracks me up every single time. Enlarge it and check out Matthew's face.

I think he looks possessed.

It's probably just the after effects of sleeping all night in a car seat...

14 hour road trip + 9 kids = my personal hell

A few days before Thanksgiving, Corey we decided that we would make a quick trip to Utah.

Giving me only a few days to come up with reasons not to go to get ready was crazy!

Luckily, me and crazy are best buds!

We literally finished Thanksgiving dinner and then left.

Driving all night is not fun.

Overdosing on caffine will make you act weird.

Trust me.

Doesn't Matthew look happy at the propsect of driving all night?

I feel your pain buddy.

Believe me.

Please ignore Lily digging for treasure.

We made sure that Lily didn't have a nap on Thanksgiving in hopes that she wouldn't fight going to sleep in her carseat and that she would sleep most of the way there.

This was Lily only 15 minutes into the drive.

Too bad she didn't stay that way...