Every Friday night at our place is movie night. It usually ends up being Don, Caleb and Zach. Don is so awesome with the kids. He is the one who watches the animated stuff with them. But tonight it is definately NOT MY TYPE OF MOVIE. Now if it was a good chick flick.......But NO the "boys" are watching Harry Potter. Oh I guess if it was a chick flick the "little boys" couldn't watch. Don decided to have all of them sleep down stairs. So I put Rachel, Ethan and Mayah to sleep but we got to have a little fun on my bed and read some good stories before they had to go to sleep. Now I get to spend some quiet time working on my blog. YEAH.

Caleb finally went back to school after missing four days. Poor kids still feels under the weather. I think everyone else is on the mend except Don. He went to the dr. and they couldn't believe he had gone into work. They gave him an antibiotic and told him he couldn't go to work today. All he does is sleep. But when I am sick I still have to take care of kids and cook and YA YOU KNOW. MEN. Rachel's birthday is coming up. We are making her a Little Mermaid cake. I will make the cake but Don is going to have to decorate it. I am not good at that. I will make sure to post a pic afterward to see how we do. Spring break is coming up. We don't have any big plans. Don may be gone with his job for 2 months. Now that is gonna be a hard one. I hate it when he is gone. I really miss him alot. We are just grateful for the new job.

I can't believe that more of us are sick. I think someone in this family has been sick on and off for the last four or five months. Don didn't go to work today because he was sick. The missionaries came over and gave him a blessing. They were HUGE. Both were skinny but 6'5". And then Don being "almost" 6'4". I think he is shrinking. HEHE. So the last few days have not been fun at all. Just a bunch of sickies and I think the whining is getting to me. I left all the sickies home with Don and I went out shopping and just doing whatever I wanted. I was gone for 3 hrs. It was awesome. I need that more often. The kids have been watching t.v. all day for the last couple of days too. What else do you do when everyone is sick?

Mayah and Rachel have matching dresses and they are so cute. A girl in the ward made them bows to match. Too cute.

Ethan has tonsillitis and he was up ALL night last night. OH that is getting to be hard on my old self. He also cries ALOT with pains in his legs. The dr. thinks it is just growing pains but I am not sure. I am kind of concerned. It happens quite a bit and almost always at night. I have to massage his legs and give him tylenol.

A sweet girl in our ward made Rachel and Mayah matching bows to go with their dresses. I took a picture yesterday and they look great.

I have been very blessed with so much. I sit and thank my Heavenly Father for everything. There have been some very rough times and some times that have tested my faith. It wasn't long ago that my sister lost her infant girl at birth after struggling with infertility. It was very rough on me. It was only 2 weeks after Mayah was born. She is now pregenant again with a girl and due June 1st. I really do have alot to be grateful for and I need to look around and be more aware of the things I have been blessed with.

Well things are pretty lonely here. Don is away for a week for training for his job. It is just me and the kiddos. I tell you what? There is NEVER a dull moment at our place. Caleb has his pine wood derby car race tomorrow. He better win. That is all I have to say. :) Kids are all doing well. Caleb got an A+ on a math quiz and and A on his social studies test. Zach is doing good. He never has any problems getting his homework done and taken back. But man that kid likes to irritate his sister. Rachel is a screamer. If her brothers look at her wrong look out. Plug your ears. But she is the best helper. She LOVED doing dishes. I don't mind that a bit. She plays pretty well with Ethan and Mayah. Ethan is a kick in the pants. He is hilarious. On the way home from my sisters house our Expedition almost broke down. It was scary. Don was out of town and I always go the back way so yeah pretty scary. Well I told all the kids to pray very hard that we would make it back home. I was praying out loud when Ethan said "Can't we carry it home (meaning the car)". It was so funny and really made me laugh. Then the other night something happened and he said, "what's the problem?" That kid makes me laugh. Mayah is just plain adorable with a bit of tabassco. WOW that girl has an attitude. She gets so mad sometimes. If anyone takes her food she says, HEY. It's mine. And then she ends up taking whatever else is on her tray and throwing it. HMMMMMM its gotta be the red hair. Wonder where she got that? She is cute and soooooo fun and such a ham. I have never had any of my kids at this age give such dirty looks.

FAMILIES ARE FOREVER

This is very cool to be able to post like this. Thanks to my brother and sis in law for showing me about this. The kids will LOVE seeing themselves online.

Don and I have been married for 12 years. WE have five kids ages 1-9. They are our life. I never knew how hard parenting was going to be. Yet it is very amazing the impact we can have on these little rugrats. I am a stay at home mom. I enjoy my kids (most of the time) and I enjoy going and doing. I am not much into "doing nothing". I like to get out of the home with my family and do things together. I enjoy listening to music and cooking "new recipes". I love volleyball but never get a chance to play much. We moved from Washington state to Northern Virginia a year and a half ago. WE love it here but really miss our family back home.

Don recently got a new job. He describes it as his DREAM JOB. He works for an independant contractor for the government. He has had a few compliments already on his job performance. He is doing fabulous and is so excited to finally be using his skills. Yeah babe. Way to go. You are awesome.

Our children are Caleb (9), Zachary (7), Rachel (almost 5), Ethan (3) and Mayah (19 months)