Proof

This kitty is just like the kids.

Matt set his cup of water on the table, looked at the cat and said "don't drink my water cat". 

He proceeded to leave the room and the cat jumped up on the table and started lapping it up.

I had to get a picture because it was quite funny.

Silly Jo

She found Matt's hat and was entertained with it for at least 15 minutes. 

She was full of giggles and laughs the entire time.  She was being quite funny and exceptionally cute with daddy's hat.

 Miss Lucy eating lunch.

A sweet letter

Ally knew we weren't feeling good one morning, so she wrote us this sweet note.

The color of the day is RED.

Jo and Lu wore the dresses that Ally and Sette wore for Kim and Phil's wedding. 

 Her hair turned out super cute.

 This sad looking little guy stayed home with daddy.

His allergies were in full force and he was not looking great.

 Ally's hair might be short, but its not too short for her amazing mom to still French braid it.

 This little lady got to stay home due to a case of the "Lucy's". 

No nap before church meant she got to stay home and nap with Ben.

 Not a great picture, but they could've cared less about looking at the camera.

Sette Spaghetti's 6th birthday

We had a low key day.  Ally had piano, I went to some garage sales, we did a few errands, took naps, went to a pizza picnic with church in the evening and finished off the day with sno-cones. 

 Can you tell which kids shared sno-cones?

They stayed up way past their bedtime, but it was for Sette's birthday.

Very often I think about how if she was here how things would be.  They wouldn't be any crazier than they already are.  Ally wouldn't get left out when the little kids are playing together.  We miss her lots and know that she is watching over us.  At pre-school last week they talked about families and Ben was telling his class all about Cosette.  I love that even the younger kids talk about her and that she hasn't been forgotten.  I enjoy seeing parts of her come out in the younger kids.  Jo makes lots of faces like Sette.  They all love books, but not as much as their big sister did.  And if Cosette was here, we would be looking at buying a bigger van out of necessity vs. convenience.  I am so thankful for the knowledge I have that families can be together forever.  I am grateful for a temple marriage with my best friend that makes us an eternal family.  I love that Matt and I talk about everything so we are both on the same page at all times.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is true, the Book of Mormon is true and I am thankful for my testimony of the Savior.  

My 3 daytime buddies

This little stinker keeps me on my toes ALL.DAY.

 This big guy will now talk your ear off without being encouraged.

He always has something to say and makes sure he is being heard.

He told my mom that she was old and was going to die because she has wrinkles like Grandpa Mike.  Since Grandpa Mike had wrinkles and he died, that meant Grandma was going to as well.

 We have now entered the phase of "lets make faces/poses for the camera".

See "WILD CHILD".

 Don't let her pose or her face fool you.

A job well done with some cute kids

So the window on the drivers side of the van has been working on "not working".  It gave out Saturday night after Matt and I went through the drive thru at DQ on a date.  After getting kids to bed, he ran to Autozone and got the parts he needed and fixed it by himself...thanks to youtube videos for saving us lots of money.  Matt has really done a great job taking on these "fun" projects.  The window works now and we are excited about the money we saved. 

 This pretty girl is so determined to make her parents crazy! 

Every Sunday we ask them to take a nap (a short nap) before church, but she's been so determined that she is not going to do that.  She really does fine without a nap, but is so much more rested with a nap.

 Josey girl has got 1 eye tooth through and is working on the other 3 currently. 

She is handling it like a rockstar, now that I found a teething medicine that works for her.

 Oh and lots of ibuprofen helps as well.

 He was SO tired after church that asking him to look at the camera was like asking him to call the baby by its real name!  He and Matt wore their matching Perry the Platypus ties to church.

Jackson Michael

We aren't Michael Jackson fans other than liking a few of his songs.  Ben is obsessed with the name Jackson Michael and is convinced that that is #6's name.  Today he told me that the baby is a boy, so he needs to have this name.  SO if you hear Ben call #6 Jack, Jackson or Jackson Michael, it's because we told Ben he can call the baby that and the rest of us will use his real name. 

My morning buddies

These 2 are such good buddies and play lovely together.

 Josey does everything Lucy tells her to.

Sometimes all you can do is laugh

On the way home from church Ally was saying that Cosette was next to her.  We talked about how Heaven is all around us, but she isn't always next to her.  At this point she was getting upset because she didn't feel like she was right.  I then said, "she probably doesn't want to be next to you when you're like this".  Ben said, "yeah she wants to be next to me, not you". 

Josey's daily goal is to create firsts for mommy.  Since she is #5 there aren't many options left.  She gets very creative.  Yesterday when I went in to get her up from her nap, I smelled poop.  She then informs me that she pooped and wants out.  As I walk closer to the crib, I SEE. THE. POOP. IN. THE. MIDDLE. OF. THE.CRIB.  There is poop all over her bedding.  The crazy thing is, there was no poop on her hands, fingers or feet.  Not sure how it got all over the bed and I was most certainly not going to ask for fear of her reply. I just laughed as I cleaned it all up, got her washed and the bedding washed.  I like to take these moments to laugh, so I don't have a negative memory of how I reacted. 

Another time I've just had to stand back and laugh is in the middle of the night.  Josey is my worst teether.  It takes her the longest to cut teeth and she reacts the worst to the pain in the middle of the night.  The other kids would take tylenol/ibuprofen and were fine.  Josey doesn't have any change with a pain reliever.  So Matt and I were only getting a few hours of very split sleep.  I would just stand at her crib and giggle because at that point I was either going to cry or laugh from lack of sleep.  Anyways, I bought Hylands teething tablets yesterday and last night was great.  She only woke up once and went back to sleep, after giving her chocolate milk.

Today at nap time Josey would not stop jumping in her bed and making all sorts of noise (fun noise, but still noise).  I went in and asked her to go to sleep, she looks at me very seriously and says "get chocolate milk, I go sleep."  Guess who is going to get cut on their amount of brown cows.  Lets get through this teething thing, and then we'll cut back on the brown cows. 

All dressed up

I love this dress.  My sister thinks its a look alike from The Sound of Music, but what does she know.

 I can't wait for her to grow out of the "tilt my head to the side for pictures".  But she was still looking pretty.

 This is the face of a 3 year old that refused to take a nap and had a meltdown when the 2 year old took her doll.  The 2 year old knows exactly what buttons to push on the 3 year old and has just about perfect timing.  Oh the fun that lies ahead for us!  Luckily we have more fun than fights. 

2nd visit

The State Fair is always a hit with us.  The kids LOVE the Riley Fun Park.  It was perfect for the younger 3, not so much for the 7 year old, but she's use to that. 

It ended up being a lot hotter than I had planned on (I checked the weather before we left).  Luckily the kids did well and we still had a fun time.  Oh and Grandma and Papa came with us and we ran into Grandma Julie.