Jam Session

My friend Jena inspired me to make strawberry jam this year so me and the kids spent a couple of hours after school on Thursday making our jam. I have never made jam without my mom's help and even that was years ago but I have canned salsa so I knew the basics of what to do. Besides destroying the kitchen (Darrin said it looked like a murder scene) with strawberry splatter everywhere, it was really pretty easy to make. I was surprised that we were able to do 12 pints and 6 quarts in about 2 1/2 hours, I think we might even make some more while strawberries are so cheap. We have already eaten almost a whole jar of jam and have gone through at least 2 loaves of bread! Everyone loves it-except Darrin who won't eat fruit or anything made from it, he's so weird! It really is good though, and I love that the kids are eating something we made together.

Superstition Ranch Market has strawberries 3 lbs. /$1

Our finished product, yummy!

Clear the Roads!

After a little bit of an ordeal (more on that later) Darrin finally has his permit! I took him in this morning before school for the written test, he ended up missing 5 but still passed. I was surprised he missed that many, he must have read the whole book 10 times. I am excited for him to start driving, not only does it help to have another driver in our house but I am just happy to be a part of this time in his life. I am still young enough to remember how exciting it was to start driving and feel like you gained a little freedom. I think we are forcing Darrin to grow up a little. He really has no interest in driving, he says he has nowhere to go but I have plenty of places to send him! Now for why this was such a hassle, a couple of years ago we legally had his last name changed to the one he has always gone by anyway. Well even though I had his new birth certificate I never had his social security card changed and since the # in the computer didn't match his name he couldn't take the test. That was last Friday, so Monday morning me and the littles drove into downtown Phoenix and waited in line with some very questionable characters to get a new card. They kept his original card and gave us a receipt and said we'd have the new card in 2 weeks but to just take in the paper to the MVD and we'd be good. Not! This morning we were there bright and early ready to go. Now because I don't have his card I don't have his ss# and there's nothing they can do until we have his #. Are you kidding me? This really shouldn't be this hard but I was determined not to let Darrin down again so back in the car, load up the 2 littles, run home, look up the #, drive back, everybody out, wait again, okay now were good to go. By this time I am just hoping he passes the darn test so I don't have to do this all over again. I am so glad it won't be this hard for the next 6! At least now we finally have everything changed to his legal name and there should be no more problems from here on out. It was great to see Darrin excited over getting his permit, he is really scared to drive though! So watch out, there's another teenage driver on the road!

Table for 9

We don't take the whole family out to eat in a restaurant (fast food does not count) very often. It's not so much the expense, although it is not cheap, it's really just the logistics of it all. A few months ago we tried going to Golden Corral, it was super crowded. The manager sent us to one side of the restaurant because supposedly there was a big enough table over there for all of us. Wrong! There was nothing available so we hike across to the other side where they try to squeeze us all around a table for 6. It's bad enough that we get a lot of attention when we go out just because of the size of our family but when we are left standing in the middle of the restaurant with nowhere to go, that's even worse! After that we swore off ever going out again. Well, Saturday I decided that we have not been together much as a family and we needed to do something. We thought about where to go very carefully, someplace rather noisy, with large tables, possibly call ahead seating, and good service. Most of our kids are old enough to know how to behave so it's just the littles that we have to worry about. I think it is important for kids to learn how to act in public, and certain social manners that go along with eating out. We finally decided on On the Border, it was still early enough that it wouldn't be too crowded and Randy called ahead to make sure they knew we were coming and they could be prepared. When we got there they had already seated another party in our optimal booth so they pushed some tables together-exactly what we wanted to avoid-and tried to squeeze us in only to discover we were short a chair and not going to fit here! Now it turns into a big scene with the manager and hostess adding an extension to the table, getting another chair and getting us all seated again. In the meantime we are all standing around in the middle of the restaurant drawing yet more attention to ourselves. Ugh! I wanted to take a picture to post but decided it was best just to lay low and get through dinner. I have to say that the kids were so well behaved, our dinner was great, the kids were great, minus them forgetting Ryan's food which we ended up getting for free plus a card for another free kids meal when we come back. I find it funny that we cause such a commotion when we go places, I guess we must overwhelm people when they are not used to dealing with such a big family. I think it's neat for people to see that we are a family and were not afraid of going out. Well we are afraid but we do it anyways!

The big 1,2!

Kyle has finally reached the ripe old age of 12! He is so excited to be a deacon and go to mutual activities. Can I just say how weird it is to say that, it really doesn't seem possible that he is 12. I am feeling nostalgic lately as we celebrate these milestone birthdays. This is a big year for us with kids turning 1, 8, 12, & 16. I am so not ready to have my kids grow up, I wish I could just freeze time and keep them as they are. I love having my older boys who I can have real conversations with and talk about life, yet at the same time I love my babies and the unconditional love and need they still have for me! I thought life would get easier as they got older, and in some ways it has but it is so hard to juggle all their schedules and the places they need to be. Today Darrin had a dr. appt. in N. Phoenix, on the way home I get a call from the kids school that Logan has pink eye so I have to go pick him up, then I am racing home to meet Trevor's preschool bus and it's only noon, we still have things to do after school! Most days seem to be like this but I must love the craziness because I wouldn't trade it for the world. I always wanted a big family and I never want the kids to feel as if they missed out on things because of it so we will keep doing sports and scouts and piano and everything else! So as we squeeze in celebrating Kyle's 12th birthday I just have to say that I am so proud of Kyle, he is such a good kid and always seems to do the right thing. He wants to do everything and is having to learn to only do the things that are really important. He is a great student, his teacher loves him, I sometimes wonder if we are talking about the same kid but I learned its best to let teachers only see the good side! He just always tries his best and is a good example to us, he is a little dramatic and loves the attention but we love his sense of humor too. Happy Birthday Kyle, we love you!

It's fun to be One!

It's hard to believe that our baby girl is 1 year old! It has been an amazing year watching her grow. For the first few months of her life I would just look at her in wonderment thinking that I can't believe that this sweet baby girl is mine! She has truly been a joy to us and our family and I have loved every minute of this year with her, even the sleepless nights! Her birthday party was fantastic, thank you to all of our great friends and family that came to celebrate with us, it was so much fun!

How not to spend your birthday!

Unfortunately it was very windy that day and Lyndi's little lungs didn't agree with all the dust being thrown around. She spent her actual first birthday (Tuesday) in the hospital with a respiratory infection. Trevor was also having a hard time breathing so we took him in to the ER Tuesday morning while Jena watched Lyndi for me. They treated and released him and by that time Jena said Lyndi wasn't doing too good so I picked her up and took her in too! The nurses thought it was pretty funny, they even gave us the same bed Trev was in. Lyndi ended up being admitted because she needed continuous oxygen to help her breath. The hospital staff was wonderful with her. A volunteer made her the cutest happy birthday banner ever then they all came to her room and sang happy birthday to her and gave her the cutest stuffed snail rocker to take home, kinda like a rocking horse but a snail-so cute! She ended up staying for 2 nights and is doing much better now, but she will still need breathing treatments for awhile. Randy managed to get the kids everywhere they needed to be. It's times like these when we have to rely on friends and family for help that I realize it truly does take a village to raise our kids, so thanks everyone for pitching in, we really couldn't do it without you!

No more oxygen, yeah!

Lyndi's Happy Birthday banner

What baseball game?

You would never know by looking at this picture that there actually was a baseball game going on! Logan's idea of playing outfield is literally playing in the outfield! He was supposed to be in his ready position with his alligator (glove) ready to swallow the ball. I think he was a little more interested in playing with the grass. You gotta love t-ball. I really was trying to find the humor in it but when yours is the only kid fooling around you can't help but wonder what you're doing wrong! His coach is awesome, he doesn't try to control his energy, just gives him constant praise and lots of thumbs up. I love Logan's spirit, he is funny and outgoing, exuberant, loves to talk and just plain loves life!

I haven't posted pictures in a while so here are a few from what we've been up to:

Kaela's baptism

Kaela's birthday party

Ryan's new glasses!