The search begins

We have known for the last 6 months or so that this house is just too small for the 9 of us. I still love my house but I guess it's time to move on. This house has been great for raising babies but now we need space to raise our teenagers! We bought an acre of land and eventually we want to build our forever home but we are thinking of holding off for now until we don't have to build quite so big. There are so many good deals out there right now and we know the right house will be a good investment for us but searching in this market is not fun. I am not good at playing the waiting game! We are excited about the future and I am definitely looking forward to having more space. I keep thinking a bigger house might actually stay cleaner, maybe it's just that the mess will be more spread out! So the search begins for our next home, and if you know of anyone who will need a rental home in a few months let us know!

Ugh!

Can I just say that I really loathe parent teacher conferences! I knew it would be really bad if I just didn't show up. I like to think that I am a responsible parent and I do take their education seriously but I was really not looking forward to today. You know what's great? When your kids move on to Jr. high and you don't have conferences anymore unless your kid is failing and it is necessary. I mean really, if they are doing fine then what's the point! At least this year all the kids teachers are older than me (that's getting harder the older I get!) but I have a hard time taking a teacher seriously when they don't have kids of their own. Bad I know but it's true isn't it? Don't you need some real life experience to really get it? So I knew one of my kids was really struggling with behavior issues, nothing serious just can't keep the 'ol mouth shut, can't sit still, can't follow directions, etc. But this same kid is an A student, is at the top of the class academically so maybe he is just bored? I know that he needs to learn to behave, it really is unacceptable but what do you do? The teacher seemed to be at the end of her rope and would really rather not be dealing with him. I guess there are other kids in the class with deeper issues at home that need more attention than he does, so basically we have no excuse for his behavior accept poor parenting! The thing is I love his personality! I know he is crazy at times but he is so full of life, is super out-going, is not shy like all the other kids, and is just fun. So I will try to help him to remember to behave, but remember that this is who he is and I love him just the same.

For the love of the game

Check out this video of Matt Ziesel, a freshman football player with Down syndrome, score a touchdown for his team. With his team down 46-0, Matt's coach asked the rival high school team if they would let his player run a touchdown. The other players agreed, and Matt, who had never played in a game before, ran more than 60 yards to score six points for his team. Matt's team lost; but both sides were thrilled that Matt had the opportunity to make such a successful season debut. And, of course, no one was happier than Matt.



I heard about this video on a radio station and wanted to share it. Football is about so much more than winning the game. I wish more coaches out there would understand this and practice it. We've been to too many games where it's all about the final score. Everyone deserves a chance to play and to be a part of a team. GO SKYLINE!!

Go Speed Racer!

I wish my first car was this nice! Darrin turns 16 in a couple of weeks so I guess he can consider this an early birthday present. We are really trying to motivate him to drive. He is not as excited as we are for him to drive but hopefully now that he has a car he will feel a little more motivated to learn how. I know it will help me a ton not having to drive him back and forth to school and practice, plus having an extra driver in the house will really help. He is such a great kid and really helps us out alot without ever complaining so it is easy to spoil him. It's nice to be able to use him as an example for the other kids too. I explained to Kyle the reasons Darrin was able to have a car. I want him to know that no one is ever entitled to these things, they are definitely earned and just as easily lost. Randy is loving fixing it up for him and of course making sure it has a great sound system, I think it makes him feel like a kid again! Maybe because we are still young enough to remember what it was like to turn 16 that we are excited to share these moments with him. He still has to pass drivers ed. and get his license before he can drive it so at least for a couple more weeks the streets will be safe!

Game Day

It's football time! What would life be without football? For Darrin at least, life would have no purpose! He has been playing football since he was 7 years old. It has taken a toll on his body but he still loves it. Since he was little he has looked forward to playing for Skyline High School. It is a little surreal to see him in the actual Skyline uniform, playing with some of the boys he has grown up with. Last night Gramma & Grampa and Kari came to watch Darrin & the rest of the team take on Gilbert High School. So far the JV team is off to a rough start but we still love going and cheering on our team. Here is a video clip of Darrin's awesome diving catch, I may be a little biased but it was the most exciting play of the game! The video is a little shaky because Papa Grande needs to learn to hold the camera still when he jumps up and down!

"Staycation"

I really wanted to get away this last weekend. I thought camping would be fun since we haven't been all summer but with the weather being unpredictable thought better of it. It is not fun being stuck in a too small camper when it's pouring outside. Then we thought maybe it would be fun to go check out Tucson, we haven't been since it was just the 2 oldest boys. After deciding I really didn't want to spend too much, it is getting to be ridiculously expensive for our size family just to go to a simple museum or anything that costs an admission. Normally we just do it and don't think about it but we did already go on vacation this year so I guess I was just being cheap! I really didn't want to just sit around the house, I have been craving some good family time since Randy has been putting in alot of hours lately. It took me a few days but I finally came up with a plan to stay in town and have some fun around here, our family staycation. We had a full weekend planned of great activities. Because this will be a really long post I will break it up into days. I would've added pictures but as soon as I downloaded all my pictures to my laptop it decided to crash and they are stuck there somewhere in laptop heaven until Randy can find them. I will have to add them later because I took a ton!

Day One:
We started off Friday night riding the light rail to downtown Phoenix, we have never ridden before so it was a fun experience. We didn't realize how fast the thing takes off! If you're not holding on you will go flying. Our destination was the Phoenix Children's Museum. The museum is free the first Friday of every month, so basically the entire population of Phoenix was there! We had to wait about an hour for our turn to go in but they had activities for the kids to do so it wasn't too bad. Once our number was called we made our way inside only for the fire alarm to go off and everyone had to evacuate! We finally got to go inside and play and I think the kids had alot of fun. We will definitely go back when it is not so crowded so we can really enjoy it. The stop for the light rail is about 1/2 mile away, I didn't think that would be too bad of a walk until it was 10pm and we had to walk back when were all tired and little legs were giving out! Lyndi stayed awake all night, I thought for sure she would sleep on the way home but she was going strong until she was in her own bed. So far our weekend is off to a great start!

Day Two:
I scored a free bowling pass by signing up for the AMF e club so Saturday afternoon we headed out to go bowling. We've only taken the kids one other time so everyone was excited. It's always nerve racking for me to get everyone organized and ready but it went well. We had the bumpers up for the kids but I must admit they helped Randy and I too! It was so fun to watch the little kids go up there and try to throw the heavy ball down the lane, one time the poor ball only made it about halfway down and stopped! Logan did his little happy dance every time he knocked the pins over and poor Lyndi was pretty much stuck in her stroller the whole time but she is patient and puts up with us. Ryan was leading his 2 older brothers for the last few frames and you could just see the anticipation on his face as he was hoping he would beat them. Everyone had fun and we were starving by the time we were done so we headed down to Gilbert to eat at Joe's Farm Grill with the Baileys. I have only heard great things about this place so we were really excited to try something new. The food was okay but we really weren't impressed. We started off sitting inside but quickly discovered that with all our kids the noise echoing off the old block walls was just too much so we moved our group outside. I'm sure the people sitting next to us were grateful too! I doubt we will go back but it was fun to get together and we had a good time.

Day Three:
Today was Sunday so after going to church I planned for us to take a picnic lunch up to our mistletoe spot, a very secret undisclosed location! It was a little cooler there, though not much. I don't think the kids enjoyed the idea of a picnic as much as I did, all I heard was I'm bored and Kaela was deathly afraid of some imaginary bugs that the rest of us weren't bothered by. After we ate the kids played catch and Randy built a tree swing with some rope that we brought along. After a couple of hours we were ready to head home, we had steaks marinating at home waiting for us!

Day Four:
The big day! I think the kids were looking forward to this day the most out of everything. All summer we had planned to go to Amazing Jake's but never made it. I figured since most of the stuff we did cost very little it was okay to splurge a little. It helped that they had a great online deal for Monday that included unlimited rides, video games, and pizza buffet for one price. We got there first thing and played all day, by the time Randy & were ready to go and Darrin had to be at practice we had already been there 6 hours! Kyle, Ryan & Kaela were nowhere near ready to be done so we agreed that it would be okay if they stayed and played a little while longer so we left them there and came home and put the little ones to bed. Randy headed back down a few hours later and they still wanted to play. He's a softy so they all played until they were kicked out! I guess they got their money's worth.

It really was a fun weekend, it's great to make the time to spend with each other. I look at the kids and see how fast they are growing up and I want to squeeze in as much with them as I can. I hope that they will look back at these times with their family and have good memories and know that we at least tried!

Sick & Sicker

I think I'm running an infirmary here! Without fail the kids get sick about 3 weeks into the school year, every stinkin year! Kaela & Trev have had the stuffies all week and Ryan and Darrin are home today. Darrin is the worst, it is the same thing every time, looks and acts like strep throat but the test is usually negative. He used to get strep at least twice a year, we looked into getting his tonsils out but the ENT told us not to do it unless he had it like 6 times a year! I wish I would have pushed him to do it because this is ridiculous. Poor kid just wants to play football. He was ready to play this week, even with his bum hip and risking the possibility of needing surgery because he just wants to play! Then he gets sick and feels like he is on his death bed. He even said he can't believe a fractured hip won't keep him from playing but a sore throat will. Well it's more than a sore throat but it's true. Poor guy, it just stinks. Every year though he will miss almost a week of school, not a good way to start off the year. When I called the elementary school to let them know Ryan would be home today the lady asked if he had a fever. In my head I'm thinking well if I tell her yes they won't let him back to school for 24 hours after the fever is gone, that could be 3 days from now when he is really feeling fine or do I say no? Well I didn't lie, I said "I'm not sure, he just doesn't feel good." I haven't taken his temp so I really don't know if he has a fever, his head felt a little warm but he was bundled up under a blanket so I really don't know! Then she said she had to ask because of the swine flu, great so now we are under the radar as possible swine flu carriers! Just to be safe I read all about swine flu symptoms and I'm pretty sure we're clear but you may want to steer clear of the infirmary for now!