January 6th

 January 6, 2012 - Adia woke up a TEENAGER!

She LOVED her siblings waking her up with a donut and a beautifuly sung Happy Birthday!

  
Then a great girlfriend showed up, dressed all cute, and told her they would be going to get some breakfast... Adia felt loved!

 On the way out the door... so fun!

The back story is that we had decided to put Adia in school over the Christmas break and found out it started January 2nd... I wasn't ready to let her go that soon and really wanted to spend her birthday with her so I told the school she would be starting a week later.  The Vice Principal asked me why and when I told him he said "what a great idea."


Adia didn't know but her dad and I had planned a special day for just the 3 of us.  While she was at breakfast I dropped all her siblings off with Grandma & Grandpa.  When she got home and I told her it would be just us for the day she sounded like a tired mom "oh, maybe we should just stay home, relax and enjoy the quiet."  Made me laugh.  She was so thankful for that gift and G'pa Paul and G'ma Jenny should know it was probably one of the biggest treats of the day!


But instead we opted to go get our nails done... she got gel nails and they looked great!  She also got her eyebrows waxed for the first time and loved it!  She wasn't thrilled that they were red for hours after and wished I would have warned her.  

Adia had been asking her dad for awhile if he would take her to Sushi on her big day but he kept acting like he would have to see how his day went.  Truth is he has been way busier at the office than we are used to so it was believable that he might not be able to.  Of course, he wouldn't miss such a big occasion though and planned on meeting us for sushi then taking the rest of the day off to hang out with us.  After our lunch we walked across the street to see the new Sherlock Holmes... I was bored to death.  The two of them loved it!

After the movie we had one more surprise up our sleeves for her... my parents were waiting at the mall to take her shopping for new school clothes and get her a nice steak/lobster dinner (she's been spoiled in the food department from Papa for way too long).   But getting her to the mall was harder than we planned.  She wanted to stop at Target to spend some money she had... she was shopping and shopping and shopping and kept talking and talking and talking.  


Finally we got her to the mall where my parents were hidden inside and when she found her Papa she was over joyed!  A few minutes later she saw Grandma and was so happy!  Here is a shot of her and the boys who can't get enough of her!  I think she felt very loved!  

The next day she had her first tournament of the season and ROCKED it!

And then, 2 days later, my baby girl went to school (a public school I might add).  I had prayed so much about the decision I knew it was what God had for her.  I had been so strong and at peace about it...

But then I saw her walk out the door and LOST it!  I couldn't believe she was doing this.  I couldn't believe how old she is, how amazing she is, what a great head she has on her shoulders, what a confident little thing she is, how beautiful she is and so much more.  


Her dad called after dropping her off and said she looked so nervous... that was the longest day of my life.  I couldn't wait to pick her up and hear how it went.  My stomach hurt all day and the tears were ever flowing.  But when I saw her walk to the car at 2:04 I could see it in her eyes - she liked it.  She got in the car and with a huge smile said "I LOVE it".  


And I LOVE her - my teenage daughter who has defied the odds and turned out AMAZING!  She is a gem of a lady and I am so proud to be her mom.  This past month of having her in school we have learned so much - we learned mom is too hard on her, she is even smarter than we thought, she has no problem standing up for her beliefs, she is well liked, she is tall for a 7th grader and more.  It's been a journey for sure and she continues to make us proud for so many reasons.  I can't wait to see what else God has in store for this crazy girl of ours who seems to think she is already all grown up.  

Mom CAN Do It!

This all started a couple Mother's Days ago. I had wanted to go to Tahoe to enjoy the day since it was too hot in EDH. I said I'd love to go for a walk with the kids. I was envisioning a cement path (like sidewalk) that goes through the beautiful forested areas with views of the lake. I have since learned those don't exist. Anyway, on the way there we saw signs for Horsetail Falls and Kyle says we should do that hike with the kids. He had heard it was beautiful and leads to a waterfall and it was about a half hour closer than going all the way into Tahoe. I was convinced and we pulled over to start my beautiful Mother's Day walk with the kids. Not long after we started on the very natural trail (meaning dirt, bugs and sticks), just a way past the stinking bathrooms, we arrived at a beautiful rock area with a gorgeous water feature (not sure what nature people would call it). After a good photo opportunity and a near death experience with a small animal on my flip-flop covered foot (and a bit of screaming and a bit of Kyle embarrassed of me) I was done and ready to go home. The kids and Kyle were annoyed because I guess we hadn't really started the trail yet. I insisted it was Mother's Day and I should decide. So with tearful kids and a frustrated husband we drove home silently.

That brings us to the day I conquered the hike. I decided it was a beautiful day, the weather was gorgeous and slightly cool (which I love). I told Kyle I'd like to do that hike again. He kind of laughed and then when he realized I was serious said "let's do it". The kids invited Grandma Jenny, Uncle Ty and Sarah. I wore shoes to protect me from the scary animals found all over the ground and we were off.

Now that it is over, I kind of laugh. It was fun. It was beautiful. I really enjoyed being out in God's amazing creation, with people I love, and would do it again any day - well as long as it was cool outside. Here are some pictures of what I conquered. And before you judge me too hard, know that I have hiked half dome. Did I love it? No. Do I think I might actually enjoy it now? Yep. Well, that is if I could physically do it, but the point is, if I could, I would. Of course, I'm not in the pictures but just know I had to be there to take them.

This picture was taken purely to make Grandpa Paul jealous.

We were a bit surprised but so excited to see patches of snow all over the place.

My HANDSOME boys!

Feelin' Proud

Sarah, the big sister that all the kids adore!

Love it!

Yes, Kenyon jumped in the freezing water... and yes, that is snow all around.

Aww... brothers are cute!

Adison was amazing out there.

She had a blast and looked gorgeous the whole time.

See, I was there.

THE END!

Passport 2 Purity

Recently Adia and I went away for a little Passport 2 Purity weekend. She has given me permission to share how it went so that other moms and daughters (or fathers/sons) could learn from our experience and hopefully do something similar. Many have asked me to share more details and so with her permission that is what I am going to do.

We had a great time, learned a lot and had some really good conversations to help her prepare for the tough years ahead of her. Passport 2 Purity is a kit that comes with 5 CD sessions, a parent manual and a student manual. It is meant for a father/son or mother/daughter to do together during a child’s 6th grade year. It covers topics like peer pressure, puberty, sex, dating and PURITY from a Christ-centered perspective! I doubted the timing many times but found out as we went through it together how perfect this age actually is for the retreat. Here is our Passport story…

Before I tell you about the journey we took I have to tell you about the prep work. The parent is meant to listen to all of the session ahead of time as well as prepare a little hands on experiment to help reinforce the point of each one. Weeks before I started listening to the CD’s, planned when and where we would go, gathered the needed supplies for the activities and PRAYED hard that God would meet us when we finally went away together.

One more thing before I go into the details is that going over this information with Kyle (my hubby) ahead of time was such a good experience. I wasn't for sure we would be on the same page with all of this and to be honest I was nervous that we were going to have to come to her with shared convictions and thought they might have to be forced. The truth is though that when Kyle and I spend a day preparing for this God totally met us. We had some great conversations in regards to the standards we want to hold in our home and also about some of the pain that came from our past mistakes. I know a few others who felt the same. The gift this program was to our whole family caught me completely off guard.

Okay, back to the point - Monday morning we headed out. Her dad and I had both written her a letter telling her how much we love her, appreciate her and look forward to watching her grow up. We told her we believe in her and that we know with God (and our) help she will be able to look back at her teen years as ones she can be proud of. After she read the letters we put the first CD on. Adia had a little guide book that it has her fill in the blanks to be sure she is following along. Each session ends with a memory verse and they are all put to music. The songs are cheesy but we had fun singing them and trying to memorize them.

We stopped and got some lunch as well as a couple treats to take back to the hotel with us.

Once we got to the hotel we got busy listening to the lessons, having great conversations and doing the suggested activities. I had kind of doubted this part of the program. I thought she was a bit old for some of them but once we got into the lessons I found them to be a great way to visualize the point and we enjoyed every one.

Here we are all setup at the hotel and ready to dive in. I actually laid the stuff all out like that and we both thought it looked staged so we decided to take a picture of her in the middle of it.

Enjoying her chocolate teacup.

Day 2 - Filling in her journal as she listened to the CD session.

And here is an example of the project we did on gaurding relationships. If you double click this to see it bigger you will see the lessons learned. Heart #1 represents a guy/girl friendship that has all the necessary safe guards in place to keep it totally pure and God honorhing. #2 is more of a guy/girl friendship that went too far. And I don't mean sexually - more of just getting exclusive/attached and the pain that might follow that. Then #3 was a long term exclusive relationship. Not even necessarily sexually speaking but more just major attachments made and the damage that can cause when the 2 weren't mature enough to begin with.
Adia, pretending to cry over the loss of innocence.After breakfast, we finished our last lesson and got ready to go out and have some fun. I had planned to have one of her best friends and her mom meet us at the mall where they could get their ears pierced together. Both of the girls have wanted to do this for years but both of their dads have been saying NO. It was so cute to see them do this together. They had to wait in line behind some 6 year olds but hey - no big deal!

After a fun visit with them Adia and I enjoyed a bit more one on one time. She knew we would be going out to a nice dinner that night. What she didn’t know is that her dad would be there also. Kyle had spent much of his last couple days searching for the perfect promise ring to give her. He had also worked hard coming up with a Purity Covenant for them to sign together. That dinner was such a precious time. I got to watch Adia squirm a bit as her dad shared his love for her and desire to always be there for her. Then they both entered into a purity covenant together. To top off the evening she was given a ring to wear that symbolizes our promise to her, her promise to us and all of our promises to God in regards to her staying pure and our role in helping her in that. She was pretty excited and so were we.

Here is our Purity Covenant (actually we revised this a little but I can’t find that document so I will share the almost final draft). I share this so you can use it to help you in writing your own. We loved reading other families to help us come up with this. The program comes with a Wait to Date contract but we didn't feel it captured our hearts/desires for this area.


Purity Covenant

To my parents:
I recognize that God holds you accountable to raise me in the
admonition of His ways.
I recognize that I am under your authority as your daughter.
I believe that you love me unconditionally and are committed
to my well-being.

I commit to God, my parents and my family:
To put Christ first and guard my heart to protect the gift
entrusted to me by the Lord.
To joyfully await the man the Lord will bring for me to marry.
To save all of my innocence and purity for my future husband.
To wait to until my parents believe I am ready to develop a loving relationship with a man.
To submit to my father's authority over my courting and marital intentions.

I joyfully and intentionally promise myself to these things.

__________________________________________
(your signature)

__________________________________________
(dad's signature)

Big Boy - Big Job!

How is it possible I am potty training a baby for the

5th and FINAL time???

I am excited to be done with diapers soon and totally sad that it's getting official that my babies aren't babies anymore. But that is what I am doing so here are some pics. So far we are doing okay on the pee thing - not so great on the poops! Although getting sprayed with the hose is not fun so hopefully that will turn around soon.

It all started with the ring of the door bell. Somehow we all already knew it was for Kaden and we all followed him to the door.

Where he found a present just for him.

It was a Zebra, wearing a pull up, asking Kaden to please help him learn to go potty in the toilet like a big boy so he can wear big boy underwear. (Cute side note: Adison still sleeps with her Potty Piggy that she succesfully potty trained when she was 2) Of course we had to check his pull up right away and the darn Zebra already went poop and pee which cracked Kaden up!

So Kaden taught him how to go in the toilet (with all his siblings help) over the next few hours and soon they were both wearing underwear and going together... I wish I had a picture of the potty chart that both the Zebra and Kaden earned stickers for.

If you are wondering how a Zebra goes potty in the toilet the trick is having a syringe with yellow water and some pepper on hand.

Well, that was 2 days ago and we are still going potty every 20-30 minutes around here. Kaden isn't doing as well as Adison but he is doing good enough and for that I am so glad! He doesn't have accidents but he rarely says he has to go... he just goes when I take him. Here is the Big Boy taking care of business.

Oh and as I am typing this Kaden just came out of his room wearing his brothers boxers telling me he is a princess... not sure why he thinks this or what he is talking about but I had to grab the camera again. (gotta love the rush editing to cover his manhood huh?)


Did I mention I can't wait until the weekend when daddy is here to help me! Oh and being a 5th kid has some major perks... you have never seen such a large cheering crowd for every drop of pee this little boy has... SO CUTE!!!!

Avery's 1st Piano Recital

Sunday Avery had her 1st ever piano recital and she did GREAT! Her teacher likes to plan them at homes for the elderly so the students learn to bless others with their gifts and what a blessing it was! It was kind of an intimidating crowd but when Avery stood up to introduce herself she spoke loud and clear and I couldn't have been more proud of her.

The audience

You will notice in the picture below I numbered 2 of the ladies. Here is why.... when the first boy went up to announce himself lady #1 was shaking her program and it was making a crinkling sound. Lady #2 told the boy to stop then tells #1 "You need to stop doing that. You are making too much noise and we can't hear him. Stop doing it!" #2 then starts shaking her paper more loudly while the boy then proceeds to play his music. #2 is getting really frustrated and trying to stop the boy again. Finally a nurse sat between them and took #1's program from her. Of course #1 wouldn't be defeated so she started knocking her fists on the table. It was so funny! The nurse had to sit between them the rest of the time and kept stoping #1 from her noisy ideas.

I love that she sat like such a lady while playing!

She played Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

& Old McDonald Had a Farm.

And here she is with her amazing teacher whom we are so blessed to have found! She usually does lessons out of her home but because of my large family she has come to our home weekly.
She was very proud of her music achievement award!

And these 2 didn't like all the pictures being taken of Avery so I had to snap this as well!

Side note...

I didn't just tear up when she was playing... I kind of was totally crying and was very embarassed. I am getting really sick of my unability to control that. I thought with Adia maybe all the tears were because she was my first and I knew I would do better the second time around - but I was so wrong. If anything I am worse as I realize how quickly these times will pass. I know I have way too much anxiety as a mom. But this is the most important job ever and I am so ill-equiped to do it! My latest goal with God is to learn to trust Him more and believe His word when it says how he is made known more through our weaknesses than our strengths. Also I have to trust that he cares more about the futures of my children than I do and as long as Kyle and I continue to seek Him as we train these kids up God will guide our paths and make up for our many many weaknesses while raising kids. This whole motherhood journey brings so much joy but also lately I am sad to admit it brings so much anxiety and worry. You should have seen me at Adia's tournament this weekend. I'm starting to not even enjoy watching. I hate seeing her insecurities out there on the court. Honestly my stomach hurts watching her play and I cannot stand not being able to help her through mistakes anymore and having to watch her learn hard lessons. Even when she does something good I see her take a deep breath and it breaks my heart. I know she has some of my insecurities and I feel like I failed her for not coaching her past them. Why didn't anyone warn me how tough this job is! Anyway, this might not have made too much sense but I needed to vent.

Crazy Kaden

Here is my little man in action... he is so coordinated. It's amazing how much the little ones learn just by watching. Isn't he cute!

Season Opener

Well, Adia's team had their first tournament this weekend and won the whole thing! Adia played great and had 3 straight serving points in the championship game as well as 2 awesome digs for sideouts! Her and the dad had a blast! I was only able to see parts of it due to Kenyon having a basketball game and the fact that I have 4 very not calm kiddos. I guess it's good I missed the final game because the adreniline that would pump through my body when my she was up to serve and we need the points was honestly painful and I just sit there stressing for her. I couldn't have handled the championship for sure! But she did great and we are so proud!

Ready to go and thinking my mom is really annoying...

Lucky dad gets to see the whole tournament.

And of course you have to ref as well as play...

Warming up... getting pumped up...

We won! Notice Adia in the air (click it to enlarge). Gold Cal 12's team in all their glory!