Birthday Weekend Night One

Tired doesn't even describe how I'm feeling right now. We have had a very fun, but eventful weekend!

Friday (Cade's birthday) we ventured out to another Thunder basketball game. One of TJ's students gave us his season tickets for the night and the seats were awesome.

Like 4th row behind the visiting players awesome!

Cade wore his birthday crown the whole night and everyone kept coming up to him and wishing him a happy birthday.

Cody had so much fun!

During the slow times, the boys played their video games just to mix things up a bit.

After the game, Cade got the royal treatment and was carried out king style...on Daddy's shoulders, cotton candy in one hand, and his McDonald's foam french fry in the other!

I think they had an awesome first night of their birthday weekend!

When you and your brother have birthdays only two days apart, you get to make a whole weekend out of it!

Look Who's...

FIVE!!

I cannot believe you are already FIVE years old!! Am I really old enough to have a FIVE year old? Don't answer that...

You are growing up to be such a great little man. You are exactly like your sister. She even calls you her little twin. You are smart, you put others before yourself, and you are happy when you're making someone else happy! I am so proud of you, Cody! I hope you have the best 5th birthday ever!

Eyes on me!

Cade got to take a birthday picture with one of the Thunder Girls tonight at the game. He also decided to give himself a little birthday peek at the goods.

Come on, Cade. At least wait till mommy isn't looking before you sneak a peek at the boobage area...

Like father, like son. At least one of them had the decency to try and hide it...

Look Who's...

THREE!!

I could not picture my life without you little man! Not a day goes by that I don't thank God you are a part of our family! Your witty sense of humor brings a smile to our faces everyday. You are wise beyond your years. We love you, Cade.

Happy 3rd Birthday!

Little Caesars Commercial

Cody is constantly walking around reciting commercials. Sometimes, even lines from TV shows.

His favorite is the Little Caesars commercial where they're in the courtroom. He does it all the time, complete with hand motions and all. This video does not even do it justice, he's a little camera shy. He cracks me up though...

911, What's your Emergency?

Cole dialed 911 on my cell phone. I have no idea how he did this...he's only a year old! I took off the one touch calling option for 911 for this very reason. The only way he could have called it was by actually dialing 9-1-1 and then pressing the "talk" button.

I discovered it only because I heard this loud, annoying beeping coming from my phone. When I picked it up, it was flashing "emergency". When I went to the outgoing call list, it listed 911 as the last outgoing call.

I didn't know what to do. Do I call them back and say, "just kidding" or do I wait for them to show up? Then I started thinking, don't they usually call you right back if you hang up on them?

No one was calling me back.

Hmmm...

So, I looked up the dispatch number and called to tell them it was an accident only to find out, they never got a call from me.

What? I saw the outgoing call, I heard the awful beeping sound, I know my phone dialed 911. Maybe Cole hung up before the dispatch office received the call, but not before my phone realized it was an "emergency"?

All I know is Cole will no longer be allowed to play with my phone and that does not make him happy...

He has a point...but I can't let him know that!

This morning, Cole was sitting on the little plasma car in his room. Since Cole was sitting on it, Cade decided he needed to ride it right then! He tried yanking Cole off of it and that's when I decided I needed to step in...

Me: "Cade, I don't ever want to see you do that to your brother again. You could hurt him and it's not nice. Do you understand me?"

Cade: "Yes Ma'am. Mommy, I want you get out of dis room."

Me: "Um, OK...Why?"

Cade: "if you not in here, you can't see me pull Coley off."

Like I said, he has a point but I'm not about to let him know that!

Cody's Thunder Gear

Cody had so much fun at the Thunder game last night. He could not stop talking about it this morning. He even ate his breakfast while bouncing his new basketball...on my kitchen floor!

Toast in one hand, basketball in the other.

Daddy also bought Cody a Thunder shirt that he just had to wear to school today. I tried to convince him to wait till Friday since we're going to another Thunder game, but the kid wouldn't budge. He was determined to wear it today. He told me, "you can just get me another one". Oh right, obviously he doesn't know how hard it was to actually find him one in his size!

Hopefully I can get it off of him long enough for me to wash it!

I think it's safe to say, Cody enjoyed his birthday present!

Hopefully on Friday I will get some pictures of Cade and Cody at the game. TJ took the camera last night, but the pictures didn't turn out all that well.

Cade's Letters

When the older kids come home from school, they have to sit at the table and do their homework (I know, I'm an evil, evil person). Cade has always felt a little left out and a little sad he doesn't have any homework to do with them. So, taking this opportunity to teach him something, I picked up some ABC flash cards. It helps that they're Super Why flash cards...his favorite!

He loves getting to do homework with the older kids and I love he knows almost all his letters (he still gets confused at times with C,D,E,V because they sound the same and sometimes he mixes up K and X).

Once we have upper case down pat, we will flip them over and work on lower case.

You go little man!

Oh, and since I rigged the video camera, I didn't realize you can't see the flash cards but you can see the letters when I put them in the pile. You're jealous of my videography skills, I'm sure!

Love/Hate Relationship

Cody and Cade are the worst when it comes to fighting. It literally drives me insane. They can't go a single minute without purposefully making the other mad. It's crazy, annoying, and very painful to listen to.

I'm not going to sugar coat their behavior and pretend they're all perfect angels to each other. That would be lying and my grandpa always told me "you can go to hell for lying the same as you can for stealing".

Plus, that would be a whole lot of lying and I don't think God is down with that!

But if you separate them, they can't stand it. It hurts them to be away from each other. Cody went to the Thunder game the other night with TJ, and after they had been gone for about an hour, Cade came in the room asking where Cody was. When I told him he wouldn't be home until later, he started to cry. He said, "but I just want my Cody back. Please, bwing Cody back home".

Even though my little man was sad, it made me happy. Not happy he was crying, but happy he missed his brother so much. Every time they fight I wonder what I'm doing wrong. But after tonight, I realize I'm doing something right. They love each other and that means I'm raising them exactly how I should be.

This is a picture from last year...I want to be wearing shorts!

Cody is going to a Thunder game!

Cody was beyond excited when I told him we found some tickets to the game. The OKC Thunder basketball team is our only pro sports team in Oklahoma. Cody's basketball number is 35, just like Kevin Durant, and he wants to change his baseball number to 35 as well.

This is all Cody wanted for his birthday. I had asked a friend if she could get tickets through her work and she definitely came through for us. The tickets are awesome!

When I told Cody she got tickets for us, he ran up to her and gave her a huge hug. He was so excited and would not put the tickets down. He kept telling me to "be careful, Mommy. Don't mess with them, you might bend one."

Someone is a little over protective of his tickets!

I am not able to go to the game tonight because I'm not sure Cole would sit though the entire thing. TJ and Cody are taking Shawn and Laney with them. I think Cody will have more fun with a friend around.

Have I mentioned how excited Cody is for tonight?

Chuck E. Cheese

I must be insane, or a really awesome mom, because after Cody's basketball game, I didn't feel like taking all the kids home and just sitting around the house, so I took them to Chuck E. Cheese.

It was rainy, we were bored, so that's what we did.

TJ supposedly had to tutor some kids in Chemistry at the library, so he was "unable" to come with us. I bet he was crushed!

All Cade wanted to do was "drive da car". That would have been fine if I didn't have to press the accelerator the whole time while trying to keep Cole from running off. I don't know why I'm complaining, this is how I have to drive on a daily basis with a car full of kids. Minus the two year old driver, of course.

However, we played this game over and over and over again...

McKinly is always a huge help, and thank God she loves to help with her brothers. Without her, I don't know if I could take the kids to all the places I take them.

Cole and Cade playing a game that didn't involve driving...this was short lived.

McKinly and Laney with their ticket winnings.

Surprise, Surprise...Cade got candy with his tickets!

"WHAT?? We're leaving?"

Ty, Cody, and Ty's friend, Jake were running around somewhere. They were not about to let me stop them from playing in order to take a picture! Boys!

Show me your muscles

"This is thunder and this is lightening, don't get caught between the storm!"

This boy is ripped!

Rainy Weekend Fun

We had a pretty wet weekend. I love the rain, but not when we have all five kids...and their friends.

So, what did we do??

We did paper mache!

McKinly asked me last week if I would do this with her since she had just made a paper mache monkey at school. This weekend was a perfect weekend for it.

Saturday Cody had a basketball game then I took all the kids to Chuck E. Cheese (that post coming soon) and when we got back, we got to work...

McKinly and Cade covering their balloons

Cody working on his.

Hey look, it's Ty!! He is usually too busy running around to be in a picture, but I finally got one of him!

One of the penguins so far...

How do you keep a one year old from getting into all the paper mache stuff?? You sit him at the table and give him a ding dong, that's how!

McKinly with her turtle before any of the details

Her finished turtle. We decided to put shamrocks on it's back for St. Patrick's Day. They can come off so she can put different things on for each holiday. Notice my awesome Hibiscus flower.

The face.

The head is a little big but she's still cute.

Cade helping put the construction paper on one of the penguins

Our finished boy penguin.

Our finished girl penguin

McKinly, who did most of the work, with all three of her projects

All three finished projects

It took McKinly and I all Saturday night and all day Sunday to finish, but we had a great time. McKinly is hoping to make more when my family is in town for Spring Break!

More Gluten (well less actually)

Since Cade is having stomach issues again, we're back to lowering the amount of gluten we give him. A little less than a year ago, he tested negative for Celiac Disease but his GI doctor thought he still had a "sensitivity" to it. When we went completely gluten free for an entire month, Cade gained weight and his stomach issues became a little more manageable.

However, after another gluten free month, Cade lost weight again and his stomach issues were back. We slowly introduced gluten products again because we felt there was no need to be completely gluten free.

The last few months things have started to go downhill. Cade's stomach issues are even worse and that does not help with his potty training. He is 100% "pee pee" potty trained, but since he has major problems with BM's, we're no where near being completely potty trained. I can't blame him though, in order for him to go to the restroom, he has to pull his knees completely up to his chin in order to get anything out. Not such an easy task when you're not supposed to go in your underwear.

I'm not trying to gross anyone out, just trying to give some background information to our situation. The thing is, I think we're going to have to go back to being gluten free (for Cade, at least, anyway). Too many things are not working for him. Being gluten free was a challenge, financially. It is not the cheapest lifestyle ($6 for a loaf of bread...are you kidding me?) but it is manageable.

I have had people give me recipes and different ideas in the past on things that work well for kids, but I'm needing some more help. I watch kids for a living and I can't afford for everyone to be gluten free. How do I tell Cade he can't have certain foods? How will he feel about the other kids getting foods he can't have? How do you explain to a three year old why he can't have cake on his birthday (there are gluten free cake mixes, I know, but this sentence just flowed well with the rest so I kept it).

If you have any information, please let me know. The way I see it, this can't hurt him. If I had the willpower, I might even try a gluten free diet.

The Wicked Witch

I have a new title to my name. I guess "mom" just doesn't cut it anymore.

A few days ago, I got a zit on my cheek. It is definitely not the first zit I have ever had but it is, by far, one of the biggest and most painful. I even had to cover it up with a band-aid so I would stop messing with it. The more oils I put on it, the worse it got.

While I understand this is probably too much information, it is necessary in order to understand the humiliation I went though when I dropped the kids off at school the other day.

I pulled up in the parent drop off line and while the kids were getting out, one of teachers came to say hi to Jake, one of Ty's friends who I take to school. She asked him who I was and being the little jokester he is said, "oh, she's our taxi driver". Now, had that statement been the only one made, I would have laughed and moved on with my life. However, my very obnoxious charming son said, "She's not a taxi driver, she's the wicked witch. She even has the ugly wart and all!"

Like I said...pure humiliation!

Five is not looking like an age this one will live to see...

Read to the doggies

Twice a month, our public library has a night where a group of people bring in their trained dogs. Kids come in and are allowed to read to one or all of the dogs. This is a chance for kids to read to someone who will just sit there and listen to them. They don't care if they mis-pronounce a word or how long it takes them to figure out what the word says. It's very helpful and fun for the kids.

It is a great help to me, as well. I love listening to Cody read and I am very happy and proud he reads so well, but there are times when I just want to give in and tell him the word he's trying to sound out. There are just some days I can't handle it (I'm a horrible person, I know, but we've all been there I'm sure).

This past Tuesday, Cody got to read to Champ. He was the sweetest dog and just sat there and listened the entire time. At the end, he even bowed for Cody when he finished!

Cody reading to Cade and Champ

Cody and Champ

The boys love the library. It is a fight to get them out of it! I usually have to bribe them in order to leave without making it a huge ordeal. I guess that's much better than a fight to get them to go to the library!

Cody helping Cade on the computer

Cody and Cade love the statue in front of the library for some reason

We'll be back in two more weeks to read to another set of dogs. Until then, Cody will just have to settle for reading to me...

My Dad

Many of you know my dad. You know he's a fun, loving guy who would do anything for you. He's always cracking jokes and making you laugh. Half the time I roll my eyes at his jokes, but I love his sense of humor and I have never wanted him to change.

But sometimes change is good. Sometimes change is necessary in the overall scheme of things. My dad is a heavier man. This never bothered me before. He is my dad and I love him. But it has bothered him...physically. The added stress it has put on his body is not something he has enjoyed. He has tried all kinds of diets and some of them have worked. However, the weight has always found its way back.

He's a southern man who enjoys southern food. He makes the best ribs and brisket ever! Like the fall off the bone type ribs. I don't really even like ribs but I will eat them up if my dad makes them! Delicious doesn't even cover it! My parents always have a ton of people over and when my dad bar-b-ques, he doesn't use your standard grill...he uses BIG BERTHA!

My point is, the man can cook and if you cook, you're going to eat! So, diets don't really work for him.

It finally hit him one day. He needed to lose weight if he wanted to live a long life. His exact words were "I've never seen a fat, old man!" It was with this realization that he decided to have the lap-band surgery. After he made this decision, there was no turning back. He knows it will be a very long process and his way of life will have to change but he's up for the challenge. He wants to see his grandkids grow up and be able to play catch with my little brother (who is 12) for years to come. I think all of that outweighs the hardship he will have to go through for the first few months.

On Monday, my dad had the surgery. Everything went great and he's doing well. He's still in a lot of pain but he's getting through it. He is only on a liquid diet for now but eventually he'll get to eat. I hear he'll have to endure some pretty serious hunger pains though.

We're all very proud of you, Dad! TJ can't wait to buy you your first pair of "cool" jeans! :)

Valentine Cookie

The Friday before Valentine's Day, one of the parents brought over cookies for all the little kids to have at lunch. These were not just any cookies though, they were evil...the devil of all cookies. The ones covered completely in messy, dark icing! Not a great combination with a two year old and three one year olds!

Since it was just a one day thing, I went ahead and let them have at it after lunch. I'm all about them having fun for any holiday so what's a little icing, right?

This is what happens with a little icing...

Don't worry, paybacks are hell!!