A new addition to the family

We now have a new pet, people. Her name is Roxy and she is hamster. This is our first pet, ever, and I am not that excited about it. I would rather eat my foot than touch that hamster. I have issues with rodents, and would much rather have a pet cockroach.

We told the kids if they could get along for an entire week with no fighting or tattling, we could get a hamster. I wasn't too worried, because I didn't think they could do it. I'm not saying that my kids are fighting and arguing all the time, because they all get along really well. But when you have 5 kids, even if they each only tattle 1 or 2 times a day, it's enough to drive a mother crazy.

Here is dad, putting together the hamster mansion, while Dylan makes sure he is doing it right.


I think Blake is the most excited of the kids. Roxy stays in her walk-in closet right next to a bottle of that automatic air-freshening poof stuff. I hope this little hamster is tough, because it's survival of the fittest at our house.

Lucky

There's this song I love by Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat called "Lucky". It's on my blog playlist. Anyway, I love it because it reminds me of my relationship with my sweet hubby. Today, we have been married 11 years, and I can honestly say I have never been as happy in my life as I am right now. I have everything I ever wanted and I feel truly blessed. I love you, Jimmers, and this crazy life that we have. I wouldn't have it any other way! I'm posting a picture of our wedding day so everyone can have a good laugh. We look like little kids...

What in the world?

I was just reading a friend's blog, and singing along to that song "Had a Bad Day" on her playlist. Well, then I closed her blog and realized that song was still playing. Weird. I'm back on my blog, and I scroll down to my playlist and realize that song is coming from my playlist. My stinkin' 2 oldest girls keep adding songs to my playlist, and it's driving me crazy!!! Sometimes I will let Taylor go on playlist.com to listen to her favorite songs and sing to the top of her lungs. She can sign herself in (she knows all my passwords). Those little stinkers think they are so funny adding songs to my playlist. I know they are doing it on purpose because I specifically showed them which button NOT to click on, so they wouldn't put Miley and the Jonas Brothers on my blog. They are just too smart for their own good. When I was their age, I could barely figure out how to play "Oregon Trail" on the computer...

Diddybadgirl strikes...AGAIN

Just when I think there's nothing exciting to blog about, Diddy comes through for me. Last night Dylan decided to hop in the shower with Lincoln. No big deal, right. He usually will wash her hair and everything, and then I don't have to do it. Well, when you have alot of kids, it pays to get the huge salon bottles of shampoo with the pump on it. It is just cheaper than buying a new bottle of shampoo every week. Diddy came out of the shower looking like this...I don't know how her eyes were not burning.

And then I found this...she carried the bottle all the way to the laundry room, and started pumping it out on the floor. I had little spots of shampoo on my carpet, where she had stopped along the way and pumped it out.And then I heard Jim yell, "KIRSTEN!" all the way from my bathroom. And we found this...Shampoo and conditioner caked all over the shower and my bathroom floor. She even pumped it all over that poor stuffed puppy! On the bright side...my bathroom floor, laundry room floor, shower, and even carpet in a few places are all sparkling clean! By the way, it took 3 regular washes, and 2 extra rinse cycles before my washer would stop foaming up with shampoo from all the towels used to clean up the mess. Thanks Diddybadgirl!

A few little things...

Brooklyn had a great first day of pre-school! How could you not love Ms. Heather? Don't you love it when your kids ask you to help them spell something? Before school Brooklyn asked me, "Mom, how do you spell 'I love you Ms. Heather, you are my favoritest teacher in the whole world'?" So cute!

This is for you, Claire. Blake's job this month is to unload the dishwasher. Most of you know how OCD I am (Borderline "Sleeping With the Enemy", remember the psycho husband?). I just had to laugh when I found the cups put away like this, because that is soooo Blake's style! I didn't even fix it, I promise! I love that little girl and really appreciate her help and my empty dishwasher!

Brooklyn is such a little girly-girl. Jim took this picture of her wearing a helmet of hairspray in her hair. The picture doesn't even do it justice.

It's coming! My favorite time of year. I absolutely love Halloween...it's the start to all the great holidays. For FHE last night we went out and got our costumes. I know it's early, but the kids were very specific about what they wanted to do! I waited until the last minute one year, and my kids had to be whatever was left in the store. I will never do that again. Here's a little sneak peak at our plan for Halloween. Sometimes it pays to have a ton of kids!

Remember when...

So I really wanted to post Brooklyn's first day of pre-school, but since Jim keeps taking my digital camera to work, I have no pictures. Another day, I guess...


At the beginning of the summer my lap-top crashed and I lost my whole hard drive. Every picture I have of my family for the last 2 years was on that computer. Not to mention, every picture I have of Dylan since she was born. And like an idiot, I didn't back anything up because hard-drives are not supposed to crash on a computer that is not even 2 years old. To make a long story short, my genius cousin Nancy felt really bad for me and spent many hours extracting junk off of my hard-drive. She saved all my pictures!!! So I have been looking through all the memories, and the changes in my kids over the years. Here are some highlights...this is mostly for my kids and the grandparents for all of you who could care less.
Remember "Diddy the Pirate" last year at Halloween, and how Taylor was Abraham Lincoln and Blake was a hot dog! Tate, remember after I ripped that beard off your face you said,"I am never being someone with a beard again!" You had red welts on your face. I love Halloween!

Remember when we got toilet-papered? Brookie could not understand how all the toilet paper got out there on the trees.
Remember when dude made it to the main event at Nationals because some kid wrecked in front of him? Then dude ran over his arm and raced to the finish so he could get to the mains! We were all yelling "PEDAL LINCOLN, PEDAL!"

Remember when you all used to hover around Dylan and fuss over her every need? Oh yeah, you still do! That's why she's so stinkin' spoiled!

Remember when Dude used to have this cool hairstyle?

Remember when you used to be cute, Tate? Just kidding...you still are!
Remember when mom made us put our wedding dresses on for her "Wedding Dress Photo Shoot"? And I kept complaining because I was about 10 weeks pregnant and you had to lace up the back of my dress because it wouldn't zip. And I told mom, "Mother, I have been married for 10 years, I feel like an idiot in my wedding dress!" And she had our exact wedding bouquets specially made! Maybe you really are crazy, mom!

Remember when we all went to Cancun for 2 weeks, and mom and dad didn't even know we were coming to see them down there? And Jim found airfare for $200 round trip, and booked it at 11pm and said I had to pack and be at the airport with 4 kids at 5am! And I couldn't even call Carol and Kelly and tell them we were going cause it was the middle of the night. And I was 8 months pregnant with Dylan. And the kids teachers were wondering what happened to them. And then Carol shows up in Mexico with her kids like a day later! And mom and dad were like, "What the heck!" And people kept looking at me on the airplanes like I was a crazy lady 8 months pregnant with 4 kids, but the kids just slept the whole way! And Lincoln was like, "What's up my man...what's your name?" to Jose our taxi driver. That was the best vacation ever! I can't wait to go back next year!

That was fun! I hope you kids enjoy this!