First Pig Tails

Here is Caroline at her first pig roast/luau wearing her first pig tails EVER. Pig tails in our house are a big deal. That would be because our girls take a LONG time to grow their hair long enough to put their hair up. Caroline is well over two years old and now hair cut. I know she was pleased to be a 'big girl' here. She kept them in all day and night.

It is funny how our girls don't grow much hair for the first few years. And even more ironic that their brother had several hair cuts just after the age of one!

bored of my blog...

I am getting really bored with this blog. I am not sure of what to write of these days. It seems all I really talk about is how much puke we had, or more puke or sickness or. You know, the mudane part of life. Is it really that interesting? I really don't think so.

I am not sure what to do with this blog anymore. I really feel like I want to concentrate my efforts on my other blog, and my photography.

I don't know. Did I tell you I wiped out on the tile floor? Well yes, two days ago I slipped on some water that was spilled by 'somebody' and I fell and hit my left shoulder. It really hurt, and I have a huge bruise. Yah, really interesting right?! LOL. I am fine, and happy I didn't knock myself out, or break another bone!

Anyways, I am not sure how much more I want to put into this blog. I started out using it as a tool to remember parts of my life with kids, but it is a task to try to maintain it and keep it fresh and interesting.

Well, Courtney is crying and that means she needs a feed. I will continue this on later!

In the meantime, let me know in the comments section if you have any interesting things for me to blog about. Do you have any questions that might make my blog a bit more interesting again!!?

Claire at the Luau

Cameron at the Luau

Carly at the Luau

Caroline at the Luau

Catie at the Luau

Courtney at the Luau

If it is not one thing...

It is another. It has been busy, and the sickness aka 'July Puke Fest 2008' ended with two more kids (again) getting sick. Catie all over the van and carseat (thankfully we had just got home, and we had all of our puke supplies on hand) and then Carly sealed the deal being the last one to throw up all over her bed at 1:30 am on Sunday morning. Thankfully we haven't seen or heard anymore and that is a good thing.

I have promised photos of the Luau from last week and I will post them next. Life is really crazy with me trying to catch up. We did our grocery shop (that should have been done last week) done last night. We spent 344 dollars and we got home at 11:30 at night. Woo! We got unpacked, packed and then I fell asleep on the couch until 4:30 this morning.

Cliff is back to work, I saw my friend Lisa this morning (she has the same family as me; that being 1 boy and 5 girls) and she brought me some laundry soap (I saw her new 12 passenger van and got immediately jealous...and also happy for her!! OK!) and I have slipped already and fallen and yes, I got back up. I slipped on water on our tiled floor. 'Somebody' spilled water and I found it and fell down and whacked my left shoulder. Darn those tiles. We sorted and purged our books and toys and have a new bag of stuff ready to donate and give away.

I have my new daily cleaning schedule ready to start, I am cleaning up my office. I am sorting and putting away photos into the kids' albums. They have had lunch. No puking.

I however, I am getting a headache. But life as I know it, has returned to 'normal' and that is a good thing.

Just Ducky

Sickness is one part of having a large family that I DO NOT enjoy. From last Saturday at 9 pm until yesterday morning we had July 2008 Puke Fest. Non stop puke and runs action. Cliff actually added up all of the throw up-ing sessions and there were about 16 of them. ONLY TWO (plus Cliff's throwing up} that actually made it into a toilet or puke bucket. The rest...on the floor, the carpet, the walls, around the area of the toilet, the sink. The bed, the bed, the playpen two cribs. The stuffies. The clothing etc.

Oh the laundry. I had our machines working OT!

The good news is that it is Friday. Everrybody is on the mend including myself. Courtney and I were the last to get it. Thankfully I managed not to throw up, but I am having other issues :D to yuck to type out LOL.

The weekend is almost here, and I am hoping we will now be able to enjoy it!

It still isn't over yet

Here we are in the wee small hours of Wednesday. The first sign of puke was at 9 pm on Saturday night, and here we are at Wednesday morning. My machines are seriously working overtime. I am running out of cleaning supplies, and perhaps my patience level. I feel like this is some huge joke being played on Cliff and I.

Finally, we get a late dinner in. Cliff is starting to feel better, but he has a headache. I seriously switch over another load of laundry into the dryer (this is Claire's bedding from tonight as she didn't make it into the bucket or the towels all over her bed...) I had Cliff walking down to the sink in the laundry room with another set of bedding covered in throw up. That would be Caroline's bedding. She needed a complete change of bedding AGAIN from yesterday. And she needed a bath.

And I spoke too soon about throw up on the carpet. Of course our dear Carly threw up pink chunks all over the white carpet. But, I bought a great carpet cleaner that worked so well we cannot even see where it happened! It is called 'Oxy Clean - Carpet' and we are very impressed with it.

My poor family. And now we have Claire worried about everybody being sick, and worried that all of us are dying. Like Grandpa did. Carly needed us to shut her window and she got out of bed and came to us and asked us to lock the window as she thought she heard wolves (but they were dogs) and they scared her awake. Catie asked her Nonna if she is healthy...they are all processing their grief of their momentus loss of their Grandpa.

Oh, and Cameron when he woke up from his sleep after getting sick (he threw up this afternoon on their walk to get ingredients for dinner...) he thought he was waking up to a brand new day. I thanked him for not throwing up in the house, and he smiled! LOL.

I am getting exhausted and wonder what the rest of the night will bring. I am thinking the puke is maybe part of the grieving process?! Not being able to tell us what is wrong and their bodies just acting out...poor babies. Poor Cliff.

It is a good thing I bought myself pretty pink rubber gloves a few weeks back! They sure are getting some good use.

I cannot believe it is another late night of cleaning up. I cannot believe how much cleaning I have done, and laundry I have done lately.

I have to go fold some more laundry now.

I spoke too soon

Cameron has now joined in on the fun, but he was very thoughtful and puked on a walk home with his Dad from the store. No clean up.

Now, we are working on 'fun' from the other end of several bodies around here.

That leaves Courtney and me. I won't get it will I!!!??

Puke fest is OVER!

Hurraahhhhhhhh!

Cliff ended up sick, and is feeling a lot better today. I think we are on the mend because everybody is on the move and eating etc. Things seem WAY better than the 50 + hours of 'Puke Fest II' July 2008.

Anyways, as asked by my cousin Andrea regarding our 'Puke Kit' (April, did you end up doing this too?!--She experienced her first puke with Abby in the car not too too long ago)

Car Puke Kit (left in the back of vehicle for puke emergencies on the road!)

1. Plastic bags use to scoop puke/or puke into/and to pack up the soiled clothing etc.
2. Paper towel
3. Some sort of disenfecting wipes for hard surfaces/you/child/children
4. scraper of some sort (if you don't want to use a bag on your hands!!)
5. bucket for the ride home for sicko
6. old towels and face cloths
7. Bottles of water to wash the puke away (if needed for number 6)
8. A change of clothes for each child on each trip!
9. Hand sanitizer for adults
10. A sense of humour!!!

PUKE HAPPENS, be prepared :D

I cannot sleep

I keep wondering who will be next. Cliff is sick also...

That leaves Cameron, Courtney, and me!

Puke Patrol

We have had a lot of puke going on in the last 49 hours...4/8

Catie: All over the tile floor, bathroom door downstairs, walls, sink and toilet and repeat into her bucket many times until this morning, Looked like a crime scene.

Claire: All over herself, the upstairs carpet outside the bathroom, all over the walls and toilet and a couple more times into the toilet and fine this morning. Evn worse...bigger tummy, more volume.

Carly...this evening after dinner...like Catie's above and again a few minutes ago.

Caroline...just as puke from Carly is cleaned/in process she does it but all in her crib, stuffies, pillow etc.

Cliff feels sick because he cleaned it up, as I sanitized the whole two levels...we work as a team here. We have to smile about this, because it is times like this we just want to cry and quit. This process took us hours. Tonight we spent two hours. All of the kids are now in bed. Now round two of bleach on the hard floors. I just want to crash, but life goes on!

I won't be able to sleep well again...just going though the 'what if's'/Who next/I cannot afford to get this thoughts in my brain. I am thankful it was not in the van this time, not at a friends house and none on our new carpet. Time for a profesh cleaning!

PS Laura now is the time to create a puke kit for your vehicle if you don't have one already. Two years old seems to be when the barf-o-rama begins. Well, in my experience anyways. Sorry there is puke in your vehicle and home.

Why puke in July?! I am not sure. Hubby informs me he is close to puking now too. That will be 5/8 but not our record of 7/8. That was back around Mother Day of this year.

May we all feel much better tomorrow.

PPS I really think I deserve HE washers after all of this. My machines are running for what feels like 24/7!

Luau today - more photos to come

We took the kids (all dressed in our Hawaiian clothing) and actually won a pineapple for 'best dressed family' but we had a lot of goodies and Catie got sick tonight...and then Claire got sick before 3 am and so not enough time to get some more photos up. I took a few hundred today as I got a new lens that I just adore.

Anyways, the photo will have to hold you for now. We had so much fun, a pig roast as you can see, everybody brought a dish (we brought Ambrosia salad), tractor ride, pinata, water balloon toss, hula hooping and so much more. It was a wonderful time with family and friends.

I will blog more later. The day was just what the doctor ordered!

Growing like a weed...

{Courtney is 8 months}



Dear Courtney,

It seems hard to believe that eight months ago tonight you were born into our family. Our little coconut so tiny, pink, cute and the perfectly healthy baby girl.

And today a big baby girl who is strong, long, almost crawling, likes to stand up, eat all sorts of table food,talkative and beautiful 'Smiley' girl. You recently had your 6 month shots (yes way late due to the many colds from your loving, adoring siblings who cannot get enough of you Courtney) and you weighed in at a healthy 18 almost 19 pounds. And you are meeting all of your milestones which makes us all so happy that you are both happy and healthy!

You are a little firecracker! You are so determined and I love seeing you develop and grow into a near toddler! It is hard to believe that I am starting to think about your first birthday party already! Dreaming about hot cocoa (Perfect for November!) and coconut goodies...mmmm. All pink and brown for you! A special day just for you! A day just for you to celebrate with your family and friends.

You are our last Courtney Elizabeth, and I am so glad I get this final gift to experience watching you grow up and marvel at all of the firsts you are acheiving today and in the future. It is going to be great to get the opportunity to let you be 'our baby' for a bit longer than the other kids! I look forward so many things with you, my darling daughter.

You bring us so much joy and laughter with that big beautiful smile. It was like you were supposed to be here all a long, and happy girl to bring us joy when joy is needed the most with the passing of your Grandpa almost three weeks back.

I just know Grandpa was most sad to leave you and your siblings behind. He wanted to know what you would sound like when you would first say 'Grandpa' like your siblings. I know he wanted to watch all of your firsts with all of us. I am sorry you will not get the chance to know and remember your Grandpa like some of the other kids. Our hearts are heavy with loss Courtney. Your gift of your joyful smile makes us happy when the days feel so sad.

I do know that Grandpa is in you, and all of the kids. That makes us feel a bit better. He named you his 'Smiley' Courntey. I just wanted you to know this.

We really wanted you to know him, but we had promised Grandpa that we would keep his memories alive.

We love you Courtney.

Crash Test Mommy Gil to the RESCUE!!

Well, it hasn't been the best around here lately. There has been a lot of crying, acting out, and a lot of outbursts. Anger, hitting, wild nights, regressions including pee and poop accidents. Nightmares, kids in our bed at night. You name it, it has happened to us lately. And add in summer vacation, hot, long and tiring days. Warm bedrooms, and complaints that it is too early to go to bed. Summer school and summer camp. It has been busy.

Thankfully we has two sets of angels come to our rescue on the past Friday night. Cliff and I don't get a lot of time to ourselves. We have our (of late) one glass of wine on the front stoop in the dark (well one citronella candle burning) and chat. But we haven't been away from our house together for a night since last October when I was almost due to have Courtney.

So, Cliff arranged to have my parents come over from 5 pm until around 9 pm to give the kids dinner and to bed, and then our former Crash Test Mommy Gil came over night to watch all six kids so we could get out to a hotel for the night. We got out for dinner together, a yummy ice cream. We then came home around 9 I fed Courtney and then we left for the hotel for the night.

We didn't get any phonecalls from Gil, and the night went so well. He handled them all and even spent one lovely hour with Coconut from 2:45-3:45 am but she went back down.

So thank you Mom and Dad and Gil for coming to our rescue when we needed it most.

life lessons

cherish, remember and love one another

leave the finger prints for one day, you can clean tomorrow

Eat the chips right out of the bag, because those ones taste way better

Let the light in, and may it shine upon you and give you warmth

don't be afraid of getting messy

enjoy new firsts, and the company of family and friends

(these photos were taken on the day my FIL died - June 27th
and we are thankful to all of our family and friends for all of the love,prayers and support during this difficult time)

Photo Catch Up!

My little graduate (thanks Jillian Kirby for the lovely shot of my daughter at the park)

Some photos of Carly's graduation, and now she moves onto Grade One. Wow.

Summer is in full swing around here!

Well, here it is early hours Thursday morning. I am doing laundry still, wrote up thank you cards those sorts of catch ups. Still haven't had a chance to get through the photos. I thought I would be able to do that tonight, but the kids had other plans. So, I was tending to the needs of our kids. My stuff is put on the back-burner again. Story of my life.

Life around here doesn't seem very normal that is for sure. The kids are very out of sorts. Add in a hard working husband, working overtime, a teething baby that had her six month immunizations and there goes the household.

We had a good dinner tonight, and I got a it out on the table on time and the kids LOVED dinner. This was a freezer meal (from the Big Cook) that my friend Lisa gave to me just after Courtney was born. I had extra buns, greated cheddar cheese and cut up cucumbers. And that was dinner. Finished it off with some watermelon and it was a big hit! I am trying to use up the stuff in my freezer. I organized it again. Boy did it need it. So, I found quite a few dinner items for this week to use. I had a quick run tonight. Felt good to get out there.

My hubby is off on Thursday and Friday. Thank goodness. I am burning out these days. I am wiped. Emotionally more than anything. My head feels like it is in fog. I don't like feeling like that, especially when I have so much going on. Summer break seems like more work and planning than the school year. It is really hard to entertain, keep busy, keep out of trouble and burn off energy with the kids.

Cameron is off to his Grandparents tomorrow night for a movie and a sleep over, we are going run some errands. The weekend we have not too too much on the go, but enough to keep ourselves busy. I might be getting out on a much needed date night/sleep over at a hotel night this weekend. That sounds rather exciting. Just wondering how Courtney will do. She has been miss cranky pants these days with all of her teething. Sunday of course, I run a 9 km. All next week Claire is in summer school, and Cameron is in his camp. That will mean a pretty calm week for me I would hope. Oh and on Wednesday we are participating in a 20 minute challenge (walk/run challenge) and cannot wait to bring the family out! We are making fitness a priority in our life and hoping the kids will want to do the same.

Well, it is so late and my laundry just binged at me. I need to switch it over and then start the dishwasher.

Night night!

Quick update for the Weekend

It has been a sad and busy time around our place, and so sorry for the lack of updating. It feels like time has stood still since my FIL passed away just over a week ago.

The kids are having a very hard time adjusting. They are very emotional, crying a lot and acting out. And they are having troubles finding comfort. They miss Grandpa's hugs. They cannot find rest at night. They cry a lot. So, it has been very tiring to say the least. The needs of our kids come first, and so that is where most of my energy has been going to. And to the needs of my dear husband, and my mom in law.

Yesterday was my FIL's memorial and it was a good day (well as far as memorials can go I guess) there was a very full church, and that goes to show just how well loved he was. And, how very missed he will be. That was comforting to us all.

I have a whole CF card that needs to be downloaded, and have Carly's Kindergarten graduation on there, some fun in the back yard. Canada day (which wasn't very fun this year as at one point in the day had all six kids crying because they are so sad) and a few more photos I am sure I am forgetting about. I will try to accomplish some of that over the weekend.

Not much else to report, but just to check in and say I am still here, I am busy and blogging hasn't been in the front of my priorty list. I promise to check in with all of my blogging buddies soon and comment. I have been more of a blog 'stalker' these days LOL.

Well, I thank you all for your kinds words, emails, flowers, support and love over the last months and over the last week.

We really appreciate everything. Prayers and support are certainly welcome! I am hoping that next week will be a bit back to 'normal' around here. Well, I guess the new normal. Whatever that may be. I will chat then!

Blessings to you all,

Cathy