Found the Camera, lost the cord thingie...

Today I am typing from my handy dandy school issued laptop.  I have located my camera, but cannot upload pictures today since I cannot find the cord that I am supposed to plug into my camera to load pictures.  

It would not be a stretch to call me severely technology impaired.  Of course, aside from blogging,  sending email, and surfing facebook, I have very little use for it, so am sadly not all that inspired to learn more.  To be honest, I cannot even figure out how to make my blog look fancy, or how to list my favorite blogs on the side.  Sigh.....

Ricky has another chess tournament next weekend.  If you've never been to a chess tournament, you have no idea how stressful they are!  (For us parents!!)  He is actually a pretty good chess player and has been put on his "A" team, as the second chair.  This doesn't bode well for him winning a medal, which is his sole purpose in life (collecting medals and trophies...not just chess medals)  Poor Noah had the same problem...he was usually A-1, and would hold his own, but not win enough to get a trophy.   I always kind of hoped that they would get selected to be like B-3, and then they might have a fighting chance at getting a medal.  I guess I should just try thinking positively!!   

The best part of the weekend will be going to The Parlor!  A super yummy ice cream parlor with gigantic portions!  I will be throwing my weight watching out the window for the weekend. You only live once, and I only go to The Parlor once a year, so if I end up having to "pay in" to the Biggest Loser pot, so be it!  It will be a dollar well spent.  :)  

I'm a little worried about hubby who can't blink his left eye, has pain in his jaw, a swollen tongue, and an ear ache.  I tried to talk him into going to the emergency room to no avail. He made a doctor's appointment for tomorrow, which means even he must be worried.  Web MD said seek medical attention for a painful jaw...he says he did since he is going to the doctor tomorrow.  I'm not sure that is what Web MD meant.  No use arguing with him...he is always right.  It's a good thing I love him so... he is really a lot of work.  :)

God is good.  All the time.

Someone has taken my camera....

Never fear, we are did NOT have any more babies, this is just an old picture that was on my hard drive. A post just doesn't feel like a post without a picture or two!

Lest I be chastised by my dear friend Salt, I better update my blog despite not knowing where my camera is. The three littlest all have their own digital cameras, but mine takes better pictures, so it often disappears.

The last time it disappeared, my dear youngest son "found" it, but before he did, he wanted to know how to "we-leet" pictures. I said I would gladly show him once I had my camera. He "found" it in his closet, and gave it to me while looking rather guilty.

Upon perusing the pictures of shoes, hands, toys, and several of our cat I came across a picture of his private parts! (Taken by him, as evidenced by his hand trying to hold "it" up to the camera!) He looked guiltily at me, trying to gauge how much trouble he was in, and stalled for time.

I, trying to wear my best serious face, asked him..."What the is this a picture of?" The look of relief/shock/confusion on his face made me wish I could have taken a picture of his face at the time! He quickly blushed, and said "Um...I fink I accidentally taked a pick-sur of my wiener." I then calmly explained that it was not appropriate to take pictures of private parts, even if they are your own, especially with Mommy's camera.

Dear Husband happened into the room during "the talk" and asked what we were talking about, so I showed him the camera. It was one of his finer daddy moments! He managed to cover up the urge to burst out laughing, looked at the camera, and cast a confused look on his face, then said "What IS that?" I couldn't have planned it better! He then gave the dad version of the speech poor Squish had just heard, and we happily "we-leeted" the picture!

These are the things books and magazines forget to write about! I just read Parents magazine. I picked it up because it had an article entitled "Why Your Child Wants to be Naked" I am no more informed than I was before reading it. It was just a bunch of fluff about letting your child choose his or her own clothes. Then at the end, they had a recipe on how to make black olives into penguins, using carrots and cream cheese. It involved poking eye holes with a toothpick and filling them with cream cheese. I think I shall never read this magazine again. This is why...

My kids would grab a handful of aforementioned black olive penguins, shove them in their mouths, and chew with their mouths open while arguing over who lost the DS charger. All the while they would not be noticing the black olives were lovingly shaped into penguins! These same kids could then dress themselves and take those same clothes off ten minutes later. My older boys would leave on their underwear...the younger three...NOTHING! Except of course their glitter boots, or cowboy boots (depending on the child) and then proceed to sing Christmas Carols in the living room. Explain that Parents magazine!


Perhaps I should give up and start writing my own articles for parents of WalMart clearance rack clothed, non-vegan, (there was an article about Vegan babies too...) disposable diaper wearing, snot stuck in their hair providing they didn't cut it all off, only eats cheese puffs and Oreos with chocolate milk for breakfast children that I must continue to believe exist less I completely lose my mind.....

I digress...

Interesting things that have happened lately....

1) Noah turned 11. We had a party at Zap Zone. Everyone gave him money. He is very happy.

2) Alyssa turned 18. We sent her some money. We haven't heard anything from her lately. I can only assume she is happily buying lottery tickets in Ohio.

3.) My mom turned 60 (sorry Mom!) Her significant other planned a surprise dinner for her. It was very enjoyable, and just made me all the more determined that we must all spend at least one of the holidays together all in the same room...even if it is the basement of Banfields.

4.) We had a too cold for school day on Friday, making this a four day weekend. Woo hoo!

5) I've started walking with friend almost every day after school. It's great to exercise after work the health benefits, but more importantly the friendly conversation, (even if it's mostly me talking) gives me something to look forward to at the end of the day.

Another completely random picture....just be glad we "we-leeted" the other one!

God is good. All the time.

Losing Hope....

"You know that place between asleep and awake, where you still remember dreaming? That's where I will always think of you."

-Tinker Bell

In loving memory of

Briona Hope Boyer

11/18/02 - 1/14/03

When I first found out we were going to have a girl, and before I knew how really sick she was to be, I wanted to name my baby "Hope". A nurse friend told us that names like "Hope" and "Angel" gave the surgeons the heebie jeebies, and that perhaps I should choose another name. So Brian, in his ever vigilant quest to name all things in our house after himself came up with Briona. Briona Hope. Brian, and the feminine Briona means "strength, and perseverance" according to the baby books. It seemed like a good fit.

Six years ago tonight I was at the hospital. I was bathing my sweet baby and getting her ready for her big tv debut with Lila Lazarus from channel 4 news the following morning. I was watching Law and Order, chatting with her nurse, eating Good and Plenty, and drinking Diet Coke, and most importantly stroking her hair. It was often the only "safe" place I could touch her. So many tubes and wires. Despite all of this, she was alert, and happy, despite the ventilator and the drain they had to put in her belly to drain fluid. I would have never left if I had known that night would have been her last.

Briona, my Hope died in our arms in the early morning hours of January 14th. Not a day goes by that I don't miss her, and wonder what if...

If I learned anything from our three month descent into the surreal world of pediatric cardio thoracic surgeries, and ECMO and transplants, and traches, and code blues, and miracles...it was that life is meant to be treasured, and enjoyed, and lived to the best of our abilities every day. If an infant with an open chest and on a ventilator can find joy in this world, who am I to feel sorry for myself? I have to remind myself of this, especially lately when I've felt as if things aren't fair. Briona taught me...life is not fair, make the best of it.

I am blessed to have happy healthy children at home, a husband who loves me, and many incredible friends who keep me going, make me laugh, (often at myself), and help me appreciate all the little things in life. They bring me great joy. (Even if they don't know just how much a box of Good and Plentys would mean...especially today.) Thank you!!!

God is good. All the time.

Merry Christmas!!

The holidays did not get off in quite the way I had hoped. First a snow day (woo hoo) and then an unfortunately long bout of the stomach flu took over at our house! As of this posting, we have been officially barf free for going on 36 hours. I have knocked on wood, sprayed Lysol, and had my fingers and toes crossed in hopes of finally bidding farewell to this nasty little bug!

Needless to say, I feel tired, bored, restless, and a little ripped off! No fancy dinners or family gatherings for the majority of us. We were too sick to venture out, and too germy to risk sickening the rest of our family members. Our holidays were spent at home in our PJ's. The kids didn't seem to mind, in fact it actually gave them more time to play with all their new goodies.

No, we didn't get two dinosaurs, but Clara has pretty much taken over the care of Kota for Matthew. For the most part he doesn't mind, as long as he gets to keep it in his room and tell everyone that it belongs to him!

I am still trying to figure out the art of buying for twin girls. Last year I got two of everything, which left some things opened and unreturnable, but for the most part ignored, so this year I tried to get them gifts that were more suited toward their individual personalities, meaning different things for different girls. BIG MISTAKE!! They have spent the last three days arguing over what belongs to who, (whom?) and crying that the one has something that the other one wants. The biggest hit was the matching shopping carts, the $5.00 bathtub Barbies, (one Sleeping Beauty, one Mermaid) and the hooded towels from the clearance rack at K-Mart. Mental note for next year....keep it simple!

The boys of course are easy, as you shop for them you can ask yourself "Is this a game for DS or Wii?" and if the answer is yes, you know you have a winner! Ricky is a BIT tougher, as he is a little more picky about his DS games, and does not like playing Wii, so when shopping for him you must think like a teenage boy, which is weird when shopping for a 7 year old. He loves weird lights (lava lamps, volcano lights, etc.) Ax "cologne", and music.

All in all, I think everyone had an enjoyable holiday, and found what they wished for the most under the tree!

Hope you and yours have a happy, healthy, and relaxing holiday season, and a prosperous 2009!

God is good. All the time.

Ilene's Post....

Well, it's been way too long since I have posted anything. Somehow the year is getting away from me way too fast, although it's not June yet, so "too fast" depends on the day. Most days, my life looks like this... Since the pumpkin patch, we've had the following exciting events... Pumpkin Carving...

Trick or Treating... (No pictures of Clara, she was in "a mood" as we like to say!)

The girls turned three and had a princess party...
Alyssa came home and we had Thanksgiving with the Brewsters and played football... Squish and his Sissy...

Ricky and Grandpa Rick

Alyssa and Ruby...`

The family football game. It was a tie. Rick gave out medals to all the boys. :)

The motley crew that I like to call "family". :)

And last, but not least, Matthew turned five. We had cake and ice cream and he got to go shopping and pick whatever he wanted. He chose a couple of DS games and a light saber.

I haven't transferred any pictures to the computer yet. I'll get to it one of these days!

Noah had his first band concert and played a solo, I couldn't get any pictures because my camera wouldn't zoom in close enough..., but he did awesome. I was very proud! I'm looking forward to Ricky's performance tomorrow night at Pease auditorium, the Jingle Bell walk at Perry, and having two weeks off!

Wishing you and yours a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

God is good. All the time.

Fall Fun Anyone?

Please Daddy??? Can't we get a big big big pumpkin??? (And no...he couldn't resist...but we just got ONE big one, and several "normal sized" pumpkins!

Football season still has us hustling and bustling. Busy busy busy seems to be the key phrase in our life! Briona's sixth birthday came and went, and as usual I was in a bit of a funk for the weekend, but have faith that someday I will be reunited with my baby. Ricky's football season is over. They don't have playoffs in his league, thank goodness, or else we'd have two boys in the playoffs! Noah's team has done really well, and Noah is now playing nose guard. He continues to amaze me with his perseverance. He just keeps getting better and better. The last four games he's gotten his name announced as either assisting with, or making tackles! He's also doing great in school. I'm so proud of my oldest boy. He's in this picture...#4.

Matthew has adjusted well to the full day school schedule. He loves preschool in the morning with Mrs. Bowen and Mrs. Eyeball (okay...it's Arbaugh, but try and convince Matthew of that!) he thinks he's pulling one over on them because he comes home every day and tells us "We didn't even have to do any work!" but truth be told, he is used to Ms. Debra and doing LOTS of work! He of course still worships the ground Ms. Debra walks on, and is a little worried about going to kindergarten and NOT being in her class anymore. He's decided he wants to be in the Montessori room next year. Mostly because of the rats! They have four pet rats, and the teacher lets Matthew come in every day and feed them. She's also been giving him lessons, so he's been getting into their materials as well, and loving it. It will be a far cry from what we're used to, but I think Matthew is driven to succeed, and will do well.Ricky continues to be the Ricky that you all know and love! Full of spunk, individuality, and a bit of sass. Good thing he's such a mama's boy! It saves him many a day! It's hard to get mad when he turns on those big blues and starts to explain himself. Sometimes it's hard not to just laugh. His most recent stunt involves large "gold" jewelery with a dollar sign on it, (bling he calls it) and his school picture. To his credit, he asked if he could wear it, and my answer was "We are going to give these pictures out to Grandma Lucy and in Christmas cards...is that what you want everyone to see?" I guess his answer was yes. I haven't gotten his pictures yet, but I'll post them as soon as they come. :) The girls are quickly coming up to their 3rd birthday. Still as different as night and day. Clara has become a dance class drop out, but Ruby continues to LOVE LOVE LOVE dance class. We took the littles to the pumpkin patch today, and had a nice family day, sans the big boys. They, for the second year in a row ditched us! Actually they were at a birthday party, so we just had fun picking out pumpkins for them!

Above is a rare picture of Clara smiling. She spotted a cow, and said "Cows my favorite!"

And here perhaps is one of the only photos I ever appear in with my kids!

I'll post Halloween pictures this weekend.

God is good. All the time.

Better than Saturday Night Live....

This video makes me laugh. I had to share. Matthew thinks it's the greatest.

We're still in the midst of football, and now it's getting cold. I blame myself. Last week I said to another football mom "I thought you said we would freeze during football...I keep getting sunburned!" Fast forward to now...my butt cheeks frozen to metal bleachers... I know...it's not a pretty picture, even in your imagination!

The girls didn't have dance class this week, so it remains to be seen if Clara will decide to cooperate. She says she will, but I'll believe it when I see it!

Hope all is well in the lives of my few (but loyal) readers. :)

God is good. All the time.