A-L-Y-S-S-A spells "Isaac". This is what we have been recently informed of by Isaac himself. I think this comes from teaching Alyssa how to spell her name.

Aaron and Lela putting together the gingerbread house

Brit sent us the cutest gingerbread kit for Christmas, and as I hadn't had a chance to sit down with the kids and put it together, Ed suggested I let them try on their own. So, Christmas Eve, after they had helped clean up, I let Aaron and Lela put it together. I have to say, Ed and I were both so impressed. I didn't do anything besides open the package and then I left them to it. It was so cute to see them working together. They did such a great job, I was proud of them!

Christmas

Well, Christmas is over and we had a great day.
Ed got off from work, and, after he came in, we stuffed the stockings and set out the gifts. I hadn't dared to set them out before...there wouldn't have been any wrapping paper left on them. I let the kids eat breakfast out of their stockings ( I did put a few healthy items in there too....raisins, nuts, a blueberry muffin, an orange...besides the candy). Of course, they pretty much only ate the candy and just nibbled the good stuff. Oh well, Christmas is only once a year, we can go back to restricted sugar after New Year's Day. I had made banana bread too, so breakfast was easy for all concerned ( and yes we had coffee...need you ask?).
It was so much fun to watch the kids open their gifts. The Lord had worked it out where we were able to make a little go a long way this year, and they are enjoying all the new stuff.
I am so excited because one of my gifts from Ed is that he is making me a potter's wheel. I have wanted to get into pottery making for several years now and I can't wait. I'm going to start researching it all online now...materials, a kiln, books, techniques, etc.
The other thing he got me was a game of Pictionary. Besides the fact that I love the game, it's extra special to me because it was the first game we ever played together when we were courting( and we won). And Ed knew that...isn't he the BEST!
We made it down to Wiggins about 2:00 and weren't too terribly late for dinner as they had all opened gifts too. Yay!
We opened some more presents after dinner and then watched a new version of Pollyanna that Lauryn had. It was cute and very like the book.
Everyone had a good time and we snacked all afternoon. We finally decided to head home about 8:00 because I was so tired. Lauryn got to come home with us for the night and we visited some more with her and Pete, Holly, and John once we got home. I headed for bed finally about 12:00.
Then, this morning I could hardly pry myself off the pillow, but it has been so nice to just "chill". You know, hang around the house and do nothing. Well, nothing besides take care of the kids and snack on leftovers and talk to Daddy and the girls on Yahoo and see Pete and Holly off to Iowa.
Yes, I will say, that is having a nice relaxing day. Merry Christmas!

sweet talk

more sweet talk
Originally uploaded by cute mommy of 6

I just loved this picture of Mom and Ky. I think it's so sweet.

Memories

Do you ever wish that you could make life perfect? I often do.
I have been thinking about this subject the last several days, and I have realized that so many times in anticipating an event I view it with what I have come to think of as my "perfect syndrome". I see things happening a certain way and then anticipate the perfect memories that we will have to look back on as a result of "x,y, & z". As we all know, though, the reality is that life is rarely perfect. We aren't perfect people and we don't live in a perfect world. Only God is perfect.
I have to confess, I was a little bit disappointed because it seemed Mom's visit was way to fast. I had hoped we would have lots of time to just relax and "create memories". You know....bake cookies, read books together, spend lots and lots of time talking and catching up on the last 3 and a half years....but needless to say you can't possibly do that in just a little over a week. In reality, we spent a large part of the time running errands and taking care of business. I know Mom had hoped for things to be somewhat calmer too and I was feeling so bad for her and then I got to thinking about all this. And I realized something...memories aren't what we have because life is perfect. They are what we have because we were together. In remembering things that happened, we don't remember all the little "flies in the ointment", we remember the good things, the blessings.
Here are all the "good things" that I plan to remember Mom's visit by:
-the kids excitement in getting ready for Grandma to come and getting to go to the airport and pick her up
-meeting Levi and Ky for the first time
-her getting to hold and rock Kyla
-Kyla cooing and talking to Mom for the first time
-our trips to Wiggins (in which we were able to relax and visit)
-watching Pride and Prejudice at Holly's place
-going Christmas shopping ...first with Holly then with Holly and Rachel
-Sunday dinner with all of her "kids" together
-seeing and talking about all of her quilts
-her reading to her grandbabies
-the talks we did get to squeeze in
-dinner at Josh and Rachel's
-saying good-bye (thank you Holly for all those pictures)
-the laughter, the tears, the hugs, the love
-the knowledge that no matter how much time passes or how short the visits she will always be my Mom and I will always be her little girl.
I just want you to know, Mom, that I'm so thankful for the fact that you got to come and that I love you, always. Hope your Christmas is sweet and that you will have lots of good memories to take back with you.

A flurry of activity

As many of you may already know, I found out (about 2 weeks ago now) that my Mom was getting to come home unexpectedly to see her Daddy whose health is really bad. We are so sad that it's under these conditions but I'm thrilled that we will get to see her even for a bit. She will finally get to meet her 2 youngest grandbabies.
I have been scurrying like mad, since I found all this out, to get things cleaned up and ready. I THOUGHT I was all ready for her to come and then we get the brilliant idea to paint the living room....this week. So down come all the Christmas decorations and.... we paint. I know, I know,....What was I thinking?! As if I couldn't find enough to do already.... BUT, I have to say, it looks fantastic. I am so happy with how fresh and pretty everything looks. Then that got me to seeing dust and dirt everywhere, so it has been an all-out war on dust. I don't think there is a speck of dirt left...or if it's there it doesn't dare raise it's little head (hopefully). I should be ready for Christmas gatherings with all this cleaning and decorating. I'm hoping to have Christmas dinner here at my house....we'll see how that works out.
The kids have been loving all the goings on and are so very excited to get to see Grandma (Levi is now saying "Mamaw") and Uncle John, who has come back with Mom and will be staying.
As a note, please be praying for my Grandfather and all of Mom's family. He really is in a serious condition.
With all this prep I haven't gotten any holiday shopping done at all, but then, I guess I never do until the last minute anyway. That should be interesting. Especially as the kids have drawn names and are very anxious to go buy their gifts. I have to say they are all very ambitious and are expecting to get great things with their $5. Stuff like bikes and houses, etc. Fun stuff!
Well, hope your holiday preparations are all going great. I'll try to get on here a little more often hopefully...though with the holidays it may not settle down until later. We are planning on going to TX right after Christmas for a couple weeks, Lord willing, so I know I won't be writing any then. But I'm sure I will come back with lots of stuff to blog.

why we are always late for church

Well, I spent some time sniffing around on other people's blog pages today, and since this particular topic has already been bouncing around in my head, I thought I would go ahead and blog about it and see what came out.
The struggles of a large family to get to church on time and manage to get something out of the service....
My Sunday mornings go something like this:
Get up running (doesn't really matter if it's early or if we overslept, it's still the same).
Feed Ky while stressing about all I have to do in "how many minutes?". Grab a quick shower, and then check on the outfits I laid out the night before (if I was on top of things) or scramble to get everyone something out that doesn't need ironing and coordinates with everyone else. Yes, I do realize that all my 6 children do not have to match and that I would save myself a ton of worry if I just didn't care about it, but, what can I say? It's one of my "things".
I say check on the outfits, because more times than once they have disappeared or been rearranged or something similarly catastrophic. And shoes....I think that is my worst gripe. NO ONE can find shoes on Sunday morning. Or if they find shoes the laces are gone. Or if they have shoes and laces, they can't find socks.
Then, I start getting everyone dressed. The older ones usually dress themselves but I still check to make sure Aaron's buttoned straight, Isaac has a belt to hold his pants up, Alyssa's dress isn't on backwards, etc. Then, it's always a toss up to dress Levi first and stand and feed him myself, or let him feed himself, then clean him up and dress him. Not sure which takes the most time. Then I dress Ky. Then I start fixing hair. On a good day I can braid or something cute, on a bad day it gets a brushing and clippies to keep it out of their eyes. (They all take turns eating while I work on each one.) Next is inspection: Clothes-check, shoes-check, hair-check, faces-check...Ok everyone checked, I dash to throw on my clothes. Then, "Mommy, Isaac spilled his milk!" Run find new clothes for Isaac and "Aaron mop up that mess". Come back, mess still there. "Aaron, why didn't you clean that up." " I can't find a rag." " Well, there is one on the back porch...the rest of you go sit on the couch and read a book." Run back and take
my hair out of it's ponytail. "Mommy, Levi is on the porch and about to go in the street." Run to the porch and grab Levi. Me:"Who opened that door?" Chorus: "Isaac did". Swat Isaac with one hand and put him back on the couch, go put Levi back in the highchair (how did he get out anyway?), and run back to put on shoes. Pick Ky up to put her in her car seat and find she has a dirty diaper and leaked all over her outfit. So I tell everyone to start loading up and go to change her. (BTW, Ed has been making us all breakfast and making sure everyone eats so we don't starve. Otherwise we would....starve that is.)
I get her changed and loaded up and get to the truck. Then we start the "run-and-go-get" game. Oops! Forgot diaper bag. Run back and grab it and make sure it's stocked even though I'm pretty sure I already did that. "Aaron did you get the Bibles" " Oh, I forgot". Run and go get Bibles. Get back in truck, "Hey, Baby, did you see the keys?" "I think they were on the bookcase." Ed runs to go get them, while I check my appearance in the mirror. Oops! Forgot to brush hair...run back in house and grab brush. Finally, it seems we have everything we need and everyone is buckled and settled and we take off. Then I can drink my coffee and eat my bagels which I haven't had time to do before now. Take a deep breath and try to relax before we get there.
Of course, right before we arrive I try to go over the "rules" again(we have to do this every time, some people have a bad memory). "Sit still, be quiet, no kicking the pew in front of you, no playing with Levi or Ky during church, no talking people's ears off,...." and the list goes on. We get there and usually everyone is already singing so we try to inconspicuously (haha) slip into a back pew but no back pews are available so we have to go for one about halfway up the aisle. Two seconds later Alyssa taps me on the arm, "Mommy I have to go potty". Right, I forgot to make sure everyone went before we left. Sigh. So I slip out the back and take her. We get back just in time for Kyla to start fussing because she is hungry now. So I get Ky and diaper bag and go back out. This time I just stay in the nursery. The service is almost over anyway by the time she is done and I've changed her again. Back out in the auditorium everyone talks about how good the kids are and so well behaved, and "I don't know how you do it". They don't know that I'm about to pull my hair out or cry or both. What else can you do but give them a limp smile and say "thank you".
(P.S. Not every Sunday is this bad, sometimes I do get to hear part of the message before Ky gets hungry. =)

It's so sweet to see Kyla light up when she sees Levi. He says, "Hi, Ky-Ky" and then gives her a very wet kiss on her nose.

Levi got up (after being put to bed) while Jecca and I were watching a movie and this is how we found him.