A Christmas Tale...

Twas the night before Christmas and the table was set with a tin full of treats and milk to keep the palate wet...


...the stockings were hung on furniture because, we have no fireplace for dear old "S" Claus...



...the tree was trimmed and engulfed with gifts each a surprise...and I could not wait to see my kids eyes...

...Baby "L" got a vacuum that goes vroom vroom vroom...we all are hoping it runs out of batteries soon...

...Little "O" got the scooter he has dreamed of for some time now...and all he could exclaim was, "I got my 'cooter' WOW!!!

...Little "D" was overwhelmed by the paper and mess...so she moved close to me where she opened the rest...

..."F" got some moon shoes that she can walk in...she couldnt wait to go out to show all of her friends...

..."B" was quite taken by the fun stocking treats...polish, pencils, and tic tacs to eat...

..."K" stood in amazement at the doll that she found...she fell so deep in love she just couldnt put her down...

...and my "H"...well she let out a big YIPPEE!!!!....she unwrapped a cell phone and as all of you see....she was happier than happy can be!!!

As morning drew to an end that day...and I sat and I watched as my children did play...a feeling of sadness came that nothing can fix....until Big Papa is home and part of the mix...so hurry home to me my Scooter Boo...your Jenni Leigh is deperately missing you!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Christmas With Nana and Pepa!!!

Its funny how in the beginning of a big family gathering everyone is smiling and excited about seeing everyone. Then someone gives the children sugar and well I'll let you guess what happens to the smiles. Just kidding, considering there were 13 children under the same roof with utter anticipation of what could be beneath all the wrapping paper, I think everything went great!


Aunt "T" had to work the day of the family gathering, but she was not forgotten. Things just arent the same when you arent a part of the festivities Aunt "T"!!! Next year we expect to see more than 2 minutes of you in this madhouse of sweet babies on sugar!!

We tried to corral all the kiddies on the steps to take one of those memorable pictures...Can you guess which 2 love the camera? These 2 boys posed everytime they saw me with my camera. If only we could all be that confident with ourselves.

What a cutie!! Little "J" was full of little stories to tell the whole time he was there. He also loved the attention he was getting from the girls so he kept up his cute antics just to make them laugh. What a fun little boy!!

Baby "J" will probably be cleaning lip gloss out of every nuk and cranny for a while after she decided to use an entire container within 10 minutes of unwrapping it! Aunt "B" will probably ban us from gifting ever again after that greasy cleanup!

Speaking of Aunt "B" ....doesnt she look stunning standing next to 'the man of the house' while Uncle "R" is serving this country along side Big Papa! Isnt cousin "C" a handsome fellow. He will be a heartbreaker one of these days.

Now cousing "H" belongs on stage. She was the life of the party for the kids. She showed us this dance move and I can only imagine this must be a move she has seen someone else (not to name any names "T")! I guess her new name in this house will be Miss Personality!!!

The Three Amigos...."G", "J", and "H"....these three traveled in a pack at all times. If you found one you found them all. I am a little jealous that we dont live closer so the girls and the babies could remain close.

In the end...both young....

...and old!!! (just kidding) were ready to settle down for a long winters nap. Nana, Baby "L", and Little "J" just couldnt hang on any longer. They just needed to close their eyes and dream of all the dishes that waited for them in the kitchen....Sweet Dreams!!!

All In The Name of Tradition!!!

If there is one thing I like...it is a good family tradition!! Last year when we had just moved here, Big Papa loaded us all in the van and took us to see this wonderful displaly of lights. Of course we had to close our eyes until he said we could open them, then there in front of our eyes was this beautiful lighted house. This year the girls have begged daily to go see the lighted house, but I thought surely this must have been a one year thing. I was wrong!!! Apparently this guy does this to his house every year.

Big Papa, I took this picture for you so you could be a part of your family tradition from across the seas. Wish you were here!! Have your roommate shine a bright flashlight on your face to get the full affect of the lights. Now dont you feel like you were there with us? We love you!!!

Yes Virginia There Is a Santa....

Or should I say...Yes Little "O" there is a Santa Claus!

We as a family decided to not elude our children with the illusion of a Santa Claus persay, but more with the reality of where the whole Santa Claus idea originated. If you ask any of our older girls if they believe in Santa they will probably say yes, but then go on to tell you of the first Santa Claus. This has been the reality in our house for some time now. However, this year we have encountered a little kink (or should I say a little child-like belief). With little or no introduction to the concept of Santa, my Little "O" has developed an extreme love of this character. He tells everyone who will listen, "Santa Cwaus wuv me!"

Well, today at the girls dance studio guess who showed up?!? "Santa Cwaus!!!"



As you can see, my Little "O" was his best friend!!! They walked together and talked together. "O" just stared in amazement at this jolly figure of Christmas. He has talked non-stop this afternoon of his adventures with Santa Cwaus. He is so excited about him that it almost makes me get a feeling of belief. If only we were kids again, with that utter excitement of what Santa would leave under the tree just for us, because we were soooo good this year. Believe if you want my Sweet Boy, you are only little once!


Like I said, they did a lot of talking! We now know what cookies he likes and what the reindeer like to eat and that all bellies in the north pole are made of jelly.

In the end all the kids bent to my will and posed for a Christmas picture. As you can see Baby "L" isnt so sure he is as excited as his big brother about this very hairy man.

Tah Dah...Its Christmas Recital Time!!!

Little Helpers...

Baby "L" says, "Hey let me help you decorate (or should I say un-decorate) the tree!" I know we put the same ornaments on at least 10 times each thanks to his helpful decorating!

Look What My True Love Gave to Me!!!

Seven smiling children ready to find the perfect tree! (Which by the way is the biggest tree we have ever bought and the fattest; luckily the guy took pity on me and delivered it to the house so I wouldnt have to pull it off of the bus and haul it inside.)

On the first day of christmas...my true love gave to me...a crying baby in a pine tree!

On the second day of Christmas...my true love gave to me...a two year old that looks Chinese!

On the third day of Christmas...my true love gave to me...A five year old as sweet as can be!

On the fourth day of Christmas...my true love gave to me...A little girl as shy as can be!

On the fifth day of Christmas...my true love gave to me...a little girl allergic to trees! (Seriously, how can you be allergic to a Christmas tree?!?)

On the sixth day of Christmas...my true love gave to me...a girl who's tired of posing in trees!

On the seventh day of Christmas...my true love gave to me...a girl getting tickled 'cause she wouldnt say "cheese"!

I know there are originally 12 days of Christmas but if I had enough children to fill in each of those 12 days you would all be visiting me in a looney bin. Merry Almost Christmas!!!

A Picture Program With a Mind of Its Own...

Ok, so I brought up this picture of "F" and "D" posing in my living room after tonights recital and my picture program asked would I like a demo touchup? I clicked ok and this is what it gave me. If you could have seen this picture before you would say how did you get that from that? Because that is what I said...Bad news is that it ate the original copy. Good news is that the girls think that it makes them look like angels.

The Last Day at the Beach...

One last photo op at the beach...as you can see some are more entusiastic about this picture than others. Baby "L" showed me exactly what he thought of all the photo opportunities.

All of the sudden "H" had a plan and she needed the assistance of all her sisters to make it work...

She enlisted "K" & "B" in her plan to create a fort in the sand...and they worked nonstop working towards the goal...

..."K" worked diligently as we all knew she would because that is her nature...she is a workhorse with great work ethics...

..."B" on the otherhand got mad at the mastermind engineer and decided to take a break and search for seashells as far away from the fort as possible...sometimes a little space is like a shot of good medicine...

Baby "L" chased birds and "B" chased Baby "L"!!! I guess that helps to ease an angry soul too!

"F" decided the beach was the perfect place to work on her cartwheels for gymnastics class. Did you know that she can do 10 cartwheels in a row and still stand up and not fall over dizzy. I was quite amazed!!! Scooter, you know you would have turned green and vomitted after rotating your head that many times. "F" apparently does not have your equilibrium issues.

Sweet "D" sat and daydreamed about being a mermaid in the ocean for about 5 minutes.....then she decided to tell me her daydream which took 30 minutes to tell. She then decided that Little "O" was a bad hoo-man who was trying to capture her so she decided to do this to him.....

...yes, that is my Little "O" buried up to his neck in the sand. Now how do you think she convinced him to let her bury him? I had a hard enough time trying to convince this boy that the beach was fun and here he is buried in it.

In the end they all came back together and finished their fort as a united team of builders and it turned out to be quite a nice display.

Here is the finished product! Too bad when you back away to fit it all in you lose the detail but it was a sweet complete project. Now back to the real world. Maybe we can go to the beach again when Big Papa comes home. Vacations just arent vacations without the man who owns all these kids hearts (not to mention their mommas)!