December Activities and Pics

2012 Christmas Parade! Waiting to begin. Working husband was supposed to be driving the ambulance but ran a call that lapped over into parade start time, requiring that another unit be called in to participate. Despite disappointment of not seeing daddy drive they all had a pretty good time. Oldest spent weekend camping on sandy lake shores in VA with scout troop. Wasn't quite the same without them but still so much fun. Last year at this very parade all of life felt so new, strange, out of place...everything, everyone...so foreign. This year we were surrounded by so many, both bystanders and parade participants alike, we have come to know and love, who have embraced our family, and who we have come to so dearly appreciate in life. So many FD and county guys, different people within the community, and so many in different churches due to functions, sports, church activities and scouts all intertwining within life. We were humorously approached by tons more...."You're that family with the thousand kids!!" So how does one even begin to reply to that? I just laughed..."Ummm...yes! We are!" "I see y'all in the store all the time. Oh my gosh your kids are all so beautiful and so well behaved. I can't even get my 2 kids to act like that! Your kids are just sooo happy all the time! We love to watch all the other shoppers count you as you walk by!!" I assured them we definitely have our moments...entire days....months for that matter....and thus began many conversations and meeting yet more new people while we conversed of all the kids they do have, wanted to have, never had or never wanted to have to begin with. Pretty laughable and memorable stuff on a very beautiful 63 degree day.

Park playing while waiting for Evye at basketball practice. So Gavin...yeah.....smile, son. That's just not so attractive.

He figured out pretty quick that the kids on the curb were raking in the candy. Stroller seat was quickly vacated for a more optimal candy receiving location.

 More group attempts. No one was thrilled with having to be reigned in for a pic and having to forsake their play...if only for but 5 minutes. Grant was quite adamant he was staying mad about it and poor Garrett boy....his head hurt all day with his raging sinus infection. But then group pics....they just always make me laugh. You get what you get.

And we have a deserter...and a constipated one, an angry one, a sick one, a bored one and one very ready to go play. 

And.....trying again!

And when they give up and just start playing anyway....

This year's tree decorations. They smell so good!  Everybody helped make, stir, roll out and each picked their design and cut them all out. One batch made about 20 or so ornaments of differing sizes. They turned out so well that we'll be doing more to top our Christmas gifts with.

The finished batch! Graham's was the first one broken so we'll be doing another one for him. Red ribbons were strung through holes and all were placed on tree. We used a straw to punch out the holes for the ribbons.

The recipe....

We baked at 200, the lowest setting our oven has. I'm not sure how long they stayed in there. Awhile...til I remembered them. We flipped and then stuck them in again...until I remembered them. And then they were done and dry!

Popcorn and cranberry stringing day!

...before we pulled the carpet up. Still working on living room, den and bedrooms. This has been by far one of the most fun Christmases as far as memory making experiences go. It definitely beats the store bought stuff.

She absolutely loved this. I'm pretty sure she could've happily spent an entire week doing nothing but stringing popcorn and berries.

Getting there! Good thing about a ton of kids....one 4-6 foot strand each and the tree's pretty much done...almost.

Even at 8....they're pretty inseparable. They could spread out to a full size bed but they prefer the top twin...together. 

Nothing like a sweet bathroom pic. Keeping me company while we hurriedly get ready to go. She is the world's worst about leaving her hair up but this time I managed to catch at least one side up in a pigtail!

Christmas shopping date day with some pretty sweet boys.

And it begins...

"Whoa Mom!!! You can hold a baby AND be pregnant AND walk on that thing! You're better than everybody!!!" 

Oh what it takes to be a hero in your children's eyes.

One of the many conversations while out that kept us laughing...

Old Farmer: "Are they all siblings?"

Me: "Yes sir"

Farmer: "Are they all your's?"

Me: "Yes sir, they are."

Farmer: "Did you have every one of them? Were pregnant with every one of them?"

Me: "Yes sir. Every one of them."

Farmer: "Wow! Yeah....they all look just alike. They're definitely related! Having kids does amazing things for you. You look amazing and you're absolutely beautiful."

Me: "Thank you.  They're a pretty good group of kids. They have my heart."

Farmer (counting): "10?"

Me: "There's actually 11. The oldest is 14 and he's camping this weekend so he's missing out today."

Farmer (leaning in close and patting me on the back): "Ya know...there were 11 of us. I was the youngest. We were close....so close...when we were young. We loved each other and were each others world."

He pauses for thought, looks to sky. After a moment he comes back to reality and says: "Didn't last. Nope. Didn't last at all. And then we just all started dying off...but, ya know....I sure loved growing up with them."

What the crap. I laughed out loud when he said it. What exactly do you say to that one?? Soooo...thank you for the encouragement....adult rivalry and then death?

I replied laughingly: "Well...hopefully they'll love it as much when they're older as they do now. They love having friends outside of the family but their best friends are in each other. They sure do love each other. They have a pretty good life engulfed in love."

Farmer: "Yes they do, little mama. Yes they do! Yeah...that's how it was with us..til we started fightin when we were all older and everything....then everybody started dying.... (Pause)..... But...they sure are a beautiful group of kids!! Just like their mama! And well  behaved too...all sitting there so still and happy, talking and laughing with each other. You have a great day and keep up the good work!"

I never did figure out just what exactly that conversation was supposed to be. Encouragement, compliment, reality, the potential pitfalls...or all of the above. It was definitely one of the more noteworthy conversations that took place within our day and kept Evye and I laughing.


More to come but these few notes and pics will suffice for now.