Liam and Abby

Here's a picture of Liam and Dana's baby Abby. He tackled her a few times that day which was really funny since he's not very aggressive usually. They were sharing each others toys and...it seems...various virus germs as Liam puked all over me last night. Abby had gotten sick the night of their visit. Dana called, "YOu're going to kill me."

"No I'm not. What could you have done?"

"Abby threw up last night...all night."

"I'm going to kill you."

Dana then redeemed herself by saying she'd prayed for my children. So far no one but Liam's gotten it and even he had a mild case of it. Thankfully I've been spared from round two which is nice since I'm suffering from allergies now. Boy has this been a fun winter/spring.

Easter Fun

Continuing with my Easter theme is a picture of Bill Jr. (should be Sr....but why resurrect an old argument???) with Liam and Austin. As you can see Austin is a big fan of the rabbit ears, in his mind no picture is complete without it. I wonder if Liam reminds Bill of his son Bill. He looks like a mini Bill to me. We'll see whether that ends up being true.

We ended up eating a lot, visiting with Bill's sister and family and the kids got some really nice EAster bags. I always want to do something meaningful with the kids that has something to do with the resurrection of Christ, but because I can't think of a good way to do it, I end up doing nothing....story of my life. There's always next year.

Look at how cute Joe is in purple

Of course since I haven't posted in a while so now I have to post twice. Joe just got married to Leslie a couple of years ago and they're still wearing matching colors. They took this picture with Taylor since they were all wearing the same color. I made the dress for Taylor but since it ended up snowing that day...it was a little chilly for her.

Littlest Pet Shop

Taylor is such a good big sister. She let Liam play with her beloved littlest pet shop toys. He was ecstatic. He kept trying to shove as many as he could in to his pudgy little fingers. A couple of times we had to say, "Not in the mouth." He would listen but then slowly lay his head on my chest and cry. After he got over not being able to put them in his mouth they had a great time. Taylor was so sweet and patient with him. I am so blessed to have a daughter like her who can be a friend to one so little and yet can talk so intelligently to an adult. She's courteous to others and considerate too. I know that Liam will have great memories of his childhood and their friendship too.

Picnic day

Dana and I were on another whirlwind adventure today as we packed our 7 children and took another four to the park for a picnic. The weather forecast said 67 and sunny....wrong! It was 50 and cloudy and blustery. We froze. Poor Liam, his teeth were chattering. We went to subway and I had their chicken florentine sandwich which was just awesome. You should have seen the lady's face when I ordered 7 kids meals. It was a mix of horror and irritation. Good thing that Liam, and Dana's kids didn't get sandwiches... that lady might have landed in the looney bin!

The kids ran around and got red faced with sweat so they had a good time. Dana's kids had meltdowns so she left and then my friend Debbie showed up and she ended up taking all the kids home for me so Liam could take a nap. It ended up a good day and now my tummy is happy.

The REAL Bucket List

Dana and I finally got to go away this weekend. Our husbands rolled up their sleeves and watched our combined 7 kids while we went to Springfield and then onto Bloomington for the HEarts at HOme conference. It was a blast.

We went to a Chinese Buffet, scrapbooking store and to see the Bucket List the first night. If you haven't seen the movie yet I highly recommend it. It's about two men who form an unlikely friendship with the only thing they have in common being that they will each die of cancer within a year. They complete a list of what each wants to do or see before they die. ALong the way they make each other laugh, cry, and make each other very angry. A few times they say, "blah, blah, blah" to each other (something me and Dana do on a regular basis!). It would seem to be very depressing but I actually found it to be uplifting and really moral at times. The scene where Jack Nicolson kisses "the most beautiful girl in the whole world" will make you cry. If you don't cry, you're a heartless creep.

The motel we stayed in was horrible. IF you're ever in Springfield do NOT go to the Travelodge. For 58 dollars you can have a window that doesn't latch, a shower that will alternately scald and freeze you, and NO air conditioning. They also advertised a free breakfast (not true), and a tub with jets (think mustard yellow tub with two air holes!). The party the boys were having next door caused the entire floor to vibrate. What a refreshing night's sleep.

The conference was wonderful. The basic theme was, give yourself a break. Yes, as moms we all have guilt but face it, we're not perfect. We'll make mistakes but as long as we're spending time with our kids trying to raise them as best as we can AND we spend time loving their fathers...we can't go wrong. We're not responsible for how our children ultimately turn out, the responsiblity is God's. We're just supposed to find joy in the journey. Being among 5 thousand women who are trying to be good moms was wonderful.

My husband handled things as well as possible but he's glad I'm back. I just haven't told him that Kevin Lehman will be there next year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But we can wait to share that!

Creations by Dilly

My son Dylan wanted to make Liam an Easter outfit so he picked out the fabric and then designed the bunny himself. He made it in three days. Liam will look so cute for Easter.

It's so great to have kids that want to do things for their little brother. What will Dylan make next?

In honor of Uncle Brett

Austin loves legos. He has a goal to be a master brick builder and maybe someday get a job at the lego factory designing new kits. He made these two himself without instructions. He's been really inspired since he bought the Ultimate Lego Builder's Guide. He wanted to email these to Uncle Brett but then he got grounded off the computer. As consolation I told him I'd post these on my blog so hopefully Uncle Brett would see and appreciate his creations...and anyone else who reads this blog.

Snow fun!

It was Liam's official first snow this past tuesday. Exactly 48 hours after we celebrated a 74 degree day we had 8 inches of snow dumped on us! How bizarre. The kids have been begging me to take Liam out in the snow so I finally relented as they've been stuck in the house for over a month due to illness. They pulled him slowly around in the sled. At first they tried to do it with him sitting alone but he flopped over face first in the snow. After that they took turns pulling one sibling holding Liam in their laps. He had a blast. They also made a snow igloo around him and he had fun with that.

When they brought him in he had pink cheeks and a red nose but a huge smile on his face. He even sat by the window and watched them as they were playing even longer in the snow. They wanted to take him down this big hill by our house but I said no...such a mean mom. But watch out, next year he'll be ready.

Days I'm glad I'm alive....after a day I wished I was dead!

After my thursday barf-o-rama I felt like myself on Friday. I decided to have a big breakfast planned and invited Dana, whose husband graciously gave us the hours of 7-9 in the morning to spend together. No sooner than I put the phone down when the stomach cramps started. They lasted on and off for several hours and then the real fun began. I threw up for approximately 12 hours. If I even turned over on my side it was enough to send me hurling. When I wasn't doing that I was sleeping. Towards the end I was praying for death. I didn't want to eat or drink anything for a LONG time but did it when I thought maybe the baby might be suffering.

By the next morning I felt fine although I still didn't want to eat much, but at least I kept 1/4 of a pancake and 1/2 of a banana down. It was a beautiful day today and sunny too. We went to church. We sat out in the field after church and Liam had his first experience sitting in grass. He had several moments of closing his eyes, arms raised with a huge smile on his face. It was the look of pure joy.

We had a picnic lunch outside and then decided to fly kites. Austin brought his ball so he and Bill could catch in preparation for baseball season. It was a wonderful day.

Here are the kids at the start of our afternoon. Liam loves being with his siblings!The wind was blowing hard so keeping the kites up was a challenge!

Baseball's just around the corner!

Liam just enjoyed himself on the grass, in the stroller, and playing with the kites. Many times he was waving to the kites.

All in all I'm glad I'm not dead just yet because we had such a good day.

Of course now Dylan's complaining about stomach cramps...dum, da dum dum dum!