Friday the 13th

So today is Friday the 13th and its been awhile since i blogged...matter of fact its been all summer! We've been through a pretty crazy summer that i will blog about soon, but just wanted to make sure i posted today because we got some pretty awesome news today that we've been waiting to hear all summer. Can't post anything yet, need to figure out how to make this private so i can get all my thoughts down first....but i am vowing to get back into blogging.

Till later......

Spring Break

So, this week is Spring Break for the kids...the weather started out Monday being nasty and cold, rainy, but today, Wednesday, its supposed to get up to the 70's....thank goodness!! I am so ready for nice weather and the kids are too. Paetyn had gymnastics last week and she was moved up another level...she has only been in gymnastics since last June (8 months) and she has moved up 5 levels already! We are so proud of her...her teacher told me the other night that she has talent....we are going to see about letting her try out for the gymnastics team for next year. I told her she wouldn't be able to do dance and gymnastics both and she said 'thats ok'....didn't seem to bother her a bit! I'm glad that Khloe will still be in dance, cuz i don't know that i could have NO one in dance! lol I'm so used to having at least one girl in dance for the past 18 years i don't know what i'll do when i don't have a daughter in dance..maybe i'll have a granddaughter in it by that time! Paetyn starts softball tonite....she is nervous but i think she'll do fine. She's been in tball since she was 3, so she's definitely ready for a change. Plus she is on her best friend Audrey's team, so she is excited about that. I realized the other nite that at this time right now, she is in gymnastics, dance, softball and soccer all at the same time! Thats a lot for a 6 year old....but soccer will be over soon, and dance right after.
We found a new soccer team for Tanner and he is excited about it. He is on a team with other boys his age that he goes to school with, and his coach seems to know what he is doing, which is a plus. He started practice last week.
Dealing with some things with Braden...nothing new, but how we handled it is new, and i just hope we did the right thing. We'll see i guess, only time will tell. I just don't know what will happen if he doesn't change his ways soon. Maybe this will be the wake up call he needs....i just don't know if i believe that or not. Its hard to trust when your trust has been broken so many times.
Going shopping with Jess on Friday...i sooo need it! Always fun to go shopping with her, we never seem to run out of stuff to talk about. We are going to Hollo's for cardstock, then probably to Hobby Lobby and Archivers..havent been to HL and Hollos in a very long time....looking forward to it!
Have a great Wednesday!!

His Hero

I forgot to post this a few weeks ago. Tanner had an assignment at school, where he had to write about his hero. And he wrote about ME! (makes me cry just typing it..) Here it is...

"My Mom is My Hero" By Tanner Cope

 A hero is someone who never gives up on their children, and that is my mom. My mom takes care of me so I don't get hurt. Because she takes care of me, I know she loves me. My mom helps me with things I don't know how to do and is always there for me. My mom always knows what to say when I'm in trouble. A hero is someone who never gives up, and my hero is my mom.

I hope that I can be the Hero he thinks I am...i love that kid!!

Not what we planned

Yesterday was supposed to be a great day...we were planning to go to church in the morning, then the kids wanted to go roller skating in the afternoon at the school's skating party. We also had small groups for church that we were going to try to fit in, but we weren't sure if that was gonna work out. So, we headed to church in the morning and it was an AWESOME service! We started a new series, called The Me I Want To Be, and its all about how God made us to be the people we are, but we must be the 'best Me' we can. After church, was Kidstuf and Khloe danced with the Kidstuf dancers...she really seems to enjoy being up on that stage and we love watching her up there. After church, we came home and went on a mad cleaning frenzy! We are in the process of refinancing the house, and we had appraisers coming on Monday so we needed to clean up a bit. Brad made sausage, pepper and onion sandwiches for lunch and the kids had leftover pizza. Tif came for lunch, but Andrew had to work, so it was just the 7 of us. Around 2:30pm, we decided we had better at least go to small groups for an hour, then we'd go skating. Went to Merry and Ryon's, and Melanie and Dru were there but Tim and Tamarickia weren't. Was disappointed that we didnt get to see them, but we all sat down to watch a parenting series by Dr. Gary Smalley  http://gosmalley.com/seminars/speakers-bureau/gary-smalley and it was great! It was all about different parenting styles and what type are you? Well Brad and I decided that we are the Dominant and part Neglectful parents...which sounds awful when you write it down but it actually means that we are strong on rules and also tend to be a little permissive ('go ahead, i don't care') type of parents. What we need to strive to be though is the lot of love, very attentive kind of parents. When you have 6 kids, it can be hard to give them lots of individual attention but its something we both want to work on.
Anyway, we watched the movie, then it was time for us to leave for the skating rink. As we rounded the corner, Paetyn was sooo excited, she was about to jump out of her seat, and then we saw it.......the line that went AROUND the building, the line of cars waiting to pull in to the parking lot, and the parking lot next door almost filled! What you need to understand is that this isn't the year 1978 when roller skating was the rage!! This is 2010....NO ONE goes skating anymore....at least we didn't think so! But apparently the promise of free admission and ALL of your friends going is enough to get everyone in New Philadelphia out of the house on a cold February Sunday to go skating! Well i knew this wasnt going to end well...Brad is not one who is big on crowds, I really didn't want to go in there and try to skate with that many kids around, and where in the world would be even sit?? I slowly turned around to look at Paetyn's face and knew she was about to be disappointed...Brad and I looked at each other and he said..'um, maybe we shouldn't do this today..' and the tears started to fall. She was so upset, as i'm sure the other kids were too, they just aren't as verbal as Paety is! She kept saying it wasn't fair, and she'd look at me and just sob. We turned around and went to Walmart, because we needed coffee and we also wanted to try to figure out something else to do...and everytime we'd look at her, the tears would just roll down her face. I knew she was disappointed and i felt so bad for her, and when we were almost out of the store, her daddy had a great idea...he whispered something in her ear and she smiled so big....
She looked at me and said 'daddy said we can go to Grinders for desert'!!! Well in our kids minds, that is just the next best thing to roller skating!! We NEVER get desert when we go out to dinner (just too expensive usually with 6 people) so to actually be able to go and get desert was huge to her! We went to Grinder's and she ordered a hot fudge sundae..and when it came to our table it was huge! The other 3 ordered mouse munchers or something like that, and theirs was ice cream and oreos...Brad and I each ordered a brownie sundae and it was wayyy more than i needed but it was soo good!!
And last nite, right after he kissed Paetyn good nite, she looked at him and said 'thank you daddy for taking us to Grinders tonite for desert'....in the sweetest little voice ever....and he looked at her and said 'you're welcome honey'.....
and so our not what we planned on day ended up being a pretty good day after all.....

New week....its Monday!

So, its Monday, Presidents Day today so the kids have no school...and its snowing...again! Supposed to get 3-6 today and another 2" by morning....if it comes, guess the kids will be off school again tomorrow. They will then have to start losing either their Spring Break or go into June...either way, not good. So much better to have no school when its nice and warm outside, not cold! We had a great Valentines day...Brad made me dinner, filet mignon, crablegs, baked zucchini, baked sweet potatoes and salad. I am so lucky to have him in my life...don't know what i'd do without him. I got Valentines from my kids....and they got them from us. I am blessed to have such good people in my life. Well not much more to say...here are some pics i took recently...
bottom pic is Tanner and Gio (a little boy i watch) in their snow cave..

She is 10

February 7, 2010, Khloe turned 10 years old. I honestly don't know where the time has gone..i remember the first time i saw her, so beautiful. I remember hearing the first time that she was going to be ours, and how happy we were. She has grown up so much in the past 10 years, going through things that no child should have to be put through, but she has come out strong, beautiful and stronger than she realizes. I don't know what the world has in store for her, but i hope the world is ready for her! Open your eyes and shine girl!! I love you!! mama

10 years of Khloe....

sorry about the sideways pics...don't know how to fix those! lol Anyway, from birth to age 10...can't wait to see what the next 10 years bring!!

Happy Monday!

So, its Monday and i can definitely tell!! After getting Braden off to school at 7am, went back to sleep and slept in til 8...got Paetyn up, dressed and headed down to breakfast where we were joined by Khloe and Tanner...after they ate breakfast, and brushed teeth we were on our way out the door when Paety said "oh mama, we forgot my book'!! Which meant we had forgotten to read her book that she brings home on Thursdays, (but she brought home Friday cuz she wasnt there last Thursday) and her class book that she also brought home on Friday! We sat down at the table..good thing we were actually a little early today anyway...and she read her book to me, then we read the class book and took a picture of her page (cuz we don't know if we'll ever see the book again, so we always take a picture of her with her page). As we got in the car and were almost to school, i asked if she had her hat...um, no she didn't. Then i realized she was also wearing her broken zipper coat with no jacket underneath! I soo hope they don't have outside recess today....its pretty cold outside, so chances are pretty good they won't, but i'm sure i won't be getting Mother of the Year now!! lol Came home, got my coffee with my peppermint mocha creamer and home made whip cream in my HUGE Starbucks cup, and read my emails. Good thing i don't have anything planned for today...maybe i should just go back to bed??!! Happy Monday!