Yeah for visits from old friends....

This past weekend I was so excited to see Erin Brandt Officer--a great, great friend from JBU. She brought her sis-in-law, Marilee, and several of their kiddos. Being the true leader that he is, Hudson our 8 year old, was teaching the 2 and 3 year old girls how to shove him and push him over. They were laughing and having fun, but I fear Erin and Marilee will be "undoing" a lot of bad things learned here at the Ford household. Thanks, girls, for braving the torential rain to come see me!

Other than teaching sweet, innocent, little children bad habits we've been helping think of names for my brother and sis-in-laws new pups. Here's the list my children compiled:

Pistol

Chew-chi (not to be confused with chi-chi--thanks Piper)

Jett

Ruby
Scout

Sadie

Pearl

Chewbacca

AND, last but certainly NOT least,

Hollywood

Please, if you love your future children, don't ask my children to help name them. You may end up with a Chew-chi Officer, Pistol Forero, Chewbacca Fralic....you see what I'm saying?

I'm sorry for being to busy to blog--apparently I've been "overwhelmed" with things like naming puppies.

I love you Jorge and Traci!

Jorge,

I love you. I love that you take such good care of your wife--one of my greatest friends EVER! I love that you're an amazing daddy to Max, Kennedy, Sophie, and Jake. I love that God has given you an opportunity to bless us with your wit and humor for hopefully many more years to come.

I can only imagine what last week held for the entire Forero family. It was heart-wrenching for those of us far away...awaiting every new "Paulette" blog...hoping for good news. The thought of Traci getting the news in the front yard still brings me to tears. The thought of Max hearing the news makes my skin crawl. But the news of you being able to return home brought such great joy to our hearts.

We've prayed for each of you so much this past 2 weeks. These weeks have made me realize how rarely I pray for my dear friends. I'm sorry for that. We will continue praying for you, Jorge and Traci, as you continue to deal with all that's happened recently. No doubt it's changed your family forever. I love you both....always have, always will.

(P.S. As for the pictures, the good Lord only knows where I came up with that crazy Siloampalooza outfit and hairdo....or the high-waisted belted jeans.) Gotta love the '90's!!

Stinky Spring Boys

It's spring here in Texas. With the warmer weather, and the kids playing outside all of the time, the boys get stinky....really stinky! Because it's spring break, we've been outside most of the day every day this week. As we were getting up from the dinner table last night, I told the boys to go get a shower. Corbin turned around, and my sweet, sweet little boy said quite defiantly, "Three days in a row, mom???" "Why do we need a shower 3 days in a row???"
I guess I get relaxed about such "meaningless" things as showers in the winter when my boys don't stink, but when they want to sit on my lap at night and watch college basketball (I was 13 for 13 on my bracket when I went to bed last night) they better not smell like stinky, little men. Happy Spring everyone....go get a shower!

For one week only......

For one week only, I will have a 4, 5, 6, and 7 year old. Our baby, Baylor, turned 4 years old on Sunday...and next week Hudson will turn 8. All Baylor really wanted for her birthday (and she's been asking for at least 6 months now) is a pink race car. Rick and I laughed so hard as we browsed the aisles of Target in search of this pink car. Behold, Target had a pink racecar, and Baylor's day was made!

Backseat Drivers

It's a rainy day today--a good day to be cautious on the roads. As the girls and I waited at a stoplight on our way to gymnastics, they hummed away to "Are you washed in the blood." That sweet, sweet moment came to a quick halt when the light turned green, and the car in front of us didn't move instantly. The girls impatience ( a direct reflection of their mom/dad) wore thin. I start hearing, "what are you waiting for? an invitation?" and...."that's all the colors they've got" being yelled at the driver in front of me from my 2 little angels in the backseat. Oh how my sweet little sponges have soaked up all of my mean impatience.....but (if I am being totally honest) it was kinda funny, too!

BUY THE FREAKIN' CUPCAKES!

You know those laid-back days when you do random things like bake cupcakes with your kids??? Well, Sunday was one of those days for me. We went to church, and came straight home to put our pjs on. The girls convinced me that we should bake cupcakes for Baylor's birthday instead of buying them for her class party. Usually, I call in my cupcake order, pick them up in their neatly wrapped boxes and deliver them to the classroom, but due to the girls insistance to bake their own cupcakes--I gave in. There was nothing else pressing to do--except clean up all the flour and frosting that would soon cover the kitchen island.
I pulled all of the ingredients, pans, etc out as the girls tied their aprons on and got their stools to pull up to the counter. (I am getting somewhere with this story!) We FINALLY got all the ingredients in the bowl. As I went to get the mixer, I knocked the tar out of my 4th toe. I not only knocked it, stubbed it, hurt like Hades it....I BROKE IT!! And only for the love of my friend Traci, am I not putting a picture of my crooked, bruised, still hurting like Hades toe on here for all to see.
So, the moral of this story is.....BUY THE FREAKIN' CUPCAKES. (Or, maybe it's, don't be a clutz and run into the kitchen stool.) You pick your own moral, I've already picked mine.

Marathon #2....check

One of my close friends says it best....my (Claudia's) elevator doesn't go all the way up. Thus the preparation for half-marathon #2. Last week, Genevieve, Rick and I headed out in the fffffrrrreeezzinnngg cold to the Cowtown Marathon in Ft. Worth. Did I happen to mention that it was freezing? 40-50mph wind gusts, and the temp was around 35. BBRRR!!! Rick ran the full 26.2 miles (because he's crazy). Genevieve and I took the less-crazy route and went 13.1 miles. We had so much fun chit-chatting, laughing at people's outfits (just in case no one ever told you, blog readers, never wear skin-tight workout pants with a thong if you weigh 200 lbs), looking at people's flower gardens....we just had fun--along with 17,000 other runners. We finished in a respectable 2 hours and 42 minutes.
Rick's favorite part of the marathon running is the food that follows--pizza, pasta, cake.....and then an 80 minute massage. (Just as I thought I'd never do another marathon, the food and massage lures me in again. )
I never, ever in a million years thought I'd be out walking 13 miles for nearly 3 hours. It honestly sounded "easy" the first time I thought about it. I truly thought anyone could walk 13 miles and barely be winded. Well, many weeks of training proved me wrong, but I absolutely love the challenge of getting out there. Thanks for being my running buddy, Genevieve, and for encouraging me when I'd rather be sitting on the couch, Rick. Love you both!

Opinions....

I'm usually a quiet person, but I will always give you an honest opinion if asked. As I tell my friends, "don't ask if you don't want to know the truth." I have strong opinions about politics, abortion, alcohol, our new president, whether or not "thongs" (panties--not the shoes) should be allowed to be made for 5 year olds....BUT, I'm stumped on something. What's the matter with me? I'm trying to form an opinion, Lord knows the whole country (including my sweet hubby) has something to say about this situation I'm about to bring up to you, but I can't decide if she's right or wrong.
Situation:
The "octuplet mom".....You all know her, and if you don't, you apparently haven't read a newspaper or watched t.v. in the past 2 weeks. What do you think? Part of me feels mad at the country for ousting her, making a public fool of her, for wanting to have a big family. Many people in our country think 3 kids are too many, so I know the "14" is a BIG deal to our country. I also know that she's going to be on welfare, and dependent upon others to help her. But, we keep murderers, thieves, currupt CEO's locked up for years--paying for their food, shelter, cable t.v., cute orange jumpsuits, etc....so why is it ok, and not a public outcry, for us to pay for them and not for her.
On the other hand, what the heck was she thinking? 14???? With no hubby, no home of her own, no job?? I struggle sometimes raising 4, and I have a phenomenal hubby who has a phenomenal job, which provided a phenomenal house. How do you breast feed 8 kids? And, why should my hard-earned tax dollars go to support her crazy decision to mother 14 kids?
Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Usually, like I said, I have no issues with forming quick, strong opinions. Just curious to see what you all think.

Crazy

It was the craziest thing....somebody actually told me that I had a blog....and that I had been neglecting it for a very long time. Could that possibly be? I vaguely remember typing needless bits of information into my computer....vaguely. Maybe it's that I've been too busy catching up on American Idol or The Bachelor--because I certainly haven't been keeping up with the dishes, laundry, vacuuming...you get the idea.
I've been having so much fun being a mom. Sometimes it gets so busy that the joy of being a mom and wife is forgotten. When Rick's been in town, we've been playing games with the kids at night or we'll watch "Survivor Man." The kids' love watching that crazy guy eat sheep eyeballs, make fire out of nothing, etc. They're so obsessed with Survivor Man that when it iced last week, they all ran out into the backyard with bowls in hand. They were collecting every piece of ice they could find......so that their dear, adoring, wonderful mom could boil it and make grape koolaid. And that's exactly what I did. Mind you, I didn't take a sip of the koolaid, but the kids loved every drop of it. They loved being in "survival mode"--even though their koolaid was accompanied by a nice, warm, bowl of soup in a nice, warm house.
I'm also preparing for The Cowtown Half Marathon later this month. My older sister, who is every bit as crazy as me, is flying in so that she can walk with me. I was up at 3:45 a.m. to walk 10 miles before the kids woke up. Why again am I doing this to myself??? I am only walking to see the great signs that say things like, "This sounded like a good idea in September."
So, other than being a good mom, training for a marathon, neglecting household duties, watching reality t.v., and carpooling to tennis, basketball, guitar, dance, gymnastics, horseback riding, and swimming, it's been a relatively normal start to another great year.
P.S. Brenton, here is the video of Piper that I promised.

Christmas Memories

Can it be that Christmas is already over??? It seems as if I were just putting the tree up. We had so much fun this year! My brother Brenton, and his beautiful bride Kelly, my sister Olivia and her crew (Jeremiah, Judah, and Eden) and my sister Genevieve and her clan (Erik, Malachi, Levi, Shaddy, and Halle) all came to Texas. This was the first time we've all been together for Christmas in a LONG time.

We ate, opened presents, baked, ate, cooked, ate, watched movies, talked, had a weiner roast, went fishing, ate, went bowling, and need I say one more time......we ate! Well, most of us did. Kelly and Erik got the flu (or some really nasty bug) so while the rest of us put on 10 lbs, they lost 10 lbs!

Today was one of those days. The day the trees, lights, wreaths, had to come down....or else, they'd be up for another several weeks. Whenever I get motivated, it better get done right away b/c I don't get motivated very often. I'm exhausted from all the re-packing of Christmas stuff. No wonder our parents had one tree, with one wreath on the front door! They were far smarter than we're giving them credit for.

I'm off to shove the remnants of Christmas back into the attic. I hope all of you are better sports and far more motivated than me. Happy New Year!

Christmas Greetings.!

I fully understand that most of you don't want to be bored with 7+ minutes of Ford family photos....but if it's mid-night and you're having a hard time falling asleep--this MIGHT help!

Are you kidding me???

Our last fill-up at the gas station was so much fun....seriously! Just 6 months ago, we were paying nearly $140 to fill up our Excursion. This week we found gas for just over $1 a gallon!! I don't remember gas prices that low....well, for a very long time.

We've been busy with sick kids. No whooping cough this year....we had to find another 1800's long-forgotten disease to contract. Baylor got Scarlet Fever. I really do feel like I'm stuck in another century. I haven't heard of these diseases since history class when we studied nineteenth century US epidemics. She's much better now. Rick ran his marathon this past week, the boys are playing basketball, the girls' are already on Christmas break, and we're preparing for ALL of my siblings to come "home" for Christmas. It will be crazy fun! There will be 10 children ages 7 and under in one house. Hee hee hee. I'm sure that fact alone will make Christmas extra exciting this year.

My Little Artist

Corbin, my little artist, had his artwork displayed at the nearby Barnes and Noble. He was so proud to take us so that we could see his fish painting. He is very much our artistic child. He's the one who tells me what clothes to wear, how to arrange furniture, he critiques food, etc. I'm just hoping he's not on Project Runway some day. He did a great job on his painting, and we're very proud of him.

(To prove my point about how "creative" he is....this afternoon he and Piper were playing "house." Piper wanted to get "dressed up" for him so that she would look "pretty." Corbin told her, "That's ok. You don't have to look pretty, because we're married now." "Now that mommy's married, she doesn't look pretty very much." )

OUCH!! Let me pick myself up off the floor and go put some makeup on.

Giving Thanks.

What a fun week this has been! The kids were out of school all week. We've stayed in our pj's half of the week. We've Christmas shopped, watched movies, had a weiner roast at my parent's house, and enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving! Rick was home for Thanksgiving, but due to his job he told me that was the last holiday he'd be home for years to come. If I'm lucky, he might be home for Groundhog Day or Secretary's Day. Lucky me!

Black Friday.....Why do they call it Black Friday? It should be called, "Get the &$*% out of my way before I run you over with this germ infested shopping cart FRIDAY." I mean...seriously!! I've never seen more people grabbing things in my life. And they weren't grabbing nicely. They' were grabbing like the item they were going for was the last item in the store. All I could think was, "Recession? What recession?"

I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving and that none of you were crushed by the rush of crazy shoppers this morning!

Merry Thanksgiving.......

Merry Thanksgiving. I've created a new phrase for those of us who are crazy enough to get Christmas decorations up before Thanksgiving. I figure if Hobby Lobby can put their Christmas trees up in July, it's ok if I put mine up in November.

I'm looking forward to a whole week of NO school. Our district gets the entire Thanksgiving week off....no homework, no swimming, basketball, guitar....no anything. I think I'll stay in my warm pj's for 7 days!! Attractive thought, I know!

We will spend Thanksgiving day with my parents--cheering on our mediocre Cowboys, stuffing our faces with way too much food, and rejoicing in the fact that God has taken such good care of us for yet another year. As the economy continues to faulter, every day becomes a reminder of His graciousness. Our childrens' prayers are now 20 minutes instead of 2....they have to thank God for the grass, roof, windows, warm beds, clothes, toys, family, schools, food, tables, playgrounds, water, etc, etc, etc.

I miss all of my sweet friends and even though I hardly ever get to see any of you, I'm incredibly grateful for each one of you. Happy Thankgiving!

Halloween....

So, I started blogging nearly a year ago. One of my first posts detailed our 2007 trick-or-treating "experience." This year was far more enjoyable...well, don't ask my parents--they may disagree. Maybe it's because all of the kids are out of diapers, I no longer have to push an enormous stroller around town, and they don't automatically fall asleep at 7:30. We packed the kids up and took them to our church's trunk fest. There were an estimated 15,000 people there....so we didn't stay long. We ventured back to our old neighborhood and enjoyed seeing our former neighbors. They, of course, emptied their trick or treat candy bowls into our kids pumpkins. So, even though we only went to 10-15 houses, the pumpkins were nearly full--as were the kids stomachs. I've never seen a child eat as much candy as Baylor did that night. Piece, after piece, after piece went into that child's mouth. It became humourous! The kids were so sick of candy after that night, they've barely wanted to eat the last couple of days.

So, now it's down with the pumpkins. Where, oh where are those Christmas trees??? They're about to come out of hiding. If Wal-Mart can bring out Christmas stuff in June, I figure I can get it out in November. In case I fall back into my lazy habits and "forget" to blog for 2 months, have a Merry Christmas!

Pre-Halloween Festivites

(Deliquency. That's all it is. This is why I never kept a diary. Blogging is hard. Or maybe I'm just lazy, busy, or have 4 kids with demanding schedules.) We weathered a nasty stomach bug that ripped through our house about like it ripped thru our stomachs. It was awful. Yep, we'll just leave it at awful. We're all feeling much better--just in time for Halloween.

People always wonder what my children want to be for Halloween. The question needs to be...."what costumes did you find at the resale store for your kids this year?" I must be an awful mom. I've truly never asked the kids what they want to be....I just tell them what they're going to be. I'm sure they'll be in therapy for this some day.

I got to watch "Little Bo Peep" (Baylor) and Red Riding Hood (Piper) walk in circles, and circles, and more circles for the costume parade today at school. Seriously, how many circles can one class make around a courtyard?? Baylor was yawning by the end of her "parade" saying where's my candy. I'm with you sister. If I had to parade around for an eternity in a silly outfit, I would want restitution (candy), too. I saw 250 Tinkerbells, 2 million princesses, 2 Yodas, Pop-stars, Fairies, Butterflies, Batman, SpiderMan, Knights.....I saw it all. We got a good head-start on the candy for tomorrow. That's another good thing about having 4 kids....we get 4 x's the candy--like any of us need it. I'm sure Halloween night will be an event-filled evening....as it usually is.

A Fantastic Reunion

I love the nearly annual trek to Siloam Springs....my home of 4 years in NW Arkansas. The JBU campus was as beautiful as ever. The fall leaves, bright mums, and familiar faces are a welcome site....though I am taken back by the students on their cell phones texting as they stroll down the walkways. I guess we were "old fashioned" and actually had to say hello as we passed someone. Maybe they just text hello these days....darn technology.

Things are looking up in the ole homestead. There is a Hampton Inn!!! Suites, granite countertops, jetted tubs and quite possibly the most comfortable bed in the world. After a wonderful nights rest in that most wonderful bed, we went to the car to head to my reunion. What did my ears hear?? Meow, meow, meow, MEEEEOOOWWWW, meow, meow, MMMMMMEEEEEEOOOOOOWWWWWWW. There was a cat, no, a kitten somewhere in our tank of a truck. The kitty was somewhere under the hood near the engine, but neither Rick or I or the entire hotel staff could find it. Rick somehow scared the cat toward the fuel tank....so we turned the car on a started to drive very slowly around the parking lot. It was quite a scene--to say the least. I'm figuring we'll be on youtube someday--as there was a little girl capturing the whole thing. Ty Herndan's tour bus was parked directly behind us. His band members were getting quite a chuckle out of us driving in circles with an insanely loud MEOW coming from the car. We decided to drive up to JBU because the stinkin' cat was not coming out. Corbin was in the backseat praying, "Dear God, please help our daddy not to be mean and turn the car on and kill the cat...." We get to school, call animal contol--who couldn't lure the cat out either. Finally, after lunch, Rick popped the hood again and there stood a little gray, fuzzy, scared to death kitten whom we lovingly named "John Brown." No, we're not nice parents. We didn't keep the kitty. Rick held him as we drove to the animal control. All the while, he was sweetly saying...."Nice kitty. I know you're giving me all sorts of gross diseases, aren't you?"

We enjoyed Barnett's hamburgers, going to the soccer game, seeing and talking with old friends, going to hear the Cathedral choir sing (A Mighty Fortress is my favorite!), and quite possibly the best thing of the weekend was holding my precious neice, Halle Joy. We had a wonderful trip.

My "Top Gun"

Had to post a pic of my little miniature Tom Cruise. Well, I think Hudson's a bit cuter....but I'm biased. He wants to be an Air Force pilot for Halloween--like father, like son?!? He looked 20 years old to me when he slipped into his costume. How, oh, how do mother's send their cute little pilots into war? I don't know, but oh how grateful we should be that they do.

Time marches on..

Yea! It's October--one of my very favorite months. Cooler weather is hopefully on the way (still upper 80's here, ugh!). The pumpkins are coming out from the attic after a year-long hiatus. We made pumpkin-shaped sugar cookies the other day. One of our trees is starting to turn bright red. It's just a great time of year.

Rick and I took the kids to go see the new Kirk Cameron movie, Fireproof. For those of you who have not yet seen it...GO! It was not created on a Hollywood budget, and that's somewhat evident, but it's still really good. You can see the preview at http://www.fireproofthemovie.com/ . It's a movie about marriage--great date movie. (Even though you'll probably feel guilty the whole drive home-trust me on this one.)

During our recovery time at home, the kids' built their own "Noah's ark"...thus the picture with the 10 million stuffed animals. Those are only a small fraction of the actual # of stuffed animals at our house. I'm starting to feel very sorry for Noah and his family--animals everywhere!

I'm starting to feel a little bit OLD. I will be joining my classmates from John Brown Univ. to celebrate our 10 year reunion. Can it really be 10 years??? It's time to start studying names in the old, dusty yearbook. Hope to see many of you at JBU soon.