Party like your cousin is 4!

Move over Star Wars.....Hello Princess!

Lily was in town for her birthday, and we got to celebrate with her. She requested a Baskin Robbins ice cream cake and we didn't argue with her on that one :) Max and Jesse were uninterested in the "girly gifts" she received. Thank goodness! That meant I didn't have to pry them off her presents.

Barbie Dolls? A purse? Princess stuff?

(So that's what they sell on the isle we pass by quickly at the store as we are headed to the action figures)

Press on nails...What?!

We had soo much fun playing with our cousins. There was just so much to do.....

(Mark on Grandmas lap)

The energy in the air was ELECTRIC!

Oh...I could just eat this lil' guy up...he's such a cutie!

Pass #2 (Mark with Aunt Sarah)

(Pass #3 Mark with Cousin Damien)

The Boys!

(Damien showing Mark how to play on his phone)

(Pass #4 Mark with Cousin Taylor)

You sure made your rounds Mark :)

We partied, played, ate, and played some more. We had our share of time outs, as we just couldn't help it sometimes, but that's what happens when you get 8 cousins together. The noise level was many decibels higher than Grandma and Grandpa have experienced in a while. It is safe to say that we lived it up while our cousins were here.

We're gonna miss you!

Cramming in the FUN!

Becca asked me to watch the kids so she could pack up. I had to think if there was going to be enough room. Yep, there are 5 carseats back there :)

Wow! Six kids!

Thank goodness I had a leftover lasagna at home! (I must add, feeding those 6 kids by myself was no small task). By the time I warmed up the food, met everyone's needs, rounded everyone back to the table and sat down to eat, they were all done and I was eating by myself.

Next time I will get my 13 year old to help!

Family Picture Time!

Poor Katelynn, she was done! And Mark was along for the ride as usual.

What a good looking bunch!

Ok guys, lets take a picture....

But Mom....I can't see...

It's too bright.....

Alright...lets change directions here....now that's better :)

Except at this point....ALL were done with the picture taking.

Cousin Valentine exchange

Yum.....Chocolate and popcorn!

The girls

Soon enough Mark you will be running with the bunch! But for now, Aunt Sarah gets to snuggle with you :)

Netflix + Cousins + popcorn = Goodtimes!

Baba Flicks

A newlywed couple recovers from a car accident that puts the wife in a coma. Waking up with severe memory loss, her husband endeavors to win her heart again.......Awww!!

As most people do, I have my type of movies that I like to watch. Of course, they happen to be love stories. I'm not much into Pride and Prejudice, or movies of that nature, I am talkin' modern movies where, the guy 'gushes' over the girl and just can't get enough of her, even with all the forces trying to pull them apart. There are tons of movies out there with this scenario played over and over with different actors etc. And I just love them! I saw the preview for the movie "The Vow" and immediately I was SOLD! And when the trailer makes me think of the amazing man I married, I definitely want to see it. So, before even telling Michael, he saw the preview on T.V one morning and called me into the living room. I looked at the T.V and smiled. When the preview was over, I looked at him for his reaction, and he said, "I bet you want to see that movie!"

I love watching these types of movies with my hubby. Yes! He watches them with me, and groans at all the cheesyness. (With a smile of course).

I even love when the movie gets us talkin' like this one. I asked him where he would take me if something like this happened to me, to help my memory? He said: Sweet tomatoes, Woodward park, the Temple, our old apartment, borrow his old truck and go for a drive :), San Franscico, the beach, River Park, The Balls' home, all places that have significant meaning to us.

These are predictable movies, I know.

Hubby groans, and I gush :)

Once again, my Honey humors me and is going to see this movie with me opening day!!

Now, I bet he wishes he could get me to sit through one of his Sci-Fi, or War movies......Opposites attract...Right?

13, 6, 6, 5, 4, 2, 2, 5 months....

Those are the ages of all the cousins that flocked to Grandma's house this weekend. We laughed asking Mom if she had started a Daycare with all these kids running around, and toys strung across the yard. Thankfully the weather has been nice and we've been able to exhaust some of that energy outside. Needless to say we have been having a great time catching up with cousins that we haven't seen in over a year.

Uncle Ben (I mean Uncle Mike) put together the trampoline...that Grandma just inherited :) The kids kept calling Mike....Uncle Ben the whole time. So finally, Mike, after working so long and hard for a while finally said, (after one more child called him Uncle Ben), "Uncle Ben shall not get credit for this." We all laughed! Thanks Uncle Mike, you are such a good sport!

I think we need to get a group picture with the kids together. Wonder how that will go.... Stay tuned, more fun to come. Up next, Lily's birthday!

It's about.....TIMES!

No, Max and Jesse aren't already learning their multiplication tables......Dad is. That's right. Mike has put this day off for long enough. He started school back in 2007, and after taking the placement test (after YEARS of being away) he found himself in beginning Math and English classes. (I'm not down talking him either, I was there right after high school...what does that say about me)? He breezed through English, all the way through 1A, even some other classes too. His confidence was being built up that he COULD do the school/work thing. So, as his official class register/secretary person, I said, "This is the semester, you...Mr. Mejias shall take Math!" Well, not quite like that, but you get the idea. Found the book online for $14, (I don't think I'll ever buy from the bookstore at FCC again)!

Dragging his feet....he went!

After one week of the class, he says he's getting it, but he's very nervous since this is a credit/no credit class, meaning you must get an A or a B to move on. He has been diligent in doing his homework, even doing extra problems to get more practice. The first class is a month long and ends on Feb. 15th. If he passes he moves on to the next class, which is another review class. He has 4 of these month long type of classes to complete.

Needless to say, Damien is getting quite a kick out of being able to understand, even possibly do his Step dad's homework :)

You can do it DAD!

Another Break

Remember this image.......(March 2010)

One year later....here we go again...and with 3 boys.....I'm sure there's more of this in our future!

Tuesday night I was getting ready to make dinner. I got the coals lit on the bar-b-que and was inside getting the meat ready to cook. Damien had just gotten home from school and decided to go play outside, since I wouldn't let him play XBOX til' his homework was done, so he resorted to something else. (I know, I know, not good, he shouldn't have been outside either). He was riding his brother's scooter, really fast, and he was coming up on Max who was standing with his bike on the sidewalk. He yelled for Max to move, and well, he didn't. Damien crashed into him, flipped over the handle bars of the scooter and caught himself with his left hand. Lets just say, his fingers bent too far back, and his pinky finger too most of the fall. He came running into the house holding his hand in obvious pain. Since I am not a medical professional, I asked him if he needed ice, told him to stop yelling at Max for being in the way, tried my best to console him, while waiting to see if the pain subsided.

Remember dinner, and those hot coals, well, I couldn't just leave the hot coals, (maybe I could have) so I frantically threw the meat on the grill, all while Damien was telling me how the pain was. Mike was working out at this time, so I called, and thankfully I got a hold of him, and he came home as quick as he could on his bike. Now that I didn't have to take Max and Jesse to Urgent Care, all I had to do now was keep consoling Damien assuring him that when Mike was home, we would go. It took him 20 minutes to get home, and that was enough time for me to get dinner done, (make some yummy biscuits) and Damien from being totally mad at me for not going right after the accident. To my credit, I didn't want to overreact, go to Urgent Care, and all he had was a bruised hand. But, his hand was swelling, like it did last time and his reactions to simple touches of his hand were showing signs that something was really wrong with his hand, more than just a sprain. Thankfully the wait was not too long at the Doctor. They took an X-ray and told us that Damien had a Buckle Fracture, unlike the growth plate fracture he had last year, which required a cast. They put him in a gutter cast, wrapped his hand and arm with an ace bandage, and told us to get a second opinion in the morning from our primary doctor if Damien should get a cast or not. Before leaving, they cleaned his knees since he opened a scab (from a previous scooter accident) to prevent infection. They also told him he probably should avoid the scooter for a while, and come up with a "cooler" story as to how he broke his hand :)

To Damien's dismay (I know) 2 more Doctors said his injury didn't require a cast. He was very upset. He wanted his hand to be in a cast and protected more so that he could continue to be an active boy, like last time when he was jumping on the trampoline, skateboarding and falling on his hand in the cast. He was quite adamant that the doctor was wrong and no one was listening to him. Thankfully his Dad was on my side and agreed with what the Doctor said. This was a minor fracture and will heal in about 4 weeks. In the meantime, Damien is not doing P.E and is now in the library during that time working on a packet of work. Needless to say, he is not happy!

New Beginnings

When I heard our family was going to be getting an XBOX for Christmas, I was very hesitant. I've heard stories of kids and adults alike being "glued" to these things and really didn't want that for my family. As I said before, the cost of it also kept it out of the picture for years. During the weeks after Christmas, I witnessed some of the behaviors I didn't want in my home coming out in my children, for example, they wanted to play all the time, they fought over whose turn it was, homework was not being done first, and my oldest was being too controlling over it. I had to change the tide in our home, and FAST! It took weeks of preparation, and thought, even calling my sisters for advice, but we came up with chore and behavior charts. We even provided a way for each chore done to earn 5-15 minutes more playing time on Fridays and Saturdays. As an added bonus, I threw in the "above and beyond" chores that included things that I thought Damien would not really do, so they earned a whopping hour extra playing time if done. It took a while to finally present our rules, but we finally did it on Tuesday night. We read all the rules, consequences and rewards and asked for input, then we posted them immediately. Thankfully everyone was in agreement. Now it was time to see if anyone was going to do chores, and if we as parents were going to follow through with the rewards and consequences. To my surprise (don't want to jinx myself here) Damien really took off with it. I really mean it, he took OFF!! It was 8 o'clock at night and he was taking out the trash, sweeping the floors, putting away the dishes, and quickly going over to the fridge to tally up how much time he just earned for the weekend. I was pleasantly shocked, however I wanted to go to bed :) Then he said, "I want to do the above and beyond chores" and he didn't want to do just one either, he did 2 of them before I told him it was time for bed. Friday night he was on FIRE and his brothers went along with it too, all trying to earn more time and "Stars" on their charts showing completion of their assigned chores. Damien went to the above and beyond chores again and started cleaning the base boards, and even the bathrooms (a place he said he would never clean). Since I am usually the one who does these major chores, I coached him through it so he did it to my expectations (I know, I know, I am picky as to how cleaning is done in our home). I did try not to be too hard or unreasonable. But the above and beyond chores, since they earned an hour, had to meet high expectations. Now I just have to remind the children that if they choose to do the chores, they have to do it all the way, not just half effort and expect the reward. Damien has even said, "Can I take the trash bins out to the street and back again right now and earn minutes?" I said, "No, it must be trash day." He's too smart for his own good. So, for the trash reward, I put, "The trash must be FULL, before taking it out, to earn reward." I am learning in all this. It seems to be working. Chores are willingly being done. I'm trying not to adjust our rules too much. Since it is all new, small additions and changes are being made to fit each child since there is a huge age gap. After day one we reviewed their charts at the end of day one, Max hadn't made his bed and didn't get a star, so he started to cry. Guess it is working, he immediately made his bed at 8 o'clock. This morning, everyone was up telling me they made their beds, and Damien asked to clean the shower. Last night, Mike asked, "Is this our home?" as he looked around as saw the children cleaning.

I hope this lasts!!

I have good boys. I just want to keep them that way. I want them to be hardworking young men, Missionaries, Husbands and Fathers.