And the heavens opened up

On a quiet Sunday afternoon when you hear the giant voice system on base say a garbled something, you don't usually pay too much attention.....especially in sunny Northern California. Because really, who can understand that giant voice anyway? Well, I think the message today must have been something like, "Get your butt inside because the clear blue sky is about to open up and drop a ton of hail on your noggin." Yes, I'm sure that most certainly was the message. Well, our butts were already inside but one butt just had to run out and experience the wonder of it all. I'm sure ya'll by now know which one it was!

And then it was official...

As of 10:26pm yesterday, January 24th the oldest got older. He's 12! We had a great time and John and I are once again happy to have survived the onslaught that that number of boys inevitably brings....the food consumption, the pillows, the food consumption, the sleeping bags, the food consumption and the smell, oh gracious the smell. Yankee candles anyone?!! J had a great time with all of his friends and is thoroughly enjoying his first $50 bill, thanks to Grandpa Terry! Now only 14 days until we do it all over again for Jordan who will be 11 on the 6th of February.....whose dumb idea was it to have kids so close together anyway?!

My favorite part of the day was when Jason opened his gift from John. Jason and Jordan have both wanted a PSP for a very looonnng time. Those puppies aren't cheap so John wrapped up his PSP complete with all of his games that he had bought himself back when he used to deploy for some airplane entertainment, Jason opened it and ran right into John's arms and gave him the biggest hug, it was precious. We love this boy!

Very interesting

I thought the release of this video was very timely when you consider one of Obama's first executive orders that he issued today. I'm praying for this man! Wanna join me?

The oldest gets older

Look who is 12 today! Wow, 12....when did that happen?!









A few things about Jason:
He is an incredible kid, loves the Lord, loves his brothers, and still thinks John and I are very cool people.
He is downright hysterical
He wants to be a professional baseball player or a Christian video game designer
He is a self proclaimed chick magnet
He is a lover of all things sports
He lacks the ability to pick up his clothes off of the bathroom floor after his nightly shower.
He could eat plain spaghetti noodles and/or rice for every meal from now until Jesus returns and be very happy.
And for all of this, he is greatly loved and is such a blessing to our family. All of our kids are special to us in different ways and for Jason, he will be special to me because he made me a mother. I love you buddy, Happy, happy birthday!

Future pilot?

Jordan wants to be a few things when he grows up. His current list includes the following in no particular order:
1. A vet
2. A pilot
3. A professional sports player
It's all in the wardrobe and last night he tried pilot on for size.

The tooth fairy...redeemed!....kinda

Justin lost his second tooth. He put it under his pillow. He went to sleep. So did John and I......again. But behold! He woke up the next morning and distracted by the smell of pancakes wafting through his room he didn't check which gave me just enough seconds to leap up the stairs, grab the tooth, leave the money, and casually make my re-entrance into the dining table. Whew! We have really got to get this together! We still have quite a lot of teeth headed our direction. By the way, what on earth do I do with all of them? Do you save them all? Is that totally weird and gross? To be quite honest I have a few shoved in nooks and crannies in various places in plastic sandwhich bags but what do I do? I am almost positive I will not suddenly develop the urge to bust out hoards of tiny teeth covered in dried blood and last years breakfast and show them to the neighbors and their friends. We all have what 20 teeth? So 4 kids x 20 teeth each....uhhhh, seriously?! 80 teeth?! So what to do, what to do. Suggestions anyone?

Brother vs Brother

Jason and Jordan have begun their respective basketball seasons. That makes 3 teams, 1 family, 2 of which are traveling teams and 2 parents. Now ya'll know math is not my strong suite but I'm pretty sure 3-2 still doesn't equal 3 parents that can drive in 3 different directions. Not at all sure to be quite honest how we are going to pull this off but I guess like the rest of parenthood we will make it up as we go along....but shhhh, don't tell the kids we don't know what the heck we are doing...we have them VERY fooled. Anyhow, their teams got to play each other the other day. It was way fun! John and I sat in the middle and cheered each team on equally which I'm sure annoyed 50% of the crowd the entire time. They even ended up guarding each other which was rather comical because they play together so much that they know each others moves inside and out so it was a very good match up. I love this stuff! It is truly one of my favorite parts of mommyhood is going to these ridiculously early games on a Saturday morning.

Really, Go NOW!

Run, don't walk, run! To your local commissary and pick you up a box o' dis:

for your next family night. Your kids will love you, and your entire house will smell like warm rice krispie treats. Your welcome.

***Sonia Martin Inc accepts no liablility for the like or dislike as it may be to aforementioned popcorn. Purchase popcorn at your own risk. However, if you find previously mentioned corn outright disgusting then A: There is something seriously wrong with you and you should seek immediate medical assistance. and B: You may or may not attempt to return said product to the very helpful non english speaking people at your local commissary, good luck. *****

One award winning Bean

Justin got the chapel award yesterday...I think if you throw up for over a week straight you automatically qualify for an award. But I'll overlook that and chalk it up to his awesome behavior at school. If you want to see prayers answered ladies and gents look no further than this child! He is doing fabulously and was very excited that I took his picture in front of his entire class during worship:

See! Doesn't he look sooo excited that his mother is standing there with mismatched boots and her paprazzi like camera snapping photogs in front of everyone?!
And if that weren't enough, here he is UBER excited that he has now been called to the front of the entire elementary school and his paprazzo mommy followed right on up there with her rapid fire photography skills:

My mothering skills rock.

Tahoe Summer. Tahoe Winter

Tahoe Summer:






Tahoe Winter:











Since it's been a ridiculous almost 80 degrees here lately....hello, it's JANUARY!, we decided to hit the slopes since the roads would most certainly be clear. After all, who on earth wants to buy snow chains 5 months before you move to Alabama?! So we set our 4 precious children atop 4 sleds on top of the mountain and away they went. It was a breathtakingly beautiful day! I bought a do it yourself cast kit at Target so I could be prepared for the broken arm/leg/neck that would surely occur but thankfully they all came out in one piece, so I shall put the kit away for a rainy day.

Nerd. Defined.

Out of curiosity I looked up the definition of nerd today. In case you too were curious here it is:

Nerd.(n) One who, in a rush to get of the house in the morning and get the kids to school, mistakenly puts on one brown boot and one black boot and then doesn't realize the error until standing in line at Starbucks with 20 other people who were surely noticing her mismatched boots.

Nerdness is typically pictured as follows:


Interesting definition don't you think? What kind of idiot would do such a thing?

Day 9 and a new best friend

Well, it's day 9 and if I may take this opportunity to thank all of my amazing friends for your support, texts, messages, and of course Facebook posts! You all have kept me uplifted in what was kind of rotten week. But alas, I must inform you I have a new best friend. It never called me, never left me a message or dropped off a meal, but I am now choosing it over all of you. If you are offended, I understand. If you want to meet for coffee so we can discuss why I like this friend more than you, that's fine. But I thought I would at least post a pic of my new best buddy just so you can have a visual of my new BFF. So here you go:

Here she is in all of her fluidy glory, my new friend...I call her Ivy.
She is tall, she is skinny, she is full of life giving nutrients and fluid. This is why I like her....a lot. She made him go from this:


To this:


Which is why I like her so much. Though Ivy has her strong attributes she is kind of dull to hang out with. She's not much for shopping or going out to lunch and she is a sincere bore to talk to on the phone so I still need all of you, you are all loved and a blessing to me!

Day 9

Day 8...NO PUKE! Thought we might be done and that the anti-nausea meds worked!
Day 9...woke up and hurled and is continuing to do so.
I wonder what losing your mind feels like.....I'll let you know.

Day 8

Well, it's 3:15PST, day 8. We've just returned from the pediatrician's office for our follow up appt and learned the MRI is normal! Praise the Lord! Now onto our continual search for the cause of the vomit machine. He usually starts throwing up between 4 and 6.....dun, dun, DUN! So, I wait. I clean, I get dinner ready for the other kids, I get everything done in this house because once 4pm rolls around it's Bean time....soon to be renamed barf time. It's weird, it's heartbreaking to watch, it's stressful because Hello! 3 other kids still need stuff, it's tiring and it's just plain yucky. He actually ate something today; he had a container of yogurt...this is big! Thanks to all of my friends for the support, you guys rock! Here he is again as a baby bean, I heart him.

WARNING INAPPROPRIATE IMAGE AHEAD!!!!!

Warning, warning!!! Most inappropriate picture ahead! Warning!!!!

....are you still reading? Okay, your choice...but don't say I didn't warn you!!

....Okay

....Here

....We

....Go

.....Last chance to look away..................

.....Okay, you asked for it!


I warned you! Here is how we started out Day 5 of throwing up. Yep. Notice the splatter all over the wall...Mmmmmm...isn't that great? I had given him a water bottle with some pomegranate in it a couple of hours before...uhhh that was dumb. At the time I was consumed with thoughts of hydrate him, hydrate him, hydrate him and if it's a pomegranate water bottle he wants, then he shall have....or had...again, on the dumb scale that was pretty high; this I now realize. We are off to the pediatrician tomorrow morning and so help me if they tell me it's a virus and give me advil I just might deck someone. You don't mess with a tired mommy who has gone through an entire bottle of carpet cleaner in 5 days....I hope they taught them that in medical school.


This picture is a gift from me to you in an attempt to erase the previous picture from your memory. It's a cutie! Do you forgive me now?