Our Newest Addition

Wow has it been that long since I blogged? I guess that's what happens when you add a fourth to the mix.

Anne Elizabeth was born Jan 25th and it has been a fast three months. She is smiling and cooing and growing out of all her clothes. Her little toes are even peeking out at the bottom of her car seat. I am ready to upgrade her to a bigger size...there is nothing worse then a huge baby being carried around in an infant seat. Not that she is huge, but she is getting there-healthy is more appropriate. She is growing more along the lines that John Paul grew, she reminds me a lot of him. But then other days I think she looked just like Rosie as a baby. She of course is her own unique and perfect self and already has a little personality.

Christmas

John Paul's preschool has a Breakfast with Santa where kids can meet Santa, get faces painted, listen to stories from Mrs Clause, etc. In the hour we were there we were able to scarf down some pancakes, swallow a couple of candy canes, sit on Santa's lap, play in a bounce house and of course get faces painted-with no tears-Success!

To be honest, I'm not a huge "take pictures with Santa fan". This is one of the first years I had the kids pose with Santa and looking back at the pictures I realize why it's a bit creepy and I avoid it if possible: Here kids sit on this strangers lap, by force if necessary, I'll even bribe you with some candy-its ok to take candy from this stranger but not under normal circumstances. Is this the real Santa my kids ask? Of course he's not! I can spin some tales to my kids about Santa during the Christmas season but to look them in the face and say yes, this guy sitting in that cheap suit and fake beard is Santa...I can't do it. So not only am I forcing them to sit on his lap but he's not even the real Santa. Weird.

It is always hard to get good pictures on Christmas because we are so busy opening presents, helping the kids set up their new toys, visiting with family, etc-who has a spare hand for a camera? But we were able to get the cousins together for a "photo shoot" pre-Christmas. Below is the first and probably best picture we took. The rest are comical, and those of course are my favorite.

I have one of the pictures of all the cousins on my desktop and the kids love looking at it, especially Adam. He names everyone ten times before we can walk away from computer. I love that they are all so close in age. The Munoz family leaves the beginning of February to go back to Spain for a few months and we are going to miss them.

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we were all together, my parents (Rose and Ed), all my siblings (Theresa, Margie, Celie, Tony, Mary, John), spouses (Dani, Paul, Jeremy and Pat), dogs (Dub and Sammy), children (Rosie, John Paul, Adam, Andres, Miguel) and three on the way (Cat due Jan25, Margie and Theresa due March30). Not to mention we threw in Paul's friend from Oregon and his girlfriend and Tony's girlfriend and family. It was crazy fun. I think the first picture captures how much fun we all had.

We had our Thanksgiving "feast" at my cousin Chris' house, where we have been celebrating Thanksgiving since I can remember. The house used to belong to my aunt and uncle and now Chris owns it, with the stipulation that he continue to host this family gathering. It is casual, fun with great food-there is a huge backyard where the kids can run around, climb trees and get dirty. We had a blast picking and eating from the citrus trees that grow in his backyard.

Rosie and Sarah picked and ate many. I'm not quite sure Rosie even had turkey.

We started off the day with our traditional Turkey Bowl. I can't remember who won (typical). The first year Paul played we ended in a tie and he was disgusted. He couldn't believe we would do such a thing. The Bowl was a success this year, Paul pulled his hamstring.

John Paul would have loved to play but instead he took a knee on the sideline. It is only a matter of time before he is showing up his uncles and dad.

A little action shot. It was Pat's first Turkey Bowl and he had a good showing, he was wary of the Bowl's validity because we were slow getting the teams formed but we pulled through with enough to play. Makes it hard when three of the normal players are pregnant.

The older we all get the harder it is to get the entire family together. This Thanksgiving we had Theresa from Spain, Margie from Pensacola, Celie from Jacksonville (recently moved from Maine), Tony from Denver, and Mary from DC. This picture is just my parents and siblings...I would have liked to get the "outlaws" in the picture but they were held up in the garage-they like getting together as a group as much as we do as brothers and sisters.

Rosie loves hanging out with my uncle's girls, her "cousins", and family gatherings are a great opportunity. I don't think I saw her the entire night she was so busy running around with these two.

Having five girls in my family we were bound to have a handful of us pregnant at the same time, but growing up (and until recently) I never thought about or considered it. Theresa and I have been pregnant the same time for maybe a couple of months but this time we are all due within 2 months of each other. Margie and Theresa are due the same time (end of March) and I am only a couple of months before them (end of Jan). I love being pregnant at the same time and I am even more excited to have children the same age. There is something about sharing this experience with a sister.

Thanksgiving was a complete success, lots of well managed chaos. It was great having everyone together and I look forward to next year when all our newest members will be there too. It was so much fun Paul and I need to go on vacation to recover.

Feast on the Fifty

John Paul and Rosie Ninja Fighting

Rosie showing us her touchdown move

Rosie Dancing

John Paul and Andres excited about the pirate ship

John Paul showing us his pirate hook

My parents have been getting tickets to the Outback Bowl for over 20 years. Each year the ticket number increases because our family is forever growing! Being a "supporter" of the Outback Bowl for so many years, my parents receive tickets to different promotional events. This past week they had a dinner inside Raymond James Stadium on the fifty yard line...hence "Feast on the Fifty". My parents gave us a couple of tickets and offered to watch Adam so Paul and I could take Rosie and John Paul. The Munoz and Meros family joined us as well.

We were under the impression (so were the kids) that there was going to be food/drink, a bounce house, face painting, access to the pirate ship, football-type games, fireworks, etc. Well, they had food, drink and fireworks (everything is hurting in this economy I suppose because last year they had all these things). I know this sounds like a complaint but it's not. We all had a blast after Rosie realized she wasn't going to get a unicorn painted on her face, and John Paul let go of the fact that the pirate ship was not his to sail. The lack of things to do actually turned into a comical evening, in retrospect!

We successfully got yelled at by every event person there. Let me give you a recap:

There is a huge pirate ship at Raymond James that was supposed to be open for everyone to enjoy but of course was closed. Our kids faces were pathetic-staring at the huge ship dreaming of swash buckling and walking the plank-but not allowed to partake in such activities. And then who would have guessed? Paul, the wonderful dad he is, snuck Rosie, John Paul, Andres and Pete onto the pirate ship for a quick thrill! They were loving it until the security guard quickly asked them to exit. Then I took them to "look" at a gigantic blow up kola bear (weird) on the field. Before I could ask them where they thought kola's lived, my two kids decided it would be a good idea to have tackling practice with it and yes we were asked to leave the area. There was a small stage set up for presentations and the kids were having a great time jumping "ninja-like" off the platform and you guessed it, "Please stop that." My absolute favorite was during the speech that was given thanking all the sponsors and supporters Rosie and John Paul went WWF on me directly in front of the stage. I pulled them apart on my own, I didn't have to wait for someone to suggest it-I have some standards. Just when I thought I was at the end of my rope, the lights went out and the fireworks went up. Alleluia! I think God knew my exact breaking point and scheduled fireworks seconds before I hit it. They were awesome and well worth the 2 hours of craziness before.

Happy Birthday Grandma Diana

We are very thankful for Grandma Diana, especially today because it's her birthday! I'm not going to say how old she is today (because I'm not that sure myself nor does it matter) but I will say that she is one of those grandma's that when with her grandkids gets comments like, "Your kids are so cute". Yes she could, without a doubt, pass as the mom for my kids. She looks great!

But more importantly my kids adore her. She lives in Oregon but makes every effort to come and spend time with us in Florida. She comes for long weekends, birthdays, baptisms, and mostly just because. No matter how long it is since we have seen her, she and the kids pick right up where they left off. What a blessing she is in our life!

A Weekend Apart but Together

Last week/weekend Rosie went on a trip with her grandma. They left Wednesday after school and spent Wed and Thursday in Jacksonville with her Aunt Celie, who just moved into her new house. She had a blast with her "best friend Sammy" who is Celie's dog. She also had a great time exploring Celie's backyard, which the previous owners made into a jungle-Rosie called it her secret garden. They left Friday morning and went to Clemson, SC for the FSU vs Clemson game. She made it through the first quarter, which was impressive because it was a late game and got pretty cold for a Florida girl.

While Rosie was on vacation I took the boys to Lowry Park Zoo on a beautiful Thursday morning. They had a great time!

John Paul fed the giraffe. It is amazing how close they let us get.

I couldn't get a good picture of the rhinoceros but I got a couple of cute ones of the boys climbing the fence to get a better look.

The highlight, of course, was playing in the water area. Adam loved stepping on the fountains, making them squirt in his face. I was getting some great pictures of John Paul playing in the water and the last one I took he was able to redirect the water perfectly to shoot right at me-way to go John Paul. He laughed his head off!

John Paul asked every day when Rosie would return. I think his words were, "I miss my best sister." We were happy to have her home Sunday night and to be together again.

What Was I Thinking?

Rosie has been asking for the last two years to ride a horse. We took her once in North Carolina but that did not appease her. She kept asking. We saw horses at the ranch, wasn't enough. She wanted to ride one...by herself.

So for her 6th birthday this year we got her horseback riding lessons. Now she loves it! Why not dance, rec soccer, even gymnastics...no she loves horseback riding. Not the easiest or most convenient and dare I say cheapest sport. But I couldn't say no.

Sometimes I feel the hardest part of being a parent is saying no! I would love to give my kids everything they wanted, but of course I know that a good dose of "no" puts them in check with reality and also I know that all their requests are not necessarily safe or healthy. As adults we know (at least most of us) that the world does not hand over your every desire. Saying "no" to kids is a good lesson but sometimes I feel like a broken record. Can I have this toy-No, Can I watch this movie-No, Can I have this treat-No, can I have this super processed food that has no nutritional value what-so-ever-NO and on and on. The worst is shopping, every store strategically places candy and small trinkets at eye level for kids to see and grab. It's a conspiracy. But enough about that-back to Rosie.

She loves riding horses and is pretty good for a six year old.

On the bright side it is a great sport for teaching responsibility. She has to get the horse ready to ride, brush it, check it's hooves for rocks, saddle it up and then when she is finished she has to cool it down, let it graze, put all the gear away, etc. Not to mention all the things she needs to know about handling a big animal: she has to pay attention to the horse, her surroundings and her teacher's instructions. In the long run I think this is going to be great!

Now all I need to do is get a job to pay for it.