Melissa

I love Melissa McCarthy.  She is so dang funny.  She was on SNL a bit ago.  I can't stand that show (sorry)  but she is a hoot and a half.   I might have posted it already, I don't remember.  Oh well, here is a link.  If do don't crack up, there is something seriously wrong with you.  I heart this bit.

that time of the year . . . Christmas? Nope. I got my foster care re-licence paperwork in the mail.

It sounds silly, but I am having a hard time with not re-licensing my foster care licence.  I have 9 kids.  I am done.  I am happy with being done.  But when you do something for so long, it is hard to know how not to do it.  10 years is a long time.  My identity is a mom/foster mom.  I can't tell you how wonderful it is to not have all the extra appointments, visits with bio family and case workers.  Not to mention how nice it is to not have tons and tons of people looking over your shoulder.  It is hard enough figuring out the after adoption part.  I spent 10 years with thoughts of reuniting kids.  Then to change my thoughts to forever, it is a bit hard.  It is hard for us to find our place.  I have their bio-families wanting to be back in the kids lives.  For some reason I still email with them.  I can't figure that one out.  I haven't emailed for some time, but I know they would like to hear from me more.  On the other hand, I want to tell them to jump off a cliff.  The kids are mine.  I write this as I cuddle the baby of the family,  well, the baby by 1 min.  He is having a hard time sleeping tonight.  He got his second flu shot. Thank heavens I got baby A back to sleep.  Cross your fingers for this baby. 

Anyways, I guess time will tell what I do with my life.  If you have any life changing ideas, drop me a line.                                                                                                   :)

Grateful - Day 26-30

So I am tired of trying to come up with stuff to write about.  I get ideas all day long, but when I sit down at the computer, my mind is blank.  So, here I sit, 12:55 am, 1 baby finally asleep and baby b still sitting on my lap sucking his thumb and hugging his blanket.  So, here is my last list of gratefuls.

 #26 I am grateful for my DVR.  I am hugging my baby while watching american pickers cuddled under my warm blanket with fuzzy socks on.



#27  I am grateful I figured out how to charge the battery in my favorite camera.  I have been struggling finding a new camera.  So I am happy about that.



#28  I am grateful for IKEA.  I want to marry IKEA.



#29  I am grateful that we sold our old couches and tv.  yeah!!!!

#30  I am grateful for my life.

Have a good night

Grateful - Day 25

I am grateful for Christmas music.

I love random dancing.  It is even better at Christmas time.  Here are a few of our dancing songs.

This Cyndi Lauper song has been my favorite song for years and years. It isn't Christmas time until we have danced our pattooties off to this song.


We love The Muppets and John Denver Christmas CD. I couldn't find the Christmas is Coming song on the internet, but that is totally a cd you should get. Love it (We even had the record when I was growing up. It is a staple in our house).

This is a new favorite, I think we found this last year. It is Donde Esta Santa Claus.



I know this photo of the singers is ridiculous, but I love it.  For some reason it reminds me of my baby brother.  He totally would have posed like that.  Granted, he is married and sort of grown up, but I could see his band doing a cover like that.

We found that one on a Holiday Collection from Kohls. Another one from that Cd is this jason Mraz song. I love Jason Mraz.



I could keep going, but that is what we danced to last night, so there you have it. Turn up the computer and do some random dancing.

Grateful - Day 24

I am grateful for photos.  I love photos.  Here is a link to some of my favorite ones I have taken.  They are on my old blog and I haven't updated them lately, but hope you enjoy.

My photos

Grateful - Day 23

I am grateful for heating blankets.  Why do I live in a cold state.  Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.  I love warm blankets.  

Grateful - Day 22

I am grateful for scrapbooking.  I enjoy it.  It is therapy for me.  I haven't been able to do it recently because 9 kids are exhausting.  But I wish I won the lottery so I could go shopping everyday.  Anyway, back on topic.  I love it.  My pages are not award winning, but I love photos and I love seeing them on paper.  I love when the kids sit and look though them.  It will be funny when the kids go off to college, or get married or something, to hand them a carton of scrapbooks.  But it is great therapy.  I love it.

I love my scrapbook area.  Here is a photo of it.


(Keep in mind, this photos is right after it was put together.  Now it looks like a tornado went through it.  There is stuff everywhere.  And cricut stuff everywhere.)

 Here are some awesome rooms.

Grateful - Day 21

I am grateful I am competent.  The most asked question I am asked with 9 kids is . . . drum roll please.  What kind of help do I have?  It kind of gets irritating.  So, I am grateful that me, my family, and I  take care of us.  Now, Faith and Kim did take the babies when we went to Disneyland.  I did chicken out of that.  And if there is something I can't take the kids too, Kim will watch them.  But for the most part it is my poor teenagers that help me out.  I am very thankful for them.  I even just took the babies to the grocery store and the checker was surprised I didn't have someone there to help me.  I laughed.  The babies are the easiest ones.  You strap them in and go.  Granted, they are heavy, but anyway.



And sometimes they get bored, but we survive.  So I am grateful we are a competent family.  

Grateful - Day 20

I am grateful for chocolate covered strawberries.




My favorite food.  Great, now I am hungry.  Uggggg

Grateful - Day 19

I am grateful for books.  I love reading.  I would sit and read all day if I could.  I haven't read much lately, I am reading the Book of Mormon right now and I am determined to finish. (If you would like a copy or to know more about it, click here.)

I haven't even been on goodreads for ages.  I enjoy goodreads.com, check it out and friend me.  I love a good book recommendation.

Melissa's bookshelf: read




More of Melissa's books »

Mary Higgins Clark is my all time favorite author.  I need to put meeting her on my bucket list.  I love that she does such a great job writing that I can reread her books and still not remember who did it until the end.  Excelent books.  I also really love Margaret Peterson Haddix.   Other books I loved: Inkheart, Leven Thumps, and Fablehaven.  Who is your favorite author?

Grateful - Day 18

I am thankful for big, thick fluffy socks.


Now I don't have ones quite this big, but . . .
(I think I will have to ask Santa for these puppies.)



I do love my sock like this.

Grateful - Day 17

I am grateful for my bus.  I hate driving it.  But it sure comes in handy with all the kids I drive around.

What I drive . . .




What I feel like I drive. . .

Grateful - Day 16

I am grateful for the medical professionals.

This is why.

They can bring these little 2 lbs 12 oz babies into the world, one of them even had to be resuscitated.

4 months later they can be mad at me.  But what cute mad faces.

And 18 months later, they can be doing this.  

Yep, Josh crawled out of his high chair and on to Jonah's to eat his food.  But don't worry, Jonah still gets food.

 He is just sneakier.  

Grateful - Day 15

I am grateful for a Heavenly Father who loves me and is there for me.

If you would like to know more about what I believe, click here.

LDS.org

Grateful - Day 14

I am grateful for music.  I love music.

The songs I can't get enough of . . .

I love anything Beatles

I have been to Abbey Road, you know.

(My feet on abbey road.  oh yeah baby.)

Well, I guess you really don't care what I listen to, but I really, really do love music.

Grateful - Day 13

I am grateful for mine and my families health.  When I go to the dr. and give them the list of my medical problems, it makes me thankful, it could be so much worse.

Grateful - Day 12

I am grateful for microwave popcorn.

Grateful - Day 11

I am grateful for nail polish.  I really need to paint my toes.

Grateful - Day 10

 I am grateful for Mr. Clean magic erasers.

Grateful - Day 9

Today, I am grateful for friendship.

Would you like to hear a story?

10 years ago, a friend, Christy, was going to do shelter care.  John and I decided to go a head and jump in too.  So Christy and I started our foster care classes.  It is a bajillon classes and if you miss one, say you missed the 4th class, you have to wait until the next month to take it.  It was hard with 3 little kids, but we got our classes done  Feb. 2001.  Christy told me another family in our ward was going to take the classes the next month.  Kim and Pat Crosby. They also had 3 little kids.  I called Kim one morning to tell her that I would help her finish her classes since it was so hard.  We talked for 8 hours and we haven't stopped talking yet.  John and I helped babysit their kids while they took their classes.  Ahhhh, the things you remember.  I would have her kids at my house and then take them home to hers, bathe them and get the in bed.  Her sister, who was pregnant would come and sit while they slept.  Crazy days.

 It was perfect that we had each other to babysit. It was hard enough taking a newborn foster baby to a mental health appointment let alone having to do it with other kids. Not to mention the creepy, lice infested clinics we had to go to.  Okay, I am exaggerating, but they were gross.

Sorry for the old scrapbook pages, it was the easiest way to scan.

 This is our girls first sleepover.  The Crosby's power was out for days, so the girls slept over.  They are so tiny.  And this was the first of 194,385,325 sleepovers.

 Friends for life!!!

 We would get together and spend the day at one of our houses, the kids would play and we would . . . you guessed it.  Talk.  We would even fix dinner and when husbands came home, the would all eat and hang out.

Here's a couple of the girls a little while ago. 

I have to add that I am just showing photos of some of our bigger girls.  But together we have 17 kids.  Yep, you read that right.  And we take them all places.  Yep, all 17.  And we like it.

I could add photos all day of our kids, but I won't.  You are welcome.  

  

Then fast forward all the years of friendship and kids friendships and this was us.  Having European Adventures.

 This was the beginning of our addiction to scarves.

Anyway, the moral of this post is Happy Birthday Kim. Thanks for being there for me and a great friend for the past 10 years.  Can't wait  for the other exciting adventures ahead of us.  Moral #2 is I hope everyone can find a Kim of their own.

Grateful - Day 8

I am grateful to be a mother.  As of today, I have been a mother for 14 years.  I remember it like yesterday, yet it feels like a dream.  Every once in a while, John and I play the what if game.  Such as . . . what if things were different and we didn't get pregnant 2 months into marriage.  (I met, married and had baby before I got my associate degree and all before John went to BYU.) What if she was our only one?  What if . . . you get the idea.  Would life have been easier?  Heck yes.  Well, maybe, you never know I guess.  I wouldn't change a thing.  We are at such a good place.  I have a husband who provides.  That is not an easy task.  I am very thankful for the decisions that we made years and years ago that I would stay home and be with the kids.  I did work graveyard for over a year and I did it all myself.  My job, baby, johns school and job.  We we did it on our own. That is all we had.  I didn't have help.  No one watched my baby but me.  I wanted to spend every second with her . Then we had another baby girl when Rebecca was 13 1/2 months old.  Little Cassandra joined our family.  Anyway, sorry this is starting to be a life story.  I didn't meant to do that, just wanted you to know how much I love my daughter.  She is amazing.  She is such a people person.  She is a fantablous dancer.  She could be a good piano player . . . someday.  She is super smart.  Way smarter than me.  She wants to be a social worker and help kids.  I am sure that has nothing to do with the fact that she has been a foster sister to 82 foster kids.  She has such a soft heart.  She is also very responsible.  I completely trust her.  Okay, enough on the sappy daughter stuff.  She had a pretty lame day.  The poor thing.  

Here is her day. 

 Sorry, they are backwards and I am too tired to fix them.  She got to open a few gifts earlier to take to Disneyland.  

 If you can't tell, this is her excited look.  She loves Perry the Platypus.  

 And we got her some giant perry slippers. 

 Fast forward to this morning.  She didn't get her breakfast in bed.  She wakes up too darn early for this lazy mom.  But I did make her waffles with buttermilk syrup.  Yum Yum.  Do you like her hair?  She hated it.  She had to do that because she had tech rehursal for her dance concert.  She hated it.  

 James got her smelling her new perfume.  Yummmmm.

 And a Cody Simpson Poster.  Becca is in love with him.  

Now fast forward until tonight.  We met up with Kim and Sammy and Bailey came.  We took cupcakes over to the school.  She had to be there until after 9 tonight.  We go walking in during their dinner break, yes the whole family, and we had to wait in between the two doors.  So we had to have all the kids hurry and hide.  

 She was pretty well surprised when we all came singing in the room for her.  Her face got bright red and she was a bit embarrassed, but she had fun.  Kim had a gift of some cute scarves and a crown for her.  So fun.  

 There is our crew and there is the Dance company.  I am so excited to go watch her preform.  More to come on that.  

 I had some cute cupcakes made.  Perry of course, with purple of course.  

Now just a very very short trip down memory lane.  I can't for too far back because I am too lazy to go dig though her scrapbooks and scan anything in.  So here are some photos from the digital age.  

 Cute cousins.

 This is coming up way to fast.  Ahhhh, heaven help me.  

Happy Birthday Rebecca, I love you.  Thank you or putting up with me and for being so dang wonderful.