Do you love them "differently"?

I have 6 kids.
Is that shocking?
Probably not considering that's all I ever talk about.
I can honestly say I love them each differently.

I don't love them all the same.
Sometimes I don't love them equally.
Sometimes they're teenagers and I feel rage.
Sometimes I don't like them.
But I do always love them.

This is the one.
This is the one we earned.
This is the one that made the HARD work in our 20's worth every minute.
This one is FABULOUS.
If you don't believe me just ask her.

This was tough.

Sometimes it was harder than I ever could have imagined it would be.

Sometimes it still is.

I'm always glad I was 22.

There aren't many pictures of this one.

She doesn't like it.

She's painfully shy and has little to say to anyone.

I love her for her quietness sometimes.

I love her always for her ability to observe and catch everything.

This is the biggest baby.
I don't care who you are, I believe you love your 1st unlike all the rest.
I'm sad and I'm proud.
She's 18 and a young adult.
I'd be lying if I told you I didn't have moments when I wondered if we'd ever get here.
I need to learn to let go of this one.
I need to trust that she's going to be ok. I need to trust...

These 3?
These 3 are my heart.
I have learned things from these 3 that I will NEVER learn from a "singleton".
Not many get the opportunity to parent triplets.
We've survived a lot together.
Their strength amazes me.
There is nothing to let go of here because they left the day they were born.
They are amazing.
They are beautiful.
They are independent.
Much as I may hate it they will all be fine with or without me.
They have a bond that most of us will never in our lifetimes experience.
They are lucky.

It leads me back to this one.

This one will never leave me.

This one I earned.

This one is loud and obnoxious and quite possibly my favorite on any given day.

This one makes me laugh out loud EVERY SINGLE DAY.

I'm a better parent with this one.

Only in thanks to the ones that came before.

I was ready for this one.

I was old enough to have this one.

I am lucky...

The 1st Week of School for the Last Baby

Rubi started school this week.

Like real school.

Like Kindergarten.

She thinks I'm weird.

She believes that I go overboard.

She told me she could get inside to her room by herself.

I insisted.

She insisted.

She told me to kiss her and go.

But this is my baby you see and I walked her all the way to her room.

ALL the way into the room.

See the teacher?

She was MY Kindergarten teacher. :)

ALL my babies.

:(

In the first week of school we discovered:

1. The hunt for the Gingerbread Man got a little dicey at times.
2. P.E. is boring enough that you MUST tell the teacher.
3. The 1st day the Kindergarten got fed "old, dried up pieces of chicken" for lunch.
4. We know everyone and everyone knows us.
5. KINDERGARTEN IS FABULOUS!

I'm sad.
I'm glad.
She's ready.
I'm ready.

I think...
Maybe...

First Day of School

I'll be back but first I need to enjoy the quiet of the first day of school...

Summer?

We've been busy here. I don't know about you but somehow I still feel like I'm waiting for summer to start. We've been gone almost every weekend not to mention several week DAYS. *SIGH*

I. Am. Exhausted.

The Mr.'s first plane ride ever. Look at us. I think they call this look, "Travel Weary".

We went to see this only to find THEM on vacation.

So we went here instead. AMAZING!

We came back to start this:

It will eventually be my new kitchen. :)

Then it was already the 4th. This would be a "TANKINATOR".

This also happened on the 4th. But we're not talking about that.

Snappers are her favorite.

This is what summer is really about.

:)

When In Doubt, Pinky Out

This is Miss Buttercup.

She's come for the tea party.

The Very Merry Unbirthday.

I am Miss Crumb. There is no picture.

I must be a vampire.

The weather has been questionable at best.

Too hot or too cold.

So we're looking for ideas.

Our current movie of choice is,

Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland.

Be careful there is a "Mad BannerSnack" in it. ;)

God love the Dollar Store!

We bought fish themed tea party dishes.

We bought little cookies.

We bought Little Debbie.

Mrs. Buttercup went straight to work.

Trays of Little Debbie &

Bowls of mini cookies.

Pitchers of cherry juice.

Set up complete!

Miss Buttercup thinks Mrs. Crumb

 should get the show on the road.

DELICIOUS!

When in doubt PINKY OUT!

We even had the Chesire cat!

We're headed to Vegas baby so I'll blog to you later people!

Pancake Palooza!

Somehow I'm always up early.

After always being up late...

So I had a mission this morning.

Pancake Palooza!

My kids LOVE peanut butter on pancakes.

ACK!

I like mine OOZING with melted butter.

Nothing else...

Just butter.

But these were for the judges and not for me.

So I started with Sunni Anderson's PB & J Pancakes.

I ended up adding about a cup and a 1/4 of milk.

The batter was really thick.

I would also cut back on the salt a bit.

These were the hands down favorite.

Especially after chocolate chips were added to them...

I also made chocolate chip pancakes.

I chose a base recipe from the Food Network site that sounded like it would be easy and accommodate ANY additions to it.

Chocolate chip pancake base

These were very good too.

We added milk chocolate chips to the pancakes.

Why milk chocolate? Because that is what Husband brought. We consider ourselves lucky considering he's allergic to grocery stores. He did good.

Then I got creative and made blueberry pancakes.

We don't tend to have fruit in this house.

The base for them was Pioneer Woman's Sour Cream Pancakes.

We just need to take a moment and offer up a silent homage to this woman.
^
^
^
^
Edna Mae's Sour Cream Pancakes

So we ended up with Blueberry Sour Cream Pancakes which were eaten but not as well as things with peanut butter and chocolate.

Please remember we do not have fruit and veggies in this house.

Unless it's onions and garlic...

The aftermath of Pancake Palooza...

Next Pancake Palooza will include Red Velvet and a Smores variety. :)

The Lazy Days of Summer

This was spring in the front of my house.

I can't grow things.

Anything,

'Cept kids.

And cats.

Yep. Fatty looks the same in the Spring

as he did in the winter.

I received the above for my Spring birthday.

Cut the giver out of my life you say??

Never.

Obviously by her gift giving abilities she probably has few friends.

She needs love.

Rubi rode a horse at the end of Spring.

She's not a cowboy though.

Kelly told her.

"You're not a cowboy if you don't move."

 It's summer here.

The pool is open.

The air conditioner is running non-stop.

The kids are now all home...

Bliss.