Vacation with the Wilcoxson's Part 1

Noel's office is closed this week and so we are spending some time with the kids and playing pretty hard. I thought that I would share some videos that we have gotten so far to explain how are week is going.

The first video is a follow-up to the sleeping video that we shared last week. Now our triplets are trying to sleep in the same crib. In the video you see that they all decided to sleep with Jacob. What I find funny is that Jacob is sleeping on one side of the bed and the other two are on the the other side and there is a pillow in between Jacob and Joshua and Esther. Jacob and Esther are fine with sleeping by themselves but the last 4 or 5 nights Joshua is either sleeping with Esther or with Jacob. I find it very sweet and very comforting that Jacob and Esther are okay with their brother climbing into to bed with them. Just anther day in our zoo.




The next video is Elijah having fun with Nana Gail. Every time that Bobby and Gail come over one of them hides and waits for Elijah to come around the corner. I have finally caught this on tape and think it is hilarious. Sometimes he gets so scared that there is a delayed reaction from the time that one of them pops out in the open and when Elijah's body catches up with his emotions.



We have started to let Hannah interact with the other "animals" since she is crawling backwards and moving all over the place. Joshua is her favorite friend because he is so mellow and likes to just laugh and make noises with her. Hannah laughs. Jacob wants to shake Hannah and wrestle with her so we have to make sure that he is not too rough with her. Esther just likes to rub her head every once in a while and Elijah just wants everyone else to know that Hannah is "mine."



The last video is funny to Noel and I. We do not know if everyone will think it is funny but we enjoyed it. Hannah loves her jumper and is very active in it. So on Monday she was jumping in her jumper and she fell asleep. I realized that she was not making any noise so I went and checked on her and found her asleep and her giving us a great gesture. Colton does the same think and Doug says it is because he has LSU blood in him. Well Hannah does not have LSU blood in her but she does have Aggie blood with a lot of attitude to go with it.



Well that has been our week so far. Noel has been busy with projects this week. I will let him blog about the specifics. Our close friends bought a new dishwasher and Noel went over there to install it for them. Well when he pulled the old dishwasher out there was MOLD and WATER behind the dishwasher. So he is installing half a kitchen of new cabinets, new sink, new garbage disposal, new faucet and the new dishwasher. Also he had to go to the Social Security Office yesterday because the hospital sent the paperwork to the Social Security Office for Hannah's number but we never received it. So we had to get her birth certificate and then he had to go to the office. He got there and pulled a number. The number he pulled was like 195 and they were on 91. So he ran errands, ate lunch, came back to the house and returned to the office to wait until his number was called. The the associate stated that he could not issue us a card because the birth certificate was not proof that Hannah was alive. We have to have a medical record. The birth certificate only proves that she was born but the medical record proves that she is alive. So they gave us the number to file for taxes but we have to go back to have them issue us a Social Security Card. YEAH!!!

From our family to you, we hope that you have a wonderful New Year's Eve and to stay safe.

Christmas and Traditions

Christmas was different this year than the other 28 years that I have been alive. My family has always had certain traditions that we practice on Christmas. Everyone gets to open one gift on Christmas Eve, Candle Light Service, Homemade cinnamon rolls, reading of the birth of Jesus before the opening of gifts, the organization of opening gifts, oldest to youngest.

Well this year the grandparents came over on Christmas Eve. Mike, Noel's dad, came with his presents. My parents came over. Noel's mother, Gail and her husband Bobby, where the other grandparents but they were not there for Christmas Eve. So Michael, "pops", gave the kids a bounce house with a ball pit, swing set, and the educational toys that I picked out. My parents helped with getting the children the "your baby can read" program and some other educational toys. Now the kids thought that everything was wonderful and still really do not grasp what Christmas is, but I think that next year will be a blast. Also the children opened all the gifts at the same time, hectic joy.

So the next year Noel and I will have to decide what traditions that we like from our childhood and see what we are going to do with our children. Like we are going to a Jesse Tree next year, but the other things will have to be discussed. Childhood traditions are different when you realize that everyone has different ones. There is a blending that occurs and how much of your traditions go into your own family.

My mother has always had dinner at her house and she is use to that tradition. Well for Thanksgiving we had dinner at my house because my house has the room for everyone. I think that my mother felt that she was being ousted because we did not have dinner at her house. So for Christmas we had dinner at her house. So imagine 8 adults, 10 grandchildren (8 under the age of 3) in a less than 2000 square foot house. My mother at the end of Christmas dinner I think realized that we are not trying to take her tradition but want to keep our sanity through Christmas dinner. So mom we love you and your cooking but just not at your house. LOL

This year was wonderful and I would like to thank everyone for the wonderful gifts of love that you gave my children. Michael, thank you for giving the children something to play with outside since I cannot take them to the park as much as I would like. Also thank you for the educational toys the children will learn and enjoy doing it. We love you very much. Pat and John, thank you for the educational toys for the same reason I gave Michael and for the reading program Elijah and the triplets are really enjoying it. Bobby and Gail thank you for the clothes for the kids, they will always need clothes and it is blessing to know that we have clothes for the next couple years.

A special blessing that I did NOT receive this Christmas was having to make another announcement that I was having another child. Thank you Noel for having surgery. "God bless us everyone."

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Catch-Up Post

We have been extremely busy the last week. Nothing that was noticeable until the end of the week and we did not get a lot of things that we normally get done. For me that was making sure that my blogging was done. So this post is to catch everyone up with our lives.

The triplets went and got their 18 month check-up. Everything was fine. The good thing is that we only had to get ONE shot at this check-up.

Jacob: 24 lbs
Joshua: 25 lbs
Esther: 21 lbs (YEAH!!!)

We are so glad that Esther has broke the 20 pound mark. She was born weighing 4 lbs 3 oz. and so she has really grown since then and we are totally excited. She still looks tiny and when you pick her up she seems to weigh nothing.

I got my hair cut off. I decided that I was tired of trying to grow my hair out. So I cut it all off. Noel is not excited about it but I love it and that is all that matters.

Elijah has started potty training. Noel is off the week after Christmas and so we are hoping that we can get him a good start. Pray that he picks it up quickly and that the others start to get interested.

Well we hope that your week was good and that everyone enjoyed their families.

One Foot, Two Feet

Hannah every day is growing up and it is sad because she is the last child. But in a way it is exciting because she is adjusting to all the "animals" in our "zoo." Well tonight she was sitting in her chair getting ready to eat her night bottle when Noel started to play with her feet. She laughed and then started to chew on her tongue.

Not even five minutes later she started to sit up and touch her feet. My mother is visiting and we all had a good laugh. You know me I had to record it because I am that person. I hope that you enjoy a moment in our lives. We try to share as many as possible because we think they are all great.

Esther saying a few words

Lately Esther has been trying to use words. Everyday her words get better. Noel and I thought that we would get her saying a few of the words that she likes to use on a daily basis. Also the grandparents love this when we did it with Elijah.

They are growing up so fast and everyday they are learning more and more. I look at Hannah and try to remember when the triplets and Elijah was that age and it is all a blur. Hannah is growing up so fast as well, she is starting to move with her arms and soon she will be crawling.

We hope you enjoy one of our moments together with Esther. We will try to share more of our experiences but it is hard to take a picture/video when you are trying to get 4 toddlers down the stairs after nap time and every other moment in our house.

A Night at the Wilcoxson's

Recently in our house the triplets have figured out how to get out of their beds. So the front railing have been moved all the way down so that the triplets do not get hurt. In doing this we have released the "animals" in our "zoo."

Elijah has taken a different approach to sleeping. Our son refuses to sleep with clothes on and if given the chance without his diaper. So as you know we have started to Duct tape his diaper on, but the clothes still come off. Also he does not sleep in his bed. Now Noel and I could try to make him sleep in his bed, but that is a battle that does not need to be conquered by us. He sleeps fine and his attitude is fine so we leave him alone.

Now the triplets have started to explore their freedom with each other. Noel and I took the closet doors off to make sure that they could not hurt themselves and the dresser is not able to be opened as well. Their personalities have shown through. Jacob likes to JUMP out of his bed because he likes the sound it makes when he lands on the floor. Joshua stays in his bed because he likes to sleep. Esther has found out that she does NOT have to sleep alone anymore; so she climbs into bed with Joshua.

Hannah is sleeping great these days and has learned to roll over in the last 5 weeks. She sleeps on her stomach with her legs as close to her torso as possible and her body as close to the bumper pad as possible.

Well Noel and I videoed our "zoo" and how they sleep. We hope you enjoy it. Have a wonderful week.

A Game of Tag

It seems that we are playing a game of tag. Now my life is not very interesting and I am suppose to give you 7 unique facts about myself that you might not know about me. So here they are.

1.) I grew up in a military family and when my dad retired he was called into the ministry. So I went from a MB (military brat) to a PK (preacher's kid). Both are bad, but I never lived up to the rebellion of being a PK.

2.) When I was in the marching band I was one of the leaders for the Flute section. Well I had a few freshman that did not understand how to be quiet, so I made them run for 30 minutes straight. So one of the girls went home and told her father that I cursed at her and made her do horrible things. The next day this father came to practice in his military uniform and decided that he was going to YELL at me. Thinking that this was not going to do anything to him (in the military you cannot assert your authority onto a civilian, especially a minor); he was not allowed to get out of his car when picking up his daughter.


3.) I dated a guy in college that was from Pakistan descent. We went on a trip to Florida on Spring Break. Another friend that was from Indian descent went with us. We flew and at every airport we went to we got searched, our person, bags, everything. On our way home the guards wanted to do a cavity search to make sure we were not smuggling bombs onto the plane. The supervisor stopped this from happening. So much for "random" searches.

4.) When we lived in the Netherlands, there was a potato farm behind our house. So after the farmer had harvested his potatoes we would play baseball in his field. Well one day he decided that he did not like that and he shot at us with a pellet gun.

5.)When I worked overnight, I had an employee that thought taking instruction from a female was under him. So I told him that I wanted to see him in my office. As I turned to leave one of my employees yelled my name and I knew in that split second I was in trouble. The man decided that he was going to come at me with his box cutter. So as I was turning I punched him in the face, broke his nose and he fell to the ground. For the next month everyone in the store saw the video and it was made into an learning video for managers in this company.

6.) When I worked in the grocery business, I had a problem with people stealing beer in my store. The beer case was right next to the exit door in the back of the store. So I was loosing about 400-700 dollars a week. I told my store manager that I would solve this problem but that it was not going to be legal with the Fire Marshall. She told me to stop the "bleeding." You see the scam was that there was a car waiting for the thief when he/she came running out of the back of the store. So on Friday night I put about 20 wooden pallets against the fire exit in the back of the store. Not 20 minutes later the first person came running through the store. He grabbed the beer and ran full force towards the door. That was all the he remembers because when he went to open the door there was no give. He knocked himself out. When he woke up the police had arrived and he was arrested. I told him to tell all his friends that the pallets would be done on a random basis, so they never would know when they would get away with it and not. The police officers watched the video 43 times and laughed more at each time.

7.) When I was working overnight, I was dating a guy that lived in the same house as me. Well he loved to play poker online for real money. He was a good poker player but did not know when to stop. So he would win big and loose it because he could not stop. So I learned to play poker online as well, because when I was off work I did not have any friends because they all had day jobs and I had a night job. I would play poker to pay the bills because my boyfriend at the time would loose his paycheck in less than 8 hours.

There you go. Seven unique things about me, that most of you do not know. I am not tagging anyone because everyone that I know has been tagged already. Have a good laugh and a good day.

Requested Recipes

I had some people e-mail me and tell me that I had to put some other recipes on the blog. So here they are. I hope that you enjoy making treats for your family. My mother always made tons of stuff for us as we were growing up. I remember the house smelling like sugar for weeks. It takes time but the joy you receive back from the smiling faces it is worth it. A family tradition at our house was on Christmas morning we would read the Christmas story out of the bible and then we would eat homemade cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate and then open gifts. Merry Christmas and may you start traditions with your families.


Sugar Cookies

1 cup butter (2 sticks) softened
1 1/2 cup powder sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cram of tarter
1/4 tsp salt

Cram butter and powdered sugar, add egg, vanilla, and almond. Beat well, add all dry ingredients. Refrigerate 45 minutes to 1 hour

Roll out dough making sure that your surface has powder sugar so that the dough will not stick. Pick your cookie cutter. Make dough no more than 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes. The cookies should be brown along the edges. Put on cooling rack of paper towels and let cool. Frost with icing/decorative sugar or leave them plain.

Frosting
1/3 cup softened butter
3 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond
3-4 tbsp milk


Breakfast Casserole

1 lbs sausage
2 cups milk
6 slices of bread
6 eggs
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 tsp salt

Brown sausage, drain well. Cut bread into cubes ( i used my food processor and make bread crumbs) In a separate bowl beat eggs and stir in mild and salt. Cover the bottom of a well-greased oblong 2 qt casserole dish with bread crumbs, pour egg mixture over crumbs and layer with crumbled sausage and then with grated cheese. Cover and refrigerate OVERNIGHT!
Bake the next morning at 325 for 1 hour uncovered.

Cheese Ball

1 (8oz) container of cream cheese, softened
1 (8oz) block of sharp cheddar, grated
1 (5 oz) container of blue cheese
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
dash of salt
1 tsp Tabasco sauce (optional)
1/2 cup minced onion (optional)
crushed pecans/walnuts

blend all ingredients together. Roll in nuts. Wrap in plastic wrap and let it sit in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Serve with crackers.

Holiday Recipes

I thought that I would share some of my easy recipes for the holidays. I know that I have a limited time to do the holiday baking. Each year I bake for Noel's work to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. It usually takes me about a half day to make what I want to make. I hope that you try these recipes they are easy and Really good. Please share a holiday recipe with me in your comments. I am always looking for new things to try.


Sausage Balls

2 1/2 cups Bisquick
1 lbs sausage
1 lbs cheddar cheese, grated

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Mix until completely blended together. Roll into balls the size of a large marbles. Place on cookie sheets and bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Drain on paper towel and enjoy. You can also freeze them.


Fantasy Fudge (Microwave)

3 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter
5 1/3 oz evaporated milk (2/3 cup)
1 pkg (12 oz) chocolate chips
1 jar (7 oz) Marshmallow creme
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups chopped nuts

Combine sugar, butter, and evaporated milk in a microwave safe dish for 5 minutes. Stir in chocolate chips until smooth and incorporated. Add marshmallow creme vanilla and nuts. Pour into a greased 12x8 baking dish. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours. Cut into squares.


Peanut Brittle (Microwave)

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 1/2 cup RAW peanuts
dash of salt (1/4 tsp)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp butter
1 1/2 tsp baking soda

Mix first 5 ingredients in a microwave safe bowl (One with handles works better so that you do not burn yourself). Stir and place in microwave for 4 minutes. Take out and stir microwave for an additional 4 minutes. Take out and stir, add butter then stir again add baking soda and stir quickly pour immediately onto a buttered/greased cookie sheet. Spread out so it is thin. Let sit until cool, break into pieces and enjoy.


Cranberry-Orange Bread

3/4 cup orange juice
1 tsp orange peel
1 egg
2 tbsp oil
2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup chopped cranberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans


In a mixing bowl combine the orange juice, peel , egg and oil. In another mixing bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda. Add orange juice mixture to dry ingredients. Fold in chopped cranberries ( I use my food processor to chop them) and nuts. Turn batter into one lightly greased 8x4x2 inch loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes. Let cool ten minutes in pan and then turn out on a cooling rack.

Cream-butter

1 stick softened butter
1 (8oz) softened cream cheese


Blend the butter and cream cheese together and spread on the bread.


Wassail

1 jug (128 oz) apple cider
2 cups orange juice
2 cups pineapple juice
1/4 cup honey
3 sticks of cinnamon
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 orange

In a large pan/crock pot combine all the ingredients. Peel and slice the orange. Put slices in mixture. Let mixture get warm. Taste. (Now some people like some spices more than others. So you put what you want in the pan to make it your own) Enjoy

The Mighty Calm Joshua

This week has been a long and stressful week. All of our children are sick with a cold and congestion. Then Colton is sick as well and on breathing treatments. That means that everyone wants mommy and at the same time. I only have one lap but am expected to be able to hold everyone in that lap. Well on Thursday I was preparing dinner and hoping that the four oldest could play together for a little while. All I heard was the boom and the blood.

I looked up and saw my son Joshua will blood coming out of his nose and his mouth. I hurdled the gate and grabbed my son to try to figure out what happened and if he was going to be okay. Joshua had fallen on the top of his mouth and in doing so he bit his lip all the way through. I got Joshua to eat ice and that made the bleeding stop.

I called my mother and asked her what I was suppose to do. She looked on Web MD and that did not tell us anything, so I told her that I was going to call Noel and see what he thought. It also did not help that it was after 5pm and my pediatrician's office is closed. As soon as I got off the phone I realized that we have two pediatricians in our Sunday school class and that one of them could tell me what I needed to do. I called Andy first and got his voicemail so I called his wife who called him. ARC (Austin Regional Clinic) has two after hours offices that takes appointments after 5pm so that you do not have to wait in the Emergency Room for minor things. So we made an appointment.

The doctor told me that Joshua was going to be sore for a couple of days/weeks and that we just had to watch him and what he ate. He cleaned his lip to make sure there was nothing in his lip/gums. Mind you Joshua sat in my lap and let this doctor clean out his wound and did not cry or flinch. My other children would have had to be restrained. Joshua is my calm giant. He was outstanding and very well behaved. He sat in the waiting room in a chair and played with some blocks and did not move until we were called.

So my week was just great. God does not give us more than we can handle but I am praying that next week He thinks that I can handle my children and Colton without any drama, sickness, or injury. I took some pictures of Joshua's lip but it does not give you the real picture. Please pray that everyone gets well and that Joshua recovers to survive another day in the zoo.

The Rest of the Story

If you have ever listened to Paul Harvey he likes to tell "the rest of the story." Well E*Harmony does the same thing after you have matched up. They like you to login and tell them how your meeting went and what happened afterwards. If you got married they want you to send them a wedding photo.

So I sent them my story and a wedding picture. Of course I let them know that we had five children under the age of 2.5 yrs old. I got an e-mail the next day wanting me to send them a picture of my entire family. Well that is easy when you are typing an e-mail but I do not think that she thought about what she was asking. So I called my friend Marti and asked if she would mind taking our family portrait. She told me no problem and so we set it up. Marti came and took about 400-500 pictures of our family and then photos of the children.

She photo shopped the best of several and this is the picture that we got. Now I would like to say that we appreciate Marti for what she did and let her know that hundreds of people will see her picture and all our family and friends because we used the same picture for our Christmas card.

Well here is the beginning and the "rest of our story", please click here. I am thankful every day for my mother telling me that I should try E*Harmony and I am thankful for the wonderful husband and father that I was given by God. I love you sweetie.

A Stressful Day at the Zoo

Well it is that season again. Where the weather changes and the "animals" get restless and sick. It started with Esther and her congestion and now all the children have runny noses and coughs. Now Colton has double ear infection and has to have breathing treatments. You have to love the season of Christmas trees and Kleenex.

I was watching a show and a man told a SAHM (stay at home mother) with sick kids that he knew how she felt. The mother replied, "No you do not you get to go to work!" The man went on to say, "remind me to send my wife flowers." That is so true. At the end of the day when I think that I cannot handle another cry, whine, scream, cough, sneeze, question, or tug on my pants my children do something that makes me smile and forget for a moment what a horrible day that I think that I had.

It is funny how I start to think about how it would be nice to work with people that can carry conversations with me and that actually do what I tell them to do 100% of the time, and then one of my children does something to remind me that I am where I need to be and that I do not want to miss all the neat little things that they do on a daily basis. Like today I actually saw Elijah share with his brothers and Esther. I saw Elijah have compassion on Esther when Jacob decided that Esther needed to be without the toy that she had picked out of the pile. Those are the things that I love seeing for myself; events that warm my soul.

Do not get me wrong my house is crazy most of the day and my children do know how to stand on the last nerve and bounce up and down just enough to stretch it but now break it. God and I have numerous conversations throughout the day where He laughs and has compassion and I get to vent but at the end of the day God tells me "I told you so" and reminds me that He gave me these children/zoo animals for a reason. That He hand-picked me to have five children and be able to stay home and raise them.

So as I wipe another nose, snuggle and kiss another "boo boo", sing one more "head, shoulders, knees and toes", and change five more diapers before the end of the day, I smile to know that tomorrow there will be other moments in my day where my children warm my soul and I get to be there.

Angel Food Ministries

I was given this information about a ministry that is helping people who are trying to make ends meet in the economy that we are in and helping spread the Gospel at the same time. Angel Food Ministries is a non-profit, non-denominational organization dedicated to providing grocery relief and financial support to communities throughout the United States. The program began in 1994 with 34 families in Monroe, Georgia (between Atlanta and Athens), and has grown to serve hundreds of thousands of families every month across 35 states. Angel Food Ministries crosses denominational lines and has spread the good news of the gospel of Christ through salvation tracts that are placed in each food order.

There are no qualifications, minimums, income restrictions, or applications. Everyone is encouraged to participate. Some churches even encourage participants to apply the money they saved to help someone else in need.

So you go the web page look at the menu, decide what you want to order. Then you find a local site in your community. After you find the local site, you contact them and they give you all the additional information that you need.

I know that right now we are all trying to make ends meet and trying to save where we can. I know that in our household we spend a good amount on food and everything helps, coupons, discounts, promotions. So I thought that this would help and each time you order a unit from the host site that host site receives $1 to their benevolence fund. Also the gospel is shared in each unit.

Please check it out and let me know what you think. I am excited to find out what is in store and to know that God answers even the everyday prayers. May God bless you and your families as you are frugal during these hard economic times.

Great food, family and Horrible Football

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving day until 7pm. We had family and friends for Thanksgiving at our house, because who would want all of us at their house? We had turkey, sweet potatoes, stuffing, broccoli casserole, noodles, squash casserole, green bean casserole, green salad, fruit salad, cranberry sauce, gravy, rolls, pumpkin and pecan pies.

There were 18 humans in our house, 8 of them children, 2 under 5 months old. Of course we watched football and ate. The children played in the backyard and enjoyed each other and playing with their cousin, Aiden. That was the good part of the day.

Around 5pm Noel and I left to meet my old store manager to go the the Texas game. We were blessed to know someone that had tickets to the game. We even got to sit in actual seats and not in the stadium seating, but that ends the nice things to say about the game. Of course A&M got beat pretty bad. So Noel and I will hear numerous things this year from our tea sipper friends. If you do not understand the tradition, whatever team wins they get bragging rights until the next year. Noel and I have gotten bragging rights for the last two years, so we will hear quit a bit. No matter what Noel and I will never be a two percenters. The people that were rooting for t.u. were not rude or unsportsmanlike. So there is always next year when these two team meet and go at it again, but in KYLE FIELD. WHOOP!

We hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and they enjoyed and cherished the people they were with. When you think about it say a prayer for all the families that are separated this holiday season. Pray that this holiday season passes quickly and that their husbands/wives get to come home from Iraq and Afghanistan soon.

A New Use for Duct Tape

Elijah has found out that he is knowledgeable on how to remove his clothes and his diaper. About two weeks ago I went up and opened the door to Elijah's room to find him looking out his window with NO clothes/diaper on. So we dressed him and went on our merry way telling him that we do not take our clothes/diaper off. The next day he did the same thing. After being disciplined, I decided that I would put him in a one piece outfit for bedtime and for nap time.

Well yesterday he figured out how to get out of overalls. He was standing in his room with no clothes/diaper on. So today I put him in a one piece outfit for nap time. Elijah figured out how to undress himself. Every time I ask him what happened and he shrugs his shoulders and repeats "what happened" but the way he says it is cute.

So I told Noel that we were going to give him something that he could not get out of. Tonight we used Duct tape to secure his diaper. We will see if tomorrow morning he is standing in his room with no clothes/diaper on. If that is the case then I will be taking suggestions.

Of course we took a picture. I like this one because you see the Duct tape and Elijah is holding the Duct tape like he did it to himself. Enjoy our stresses and resolutions.

Hannah at Four Months

Hannah went to the doctors yesterday for her 4 month check-up. We went late because Noel was out of town last week.

Noel took Hannah so that I could stay with the children for nap time. The pediatrician stated that Hannah is doing very well and that she is acting like a 6 month old and not a 4 month old. She stated that Hannah is doing very well for her height and weight and that she is in the 75-85% for her age. I think that is funny considering she is the tiniest one of the group of infants that she was born with. Can you be more than 100% because I think that all the boys are at least at that.

So Hannah is 14 lbs and 14oz.

We are really enjoying her growing and learning new things. She loves to smile and likes to bounce in the jumper.

You might have a Redneck Moment, If.......

Well as most of you know, Noel went to Lubbock to do his inspections for the Garza county. Noel is an industrial appraiser, in laymen terms, he tells the counties that hire him what the industrial properties in their county are worth so that the right tax bill is sent. Of course the company does not think they are worth that much money and they "negotiate" to a value that is reasonable for the county. Noel does not like to negotiate because he is ALWAYS right. That is another story.

So, Noel landed in Lubbock on Sunday and started to work as soon as he got his rental vehicle a 2009 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Well when I talked to Noel that evening he stated that he messed up the bumper and the wheel well and the undercarriage of the vehicle. Noel told me that he went through a low water crossing (see picture below, it looks like a lake) and that the bumper fell off and he ran over it. He did not notice that his bumper was missing until about 30 minutes later when he was taking some pictures of a property and went back to the vehicle and noticed that the bumper was missing. So he went back to the low water crossing where the bumper was floating, grabbed the bumper and put it in the Cherokee.

The next day he drove back to the airport to report it and get another vehicle. Now if I was running a rental car place and a customer came in and told me that story I would probably go and look at the vehicle. NO! The person at the rental place told Noel to call a number and report the claim, then the claim people told the rental place to get the car fixed. Then they gave Noel another vehicle, but they never went and looked at the vehicle.

Noel took pictures and I hope that you enjoy them. I have enjoyed this Redneck Moment and thought that I would share that with you. In Noel's defense the bumper was on the vehicle with PLASTIC screws and a couple of metal clips. Got to love that American built vehicle.

Mommy says hello

Hello, I thought that I would send the last video so that Noel could see that his wife has not lost it, but that I am looking forward to having him home tomorrow.

This week has been challenging and exciting all at once. I know that I can do this by myself, but that I do not want to do this by myself. It is always funny how when our significant other leaves for the day or for a couple days how we appreciate them more when they return. So I learned this week that when Noel is home that I need to make sure that I tell him that he is appreciated and that I love the fact that he is great dad.

So tell your husbands/wives that you love them and that you are excited that they are home with you and that you are going to enjoy raising your children TOGETHER. God tells us to make sure that we show respect to our husbands and that we put them first above our children. Sometimes when we are in the thick of things we forget that we need to have alone, ADULT time with our spouses. It is amazing how I feel when Noel and I get to spend time together after our children are in bed. Just the great bonding time that we have when we can hold an entire conversation without someone asking us for something or someone whining. Enjoy every moment you have with your spouse no matter if it is only for 5 minutes or an evening.

I love you sweetie and I am looking forward to spending some time with you.

Now Everyone Says Hello, Almost

Well today's message to Noel is not so depressing. We received Elijah's hat from my sister-in-law, Jennifer. Elijah cannot stop wearing it and it always makes Noel go, Elijah that is not your hat that is a girl's hat. So I thought that we would show our feminine side in this mornings video.

The triplets did their best to say hello last night when we were about to have dinner. I have been trying all week to capture them on video so that Noel could see them. Well last night was the best one so far and so I ran with it.

We miss you honey and hope that you stay safe. Have a safe trip on Friday, the children are going to beat you up because they have not played with you all week. Get ready you might want to pray to God for protection of all major organs and that when Jacob jumps on your stomach and ribs that they stay intact. I love you.

Proof of Life

I let Elijah say hello to Noel this morning. When I reviewed the tape it looks like a kidnapping video to prove life. I did not mean for that to happen but it is kind of funny now.

Elijah and the triplets keep looking for Noel every day around 5pm. Jacob likes to say "daddy" and look at the door. It is hard to explain that daddy is not coming home until Friday. Hopefully the video camera every morning to say hello will help Elijah make it until Friday to see Noel.

As we are going through this I can only imagine what it is like when the dads/moms go off to Iraq and instead of being gone one week they are gone 12-18 months. So as you read this please say a prayer for all the mothers/fathers that are trying to keep their kids preoccupied until their mommy/daddy comes home. Especially during the holidays. Also pray for the military that is in Iraq and Afghanistan away from their families during the holiday season.

A Message for Daddy

Noel is in Lubbock this week for work, and Elijah and the kids are already asking where daddy is and it is only Monday. So I told Elijah that we would send daddy a message every morning that we love him and miss him and that he would get it.

Please enjoy our communication with daddy as he is away for the week in Lubbock. We love you daddy and hope that you stay safe and return to us safely.

The Inside of the Van

I wanted to let everyone see the inside of my van. I was out in public one day with the children and I was loading them up in the van. This lady stopped me and told me, "there is no way all your children fit in the van!" I told her that "no, I make one of my children run on the side of the van." Well she did not like my response and so she took her cell phone and stuck it in the van and took a picture. Now, since I have several small children I am use to people asking me questions, giving me weird looks, and in all making my private family life public. I had never had anyone get that personal with me before.

So I had to drop some games that Marti left at my house back to her and she decided that she would take a picture of the inside of my van with all the kids to prove that it can be done and to let everyone see what it looks like to have five car seats in one vehicle. Marti had to use the wide view lens to capture the children.

Please enjoy your moment into my life and smile at the fact that you do not have this picture when you look into the rear-view mirror of your vehicle.

Roomba, Wherefore art thou Roomba?

My husband bought me a Roomba a while back, and of course I fell in love with it. Who does not like a vacuum that cleans while you sleep, and then charges itself when it is running low?

Anyway if you do not think that you need a Roomba ask anyone that has one and they will tell you how wonderful it is. My husband who is an engineer was very weary about this contraption until he say how it works and what it picks up. Also that it makes his wife happy. Next is the Scooba, sweeps/mops/dries floors.

Well my children love "Revi" because they can run from her and chase her; it is like having a dog with none of the responsibilities and all the fun. Jacob likes "Revi" more than anyone else, and seems to find her when he is free to roam the downstairs area. Jacob loves to lay on the floor and touch "Revi" and push her big green button to start the fun.

I could be in another room and hear "Revi" go off and know exactly who has turned her on. When I go into the kitchen there is Jacob with a smile on his face and the look of total satisfaction that his playmate is going to play.

Adventure!

Hannah has started to stay up longer and wants to play and not lay down or be in the bouncing chair. She has moved up to the bouncer (sit-in-spin). She really enjoys the fact that she get to be up and mobile and she can use her legs. She is starting to the hang of bouncing up and down in the contraption.

Hannah has also started to eat baby food and seems to really enjoy it when she gets it once a day to start. Also she is sleeping on her stomach; some nights she gets frustrated and cries but for the most part she is sleeping better and longer. Later I will post the pictures of eating baby food and of sleep on our stomach.

Sharing

The other day we let Elijah be the distributor of the snack at snack time. We are trying to teach him that sharing is a good thing and that God wants us to share. You see he will share with mommy and daddy but the triplets are a different issue.

We took some pictures to prove that our sons knows how to share. The funny thing on another day we let him hand out snack, goldfish, to him and his siblings. Well I asked if I could have a goldfish and the answer was a pronounced "NO". So Noel asked Elijah if he could have a goldfish and he told daddy "NO!!!" So we are trying to work on the sharing part to make sure that he is willing to share with his siblings and with his parents in the same event.

Our son is growing up and some days I want him to stop because I like this stage of independence and learning. He has found out that if he touches me and calls my name that I am more likely to hear him. So this is how a conversation with my son goes: (Hold your laughs until the end)

Elijah: "Mama!"
Mommy: "Yes Elijah what do you want?"
Elijah: "Mama, (this time he touches me and says it)"
Mommy: "yes Elijah what can i do for you?"
Elijah: "lub you"

The End (The Best Part)

This is the end! If you haven’t read the previous 3 posts, you should go back and check them before you start this one.

At this point all I have to do is build a glass block wall and tile the walls! That’s it!

Fortunately, building a glass block wall is really easy and I had tiled before, so it should be no problem. But remember, I could write a book on how to be a dummy for dummies. I’m bound to mess it up somehow!

The glass block wall was the most fun I’ve had. All I needed was a couple tubes of their silicone, a caulking gun, some spacers and some anchors and I was golden. It was really easy and makes for a really nice feature on any home improvement project. I hope I have more opportunities to work with glass blocks. The only downside is that it can get expensive fast, but it really isn’t too much to spend if you don’t have to do too many end blocks or turns, that’s where you spend the real money!

The tiling wasn’t too bad either. Apparently Jennifer was paying attention to the hardness of the tile when I was just looking at how the tile looked. We ended up picking the hardest class of tile, which is a good thing when you are working with it. I dropped a couple pieces from working height and it didn’t so much as chip the edges. This was rough tough tile I had. The problem was that it was a bear to cut through with anything other than a wet tile saw. I had a handheld saw that didn’t do me any good and I had a masonry hole saw bit for my drill that did little more than scratch the surface. Those small annoyances were very pale in comparison to the fact that in over 150 tiles that I went through, only 2 were broken in the boxes.

I got to spend a little money on a new tile saw for this and future projects. My original intent was to rent a saw, but when I found out that it was going to be over $50 per day and that it would take me 2 days to do this project if I really busted my hump, I decided I’d rather take it at my own pace and purchase a good saw. I also knew that I would have to tile the kitchen, entry way, and the whole downstairs at some point and it would cost a lot more in the long run if I just rented. Plus if I bought it I’d at least have something to show for the money I spent!

When I was looking for a saw there was a huge discrepancy in prices, anywhere from about $80 all they way up to $800. I took a look at the $800 saw and understood why it cost so much. I fell in love with it, but it wasn’t meant to be. I had to go with something I could justify and so I got a good saw, but it was less than half that big number. I also bought a good blade to go along with the saw because the one that came with it was not going to hold up through the project, especially with such hard tiles. I really have to say that a tile saw with a laser is a must. The blade on my saw is very hard to see and without the laser light shining on the tile it literally would have taken forever before I got all the cuts done.

Another plus on having such a big shower was that I was able to cut the tiles right there in the shower without having to worry about making a mess. The water would just go down the drain and the mess would just get wiped off. And oh what a mess I made!

I did some prepping to determine what the tiles needed to do to be level. We decided to put the tiles on a 45 degree diamond pattern rather than the typical square pattern. So I had to find level and plumb lines to make sure that the corners of each tile went through the lines. It made things a little more difficult to go on the slant, but I think it was well worth it in the end. Since the walls were on a slant I decided to throw a little contrast in and make the backing on the shelves a square pattern, but add a few cuts so that it wasn’t just a whole piece with filler around it.

The whole time I was laying tile I was working on the fly. I had the mortar mixed and would put it on the wall and figure out the cuts I needed to make while I was laying the tile. Typically you would lay the pattern down before you even thought about mixing the mortar, but you really can’t do that with a wall. There isn’t any way of holding the tiles on there without using the mortar, so you have to work quickly and get things right! After all was said and done two of the tiles had to come off and be redone. One didn’t adhere well and I didn’t want it to possibly fall off in the future, the other had a bad cut and wouldn’t be covered by the fixture and I had to re cut it.

The major problem I had on the tiling part of the project was the first night of grouting the tile after the mortar had dried. I took the morning to try and clean the grout lines free of excess mortar and otherwise prepare for the grouting. To me, grouting is the fun part of tiling because it is so easy. You rub it in, you wipe it down with a sponge, and you wipe it down again. Unfortunately I decided to do too much grouting before I wiped the first time and it got hard. I further compounded the problem by taking a break to get a couple kids out of the house and let Jennifer have a break. She told me that she’d wipe it down while I was in class that night after the kids went down for the night and it would be ready for me to finish grouting when I got home. This was a huge faux pas on my part. Grout hardens quickly. And it is near impossible to get off once it does.

Again I am thankful that we had such hard tile because we ended up using chisels to scrape the grout off of the tile. I had about a wall and a half of dried grout to clean off the tiles. This is the part that Jennifer really pitched in and worked her elbows off. Don’t get me wrong, she did a lot of kiddo watching to let me work on the project, but she really worked her tail off on this part. We both did! It took 3 days to get all the grout off. We left damp paper towels on the grout left on the wall and a half of tiles to try and keep it from setting. In the end, the best thing we could have done was used acid to help remove the grout. We got the tip online that Muriatic acid (HCl) works to remove dried on grout if you get it soon enough. It did help and it even fizzes to tell you it’s working. I’m so glad it came off without damaging the tiles.

After that we finished grouting the shower and this time Jennifer was about 5 minutes behind me with the sponge and it was a breeze. It took about one hour to finish two walls versus the 3 days for a wall and a half. Word to the wise: if you grout, make sure you wipe... quickly!

When the grout was dry the next day I sealed the whole wall. Tile, grout and all got a shot of sealer and even though it says not to spray it, I did, and it was horribly volatile and smelled terrible. I shot it and ran out as soon as I could. But it got done quick and all that was left was to put on the fittings, caulk it and clean the mess I had made of mortar and grout on the floor.

The fittings went on just fine and the caulking wasn’t too much trouble, but the mess I had made on the floor was overwhelming. It turns out we had to scrape it and even then we didn’t get everything up. Jennifer again jumped in and did the clean up work. I truly have a understanding and hard working wife. We ended up damaging the nice stain job and in some cases couldn’t even get enough of the stuff off the floor to get to the stain. So we re-etched, re-stained, and re-sealed the floor and it turned out just as nicely the second time as it did the first time, except now it has a little more character!

So that’s my story, and this is my

product.I hope you

enjoyed my tale and if you have any questions or want any help with your own project… please… don’t call me!

The shower is too big for one final picture, so here are a couple of them. Enjoy!

Gig Me (Part C of D)

Yes, usually the slogan we Aggies like to shout is Gig’em, but the shower Gigged me. I know when most people hear gig, if they are from the south anyway, they think of frog gigging. That’s not the same as an Aggie Gig. You see, the Ags are a bunch of farmers and military brats rolled into one well rounded hillbilly. (I don’t want any comments from those t-sips out there, yeah you know who you are) It turns out this gig comes from the military side. When you’re an underclassman in a military school you have to have everything in order, spic’n span, spit shined, ship shaped, etc. This particularly fell to the student’s appearance. If his uniform wasn’t tucked in just right he would get a demerit, otherwise known as a gig. Hence when Aggies say Gig’em, we are telling the world that we’re gonna find your weakness and exploit it and then laugh at you. Well the concrete found my weakness and kicked my rear. And then it laughed, while I cried.

I was not expecting the laying of the concrete to be such a pain. I envisioned laying down the base pan, pouring the concrete, taking a little time to make sure it sloped properly for draining and I’d just have to wait for it to dry. If you think that sounds like what should happen, dream again!

Concrete is hard to work with. First off, it’s really heavy stuff. It’s made of heavy stuff and then you add rocks and water, both of which are heavy. It’s also hard to mix. Even with a stirring tool connected to my cordless drill it takes a beating on your forearms and elbows. Jennifer held the drill and stirred while I poured mortar, sand, pea gravel, and water into the 5 gallon bucket. I swear, each bucket weighed between 50-80 lbs, and I must have carried more than 20 buckets for the whole project.

So it turned out that I needed a sub base before I put the shower pan liner down. That made sense to me because if somehow you do get a leak to the shower pan, you want that water to eventually flow towards the drain. So ok, I need an extra layer of concrete, no biggie! I put down the first layer of concrete and didn’t worry too much that the 14” trowel I was using was square on the ends and left huge streaks in the concrete when I would attempt to smooth it out. I used a nail with marks on it to tell me the depth of the concrete to make sure I had the slope right. I wanted about a ¼” per foot incline going away from the drain. And I would put about the same slope on the next layer for an even more dramatic slope. I used a roll of duct tape to keep the concrete out of the drain until I did the top layer that would have the screw-in drain.

Before I even got to the liner I knew that one 5’x6’ pan liner sheet wasn’t going to be big enough for the shower I was building and I was prepared for the fact that I’d have to glue two sheets together. What I wasn’t prepared for was once the two pieces were glued, how do I account for the corners to make sure it drains properly. Internal corners are easy to fold, but there were two external corners which just don’t fold right. You have to cut the liner and glue a patch on and even doing a patch doesn’t quite work right. I was hoping that there were pre-formed external corners that you could buy, because what your really need is for the material to be properly stretched and molded, but alas, no one thought it would be a good idea to make something useful. I seriously would have paid about the same for preformed corners as did for each of the sheets of liner. I tell you I dreaded every second of putting water in that liner to static test it and see if it would hold water.

The static test included putting about 4” of water in the liner to make sure it didn’t leak for 4-6 hours. When the level didn’t drop after the 4 or 5 hours I let it sit, I think I breathed the heaviest sigh I had during this project. So I cut a hole at the drain and attempted to finish out the drain by bolting the drain together. Unfortunately it took me 3 trips over three days to get the right bolts. Darn closing time, why isn’t Lowes open 24/7. Remember, I did most of this project in my free time after our kids went to bed. I had about a 30 minute window to shop for what I needed and if I had to guess and guessed wrong it often meant that I would have to wait until the next day to move forward. This happened to me several times, not just with the bolts. Doh!

So after the first layer of concrete was down, and the shower pan checked out, I was ready to put the top layer on and do the lips for the edges and the base for the glass block wall. I decided to go with lips for two reasons, one was that I didn’t want the standing water in the base of the shower to be right up to the point where the tile met the concrete (that would open me up to leaks) also so that the tile had something to sit on and run down rather than going straight from the wall to the floor. The glass block needed a base too and it would look funny to go straight from the floor and wall to a base, so I guess there were three reasons to go with lips!

My problem here was that I didn’t buy enough mortar and ran out before I could get my desired thickness. So I sloped it evenly with the stuff I had and decided I would finish with yet another layer and get the lips the next time around. As it turned out this layer had huge gashes where I used my trowel, so when I bought the new mortar, I invested in a slightly smaller trowel with rounded ends. This kept the whole surface smooth without any streaks. FYI… wetter concrete makes smoother surfaces. The final layer was drier than the first layer over the shower pan and was hence a little rougher. This was good because it made for a good non-slip surface without being rough to the touch.

Each time I laid concrete it took 2 days to dry. This is just annoying when you can see the end of the project coming close and you keep getting delayed time and time again. Argh!

After the final layer of concrete was laid I decided to stain the concrete while the tile wasn’t in so that we wouldn’t have to worry about staining the tile or covering the tile later. So we etched it, stained it and then sealed it. Each step required 4-8 hours of dry time, so this part took a couple days! Sorry, no pix of the nice shower floor!

Tune in next time for the fascinating conclusion of this perilous project!

Plumb, Plumb, Plumb the Shower (Part II of IV)

Once the walls were open, I needed to open up the floor so that I could work with the plumbing, so I took out a 2ft by 5ft section of the floor and saw that the plumbing was pretty much straight forward. Luckily I had set my circular saw to just enough to get through the ¾” plywood. I did this because I didn’t want to hit pipes or electrical in the process, but what I found was that there was a duct box right in the middle of one of my cuts and I’m glad I didn’t tear it up. I could have repaired it with duct tape, but anything you don’t have to repair later is always a plus!

So what I found was hot pipe, cold pipe and drain pipe all where they were supposed to be. The drain needed to be moved from the position at the end where the tub was to the position in the middle of the shower. This was easy enough using PVC and enough elbows to create a doohickey that sent the water the right way and made a trap so that nasty gases don’t come back up the pipes.

For the hot and cold pipes the plumbing specialist at Lowes recommended CPVC rather than copper which kept me from having to solder and made my plumbing experience golden. The shopping experience for this part was nice, and there was only one copper to copper fitting for each valve that I had to solder, so I was pretty happy about that.

I sent Jennifer and our circus, I mean zoo, to her parents house because a house full of needy littl’uns with no running water is a bad idea. She left the night before so that I could get a full day’s work in, and I was appreciative of that. I had gone to give blood the day she left because someone through our church needed my blood type and I was only using most of my blood and sharing is a good thing. The problem is that after you give blood you aren’t supposed to do much. They told me I shouldn’t run a marathon, but I don’t listen to doctors, they’re just really smart people who went to school for many years to perform a very necessary service to those who need it. Why would I listen to someone who knows what they are talking about when I could completely ignore them!

So I ended up doing most of the work the night Jennifer left. I shut off the water, cut the copper, used some groovy fittings called Gator Bite fittings to connect the copper to CPVC and glued all the CPVC fittings up to the valves for the shower. I had to add some short 2x4 blocks to stabilize the valve and shower head connection in place. So I got all that done that night and figured out that I had one spot that went copper without threads to CPVC. I didn’t know if I could glue that part so I figured I’d wait until the next day and ask my specialist from Lowes. Turned out that I had to solder it and if I’d have glued it I would have made a really bad mistake. (Yeah for not making mistakes, too bad it didn’t happen more often!)

I hadn’t soldered anything in a very long time. You see, it had been since my last semester in college about 5 years ago when I got the scars on my left hand from soldering plumbing stuff at my on campus job. So, stupidly, I assumed that having done it once upon a time, I didn’t really need a refresher course on how to solder. I should write a book on how to be a dummy for dummies!

I spent the next 10 hours trying to solder two joints, one on each valve. I must have soldered and re-soldered about 20 times on each joint. It took forever because once I soldered the joint, I had to wait for the valve housing to cool off so that I could plug the metal outlets with plastic plugs that would otherwise melt under the fire of the torch I used for soldering. So I would have to wait for it to cool, then close it off, go turn on the water to see if it would hold, cuss when it wouldn’t, run to turn off the water, and repeat.

Turns out, my problem was that I didn’t use any Flux. (Notice the difference between the nice smooth solder on the bottom and my clumpy solder on top) Flux is this neat stuff that sucks the molten solder into the joint and pretty much coats everything it touches. That gets the solder in to create a nice seal instead of having all the solder just sit on the outside like what was happening to me. So after the 10^th hour I broke down (it’s amazing that it took that long, I usually don’t have that much patience… I guess having 5 kids must have prepared me for this moment) I called the specialist and after about 10 minutes on the phone I said… “uh… what’s flux”. After he said “that’s your problem” I went to the store, got the flux and within 2 shots I had my soldering done. It didn’t take more than 40 minutes with the right materials.

Covering the floor and walls with Hardibacker board was the next chore, so I jumped on it and put it up. The big issue you run into with Hardi board is cutting it. I recommend using a circular saw with a regular blade. I attempted to use a masonry blade on my cordless circ saw and it was like using a chisel to chop down a tree. It drained the 18v batteries and caused them to overheat like crazy. I ended up trying to use my Miter saw to cut through the smaller pieces, since a miter saw only has a limited cutting range and I found that the regular blade cuts pretty well. So I switched blades on my circ saw and it worked like a champ. The batteries didn’t overheat as quickly and they lasted much longer.

It took 3 or 4 days to do the Hardi board because I didn’t figure out the blade thing until the 3^rd day. I had to cut the little pieces for the shelves and I did those close to the end. Cutting the holes for the valves was a bit of a pain because I didn’t figure out the blade thing before I cut them. Thankfully though, cutting holes with a hole saw was very easy. I just mismeasured by an inch on one of the holes and had to drill it twice. That’s why I have a half moon on one of my boards!

Tune in next time when I go head to head with the concrete flooring and lose over and over again!