Take me out to the Ballgame.

Baseball has begun.

Baseball was my favorite sport growing up. We didn't have a team in my mind (we had the Zephyrs a triple A team) so I loved the Oakland A's. My grandparents would take me and Jess to a game in Oakland when we would visit them growing up. She even caught a foul ball during a game... much to my chagrin.

So it is with great joy that I bring you some baseball pictures from my favorite Rockies player and team...

Up hit for the first time.

"Playing" First... Just like his old man.

He even played catcher one inning. I think he liked this because he touched the ball on almost every pitch.

Dinger the Rockies mascot even came out and picked a fight with Joshua.

Easter

Life has been good, busy but good busy. This weekend was no exception. Joel and I sat down (actually more I) Saturday morning and made a list of things to get accomplished and he laughed at me and said, "There is no way we're doing all of that today!" I, however, remained full of optimism. We got a lot of it done, but alas, not all of it.

The morning started off with an egg hunt at the park down the street, it lasted all of 3 minutes. The eggs weren't really hidden, just placed all over the baseball outfields and after the countdown the kids ran out and collected as many eggs as they could while parents pushed other kids out of their kids way! It was great! The kids had fun, but it was a little crazy in my opinion. Our kids got some fun things, but the greed of other parents/kids was amazing.

Then in the evening we went to the FBC easter play. They had child care for the younger kids, which was a huge blessing and Josiah and Joshua watched the play with us. It was good for them to get to "see" the story of Jesus. Josiah was very emotionally moved and Josh just wanted to know "why that narrator guy had to talk to much." Maybe 5 was a little young for him to fully grasp the easter story.Sunday we woke up, took baths, explored our easter baskets, ate breakfast and then got dressed and off to church. The boys each got to pick out their easter shirts and were all very proud to wear their clip-on ties. The girls wore dresses mommy made. Rebekah's was a little loose on top, but she was still cute. Then after church we were off to Gram and Papa's house for a large easter dinner. There were Grandmas, Grandpas, Aunts, Uncles and cousins all gathered and more food than a small army could eat, although we tried! It was a good weekend and now it's back to the reality of house -- cleaning, laundry and cooking (it seems this never stops!) Here are some pictures of them before we left for church and they got all messy.Josiah is doing well, he thinks he's a grown up and I'm trying to encourage him to be a kid while he is one. He looking forward to starting baseball in about 2 weeks.Josh with his tie that was a little too short! He's a great kid who loves to read and loves rules.Naomi has been in a dance class this spring and is looking forward to her performance at the end of the month.Nathaniel has a new hobby of tying anything he can. Shoelaces, wires, jump ropes, belts, thread, yarn, I've found it all tied and wound through any holes he can find.Rebekah is a busy one, she loves to eat anything, but especially candy. She can open the refrigerator and likes to sit on the bottom shelf with her feet sticking out munching on cheese or grapes. She's starting to talk and I told Joel the other day, I don't know if I'm ready for 5 kids to be calling out MOM all day long.Samuel was still in bed during the group photo shoot, but once he was up, he wasn't very interested in having his picture taken. He's a good boy and usually really happy with a smile on his face. He is sitting on his own now and eating some "solids" preferring fruits over veggies. No teeth yet, and I'm sure he'll be crawling before I know it.

Hope you all had a blessed weekend celebrating that HE IS RISEN!!

Confessions of a Blog Stalker

So I don't know why exactly, but I wanted to get this "out there".

I am a blog stalker.

My husband teases me about this all the time. I really don't think there is anything wrong with it, being how the creators of the blogs know that their information is out there for all to see. I don't do anything negative with the information, I just find it extremely interesting to read. Oh and I blame all of this on my good friend who lives far away and was having a baby and introduced me to blogland by starting a blog for friends and family to follow her journey :) Before that I didn't really know blogs even existed.

Seriously, if you have a blog, I probably read it. I know there are hundreds of thousands of blogs out there and believe me I don't read them ALL, but I do read a lot of them. I've found blogs through various sources. Some people have told me their blogs, some have links in their e-mail signature, some have been on "blogs of note", some I've found through friends blogs. . .the ways go on and on.

What does all this mean and why must I admit to this? I know I am one of those people who enjoys "people watching" and this is one way to people watch without leaving my kitchen. It's one way I connect with other adults, again without having to leave my kitchen, even if it's only a virtual connection. I know that I have cried through experiences with "complete strangers" I put that in quotes because they don't feel like complete strangers to me. God has used posts to challenge me, to move me to action, to pray.

A lot of good has come from it, but also some bad. I know I have ignored my kids more than once for the sake of finishing reading a blog. If I listed all the blogs I read/check regularly, you may be shocked. Some people I know in real life, some just in blog land. Some inspire me to be a better mother, some have encouraged me in this path of life, some make me feel like less of a mother for not doing what they are doing. Some have challenged the way I see the world and God (in a good Christian kind of way). Some have brought new recipes into our lives.

I feel like blog land for me is kind of the front porch of old. Instead of going out every night and sitting to chat with each other I still hear the stories of the day through cyberspace. I have read blogs on quadruplets, blogs on mothers of many (as many as 16), blogs on homeschooling, blogs on recipes, blogs on adoption, blogs on crafting, blogs on dulas/midwifery, blogs on cancer battles, and blogs on daily life. Each has touched something in me is some way.

So, now I've said it, and I'm putting it out there for everyone to know.

Bubba is 3!

Monday was Nathaniel's birthday. We celebrated with a family party at Amazing Jakes on Saturday. A good time was had by all. Nathaniel didn't want to ride any rides, but had a good time in the toddler area playing with puzzles and on the slide.

Naomi and Joshua had tons of fun and Naomi surprised all of us by wanting to go on the "roller coaster" ride over and over and over again!









Bubba wanted a Diego cake for his birthday, even though we don't have cable and I think he's only seen one or two episodes of the show, but mommy obliged his request.

It's hard to believe he is 3, it seems like just yesterday that I was finding out I was pregnant with him. His pregnancy was emotionally my hardest, his labor was the most trying on our marriage, and he had the most serious health issues after birth (spending 1 week in the hospital at 5 weeks old with RSV) BUT, he is the most laid back of our children, the most loving and happy of the kids and the sparkle in his eyes when he smiles could melt anyone's stone cold heart. I cannot imagine our lives without him and it is a joy to be his mommy.He was born on the same day in the same hospital as Eva. A daughter of my good friend Julie. I was in labor much longer than she was and was shocked when I called to tell her he was born and her mother told me she was in the hospital also. Nathaniel is about 3 hours older. We always take a picture of the two of them together near their birthday. Don't they look thrilled???

He is ALL boy and always has been, he really loves playing with cars and trains and really loves digging and making mud! His language has grown a ton over the last year. At his 2 year check the Dr. wanted him to go to a speech therapist (which we never did) but at his 3 year check the Dr. felt like his speech was right on track for his age. It's so cute the way he says "yoocum" for you're welcome. It makes Joel and I smile. He is starting to show his little will, and does have to occasionally fight for his place in the family. Sometimes he gets easily frustrated with us when we don't fully understand what he is saying, but he quickly turns his attitude around. For now he is still Bubba, but I don't know if the nickname will stick forever, as he's growing up he seems less like a Bubba to me, but if you ask him his name he says it's Bubba. We love you Bub! Happy Birthday.

It's all hearts at the Dennis'.

For Valentine's Day I had seen a craft here to make salt dough and use heart shaped cookie cutters. I thought it sounded like harmless fun and knew the kids would enjoy it, so here are some pictures of our process.

Naomi adding the flour.







Josiah adding the water.





Nathaniel stirring the dough.







Joshua stirring the dough.





We did not have paints (besides that sounded too messy) so instead I thought we would use food coloring to dye the dough. It was all good in theory and actually worked okay, kind of gave it a tie-dye look, but I hadn't factored in that the dye would work extremely well on the kids hands as well. . .soap did not get the dye out. I had to bleach all their hands, but in the end they had fun, so mission accomplished I guess.
Here they are cooling on the rack, and finally the finished product!
And Valentine's morning I made chocolate chip pancakes for the kiddos. Here is what their breakfast looked like the morning of the 14th.

The Children's Museum

Joel's wonderful grandparents gave us a family membership to the Children's museum. We went on Sunday and a great time was had by all.

Nathaniel really liked the train room, Rebekah loved the grocery store,
Josh loved the painting,

Naomi loved the dancing and

Josiah and I got to build a train out of recyclable materials in the invention room. We are looking forward to a long year of playing and learning ahead. I realize the pictures don't match the things they "loved" but at least I got photos of each of them from the day.

I am an ISTJ, what are you?

I have been feeling a bit out of sorts since Samuel's birth. I have always felt a little like I don't fit into the feminine world. I often feel like the way other mothers/wives act is the way I should too, but no matter how hard I tried it wasn't natural for me to act and feel the way I perceived they did. I have a friend who is also struggling with not feeling quite like a fit mother/wife and that she didn't really enjoy doing the wife/mother thing and felt guilty about it.

Joel had been going through the Myers/Briggs personality test at work and had also done it with friends in the past. I had taken the test during a leadership course at Evangel (when I was 18) and again in my studies at CU Denver (when I was 22) for management, but about 5 weeks ago it occurred to me that often the Myers/Briggs Type indicator test is used in the professional realm and occasionally in the personal relationship realm, but I had never seen anything on it for motherhood.

All of this is a long explanation to say that I thought about writing a book on it to see if all the different types (there are 16 Myers/Briggs personality types) of mothers could relate to each other and stop trying to be some other type. Well before I got started on what would entail monumental amounts of research, I thought I should look up my idea on Amazon, and low and behold the book already exists. This discovery saved me a lot of time researching/writing and such.

Motherstyles: Using Personality Type to Discover Your Parenting Strengths by Janet P. Penley and Diane Eble. My local library carried the book, so I didn't have to buy it (although I am considering doing so). This book was like a breath of fresh air. It is not Christian, but it was so helpful to be able to see what type of personality I have and why I often act the way I do and why certain things bug me and so forth. My sister calls it normalizing. It made me feel like I wasn't crazy or the only mother out there who thinks the way I think. Of course this is no excuse to not grow and strengthen certain areas that are weaknesses. I also learned that my type is extremely rare for a woman (i think less than 7% of the population) and that I'd be much more suited to be male, but none the less I am who I am and there are others out there like me. It makes me feel relieved to know that God made me this way on purpose and that he put me in this life situation on purpose and that ALL things WILL work for good according to His plan.

The Haircut

Naomi gave us quite a surprise, she decided she wanted shorter hair! We had been talking about cutting her hair to lessen the amount of tangles we had to deal with every day, but I was thinking about getting it professionally cut. Aparently she had other plans. I was working at the computer and my mom was doing schoolwork with Josiah and Joshua and Naomi and Nathaniel were downstairs watching a movie, or so we thought. . .Naomi was actually giving herself a haircut! At first I freaked out, but then ended up evening it out as much as possible. Here is the end result of her now short do. And no, I do not have pictures of her attempt, in my shock, I was unable to take a picture.

Five Families, A Wedding and a Christmas!

So this is the last of several posts for the day. To catch up on our last few months you can scroll through and view all of them. I tried to break it up so it would be a little less overwhelming. For Christmas week we all went up to Estes Park for 3 nights. There were 13 kids and 11 adults in a wonderful "cabin" in the mountains. On Christmas eve we had a surprise wedding for my sister. Her boyfriend proposed and 5 minutes later we had the ceremony. Of course this was only a surprise to her and the rest of us were in on it and took care of all the planning. It was a wonderful experience! Here are some photos from Christmas week.

Here are the boys waiting for the wedding to begin.The happy couple during the song.
The Wedding CakeThe stocking were hung by the chimney with tape (which meant they kept falling off!)The YMCA has Santa come and deliver presents (provided by parents) to the kids Christmas Eve.Christmas morning making birthday cupcakes for Jesus. This is a Dennis family tradition to make a cake for Jesus before we open presents.Getting ready to open Bon Bons an Australian Christmas tradition.Wearing our Bon Bon hats.We didn't want to forget where we stayed!

The Aussies came to town

For the Christmas season my sister and her boyfriend came to Colorado. We had a wonderful 3 weeks together, although it went by too quickly, and we did a ton of stuff. Here are a few pictures of the highlights.

Here are the kids waiting for Mary and Trevor at the airport.
Trevor had never been in snow before. He was SO excited. It was snowing the night they landed and did several times while they were here. The first Sunday of their trip we woke up to 1-2 inches on the sidewalk and he couldn't wait to get out and shovel! (Wish he lived closer)Josh, Mary and Nathaniel with their snowman.Trevor had also never had S'mores. They don't have graham crackers in Australia. Here are Trevor and Joel roasting marshmallows in the fireplace for his first s'mores experience. He seemed to enjoy them -- I think he ate 4!Making a gingerbread house. (yes, it is a kit and it was great!)The finished product.Trevor loves Basketball, a man after Joel's heart, so here we are at the Nuggets game on family night.We went tubing one Saturday afternoon.Here are mommy and Rebekah at the top of the hill, right before we rolled and smashed our faces in the snow at the bottom! (I was the only one who wiped out after Joel reassured me that I would be fine)The kids getting ready for the ride down the semi-snowy hill.And to end this post, here is a cute picture of Samuel during a shopping outing.