Silly Dog...

Only Mocha would find a pile of clean jackets waiting to be hung up, stretch out, stick her tongue out, and take a dog nap!

Moving Messes...

Oh moving, how I have not missed you.  All of you know by now, moving is nothing new to our family.  Being in retail always presents opportunities which offer relocation options.  With a growing family, we have always jumped at the opportunity to improve ourselves financially which almost always meant relocating.  The last couple years we have been blessed to not leave the state of Arizona, but we have moved 2 times in the last 4 years.  The first move was into a rental and out of our home we owned to stay above the falling AZ market (smartest real estate move we have ever made to date and that says a lot considering we have owned 4 homes over the last 10 years).  The second move was this last move into another rental.  While there are perks to renting we still struggle with whether we want to invest in the area we are in, now that the market has stabilized or whether we want to shift our options more north near Marc's work.  While we weed out our decisions, renting was the best option yet again.  The major negative is not knowing when another move will occur.  The previous rental gave us some scares as the owner explored the short sale process not once but twice!  Thankfully we got 4 years out of that rental.  However, hassles that have come with renting make us miss home ownership BUT with not knowing when another move/job switch will occur it makes the thought of being financially tied to a home hard to think about.  All that being said, toss in the chaos of moving a 4,000 sq ft house and 6 kids... it's a lot.  The biggest issue I have with moving, is the large mess it creates until things are put in their places.  With this new home only 4.2 miles away from the old house, I was able to bring a large amount of our items over and put them away before bringing more over.  That helped control my OCD issues!  Once we moved in, my OCD drove me nuts and I got minimal sleep for several nights until things felt more under control and put away.  Mid-Move In kitchen and pantry messes! Sigh

We've Moved

We moved.  It's only 4.2 miles southwest from our old home but we are very excited.  Our previous home fit us well but this house fits us even better.  The new address is 2331 E Indigo Dr Chandler, AZ 85286.

Just Craft Stuff...

The contents in the picture below are solely crafting supplies.  I believe I have an addiction.  In my own defense, there are multiple crafting hobbies and each hobby needs its own supplies!

My Poor Boys...

It's inevitable if you have older sisters that they will dress you up nice and pretty.  I have soapy pictures of Dillon at this age all dressed up courtesy of Liliana.

Aww Sisterly Love...

What this picture doesn't show is what happen moments before these two were smiling.  Maia had pulled Rosalia's hair so Rosalia pushed and smacked Maia.  Both were in tears.  While hugging and "making up" they got overly "huggy" and smiled like this!

Yegge's Visit Again...

The visit was far too short but like always... so much loud fun.  We ran a 5K bubble run, took all 10 kids to the park and pretty much over ran the play structure.  Stuffed our faces with tasty food, sat back and watched as the kids played with minimal fighting, and just enjoyed visiting with each other!

Bubble Run 5K...

Another 5K race completed!  This race was our first bubble "themed" 5K.  Taylor (our neighbor's daughter), Annette, and her oldest son Frances joined us.  We all did a great job and ended the race very colorful!

Mini Vacation...

So I decided this post would highlight the "fun parts" of this mini trip.  By fun, I mean the torture we endured for the sake of a few smiles!

It all started back in January, we planned to take Marc's parents with us to help with the difficulty that Legoland poses to families of large size.  Unlike Disneyland, just about every single ride has height restrictions.  In addition to the height restrictions, they have age restrictions as well.  So even though Liliana is the same height as me, she can't ride any of the rides as the "adult rider" with any of the other kids (except Dillon who is finally over 48inches allowing him to ride everything). Each child must ride with an adult.  Let me do the math for you...that means 4 of our 6 kids need an adult.  Majority of the rides don't allow Maia on so 1 of the 2 of us adults must always sit sidelines.  Leaving 1 adult and 4 kids!  Thanks Legoland.  Way to make us crazy!  Ok so back to January, Marc's mom had time off approved but late and the hotel was booked so we pushed the trip to February.  Well that date had issues so we decided March during spring break might work better.  Well for the 3rd time there was scheduling conflicts and the inlaws couldn't go.  We decided to just attempt Legoland yet again a couple adults short!

At that moment, Marc and I were confident all would be fine.  Spring break arrived and the kids were there naughty selves.  That should have been sign #2 but we like to think positively!  Thursday morning came and the kids weren't evil but they certainly weren't angels!  We wanted to leave by 8:30am and ended up not on the road until 9:30am.  Leaving late didn't bother me but Marc likes to be on time.  Our goal was to detour to the Viejas Outlets for some school clothes shopping.  Another opportunity for the kids to show us how ungrateful they can be.  Marc wanted to sleep for a bit while I took the kids shopping.  Garrison and Rosalia wanted to stay with him.  Apparently as soon as I left the van, Garrison had to go potty.  He took almost 20 minutes going not once but twice.  According to Marc he went pee, got back to the van, and then had to go again.  That would irritate any parent but a parent cranky and tired....!  When we finally got on the road again we had cranky kids anxious to arrive at Legoland.  Too bad for them we were about 1 1/2 hours away.  The entire ride was talking and mumbling from Rosalia and Maia, "Are we there yets" then from Dillon, Ava, and Garrison "Mommy these kids are annoying can't they be quiet".  

These were all bolder signs we were headed in the wrong direction.  

Finally we pulled into the Legoland Hotel.  After getting checked in and spending what seemed like an hour walking from the lobby down half a hallway with independent slow-walking Maia, we were at our destination.  Once the kids completed their combination clues to the safe in our hotel room, they were interested in seeing the beach.  Embarrassing to admit, more than half our children had never seen a beach until that evening.  As soon as our feet hit the sand, Liliana insisted she needed to put her feet in the ocean water.  She put her sneakers and socks down on the sand, not but 2 seconds later a wave came in and almost washed her sneakers away.  About 5 minutes later, Rosalia AND Garrison found themselves standing where another wave came in and got their sneakers and pant bottoms wet!  Looking for more punishment, we ventured over to the local outlets to buy 3 new pairs of sneakers knowing the children would complain if they had to put wet shoes on their feet in the morning.  We ate a late lunch which turned into a late dinner.  While on the mission for new sneakers we had half the crew whining every time we saw or smelled food!  We bought overpriced sneakers and food, rushed the cranky beings into the van, and drove as fast as legally possible back to the hotel in hopes bedtime would be a breeze.  Yes, at this point we knew this trip was not meant to be.  Well maybe it was meant to be but our sanity would be non-existent before it ever began.

Bedtime was a joke (but in the kids defense everything about the day was not routine and our kids are pretty routine).  The last child fell asleep at 9:30pm which was awesome.  Marc fell asleep around the same time.  I stayed up filling out paperwork for the new house we will be moving into this coming month.  That will be another post.

The night went pretty well.  Dillon was loud around 5 am to use the bathroom, which woke me up.  Once I'm up, I'm up. The kids slept until 7:45am which isn't too bad considering it wasn't home!  They all got ready and minus Maia getting into things while we all tried to get ready the morning went fairly smooth!

Marc and I started thinking yesterday's miserable events were just a fluke.  Again, wanting to be positive we focused on a day filled with excitement.

It was short lived...

We went to the van to put our overnight items in the van and to get the stroller.  Maia refused to go in the stroller.  Garrison had a couple mysterious meltdowns (mysterious meltdowns often occur when the child nor parent know why the meltdown is occurring) before we even reached the front entrance of Legoland!  We pushed forward to that exciting day we planned to have.  We went on our first ride...all 8 of us.  Maia loved it.  Everyone was all smiles.  We headed to the second ride.  Marc was left behind with Maia.  While in line, I broke up too many fights to count between Rosalia and Garrison.  I also did my math and adults to kids ratio wasn't working out right.  At least 1 kid needed to stay behind.  I convinced Rosalia to stay with Marc.  Success, though small, I smiled!!  After exiting that ride, we continued on.  Our path was simple, walk the park hitting all the rides in order we saw them.  Ava sort of melted down, she really wanted to go on a ride that was on the other side of the park.  She got over the idea once she realized the park wasn't near as busy as it was back in the summer when we were here last.  Every ride we went on took 20 minutes or less to get on.  Every ride we went on, Garrison and Rosalia found a reason to fight!  Before we knew it, it was lunchtime.  The kids weren't hungry so we fed them snacks.  I knew this would come back and bite us later...

Every time we stopped for a bathroom break, or snack break, or whatever the reason be, Maia would want out of the stroller. Once she was out she didn't want back in.  Thankfully she didn't want to run off but when you have 6 kids to watch the more buckled on a stroller the better.  Rosalia was a space cadet.  She was left wandering a couple times.  Luckily she doesn't panic when she doesn't see us.  She just stands there confused wondering where we went.  While in line for 1 ride, Rosalia decides while in line she's scared.  I start texting Marc that she might exit and come out to him.  While I am texting she starts walking away.  Before I could react, the guy behind me smartly points out that she's walking away.  The tone of voice and choice of words were just not nice.  He didn't care about Rosalia's safety he cared more about pointing out that my kid was walking away because I was on my phone.  Little did he know I was communicating with Marc that she was headed for him.  Yes, I gave this concerned bystander a few choice words.  

As we exited the park, the kids picked out their purchases from the main Lego store.  After taking a quick group picture of the kids, Rosalia insisted on 1 final ride.  While in line for said ride, her and Garrison were on a half wall messing around.  I asked/told them to get down but why would they listen!  Rosalia finally got down.  Garrison jumped down shortly after hitting his chin on Rosalia's head and ended up biting his cheek.  Tears and loud crying followed.  Everyone stared.  I had some parents that looked sympathetic and others that gave me the "I'm judging you" looks.  Garrison's cheek on the inside was a bit bloody but nothing he couldn't swallow and call a day.  I gave him my "suck it up its your fault you didn't listen speech" along with 2 choices ...1) go out of line, miss the ride, and get a napkin. Or 2) stay in line and stop the crying.  He chose the later but had a small meltdown just before the ride began.  I should be a saint after this mini vacation!  My patience levels were at an all time high.
Finally we exited Legoland!  We get to the van, tell the kids to get in so we can get on the road and hopefully beat some traffic.  Sure enough we hit the highway and there was traffic!  The "I'm hungry" starts.  In their defense they didn't really eat lunch.  I start passing out healthy snacks.  Maia is on such a sugar high she doesn't stop talking.  Rosalia and Garrison begin to fall asleep.  We make it 3 1/2 hours in and out of traffic and finally stop for dinner.  30 minutes later we are back on the road.  Garrison starts yelling "I'm gonna throw up".  Maia starts crying she wants out of her car seat.  My exact thoughts at that very moment were "just somebody put me out of my misery I don't want to do this the rest of the 4 hours home"!  Garrison throws up, makes the van stink so we detour to throw away the puke. Back on the road again, Maia is again screaming.  Rosalia at this point doesn't stop talking.  Talking about what...everything and anything.  Garrison is complaining his belly hurts.  Liliana and Ava bickering back and forth like sisters do.  Marc complaining his face hurts.  Oh and don't forget about me...blogging this post in between catching barf in bags, consoling a crying almost 2 yr old, hushing Rosalia so we don't go insane, breaking up sister fights, and getting car sick from not being able to sit still this entire ride.
Family Vacations are S.O. M.U.C.H. F.U.N!

Lexi Came To Visit Garrison...

You all remember Garrison's girlfriend Lexi who moved away to Colorado don't you?  Garrison even flew on his first airplane to go visit her back in November.  Well she came to visit him this week.  We (Kristen and myself) drove them around for lots of "dates".  When they arrived we had to go get some Bosa Donuts.  They are the "best in Arizona"!  The next day we took them to a spring training baseball game.

The next morning we went for breakfast at Joe's Farm Grill (another favored local spot).  On Saturday, Kristen and Kevin wanted to take in a kid free spring training game so we kept Lexi and enjoyed some time at the park, watching movies, and playing on the trampoline.  That evening we said our good byes as they headed for another friend's home to finish off their remaining AZ trip.  We missed seeing the twins but it was a blast having them visit with Lexi.  

Garrison was sad she left but wants to fly on another airplane and go visit her again.  I'm sure that trip will happen seeing that the Welsh's are having another adorable baby girl in July!

Our Little Shopper...

While running to the store for a couple things, I let Maia walk a bit.  Bad decision.  She's quite the little shopper.  She stopped at a rack, grabbed an item of her liking, held it out, and yelled "ooooo pretty mommy".  It was cute until she did it to every rack!

My Friends Are Too Kind...

A good friend brought me over all this delicious and freshly grown fruit from her backyard.  YUM!

Why This Child Needed Stitches...

Yup, just 2 short weeks after having stitches, here is Maia climbing her dresser drawers.  We have since turned the dressers to face the wall.