Birthday Festivities

Madelyn's birthday is always a good excuse to celebrate summer. This year we celebrated surrounded by the colors of watermelon and pink lemonade.

Mark started the birthday festivities this year with a glowing flower pancake.
Madelyn informed us this year that she doesn't really care for cake. She requested strawberry jello for dessert. I was a little worried about how the candle would hold up but it did fine.
Next, the party! We had six of Maddy's classmates over. Seven is such a nice age. The kids are old enough to participate enthusiastically in activities. We started by making/decorating flip-flops.We moved on to a water balloon fight. My fingers were waterlogged and slightly bruised after filling and tying 250 water balloons. But, of course, it was worth it. The girls had a blast!

Next up was pizza. Then we headed outside again and made ice cream in baggies. We came inside with the finished product and sang Happy Birthday one last time! Madelyn relished blowing each candle out. I'm not sure how that will affect her wish but it was funny to watch.One last time...Happy 7th Birthday Madelyn Elizabeth!

Happy Birthday Sweet Madelyn

"Making the decision to have a child--it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." -Elizabeth Stone

Dear Madelyn,

Seven years ago I had the most amazing and empowering experience of my life. I gave birth to you. In that moment that I first held you, I realized how overpowering the love for a child is. Oh, those sweet early days and months when every little thing was new and magical...your first smile, your first laugh, the first time I put tights on you. Joy was redefined for your dad and I.

As time has marched by, you have grown. You have gone through so many phases I can't even begin to count or recall them all. This past year leading up to your seventh birthday, you have yet again shown us your resilience, your kind heart, and your commitment to learning and our family.

We moved for the third time in two years last September. For your Dad & I, it was a homecoming. But for you, the memories had faded. You remembered funny things like how many speed bumps there are on the street two north from us. You remembered your playgroup friends and our house. Everything else seemed new. What I'll remember is that you were happy because you knew Mom & Dad were happy.

Along those same lines, you started first grade three times. You were definite that you wanted to start school in Utah even though we explained it would only be for 9 days. Then when I switched schools on you after only four days in NM, you accepted it. You didn't complain or question. And you thrived! You have become such a leader this year. Your classmates love and respect you. You treat everyone in your school community with such compassion and kindness. I'm very proud that you make such good choices when out in the world on your own.

At home, your siblings idolize you. They always copy your pictures, your writing, your behavior. For the most part, you are patient and helpful. You surely know how to push buttons on your sisters and how to debate endlessly with me and your Dad when you don't see things our way. Madelyn, we are impressed by your ability to articulate your feelings and your growing sense of a world bigger than yourself.

Happy Birthday sweet girl! We look forward to the new world leading up to eight.

Love,
Mommy

Special delivery

We had 35 boxes delivered to our house yesterday by the bravest semi driver we know. He actually backed into our driveway, something noone else has attempted (including our moving company).

Now to sort, open, assemble and seal. Can you guess what it is?

Happy Father's Day!

Mark is a pretty great dad! And I know because I have a pretty great dad myself.

From the first time Mark held Madelyn, he was smitten. His love for our children is quiet and complete. He is patient when I am not, like with cooking projects.He is a kid at heart. He is always coming up with creative ways to entertain our flock. Lately, he has been working hard to build them their own park in our backyard. His commitment to our family is unwavering.So, this Father's Day I'd like to thank my husband for being such a great dad to our children. I look forward to watching our little ones grow up with him by my side.

Who needs a beach?

I grew up in the east where water is not an uncommon sight. I realized after years of looking like a lobster after the first hot weekend of the summer that I'm not really a beach person. I'd much rather recreate in the mountains. I now call the mountains of the desert Southwest my home.

My children only know mountains and deserts. We went to South Padre Island once during our 10 months in Texas. The kids loved it! They couldn't get enough of jumping waves and building sandcastles. The memory is so clear to them that anytime they encounter wet sand they try to recreate our South Padre experience. Check out what they made in the soon-to-be grassy area of our backyard...We also started filling our pool in preparation for the heat that finally seems to be coming our way. The girls were bathing beauties,while the boys got to work filling the pool,and supervising!

Baby boom

The kids and I headed to the zoo yesterday. It's amazing to me that despite having visited the zoo countless times, I can still learn or see something new. Yesterday, there were babies everywhere and not of the human variety.

But first, we had to fuel up. A woman passed by with her grandson and pointed out the 'group' having snacktime. We laughed. We would have preferred 'family' but realize we look more like a daycare to many.This chimpanzee baby seemed pretty happy to be hitching a ride from mom. Catherine and Madelyn are in the window in the back.
This zebra was just born Monday. It stood quite bravely and wobbly, I might add. It was like watching Bambi when he learns to walk. What a neat thing to witness!My babies checking out the giraffe baby...the little guy on the right. He never let mom get too far away from him.We took a break from the animals to try out the zoo's 'human exhibit'. Seth is really getting daring in his old age, especially when a big sister is handy. He's been ready and willing to try all things new lately. Sam still hangs with me except for brief forays into the great big world. While I was snapping Seth's slide adventure, Chloe and Catherine were getting soaked. Of course, Madelyn had to join in. Sam managed to get a little wet too.Finally, we stopped in at a big cats learning center for the kids. They got to make cat noses and we all got to feel the hides of a lion, tiger, mountain lion and snow leopard. Madelyn has an unexplained fascination with snow leopards so touching one's fur was pretty cool for her. We learned that the mountain lions at our zoo were actually rescued after a hunter killed their mother. The lion fur we touched came from a lion who resided at our zoo until he died two years ago of old age. Apparently, lions in captivity can live to be 30 years old, twice the life expectancy of a lion in the wild. See, I learned something new!

Swim party

We really need to get out more! We took our first outing to the village pool last weekend after Catherine & Chloe were invited to a birthday party there. Generally I stay away from public pools because four of my five children are not reliable swimmers. But this pool is really nice and not too scary for a mom of many.

Everyone has a different pool time personality. Sam likes to stay close to mom (or dad). He wants a hand or eyes on him at all times.Catherine swims around like a little mermaid. She likes to have her entire body immersed so she doesn't notice how cool the outside air is.This picture doesn't do Seth justice really. Seth gets possessed around water. He just charges in, going after every drip, fountain and toy. The boy would like to think he's a fish. I'll feel a whole lot better after he's had some swim lessons...in two years.Madelyn loves to do tricks. She's working on underwater handstands after mastering flips.
Chloe likes the water too. She likes being warm better however. She was in and out at the party...mostly out wrapped in a towel cocoon.

We'll have to add pool time to our list of things to do this summer.

Quack, quack

While the girls are off enjoying music classes every Saturday this summer with one parent, the boys are having their own adventures at the whim of the other parent. This weekend it was my turn to engage our little explorers.

We headed off to the 'duck pond' on UNM's campus. When I was getting my Master's degree, I would often pass the 'duck pond' on my way to my car or to the library but never really stopped to enjoy it. All I knew was that there were ducks, trees and some grass.Ducks, indeed. And huge fish and turtles and even dogs on the banks. A kind passerby gave the boys each a tortilla to feed the flock. What more could a little boy ask for!

Gardening Woes

Last year we planted a garden at our rental house in Utah. It was a 4'x10' space, half of which was devoted to wildflowers. The other half was packed with way too many green bean, cucumber, squash and gourd plants. For our efforts, we were rewarded with fresh green beans every third night or so and the joy of watching something grow. The other plants did bear fruit but we moved before enjoying them.

This year I was excited to get my hands dirty again. I ordered seeds and took to planting them the first weekend in May. Our fence had just been installed. For the first week after planting the seeds I diligently watered the garden for 20 to 30 minutes a day. Of course, I should also mention that our garden area grew significantly now that we're back on an acre. Our current garden is about 15'x60'. So, at the end of the first week with no sprouts to be seen, I felt discouraged, like I was watering dirt to no end. I finally did a little test and realized that my 20 to 30 minutes of watering was barely scratching the surface.

In the second week I installed 450 feet of soaker hoses throughout the garden. I fantasized about hooking up my hose to one end and letting the water fuse into the ground for about an hour every morning. That fantasy ended quickly when I discovered that water will not flow at an equal rate through 450 feet of soaker hose when in series. After several more failed attempts at making my watering more efficient I have ended up with six zones which require my attention daily. Any time you need a good laugh, drive by our house between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. and at half-hour intervals you can see me waddle out (most of the time in my pjs), turn off the water from the house, switch the hose position, turn the water back on, and repeat, and repeat, and repeat, and you get the picture.

My efforts have been rewarded... Unfortuntately, that's not the whole picture. This is a better one.We have two bald patches in our garden. There are supposed to be about four rows of green beans right up front there but they don't seem to want to sprout. I've tried seeding twice. Then there's another bald spot in the far back right corner. That's where the sunflowers are supposed to be. It seems the birds and bunnies find them irresistible. I've planted those seeds twice too. Both times a handful have come up only to be nibbled back down.

Our final gardening challenge has been the bunnies, those pesky weasly bunnies. We were so proud of our fence when it went in only to learn that 1" x 2" mesh provides ample space for hungry bunnies to come in uninvited. Every time I'd find a bunny in the yard, I'd escort him out only to be befuddled by his Houdini-like ability to get through the mesh at any given point. After another two weeks of giving Mark daily bunny count and damage reports, we decided that action was necessary. Mark wanted to get a gun and string the carcasses on the fence as a warning to other trespassers. I didn't think that was a good message for the kids...you don't like something, so you shoot it. I lobbied for chicken wire on the inside of the preexisting mesh. I won! Have I mentioned lately what a great husband Mark is! For the last two weeks he's been installing chicken wire to keep the bunnies at bay. Now that he's sewed up the bottom, we've been bunny free for two days.The learning curve is definitely steep with this first large gardening effort. I didn't chronicle the swift death of our berry patch and sweet potato plants as I'm still mourning their tasty loss. However, we do look forward to applying our new knowledge to our garden next year, and the year after that, and the year after that, and...

The verdict is in!

We all paraded to the doctor's office yesterday to meet our new baby. The girls were very attentive as the ultrasound tech navigated her way through all the labeling and measuring of Baby #6. After all was documented, she turned to Madelyn and said, "How do you feel about another little brother?" Yes, we will welcome a new little man in October. When Mark asked the girls why they wanted a brother, they answered "because everyone needs a dance partner!"

Old Wives Tales

Later today we'll have our 20-week ultrasound. Before we go, I thought I'd try to predict the gender of our baby. I've looked up lists of old wives tales related to pregnancy and gender and here's what I came up with...

Symptoms pointing toward a boy:
*I'm carrying low. Really I think it's more because this is my fourth pregnancy and I have no tone left in my abdomen.
*I have a pregnancy glow.
*Dad's gaining weight too.
* I don't crave orange juice.

Symptoms pointing toward a girl:
*Baby's heartrate is over 140. It's been over 160 every time we've heard it.
*I've been craving sweets.
*Dad's gaining weight too. I found conflicting information on this one.
*ACNE It's on my back thankfully and not my face but still very gross and annoying.

When I take the interactive quizzes online they favor a girl. Stay tuned...

Cousin fun

On the tail end of our sickfest last week, the kids' Arizona cousins came for a visit. Aunt Heather came armed with medicine for the sickies and fun crafts and gifts for all. It was a nice break from the intensity of caring for and cleaning up after everyone.

Madelyn and Gabe playing with Mark's old Voltron (not Transformers) toys. These are always a hit when cousins come to town.
Ellie reads to Seth in the library. Seth loves to be read to!The whole gang (minus Madelyn who was at school and Oliver who is visiting his Grammy in Ohio) building an ant colony. Fortunately, only a handful of ant bites were gotten and all were kissed away by the mommies.Seth is diggin' time with cousins. Gabe is especially nurturing with his cousins.Ellie takes a turn on the climbing dome.
Thanks for the great company and fun times Aunt Heather and cousins. If nothing else you've got a few funny stories to share after being with our clan for two days. ;-)

First grade farewell

Today is the first day of summer break for Madelyn. She told me last night she hopes not to feel like she's forgetting to go to school when she gets up today.

Her class had some fun last week. It started with a pizza party:
And continued with celebrating summer birthdays. Seven out of 20 kids in Maddy's class have summer birthdays.
And finished with some water balloon fun!We are very proud of our Madelyn. She continues to amaze us with her curiosity, persistence and patience. She developed some great leadership skills this year in addition to learning some Spanish and Mandarin.

Backyard adventures

Our backyard is really taking shape. It's more than just a sandlot now. A week or so ago Mark built a dome for the kids to play on while they wait patiently for Mom & Dad to decide on and build an actual playset.
An unadvertised perk to the dome is that Mommy gets to practice her Lamaze breathing while she watches her young flock climb, dangle and flip.Bonus picture...our mad scientist Sam