8 is GREAT!

Even though we've been pretty busy lately, nothing of note has happened. Usually it's just the daily grind of school, chores, sewing, writing, mutual, activity days...and so on. But here are some fun pictures of our mundane but busy life. I just took this picture today after church. Poor Brynlie was so hungry too. A girl at my kids' school passed away suddenly so they had a crazy hair day to raise money for funeral expenses. Hanna's idea of crazy hair was to just not comb it that morning. :) They love dress down day when they don't have to wear uniforms. They always get dressed and ready for school so quickly. Brynlie is sporting her own fashion statement. Brynlie loves when Kamary makes her "pretty". Love that smile! Chocolate pudding! Surprisingly, that shirt came out clean in the wash! Chilling with Minnie! Hope you enjoyed some of our random cuteness!

This is the best show! It was nominated for 15 Emmy Awards and won 7! Here is the synopsis from imdb.com: " A young, autistic woman sees the world like no other, taking snapshots of the world in her mind, and recalling them without thought. She substitutes human contact for a life of caring for animals, developing humane methods of taking care of livestock destined for the slaughterhouse. Her peculiar communication skills and intelligence shed new light on pre-conceived norms of autism. Misunderstood her entire life, by her peers, her parents, and her teachers, she manages to teach them all new lessons in life. She excels at all levels of school, and eventually becomes a college valedictorian, and even manages to earn her doctorate. Her 'squeeze' machine, hugs her giving her comfort and the love that she is incapable of receiving from human contact. Despite challenges from everyone she meets, she overcomes their fear and loathing of her, and wins them over, throughout ...

This past weekend, Jason and Kohler went on a Father & Sons camping trip. This time instead of going to Mt. Lemmon near Tuscon, they headed north to the White Mountains. Jason swore he found "God's Thumb" from the movie Holes . Kohler at the Lake They spent their time catching Crawdads. Jason said they were all over in the water Looks beautiful. They had great weather, a big bonfire and a lot of fun. While the boys were gone...we had a Girl Party. We had pizza for dinner and watched Tinkerbell and the Great Fairy Rescue. Then we did hair, makeup and nails. I'm so jealous-- all of my girls have the thickest and longest eyelashes. They definitely didn't get that from me. They all looked so pretty-- the camera doesn't do them justice . Brynlie -- it was hard to get a shot of her because she kept moving around. Lauren Kamary Alyssa Because of the flash, it was hard to see Alyssa's hair. Here's the back. Even Hanna our self-proclaimed "Tom ...

So this past Wednesday, Jason calls me as he's coming home from work and tells me to park the van in the driveway and get the kids gathered together because he has a surprise for us. He gets out of the car with a huge dog that looks more like a horse (unless you're Brynlie of course, then it's a "monkey"). "Meet our new pet," he says. What?! I guess the story is that 3 college roommates wanted a dog so they paid $1800 for her. After they got her, they neglected her. When they sold their house and moved out, the realtor found the pooch in the backyard, abandoned. She took it home and rescued it, but couldn't keep it. Jason found out about it through work and went to check it out. As soon as Jason saw said pooch, he fell in love. I can say that I've been officially replaced. I swear, he gives that dog more kisses than me! Anyway, her name is Minnie (the irony is intentional), and she's an 8 month old, purebred Old English Mastiff. She's HU...

It's been raining a lot the past couple of days here in AZ. We have loved the wet weather. It brought an unusual visitor to our front door. A big toad. Taking turns holding the toad. Chasing the toad around the backyard. It's in front of Lauren, camouflaged by the grass. Here is a video of the kids playing with the toad. I love all of the girly screams! :)

A friend posted this on facebook. I don't even know who said the quote, but I loved it so I thought I'd put it here. "When you come to the end of all the light you know, and it's time to step into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing that one of two things shall happen. Either you will be given something solid to stand on or you will be taught to fly." I've had to practice faith lately. I started working last April doing Music Therapy. At the time I felt strongly that I needed to go back to work. So, Jason would come home from work and I would go in the evening and work with kids with special needs. Within the past couple of weeks, however, I have been feeling that I need to quit. It's been a hard decision because we could use the money and I didn't want to disappoint all the people that I've just started working with. Even though I only work a few hours a week, I've realized that I really need to be home with my kids. Motherhoo...

Okay, so my last post was a lot more uplifting than this will be. I'm just in the mood to vent. So, take it for what it is and know that I'll put in a 'Pollyanna' moment at the end, just for good measure. So, yesterday-- wait, back up. Hanna my oldest daughter has seizures (complex partial, which in layman's terms is not quite Grand Mal but she screams, babbles and grabs everything around her). For the past several months she's been on a medication called Neurontin. We've been playing this game with the Doctor-- she has seizures, he ups the medicine, she has seizures, he ups the medicine again. The higher the medication the more likely it is that she will have those lovely side effects (mostly aggression). So anyway, the last time we talked to him, he told us that he wanted to see us in his office. So I got the referral and scheduled an appointment-- a month away (that's the earliest he could see us, of course). In the meantime, he upped her medicine...