Gotta have Fay-th......Tropical Storm Fay that is!

For about two months, the past weekend was set to be one of adventure for our family! The guys had made plans to go canoeing over in Georgia. Mom was going to hang with Kayleigh, the little boys, and me. Kayleigh had a day-long achievement days activity, so it was just me, the younger kids, and my mom for Saturday. We began to wonder on Thursday if our weekend was going to play out as we had planned. A storm playing ping-pong with the Florida coast threatened to wash out the plans for a 17 mile canoe trip. Never fear, we kept an eye on the weather channel, and decided that unless it was a downright flood, they would go. What is the worst that could happen? They'd get wet on the river! The outfitting company wouldn't let them float if the river is high anyway.

We keep an eye on Fay, watching her bounce across Florida. Dumping massive quantities of rain wherever she went. We certainly needed the rain!

Mom, Dad and Chris arrived on Friday night. The weather in Rome seemed as if was going to be okay. Here in Alabama we were due for rain! Lots of wind, rain, and possible tornadoes! The guys left around 5am. Within 30 minutes of them leaving, Fay began dumping her rain here. The wind wasn't too bad, some gusts were pretty strong. Kayleigh was supposed to be at the chapel at 815 am to catch a ride to the stake center. Mom and i decided that after we dropped her off we would go to Sam's club. I hadn't been to Sam's in forever! We go to get in the car and the battery is dead! I kid you not, for forty five minutes, my mom and I tried to get the van started. We had the batteries hooked up, only we didn't realize the car you are jumping from has to be started when you try to crank the car needing a charge, duh......We had connected them, started moms car, then tried to start my van. Nothing would happen. My neighbor's husband came to our rescue. He unhooked everything, left moms car running, reconnected the batteries, and the van started on the first try! Easy....we are all set! Feeling a little dumb, but hey, the car is running!

By now the rain is heavy and steady. We call the guys to see where they are, and they are still on the road. Their weather is still holding.

We drop Kayleigh off right about an hour late. Head to Sam's. At this point the van has been running for over 40 minutes, so i didn't think anything about it any longer. We take our time in Sam's. Taste all the yummy samples, look at all the fun furniture, check out the Wii games. We check out and head to the van. The wind is whipping and the rain is POUNDING! We unload all the goods into the van, buckle the babies in, and NOTHING.

The dang van is dead again!!!!!!!!!!!Only this time, there is no neighbor to help, no house to keep the kids dry and warm, just the dead van, 35 mph winds, and enough rain to make ya start looking for the Ark.

Mom volunteers to go in and ask the tire dept if they have a mobile charger. I sit with the babies and defrosting groceries. I gave the kids an ICEE pop to keep them happy, and wait. Luckily, the guy in front of us comes out, and I jump out and beg him to help me. I could tell he thought twice about it, as it was pouring rain and he was about to get REALLY wet. He saw the kids in the van, and I think that is what did it for him. We get the cables, jump the van, and I pull up to see mom coming out. She has with her a guy from the Tire Center carrying a starterthingiemabob. We tell him thanks, but no thanks. Off we go. Straight home. The kids are wound-up and over-tired. I am soaking wet and a bit stressed. As we drive home, the wind gusts get stronger and the rain harder!

That is how the remainder of the day stayed too. HEAVY rain. Amazingly, the guys said it didn't start to rain there till they pulled out of the river at like 530 pm. They drove home in some REALLY bad rain and wind.

Sunday we were celebrating Andrew's birthday with the family. Evidently while we were blowing out candles and having cake, there was a funnel cloud right over the school that is across the street from us!

Monday was MORE rain! Sophie (the dog) was not enjoying this! She had to be carried past the door to go out. Once past the downspout, she was fine and would go trot in the rain. The kids spent about 2 hours in their cubbies because of tornado warnings on Monday.

This really was the kind of weekend I like. Lazy and Rainy! Nothing got accomplished in the house, but it was pretty relaxing (if you ignore the van problems!)

Tuesday finally saw and end to the rain. Around 4:00 my neighbor called and told me to go outside. This is what we found:

I guess to get a Rainbow, all we need is a lot of Fay-th.....I know cheesy....but i just couldn't help it!

Big Announcement! IT'S A GIRL!!!!!

Kayleigh is finally getting a sister! It seemed like it would never happen. Three boys in a row after Kayleigh.

We decided we were done. Five kids were enough. I resisted and resisted and resisted, but sometimes you just can't help it! We were definately missing a member of our family. As much as I wanted to be done, to be able to sleep through the night, to be done (almost) with potty training......I relented. It is our pleasure to announce our new baby! Her name is Sophie.

She is a 2 year old Dachshund, Border Collie mix. She essentially looks like a midget Border Collie. LUCKILY, she came to us potty trained! She is very well behaved. We have only heard her bark 3 times! She does well on the leash, and loved to curl up on the couch. She is great with the kids, and is adjusting to our crazy family quite nicely.

We got her from the Humane Society! She is just a sweetheart! She looks very much like a dog I had growing up, so we jokingly refer to her as Oreo 2.0 (Oreo was the dog's name). We are still getting used to having her here. We have to watch opening the door, she tries to go everywhere we go. She gets up on the bed. I had to take my flipflops from her five times today.

We have been shutting her in the masterbath when we leave, then shutting the master. I came home yesterday and she has somehow let herself out of the bathroom and was SLEEPING ON MY BED! She is curled up beside me now. She had her first Vet appt. today! She didnt like some of the things they did to her, though I must say, I sympathize with her!

One is the loneliest number......or maybe not!

The last few weeks of summer, as always, were packed full of excitement! Here is a brief summary:

Our niece came to visit us for a week from New York. She was visiting her other grandparents in Alabama when the grandmother got sick and had to be hospitalized. She came to hang with us while her grandmother got better. It was fun! I think Kayleigh enjoyed having a GIRL to play with! While Emily was here visiting, our friends from Missouri (who just moved to Atlanta) came for a three day visit! So Kayleigh had 2 girls to play with, Bryce and drew got to play with their friend Carter, I got to hang with my friend Manda( and we had FUN!), and Sam got to torture their dog. In the picture above, we are taking Emily back to her grandparents on our way to Mobile! We spent about 4 days in Mobile! Dad went out of town, leaving Mom all alone, so we headed down for the weekend, and had fun! It was HOT, but it was still a nice trip! Sam played himself out, and fell asleep on the floor! After our trip to mobile, Jonathon and I went house hunting in Atlanta. We all know how that story goes, but we had a fun trip! Got to see Scott, Melinda and the boys (thanks for letting us crash!) We came home, and were in a whirlwind of job interviews, moving, not moving, and such when we got a phone call!

Blake's sister, Amanda, and her family wanted to come through for a visit. We haven't seen them since we went to Disney 3 years ago! They came on Wednesday! Andrew and his cousin, Bella, hit it off and were nearly inseparable.

The rest of the kids got along quite well too! Can you see all those kids!!!???!!! We had 11 children 12 and under in our house for 2 days, and they were all ours or Amanda's!!!!! Those are some busy parents....in many ways! :P

Truthfully, the visit went quite well, and we were sad to see them go so quickly. We played Rock band, cards, and only had one vomiting incident!
I will say feeding 11 kids at one time is quite the chore! We are used to having large groups at our home. Since we are the midpoint in my family, we often have family things here, but there is usually a higher adult-to-kid ratio. And again, the girls were out numbered 7-4.

The Jackson's left Thursday, and Blake started his new job on Friday!

Even BIGGER news....Andrew is an official Kindergartner! He got his shots and didn't even cry! What a brave boy! He loves school and his teacher so far! He looked SO cute carrying his school bag in and getting off the bus the first day!

Here are all the kids on their first morning of school!

And what is that????? That is a 2 year old with his shoes on. Why? Because he thought he was going to school too! Are those tears??? YES they are! He was not a happy boy being left at home all alone!

So what does a mom do with a very sad 2 year old???

Give him a paintbrush, a block, and some paint! Duh!!!!!

He made quite the mess, but he was SO proud of his block, and enjoyed painting with mommy! Today is the kids fourth day of school, and EVERY morning so far, he has gotten his shoes on and asked me, "mommy, we go?" The first day of school we went grocery shopping, the second day we went shopping for craft supplies for a baby gift i was working on, the third day we went to the park for 2 hours. So far today, I have been able to hold him off, but it looks like a trip to Target is in our future. Though, that is probably a mom thing, not a Sam thing! :)

And here is my project I complete while Sam was painting. It is a gift of a friend having her first baby! The frame is about 25x20. If you look closely at the frame, you can see hints of pink and green coming through the cream paint! I love making things for little girls! So fun!

Now, I just have a Super Saturday to plan (anyone got ideas for some great craft projects!) and I want to get my Etsy shop up and running! It has been a BIG adjustment having Blake back at work, 4 of the 5 kids in school, and the house to Sam and myself. I forget too how much a 2 year old needs to be entertained without 4 others around! I see lots of play dates in our future!!

Hope the school year is starting off great for you all too! Once again, I feel so lucky to live just across from the school. I can be a lazy mom, and still get my kids to school on time!

Replacement part.....PLEASE!

Well, I did it again today! It wasn't near as good as the "molly mormon" incident of June '08, but the entire room again, got a good laugh at my expense.

When will I learn? Probably never. I really need like a three second delay to keep me from doing stupid things like smelling pee-soaked underwear, calling someone's wife a "molly mormon", making the ill timed joke; then there was the time I thought I was sending my sister Jessica a funny news story, but instead it seemed I had accidentally sent an off-color news story to my Bishop! (thankfully, I had ONLY sent it to my Sister-in-law who is aware of my lack of common sense), and to keep me from just plain ole' saying the wrong thing at just the right time!

So my question....how do I get a replacement part for that filter that I evidently didn't get, or have somehow broken?

I think I may count to three each time before I speak. Thankfully, for every stupid thing I say, it does seem like I say 10 or so intelligent things. Or at least I think i do??????

I am certainly learning to think before I speak. Just wish I didn't embarrass myself so in the process!

So, if anyone has a part number for "Stupid Comment Mouth Filter" and "Common Sense Housewife Chip" I would be greatly appreciative! Otherwise, look forward to many more lovely stories about my rather unfortunate mistakes!