Catching Up

For some unknown reason that I cannot remember I opened this page. Jeffrey saw it open and insisted that I write.

I'm not sure what to write as it's been so long since I updated.

Christmas just ended and most of the kids went back to school today. I loved Christmas. It's been super fun just having a laid back time with the kids. As Jeffrey put it, we've been eating like college students. Ramen noodles and junk food. Well Ramen for him, junk food for the rest of us.

Santa was good and brought a huge room full of treats and fruit, books and movies, and Krave cereal, of course.

I also did a scrapbooking project and printed the kids pictures and bought them tons of scrapbooking supplies. It's been tons of fun scrapbooking with the kids over the break.

Sara is a senior now. She has a drivers license and a car. Well it's my car but it's her car. She's planning on attending Weber State in the fall. She has left the world of Facebook and now interacts with her friends through texting. Maybe it's an improvement. Not sure. She did manage to do one normal teenage thing though and go to prom with her friend Nephi.

Megan switched from writing in code to writing in English. It has been delightful. Her writing has improved imensely and we can now enjoy her humor and amazing stories. We are working on editing some so we can work on publishing them.

Jeffrey now only spends part of his time on the computer. I would like to say that he has rejoined humanity but I cannot. There is a Christmas tree in the corner of the great room. He moved a fake palm tree next to it. It has now been there over a year. It creates a space we call "Jeffrey's Corner." He lives there on his iPod. It's nice in that it makes it easier to find him than other children as there are only two places to search.

Julia is my only teenager by birth. She has the attitude down pat and is looking forward to driving. She has developed a real social life and is often at friends houses.

Mandy, Stephanie, and Lisa are a delight. They are still a herd, and roam through the house giggling and dog piling Daddy every time they see him. They enjoy playing together and filling the living room full of princesses and castles and barbies.

We have a new addition this year. Ryan was born August 12th. He is the most delightful baby boy! He has been so fun. He has recently learned how to stick out his tongue, charm people into picking him up, roll over, and watch his fingers. He's the cutest thing ever. It was extremely difficult for me to switch gears from independnce to newborn, but it was worth it and there are no regrets. He is the baby I always wanted and hoped for as my "baby". He had something wrong at birth and had to spend a week in the hospital. He came home on oxygen and had it for a month until he learned how to rip the tube off his face. The nice part was the hospital let me stay there for the week, fed me meals, and I got to sleep, recover, and get to know my baby. It was awesome.

Micheala moved to Salt Lake. They thought they found an adoptive family that could meet her needs and had another child like her. But they backed out. She's now living in foster care and doing well. She rides the bus, works at a telemarketing firm, and attends Salt Lake Community College, which is much better than we could have done for her.

Anahi has now been with us since July 2012. She is now 14 and an absolute delight. She is spunky, social, motivated, and a super achiever. She is awesome at cleaning and tears through $5 chores like nothing. She gets most of the chore money and my house is much cleaner for her living here. Which is definitely a good thing. She is preparing for her quincenera this summer. This should be interesting.

Brittney is still with us. The aunt couldn't get approval and Mom picked us. So we've had permanent guardianship for the last 14 months. It's been rough. Lately she's really struggled and right now she's trying to decide who she wants to be and what her future should be.

This last April Brittney's former caseworker Jonathan begged us to take a sibling group of three on top of Brittney and Anahi. That made 12 kids, five of which were teenage girls. This was while I was pregnant with Ryan. At about 22 weeks, Gabe, Cheyenne, and Julia moved in.

They weren't exactly housebroken so my house got covered in signs stating that there would be no food past this point, fridges and microwaves should be shut, doors and windows should remain closed, and you should turn off lights and clean up after yourself. It barely helped. We even had to label what color towel belonged to whom as some had a difficult time remembering to use their towel.

It was four months that felt like forty. I don't think I've ever been that busy in my life. It seemed like each day was non stop.

While I was in the hospital with Ryan, Jonathan moved the two most difficult out and into their permanent homes. I kept the sister, Cheyenne, for an additional 4 months while we waited for her new family to get licensed. It was chaos and I still haven't recovered. After having a teenage boy who could eat a horse for dinner, I haven't quite figured out how to adjust my quantities downward enough. Needless to say, we have lots of leftovers.

2013 was a crazy year. I'm glad it's over and I'm interested to see what 2014 will be like. Famous last words: the kids don't want any new foster placements for awhile. Brittney has been hard enough to wear everyone out. My guess is we all just need a break for awhile. Hopefully we'll get one!

New Year's

The kids have officially  created a tradition. As new year approached they kept asking me if we were going to do the table full of food. So I did.  It  took many hours and lots of helpers. And of course we ended up with way too much food and had to beg friends and neighbors to help us eat it all.

We ate and watched movies and ate more and watched more movies. Fortunately Peter was on top of things and came to get us two minutes before midnight. We did the countdown and drank Martinellis and then the kids stayed up forever while baby and I went to bed at a respectable 1 am.

Gingerbread

We have a family tradition of decorating gingerbread items on a Monday before Christmas. This year we were so scheduled we barely got a Monday to ourselves!

But we did it. I pulled out two houses and four large cookie men and several little cookies (thank you Costco for  kits!) after some argument and shuffling around I ended up with my own house! Lisa and Peter joined me and I had a ton of fun with an icing bag. The kids all had fun too.

Halloween Report

I came across some really cute pictures of the kids, and realized I hadn't posted about Halloween yet. It was really fun and very low key. That's probably why it was fun, come to think of it.

Sara and Megan stayed home again as usual in order to read, watch movies, answer the door, and eat all the candy they want.

Jeffrey went trick or treating with Jordan. Julia went trick or treating with Susie and Haley. So Peter and I took Mandy, Stephanie, Lisa, and Ryan trick or treating. It was fun. We got home, I wanted to join the girls, but the rest weren't ready to quit. So Peter put them in the car and took them to another neighborhood where they got tons of treats. They had about half a pillow case when they were done.

I'm not exactly sure where all of the candy went, but it sure seemed to disappear pretty fast!

Unusual Staycation

One of the family goals we had this year was to take the family to La Jolla Groves. Most of you have probably not heard of it, but it is one of the best restaurants I have been to in my life. It competes with anything the East coast has to offer. The chef is a french trained top U.S. chef. The food is delicate and amazing and beautiful and yummy.

Peter and I go there as often as we can afford it. I've brought home food for the kids to try and they have been dying to go there.

 This summer instead of doing a large vacation, we did three smaller staycations. Since we had the funds for it, we decided that La Jolla groves would be one of our staycations.

So we booked the private dining room for just our family and invaded enmasse. Poor waiter. He had a tough time keeping up with everything (busy night) but he came through with flying colors.

Drinks:
I couldn't find a picture, but everyone had a beautiful strawberry smoothie.

Appetizer:
Tomato and Fresh Mozzarella Caprese with basil infused olive oil and balsamic vinegar




Tomato and Basil Bruschetta




Artisan Cheese, Fresh Fruit, Candied Walnuts and Hearth Breads. We had a mix up with the order and ended up with three of these instead of one!



Several people wanted to try their potato leek soup. It was fabulous! (This shows a cup but you get the idea.)



Here are some of the main dishes the we had:

Jeffrey had the Salmon with cilanto butter:



Several of the children had Thyme and Citrus Roasted Chicken Breast with Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Butternut Squash & Carrots.They were kind enough to give them a breast instead of the usual thigh.



But my all time favorite: Grilled Filet of Beef Tenderloin, Served with Three Types of Roasted Baby Potatoes, Baby Asparagus and Heirloom Carrots, Finished with a Mango & Ginger Reduction Sauce



Melt in your mouth to die for soft with a hint of sweet with the most amazing vegetables. Can't begin to explain. Just try it if you can.

But on to dessert (yes we did that too!)

Moist, Rich, Dark Chocolate Cake Served with a Molten Chocolate Center and a Light Vanilla Sauce.My favorite. Several of us had it. Moist, rich, delicious, amazing, yummy and to die for!!!



Berries and ice cream. Berries of the Season Served Over Vanilla Bean or Rich Chocolate Ice Cream in a Pistachio Tuile Cup. I had seen this on the menu, but had never actually tried it. Stephanie ordered it. It was art on a plate!



Moist Lemon Cake Served with Handmade Crème Anglaise Under a Caramel Dome, Berries and Mint. I've been trying to get Peter to order this. I can't ever order it myself because I have to have the chocolate cake. He finally caved in and ordered the lemon cake. It was art on a plate! And exceptionally good.



Triple Chocolate Mouse. I had never tried this one, but it was good. Light, fluffy, and chocolate!



After dinner the kids went outside and played in the fountains. A few of them ended up soaked. After many giggles, we eventually went home. Definitely the most expensive meal I have ever paid for, but one of the cheapest vacations!

Someone Replaced My Children!

Sunday night I asked my kids what they wanted to do for Labor Day. We gave them the option of Thanksgiving Point or a barbecue at Grandpa's house. They chose instead to shampoo the carpets!

I was so surprised I started asking them if they had been replaced by aliens. I've never heard of such a thing before! Children choosing work over play? Hmm. Something had to be up.

But they did it. They woke up early, moved all of the furniture to the dining room, and shampooed the carpets. Which isn't an easy task when you have acres of carpet!

Well, ok. Brittney shampooed the carpets while the others hung out all over the couches in the dining room. Ok, so they are my children after all!

(Yes Sara, to be fair you were doing homework!)

Summer Update

I have had several children ask me to update the blog. I'm not sure why. I don't think they actually read it.

Maybe they want me to update the blog so they can feel as if they have a life. It's not like they actually do. They all just live in their little caves and refuse to come out unless it is to sit comatose in front of a computer screen.

Maybe Sara will see it. She lives most of her life in Facebook world. So if there is a link between this and Facebook, she'll see it for sure. Or maybe I'll tell her next time we go driving. Yes she has her learners permit (finally!) and she is working on her 40 hours.

Megan is the writer of the family. I really should have her write for the family blog. Except that she only writes in code and can only be seen while the sun is down.

Jeffrey is no longer with us. He was sucked into a computer game. We see his body sitting in a chair staring at a monitor, but no signs of life yet.

Julia has a had a fun summer. She and Mandy, Stephanie, and Lisa seem to be having a perpetual party. Every time I see them they are in constant motion. I don't know if any of them have actually slept in their own bed since the summer started.

Today I saw them passing through the kitchen while I was cooking dinner. They were talking on pretend phones and pretending to drive cars. Can't wait. In a few years they will be talking on the phone and driving!

Either I had more children without knowing it, or friends were over because the herd seemed larger this evening.

Lisa is working on potty training. The kids get suckers if they help her, so she has a group of girls constantly attending her. I don't know how well the potty training is actually going seeing as I work during the day. But I hear she's making progress. The only problem is she doesn't know that she can actually go potty in the bathroom by herself. I think she believes it is a team event.

Brittney is our amazing foster daughter that we have been pleased to have with us since last December. Yes it's been that long since I've written. But since I've been negligent in my duties as a blogger, it makes it easy to tell you her story! She came, tried to go back home, and that didn't work. Now she'll probably go with her aunt permanently. She's hanging out here while waiting to hear if everything goes through with the aunt. Hopefully we'll know before school starts.

She has been an absolute delight and a wonderful help. Her bubbly personality and amazing-ness (if that's a word) have really added to our family while she has been with us.

Micheala is still here as well. She graduated from high school and is working on finding a job. She needs more care than we can give her, so we are looking into DCFS and community resources. In the mean time the adoption has not been finalized as that would have shut a lot of doors to funding and programs.

At this moment, I have 9 children living in the house: 8 girls and 1 boy. I have four teenage girls here: a 17-year-old, a 16-year-old, a 15 year-old, and a 14 year-old. As of August 11th that will change, so I just had to post it as I thought that was pretty cool.

Well my head is foggy, my memory shot, and I barely know my own name any more. So that's all of an update you're going to get at present.

Vacation without the kids!

For the first time in 17 years I left the kids and went on vacation without them. I've never even left them overnight! My sister Liz and I took off and went to the Pacific Northwest.

It was heaven! It was cloudy and misty and warm (sometimes) and beautiful! I've never been somewhere so beautiful before.

I actually wanted to move there. We joked (half hardheartedly) that we would just stay there, buy a house, and have Peter pack up the kids, sell the house and move!

 I stopped by Sothebys to check out the real estate market up there. Problem was everything affordable were tiny cottages and everything big enough was $1.5 million or more! So there goes that plan.

New plan: Get the kids out of the house, sell the house and move to a two bedroom cottage on the beach! Now, how to fast forward the baby. She thinks she's a big kid. Do you think I can put her in high school this year?

All joking aside, it was a wonderful trip. A lot of people thought Liz and I wouldn't make it spending that much time together. But we did fine!

We drove straight both ways. It was a 15 and a half hour trip each time. After that much driving you go pretty loopy! And you totally lose your ability to walk! If I had been pulled over I wouldn't have been able to pass a sobriety test.

But it was a ton of fun! We camped on a beach (well, behind the sea wall). We enjoyed long walks on the beach, shopping in local sea side shops, seeing amazing scenery, and eating delicious food. We also spent two days with an aunt and uncle that live up there. It was great being able to spend real time with them.

Everything worked out amazing. The weather was perfect. We found tour guides to take us to Portland, Seattle, and Tacoma, places we wanted to see but didn't know if we would be able to get around. It was just perfect.

Adapting to the climate there was easy enough. Within a day we could breathe fine and didn't notice. Coming back is more of a challenge though. Same with adapting to being on vacation! It was very easy to go there, and very difficult to come back.

I still feel like my head isn't in the game two days after being back. I don't know what end is up, what's going on, what food is in the fridge, and I'm still moving at a very slow pace. Maybe I'll acclimate at some point.

In the mean time, I don't know if I'll be able to do it again. My little girls keep coming up and hugging and kissing me and sometimes crying about having missed me. They're telling me to never leave them again. Maybe in a year they'll get over it and forget and I can do it again!

Picture of Micheala

I've included here a picture of Micheala, our new soon to be daughter.

This is a professional head shot type of picture that a photographer did for free. Professionals work with kids in foster care to make them look their best and take beautiful pictures for them for their adoption portfolio. So it's an amazing picture of her.

We have now spent two weekends with her and she's amazing. She fits right in, loves having lots of younger siblings, and is doing great. It feels like she's been a part of the family for years!

Grapes, grapes, and more grapes

I'm not exactly sure what happened this year. I think it is related to the feeding of the 5000 miracle.

My grape vines usually produce a few bushels of grapes, but nothing spectacular. I wanted to ask my friend to come can with me (yes, the pear friend) so I figured I needed a few more grapes so we would have enough. So I asked if anyone in my neighborhood had grapes they didn't need. Stupid me, I asked and got them before picking mine!

When I picked mine, there were way more than I was expecting. It was so bad I asked for help from my friend and her kids. Then we had to use the kids to go pick the other friend's grapes the next day. It got to be ridiculous. We had grapes everywhere!

Fortunately we decided to do grapes over fall break so we had slave--I mean child labor--to help.

We had this crazy notion that we could just get them all done in one horrible long day and then be done for the weekend. Hahahah...Just ask my kids how well that went. At 9 PM they had lost it. By 10 PM my friend and I had lost it. By midnight we gave up and started cleaning up. By 1 AM we had a semblance of a kitchen, 102 quarts of grape juice on the counters, and buckets and pots full of plucked grapes for the next day.

The next day, Friday, my friend and I juiced on our own. We each got about 52 quarts each the next day.

Saturday I still had about 3 bushels to pluck. My new daughter Micheala got a chance to learn to pluck grapes. Again, I was stupid. I thought I could bake pumpkins, mash pumpkins, make a pumpkin pie, make pumpkin bread, make pumpkin cookies, get the grapes plucked and juiced, and get it all done in one day. Yea, that worked well. I got everything done but the pie, and it was a crazy day. Amazingly Micheala still wants to come live with us even after the torture we put her through.

When all was said and done, we had 220 quarts total. This picture just shows what we got the first day (102):

Here is the song my kids and their friends wrote about 10 PM Thursday night (the day to be hereafter remembered as the horrible day of grapes). It's funnier when you're drop dead exhausted and giggling hysterically:

To the tune of Do a Deer from the "Sound of Music"

"Do, I Do, I Do make juice,
Ray, a stem of trashy raisins;
Me, I'm real-ly, really tired;
Fa, a long, long way from bed;
So, I saw too many grapes,
La, I really really hate this!
Ti, I can't wait til this ends!
And that will bring us back to Do
Do, Do, Do
...
Repeat until you drive the moms nuts and they let you quit and go to bed.


Update: my neighbor came by tonight to ask us to come take his grapes. Apparently he has them coming out his ears also! He has these amazing red grapes. I love those juiced. I'm dumb enough that I'm actually thinking about it. Of course the kids are all vetoing me. Stay posted!