John Barrett Linton!!

These are paintings done by my Great Grandfather. Apparently there are many of them floating around. I'm going to try to hunt down more and get them posted as well! I'm a strange one when it comes to holding on to personal mementos. My mom calls me a pack rat, and I really can't argue with her. However, collecting his artwork this way, is a lot less "space taking" than collecting the actual pictures.

My youngest is named Barrett Linton. I guess you can't guess where that name came from. I never met my great grandfather--but his name and stories have been passed down from generation. I've heard nothing but immense love for him from all of his family members. My grandmother was his daughter. If my youngest had been a girl he would have had her name--Katelynn "Dorothy" Noel would have been her name. Katelynn because it's my favorite name--Dorothy because it was my grandma's name and Noel because my grandma was born and died on Christmas day. But he was born a he--so we went to the most important man in her life--and that was her dad-John Barrett Linton.

I Told You I Was Taking Control!

I FINALLY got the boys bedroom cleaned out today! It was a messy black hole! I've been avoiding it since New Years--or maybe before. The boys love to attempt to play basketball in their bedroom, and have actually broken one of their beds. I assumed it was just the boards underneath the mattress that hold them up-but I have to tell you--I was WRONG! It's actually the rail that holds the boards--and it is completely un-fixable!!

So I did what any ticked off Mom would do! I took their beds down, and they are actually sleeping on their mattresses but they are up on storage boxes instead of their bed frames. I turned the huge toy box around to face the wall. No one plays with the toys in the toy box anyway--so instead of having them dig through the box and dump everything out--I made it in accessible!

The linen closet has been moved to the little kids room--so now--there just isn't much in their room to make a mess with! Hopefully-that will help keep it clean!

B.R.A.T. Diet!!

And Now...

The stomach flu sets in! I've had pneumonia like symptoms for over 6 weeks now. Coughing, congestion--horrid! Well, now---I've got the stomach flu. My kids started getting it while we were still in Arizona-from Aunt Peggy in Arizona. Blakey got it there. Barrett got it the day after we got home, followed by Grayson and Jake on Saturday--and me today! BLAH!! I hate being sick--but even more than anything in the world--I hate to be nauseous!

So I will be taking it easy on the stomach today, and living the B.R.A.T diet for myself! It's just lucky that the kids lived the Brat diet last week--cause that means that I have all of the ingredients I need!

I'll let you know how it goes!

Bleck!

Integrating Life With...Life!!

I have been working hard recently to get some things up and running in my life. The one that still lags behind, exercise. Being a mom of four kids, there just doesn't seem like there is enough time in the day to get it all in. I am still looking for healthy ways to lose weight, and wouldn't mind finding on of the cheaper treadmills on the market. I'm assuming as the Barrett finally starts to get older, I will be able to fit my life into my life a little more often. However, I've also thought of going back to school to become a teacher. That way when the kids are all in school, I work their hours, at least as a substitute, so a calm quiet life just doesn't seem to be coming all that soon!

Birthday Donuts

I just drove 1.5 hours to the nearest Krispy Kreme to get my son his birthday treat for his class. Now I will say, there is nothing better in the world than a hot, creamy Krispy Kreme donut--but even though they were hot when when we picked them up--nothing is going to stay warm during a 45 minute drive home--and there is NOTHING worse than a cold Krispy Kreme donut!

I got a late start today due to a funky cold and a migraine, but knew that Grayson would be so disappointed if I didn't make it today. So I ended up dropping off his treat 20 minutes before school got out! Bad Mom!! Bad Mom!!

Houses!!

We spent the first few days of our Phoenix trip staying in a home owned by Sweet Baby Ray and his friends. It was right in the middle of town, and all of the necessities were so close. But even better in my kids mind--the basketball hoop out front!

They would be up and out of the house early--just to shoot baskets. I guess when we get home-I really need to get their Christmas gift put together and outside--unfortunately it was -13 the other night when my husband flew home. So maybe not for awhile!

After the first two nights at the "basketball" house, we took my husband to the airport and headed to my Uncle Bobby's house. We spent a lot of time here when we lived here. That was 4 years and 2 kids ago! They were our only family down here, and they treated my babies like they were their grandkids. Always so sweet. So it was fun for them to get to spend time with my grown up boys, and to meet and get to see my two newest additions. 4 and 2!!

Vacation So Far

I have had a week full of sick people. Ok, mainly sick kids--but people they are! I don't think I've ever cleaned up this much vomit in one day! I feel like I need that Bio-hazard suit for material handling. There is no way this stuff is healthy to be around. I mean the smell alone nearly causes me to add to the mess.

We are looking up however! The weather here in Arizona is warm and sunny, and the kids have had a chance to leave the house and enjoy a bit of this vacation. I'm just not ready to head back home to the frigid Midwest and the 6 feet of snow in our driveway just yet! In fact, I think I'll make me another smoothie and head out to sit under one of the palm trees on the patio! Wish me luck!

Looking Cute

I have been using the best weight loss pills these past few months, and I have to say, I'm so glad! Yesterday we spent the day out with some friends golfing, and I was required to wear summer clothes. You know, shorts and sleeveless shirts. I would have looked like a clown out there, but because I've found some success in the weight-loss field, I looked really cute!

When I get home I want to continue watching what I eat and working out, but if just for yesterday, it was all worth it!

Leaving!!

I woke up really early on the 6th of February. I had gone to bed at 4 am, but had set my alarm for 8. My niece was coming to stay with the dogs for two nights, and the house needed to be perfect for that.

I then realized that we have 5 suitcases and 3 duffel bags. Only now do I remember my husband is broken--and I will be the one carrying the duffle bags with the straps digging into my shoulders. So I headed to Target and bought a suitcase set. Came home and dumped 2 of the duffel's into the suitcases--now there were 7 suitcases and 1 duffel--for 6 people!

On the way to Target it was just barely snowing. We had had terribly cold weather for the weeks previous (negative zeroes) but hadn't had any snow. By the time I came out of Target I could see that it was starting to snow harder and it was sticking.

So I rushed home and told everyone that we needed to leave now. Not my luck--my husband hadn't even showered yet-so that was out of the question. We finally got on the road--later than I wanted--and the roads were awful! So now we are REALLY late. We stayed behind a semi truck simply believing that if anyone spun out in front of us--he would take them out before we would. Cars were off of the road all along the way. Very scary.

We got to the airport, with about 45 minutes till the flight leaves and we still haven't parked the car. So my husband dropped us off and then sped over to the parking garage. I managed to get through the skycap with 4 kids and so much baggage, and then we made a run for security. I kept Barrett in his car seat and just pulled him behind me. I could hear everyone laugh as we went past--it looked like I was pulling luggage--but when we got past them--they could see it was a little boy. Security--what a JOKE!! I had to take the coats and shoes off of 4 kids plus me. Lift 3 carry on bags, and get Barrett out of his chair. My oldest Jake--saved the day! What an amazing help he was!

So we are through security and running looking back for my husband when I notice -- he's ahead of us. WHAT???? How did that happen! He must have passed us at security and not noticed us (how that is possible, I dare not think!!!) He came back and corralled the kids and carried some of the carry on. We were the last 6 people on the plane. Only middle seats available as far as the eyes can see! (Gotta love Southwest) So luckily there were some really sweet people, Michael got to sit with Grayson, Jake sat alone, Blake sat across the aisle from me and I sat next to Barrett!

Now in all this rush from 8 am on, I had completely forgotten one MAJOR thing! Grayson came back to my seat to show me his cool coloring and the woman just diagonally behind me asked me how old he was---I said, He's ...7 years old--today!! It was his birthday--and in the madness of it all--I hadn't even said Happy Birthday! So I went up to his seat--bent down over his ear, and sang him happy birthday!

It wasn't until we landed (no snow to be found) that we heard that there had been a 50 car pile up on the Interstate that we had just been rushing on. And only minutes after we got in the air Midway airport cancelled 140 flights! We would have been SUNK!! But we were blessed immensely and we made it to Phoenix in time to set up the house for company to come over for Grayson's birthday dinner and cake!

Early Birthday Party!!

This is a shot of Grayson's surprise birthday "cake"!! He wouldnt' let me tell his grandparents what we were bringing! Just in case you can't tell--they're cupcakes! Each cupcake had about 2 inches of frosting goop on them! We had to scoop it off--way to much for a room full of kids!

It was so cute--I even had little football candles to go on top. The football in the middle is made out of a Rice Crispy treat! Everyone fought over that piece, but I made sure everyone who wanted one got to try it!

Jake's Wolf--FINALLY!!

Jake finally got to have Pack Meeting! It's been months and months that he's been waiting! He's been working on his Bear now for 2 months-but barely got his Wolf! Normally when they get their Wolf they are given a pie plate full of Whipped Cream. All of the boys in the Pack kneel around it and the new Wolf gets to stick his head into the pie plate and "Wolf" down the whipped cream while everyone chants "WOLF WOLF WOLF WOLF"! Theyd didn't do this for Jake. It was a substitute Pack Leader. Our's is in the hospital having surgery to remove a non-cancerous brain tumor! How scary is that!! But yes, it's finally official! I am the mother of a Wolf!!

Blake's Day Out!!

This is a little pictorial of Blakelynn's day! We got to the carnival and she was so excited to get to the moonwalk. It's what she'd been waiting weeks for. She got in the first on, and did fine--and then went through the second one--came out--and threw up all over the floor! YUCK!! Poor little girl--you can see in her pictures she's white as a ghost! i made her stay in the stroller until she warmed up and felt a little better. She still had a good time, and even made it back to the moonwalks later in the day. She played all of the carnival games with her Grampa--and really enjoyed the magic show! I'm just glad she's feeling better!!

Barrett's Day!!

Here are just a couple of the single shots of Barrett at the carnival! The one of him in his lion is my favorite. Being so little he didn't get to do quite as much as his older siblings. He wasn't a big fan of the moonwalks that his sister loved, and wasn't really thrilled with the horse races like his brother! He started getting cranky half way through the afternoon, so he spent the last half of the day in his stroller with mommy praying for a nap! But all in all--he had fun! He loved the balloons, he got his arm painted, and loved the Orange Juice that grandpa bought him! Maybe next year he'll get to participate a whole lot more than he did this time! One note: If you have been to a carnival you have probably seen the bowling ball game. You roll the ball up the ramp--it goes down the other side and up a little hill. The goal is to get it to stay on the other side of the hump--but it rarely does! Barrett NAILED that game! Out of all of us, he's the only one that won!!