A Thorn Among Roses

So, it's been a while since i posted...years, in fact.  I stumbled upon to an old post and thought, I need to write more.  So here we are now... My family looks completely different and times are different, but we are still just the same people.  We've added one...P got married 2 years ago and now we have A.  I will talk more about that later.  But isn't our pic soooo cute?   For now, life is crazy and wild and sometimes completely unpredictable, but we are still praying and playing together.  Ryan and I are on our 21st year of marriage (woot woot), and the kids are well, old!  P is 25 and happily married to A, and they are celebrating 2 years next month.   B is a junior,  has a job and is blowing our minds with all she is achieving in this world, and she's one of the funniest kids on the planet.  She's grown an amazing amount in all her therapies and in life in general...she's an advocate for all who struggle, and au...

i have been super blessed with a man who not only loves and adores me, but thinks his daughters are all queens deserving of the most love a daddy can give.  in this family, and with other special needs families, there are days that make being fully engaged, well, let's just say difficult. poop, for instance...it's still an issue in our house.  with kids 20, 12, 10, and 7, you would think that we were well past the poop problems, but we are not.  ASD (autism spectrum disorder) is a beast when it comes to poop. and here's a little insight on me...i'm a gagger, meaning the harsh smell of poop or puke makes be puke.  but the amazing hot hubs, he's a beast on the clean up.  poop on the walls...he scrubs it.  poop pasted on the toilet...he cleans it up.  poop on the shower curtain...he washes it.  and he does it without being nasty.  (he doesn't like it...but he does it.) so, when people see our fam and think it's all amazingly perfect and cu...

it happened today...she got her license.  and guess who she wanted to take on her first drive? yeps...sofia daisy. so off they went...without me...to get a poster board and stickers for a school project. {my credit card, of course}. and that officially means i am old... the upside to all this?  i have another driver to tote around the kiddos if i need it! {do you see the smile on sofia's face??}

we travel all the time by car...from 2 to 8 hours one way for softball...all the time. and how do we do it? cheap for one... lots of pillows...red boxes are a life saver...snacks...and secret "special stops" for ice cream. and of course... sofia crying...jada gazing...brooke resting...paige iPod'ing and chilling. altogether, boringly...but we get the job done!

i'm finding all kinds of pics i have to share with you all from the summer... one of the best things about travel softball is going places you would NEVER go normally as a family, so you have to make an adventure out of every place you go. we headed to nationals in michigan this year and on the way home found the "germany in michigan", frankenmuth.  why did we stop there?  we heard the fried chicken at the bavarian inn was worth it. i can tell you that hubs really enjoyed the huge beer glass... but the best thing of all...paige being the pied piper of the girlies! it doesn't get any better than that...because it's embarrassing for all future major events in each of the kids lives!

dreams are an amazing thing to have...so when brooke brought home a piece of art she had created with her dream for our family, i had to ask the rest of the girls too. paige's dream for the fam: "spring break right now. beach. pool. done." jada's would be: "i wish i could be a cheerleader and then the whole family would come and cheer me being a cheerleader." sofia's would be: "i would be  candle." me: why?? sofia: "because ...ummmm...why not?" brooke's...well, it's in picture form. and if you completely understand what this means, let me know.  i'm wondering if it's for all of us to grow long ears, walk on all fours and smile all the time...but who knows!

we love to decorate around these parts at christmas time...and there seems to be no lack of helpers, either! but when my SIL meg { www.megandtheboys.blogspot.com } comes from colorado to visit, there's even more help...and way more fun to go along with it! it was a "new tree" look this year...and boy, was it fun!!! it all started with my desire to have a tree that looked like the girlies...hot pink and green...and it took off!!! walmart delivered with NON BREAKABLE ornaments that were super fab and cheap...spiced up a little with ribbon for hanging and...bazaam! and then, the FAIRIES!!!!  oh my word...the fairies!!!!  thank you tj maxx! there's always the "star" and how brooke fights to be the one to put it on...she won this year, again.  stinker. and somehow, there's still not a single pic of me with the fam or the tree...such is life. i did grab this super fab shot of the hubs...donning the garland. i'm pretty happy with it...i dream of th...

we're at hubs fam's house and like for the first time in years, we are all together...so we tried pics.  it kinda worked... there's a whole bunch of others that are hilarious...some are just plain annoying, but honestly, we're all still together! happy post thanksgiving weekend...and gear up for that christmas holiday season.

family is super important...and we have a HUGE family!!!  every year we have the big old fam reunion...and since there are 5 fams represented {grandpa and his 4 sisters}, we all have a color we wear...and our color is red. my dad is the oldest of 8...and well, all of them have a number in their fams now, so we're a huge group...a real sea of red.  at he reunion, there were 127...and that was missing a whole bunch! and come reunion time, we bring our a-game...because there's some pretty fab stuff.  i mean, we are quite the people. not!!!  grandpa died 2 years ago and so grandma is the matriarch and she loves the reunion!  she's the cheerleader... we have major competitions, with huge prizes.  this year...wait for it...watermelon seed spitting contest.  {i refused to participate...sorry about that}.  but in the spirit of fam, gab tutored brooke... then brooke passed on the info to her sister and cousin...i mean, we NEED to win!! no matter what, ...

when your kid plays travel softball, the whole fam plays travel softball. we live it.  eat it. dream it. we are a softball family...but it's fun and we all love it. sofia feels most at home in the brickdust and dirt that surrounds the fields. b loves to field grounders and hit, if she's playing.  otherwise, it's all about making "soup" out of stuff around the fields and playing make up games with friends. foul balls...sofia tries to get them all! jada remains a fashionista no matter where she is and... on and off the field...some things never do change. a big sister is always a big sister, even when the little sister is really stinking cute!!!

someone needs to send an alert to the weather dude that it's MAY!!! we have been freezing our booty's off here in good old indiana...it's so bad that sofia walked up to the cadillac today and said, "momma, get in cad-oh-wak and go to floor-ee-duh now, please."  it's that bad...we need some sunshine bc we are starting to lose it here. my gift to you today is some florida sun...via our vacation last month. if i close my eyes, i can still hear the waves...if i could just jump in the cadillac and drive there now.  hmmmm....maybe?

with softball season in full swing, there's a lot of time we as a family spend at the fields.  if paige isn't playing, brooke and jada might be...and even when none of our girlies are playing, we go and watch our friends teams play...we're weird like that. anyway, here's a week in pics of what we did...including paige's bday... do fans get any stinking cuter than this??? i mean, really!!! getting runs scored and winning games... having family dinners, field side... along with some special treats {aka sour punch straws} with friends... fielding fly balls... playing at the fields while paiger plays... spending your 15th bday watching a friend's softball game...with your teammates and family... and remembering the best pie in the world is from the most famous and never to be overestimated, stacy london's derby pie...made especially for paige on her bday {thanks stacy}... and as much as paige loves softball, london's derby pie is a very, very close...

tried doing some fam shots yesterday, but the wind didn't cooperate.  paige and i had hair going everywhere...it was not pretty.  oh my...another try later today! and with no photoshop i can't even make us look better.  sad.  very sad. {and hello wind on the shirt making my belly look worse!  not funny at all} in spite of all that , there are a few shots i grabbed that i liked tho...what do you think? love love love this one...my girlies!!! almost... and most of them... and sof quickly got too tired, after like 4 minutes of shots.  she's still cute even when she's tired. it's our last full day at the beach...we've been taking advantage so far.  but now, it's nappy time.  praying for decent fam shots tonight...we'll see! have a good weekend!  what are you up to?  we're up to driving back home to indiana...where it's 36 degrees today!  i know! shut up!