I was 14 when my baby brother was born.  We were in the midst of lots of familial changes. He was a surprise, to everyone. My mom didn't even know she was pregnant until she was almost 5 months along. Her doctor had told her she was just stressed. I guess sometimes the doctors get it wrong, ha.

This is the closest thing to a baby picture I have of him:

My mom looks really happy huh? She hates having her picture made.  I bet you couldn't tell, huh?

When I hit 16 and got a car, (and a job, and lots more responsibilities at home) I used to take Dustin with me everywhere I went. Out on a date? I had a car seat and he trudged along. My boyfriend worked at the mall so I'd load up the stroller and take Dustin with me to go hang out at the kiosk. People were forever asking us if he was ours.  I moved out of my house the spring I turned 18, before I graduated high school. Leaving that little boy was one of the hardest things I've ever done.

Today, he turns 21. He was 6 at my wedding. 6!  I can't believe how fast the time has flown. (this is all in my head today as I realized as I was chewing Alex, my firstborn, out for a bad attitude this morning and I realized mid-lecture that I was looking UP at him.   YIKES)

Anyway, I hope he's having a great day. This picture below is Dustin on the left, and our other brother, Danny on the right. It was last fall.

I made chicken soup from scratch today. That makes the 2nd pot of it I've made this week. Sickness is no fun.

I just realized yesterday that in an odd numbered year, all 5 of my children will turn an odd age, and in an even numbered year they will all turn an even numbered age. Doesn't that just blow your mind??

I recently deleted 200 photos off my phone. Now I'm down to about 420 left. I may have a problem.

Two of my kids are obsessed with playing minecraft.

I read 3 books this week.

Sometimes I wonder how many dishes I've washed in my lifetime. I know it's a lot.

I don't have any tattoos. That one's for you, #Bricker59

Everytime I chide myself for being overly jaded about a situation, something weird happens and reinforces my reasons for being jaded in the first place.  It's an occupational hazard of working with victims. People are really awful, a lot.

There's nothing cuter than a 2 year old running around the house without any clothes on trying to escape from you when you're trying to catch him to put clothes on him.

Everytime I shop at Wal-Mart, I am exhausted by the time I get to the checkout.  It never happens at Kroger.

The only thing cuter than the previous video of Oliver making animal sounds, is a video of Oliver watching the video of himself making animal sounds.

Today, for the first time ever, I'm giving blood. Honestly, I don't really want to. I have this thing with veins. It's not the needle. Give me a good ole tetanus shot any day! I practically love that epidural needle! Anyway, it's the idea that something is coming out of my veins that bugs me. I don't like it when stuff goes IN the vein either. After 5 c-sections I STILL would hide the arm with the IV under the blanket so I would stop thinking about it and make myself light headed. I'm halfway lightheaded RIGHT NOW just thinking about it.

So, why am I doing it?? Well, Alex's middle school is having a drive and the kids get a special treat if they get someone to go and give blood today. Steven started training for his new job yesterday (yay!) so he can't go. That leaves me. Of course, I caved to Alex's begging and pleading and constant handing me the form to sign up.  Don't get me wrong, I don't always cave. I probably cave way less than a lot of parents, but on this one I couldn't justify not doing it because of my own fears. It's a good thing to do. I think. Maybe. I'll let you know later.

Here's a random photo of Oliver when we were driving kids to school.

Ain't he cute with his pants leg all wonky and his backyardigans book? I thought so.

Woke up whenever it happened, not when an alarm said I had to

I leisurely fixed breakfast. This is what it was, Glazed Doughnut Muffins.

Grocery shopping with helpers.

Chasing Oliver around the house, hearing his shrieking laughter.

Dancing to music with little fellas. You wouldn't believe our awesome moves.

Browsing Pinterest.

Homemade lasagna for supper.

Maybe homemade brownies too.

(can you tell I LOVE to cook when I have time??)

Watching Elijah's squaredance from school last night over and over again. Go HERE to see it.

Here's my love post for this week. These dudes. This was last night. It was right before we started our family time. We say our prayers and go through some part of the small catechism.  Oliver always starts flopping around.  He'll stand up on the couch and fling his body down, on whoever is sitting closest to him. Isaac starts lounging around. I don't really know why Alex looks mad. He wasn't. Thomas and Elijah in their underwear. I always gasp, and ask them who stole their clothes. They just look at me and say nothing.

I think people need to use the word "awry" a lot more. Just saying.

In my previous post, I briefly touched on my habit of posing for pictures with random things and people. I left a football player out of that post. The reason, is sort of embarrassing. See, I have this problem. It's a name problem.  I can never remember people's names. And, while I do enjoy football and I know DJ Williams and Jake Bequette and a handful of other famous players, I really don't know much of anyone's name in football. Also, in real life sometimes I have to meet people several times before I remember their names. Sad, but true.

This gentleman was so sweet to let me take a picture with him. I have to tell you a story about it though. Taking pictures isn't always the easiest thing to do. In this case, this man didn't even SEE me. I'm short, okay. I'm only 5ft and 1/2 inches tall. A friend of mine and I were waiting together, to ask if we could take a picture with him. I was assuming she knew his name. She's about an inch taller than me. So while we're standing there, he looks up, and over our heads, (which is just straight out for him) and these two TALL girls walk RIGHT in front of us and say, "Hey! Can we get a picture with you?" and he said, "Sure!" at which point, Signe, my friend, looks at me and says, "What are we?? Chopped liver?!" I replied "He can't even SEE us!"  Now, I exaggerate the troubles of being a short person often, but this was seriously over the top. As in, he literally looked oVER THE TOP of our heads and did not see us.

Don't think badly of him though, because I can't even remember the guy's name.  After the Amazon ladies left, I said, "Excuse me, can we get a picture?" and he looked down and said, "Oh, sure!".  Just as Signe holds up her camera, this other dude walks up and says, "Hey ______ (guy's name I can't remember), I'm Frank Fletcher" (or something similar to that, I can't remember). Apparently Mr. Frank Fletcher was someone this dude was really dying to meet because he said, oh, hold on a sec, to me and turns to Frank.  (once again I was ditched for someone else). The funny part? Signe was already taking the picture so I just went with it.

So, as you can see, it sometimes goes awry.

For Dudes:

On Valentines Day, I attended a function for work at which I got to meet a couple former Arkansas Razorback Football players. DJ Williams, domestic abuse survivor (with his mom and sister fled to an Arkansas DV Shelter when he was a kid, and later went on to be the most productive tight end in Arkansas football history and winner of the John Mackey award for the country's top tight end. You know, if you are interested in that kind of thing). Now he plays for the Green Bay Packers. Oh, and he's kind of hilarious. And single. He mentioned that several times.

I also met Jake Bequette, another former Hog who plays for the New England Patriots. He was tall. And hot.   (sorry, dudes)  When I texted this picture to Steven he replied, "How far does he have to bend down for that picture?" I didn't reply to it.

For Ladies:
Do you have that friend, the one that you've known forever and no matter how much time has passed  you just pick up where you left off? I have that friend. (more than one, actually) My friend Rachel and I met on the first day of kindergarten. Since then we've been BFF and all the other letters too. We share a history. We've shared the almost exact same taste in books, music, and even a boyfriend or two along the way. We were college roommates for a year.  We live about 3 hours apart and with, well, life getting in the way as it does we don't get to see each other nearly as often as I'd like to. So this weekend, we just left our lives and went to Branson. Girls weekend. Just the two of us. We laughed and shopped and laughed and sat around and laughed. I also discovered, after all this time, we have something else in common that we never knew. We both love to take our pictures next to random things.

I do this all the time. Apparently so does she. Several times we'd spot something and pull over. She whipped into the parking lot of this baby just for a picture. I say, good call.

I had her turn around and go back so we could have our picture made with that cat, which actually turned out to be a dog, but whatever. Cat. Dog. Who cares?

This one was right by the road so cars were zipping by staring at us while we posed.  It wasn't a deterrent though, this wasn't our first time.

Do you know where this is?  wink wink, nudge nudge

Also, saw this gem of a store. Everyone knows if you're going to buy scrapbook stuff you also need to check out dulcimers.  And yes, I did get some scrapbooking materials even though I haven't scrapped in 5 years. I have plans. To one day begin again. (anyone else hearing Taylor Swift now?)

On the way home I got to run by my mom's work and say hello. She only had a few minutes so I didn't get her picture, (she hates pictures, ha!) And then I had lunch with my brother before heading home.

He refuses to smile in pictures. He was really smiling as soon as I put up my phone to take the picture it instantly disappeared. Like a reflex. A frowning reflex. What kind of 20 year old has a frowning reflex??

After a weekend of a lot of driving and a lot of laughing, I'm glad to be home to a lot of laughing and a lot of yelling. I missed my babies. 

Doing the survey thing, got my age assignment from Saint Vi. 
If you want an age assignment just say so in the comments and I'll give you one. If not, that's cool too.

Then:
Age I was given: 12

Where I lived: Springdale, Arkansas, in a run down trailer park, called City View. It was not on a hill and there was no view of the city so I'm real confused about the title.

What I drove: Well the only thing I drove was my bike. But my mom, she drove a car something like this, in Gray. We called it The Tank. EDIT: the car pictured is a pontiac but mom just texted that it was a Ford LTD. Close enough.

What I did: I went to school. 12 was my sixth grade year and it was my last year at Robert E. Lee Elementary School.  Home of the Lee Lions. I went to my dad's house every other weekend near Van Buren. None of my other siblings had the same dad so they stayed with my mom and stepdad so I was the only one who spent time away from home. This was the pivotal year that my mom left my abusive stepfather, in June, after school was out. He was an alcoholic and he almost killed her twice that  year.  After we left he stalked us off and on for a couple years.  This is mostly all I remember about that year. That and I was really excited about starting Junior High and getting to be in band.
Below is a picture of a picture from my 6th grade yearbook. It's grainy and weird but you can see I was just as awesome then as I am now. Me and my awesome hair are standing next to the teacher with the shades.

Who had my heart:  Probably no one that year. My Mema who we moved in with spent a lot of time telling us "You don't NEED a MAN to make it!"   (lmbo)

Now:
Age: 34 (but 29 if anyone asks)

Where I live: Conway, Arkansas. I left the beautiful northwest Arkansas (this girl needed SPACE) and came down to the swampy central Arkansas and got "stuck" as we say. 

What I drive: If I'm going to work I've got the 2002 Hyundai Elantra, (which is still new in my mind) or if I've got the kiddos it's the 2003 GMC Envoy.  I hate switching from the Envoy to the car because the envoy has heated seats and the radio tells you the artist and name of the song playing and the hyundai doesn't. I know what you're thinking, first world problems.

What I do: In a satisfying big of serendipity, I'm the director of a domestic violence emergency shelter and rape crisis center.   Oh, also I'm married to this dude and we have 5 boys. I'm always looking for new hobbies for my spare time.

Who has my heart: Well, Steven, and the aforementioned boys. And Bruce Willis.