POEM BY TIPPY

Here is an original poem written by Tippy called God is....

God is the Lamb of God.

God is powerful.

God is the Savior of our sins.

God is the one who died on the cross for us.

God is my friend.

YOU MIGHT BE A BIG FAMILY IF.....

This post comes after reading a friend's blog about parenting her many small children. This is our take on having a big family. These are not just creative suggestions - they have all ACTUALLY happened to us.

You might be a big family if...

.. you count by 2's because it's just plain quicker.

.. people just get out of the way, rather than offer to help when you are making plates for dinner.

.. you refer to your mini van as "the little van" and the 12 passenger as "the big van."

.. people ask you how old your kids are and you actually get mixed up when you respond.

.. a bottle of sunscreen only lasts 2 outings.

.. you have 2 swing sets in your backyard and there still aren't enough swings for everyone to be on a swing at one time.

.. you qualify for group discounts.

.. you do a head count before leaving the driveway because you are still traumatized by the movie Home Alone.

.. your favorite Mexican restaurant actually changes their "kids eat free" policy based on your family.

.. you go out to dinner and people ask, "What's the special occasion?" or "Is this a birthday party?"

.. you start to hand a sucker to each of your children after church and other kids start to line up to get one too.

.. people ask you if you know what causes this.

.. the dentist will not allow you to schedule all your kids in one day, but you end up taking all your kids both times anyway.

.. you have a color coded system for cups, plates, shoe bins, towels etc.

.. when your father in-law stays over and uses one of the color coded cups, you politely ask him not to, so as not to endanger the entire infrastructure of the family.

.. you label things frequently with a Sharpie.

.. there are only 3 months each year that it ISN'T someone's birthday.

.. your 5 year old folds and puts away his own laundry - and has been for years.

.. it takes 2 hours to find a hotel that will allow you stay in one room.

.. you take up a whole row at the movies.

.. you have to convince the bowling alley that this "really is NOT a daycare."

.. your oldest daughter says things like, "There are still a few seats left in the van. Why not fill them up?"

.. the "parents bathroom" is just an illusion, because it constantly has foam letters, extra loofas, and kid shampoo in the shower.

.. it "counts"as a night away even though the nursing baby goes along.

.. 2 kids are gone for the evening, 5 still left home, but it feels like a ghost town.

.. you had a nickel for every time someone said to you "Boy, you've got your hands full." And you can honestly reply, "You think my hands are full? You should see my heart."

Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him.
Psalm 127:3

CAKE CUTTER

We had a great Father's Day. Mostly because we have a SUPER DUPER FANTASTIC BEST-EVER IN THE WHOLE WIDE UNIVERSE Daddy! We had a smoked roast, green beans, fresh salad from our garden, and carrot cake for dessert. Dad was trying to decide how to cut the cake exactly. I asked "How should we cut the cake?" Buddy responds heartily, "I can just use my face." We really pride ourselves on teaching proper table manners around here.

TOOTH FAIRY

My Tippy lost his first tooth. He was climbing a tree and fell out of the tree. He was moping around and I was afraid he had really hurt himself. But he finally revealed that his tooth was loose. He was afraid he might be in trouble. I told him that is just what happens when you are 5. And then he wore his wiggly tooth like a badge of honor.

The tooth finally came out right at bedtime one evening while we were on vacation. Daddy pulled and Tippy was amazed it came out so easily, he said "That's it?"

I asked him, "How will the tooth fairy find you since you are on vacation?"

Tippy - with his hands on his hips and a toothless grin replied, "Mom, I know the tooth fairy is you."

TOE JAM

My Peanut loves my Puddin. Peanut's eyes light up when Puddin comes in the room, and she smiles with her whole face. Puddin was inspecting Peanut's toes. (They are completely adorable by the way.) Puddin says, "She's got fur in between her toes." Even toe jam is cute on a baby.

STORIES BY BUDDY

Here is a writing sample from Buddy. He wrote this story with the help of a friend and all the spelling is his original work.

"Don't pick your nose" Subtitle "Yuck" by Buddy and his friend D.

Never evre pic your nose. Becus it is duscusting. Yuck.

PEANUT'S ARRIVAL

To say that Peanut is a blessing is inadequate. Words are hard to capture how much love we have for this precious life. And we really do consider her a complete blessing. Some call us crazy for the number of children we have. And we are. Crazy in LOVE, that is.

Last January 2009 (before we were pregnant) Tippy started to ask all kinds of questions. Questions like "How do you become a BIG brother. When am I going to be a big brother?" He was 3 at the time. I explained that when Buddy had been born, Puddin became a big sister. And when Tippy was born Buddy and Puddin became big brothers and sisters. And when Flower had been born in Ethiopia, Speedy became a big brother. Innocently Tippy replied, "So when our baby is born I will be the big brother." And mommy said, "Oh no, Tippy we aren't having another baby." (Insert God smiling and chuckling here) Later that day, Tippy insisted I draw him a picture of a baby so he could color it. AND he absolutely insisted that we wrap the picture up like a present and save it for Christmas (like 12 months from now). I helped him wrap it and honestly, it just got lost in our paper pile.

By April, Tippy said again, "If I could give anything to anybody I would give a baby to mom and dad." Independently from Tippy's comment, Buddy told me, "It would be really nice to have another baby." The day after Easter, Peanut's impending arrival was confirmed. I just think Tippy was listening to the whispers of Jesus sooner than we were.

When we told our 6 kids here are their reactions to the news, "We are having a BABY!"

Puddin: "Seriously?!?!?!?"

Speedy: "Yea!!"

Buddy: "Yahoo!"

Sharpay: "Are we really?"

Flower: "I'm so happy we're having a baby."

Tippy: "I'm gonna be the BIG brother."

Except they all talk at once, so it's sort of like this:

"Are we SeriouslyreallyhappyyahoohavingababyBIG brother?!?!?!!"

And then more questions, "When? Is it a boy or a girl?" And my personal favorite, "How do you know you are having a baby?"

My answer, "I took a test."

Buddy: "Can you take the test on the computer?"

But the best part of all is that later as I sorted through my paper pile, I found the wrapped gift that sweet Tippy had insisted on drawing and wrapping for Christmas. Want to take a guess on Peanut's due date? You guessed it - CHRISTMAS. So we opened that present this year and we continue to "unwrap" the real deal each day as our sweet baby grows.

ART CLASS

Speedy was sitting with our dog (a chubby but love-able rat terrier) and inspecting her toes.

He said, "What's that black spot on her foot? It looks like paint."

Mom calmly, and without missing a beat replies, "She takes an art class on Friday afternoons."

Speedy with big eyes, "She does??" I think he actually believed me for a second.

BROTHERLY LOVE

I was holding Peanut and asking her, "How did you get so beautiful?"

And Tippy innocently replied, "It's because I love her so much."

TOM and WHO??

Puddin and Speedy are auditioning for our local community theater's production of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. At dinner the whole family was having a discussion about the auditions and the play and what not.

Puddin said, "We are going to do Tom and Duck."

I believe most people refer to it as Tom and HUCK.

IT'S TRUE

It's true. Some day my kids are probably going to be smarter than I am. The five year old is trying to exceed that thresh hold sooner rather than later. I was commenting on Tippy's brainpower and how smart he is right now and asked, "You are so smart! What am I going to do when one day you are smarter than me?"

With a twinkle in his eye and a big goofy grin he said, "Don't worry mom. I'll teach you how to do it."

CAMPING

Last summer was our first ever family camping trip. We had so much fun and created some really great family memories. You know, smores with reeses peanut butter cups, popcorn over the fire, jumping tree frogs, sand between your toes, fishing, biking, tubing. It was even so cold and wet one trip that we stayed in our jammies, threw everything in the van and came home. But the kids are still talking about that trip! We had a raccoon visit our camp one night and eat through our styrofoam cooler. Daddy spotlighted the raccoon with a flashlight. This animal was huge - more like a bear cub. Kind of scary and creepy too. But all in all we liked it so much we are planning several camping trips this summer too.

As Dad was cleaning out some camping supplies he came across our camping stove.

Speedy asks, "Is there a dead animal in that stove?"

(I refuse to believe this is a direct comment on my cooking, but rather a misunderstanding. Or at least I hope it was. In my experience, animals do not usually offer themselves up for use as dinner. And I have never seen one crawl onto the stove to be cooked. Furthermore, the raccoon from last summer to which Speedy refers would never have fit in our small camping stove)