The Theme for this month is "Big"

The theme of "National Blog Every Day for a Month" this month is "BIG". So sometimes we will be blogging about big, and sometimes not. Today, we are. Today was a BIG day. Of Course first and foremost was the day it self. Easter- it's a pretty BIG deal. Thank you Lord, for dying on the cross and saving us from ourselves.

We had a BIG day with our BIG family, 7 kids under six (for one more day anyway- happy b-day tomorrow Caiden), 8 easter eggs for each (that's 56 easter eggs stuffed with goodies and hidden in Aunt Brenda and Uncle Kim's yard), 8 first cousins (kind of like aunts and uncles), 12 grown ups (who we love so much and are also related to us in one way or another) and this is the BIGGEST part of the day- 14 BIG hours with no tantrums. Yes that's right guys!!! BIG deal!!!! Church (not at our church with sunday school and familiarity) for almost 2 hours. Sitting still too!!! Move to Aunt Brenda and Uncle Kim's for almost 4 hours- again, no tantrums even when it was time to leave. Playdate in Jillian and Elliot's yard for 2 hours in the evening, no tantrums. Dinner and bedtime with no tantrums. BIG deal again. I am feeling so blessed for so many things today. I am blessed by my savior who died for me, blessed by the grace extended by that same savior everyday, blessed by an amazing family, blessed by the "easter Bunny" who always knows just what my kiddos need (thanks Mimi), blessed by the memory of my sweet Daddy who would have loved every minute of today, blessed by my husband who was so helpful during the chaos, and blessed by my precious babies BIG day with no melt downs. I guess you could say I am blessed BIG time!

Never Leave a Child Unattended

Well, sometimes this goes without saying. Just as I start to let my guard down- WHAM-O!! As the mother of Andrew Jess Yecheneku Sanborn, I am VERY aware of the reality of the name of the post. Lately the kids have been playing really well together for really long periods of time. Today I took Andrew home to change our clothes (we went to breakfast at our Mimi's house in our jammies-pics to come tomorrow). Annabelle stayed with my mom, so it was just my baby boy and I! I changed Andrew and started to change my clothes when I heard the service door from the house to the garage shut. I was not alarmed by that since Andrew often gets himself into his car seat when he is in a hurry to go somewhere (BTW, we were going to Target). I am, however, ALWAYS hesitant to leave Andrew aka "Handy Andy" in the garage too long for fear he would recognize the tools in Bill's arsenal as Pat, Rusty, Dusty, Squeeze, Flicker, and so on. For those of you reading this blog that are unaware- those are some of "Handy Manny's" tools (a hammer, a wrench, pliers and flashlight respectively). While Andrew loves his play tools, he has not realized the difference between the toys and the real things yet. For example, the weight of the tools, the way they can cause damage or serious bodily injury to others. I digress... So as I hurriedly throw my clothes on and race to the garage to prevent my 4 year old from inflicting injury on himself, I discover the tools are not what I should be worried about. The car is. As I swing open the door, I see Andrew standing on the top of the van. Yes, you read that right. He was standing on top of the van. I tried not to panic for fear or startling him and causing him to fall to his death (or at least or first ER visit), I calmly said, "Andrew, that is very dangerous, please get down". WHAT WAS I THINKING!!??? He sat down on the roof of the van, grabbed the edge where the sliding door was open and swung himself inside the van. He then got in his car seat, we drove to Target and never spoke of the incident again. And what did we learn from this little incident... "Never Leave a Child Unattended"!

Sweet Nothings...

Okay here it is 11:00pm on the 2nd day of the "blog everyday for a month"- I am barely making it today, and it's only day 2!!!!! Today we had a super busy day which included "quiet time" where I was the only one who fell asleep. I woke up to the smell of poopy pull ups (Andrew has had some gastric-intestinal issues), and Annabelle saying "I want popcorn". You would think my "power nap" would have left me refreshed, but alas... So at the end of our day, Bill still isn't home and I am doing shower time alone. Usually this would warrant curse words or result in bath less children but today was different. Today I wished I could have frozen time. I watched my sweet babies bundled in fluffy towels, sitting on their knees on a bath mat facing each other. Andrew would say, "Annabelle tell me somethin" and touch her chest. Annabelle would say, "Eyeball" or something just as sentimental. Andrew would repeat what she said and they would both laugh so hard they would drool. They would point at each other and say, "ew- you're drooling" and laugh some more. Seriously, I wish I had a video camera, but I think the semi-nakedness may have been censored by the "powers that blog" . Don't get me wrong, they fight and bother each other and make faces at the one that is in time out. They brawl with the best. But today for about 5 minutes, I got to see them as more than brother and sister, I got to witness them becoming friends.

Well- Here Goes Nothing...

So I have been a major slacker about blogging lately because we have been so busy, which isn't that why we decided to blog in the first place? To keep you all informed of all our crazy antics? So I decided to commit to "National Blog Every Day For A Month", Yikes right??!! Hopefully this will get my bootie into the habit of blogging everyday. Plus, I was totally put to shame by a certain unnamed friend who is in Africa blogging by candle light with intermittent power outages. So I guess wanting to watch "Modern Family" isn't a good enough reason to skip it!! And I will be suckering all of you readers into blogging if you don't already (ahhem- Alyson). It's fun it's easy- well, we'll see!! So check back with us often and happy reading!

The Zoo

Okay... Not exciting by any means- but we go to the Zoo A LOT!!! I mean A LOT!!! We have a membership so we try to go once a week. These pics are from our trip with our friend Olivia. We also have pics from our trip to the Zoo with grandpa and daddy, but most of the pics were of the animals (nice work daddy). So if you have a burning desire to see a pic of a tiger or lion, leave me a comment and I will post one! Otherwise- here are the kids at the zoo!

The one good (see picture of the kids) pic we have from the zoo with daddy and grandpa

Annabelle and Olivia sharing some love

Andrew loves him some goats!!!

Mom, I am soooo over your new camera!!!

My sweet boy posing for a picture

The kids checking out the tiger

Annabelle and Olivia BFF

So you will be seeing a lot more pictures now that Mimi and UB gave me a camera for Christmas!! Yeah!!! Here's to a new year and LOTS of new pictures!! That reminds me... Christmas pictures to come!

Mother of the Year Monday

I got this idea from 2 other bloggers (one is on my blog call "Adventures of the Bunch Family"). Of course, it seems as if I have no end to my entries to the "Mother of the Year" contests. Yes, I say contests because I have been in the running since 2006 when we brought the babies home. The latest "my adoption agency would never re-certify me if they knew this" story comes from yesterday. I have been taking the kids on a walk in the jog stroller for almost a month now- every night, without fail. They fall asleep at almost the same spot in the walk each evening! It has been heavenly. In the last few days the walks have been getting increasingly less relaxing because the kids are staying awake for longer and Andrew is "bothering" Annabelle. Last night the "bothering" consisted of him looking in her direction. I was totally fed up by the last half mile. I actually made my three year olds get out and walk the rest of the way home. In their jammies with no shoes! So there you have it... Mother of the year- I think not!

No pics yet but...

I am going to try to blog a little more as my kids are just so stinkin funny! Of course they would be even funnier in pictures but still! Yesterday my mom took the kids and I to see the Toy Story Double feature- I know we are crazy! The kids had a lot of fun, except for the first 20 minutes. During the previews, there was an advertisement for "A Christmas Carrol" with Jim Carrey. Of course in 3D! Andrew was so freaked out he kept crying saying "too scary!". At the end of the preview it said the movie was rated PG and "some images are unsuitable for children". Who's bright idea was it to play that preview in a theater filled with children??!!!

Okay, back to the kids- Annabelle is watching the cooking channel with all her own cooking tools (she hopes to have her own show someday- she will do anything as long as it's called the "Annabelle Show"). She is giving directions and telling her "audience" how delicious everything will be. Andrew is outside with Tank sharing a glass of instant breakfast. He has poured the instant breakfast on the ground to allow the dog easier access. And who says boys and girls are different??!!