Kate Gosselin's Journal

July 2 2006… Wow what a day!!!!!! Today we were supposed to get up and take the kids to the zoo… well after last night (Grandmoms surprise 60th bday party which we took Leah and Joel and Cara and Mady to) we were so tired and also (most importantly) our big blue bus does not have rear air conditioning yet ($4000). It was supposed to reach 92 today! We decided to not go but knew we would have to have a back up plan in order to avoid 5 year old melt down X 2…. We decided to go to Chocolate world after dinner and desperately started to think logistics in our heads and out loud to each other. We could not take strollers (stairs etc) so we would need another person at least to help! The babies can walk with holding hands but tend to want to let go and wander. (especially Alexis and Joel) I called Christie and Kristen and Karl Feucht and waited to hear back. Kristin called back at 2 pm and said they could go!!!!!! So we made plans to leave from our house at 6. Around 5:15, it started to look like it was going to rain. We loaded the kids up early and waited for Karl and Kristen….. and it is a good thing we did!!!! It started storming like a wild man! It was hailing like crazy as we sat in the car and watched. I prayed that we would be safe while Jon sat by and enjoyed the storm. I obviously did not let the kids know that I was scared and they sat very quietly and watched out the windows. Soon we were on our way (and glad because our power was out). We had a great time and the kids drew NO attention because we were carrying them or letting them walk! It was amazing!!!!!  Jon says there were people counting us but I didn’t notice! The kids yelled with glee at the talking cows and it was very good to be able to ride all together and feel slightly ‘normal’ as a family!
After choc world, we went to the ‘purple place’ as the girls and we call it and had Icecream. We sat out back and had the deck to ourselves and gave the six vanilla soft serve (I know, I’m loosening up!!!!) and we had ice cream nicely! Karl fed and so did I and he and Kristen kept laughing about them saying ‘bite bite’ when they wanted one!!!!!

Side note: I wanted to add that on Thursday, Jen from Advanced Med Productions, called and said that the network (Discovery Health) not only wanted another hour with our family about my surgery on Aug 3rd, but that they are also interested in doing a miniseries on us which involves either 20 half hour shows or 10 hour shows. Jen went on to tell me that money is involved for us and that they would pay us $1000 for each episode…. So naturally we are hoping for the 20 episodes!!!! She also said that they would pick up the tab also for wherever we would go with them….. as an added benefit! Of course we are thrilled… as I told Jen that talks college money for us!!!!! We are to sit down with Jen and map out episodes soon! We are very excited!

On the way to Chocolate World, Mady was talking about the rain and said the word ‘bucket’ and immediately Hannah said ‘mommy buckle me” she heard the word ‘buckle’—so cute!!!!
When we got home, the power was still out (3 ½ hours total) and so by flashlight, we gave sponge baths on the DR table and it was very interesting! Fortunately, the kids were all sugared up so they just chased each other around in the dark! Just as we were done with ‘baths’ (I washed,  and passed them to Jon who was down the table a little way and he dried and lotioned and dressed) the power came back on! WE did all of the above by flashlight and I must say that I was the calm one and JON was very very grouchy and impatient with the kids!!!!!! Bye for today!
July 3 2006 Today I was less than patient with the kids. Sometimes I am so tired that my fuse is almost non existent. It’s not fair for the kids to have an impatient mom and I am aware of what I am doing when I am doing it…. I just wish I could stop and become patient!
Today at dinner, (daddy was home and heard it too—home early as a surprise for all of us ☺) Hannah said “more chicken” as clear as could be! It’s so amazing that she talks so much! I love hearing it! Leah is also talking more and more. She was outside with daddy after dinner with all her brothers and sisters and wanted to come in with me while I was cleaning up. When she was ready to go back out, she said ‘shoes back?’ meaning ‘shoes back on?’. She also says “okay” after everything you say now and it is very clear!
Today I talked to Jen Stocks again about our filming. She said on Wednesday that Bill is going to officially discuss our series. She said she will get back to me on Wednesday about more episode details and that on Friday we will know for sure if it is for sure. But she also said that it already almost for sure because the network asked for it—it’s different than Adv Med Prod pitching it to the network. That makes me feel better! We are very excited already about the prospect of the income it will bring us—we hope it comes to pass! WE feel too that God brought this our way as part of His continual blessing of us! Other good news is that the network seems to be leaning toward the 20 half hour shows which means that we would make the 20 !!!!! Other good things this may bring is a trip to Disney withthe prod company helping to ease the expenditures!!!!! That is VERY exciting!!!!!
I gotta get to sleep—tomorrow is my and Jon’s favorite summer holiday and the parade to go with it! Always a lot of fun and sweat!!!!! Should be full of memories!!!!! Hope we don’t see some of the ‘stalkers’ or one in particular!!!! Can’t take that anymore!
- July 4th 2006-  Today we were up by 7 and had the kids eating breakfast at 7:30. I am proud to say that we were all in the big blue bus and traveling at 8:38 am!!!!! Quite an accomplishment for two tired parents with their eight kids!!!! The weather appeared a little iffy on the way there with sprinkles of MORE rain, but by the time we got to Wyomissing, only the overcast remained. We got situated with balloons and flags and when I looked around just as the parade started, I realized that we had six adults (Joan and Terry, Jon and I and Jillian and Mark) so I asked Jon if we could put an adult in charge of one child each and he wasn ‘t thrilled at the idea, but allowed it. So Joel sat with me, Leah with Joan, Hannah with Terry, Alexis with daddy, Aaden with Jillian, and Collin with Mark. They learned very quickly from Cara and Mady that when candy comes your way, you dash for it and pick it up!!!!! They  had a great time! I was glad that they could sit on the curb like ‘normal’ two year olds!!!! That always relieves that little twinge of guilt I feel about our family make up and the sacrifices even the kids have to make at times!
After the parade, we talked to a lot of people that we knew and even some that we didn’t and eventually made it to the stone house where we spread a blanket and put all eight on and I distributed lunch in quite an organized fashion if I must say so myself! The kids sat nicely and ate their peanutbutter crackers and cantaloupe, cheese and their snacktrap snacks! We saw Susan and Joe Scornnavacchi and family, Jane Bittner, Beth Steber and Kids and Jen and Jim Bean. Had a great time! The kids (with the exception of Mady who received a spanking when we got home for her behavior) were well behaved and seemed to have fun!
July 4th cont….On the way home we were supposed to stop by a family’s house who emailed us after our Disc Health aired. She said she had a whole box of stuff for us and we said we’d stop by their house, so we did. All the kids (and I do mean all) fell asleep almost instantly when we left the stone house so we had a peaceful drive. We got to their house and they were very very nice. (Sidenote: Jon had been complaining on the way there that he didn’t want  to stop saying that it would be  a bunch of ‘junk’ that we would have to yardsale anyway… I kept telling him that we had to stop because we told her we would!) Anyway, they were so kind, just a normal cute little family about our age. Denise went in and brought out the box of baby supplies and then reached in and grabbed an envelope  that contained lots of giftcards… Target 150 Walmart over a hundred, a check for 500 and other things. She almost made me cry!!!! We were so excited!!! It’s our miracle of the day!!!!! (my quote these days- ‘In our lives, it’s a miracle  a day!’)
When we got home, all the kids went down stairs to play and Jon and I got everything put away, the bus emptied and all bags emptied. Then I made potato salad for the picnic at dinner with Kev and Jodi and kids.
Our picnic went great… I put the babies in swimmies and we set up the sprinkler balls. The girls donned their swim suits and off they went!!!!!
All had a great time and I guess because I was very tired by this point, I let the babies get filthy dirty!!! They loved it! When we were ready to come in, I washed the six down with utility towels and dealt with two poopy swimmies and sent them each upstairs  to daddy for a well needed bath! Thank goodness for my very useful laundry room that can take a beating and be cleaned up in a flash!!!!! We got the kids bathed and dressed (I helped Jon dress and lotion tonight) and in bed and there were no complaints!!!!!!
Overall a good day, I was able to have a good time and I hope the kids had a great time too!  My organization once again saved us!!!!!
Anyone for the organizational challenge of Disney next summer? I’m up for it!!!!! Joan and Terry offered to meet us at Disney to help!!!!!!! Might be a good idea!!!!!

Wednesday, July 5th 2006  Today I was tired!!!! I did not feel like doing anything. I hate days like that… I cannot afford to have a ‘down day’. Now tomorrow I will have too much to do and to top it off, Grandma and Aunt Dot are visiting at 10 am. Ashtyn is here overnight with the girls too, I hope to make banana blueberry pancakes for breakfast but we shall see.
Hannah continues to talk completely understandable conversations. She amazes me. Her new thing is “uh-huh” and “uh-uh” instead of ‘yes’  ‘no’. It’s quite cute!
Leah heard me talking to Hannah about having sat with Terry at the parade yesterday and kept yelling something. When I stopped to listen, I realized that she was saying “me joe” “me Joe” (Me Joan) !!!! She was trying to tell me that she sat with Joan1!!!!! SOOOO cure!!! She’s a little people too!!!!
Collin is very interested in telling me all kinds of things these days…. Kinda in a whiney sing songy voice! But I don’t know what he’s saying most of the time, except that he puts ‘mommy’ in there a lot!!!!!
Aaden had a very whiney day and I couldn’t quite figure out his problem. He laid around a lot and needed his chewey even at the table!!!! He ate and didn’t have a fever that I could tell, I guess he was just out of sorts from our busy day yesterday !!!!!!
I didn’t hear from Jen Stocks today about the outcome of Bill’s meeting in Bethezda today. I’m anxious to hear…. End of week I guess!!!!!!
Oh yeah, Hannah asked again for ‘more samege” (“sandwhich”). She always asks for more now… a little nerve racking…. She’s pretty chubby-ish lately!!!!
I guess that’s all for today!!!!! I took a sleeping pill hoping to get good sleep tonight and not be tired for tomorrow’s laundry, visit, grocery shopping etc.
I wrote out an ingredient list for all 15 recipes and compiled it into a grocery list. It’s huge! !3 ½  pounds ground beef and 5 pounds chicken and 1 pork roast and so many other things…. The list itself looked rather daunting!!!!!!! Another organizational challenge coming my way!!!!!!

Saturday July 8 2006 Home from a long day of 16 hours of work!!!!!! Bleck!!!!! Any way, I wanted to catch up on a few things the kids are saying…
For the past few months Hannah takes the bag of diapers down and throws them out in the garage (‘my diapies’). If I am busy or distracted, she waits at the kitchen door to the garage and calls, ‘moooommy’. Then I open the door, and I say ‘hurry’ and she says ‘fies’ (flies) because I used to always  say “hurry flies” then she hurls the diapers, and kicks them if necessary and I shut the door and we slap five… such a helper. Leah wanted a turn and did get a few, but gave up trying to compete with Hannah so now she asks to turn the ‘ligh’ (light) off, the heart lamp actually, and she just pretends by sticking her hand in there and I turn it off.
Other things they say ‘my sou’ (my sound) for the sound machines… everyone needs a chance to turn off/on the two sound machines… they get turned on and off a lot!!!!
The other day, Hannah was referring to Leah about something and kept calling her ‘Hobo” and Jon and I laughed and kept asking her why she was calling her that…. Last night I finally figured it out…. She is calling her “Hopie” like I do sometimes!!!!!
The other day, the neighbor had his blue tractor parked right out from the sliding glass doors of the dining room…. Before breakfast, Collin caught sight of this and started yelling very excited ‘datorw mommy ‘ over and over louder and louder. That really made his day!!!!! (tractor mommy)
I also forgot to write that on Thursday I made pancakes (blueberry banana—organic!!!) for breakfast. Aaden ate his two and promptly turned to me and said ‘more cancakes mommy’—so cute. Such a high pitched voice coming from my little man!!!!!
Hope to head to Glad tidings tomorrow. Hope I can get up!!! It’s 12:16 am – ouch it’s gonna be ugly!!!!!!!

Monday July 10, 2006  Today was an okay day. Jon emptied the dishwasher and filled the cups and snapped the bibs for me! It was a very exciting surprise for me and helped me to be on or ahead of schedule!!!! I was sure to thank him big!
Jodi and kids came after breakfast and played… our 4 oldest continue to fight like brothers and sisters and it is driving us crazy! The 7 little kids and Jodi and I were inside and at lunch I made lunch for everyone to help Jodi out in her really “big” days! Her big day is next Wednesday, the 19th.
A lady from our neighbor’s church (joyce Hess’s friend) called and is going to bring us dinner tonight… yeah! Now I can spend all afternoon doing laundry! This afternoon, I took another dream filled nap- for 2 hours!!!! The babies slept til 4 which is unusual any more so that was good! I wonder if my splenda flavored water is causing this tired and dream filled napping?
Jen Stocks finally called and I told her my idea about the weekend of the 28-30. She thinks if I take off that Saturday, they will be able to help with my income that weekend. I hope so—this will help everybody! She’ll let me know this am if she can do it!
Hannah says ‘I wan uppy mommy’ . Joel discusses daddy and that’s about all- “daddy bye bye. Bye bye daddy” in the morning when he sees me and not daddy. Mady pushed Leah down the slide tonight and got majorly punished by daddy for it! Leah bit her tongue and wanted mommy to snuggle her! Poor little thing! All the kids were down in the basement today and I heard Hannah yelling “Mady stuck, stuck Mady” It’s so cute that she can call out for what she needs now!

Wednesday, July 12. 2006  Today was a busy day! I don’t know why it just was! Bright and early, Betty Hayes from NJ called to probe me about our hour special(s) with Disc Health…’you can’t possibly be doing a second hour and not be getting paid! How much are they paying you?’ I was like shocked and instantly irritated! Evidently, Bill hayes of Adv Med Prod has called them again to ask them to do a special AGAIN!!! I am so mad! So she went on to ask ‘did anyone send you gifts?’ I told her about the stroller and my surgery b/c I didn’t want to lie. I did not tell her about the 20 episodes or the amount they are paying us—we are sworn to secrecy on that! I am just so appalled at the competition that HOM creates! I am merely trying to provide for my family and rely on the Lord to do so! He is in control and I HATE this competition pressure I am forced to deal with! I called Jen as soon as I hung up with her and explained to her that if they would rather do the Hayes, then do them but I am not going to compete! She will relay the info to bill and we will go from there. She did assure me that we are not in comp. with the Hayes for our 20 episodes! Whew!
I will continue later with what the kids are saying! We are heading out to the playground and for icecream when daddy gets home which is in a few minutes….
Okay, so we actually went to the ‘Purple Place” which is what we call it and had icecream! It worked very very well! There was noone there when we arrived so Jon pulled up directly to the deck and we unloaded the kids. Then we made our orders while I let the six run around on the deck! The girls were very helpful at getting the babies up there, by the way! So we ate ice cream and then quickly reloaded because the sky was becoming darker and darker! We hopped over to the Cocoa Castle to play! We pulled up again even though we were blocking traffic out front (oh well!) and then I parked and let Jon hold the fort down (I was too scared to watch everyone by myself b/c I didn’t know what they’d do there- first time there!). They did so awesome! Very proud of them! They just scattered although they did kinda stay in a pack like always! We only got to play about 20 minutes—long enough to run through and snap some pictures because Jon pointed out the dark clouds looming! When Jon pulled the big blue bus up and I called everyone, they were NOT happy! Collin absolutely refused to come and Cara could not control him as her threw himself onto the ground!!!!!It was lovely! We herded ourselves to the van, promising to return soon! They really had fun! Jon and I both agreed that it was great to feel ‘normal’ once again and more and more as we are able to do this stuff-- just the ten of us!
Few things the kids are saying: as we were getting settled in the van, Hannah said “I need cup mom” like a real big kid!!!!! I am so amazed at her recent sentences!!!! And she knows it!
Yesterday, as I was dressing Collin,  he said “Boo mommy” and I looked and sure enough his outfit was blue!” I’ve noticed he is very interested in colors and I praised him greatly for getting that color right! He is very very stubborn and gives me such a run for my money, but boy he is smart! He doesn’t let on a lot but he is!!!!!!
Two days ago, Hannah was getting ready to throw a ball to me and she said in the cutest sing-songy voice “Ready?” I almost died, I could have eaten her up! By the end of the day, they were all saying it, except that Alexis says “Beddy?”. Close!
The new interest is “see Daddy” and that means ‘hold me up to the fridge so I can see daddy and point him out on all the pictures and everyone else for that matter!’ Hannah, Leah and  Joel are most interested in this! So cute!
Hannah and Leah say “I wanna see”.
The other night when Jon was changing diapers, he said that Leah ran over to him at the changing table and said “me nec” (me next). He really got a kick out of it!
On Tuesday, Hannah was playing at the fridge with the animals that are on the Leap farm thing and she lined them up on the side of the fridge. Then she laid them all out on a chewey on the floor and looked at me and said “church mommy”. I said “oh are they going to church?” and she answered “Yes”. She is already starting to use her imagination! I am amazed! What if she turns out like Mady, whose imagination ran away with her years ago? Oh NO!!!!! Ha Ha.

Thursday, July 13th 2006- this morning, bright and early, Maryjo Meinzer called and wanted to invite me to a pool party at her house tomorrow! Yeah right! It was definitely nice of her but it’s Friday and I must save my energy and no thankyou! It turned out to be a longer than I wanted conversation therefore breakfast was very loud etc etc.
Then at 11:30 the Discovery network itself called and wanted to introduce themselves…. Too loud to talk and they said they’d call back this afternoon during naptime but they haven’t called yet and I’m dying of curiosity to know what that was about! I’m sure they won’t bother to call back but I wish they would! More later if I get a chance……

Sunday July 16, 2006  Wow,  I need to catch up…. The Disc Health Network did indeed call back on Thursday afternoon. I still can’t quite get the jist of what the intent was…. They mentioned right off how they are such HUGE fans of ours and (the VP of the network) how his wife watched us and how they are so appreciative of how honest we were and how obvious it is that Jon and I love each other and our family and Wendy the exec of our show (worked on it with Jen) said  “Kate you just popped, you really did” and the VP said he hopes we have a long and productive relationship together and that he hopes he gets to see our kids ‘grow up’. They laughed at everything I said during the conversation and when I asked about the 20 episodes he skirted around it and said that tv is expensive and that it will be awhile til we see about that etc etc. then he corrected himself and said ‘not a while but a couple of weeks’. So I really don’t know what it was all about (they also compared us to the Duggars which are rated number 1 so our ratings must be up there)
On Friday, I was cleaning the dr and Leah came to the gate and said “ mommy I’m kinky” (stinky) and I said ‘okay honey” and then a few minutes later she nicely said again “mommy I’m kinky” and did this another time so soft and patient she kept coming to the gate from time to time to tell me. So cute! Finally I called her and removed the gate… she beelined to the playroom changing table UNTIL she saw Hannah going to the highchairs to buckle them… she dashed off to a chair quickly to buckle one and then ran to the playroom!!!!! Like a little busy bee on a mission!!!!!
On Friday, Hannah wanted me to put a bracelet on her and I was making dinner so I told her to ask Cara but when Cara tried to help, Hannah said “NO NO mommy do it”
When I am laying down Hannah will say “I wanna dleep (sleep). She also says :I wanna paci” (which we only use upstairs in bed and in the car for a few weeks now)
On Friday, I was making dinner and  I poured hot steaming water down the drain and Leah was mesmerized by this and most of the others were watching too and then the sink made a funny noise so I told them to listen ‘I think we might have an animal in our sink—listen: they all got extremely quiet so quiet that Mady came running into the kitchen because they were extremely silent and asked what was happening and I told her that I thought we had an animal in the sink…. (she pretty much rolled her eyes) and Hannah came up to me and said ‘cow mommy?’ If she doesn’t know what an animal is, its’ a cow!!!!! She had a very scholarly look on her face and so cute!!!!!
Leah calls blueberries  “bue-babies”  she’ll say ‘more bue-babies mommy’ I love her!!!!
Alexis got injured and immediately after I had picked her up, Collin brought her her juice cup… no one asked him to, he just took it upon himself to do it… how nice and I was sure to praise him because he seems to get more negative attention then positive attention !!!!  He is so naughty and I really don’t know how to handle him most days!!!!! I need to show him more love!!!!!
Who knows what tomorrow will bring…….

Monday July 17, 2006 I have so much to write that the kids said today… the other day Hannah said “I have head-a” (headache)… haha.
Today I had my pre op appt at the lovely Norlanco and Mady had her dr visit for kindergarten so by the time we got back the six were in nap, Janet babysat. Janet had told me that Hannah cried after I left for an hour. When I went up to get them after nap… Hannah started to shriek and said “nanna home!”
I was changing Hannah’s diaper and then I needed to redo her hair. She always likes to pick her own ‘hair thin’ (even if it doesn’t match) and today she even said “I want dat color” wow!
When I was changing Leah, I leaned down like I often do to spend a little one-on-one and I was stroking her head, well she started rubbing my face too! She is so soft and sweet and gentle – I love her!
Aaden is sooooooo cute! He has such a little way he makes his mouth- it’s like a smirk and closed mouth smile and mischievous smile all in one!
Anyway, Mady’s appt was so funny! Dr Iriana asked her a bunch of questions and her answers were, of course, so dramatic and intelligent! Dr Iriana kept commenting “you are such a clever girl”. Cara wished she was the patient she said so she could answer all the questions!!!!
After her appt we didn’t have to rush home so I took the girls to Kmart to get a new kiddie pool. I also got them a roll of tape each, a clipboard that they have been requesting to ‘play school’. It was nice to be able to buy them each a few things and have them be so appreciative! I love them so much and don’t even mind that my whole existence is for them- all of them! When we got home, I filled the pool and even got to sit with my feet in the pool while the girls ‘watered’ my feet with the babies watering pots I got them at kmart!!! I stayed out for 30-45 minutes!!!! (Mady made a comment to Jon and I separately yesterday about why I don’t play with them ☹ )
Tonight Mady told me that I am the ‘best mommy a girl could ever have’. WOW if that wasn’t great to hear! I’ll call that payment for the day, or at least the comment that made the day worth it!!!!!


Tuesday, July 18, 2006  Well this evening we were supposed to check in to the hospital with Jodi to have baby Bennett… the hospital called and told her not to come til tomorrow at 8 am…. So we will be up early tomorrow!!!! SO excited! Can’t wait to squoosh him!!!!
BIG NEWS: Tonight at dinner, the sky was getting very dark. Cara said ‘We should pray for daddy that he is safe’ and in the same breath, she said  ‘I want to ask Jesus into my heart after dinner’. I was standing right by her because she was talking so quietly and I immediately started crying quietly and gave her a hug and told her how happy I was for her!!!! So after dinner, the girls took the babies down into the basement to play while I cleaned up, Cara came up and said ‘Remember, I want to ask Jesus into my heart’. So I dropped everything and we went into my and Jon’s room and prayed the prayer!!!!!! Then I told her that she needs to tell everyone she sees so that they want to ask too!!!!!
The only other thing that the kids said today…. Hannah and Leah always ask for a ‘nakin’ (napkin—not sure quite how they say it)at each meal. They do not shred or rip them so I allow them to have one- only them, no one else, they shred them!!! Imagine that!!!
Alexis attempted to say ‘Leah’ today—I can’t quite remember how she said it but I know that I knew who she was talking about!!!! And of course Hannah calls Leah ‘hobo’ or ‘Hopo’ and lately “Leee-u’, Gotta go… Aaden puked in his crib!!!!!
Okay I’m back! Poor Aaden! He has a cough and a fever and evidently he coughed til he puked in his crib (chicken fahitas look so nice the second time around!). And we didn’t hear him!!!! I changed his bed occupied and he shivered with his fever while I did it!!!!!! But never made a peep!!!! Leah also has a horrible cough—I’d been assessing her breathing all day! She also has thrown up a few times (mucous) over the last day or so!
Poor little guys!!!!

Wednesday, July 19, 2006  Today was Baby Bennett day!!!!!! We left for the hospital at 7:35 am for Jodi’s scheduled induction…. Well by 11 they decided to hang her Pit!!?? So things really didn’t get started til after a pizza dinner (thanks to Kevy). At 9:11, BIG baby Bennett made his arrival and he is such a short and cute chubbly little man!!!!! We all cried with excitement, including Ashtyn who was present and handled the whole thing quite well!!!! Bennett is 8-3 and I don’t know how long. My guess is 18-19 inches tops!
I miss my eight!!!! I am still awake at 1:10 am and don’t know quite how cheery I will be in the morning light when I greet them, but I know all their smiling faces will help!!!!!! And their ‘hi mommy’ voices will make me melt!
Jon says all fevers gone, all vomiting has ceased but coughs continue in all six!!!!! I keep hearing them on the monitor…constant! I’m signing off for now!!!!!

Thursday, July 20, 2006 Today ‘exhausted’ wasn’t even the word for me!!! After the long day yesterday,  I was near melt down today!!!!! Literally!
I  talked to Jen Stocks today ! She said she knew that the VP of Disc Health had called and still feels that we are and will be doing the 20 episodes despite what doubt Donald created in my mind!!!!! I am still relying on you, Lord!!!!!!
Jen also said that they will be paying for our train tickets for October 8!!!!!!  Yeah, now I’m gonna try to get show tickets for before lunch!!!! And she hopes to get our Giant trip covered by them too!!! We shall see!!!!!
Things the kids said today:  Hannah came walking into the room singing :  B-I-B-I-B (the Bible song). Ha ha so cute!
After nap there was a conversation between Hannah, Leah and me. It went like this:
Leah said “me light?” (Can I turn the lamp off?) “Hanni do diapie?” (and Hannah will carry the diapers?”) I said ‘Yes’.  Hannah came running over at that point saying “No No No I do diapie” (No I’m gonna carry the diapers) I said ‘No it’s Leah’s turn to carry the diapers (because at that time, Leah started competing to do the diapers). Then Hannah said “me do light?” (okay so then I’ll turn the light off). Aconversation!!!! WOW.
After nap, I was coming up the stairs and I heard Hannah saying repeatedly ‘mommy I need go potty’. I always take her and she doesn’t go!!!!! Very interested in sitting , but not going!!!!
Hannah came into the kitchen while I was making dinner saying “me booboo” while pointing to her back. I asked her where it was and she said ‘on my back’.
I said ‘were you jumping?’ and she said ‘yes’
Before that she was in the kitchen jumping and everytime she jumped, she said ‘jup’ with barely any m sound.
Then Hannah was standing at the fridge/freezer saying repeatedly ‘mommy I need cake’ I figured out she needed strawberry shortcake boo boo thing. I asked her if she had a boo boo and she said ‘yes’
Then she had something on and said ‘mommy I loo pity’ (I look pretty).
I love this age and talking!!!!!

Saturday, July22, 2006  Yesterday after dinner, I had the gate up and Leah kept coming to the gate, crying, ‘more cookie mommy’. I said that we are not having anymore cookies and after the second or third time she said it, I offered her more soup. She said ‘Yes, more soop mommy (soup pronounced like the oo’s in cookie). ‘More soop mommy’. And she kept saying it. Finally when I was done in the dining room, I put another bowl of soup (my yummy chicken corn soup) soup out for her and sat her up in her highchair and she ate the WHOLE thing! That’s amazing for my tiny little girl that usually doesn’t eat very much!!!!!!
Jon called  me at work tonight and told me that Hannah FINALLY peed on the potty!!!!!! She has been asking to sit on it a lot the last few weeks (maybe 2) and has finally peed! He said she didn’t get excited, but that she knew that she went!!!!!YEAH!!!!!! Good girl, Hanni!!!!!!!
Today was my last day of work until September 2nd!!!!! I’m off for my surgery on August 3rd!!!!! I’m so excited at the chance to get some of my youthful body back!!!! I think that I am quite accustomed to my jiggly belly and that I am going to feel sooooo skinny after I heal! I jokingly told the girls at work that I would wear a bikini on my first Saturday back!!!!! Ha ha.

Sunday July 23, 2006  Today was a memorable day!!!! No, we did not go to church, but we cleaned (Jon helped me as usual) and actually did not argue at all today!!!!! By three in the afternoon, I was letting the kitchen and dining room floors dry. I went down stairs to sit with Jon and the girls and we came up with a crazy plan to take the kids out to dinner!!!!! We were already planning to go to Hershey to play on the Cocoa Castle again, so we decided to go to Friendly’s in Hershey for dinner. We figured it would be best if we called ahead and asked for a table to be ready. So I did and they were very nice about it!!!!!
First, Jon and I and the girls got ready. Cara packed the blue bag with pacis, blankets, cheweys, and be-u (bear for Collin) all by herself and very willingly!!!!! She did a great job!!!! Then we got the kids up from nap and dressed and did hair! Then we put shoes on and already had the big blue bus packed  so we headed out to the bus!!!!! We got there at 5. As we were getting out of the car, a lady’s black dog ran over and licked my leg (we all know how much I love dogs—ha ha). I asked her to put him on a leash because I have many kids who are afraid of dogs. She rudely with a capitol “r” refused!!!! And had an attitude about it! A lady in a van that she was with said loudly “what did she say?” and the rude woman said ‘she asked me to put him on a leash and I said I would not”. So we got our kids out and just as we were walking into the restaurant, the other lady started saying, “They were just on tv: She immediately yelled out “Hey weren’t you just on tv?” and we answered ‘yes’ and kept walking!She then yelled “I LOVED that show!!!!”  I just can’t believe that they would start that kind of rude trouble and then yell out that she loved our show!!!!!WHATEVER!!!!!!
WE headed into the restaurant, and they sent us directly back to our table(s) in the back. We sat our kids and ordered their food right away. We ordered Cara’s hot dog and fries and then 3 other kids meals (chicken fingers and fries) for the other 7 to split. They did so awesome!!!! Jon sat with Alexis next to him and Mady and Aaden across from him. Joel was on the end of his table. I sat with Hannah next to me and Leah on the end and Cara and Collin across from me. Our tables were across from each other. Nobody bothered us which was sooooo nice and amazing!!!!! Noone could really see us because we were in that room almost by itself. Everyone ate and then since we got 4 kids meals, we could get 4 sundaes. Cara and Mady pointed to the picture of which one they wanted. So cute!!!! Mady chose one with mint choc chip icecream and loved it—we didn’t know that she liked that kind of icecream!!!! Yuck, I donot!!!!(monster sundae) and Cara got a candy shop sundae. Jon and I chose cone head sundaes so we could give the little kids the vanilla icecream!!!!!
At my table, Hannah was the napkin distributor…. I showed her how to get them out of the holder and she was off…….Oh and Hannah and Leah were able to handle a pile of ketchup for their fries and did well with it. Noone else was given that privilege!!!! When Leah saw my dressing for my wrap, she said clearly “dip”. And she said ‘ketchup” clearly too!!!!!
The other thing that Leah says now is ‘Top’ for ‘stop’. Ha ha.
We went to Cocoa Castle after and had a lot of fun. This time when we left, everybody came willingly and we didn’t make a scene with Collin throwing himself on the ground!!!! I was congratulating everyone on our peaceful departure and I said ‘good job guys’ and Hannah said ‘good job mommy’.
WE got baths and went to bed!!!!!! Our bill was 50 dollars- thatwill change soon!

Tuesday, July 25, 2006  Today was quite a day!!!!! (To say the least). I woke up to Aaden crying/screaming in his crib… Jon was getting ready for work and offered to go up and see what was wrong. He thought his led might be caught in the crib rail because that does happen from time to time. He came back down and said he was fine, and he did eventually settle.
When I went up to get them, Aaden was still quite raunchy in personality…. Grouchy!!!! We came down and I fed them the usual oatmeal and Aaden threw his food and kept screaming. Finally, it hit me… an ear infection!!!!! I gave him motrin and did my ‘motrin test’—I timed it a half hour to see if my usual Aaden came back and sure enough, he was ready to eat in a half hour and almost happy! In the meantime, I was finishing up breakfast for all the other kids, calling and making a doctor appt for Aaden and trying to find a babysitter!!!!!AHHHHHH!!!!! Kendra was on her way, I remembered that the girls had swim lessons at 11 and AHHHHHH!!!!!!! Jon could not come home in time (appt at 5:30) . Kendra could not come that late she didn’t think and so I called Janet who said she would come today instead of Thursday!!!!! So a call came in about tomorrow—someone wanted to bring us a meal (occasionally someone from a local church will offer) and Jen Stocks called to tell us we are on for Friday shop at Giant (the trip is being donated by Giant—Yeah!!!!) and that my salary for the day on Saturday will be covered by them!!!!!! Yeah!!!!!
I got the girls to swim lessons, Kendra and Rayanne went with us!! Then we came back and fed the kids lunch! I put the kids down for their nap and fed the girls. Kendra stuck around til 2 which meant I only had an hour til Janet came and I had to make dinner before I left for the Country store (I needed to go and this was my only chance to go and have a babysitter this week). I threw my dinner together and got ready once Janet got here. I grabbed the girls (who brought their purses)and left.
At the Country Store, the girls asked to buy something with their money. I said that that would be fine…. And boy was I sorry til I was done!!!! Mady’s money flew all over uncountable times! I had to organize her money and wallet! Then at the register, Cara forgot her wallet was open and flang her money all over!!!! UGH! This day!!!!!!
I was being sarcastic and Mady said ‘Mommy you are talking nice but you are being mean!’ Wow that comment shocked me!!!! The lady at the register wasn’t patient either which also made me upset! On the way out I told the girls we will not take our purses into a store again…. They made me sad because they both kept saying “We tried to be on our best behavior!” the both chose a pack of cookies for a dollar.
Cara’s good news today—She swam across the pool without swimmies on and did great!!!!!!! Fist swimmie-less day!!!!
Bergan from Adv Med Prod called this afternoon and it sounds like they are not only going to pay for our train tickets but also for our lunch and sounds like our show tickets too!!!!!! That would help soooooooo much!!!!!
So I took Aaden to his doctor appt when I got home and for some strange reason, I decided to take Hannah too. Normally I would not take extra kids because I was already taking Cara and Mady, but I did. The doctor (Telford-Wren) said after a looooooonnnggg wait that Aaden has double ear infections. I told her that Hannah also has a cough and she offered to look in her ears and listen to her too. Here, Hannah has an ear infection too!!!! I never ever would have guessed that! She was sooooo good and normal!!! So I asked for medicine for Joel too because he has such an awful cough and runny nose especially!!!!!  Daddy just told me that  Hannah told him that Aaden has an ‘ear shection’ when he asked what was wrong with Aaden! So 54 dollars later, we have three kids on antibiotics!!!!
Yesterday Hannah said a funny thing… I had Alexis on the changing table and I was saying something about being a boy. Hannah said ‘No I not a boy no me’. I said ‘Hannah are you a boy? ‘No’ ‘Then what are you?’  ‘a grrl’ I was surprised! She is saying everything so clearly that it is amazing!!!!! More fun to come tomorrow!

Wednesday, July 26, 2006 Today was frustrating… The morning went fine. We did one of our mid morning art projects. We glued pom poms to paper and named them. Even Cara and Mady enjoyed the project, as usual. They sit quietly and help with the babies projects sometimes. We named each project. Example: as I was writing their name on their project I’d add a title. Hannah’s dat (that’s what she wanted to call it) and Collin’s line (his pompoms were in a row) and Aaden’s mess and Leah’s garden etc.
I received an email back from Lisa about the California speaking engagement and she said she was going to call this afternoon. I was also waiting  for Bergan from Adv Med Prod to call about Amer Girl today…. Well OUR PHONE WAS OUT all afternoon as well as cable!!!!! Iwas soooooooooooooo frustrated! We’ll see … maybe tomorrow will bring some info! I don’t get out much so the phone and internet have become my social activities! How boring?
We ate tacos for dinner and then went to Target. We got the usual stares and conversation. The six (most of whom had never been to target) were very good. Mady was grouchy and received a few spankings with the spanker that newly joined the emergency supply stash in the big blue bus!!!! She eventually happied up!
As we were reboarding the big blue bus, Leah started fussing and when I listened to her, I realized she was saying ‘No home mommy, no home mommy!’ I guess she was having fun (nodded when I asked her) and didn’t want to leave! I told her we were going to drive around and she could look out the window and this pleased her! She is really easy, let me tell you!
I wanted to add that Cara is becoming increasingly helpful to us. She is really taking on responsibilities and doing them well. The other day when we went away, she packed the blue bag of ‘comfort items’ all by herself! I told her tonight that that is going to be her job when we go away from now on! She enjoys responsibility!

Thursday, July 27, 2006 Today was a day of milestones! Hannah peed on the potty a considerable amount for the first time! She had asked to go before lunch. The girls took her and needed a new diaper after (she didn’t go) but I just didn’t get to it so we left it off. Brfore lunch, I asked her if she had to go and she said ‘yes’ so I sat her on the potty while I got the others in their seats. Cara and Mady came yelling saying that she went – and she sure had, a whole lot!!!!!! We took a picture with her pee in the potty!
After nap, I went in and Hannah was ‘tattling’ on Collin….HE WAS IN AADEN’S CRIB WITH HIM!!!!!! He had climbed into his crib and did it again once I had removed him!!!!! I told him no more!!!! But we shall see!
And, Cara lied to me—blatantly!!!! I had given them a snack in a ziploc bag to eat downstairs. She returned about 15 minutes later saying she only had ‘this many’ to begin with! I called her on it and her face immediately turned dark and guilty… she looked like she was going to cry! I told her she must apologize ansd she did! This was so hard for me. Cara is my honest, accountable and capable big girl. I don’t know why she did this! I talked to her about it and I told her to ‘always tell the truth’—my broken record speech!!!!
I talked to Bergan from Adv Med Prod. Today. She said that they are going to pay for our train tickets and lunch and is checking into the theatre tickets!!!!! I am soooo excited! This is such a help for us!!!!! It’s wonderful!!!!!
Lisa Shumacher from New Covenant Community Church called this evening. She is hoping to get us to come out there before December….. I don’t know! They are doing a unit on how God uses the ordinary to do the extraordinary! She said we would be the poster children for this! I am hoping to be able to go in November over that weekend that Jon has a Friday off for one of those holidays! I think it’s Nov 10th. It would be a quick trip but one for the memory books! I am praying!!!! I am excited about this prospect!
Today we got a $25 gift card for Target from a viewer of our show! Thank you Lord!!!!
Tomorrow is the big Giant grocery shop! I am so excited that Giant is willing to let us shop for free! I am going to be able to get all my supplies for my big cooking day as well as my weekly shop! Another answer to prayer!Who knows what tomorrow will bring…..

Monday, July 31, 2006  I need to catch up about the last 4 days….. On Friday, when Jen and Scott arrived, they informed me that Scott’s equipment hadn’t arrived! We waited all afternoon for it and it never did arrive!!!!! SO, we had to go to Giant with the little DV camera that they had sent us to home video ourselves!!!! We went and I spent $406 that all I had to do was sign a paper for Denny Hopkins!!!! WOW!!!! And the DV camera was actually sorta nice because we did not attract much attention at all… not near as much as if Scott would have had the BIG camera!!!! Mady behaved horribly. She came home, ate dinner and went straight to bed. I was exhausted but came home and put ALL the groceries away. I started the chili and put the pork roast in the crockpot for tomorrow!!!! Daddy called and put a huge chest freezer on hold at Lowe’s in palmyra.
On Saturday, I got up early and started. Jen, Scott and Mike arrived and started filming. Daddy took the kids outside. The day was longer than I care to talk about…. It went on and on. And on and on. By the time we had to do our interview at almost 9 pm, I still hadn’t made my stuffed shells, finished my shepherd’s pie or made my pizza meatballs!!!! That would have to wait til tomorrow!!!!
We had a good interview. It was another very honest story. We had to redo our whole story which was kinda annoying, but oh well. We were done after 10 pm and all were tired!!!!
On Sunday, the crew came back and filmed me stacking the fridge and water fun with Jon and the kids. Then they were done and now we won’t see them til my surgery—or actually the eve of. We plan on eating dinner with the crew at The River Inn…. Where I can get crab cakes and a glass of wine!!!!! Oh yeah!!! WE are definetly looking forward to it!!!! Jon and I realized that we have not been away together alone since I was pregnant with the girls…. NEVER since we have had kids….. never since 6 years ago!!!! How sad, no wonder we are looking so forward to it!!!
Today, I asked Beth if her and Kayla can watch the kids when we go to California in November. She thinks she can, so I emailed Lisa to tell her… I’m waiting to hear back.
Hannah sings ‘rubber ducky’ but she sings ‘rubby ducky’. Ha ha how cute.
Today I asked Collin if he was going to Beth’s. Then I asked if he was going to see Kayla. He practically blushed, giggled and said ‘Kaya’. He is in love!!!!!
Today we were looking for Leah’s cup… no one could find it….. Collin came out of nowhere and gave it to her!!!!! He received much praise and was obviously proud of himself!!!!!
When Hannah is sent to look for something, and finds it she says ‘I fine it mommy’.
Bathroom talk: this weekend, Hannah was really into going pee pee… she did it many many times and we praised her and showed every body. She even earned a pair of the girls underwear at one point!!!!! Then all of a sudden, she stopped and is back to just sitting  and not going.
Today, she kept saying she had to go potty (after breakfast). We sat a hundred times but no pee came out. Finally, she said her belly hurt which means she has A LOT of pee and has to go!!!!! I gave in and put a diaper on and in five seconds, she filled her diaper with warm pee. I have decided that I’m not going to push her any more. She knows how to do it, she just needs to be ready!!!!!!
Hannah and Leah both say ‘work’ (Leah) or ‘at work’ when asked where daddy is during the day. Joel says ‘bye bye’ when asked.
Oh, I forgot… Jen told the managers at Giant that we will probably be back to shoot again there if the series takes off…. She wants to do a whole episode on grocery shopping so that means another helpful (free) trip to Giant!!!!!! Yeah!!!!!
Last thing… another miracle…. We got our freezer for 618. After 50 giftcard,  50 rebate, and 10 percent off. (and a free food vacuum sealer). The next day I was talking to Kevin on the phone and he told me that he had a 100 off a 500 purchase… Jon flew back to Lowe’s and we redid our sale and now we only paid 512 for it. It was originally 649 before tax. So we did really well. (total after we apply the rebate=  462.
That’s it….. tomorrow is August!!!!

Wednesday, August 3, 2006 This was an early morning! Jon made me get up at 6:30. Yuck. There was still so much to do! We got in the blue bus by 8:30. And we were off to get the boys hair cuts and then to drop off the kids…. Dropping them off was okay. No tears really. Beth is willing to keep the kids in November when we go to California!
After dropping Aaden and Collin off at Beth’s (her kitchen is awesome by the way) and Hannah and Leah at Susan’s, (Joe was home, much to Susan and our surprise—he bribed all of our kids with wheatables and had Hannah sitting in his lap before we left!!! Quite an accomplishment!)
We ran home, gave Janet detailed instructions, got the girls kindergarten assignment and upcoming dates in the mail and were off! I started to get pretty nervous on the way. I hadn’t had or taken much time to think of myself up til this point. I was able to calm myself. I was really looking forward to dinner that night with Jon and the crew (on them, very nice) so that helped to calm my nerves.
Once we got settled into the hotel, we got ready for dinner. The hotel is okay. It seems very busy and the staff is not very nice, but oh well, we donot have to foot the bill so I can’t complain! Another gracious gift from the Lord, praise Him!
Dr Glassman called to check in with us. He had forgotten to give me my prescriptions so he said he would hand deliver them to the hostess at our restaurant! He wanted me to take two Zofran in the am one hour before surgery—good, because I am nausea girl! And he wrote for percocet and an antibiotic.
Jen and Scott with Mike in tow, picked us up at 6:30 and we were off to the place. I forget what it was called… very beautiful, definetly a treat! It was on the water and there were boats docked right beside. The restaurant had quite a watery/ boating décor. The spring roll app I got was delicious as well as my glass of wine, but unfortunately the crab cakes were the worst I’ve eaten… and we all know that I am a crabcake connisuere!!!
The dessert made up for it! Anyway, we all had a great time and we all laughed sooooo hard… thanks to Scott’s attempt to liquor us all up by ordering a second drink…. Two glassed of wine for me? Unheard of. I did not drink the second!

Thursday, August 4, 2006 I could not sleep that night. Nerves. Woke up early. Grouchy because I could not have breakfast or coffee.
We got lost (oops, took a wrong turn) on the way and were a little late. No biggie. I was the only patient that day! How funny!
When we got there, we did a quick interview thing and then every body got gowned up and we did my markings which were VERY embarrassing in my string bikini underwear. I used Jon’s lifesaving tweezers to pluck some hairs up above at the last moment!!! I’m glad he had those! Jon prayed with me before I went into the OR and I guess Scott was filming because after the prayer, we kissed and Jen came up to me all proud of herself that they got their ‘first on camera kiss today’. Like it was a milestone!!!! It was very strange—do we really kiss that little? Apparently so!
I walked into the OR and laid on the table. I asked ‘Is that my bovie patch?’ And they all freaked out. Soon after that, he put my IV in and he gave me something that made me feel weird and I told him he has to tell me when he gives me something, and he said’I gave you something’ and that was pretty much the last thing I remember!
I woke up (finally) sitting in a recliner, crying in pain, and Kate the nurse was comforting me, I was shaking like crazy and my belly hurt sooooooo bad! The next thing I remember was Jen and Scott standing there. I don’t remember what I said to them and then I looked up and saw Jon standing there. Eventually, I woke up and got in a wheel chair and we went back to the hotel. I didn’t feel much pain at this time so I was able to get in and out of the car etc without much problems.
I get settled in with Dr Glassman’s help. He’s so nice. I didn’t pee for a few more hours and Jon reminded me of that so around 5 or so, I got up and went. I didn’t go much and had problems making it come out, but it did finally so I thought I was in the clear…. Not so!
When Jen and Scott came at 7 to do follow up fliming, I had to go again. So Jon helped me and I went… a few more dribbles. They stayed a little while then left.
Later, my pain increased and I had to go to the bathroom again. Jon helped me and I sat in there forever! A few drops came out in spurts at different times, but when I came back to bed, I felt like I still had to go. So, at 11 something at night, Jon called Dr Glassman who after listening to the whole story (and how this EXACT thing happened after  me c section) he said he would come over and put a foley in! So at almost one in the morning, he arrived with all his supplies and put a foley in. He said if there was more than 300 that drained, it would have to stay in. It drained 400 and by 6 am it had drained another 2000!!! There was no way I would have gotten that out myself! Thankyou Dr G… you are my hero. You caught my bladder problems before I lost my tone this time!!!!
Today, I have had a lot of pain! A lot! The percocet doesn’t take the pain away and the nausea is a big problem too. I am so afraid at times that I will throw up--- that would do me in! anyway, I got to go, I am having gas pains and they hurt!
Sidenote: the other night on the way to dinner with Jen and Scott, Jen said that Bill had called and said that there are more good signs that our series will happen… so that’s good news!

Monday August 14, 2006 (Happy 89th birthday, Grandma)  I need to catch up…..

Friday, August 5, 2006  By Friday evening, the Percocet was literally making me nuts!!! I was in so much pain and I couldn’t get comfortable no matter what I tried or how I laid. Jon noticed that I was very different and grouchy! He called Dr Glassman who ordered Flexoril – a muscle relaxant. He told me to stop taking the Percocet and take the Flexoril instead. Jon picked it up late at night and I took it. It was simply the SCARIEST medication I had ever taken!!!!! It knocked me out originally and then I woke up about an hour later and felt conscious but paralyzed!!!!! It was absolutely scary! Then I was hallucinating! I was talking about a picture on the wall in our room! I said ‘No, that’s not the picture in the waiting room at Dr Moffitt’s office’  I knew I was saying things that were weird but I had to say it! Jon really knew I was losing it then! I think I scared him! He says it creeped him out! Oh, it also made me have trouble breathing. I was scared that I would stop breathing because it felt so difficult to draw a breath!!!!(Flexoril was called in because I was having painful muscle spasms in my abs—ouch)

Saturday, August 6, 2006 By morning, Jon announced that I was not allowed to take any more Percocet and I told him that I would not be taking anymore Flexoril…. So I was on my own with the pain!!!!! Lovely!
It got a lot better from that point. Drug free me and I was feeling much better! By evening, I convinced Jon that it had been 24 hours since I last took a percocet and that I wanted a ‘little break’ from the pain and when I took it after dinner, I felt so warm and soft and comfy! That became my best night yet! Jon finally felt okay to leave me for a little while and went down to have a drink…. He had not left the room in days and it was good for him to go! He did have some fun I must say because he watched movies an ordered room service for almost every meal and relaxed when I didn’t need him! Somehow,  he had some downtime!

Sunday August 7, 2006 In the morning, Jon ordered our breakfasts early (I always ordered cheese Danish and coffee) so he could get up and pack our stuff. We loaded up, but first, Jon washed my hair in the bathtub which was the most awesome thing that had happened in that hotel yet!!!!!! I was screaming as he washed and he said ‘Does something hurt?’ and I said ‘No this just feels soooo good!!!!’
By 10:30 we were off to the Glassman’s. I shed many tears because I didn’t want Jon to leave me. He had taken such good care of me all week and I didn’t really know Lauren so I was nervous that I wouldn’t be able to be myself there and be in pain or tired etc. So I really dreaded Jon leaving. I even imagined at times that he may be able to stay another day! And also, this was our first alone ‘vacation’ since I was pregnant with the girls so we really deserved it and really enjoyed the rime alone!!!!
On the way to Lauren’s, we past a church that looked much like a church that we would attend. We turned around and went back because they had a bookstore out back and I was looking for that book about the 100 best Bible verses for moms… they didn’t have it but the lady was very nice!
When we got to the Glassman’s, a sweet little deer walked across their driveway right in front of us!!!! We stopped and watched it and it watched us too! We were both amazed with it!
I ordered my Carter’s clothing via Jodi and two way technology as we were arriving and Jon and Dr Glassman unloaded my stuff! I was feeling the best I had since my surgery which was a small miracle from God and I was very appreciative of it!
Jon and Lauren helped to settle me in my room and Lauren fed us lunch—organic of course! After lunch, it was time to say goodbye to Jon which was so hard!!!! I took a nap immediately after he laft to pass the time and by the time I woke up, he was calling to say that he got home! I talked to Alexis and Joel and Alexis kept saying ‘Hi mommy Hi mommy’ over and over and over again! Joel, as usual, said nothing!

Mpnday, August 8 2006 Today was a very rough day for me! Constipation was the biggest issue at hand! Also, in addition, my drains were starting to really hurt. I noticed it first on Sunday that they were picking and bugging me whenever they were bumped. It was quite painful and they were also leaking a lot around the insertion sites! But anyway, constipation was the most awful part. Sunday night Lauren had given me a tea to drink to help relieve it and when I woke up on Monday I felt like I had to go but wore myself out sitting on the toilet trying. I sat for 45 minutes and couldn’t sit any longer. So I took some colace and layed down. I drank a ton of water and waited. Another try brought a little bit of relief and finally after Lucy’s visit (hairdresser—so sweet, Lauren’s friend who is going to turn me blonde!!!!) I was able to go and my nausea went away and my appetite came back!!!! Almost immediately!
Tuesday, August 9, 2006 Lauren got permission for us to be able to go out for ONE HOUR according to protective Dr Glassman! So, we went to the mall to walk around. The Pallisades mall… so neat! SO kid friendly! A ferris wheel, a carousel, a huge movie theatre, and lots of Asian restaurants! I got Jon a lime green striped polo shirt at Brooke’s Brothers for his gift because he took such good care of me. I also got face lotion for myself.
I wasn’t done shopping but my body had given up so we went home! We ordered Japanese for dinner yum yum. It gave me terrible heartburn though and I was up all night. I took a Zantac from Lauren but I got minimal relief. I called Jon crying and he told me to use the massage chair in my room which did help!

Wednesday, August 10, 2006 Today I felt like myself!!!!! I was up and ready to go for bagels and coffee with Lauren! By mid morning we left (I had permission for one hour again today) and I ate an everything bagel toasted with horseradish scallion cream cheese!!!!! YUM YUM YUM. It was the best!!!! Lauren got a bag of bagel chips to take home for the kids!!!
Then we went to Lucy’s shop for a ‘dry run’ before the cameras would be there tomorrow! Great idea. I was abel to have Lucy and Bruno do a consult on my hair before the real day and I also met the ‘lovely’ Barbara Lee who would be doing my makeup and I chose my outfit ahead of time!!!!! Jon is going to be soooo shocked!!!!
Then we headed to Vict Secret… Lauren helped me to find the perfect bra. I also got underwear to match and a night shirt! $128 later… ouch!!!!
Dr Glassman called on our way home, (I knew I had overdone it, because I was feeling faint and weird again. This has been happening when I’m tired out I guess? It’s a very strange feeling) We thought he was going to beat us home and I said to Lauren ‘great, now I’ll have to walk good past him when we get home’ . But fortunately he wasn’t home, just my dear Fender the dog! So when Dr Glassman did get home and come upstairs, he poked his head in and I said ‘here I am, resting… aren’t I obedient?’ Lauren thought that was so funny!!!!!

Thursday, August 11, 2006 BUSY DAY!!!! This morning I was up and ready. I got a good nights’ rest (besides a little heartburn) and I was ready for the filming and to get blonde hair and to see Jon and the kids!!!!!
We were eating breakfast and talking about Disney world (Lauren wants her and Dr Glassman to accompany us to Disney next year). Any way at some point Lauren said ‘Aren’t you nervous to know that they are there waiting to film you?’
And Dr Glassman said ‘Honey she’s a pro. This doesn’t make her nervous. This is her life.’ And, oddly enough he is right!
We were supposed to be there at 10… but we didn’t leave til 10:27. I felt bad for jen and our crew! Bur when we realized that Lucy was behind us while we were driving, I was relieved!
All the fun began as soon as we got there! Early on, Dr Glassman stopped by and they interviewed him talking to me etc. When I had my hair in the bowl, I started to feel faint again… that weird feeling like I get sometimes. Dr Glassman is the one that noticed and asked if I was alright. I weakly said ‘yes’ and he wasn’t convinced and neither was I. Then Dr Glassman asked to see Lauren outside and she told me later that he told her not to let them ‘push me’. Their protectivity of me is so dear! I honestly loved how they took such protective care of me! I felt like they were my parents and it felt so good! I can’t ever say that I had that as a kid and I enjoyed the feeling! All week this happened, it was great! At times, Lauren would sit in my room on my bed and talk (of course Fender was with us) and Dr Glassman would come in or lean on the door frame and talk too! I t was nice. I didn’t feel lonely at all.
Anyway, the day went well. It was indeed very overwhelming. But lunch was ordered by Jen from Rocco’s and they let me eat in the chair at the sink. It was very comfortable sitting there and I was able to rest back and close my eyes for awhile!!
At the end of the day, all the girls who worked there were in awe of how I looked and Lauren kept saying I looked like a model!!!! That was nice to hear! (Although I feel more like a mom).
The trip home with Jen was fun. It was very long but we got to talk a lot. Jen said that our series is for sure but that they just don’t know how many they want and who is going to own it…. She went on to say that there might be some surprises for me and some for Jon and some for both of us! I am really excited to see what this all brings! We never thought that our one hour special would bring all that it has!
In all of my NY fun, I forgot to mention a big thing—I think it was Monday night that Jon called me at Lauren’s and said that Jen Beane from Sam’s Club had called and left a message about a fall managers meeting that they wanted us to attend. Evidently, the president of all the Sam’s Clubs had seen our special and wants our family to attend. So I called Jen who gave me the info on who to call and the next day, I did.
In the am I called Sherry, his secretary who told me that they are now focusing on not only small businesses but also mothers and children… and we are the poster family for that! I told her that I would be willing to come but that it has to benefit our family to do so and she said ‘Is it financial help or merchandise that you desire? Tell me Katie what is it?’ I told her that help for our monthly Sam’s Club bill would be a huge help because Sam’s is a big part of our monthly budget and is always growing! She said she would talk to Doug and he would take care of it! And I told her that in order to go I would have to get clearance from my doctor to fly and that I would get back to her….
I called her the next morning because Dr Glassman said I could fly but I can’t lift my carryon and that he is concerned that I will get a seroma. I told him that I will be careful. He understands that I have to go to help my family. Sherry said she would book our flights- me and Jen. I am nervous to fly but I know that God will take care of me because He loves me and wants the best for me. This is another test of my faith in God. A few years ago, I would not have wanted to fly AT ALL and would be scared to death…. But I have come to realize that when it is my time to go to heaven, no matter where I am, God will take me regardless! I love Him and want to tell others about Him and His blessings and love for me and my family… I’ve only just begun. I don’t feel that He is done with me here. He also knows the desires of my heart… to see my children grow up and to grow old with Jon!
The reveal as they called it went awesome! Jen pulled in our driveway and I put my visor down so he could not see the blonde and when I stepped out of the car, his face was amazing!!!!! He was so thrilled about me. My stomach (I took my brace off for the moment so he could see) , my hair color and my outfit and makeup!!!!! I went in and went upstairs to see my babies!!!! They were all so thrilled to see me. They were in their cribs with pjs on (it was 8 pm til I got home). I went around and gave them each like a million hugs and everyone smiled and said ‘hi’ except for Hannah who frowned and cried! I didn’t get upset, she and Leah had just gotten home that morning and were not back into their routie yet! And besides, I didn’t even look like myself! I took off my brace and showed them my boo boo belly and I think they get it. In the days since, Hannah and Leah say ‘boo boo beddy’ and Hannah says ‘ boo boo beddy all done?’ Tonight she asked and I said soon so now she says ‘boo boo beddy done soon?’ So cute.
They are all talking so much more now! I can’t even write all the things they are saying! I’ll try tomorrow to recap….

Tuesday, August 15, 2006  Today I felt more energy and more like myself. I’ve been trying to help Jon more because I can  tell that this is becoming a lot for him to handle on his own. I’m sorta packed for tomorrow. I just have to get a few more things together. It’s a quick trip but with the new airline restrictions, I must rethink things. (no cosmetics, gels toothpastes etc on carryons anymore).
Things kids are saying: Leah says ‘faw down gain’ (fall down again) and ‘nose runnin’ and so much more. She also says ‘Nana Joan’ very distinctly.She is completely talking and says almost too much to remember to record.
Hannah says everything too. Kayla came today to help and Hannah says ‘no Kayla’ very clearly. I can’t think of anything else.
Cute things that Cara and Mady said today: Mady was watching Kayla cleaning up the dining room after lunch and she said ‘you look like a maid working hard’. Kayla just laughed- I don’t think she knew what to say!
Cara was make believing a story and was acting it our. At one point she came to me and said ‘mommy my mom gave grace on me’ (meaning my mom gave me grace) and went on to explain that her mom told her to go to one gas station and she went to another and her mom gave her grace even though she disobeyed! I was so happy that she used that term correctly and is paying attention when I give them grace!!!! (she remembers that I gave Mady grace just the other evening when I allowed her to play with her new scooter even though she was to be in her room for a punishment!)
Tomorrow morning Jen Beane is picking me up at 9 and our first flight is at 12:36pm. I am trusting the Lord to keep us safe during this two day trip!!!! I love my family and want to return to be their mommy/wife. I just feel that this trip is another opportunity to speak about God’s love and miracles in our family and I enjoy the opportunity!
Jon will take great care of the kids during my absence and I will be praying for him as I know he will be praying for me! He has done such a great job caring for the kids and allowing me time to heal over these last few days! I can tell this job wears him out but he seems up for the challenge daily! As I start to feel better, I have been a little hard on his cleaning skills—I try not to revert back to the ‘old’ Kate and realize that men are not designed to clean as efficiently as women (especially particular women like myself) and that I should just be glad for his willingness!!!! I am really blessed to have a husband/father that is so involved in his kids lives by choice and not by duty!!!! He really loves them! I am praying that all these miracles that are happening in our lives will be able to show him clearly what a wonderful Lord we serve!!!! God heaps grace upon us daily when we do not deserve it and keeps on giving!!!!! Way back when this whole new world began—probably at the beginning of my pregnancy with the six—I would NEVER have thought that our family would make it, emotionally, financially (especially because that is how my mind works) or any other way and God keeps providing our needs and sometimes even our wants (my surgery). He is amazing and I can’t wait to tell our story over and over for years to come!
Lord, I pray that you will watch over me tomorrow (and Jen) while we travel and are away from our families. I pray that you will surround the airports and airplanes with your love and protection and deliver us home safely on Thursday night to our families. Keep us safe while we are in Mo as well. Please let your  love shine through me as I speak and let me be an example of your love to all who meet me! Amen

Sunday, August 20, 2006  This entry is a recap of my trip to Kansas City, Mo.
On Wednesday when Jen picked me up, I was ready physically but I didn’t feel ready to leave my family again. But I did and we were off to Harrisburg Int’l airport. We had a lot of time after we checked in and received our boarding passes. That airport is very lax by the way and It made me nervous. Anyway, we  took a small plane and it was very bumpy and I prayed during takeoff  and through the whole flight. The flight attendant couldn’t believe that I had twins and six. She made me show her pictures to prove it to her.
Anyway, Jen threw up twice during that flight and I have to admit that I was dreading the other three with her. I did feel very bad for her—it was due to her pregnancy that she threw up!!
We missed our connecting flight out of Detroit. That was the dumbest thing ever! We were sitting in our gate area and nobody ever paged us!!!! The lady made it obvious that she didn’t try very hard to find us! Jen was more distraught than I was. The only thing that really bothered me was the fact that it made a longer day on my post surgery abdomen!!!!! But the shops in that airport and food (that I wasn’t paying for rally enticed me!!!)
We caught our flight at 7:10 pm and got to our hotel late…. Like 9 pm their time (10 out time). We ate dinner downstairs in the restaurant and went to bed.
Thursday, August 17, 2006  Neither of us slept well and I was tired when I woke up. The only thing that saved me was the fact that we were now operating in a time zone 1 hour behind. So I actually got to get up at almost 9 am instead!
We got a call from Kaaren (who was our ‘guide’ per say. She checked us in and picked us up and took us everywhere we needed to be) in the am saying that Doug (president of Sam’s club corp) wanted to meet with Jen and I at 9:30 am. So we ate a very quick breakfast in the hotel restaurant and were off to the convention center.
We met with Doug and we went over what we were to talk about. He basically wanted me to say what I liked about Sam’s Club from a mom’s point of view. He was very gald to have me he said and I was glad to be there as well and help them. But I also wanted to see how this was going to help my family. Jen told me prior to the start that she had my gift and that it was very exciting…. And then told me  that it was a gift card for $750. I was very grateful but my initial reaction inside was anger that that was all. It took a lot out of me post surgery to be there and I really didn’t want to be away from my family again and on and on and on my mind went. I hoped that Jen couldn’t tell that I was disappointed but I think she could tell… oh well. I must remember that we were invited for a reason and to always be grateful and that God will always provide for us and He has our best interests at heart!!!!!! I am grateful because every bit helps and that I need to be happy about any willingness to help on the part of the others.
When it was our turn, they showed our Disc Health piece and we went up in the dark and stood under the screen til it was over and when the lights came on, the audience of managers and Matthew McConaghey stood and gave a standing ovation!!!!! That was nice and then Doug McMillon asked how my life was now and I talked for a few minutes and I don’t remember what I said (we are getting a DVD says Jon). Then it was over!!!!
We ate lunch there and then we went off to the airport to wait for our 4:50 pm flight. I was sick of planes by now!!!!
As usual at takeoff, I prayed the whole time and flight! When we arrived in Detroit, we again stopped so I could get pita and hummus and a chicken gyro and ate while we were sitting at our gate! We made our plane and it was a big one and my seat was the first row with three so I had lots of extra leg room!!!! What an answer to prayer!!!! It was the best of all four! And it was the first night flight and I loved the lights/!!!! I actually felt almost comfortable flying and that was scary in itself!!!! I told jon when I got home that I am not scared to fly anymore,  I just don’t like it!!!! It is a whole trust issue… when it is my time, the time that God has chosen to take me, I will go no matter what!!!! There is no changing His plans for me. It all comes back to the fact that He is in charge and in control, not me!!!! And actually, that is comforting to me!

Friday, August 18, 2006 I was TIRED when I got up today, and grouchy!!!! Jon and I banged heads today!!!! WE just played today and I officially took over my kitchen as I told Jon!!!! I am feeling better to the point that I feel like taking over again. It’s still hard to lift the kids at this point but the housework I can do most of. I am slightly worried by this point about my belly because it is poochy and seems like it will be big forever. I am bloated though due to my impending period so I hope that this is the reason! I have been eating a lot too though so I don’t know!
We packed the kids stuff tonight and got the big blue bus ready for our trip as a family tomorrow! We are all excited (the girls had trouble going to sleep ) and it should hopefully be a fun day for all of us! But we will see!

Saturday, August 19, 2006  This morning we got up ar six am I think! Way to early for this girl!!!! I hate mornings! But I was rather excited about the day ahead of us, mainly for the kids because I feel so accomplished when we are able to plan and take them places….. as I always say ‘life experiences!!!’
We finished packing the cold things and then Jon went up to get the kids and dress them. We were in the car and the kids had their breakfast in hand at 7:19 if I remember correctly! Not bad!
I felt like a flight attendant the whole way! My belly hurt but I was up and down the aisles of the van handing our things- breakfast refills, dropped cups, etc. Ugh. It wouldn’t have been a problem otherwise but my belly hurt so bad by the time I got there!
The plan was to go to Dr Glassman’s office first… when we got there, we got them out and congregated in the yard and then took our bag of toys into the waiting/ foyer area. They were very loud let me tell you!!!!! I had forgotten that Dr G shared a building with a dentist and a pediatric office! Woops! Oh well, what could they say? When Lauren and Dr Glassman got there, Jon and Lauren stayed our with the kids and I went to have my incision checked. The report: 1, I must stop wearing my post surgery garment
                                                2. I donot have a seroma (YEAH)
                                                3. I am still swollen and it will go away.
                                                4. I can lift, I just can’t ‘go crazy’

So the report was good! We went back out and Jon had the kids ourside. We changed diapers in the van while Dr G and Lauren watched. They were definitely amazed at all that goes into this! They sat quietly in their car and watched as we did the final load up. It takes us a good 15-20 mintes to load especially if we are changing diapers!
We went to Bruno’s next to see Lucy. All the women were amazed! They were all screaming at our kids! We put them on the sofa that is in frint of the sinks and everybody was taking pictures and I didn’t ming because everyone  just loved them so much and I flet such support!
We then moved on to the mall. We headed right to ‘Stir Crazy’ and ate lunch. It was such a neat place! I let Jon pick my meal because he always picks the right stuff!!!! Especially at an Asian place! The girls chose with my help. Cara had shrimp and Mady chose soup with noodles! Kinda strange choices but they ate them! I got a good picture of Mady eating with chopsticks. We took pics of all of us at the table. The funniest things were Hannah eating from chopsticks that Dr G was feeding her from! He was feeding her popcorn that I had brought! And the other funny thing was… after we had all been eating for awhile, I realized that Collin, who was sitting at the end of the table between Cara and Mady, had no plate of food!!!!! He said nothing! That was so funny! He ate two plates of his rice, chicken and broccoli in no time and didn’t say one word!
After lunch, we headed to the carousel. We took pics in front of it. Then we went to get the kids on…it was $2 per child!!!!!! So Lauren and I decided to sent the girls only. When I headed back toward Dr G, (with the six) he said ‘What happened?’ I told hom how much it cost and he said I had to send them. Lauren came over and she said ‘what should we do honey?’ and he said ‘Are you kidding? I waste more money on my daughter than that in a days time!’ Before I could dig my wallet out, he handed Lauren the money and sent us off. It bothered me a lot but I know they wouldn’t do it if they didn’t want to!!! They are so sweet—throughout the day, Lauren kept announcing that they have ‘officially adopted us!!!’
Then we went to Vict Secret to look for my garment that I need to wear! They didn’t have it so we headed to Macy’s—meanwhile, Jon and Dr Glassman pushed the strollers ALL DAY so we could get our shopping done. The girls and I had a fun day! They really bonded with Lauren and she did so well with them!
Lauren wants us to come and go outlet shopping in the fall. I don’t know how that’s gonn happen but we shall see. Lucy and Lauren also say they are coming to take me to the spa and cut my hair…. That’s exciting!

Monday, August 21 2006 Today I had such fun with my Jamie. She is such a blessing to me! She handles the kids so nice. We ate breakfast and then went outside til lunch. Hannah initially shyed away from her but eventually til the end of the day she was smiling and allows Jamie to do things for her. The other kids were saying her name early in the day. And when Jamie leaves the room, Leah will say ‘bye Jamie’.
During nap, Jamie mopped my floor and folded my laundry.

Exciting news of the day… Jon got a voice mail from Mark Ferrero…. Evidently a casting agent in California for a Japenese commercial for Canon cameras… we couldn’t figure out why she would phone our webmaster and not email us. So we didn’t really give it much thought. I called and left a message for her but I didn’t think it would come to be anything. Especially since I was thinking we would have to go to California. During naptime, she called and told me that this is a commercial that will air only in Japan and they will come to us and it pays a minimum of $1500  per child  per day. The decision will be made on Aug 24 and it’s between another family and us and she will let us know; We had to email moving video and recent pictures and she will let us know….
 That is an income of $12000 in a day. My prayer is that we will get this and then I can cut down to 2 Saturdays per month!!!!! Jon has also been praying that I can stay home so we can do family things. That would be so much fun!!!!

Tuesday, August 23, 2006 Today we had water fun! We ate breakfast—banana pancakes, and then we went outside and played in the pool all day til lunch. We went in and dried off the kids and their mud and rediapered. I told Jamie that it’s no wonder that I don’t do this by myself. It’s so hard!!!!! And my energy this week has been waning. I am so tired and I get irritated with myself!!!!! Anyway, then I walked the girls down to their last swimming lessons. I stayed to watch…. Cara can really really swim!!!!! It almost made me cry! Mady is not as brave. But she does well without her swimmies and can swim under the water. I am so proud of them both! I plan on sending them all next year…. If I can afford it!!!!!!!!!!
Things the kids say: Today Hannah was picking  her nose. I told her nice girls don’t pick their noses. Leah was on my lap at the time. She said ‘ Snut lucky’ (snot yucky)
Tonight Jamie and I went to the Hershey outlets. We took Hannah, Cara and Aaden. Hannah an Aaden had so much rare fun. When we got out of the van, Hannah said ‘paci van’ I said ‘yes’. (leave paci in the van) then when we were coming back to the van she said ‘van paci me’ Each time we get out she asks if she should leave her paci in the van. So responsible. So nice.
Hannah also said ‘mommy push me’ and she would yell my name in the store in varying loud degrees if I did not answer. She was so good in the stroller the whole time! Jamie took Aaden out of the stroller and let him walk and he did well. They both enjoyed themselves. Everytime I asked Hannah if she was having fun, she said very enthusiastically ‘mmm-hmmm’
The best part of the shopping trip, was when Cara tried on the pair of boots that I was willing to buy her, she jumped up and down and said ‘YES’ and her face lit up and she was so thankful!!!! Cara had wanted boots for so long! She kept asking and asking for a pair of ‘Kayla boots’. (Kayla Carson) . That cracks me up. She is so fashion conscious. So I bought her and Mady a pair of boots and a pair of suede brown shoes. I spent 200 some dollars and shouldn’t have, but the girls also needed long sleeve shirts! I also bought each of the six a pair of sunglasses because that is what they wanted.
Also, I asked Hannah on the way home from NY if she loves Lauren ‘no’ and if she loves Dr Glassman ‘no’ and she waited a second and called ‘mommy I love daddy’. If that doesn’t make you wanna cry.
That’s it. I’ll try to remember more later.

Saturday, August 26, 2006  Okay it was a sad morning because bright and early Jamie left!!!!! So bery sad! She was the very best helper ever! It really made me think about how much easier and less stressful my life could be if only we could afford a part time helper/ cook/ childcare provider!!!!1 Not any one would do though…. Jamie and I think so much alike and we care for our kids the same way… she doesn’t stress me out at all! She doesn’t get in my way or annoy me, I love her so much!
Things the kids have been saying:  Leah said last night as she pointed to my pocket ‘puck-ette’. And at dinner the other day as I handed Hannah her seconds ‘hot Hanni, careful’ as clear as could be! Leah also now ‘reads’ a numbers book and says ‘semin peapots’ for ‘seven teapots’. She knows all the pictures and uses her favorite numbers on all of them ‘fourfive’. So big!
Hannah and Leah know who is a boy and who is a girl! Just now, Hannah came to me and said ‘colly bite Joel mommy’. (Oh dear) .
I can’t think of much else…. Oh, Jamie made awesome Broccoli and cauliflower while she was here (organic of course) and they all yelled ‘more brocci’ Leah especially.They loved it and so did the rest of us!
I emailed Susan Havins yesterday (she is the casting agent for that commercial for Canon) and she emailed back saying she ‘is hoping to hear something next week’. I am letting it go like I did with the 20 episodes and praying.

Wednesday, August 30, 2006  Well in a day or less, we will have two kindergarteners in our house!(In fact, tonight I heard daddy calling to the girls ‘hello my kindergarteners’.) I feel old and very privileged to say the least! I go back and forth between feeling happy and excited to have my afternoons to myself (as long as naps last that is) and sad that I will feel lonely and that this is a control issue that I can’t control!!!!!
But anyway… let me back up!
Things the little kids are saying: Since Hannad has come home from Susans’ she says ‘no no Daisy (susan’s cat) and ‘lay down Winnie’ (Susan’s dog). She says it with a coy smile when I prompt her… she knows I think it is so cute!
On Sunday, I was sitting in the playroom with everybody. I was on the sofa and Hannah climbed up next to me. I asked her if she would sit on my lap. She said ‘No I wanna sit’. I said ‘but you are my baby and I want to hold you’ And she replied ‘I not a baby. I girl’. I almost cried!!!!!! Jon laughed because he knew that it made me sad!!!! I cannot get over it! These are the youngest kids I’ll ever have and they are two and they don’t even want to sit on my lap at times anymore! Oh how very sad!!!!!
The other day as I was giving Hannah seconds of dinner (imagine that ha ha) I was telling her that it was hot. Immediately Leah chimed in and very clearly said ‘Hot hanni careful’ in her little dear mini voice!!!! That little girl is so stinkin cute that I just wanna bottle her up and never let her grow up! She is perfect in every way just this size!!!!!
Yesterday, Leah started to say her own name instead of ‘me’ all the time! She points to her self and says ‘me Eah’. And today she perfected it and said ‘Leah’ a few times!!!!! Wow, she is the first!
Yesterday, all six followed daddy in to our room while he was changing after work…from the kitchen I heard him say ‘ hello my little Gosselins’ and it made my heart melt! He so loves his kids and he said it in such a sweet tone!!!! I really had to smile at that comment!
We still haven’t heard from Susan Havins yet. She did say that she would let us know either way so I’m hoping that she indeed will! I am still praying that this is going to happen and that this will be my way to cut down to two Saturdays per month! Sure we could sock that money away but what’s money? As long as we can pay our bills and buy our needs (especially where the kids are concerned) I’d rather take these years and be with my kids and especially on Saturdays when we can plan trips as a family!!!! We will also be able to go to church more regularly which I will so love!!!!! I am praying and believing that this is God’s will for us! ‘Ask and you shall receive’ ‘you have not because you ask not’.
HMMM what else? Leah says ‘mommy belly hurts’ a lot. She says it before and after meals and I can’t decide if she always means it or if she is just saying it sometimes! She does say it and then poop a lot so I know that she knows what she is saying! Hmm I don’t know.
Alexis was quite a blister today and over the last few days… Tonight she was pointing to her right ear and saying ‘owww’ so I looked in her ears and they both had excessive wax in them pushed deep but were blocked so I couldn’t see any further. I gave her motrin and in an hour I noticed some improvement in her mood but with her you never know!!! We shall see what tomorrow brings!
Oh I wanted to write about kindergarten testing yesterday! I took the girls at one pm. We first met with their teacher, Mrs Dolan. She did some things with them individually. I wasn’t impressed with her first conversation with Mady. She somewhat blandly tolerated Mady’s infamous ‘blithering’ on and on and I didn’t like that. She didn’t even try to engage in what mady was saying just was interested in what she wanted to say next!!!! So after her part, we went down to the reading testing. Mrs Shufflebottom (how’s that for a name?) had spoken at the parent night and so I had already figured our that she was the reading person. Anyway, at some point when both the girls were in getting tested, she came out and said ‘your girls are so cute’ and then I said ‘how’s it going in there?’ She explained that she wasn’t testing my girls but was testing someone else and happened to hear Mady saying ‘I can spell Harrisburg’ and she said then she was craning to hear what was going on over there! Anyway, she was very impressed with them both and reassured me that she will flag them and put them in the right reading group even if she has to give them higher reading books period! That at least made me feel better! Because Mrs Dolan didn’t really reassure me much ar all! So we shall see how school goes starting tomorrow!  Dear Lord, Please protect the girls at school. Please keep them innocent from all evil at school and help them to feel your love around them! Please help them to shine for You! Please protect them physically every day and bring them home safely everyday! Thankyou in advance Lord. Amen
I guess that’s all for today! Bye!

Thursday, 31, 2006 Today was our BIG girls first day of kindergarten!!!!!!! We had their outfits picked out last night! When the girls got up they wanted to know ‘how much hours til school’. It was finally time! We ate lunch, Janet came, the girls went out to get their sneakers on (thankyou to Connie Benchoff—a lady who emailed us and wanted to send us shoes for our kids) and when I came out, Mady’s shoes were untied and Cara’s were tied!!!!! She had tied them after only one lesson last night!!!!! Good job, big girl!!!!! She has gotten so big in only one day! First day of kindergarten and first tied shoes!!!!!
We taped and got in Lisa’s car and were off! When it was time to get out, the girls hopped out and Cara barely hugged me and ran off. Mady lingered a bit and hugged long and ran off!!  I went to the grocery store. I spent $170 on mostly organic stuff… I feel that God is challenging me to let go and buy what we need and pay and that He will continue to provide! I feel like He comforts me throughout the store and I feel reminded that He will provide for us… always!
When I got home, I put the groceries away and sent Janet up to get the six and we all hustled out to the porch to see the girls get off the bus!!! They were all excited to see the ‘bus’. Seriously, they were excited and stayed on the porch very well except Alexis who receives ‘special’ instructions from Janet!  UGH!
When the girls came home I taped the bus coming into the neighborhood and ran to the stop to see them getting off the bus! I snapped pictures and kept saying ‘you only get this chance once’! I guess maybe the moms all thought I was nuts! Oh well.
All kids had fun outside and then we went in to eat!
The girls had fun. Cara says that she wishes she didn’t have ‘any days off from school except holidays’, How cute!
Mady said that she helped ‘a little girl learn to write and we started with mommy and daddy’ I guess she is already a babysitter! She also said that the girl was little and reminded her of Leah and like she was four!!!!!! These are the kids in my girls class!
Tonight we all played downstairs, Leah came over to us and heard me say ‘Jon’ and the she said it. We told her that was daddy’s name. Then we told her that mommy’s name was ‘Kate’ and she repeated it a few times. Paused and smiled and said ‘Hi Kate’, Then Jon called her to him and she said ‘Hi Jon’. And each time she laughed her little giggle. I could eat her up! She also reviewed the day while downstairs… ‘outside, jui cup outside… bus’ Ha ha.
Hannah and leah say ‘I can’t’ and ‘I can’t like it’ instead of I don’t like it. They say it like with a European accent! It’s so cute and advanced!
We are still praying and believing that God will answer our prayers that we will be able to do that commercial. I believe that this is God’s plan to keep me at home with my family on Saturdays so that can have more precious family time!!!! God knows the future! I trust His ways!
Thankyou Lord that you hold our futures and that I don’t have to worry about it! Thankyou that you continue to provide for us and that I don’t have to worry about where our next meal is coming from! Thankyou for constantly replenishing supplies to care for my family! Thankyou for loving me no matter what kind of mom I’ve been today! Thanks for being a perfect role model for me as a parent!  Thankyou for the strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow… great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me! (my favorite song!)

Tuesday, September 5, 2006  Today I was officially a horrible mommy. I failed all the way! I was absolutely awful to Collin who was awful to me! He does things just to irritate me! I told him at one point to sit in the corner (one of a million times) and he disregarded me and threw the one gate on the floor! I am too rough with him and the girls see that-- I feel so guilty that I treated him like that that I will set out tomorrow to be a better mommy!
I need to pray for my relationship with Collin… I can’t explain it. I love him so much but I don’t understand him. His frustration is unexplained and I don’t know what he wants a lot of times… he just starts shrieking and I tend to ignore it a lot. He is such a sweet boy and so cute and smart. But I just don’t understand him!!!! Lord please help me to understand Collin and help me to only feel love when he is near!!!! Hold my frustration with him and help me to feel only love!!!!! Help me to be a loving mother who is slow to wrath and quick to love!!!! Please help tomorrow to be a better day for all and help me to take time and play with my kids! Help all of us to benefit! Amen.
On a lighter note… tonight Leah saw me near the stove making dinner. She came over and said ‘mommy I want French fries’, as clear as could be! (we have been having Alexia organic fries a lot lately).
Margaret and Winston were visiting this afternoon after the girls got home from school and Margaret kept trying to get Hannah to sit on her lap…. Hannah said ‘no my mommy’. How sweet. I will miss that someday when they don’t want me anymore!!!! I love my two year olds! I need to spend more time with the boys. Joel and Collin specifically. Tomorrow I will do a better job!
We haven’t heard from Susan Havins about the Canon commercial… I must admit my mood is low. I am still trusting the Lord, but have to admit that I am feeling doubt come in.  I really really desire to be at home with my kids. I would be so happy even to be at home two Saturdays per month! And that commercial income would allow that to happen. I am still praying and I know that with God all things work together for good to those who love God.
I am officially rambling so I will end!

Thursday, September 7, 2006 Today was another saddening day for me… I’ve had a few of those this week and  I don’t like it! But let me back up….
Yesterday was my happiest day of the week. I felt that after Tuesday and my impatience, that I needed to do better… and I did.
Jen Stocks finally called and set up some filming dates. She wants to come the weekend of September 15-17 or so. I told her that that is the NICU reunion and that Jon is taking the kids and that I must work so I can’t go! I am very irritated that I can’t go because the kids won’t even be able to get out of the stroller to do stuff if Jon has no help…. But I can’t  think of a solution. Anyway, she told me that we are definetly getting 20 episodes and 20 thousand (yeah!) and she told me that the network will probably be calling us to ‘let us know what is going on’ and will be asking us to sign a ‘talent’ something or other. She said that they will offer us money and that if they offer us LESS that Adv Med Prod offered, not to agree to anything but to hang up and call her and she will renegotiate it with them. Okay! She said that they may offer us more.. whoo hoo!
She also said that the network wants our series modeled off of the series ‘Little People, Big World’ in that they want a set interview setup and Jen was telling me that maybe they could set up a set in our unfinished basement…except that I reminded her that our furnace and water tank can’t be turned off and that they make a lot of noise! Then she mentioned about the attic… she said ‘didn’t you plan on putting heat and air in the attic?’ I said that we will when we are ready to finish the girls room, Her comment was ‘ maybe we will do that sooner rather than later!’ So I guess she is planning on having that covered by them or whoever! Yes, please! That would be awesome! Hmmm…

Friday September 8, 2006 Happy 7th birthday, Braden!!!! I didn’t finish my journal last night because I saw a thing on Disc Health that was called ‘Viewers Choice’ where you can vote online for your favorite show and it will air (and get the networks’ attention)  next Sunday… the top three that is! So I rushed away to check it out! We are currently still rated number 1 and I’m proud of it!!!!!! I’m so excited!!!!!
Today, another good thing… Sherry Scholl agreed to work day shift for me on September 16th so I can go with my family to the NICU reunion!!!! I am so excited! We will go from 11-1 and then I will leave for work at 2 pm. Jen and the crew will film us there and we will get to see Dr Mujsce (like juice) and hopefully Dr Botti too even though the perinatologists do not go…maybe through Amy and Jen they will arrange for him to be there! Anyway, I am so relieved that we can go as a family and that the babies will be able to get our of their stroller and enjoy this day that is for them! This is a celebratory day in their honor essentially and I want them to be able to enjoy the day and activities such as pony rides and fac painting etc. They deserve that and I can’t wait for their sake!
Before I forget, the other day while I was cooking in the kitchen, Leah came over to the stove and looked up at me and said as clear as ever ‘mommy I want French fries’.Her little tiny adorable face looking up at me and saying that is a look I hope I never forget!
Yesterday, Hannah said after nap (and in the mornings now too) ‘I had a good nap’ all run together! And on Sunday morning, she said to daddy who was getting them up early for church, ‘you woke me up’. How funny.
Today at nap, I heard a thud and knew what it was…. Joel had gotten out of his crib!!! I let him go for awhile, then when I heard him getting into drawers, I went up and spanked him and put him back in….when nap was really over, I left him in his crib til after we had already gone downstairs…. I want him to know that I am serious and that I will not tolerate crib climbing!!!!! I hope he got the message… I can’t be sure though with his glazy look in his eyes when I talk!!!!!
After nap, I scrounged up stools and let all six stand in front of the bay window to watch for the big yellow school bus… the highlight of the days!!!!! We had been going out to sit on the porch with juicecups but today it was raining so we watched from inside! Anyway, I took pictures. As the bus pulled up, Hannah said ‘I missed them’ so clear and sweet! They really love their big sisters!!!! It is so neat to see!
This evening while I was making dinner (and nearly going insane with all the noise)  Alexis wanted me to hold her and I couldn’t so I looked over after listening to her long drawn out whining… and I saw her put her arms up to Mady and Mady picked her up and she was happy!!!!
Today in the mail, we received another set of circus vouchers!!!! Now our kids can see the circus twice for free! That is awesome!!!! It makes me so happy!!!!!
I have off work tomorrow. I am going to clean (oh lucky me) and hopefully spen some family time and then on Sunday, Jon is going to golf (father’s day certificate) and then we are going to the ‘stake out steak out’ at church… fun things for the kids and steak sandwiches and steak fries and bring a dessert and jump thing and fun for the kids!!!!1 should be fun!


Saturday, September 9th 2006 Today we all got up and I made pancakes (cancakes as Aaden calls them ☺ ) and it was my least favorite day.. cleaning day! So Jon took all the kids outside in the beautiful sunny 70 degree weather and I cleaned… first though my dear husband helped me clean the upstairs, kids rooms. Then he went outside with the kids and I was able to finish up there. I fed lunch outside too so that we didn’t have to clean the dining room again (the thing that we both dread the most). In the afternoon, Jon ran my errands and I cleaned the bathrooms downstairs and the dining room and kitchen floors. In the evening, Jodi agreed to sit down here so that the girls and Jon and I could go to Lanc gen Hosp to visit grandma…. We got lost in Lancaster and eventually got there after visiting hours had just ended…. But went in anyway (shwew!) Anyway, Grandma recognized us and promptly told Jon and I that she ‘had not seen us in years’. And she also knew the girls, but didn’t make mention of the six and we don’t think she even remembers that they exist! How sad. Anyway, she had just pulled her IV out as we were walking in and didn’t remember doing that and when she did, she said she ‘has never been so embarrassed in her life’. But then turned to the IV nurse and said ‘did I do that?’ Oh man… not the grandma that I knew and it hurts a lot! She also told me that ‘I always liked you the best!’ Whatever… grandma never would have shown favoritism but yes well. She basically said her goodbyes to Jon and I in different ways. I also took the opportunity to tell her that I don’t want to be selfish and hope she stays here. I told her that it is okay if she wants to go and be with grandpa. I told her that I know that is where she wants to be and that I am okay with it! I hope she got what I was trying to say! I do mean it, finally I see that her quality of life here on earth is not anything to live for and that she needs to go! She would have a fit if she knew her status!!!!!! She didn’t scare me though… I looked into her eyes and I can still remember my dear Grandma and all the years of pure bliss that she (and Grandpa) worked hard to create in our bliss-less lives as kids and actually as adults too! Her love for everyone and anyone and the undiscriminatory manner in which she was able to love…even the unlovable or those whose appearance would scare a lot of people! Her and grandpa loved every one of them. They knew everyones names (which always impressed me even as a kid) and they genuinely cared about others! I love my grandma and I loved my grandpa… I always knew this day would come when we were without them, but I always pushed it out of my thoughts… I wanted our deep loving relationship to go on forever. Now I realize it can’t and it is hard! I will accept this coming to an end for grandma, because I have to though and it is the best thing for her at this point.

Sunday, September 10,2006. Well today Jon and Kevin took their fathers Day giftcards and went golfing. So Jodi and the kids and I got together for the morning. When the six got up, I asked them where daddy was and they said ‘at work’ like they usually do. I said ‘no daddy went to play a game… he is playing golf’. So all day Leah and Hannah would say ‘play golf (Leah especially). Then Leah changed it to ‘play coffee’ when I asked her. I teased her about this all day! So cute!
When Jon got home at noon, I was making my peanut butter fudge. I happened to call Beth to ask if they were going to the steak out/ stake out at church, she said ‘yes but it’s next week, Kate’. I almost flipped my lid! I was so embarrassed… that is just not me to get dates mixed up!!!!! So we had peanutbutter fudge a week early (it didn’t turn out so I was relieved in the end that it wasn’t today!!!)
We had already told the kids that we were going bye bye after nap, so we had to come up with somewhere to go… we decided to goto the Cocoa Castle and decided to go to Applebees in Hershey first! We called the restaurant ahead and got our seats arranged (which took a miracle to arrange! ) and had our 4 boosters and 2 high chairs set aside. We left by 4:15 even tough we didn’t have our seating til 5 pm. We all walked in holding hands (which is the newest and easiest way that the Gosselins move places) and awed everyone as we walked to our booth. People, I could see, were actually staring with open mouths. A lady at the bar with her husband and baby actually watched us in a kind curious manner the entire time.
We got everyone seated in a relatively organized fashion and rather quickly. They came and told us they would give us two free kids meals with the kids club and also offered a card to give each child a free meal for their birthdays! They were extremely kind to us and we very much appreciated their help! And generosity!
At some point, a lady who was operating the carside service part came over and gave Jon a five dollar bill and said that a woman had seen our van and asked if twins and sextuplets came in that van and the woman said ‘yes’ and the lady told her to give us the money! So kind!
The kids ate very well and were very quiet and orderly and I think that we impressed the bystanders with our whole situation. I was impressed myself. I ordered 3 chiken fingers meals with broccoli, 3 mac and cheese meals with broccoli, and a side of fries. I had brought snacks (from the big blue bus’ emergency snack compartment ☺) and applesauces for all the kids which they ate while waiting for their meals. Cara ordered a hot dog meal and Mady ordered a hamburger meal, both with fries. They also were required to eat some broccoli and then got to choose an icecream sundae (oreo cookie) at the end. The little friends each got some vanilla icecream! All were happy at the end of the meal…. The Applebees workers all stood and waved as we left and our kids all happily called ‘bye’ back to them!
We got in the van, and Jon put his hand out and said ‘that was cake’ (meaning that was easy and definetly doable) and we slapped five! It was a great experience and so great to feel ‘normal’ again and do normal family things. I think though that we appreciate going out to dinner so much more than a ‘normal’ family because we have to work so much harder at it!
And the reason we go out of our way to do these things as a family is because Jon and I are both so determined to have a normal life for the sake of our kids! We so want for them a normal family life! It is worth the extra work incurred. We realize that it would be a lot easier to stay home and make hermits out of our kids, but it is not what we want for them! However, to be fair, the fringe benefit of going to a restaurant to eat dinner, is that we get to escape that dreaded task of cleaning the dining room for the THIRD time that day…. Even more worth it! We can’t afford it often, but we’ll go as often as we can!
After dinner, we went to the Cocoa Castle, and as we pulled in, Hannah yelled ‘CASTLE, hi castle’ and it made it so worth it to hear her say that! We had a great time, they are certainly more brave than they had been at the beginning of the summer!
All went well on that adventure! Good day.

Monday, September 11, 2006 Today is the five year remembrance of the Sept 11 bombings or whatever. I distinctly remember where I was on that day. Cara and Mady were 11 mos old and we had just moved into our Wyomissing home the weekend prior (2 days before). The girls were watching Teletubbies after breakfast when Jon called to tell me…
The day went fine this year. I got a lot done today. I’m buzzing around here and I have learned to take advantage of those days.
When daddy got home, we all played in the basement. Good day.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006  Today was a busy day! I tackled the job at naptime of going through consignment stuff and the girls fall clothing. I think they have enough stuff for school and home, I just don’t know about pants sizes for mady or actually both of them. They are both between sizes..Carais between a 5-6 and Mady is not quite a five yet in length I don’t think…. It makes it hard to know what to put in their drawers.
Things the kids are saying: This morning the boys were getting into something I had pulled out of the coat closet and Hannah came running saying “look what the boys getting into’ so I went into the living room and sure enough, they were in trouble!
Later, Hannah had stripped out of her one piece outfit and Leah came to me and said ‘look Hannah took her pants off…see?’ and I looked down and she was holding Hannah’s outfit!
Tonight we all went to Sam’s and the kids all sat in carts. Joel and Alexis were the ones who I chose to sit in the actual seats because of their (how do I say this kindly?) notoriety to wander and be dangerous! Hannah and leah sat in the cart basket and Collin and Aaden sat in the basket of Jon’s cart. We loaded our stuff around them and under our carts. Fortunately we did not have an extremely long list so we were able to fit everything! Anyway, we got three pretzels on the way out (2.99 for a snack for ten!) and everyone was happy! On the way home, Collin started crying loudly and incessantly and Hannah started yelling ‘Don’t touch Colli Aaden. Aaden, don’t touch Colli’ and she was YELLING! Her parrot (Leah) repeated her each time she said it! It was cute and funny and we both laughed but then we had to tell her to stop because her mothering voice was becoming obnoxious!
The big buzz of the day…. Today the principal called of the girls school, Deb Weaver. She was asking about Jen and the whole filming thing (Jen wants to film Friday as if it were the first day of school) and wanted to make sure that it was okay with me etc. She also wanted to make sure that I knew (hello?!) . She wants to send a letter home with the parents tomorrow informing them etc.
Then she mentioned that she wanted to give me a ‘heads up’ that she will be calling me in a month when the pretesting results are in because she is ‘hearing from everyone that my girls are over the top—in reading anyway’ and that ‘we will have to do something about them’. I told her thankyou for saying something and that we are really torn about the best thing for them. She went on to say that ‘maybe first grade is an option (although my numbers are high in first grade) or at least extended school for reading and writing  like they did with some advanced students in the past’ but all in all, she will get back to me in a month. Well, I was relieved and stressed all at the same time. Just then, Mady brought me a paper that they did in school that day…. I nearly fell over! It was a paper with a yellow dinosaur on the left and a yellow, red and green dinosaur on the right. They had to circle the yellow one… the whole paper of that! Then on the back, there were two toy bins. One had a truck on the outside and the other had a stuffed animal on the outside. They had to draw lines to which belonged in each! Mady was very frustrated and said ‘The teacher even helped us… we don’t need help. It’s so easy!’
Then Cara came to me crying that today they ‘learned how to write our name’.  So my eyes are now  wide opened! I now wholey feel that if we do not advance them, we will be doing a disservice to them and I don’t want that! I must pray about the phone call I must make tomorrow! I need to tell her that I talked to jon about this and that I thought a lot about what she said about being my childs’ advocate and that we need to not wait a month but to be proactive and move to first grade! These girls need to be challenged!
Hopefully, tomorrow when I write, I will have good things to report! Goodnight, I am exhausted!

Wednesday, September 13, 2006 After nap began, I called Deb Weaver, the girls principal. She was open to what I had to say and said that the pre testing for kindergarten was already in and that the next things that need to be done…. She needs to test them for first grade, and then she will call us in for a meeting to discuss what needs to be done. So I was relieved that we will soon hopefully have a resolution to this!!!!

Thursday, September 14, 2006 Today was a long day. Jon’s mom called and told us to call his Uncle Keith (who has been a kindergarten teacher forever) to see if he had any input as far as what to do for the girls. So I figured we would call him when I got home from the grocery store. I was so tired I didn’t want to go to the grocery store… I really dreaded it! But I went by myself (I didn’t take Cara, my shopping buddy). And I got it done and found new Toasted crackers that are Organic!!!! I was so excited… jon thought I was losing it as I showed him and was almost crying…how sad! I do want to add that the calm assurance I have in the grocery store these last few weeks (since our gift cards are all but gone) is amazing and I know that it only comes from the Lord! I feel like He is comforting me through the store and as if He is whispering ‘Get what you need in the quantities that you need, I’ll always provide for you’. It is like a feeling like none I have ever had! And I feel peace and it is wonderful!
Anyway, from what Uncle Keith knows of the girls, he says that they are ready for first grade! So we will see and I will keep praying about it! I do know as well, that a miscellaneous paper came home in Mady’s book bag and I turned it over to see whose it was and I absolutely could not read the name on it … couldn’t even compare it to the class list to see if I could decifer it so I know that is why they are ‘learning to write their names’. Also, Mady said today, ‘Mommy, they’re tricking us. Really we are in preschool and they are calling it kindergarten’. Oh boy!

Friday, September 15, 2006 This morning I got up early to take a shower. Jen and the crew were here already and waiting for me. We got started as usual, except with a really annoying sound guy, not Mike. Anyway, she filmed me doing my normal routine and since the babies are getting sick, they were actually boring. And Jen was bummed too. That is life!
We ate lunch and I loaded up all the kids to take them to school. The kids had a good time watching the girls go into school and then we took a drive after before we came home to take our nap.
People are driving me nuts! Certain people want to include themselves in the ‘lime light’ and it makes me crazy! Lisa saw the girls get out of the bus (because Jen wanted them to) and she immediately came over and offered to have the girls wait with her! Oh brother! How annoying!
Anyway, the babies took their nap and I hung out with Jen and Scott while the annoying sound man went into the garage and did who knows what!
Jen and I talked about our episodes… named about 9-11 of them….
1.NICU reunion
2.Christmas shopping (our family name exchange,and she wants to go with Jon and I )
3.Beds for the kids and room switching (new beds and the girls room on them?)
4.Valentines day at Green Hills
5.California
6.The six turning three (carnival birthday party)
7,8.Florida/ Disney (two episodes)
9.Pumpkin patch and corn maze (first)
10. A surprise
11. Mady and Cara getting ‘head shots’ for possible acting commercial deals

She also asked about getting new carpet…if we wanted it (are you crazy? Of course!!!) A project that Jon could do! And I just thought of one… our fence in our yard!
I need to tell her about the fourth of July parade too. That is a very family event!
We talked about Disney… it will be covered! Either by AMP or Discovery health or by Disney itself!!!! That is awesome!
And they are now filming through next October! The six will be almost three and a half til they are done!
She also talked about asking the network about us doing a commercial for a product that they sponsor or whatever. That sounds like a great plan! That would get us started! After all, according to Jen, our family is the ‘total package’.
She reminded me that the network will be calling and that they can ‘drive a hard bargain’. She said that they may offer us less than a thousand an episode and that I can tell them that AMP  has already offered what they have offered. She thinks that I should try to talk them UP… to 1400 per show and hope that they settle at 1200. it does make sense to do that… I will not be able to work 3 16 hour shifts (be gone 3 of the 4 Sat of the month) and so that extra 400 would pay for that loss. We’ll see,,, now I’m nervous about this call. I will have to pray about it and remember that God is in control!

Saturday, September 16, 2006 Today started out stressful even though I really wanted to go to the NICU reunion and have a good time… it got stressful cause I knew I had to hurry and get to work! But we got up and jon and I bickered at each other… part of that was because I knew that is what Jen wanted from us or maybe it was because we both felt the stress of getting ready, the annoying sound guy, that I had to work and the stress of not knowing really what the reunion entailed and that the weather was rainy and the MUD!!!! I don’t know!
Anyway, we got there right at 11. And milled around. We took the stroller and put them in it originally. Then we let them walk and that is when things got heated between Jon and I. We visited the fire truck. Aaden said “big truck”. Then we rode ponies! Hannah of all people, was very excited to ride a pony and did it so willingly and without hesitation! I was shocked! Then all the kids rode! Alexis rode and when it was time to get off, she said ‘no’ so the ladies took her around again (while all the other kids waited for their turn- oops!) Cara and Mady rode a big horse! They were thrilled too!
Then we visited the petting zoo. They had a duck, rabbit, llama, grey cute donkey, goat and a rooster! The kids were all very interested except that Mady made it very obvious that she was annoyed that we weren’t petting the animals! She then announced loterally 100 times that she needed purrell and that she wasn’t going to calm sown til she got it!! I am really nervous that I have created a monster with the germ thing! She really was clearly over the edge about this! When I told her that it was okay, she paused and asked ‘well can I touch the babies?’ I said ‘yes’ and that we will purell before we eat!
Then we ran into Dr Mujsce and took a picture after re introducing him to all the kids! Then Jen interviewed him while we ate, We had to borrow money from Jen which really embarrassed me, but I had no idea what the day entailed since we hadn’t gotten an invitation! Oops.
The girls went to jump in the jumping jitney and we let the six out to run in the grass. The weather was clearing by now. Soon Amy arrived and Dr Botti wasn’t far behind! He said that I looked good and that Jon still didn’t look like he was getting enough sleep! The nhe asked if I had gotten my belly surgically fixed and I said ‘yes do you want to see?’ and I was showing him before he could finish protesting! Ha ha. He asked who my surgeon was and I told him and we talked about how we moved etc. Then I went to get the girls out of the bus (jumping thing) and they said hi to Dr Botti and soon we were off! (Jon said that we left a juice cup (a new one no less) and that irritates me!)
They filmed us loading up and changing diapers etc then we were off and I was headed to work as soon as we got home! I did have a good time (we also saw Heidi, Sandi, Deb, and Bonny, our nurses) but I really really wish that I didn’t have to leave to go to work! Next time, we will stay the whole day!
Work was fine… but Lord, please make a way for me to be home these last few years til the six are in school full time! With the girls going to first grade possibly, I want to be here on the weekends. And Jon and I need to have some lazy Saturdays as a family to let a little steam out of the pressure cooker of life! Please Lord please! I want to be here! Amen.

Sunday September 17, 2006 Today we opted not to go to church because we had the church picnic at 4 pm. So we had ‘pancake morning’ as a family in the morning. Then we did all the necessaty packing to get ready to leave at 2:30 pm (which didn’t happen) because we had wanted to stop at Joe’s to get the extra luggage we need before California. Anyway, we got to the picnic and the music was pumping!!! It was so loud! Joel didn’t like it! He started crying immediately! As we were pulling in though, they had guys directing traffic. The lot to the side that we usually park in was marked that day as a handicapped lot. I told Jon to ask if we could park there and before we could ask, the man waved us into that lot! I smiled and thanked him!
Bob, Beth and Taliah arrived after we were settled on our blanket. As soon as Jon and I spread the blanket, all the six dove onto it as though we had trained them to do so! It was amazing! It was fun to see all the goings on, but it was extremely HOT! When Beth arrived, the kids were all happy and Cara and Mady were soooo very excited that Taliah was there! We let the three of them go and do a few activities and the six got a chance to jump in a bouncy house…. The girl operating it (a teenager) made Beth and I laugh our heads off! She would not bend for the sake of the situation, not one bit! We just laughed at her! The normal person just does not realize that in almost every situation that we cannot comply! It takes unique organization and situations to make it work! Anyway, I was glad that the babies were able to jump in one of those things! They had a blast! Aaden made Beth and I scream we were laughing so hard! He would jump and then throw his legs out in front of him bending them together and fast and go slamming onto the ground… he’d roll over and do it again and again!
We decided with the Carsons to skip the long dinner lines and go to Austins for dinner. They were not nice to us even though I begged and begged. But they threw us the ‘wyomissing’ attitude and so we left. We ent to a new restaurant called Charlie Brown’s and ended up waiting a long time… like an hour! The kids and the adults (especially me and Bob) were on our last nerve when they finally seated us! The kids were surprisingly good despite the 7 pm dinner!!!!!!
As I was so tired I cannot even describe it, Mady announced that she had tooth pain!!!! I looked in her mouth and actually saw what she was describing… a horrible black and rotted looking thing! I started to tear up because Mady was in so much pain (she had been chewing croutons)! So that was the end of dinner. I was so tired that I wasn’t even much help to Jon! It was strange!
Bob paid for dinner again and he was very sneaky about it. I know that it is something that he and Beth want to do and so I don’t want to steal their joy so I let it slide and let them have their joy! We very much appreciate it!
We traveled home at 8:03 pm and I called Margaret on the way to hopefully line her up when I knew what time the appointment was. I also called our new dentist and left a voice mail letting them know the situation.
When we got home, I gave Mady a hefty dose of motrin and she went to bed. Poor thing!

Monday, September 18, 2006  First thing in the morning, the new dentist office called and arranged a 1 pm appointment for Mady. She would have to miss school but that was my only option as far as babysitting went. So I took it.
We went to the appointment. I had a bad feeling about making Mady our ‘guinea pig’ to meet the new dentist. I knew that it could be bad. I was hoping that it would be great. It turned out to be horrendous! The dentist tried to drill Mady’s awful tooth without any novicaine!!!!! Her tooth by the way, had a HUGE cavity with stuff stuck in it!!!! Mady was up and sitting on the chair and practically hanging on the ceiling! The dentist told me she needed a pedidontist! So we were back to square one after making Mady have a horrendous experience!!!! On the way home, Mady asked why that ‘lady was so mean… Dr Kristin is never mean like that!’ So I knew what I had to do!
I got home and called Jon. And even though I didn’t want to, I called Dr Kristin and waited to hear back from them!
All day and all night I was beating myself up that I let that happen to Mady! I just can’t help but blame myself! Both Jon and I apologized to her and she just brushed it off like it was nothing! Just like her sweet self! I love her!
Beth came tonight and we began our journey in book writing! We mapped out the chapters for our book and our time line! It looks like it will be 15 chapters, Jon told me later that he trusts Beth to write our book! And that is good to hear!

Tuesday, September 19, 2006 This morning the phone rang early and it was Dr Kristin’s office. They had an opening at 3 pm so I called Jon to make sure he could take her and then he set it up. In the meantime, I cancelled my eye appointment and rescheduled it.
Mady did really well at the dentist and said it only hurt ‘like two half times and one whole time’ (Okay?!) but she did really well.
After wrestling all day again about dentists and the costs and everything, I told Jon to pull Kristing aside and ask her if she would be willing to accept our insurance allowable amounts as payment. Okay I feel like an idiot that I assumed that things had changed, but she told Jon that that would be fine. Endorse the checks and mail them to her and that would be that! I started crying when Jon told me that!!!!!! So relieved! Eight kids dentistry free! That’s another miracle from the Lord! It’s another way we are going to survive! Thanks Dr Kristin! Thanks Lord!
So for the kids our dentisty issues are taken care of!
Jen called this evening. She said we need ht and wt and bp for our physicals. She said that the girls need to keep their hair the same length starting now. She said that our family photos will be the photos during our narrative of the series and asked who we wanted to use. I told her Darrin (Willowstreet pictures). She asked what he looked like and I wondered why. She said the back of him will be in the shot. She didn’t want a big hairy man. I’m excited about the fact that we will get family photos included and that we will always have that reminder of the series about us!
Things the kids are saying: Jon told Hannah to take her clothes off. She said ‘Can’t do it. Too tight”
Leah was sticking the sticker that Mady gave her from the dentist on her hand saying ‘look on me hand’ then she stuck it on her chest and said ‘on me naked’ ha ha.
On Sunday, at the picnic, Collin was handing me his snack cup (tack cup)and I told him to put it in the red bag. He saw the red bag and stood over my shoulder and in his cute voice said ‘in the red bag mommy?’ Beth and I both melted! I squooshed him! He was just trying to please me the best he could!
Leah calls Hannah ‘Hee-nah’ now like she is Indian or something!
Leah says ‘col-u’ for color.
Alexis finally says some sort of version for ‘sorry’ now. And tries to say the kids names and I can somewhat understand them!

Wednesday, September 20, 2006 Today I was officially a horrible mother! I yelled all day and said things that I regret! I think my kids think I am a terrible witch! I feel like I am too! I just get so tired of  saying the same things over and over again! Like at the table ‘ SIT DOWN’ a million times a day and they completely ignore me! Ugh!
I am going to try to be more patient tomorrow… because I realize that my kids are a gift to me and that they are on loan and that I need to be grateful for them as some parents have lost their children and I am so fortunate to have mine and their health!!!!
Thankyou Lord for my healthy children. Thankyou for all of their dear little faces and for their daily chaos they provide our house with! Please help me to see all the noise and chaos and irritations as good things—because they are all healthy enough to cause these things! Thankyou Lord that they are all here! Thankyou for each one of my amazing children. Thankyou for choosing to give them to me! Help me to be a patient and loving mother and not a mean and yelling crazy mother! Please remind me when I get out of line that I need to be more patient! Thankyou Lord for a fresh new start tomorrow to do better! Amen.
Everyone is talking so much that I can’t even remember what they say today. Hannah and Leah and Joel had a conversation today. Hannah had something and Leah wanted it and asked for it and Hannah said no and then Joel asked for it. I don’t remember the exact conversation but I do remember stopping my dinner preparation to be amazed!
Tonight I went up to kiss the babies (because I felt so guilty about being awful today) and Hannah kept saying ‘hug’ and so I would hug her. Then she’d say it again and again and again! So I kept hugging her! I love to hug her… she is very stingy at times with her hugs so I take them when I can get them! (she is stingy with them even to ME)
For about a week now, Cara and Madelyn have been reading a book a night (just like first graders) and doing very well with it! I still feel like I am imagining it and that they are not really able to read! But they are! And tonight they were looking at their American Girl catalog and they were reading things on the pages. I saw them hovering over it together trying to sound out the words!!!! What a cute memory! They both have chosen an American Girl and have written what they will name her!!!! It’s no surprise that Mady chose a blonde girl! Like her mother, she seems to want to be blonde! ☺
I emailed Connie—the lady who has sent our kids shoes to thank her and she emailed me back to say that she will continuously send the next size for each child!!!!! And she asked again what kind of sneakers I like!!!! That was one of todays’ miracles! The other was the tickets for Dutch Wonderland that Margaret brought to us!!!! She said that Don treats the president of Hersheypark and told him about us and I guess that’s what came out of it!!! Thanks! We are planning to go on October 1 I think!!!!

Tuesday, September 26, 2006  This is a catch up from the last few days!
Things the kids have said: The other day, Hannah brought me a kids book and opened it and said ‘Mommy I read da Bible’, So cute!
Yesterday, Leah said while standing at the bottom of the Living room stairs ‘red light’s on’ (Cara and Madelyn yell that all the time referring to the dehumidifier in the basement when it is full and shuts off—I have asked them to do this because they are down there more often that I am)Anyway, Leah must have memorized this and decided to say it because no one had said it that day!!!!!
This morning while I was up finishing dressing the kids and others were downstairs, I heard Hannah coming toward and up the stairs saying repeatedly, ‘I need to talk to mommy, I need to talk to mommy’. When she got up to me, she came in the nursery and said ‘mommy my ‘jew’ cup (juice cup), I can’t like it’. Ha ha ha that is so cute! She came to find me to tell me she didn’t like her juice in her cup! She is truly an old lady!
The kids are really holding conversations with each other! They are turning into little regular people! While waiting for the bus, Hannah was running her hands through Leah’s hair and Leah let her and didn’t fuss! I love watching that sort of thing! They really do love each other!
I called the girls principal on Friday and have not gotten a call back yet! I am actually starting to get annoyed! I am still hoping to move them to first grade and I feel like we are losing our chance!

Friday, September 29,2006 WOW almost another month in our lives is gone!!! It’s so hard to believe that this month is gone! Time is really flying—guess I’m getting old or we are really busy--- or both!!!! Ha ha.
Real quick: Two things that (you guessed it) Hannah said recently: the other night Jon came down from putting the kids to bed and almost with tears in his eyes, he said that Hannah said to him ‘thanks taking care me dad’ exactly like that! I was so thrilled to see how much that meant to him!!!! And today she said to me right before dinner ‘mom I allowed to go potty?’ Okay, something is wrong with this picture… my two year old is saying the word ‘allowed’. They are just tooooo old!
The big business news of the day: Today Jim Ford from the Discovery Network- talent search (or whatever it is called) called. He called around the awful hour of 11 am… so I told him I would call him back around 1 or 1:30. I was instantly nervous about this call because I knew that I was going to have to ask for more money (Jen had told us that she felt that 1000 per episode wasn’t enough and that we should ask for 1400. But I decided that I was going to round it up and ask for 1500) and that alone made me dread this conversation!!! But anyway, the time came and he called me back after I left a message for him. He told me a bunch of different things like: we are in a filming contract that will entail up to 20 episodes and about 8 or so months of filming. It is a 5 year deal meaning that if our first season gets good ratings and they choose to renew they can for up to 5 senasons. And we will make a 10% increase per show on the rate of the last season. And the biggest news that we will be paid 2000 per episode(40000) and he just told it right out with no skipping around it! I was secretly shocked to death but I didn’t tell him that. I just said ‘okay’ and he did pause for my reaction but I didn’t give him one!!!! Anyway, if we get a second season, we will make 2200 per episode (44000) etc. Anyway, Jon and I are thrilled at this income and totally realize it is another of the wonderful blessings that God is sending our way!!!! Thank you Lord!!!! He also talked about how the contract will have things like other media appearances carved into it… in other words they will not prevent us from doing other media appearances and that includes book writing for us too.We will just have to clear it through them and their PR.
This sounds so awesome and easily workable! I am so pleased about the outcome of that single hour we agreed to do!!!!! God really provides for us in amazing ways!!!!
I called Jen as she asked me to do once I talked with him. She is also really excited for us. I asked her how that works as far as our rate going up from Disc Health network and the ‘fringe benefits’ as I call them…. She said that the amount we are paid per show will not take away from what they (AMP) will provide for us. She used the examples of the kids  beds… she said those things come out of their (AMP) budget from the network.
So that is almost mind boggling to me we will be paid for each episode and receive fringe benefits!!!!! Lord, how great thou art!!!!!

Saturday, September 2006  As I went to sleep last night, I was feeling very guilty about not having visited Grandma in the last few days as I knew that she was not doing well!!! Kendra had warned me that I better go visit her soon!!! And I couldn’t earlier for one reason or another.
In the middle of the night, I had a distinct feeling that I had lost my chance. But when I got up for work, I brushed that feeling off and went to work! As I was finishing putting my one patient on and getting ready for the second, the phone rang—which is not an uncommon occurrence but everyone was busy and the phone stopped ringing. Then about a minute later, it rang again. I already knew that it was Jon after the first set of rings so when Cindy went to the phone to get it, I watched her and already knew when she turned to me!!!!! I said ‘oh no’ as I walked to the phone!!!!! Jon told me and I sobbed… mostly from the guilt of not having hugged her goodbye!!!! They arranged for another nurse (Theresa) to take my place and I came home to be with my kids!!!! Jon had planned to go to a stupid parade, and I didn’t want to go AT ALL but I helped get ready a little and was gonna go… after losing his mind and being completely ugly to the kids, he came to his senses and announced that we were not going!!!! WHEW! Because it was raining, we went shopping for a little ‘retail therapy’ and got me some new SIZE 6 jeans and pants at Old Navy that I desperately needed!!!!! I do look skinny I must admit! And jon will certainly agree!!!!! He was panting at the view!!!!! ☺ More tomorrow… I’m worn out! Oh tomorrow Chris comes to us!

Tuesday, October 3, 2006 Today was Grandma’s funeral day. It’s so hard to believe that she is gone and that we will not see her here again on earth! So very sad that our perfect example of love unconditionally is over!!!! Her service was nice except that our mother tried to preach to us children through her tribute to grandma… none of us appreciated that!!! But the nicest part was that Jon made a DVD of Grandma with the help of all of us with nice music thanks to Jeff and pictures from us and Kendra etc.
After the service, Jon went over to get the kids off the bus, our girls and Ashtyn and Braden and bring them over, Then he returned to our house and helped me dress the six and get them back over for the meal. It was nice that I didn’t have to make dinner tonight!
I wanted to write what Hannah said last night as I was preparing dinner: I had just gotten the broccoli out of the microwave…. She said ‘in my nose’ I said ‘what’s in your nose?’ she said ‘broccies in my nose’. She was telling me that she was smelling the broccoli!!!! So very cute!!!!!!!
Our visit with Aunt Chris staying with us has been very nice. She is worn out by the end of the day having spent so much time in the house of work and pure exhaustion!!!!Poor girl—I have worked her to death!!!!!!
I am exhausted! I must now go to sleep!!! It again is way too late—11:10 pm

Thursday, October 5, 2006 Today was an exhausting day! The girls had school in the am and I had a million phonecalls and tons of laundry to catch up on since at the beginning of the week, we had Chris here and we were visiting and not doing the housework! Anyway, I met with the girls teacher and the principal to discuss where the girls are in school. They are both reading at a level three… they went on to tell me that the majority of first graders are reading at a level 2-3 and some above a three! So my girls are reading at a first grade level and are doing math at a first grade level… but that they recommend that they stay in kindergarten because they have gaps (money and time telling). They will start their accelerated math on Tuesday, and the reading will come as soon as they have the ability to implement it…. Which could be weeks from now. I left there all upset inside because I want them to be challenged and I want to have them reading at school and learning, but pretty much they poo pooed me and so I was upset!
So I stopped at the Rheems postoffice on the way home and opened a PO box – which costs 28 dollars per year there I might add—so that we donot have to give out our home address anymore! (In the wake of the Amish shootings, I did not want to do anything that could lead to some nut inquiring about our address and then have something happen!) So now I feel safe that we have an address to give out!
Two things: On Tuesday when we told the girls that my family was coming over to visit, (my bro and sisters) Mady turned to me and said ‘mommy am I a part of your family or daddy’s family?’ I smiled and said ‘honey you are a part of both of our familys because you are part of mommy and part of daddy’. So cute it made me cry!
Then yesterday, Leah combined two things she has been saying and said it all day. She now says ‘I love my daddy at work’ and in the morning ‘I love my mommy’. She is such a cute cutie!
And Collin repeats me – I say ‘I’ and he says ‘I’ and then I say ‘love’ and he says ‘lub’ and then I say ‘you’ and he says ‘you’ and then I kiss his neck and say “I love you too’ in a funny way! We bond this way—I really love how cute he is and his cute voice!!!!!
He laughs when we do that! His cute laugh!
We are currently reviewing our contract for the Disc network…. It is taking some time with some considerations. Basically, they are giving us the money they offered for each episode, yet telling us we have to clear it through them to do any other media or commercial appearance… and we can do them if they approve – and will only approve them if they do not interfere with their endorsements! I offered to ‘take the year off work’ if they would increase our pay (to 3000) so that I can ensure that it would not interfere with filming etc. Jim ford did not buy that so well saying that he offered us the max as far as his ability goes. He is going to go back and discuss but he told me not to get my hopes up! We are going to chat tomorrow afternoon again to see if we can work all this out!
I don’t hold hopes of seeing more money, but I hope to at least see enough increase that I could ask to go down to 1 Saturday per month ($2500) . That would leave me with a filming weekend and then a family weekend I would think!
I will continue to pray about all of this and continue to see the Lord bless us as He has and I know will continue to do! Thankyou Lord for all of your blessings, It is so exciting for us to watch your hand in our everyday lives!!!! I know that we will always have what we need and even more because you are a loving God and you will provide! Thank you!
Amen.

 Sunday October 8 2006  MY BABIES ARE SIX YEARS OLD!!!!!!!!! It is so hard to believe that they are that old already!!!! So let me tell you about our fun and surprise filled day!
Jon and I got up at 5:30 (I actually got up at 5:45) and got ready. We were dreading getting the girls up that early so we waited til after 6 some time! Jon ran and got our coffee at Mcdonalds (since we had our coffee machine mishap the other morning) and I got ready. The night before, I had already written five notes and laid everything out for the six and labeled everything too.
So once I was showered and my bag was packed and I gave Christi Fleck last minute instructions, we were off…..
The train station was indeed interesting. It was just a platform and it was a little scary with the girls just standing there! Scott even filmed as the train pulled up and he was so close to the train!!!! Scary!
They saved us an empty car with a four seater where four seats were facing each other, It was so nice! But as the stops went it started filling up and people asked questions as usual.
It was a looooong trip but the girls opened their birthday cards and did school work that I brought from our books to do. We taught them money and time telling. They really really enjoy learning!!!!
Mady and Jon and I finally fell asleep the last half hour or so! When we got there, the girls were grumpy… they were hungry. Jen got us all coffee and got the girls a lemonade (I hadn’t let them drink all morning and as it was, Cara peed five times on the way!!!) and a croissant.
Then we headed down the streets of NY. It was getting late and I knew that our show started at 12:30. So we grabbed a cab and flew – almost literally- to American girl!!!! Just our luck, there was a Hispanic parade right outside the store and the streets were barricaded!!!! Lucky us! But we quickly and grouchily found a way around them and got in to the store!
Michael a PR man was assigned to us and once we got our tickets at the desk, we were showed upstairs. Mady yelled at me for telling her about the show…. I guess I was supposed to just take her in.
The show was pretty boring to me, but it appeared that Mady enjoyed the acting. WE had second row seats and a great view of the small stage. Cara said about three quarters through the show, ‘mommy when is this going to be over so we can get outta here?’ So I guess she was bored too!
Before the show started though, I had noticed that they were checking out the other girls and noticing who had what doll with them! I have to admit that I felt bad for the girls because I did notice that the other girls all had ‘big girls’. I only saw one bitty baby and one set of twins (bitty).
After the show the girls were raring to go—they were absolutely horrible! To the point that Jon and I had to pull them aside and talk to them and tell them that if they kept this up, we would have to go home!!!!!!!
As we walked down with Michael, he told Jon that he would like to give the girls each the American girl doll that they had picked…earlier before the show, they had stopped at the showcase and took the card to the doll that they wanted (they always know exactly which one they want!!!! I can’t tell them apart from all the others but they certainly can!!!) Well when he told us that, I cried!!!! As I am looking back I guess that we weren’t supposed to tell the girls that they weren’t from us but I messed it up! Because at lunch, they brought them wrapped to the table in gift wrap and the girls eyes were sparkling!!!! I think that they wanted to surprise the girls!!!! Oh well. I was shaking from low blood sugar by that point so it’s amazing that I made it to the table on my legs!!!!
So poor Michael…. I am sure that he thinks that we are mostly insane but oh well!!!! Hopefully he understands how overwhelming that day was! He was the nicest man!
So after the announcement, we then followed Annette, our ‘personal shopper’ to the place where all the big girls stuff is… and the girls picked their outfit! Mady chose a pile of outfits and Cara chose only after looking a few times. And she only chose two! Mady had a pile that she had to go through a few times later!
Then it was time for lunch! We followed Annette up the escalator and got in line…. He long line of everyone who was waiting for their reservations! The big body guard (black man) told us we would have to go the end of the line and I wish I could have seen his face when Annette waved us to her….in front of everyone else!!!!! WE were seated first and it was so magical!!!! The dishes were back and white stripes- with matching cups and saucers for the bitty babies and big girls and chairs to sit the dolls at the table with! And the tables were pink and white with scribbly black and white flowers on the back of the booth seats! So pretty and girlish!
Then the presents came…. Big red boxes tied with a silky white ribbon! And inside were the exact right American girl dolls for each of Cara and Mady! I literally was crying and sooooooo happy for them that they got a girl!!!!! I told the camera I wascrying because it is so great to see the girls dreams coming true!!!! And that was why I was crying – it just made me so happy!
Anyway, the girls hugged and kissed their dolls over and over again! And didn’t argue with Annette when she told them that they were going to sit across from them in their own chairs! They were very happy to eat lunch but didn’t eat much because all of the excitement!
Then the cake came out and it was beautiful! And it was served with peppermint icecream that was pink and served in flower pots with a daisy that we could each keep! And it was good! Everyone sang to the girls and they blew out the candles and were very happy! And we took pictures and of course Scott filmed it and I blubbered on and on!
I still can’t believe what a magical day it was, despite all the grouchiness, and I can’t believe that we got the chance to go to NY on their sixth birthday and that it was a Sunday—the same day of the week that they were born!!!! And that they and jon had off the next day so we could recuperate!!!!! It turned out great!
Memories are worth the money for sure!!!!!!

Saturday, October 14, 2006 This is a synopsis of this week….. This week went by so fast! I am so bogged down lately with making appointments, going to appointments, and filling out paperwork! There is a contract for our series that we had to sign, medical forms for each family member that we need our doctors to fill out, and five of the six have papers that need to be filled out for the ophthmalogists appointment this week (Leah doesn’t have to be seen til June of ’07) and Cara has her forms so she can be seen by Dr Iriana this week for her well visit …. Etc and so on! And that is just this weeks’ paperwork! I need a secretary!!!!! And I am not kidding!
The other day, I asked Hannah if she was mommy’s girl or daddy’s girl and she said ‘I daddy’s girl’, and the bigger deal I made about it, of course she kept saying that she was daddy’s girl! So when he got home from work, I asked her to tell daddy whose girl she was and she said ‘I daddy’s girl, I mommy’s girl’—that stinker! She is so smart!
Mady’s first tooth is about to fall out! Her bottom right on her side! The big tooth is pushing through! So the other night I got out their tooth fairy pillows and we pretended to put out teeth in them and then look in the morning to see what the tooth fairy had left! Right away, they wanted to know if the tooth fairy was real!!! And I skirted the question, so Mady told me not to do it! And if ‘it happens it happens’ – in other words she was pressuring me to tell her if there really is a tooth fairy!!!! Smarty!
I get a nice long break from Lisa Kase! Yeah! Tanner’s mom will be taking the girls to school for awhile! He is the other ‘smart’ kid in their class! Jenson has turoring because he is ‘behind’! So this is going to be nice! I just wish there was extra work for the ‘smart kids’. Very sad that the girls are not being challenged like they should be!
I’m tired and I have to get up at 7 to get everyone ready for church! I love our chuch but I hate getting up! Yuck!

Sunday, October 15, 2006  Today started out well, but became a very ugly day by about half way through! We got up and got to church on time… amazingly! I felt okay this morning, not too tired! The six all screamed like crazy when we dropped them off but calmed down quickly! A lady in the hall was shocked at me voice loudness as I screamed for Jon to ‘stop stop stop’ because he hadn’t taken the kids jackets off before putting them in their class like I had asked--- woopss!!!!
The message was good—pastor Bryan talked about the ‘emotional temptations’ where we talk ugly to each other and our marriages suffer! It really hit hard and made me realize that I cannot talk ugly to jon and I must love him. It was a really good message!
We went to Target as a family and put the kids in two carts again. They did really well and sat nicely. Then we got slushies and popcorn and divided it all up. The girls spilled their drinks and popcorns and we got upset with them and I feel guilty about that—Cara spilled both things in the bus and we got upset and Jon made her cry!
We then got Arby’s for ourselves as a rare treat and ate on the way home. All was well til we got home and I was tired (Jon drove around looking at a house he has been doing research on and we got home at almost two) and saw the wreck of a house that I had to clean up…. Things spiraled quickly into a big ugly argument where Jon said really ugly things in front of the girls numerous times and he scared me about his sanity, seriously! I feel like we are the worst parents in the whole world! And that our kids are going to grow up scarred about what they have heard us say in front of them when we fight! Lord, deliver me from myself and Jon from himself! Please help us to love each other and help me to keep my mouth shut especially when I am tired and I recognize that I am irritable! Please Lord I really want us to be parents who want to serve you and who want to teach our children how to love each other and You Lord.

Monday October 16, 2006 This morning at 5:17 am, Mady presented her tooth—in her hand – to Jon and I. We, of course, were sleeping and she happily announced to us that she woke up and her tooth was in her mouth! We were so glad that she didn’t swallow it! Jon took it and put it by his bed! I am so happy for her, yet I am kinda sad because it makes her so ‘grown up’! She looks really cute and like a ‘big girl’ and is really proud of herself! SO CONGRATS MADY ON LOSING YOUR FIRST TOOTH!!!!!!!
This morning I was changing Hannah’s diaper and she said ‘eww stinky’ and covered her nose and said ‘mommy I’ll hold my nose up’. I guess that means that she will cover her nose!!!!! It’s so cute!
Tonight Leah was laying on the nursery floor by me and I said ‘who are you?’ And she said her usual ‘I Leah’ and I said ‘Leah who?’ And she said ‘Leah Hope Gossin’ haha so so cute! She is still so little cute and tiny, sometimes I could really just squoosh her!
 On Mady’s note I think I will write: I would like to introduce myself! I am Miss ToothFairy! I flew from far away to collect your tooth—and thankyou by the way, I am working on a necklace! Enjoy your surprise, put it in your purse! See you next time a tooth falls out! (But please wait til it’s warm outside, I don’t like flying in this chilly night weather!) byeeeeeeee,       Miss Tooth Fairy
Oh and one more thing…. Brush your teeth, I don’t like dirty rotted teeth! Thankyou!
Okay, I just write that out so Jon could print it for Mady’s note that will accompany her $2 bill. (Jon said that Dr Kristen told him the going rate for the first tooth is $20 in Wyomissing!!!!! Craziness!)
I guess that is all!

Wednesday, October 18, 2006 I saw this on a caring bridge site and  I wanted to save it:
Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, was recently interviewed by Paul Bradshaw. His interview touched on this very subject. Here is what he said:
"People ask me, What is the purpose of life? and I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body - but not the end of me. I may live to 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense. Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort. God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness. This past year has been the greatest year of my life, but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in yor life, there is always something good you can thank God for. You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems. If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, which is 'my problem, my issues my pain.' But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others. We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her. It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people. You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do. That's why were called human beings, not human doings.
Happy moments, PRAISE GOD. Difficult moments, SEEK GOD. Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD. Painful moments, TRUST GOD. Every moment, THANK GOD.


________________________________________
Page 1 of 56 	Total Entries: 280

1 2 3 4 5 6   Next Last









































So now I can read that anytime… and I want to share it with Jon too—it is so great to be reminded of our purpose!

Thursday, October 19, 2006 Today was quite a full day!!!!! For some unknown reason, I had scheduled the kids’ ophth appts for 9:30-10:30 for Aaden, Hannah, and Alexis! So, I asked Margaret to watch Joel and Collin and I asked Jodi to keep Leah and Cara and Madelyn! By 8:30 I had to have the other five kids to their places and then leave for Hershey for Dr McManaway’s office! The appointments went well. We walked in and had the privilege of being ‘stroller free’ and the three of them did well!
The kinda sad news: Aaden needs glasses—at 2 ½ years old! I am soooooooo sad and I even kinda feel guilty like it is my fault that he was a preemie and therefore needs glasses! I do realize however that there are A LOT of worse things and that at least he is healthy (and cute! :-0). So that is another thing I must take care of!
After nap, I was making dinner and I went into the garage because Mady called me and I saw Luke Patterson standing there with Doneece Fleck! He had come home by himself from Florida because his mom is in the hospital and was very very sick!!!!! So he spent the evening with us – I convinced him to eat dinner with us! And it was a good thing I was just beginning to cook, I had made an organic chicken, and a little mashed potatoes, and homemade stuffing (so I made a lot more) and a bag of organic green beans and cooked carrots to stretch the meal! I prayed that there would be enough for all of us and thankyou Lord because there was!!!!! I can say that I truly felt giving and really wanted to give Luke dinner! I am really trying to be a more giving person!
Oh and one more thing: at the dr appt, Alexis and Hannah were running in the exam room together and playing together and Hannah said ‘come Sas’ and she came! They were really playing nice together!

Friday, October 20, 2006 Today was a mad day!!!!!! I was really relieved that there was really nothing on the calendar besides the usual craziness! So we did the usual stuff: breakfast after the diaper changes and then we played in the basement and then lunch and then I put them all in their cribs and got the girls off to school and did my usual cleanup and ate lunch while watching the cooking channel and even got to sleep for a few minutes. The awful part came after nap…..
I went up to get them at 3:30 as usual, Hannah and Leah were still sleeping so I let them sleep! I got the other four and we went downstairs to wait for the school bus!
When I went back up at 4:30 the girls were still sleeping but I decided to get them anyway…. I went over to Leah and I couldn’t believe my eyes!!!!! She was asleep with poop from head to toe and all over her crib!!!!!! It was mashed into the bottoms of both feet and on her sheet, blankets, a book in her crib—some was even flung to the edge of Alexis’ crib!!!!! I was instantly angry and woke her up with my angry voice!!!!! I put her in the bath tub and stood her in an inch of water to soak her feet and showered her! The poor little thing was shaking wit h coldness or fear or something! I cleaned her up and then I cleaned her crib up! All this happened AFTER the other four had gotten into the tissue box on Grandma’s desk AGAIN (did it yesterday too and I had to spank all SIX of them and put them in the corner together while Luke was here) and Alexis had gotten into the hiner wipes in the bathroom and tried to flush the toilet while she was there! In order to do this, she had sat her juicecup on the toilet lid!!!!!!!!!
As soon as I had this cleaned up (leah’s mess) I discovered that I didn’t know where Alexis was again and when I called her she came running into the room soaking and dripping wet…. She had made a pool of water on the kitchen floor and was dripping wet because she was playing in the water spout on the freezer door!!!!! I had had enough…. I put her in her crib til Jon got home and told him her could go and get the monster and feed her dinner! What an exhausting day!!!!!
Now I am sitting here with no energy left and I must go and clean up the dining room and kitchen and do more laundry and then pack for tomorrow—we are going to the pumpkin patch and a corn maze! And of course this is one of our episodes!!!!!!
Bye for now!
Oh one last thing—at nap the girls have a new thing—Hannah, and Leah like to climb up the edges of the boys’ cribs and ‘kiss the boys’ !!!! It is sooooooo cute that I let them do it! They really kiss them too!

   Saturday, October 21, 2006  We went to weaver’s Orchard and rode on the hay wagon to the pumpkin patch and all chose a pumpkin to make our very predictable and traditional ‘pumpkin family’. We really had fun doing this, the kids and the parents! Collin tried to pick up the biggest pumpkins he could find! He said ‘big balls mommy’ as he was picking them up! It was so funny! Jon said that the farmer brought Aaden back to us a few times because he ran off! I obviously didn’t notice because I was busy taking pictures and watching the kids reactions! When it was time to reload the wagon, we needed help because now we had 10 more things to keep track of—the pumpkins and as usual, the kids! We rode back and the kids all really loved the ride! By the time we got off the wagon, it was very apparent that they were all hungry…. So we paused and gave out juicecups and snack cups (or ‘tack cups’ as Leah calls them) and got the girls and us a hot dog and fries and the six also got fries! We all ate and then got in the car and headed to the trees to pick apples! This also turned out to be really fun! The kids all thought it was fun to pick our usual golden delicious apples—and they were low on the branches so the kids started to pick happily and put (actually throw) them in the baskets! We really had a good time! Then we headed to the bus and headed off for the corn maze! Once there, we managed to find our way to the kids corn maze and thank goodness we did! The big corn maze was miles and miles long! Anyway, the kids had fun finding the six animals that were on placques in the maze! Then they enjoyed chasing and finding each other and of course daddy had fun jumping out and scaring them! After the maze we allowed them to play in the big pit of hay and then they took a ride on a john deere tractor that had barrel cars lined up behind them! Only Joel (big surprise!) and Hannah didn’t ride (I think they were both stinky). Anyway, I was talking to Jen as I waited for them to come back and I realized the very bored man driving was passing our bus and I started running with the two kids on each hand, to get Jon’s attention to have the driver stop at our van so we could load up and go!!!!! And big surprise—he got the message!
So we headed home and unloaded!

Sunday, October 22, 2006 Today was probably the or close to the busiest day ever!!!!!! We got up and got busy! Today was the girls surprise 6th birthday party! So we got everyone up and sent the girls to Winston’s as planned and got busy! Jon cleaned garage and went to the pizza shop! I set up and decorated and prepared—including cooking a tester! Once the babies were fed and in bed, I got everything together and got going! The girls were surprised and loved their party! Cara said it was better than she would have hoped for and Mady said ‘ mom you’re the best’! if that isn’t rewarding I don’t know what is! The pizzas were awesome and the kids had fun! The moms were all asking where I got this idea and were also impressed!
So over all it was a great party! The girls enjoyed opening their presents and now that I realize it, it really was their only birthday presents they got this year because we took them to NY instead!
Anyway, then we had to clean up and carve pumpkins for the camera! And that really went well! Collin and Hannah were really into digging in the pumpkin ‘goo’ but Leah and Joel didn’t want to touch it! I actually had fun carving! And jon and I carved the (all) the kids pumpkins… to fit their personalities!
After the carving, we (jon and I ) went out to dinner with the crew to discuss episodes! We went to a yummy yummy place called ‘Stocks on 2nd’ and it was awesome! I had crabcakes and a glass of wine and I was happy!

Monday, October 23, 2006 today was another filming day and Jen and her assistant painted a corner of the basement for our permanent set! I was busy making applesauce and apple pie filling! I purposefully ignored because I get so nervous about work being done and messes in my house! The pie filling turned out so awesome that I will add it to my yearly list of freezer items!
Tonight, our lawyer came and we made a will with him—Kevin Dolan. He helped us to know what to do! And I feel a little better if something were to happen to jon and i. Our kids will be taken care of and that is reassuring! We chose to put Beth and Bob in the number one position because their kids are older and we feel it wouldn’t be such a huge burden on them to take all eight of our kids. I know too that Beth’s wisdom will help to cover all situations and she would never hinder my/ our other family members from seeing our kids! We do not intend to hurt any family members and still would want Kev and Jodi to see and have our kids for stays etc, but we just feel that with four young kids of their own, that their intentions are admirable, but 12 kids? That would even send me over the edge! We love them both so much for even being willing to offer to take our kids!

Tuesday, October 24, 2006 This morning started very early! We had to be up and ready for our neighbor and contractor, Bob Norton, at 7 am! You can imagine how thrilled I was to be up before that!
The estimate went well. He was very thorough and informative! We talked about a large window at the end of the house and a dormer out the back. We also talked about how the loft was not really possible and how we would like a closet on one side of the door and an open spot on the other for their art tables. And I made sure to ask for a lot of outlets!
After he left, Jen asked how much I thought it was going to cost, I told her it would be more than 10,000. She said ‘woah’ and then said they would definitely buy the babies beds and maybe (because I probed her) pay like 2000 toward the girls room! Well ‘hello’ that irritated me and she doesn’t know what is coming! I am going to go back to plan ‘A’ (Kevin building in his spare time) if they are not willing or able to pay a very good portion of the room… after all, we are hiring a contractor to keep on schedule for filming purposes! Ugh!
This afternoon after nap, Hannah showed me her ‘Jesus book’ as her and Leah call them. Then she said she was singing and I asked her to sing to  me which she started singing ‘Jesus love me’ as she says. Then I asked her where Jesus was and without hesitation, she replied ‘in a cage’. I almost died laughing! So funny! When I told Jon, he said he thought even Jesus Himself would think that was funny!
I have noticed that Joel is talking more and more! He mainly says phrases that the other kids (the better talkers) say but that is okay! And even Alexis is talking more legibly!
Mady came to me again tonight and thanked me for her surprise party! And Cara was not far behind in thanking me! Such sweet girls!

Friday, October 27, 2006 Quick entry because I am ‘Lunestad’ for work tomorrow! Today was another 2 year old rough day! At nap (or even before the official start) they stripped again and got spankings, then after nap, a few more stripped and joel shredded a book as well as a paper shredder would! Then Alexis took the recycling off the counter and the final straw,… Collin pulled my press n seal off the counter and pulled ten feet or more off the almost new roll!!!!1 I was out of control so I made him goto his room until I could settle!UGH I hate this two year old naughtiness stuff!
I forgot to mention the miracle of the week!; I had emailed Alexia foods on Momday evening about the fries situation. No one had returned my email so on Tuesday eve I emailed again!
On Wednesday. Tony from Alexia foods called!!!!!! He sent us 2 cases of our Julienne fries and 2 of the crinkle fries that I mentioned that we wanted to try! This absolutely  made my day! And I told him so! Thankyou Lord for this blessing in this way! I am so greatful for the way you provide for us!

Sunday October 29,2006 Yesterday I worked a double of course! I feel God urging me to quit and ‘live fully on faith’ instead of just down and living on less! I am working through it and really really desire to be able to do this! Lord help me to let go and let you handle our finances totally!
This morning I got up earlier than I felt like getting up because it was ‘time setting back’ day (one of my favorite days of the year) and I thought Jon had set my clock by my bed back and he hadn’t! We did not go to church because we all had the start of a cold and runny noses so we did a family day and went to Sam’s Club and then to Toysrus to let the girls use their giftcards from their party and we had Geoffrey money and a coupon! They chose a ballet set and a cheerleading set that comes with a teaching dvd and the props to learn it! It is fitting! Mady also chose something else and I told her she would have to pay for it out of her piggy bank and she said ‘go ahead, take it’. Cara also wanted one by the time we got home and when I was getting Mady’s money out of her piggy, I told Cara that she would also have to pay for hers, she cried and complained that she didn’t want to have to pay for it and ‘use all her money’! The differences between the two of them is like night and day!
Any way, our trip today went relatively well. A few stressful points but all in all it went well! On the way home, I had Jon call Brothers pizza and I asked for more dough balls so we could make pizza ourselves! The kids working said it would be fine so we swung by and picked up six dough balls! I made four small pizzas with some leftovers but boy was it good and EASY! Eight minutes on 550 degee oven on my pizza pan and then one minute on the rack itself and done!!!! The six ate 2 and 3 slices each and some fries and then I made a bowl of strawberries and bananas and whipped cream for everybody! It was a great family dinner! For sure!
Oh, the miracle of the day! We found strawberries at Sam’s club for 1.50 for a pound—organic of course! I am sending Jon back tomorrow for three more flats and maybe four!!!! I will freeze them! And so will Jodi! I am praying that there is enough to satisfy our need!
Lord please keep us safe as our trip to California comes closer! Please protect us the entire trip and reunite our family on Monday when we return! I know you love us Lord and I want to be here to watch my children grow up and You know that I get nervous when I have to fly, but Lord, I know that you are in control and I will trust You! Amen!

Saturday, November 4, 2006 This is a recap of the week…. This has been a very very busy week!
On Monday, I had my Dr Gurski appointment, She is moving to St Joe’s and I guess I am going with her! She gave me meds so that I will get back on my monthly schedule…. It is Saturday, and I am still waiting! Ugh.
Monday eve, Don and Margaret came to try glasses on Aaden. We loved the first pair as opposed to the second pair… he is so so so s o cute! He looks like a little man and enjoyed wearing the trial glasses so much, that Don left them with us so we can ‘train’ him – with the Fisher price label on them and all!!!! I hope his real glasses come in soon because I am getting tired of telling people why his glasses have writing on them! Anyway, he has only taken them off a few times and the other kids have taken them off a few times and that is all!
Tuesday, we went trick-or treating and after much ado (from Mady) Cara was a ladybug and cute as could be, I might add and Mady was a fairy princess! The little kids got costumes out of the costume box and they all had something to wear: the three little girls were also fairy princesses and Collin and Joel were clowns (masks only which Joel didn’t wear) and Aaden was a little old man wearing a vest and tie…. And his glasses of course!!!! So cute!
The rest of the week, I tried to stay away from the Halloween candy and tried not to be so tired from my medicine…it made me terribly tired!
I am having trouble getting everything done these days and it is frustrating!
Next week, Wednesday especially, is going to be really stressful! The lighting is happening and the sofa is coming and I have two appointments on that day as well! And the next day all the six are going to their ‘vacation spots’ (Beth’s and Susans’).
I am tired but I want to write two things the kids said this week:
Leah and Collin were in the kitchen while I was making dinner one night. I asked Leah  if she liked what I was making. She piped right up with ‘Collin Thomas likes it’. ☺
And lately I always ask Hannah to ‘watch the kids’. So the other morning when breakfast was over and I was sending the kids downstairs, Hannah lingered and said ‘mommy I go downstairs and watch the kids’. She is truly an old lady!
Goodnight.

Sunday, November 5, 2006  Today was a very eventful day! And a very busy and exhausting day too!
This morning we got up and went to church…late! We left home at 9 and church starts at 9:30!!!! Ugh I hate when that happens!
But church was awesome! Pastor Bryan spoke about ‘if I were a rich man’ – it’s his series! It was wonderful. It taught us to really look at what is important in life and the regrets we may have five minutes after we die if we don’t put God first and tell others about Him and treat others with love etc! It was awesome!
After church, Beth and I decided to run to the mall to get me some much needed clothing to wear for California! Jon took the kids to Joan’s and off we went! Yeah! I did feel bad for Beth… she just finally sold her house and I was making her shop with me!!!!!
We found some nice black pants. And some shirts—all of which I really really needed!
Then Beth dropped me at GNA where Jon, Joan and Terry were with the kids. We all ate there for lunch and Terry paid (grrr) and we were heading toward home at 1:45. We looked at our neighbor Dave’s furniture and he loaded it into our garage! We got a really sturdy dresser for the boys and a rolling tv cabinet and two carpets. Nice stuff.
Then Jon took the kids outside while he raked the grass and I started my packing. I got a good amount done, putting it in laundry baskets to sort everbody’s stuff. I felt a need to organize every cluttered closet, drawer etc along the way. I just get so anal sometimes!
Then I whipped up a really nutritious dinner (leftover chicken), made mashed potatoes, and green beans and fruit salad! It was really yummy! Jon took the kids right up and bathed them and I continued my laundry mission! And cleaned up the kitchen as usual! Now, see why I am tired? I am going to get my pjs on and go to bed!

Monday, November 6th, 2006  Today I felt like the countdown had started! I really wasn’t able to do too much packing, but I got laundry done while Janet was here! I also got my haircut which was also necessary for our trip. I cancelled my dentist appt because I needed to reduce my stress for Wednesday. I am dreading that day so very much!
Mady gave me a dinner suggestion, she wanted broccoli cheese soup so that is what I made—and I was glad for that suggestion because I had none of my own.
The girls announced that the fedex man was here while I was up in the babies closet so I came down and he handed me a skinny envelope and when he had gone away, I opened it and in it was a check for $8000. I was not shocked but thrilled at the sight!
It’s funny it came today after my discussion with Beth yesterday while we were driving! We had talked about me wanting to and needing to quit my job to be home with my kids. Beth told me that sometimes God provides and it is right in front of us and we don’t see it! She went on to say that she feels that God provided this series and this amount of money possibly so that I can be home with the kids til they are in kindergarten!!!!! The thought excites me so much! Just thinking that I won’t have to go to work is soooo amazing! I am going to continue to pray about it and in the meantime, I will make plans to decrease my work schedule! Thankyou Lord for your provisions! You are amazing!
So I went to get my haircut and on the way home, I stopped at the post office to check our box……….and in it was the card from Pam Meadows (a lady that I had been emailing after our show and she is so encouraging and wanted to send a donation). I was shocked to find a check for $800 in it! I like almost cried! That is our Christmas fund for our kids!!!! I made sure to email her and thank her and her husband!!! And thank you Lord!
I forgot to mention the other miracle of the day!!!!! I had used the last almost two cups of milk for the soup I made for dinner…. I never run out of milk because when it is on sale, I buy a fridge full! I was kinda bummed that I would have to start buying milk for full price ($3.19 a half a gallon) so when I went to the store (with Hannah after the doctor) I decided I would buy just one half gallon since we are going away this week…. Well milk was on sale for $2.89 a gallon so I got 15 half gallons and six rainchecks!!!! Thank you Lord!!!!!!!!! Another miracle!

Tuesday, November 7, 2006 My head is spinning at this point. I don’t feel organized about this trip. It is really bothering me that I don’t know at all what the weather is going to be in California so I don’t know how to pack. Right now though I am still focusing on the babies clothing and supplies that they will need.
Jen and Scott and a lighting guy came during naptime to check out what supplies they will need for their project tomorrow. Remember that that is going to be the worst day of my life! Oh and I got my period today…so that will add to tomorrow’s fun!!!!ha ha.

Wednesday, November 8, 2006 Today is going to be the ‘worst’ day of my life remember? I forgot to mention that I cancelled/rescheduled my dentist appointment that I was supposed to go to at 1:15 today… so all I had was my school conferences this morning. The conference went fine I guess…. Mrs Dolan just pretty much ‘blew smoke up my butt’ about the girls and their ‘advanced work’ they will be getting. I am still frustrated about the whole situation but truly I don’t feel like Mady especially is mature enough! So I let it go and watched as she told me how well they are doing in school! No duh! They are now both reading at a level 4 so they have both gone up a level! Good readers!
When I got back from school conferences, jen was doing okay with the five I had left her. (I had given Hannah the choice to go to Aunt Jodi’s or stay with Jen and she chose to go to Aunt Jodi’s and take Collin with her and I sent Mady too and I left Cara with Jen to help her) Jen did not have to change any ‘poopies’ so that was very good! Before I had left though, I had showed them how I wanted the dust to be vaccumed as it was happening so that I didn’t have a mess to clean up. It was such a bigger job than I had pictured and they were there bugging me and in my way til 5:15 pm!!!!! I was trying to be patient but it was hard….and I was really relieved when they were gone!
I had made a dinner of chicken fingers and fries and broccoli for the sake of easiness! (‘broccies’ and the six say!)
Tomorrow is the big day…taking the babies to their respective ‘vacation spots’ and I am dreading being without them already! And Beth called and said not only has Taliah been sick, but she has strep!!!!! So I need to pray harder that our kids stay healthy! I feel so so so very bad that we are leaving them there—I am trying or was trying to come up with an alternate plan of places they could go—but I am so stressed out at this point, no plans are gelling! I will pray and rely on the Lord to keep our kids healthy!
Pastor Jan called tonight and gave me the list of questions that they want us to answer!

Thursday, November 9th 2006 today is the big ‘delivery day’ and I feel the noose tightening around my neck! I still feel really disorganized and afraid that I will forget something for someone! My schedule went okay all day and I had lunch done and the kids dressed and shoes on by the time Jon got home from work! We loaded up the final stuff (highchairs, packnplays, riding toys) and were off! We got to Beth’s first and left Hannah and Leah in the bus (Jodi took Cara and Mady) and took the other kids in. They were fine and we kissed them and left! They will have a great time!
When we dropped Hannah and Leah off, Hannah instantly got all serious and scowl faced and I felt really bad—I didn’t even say goodbye  because I didn’t want to upset her! So jon and I were off and took the long way home because there was a big accident on 222 on the way home! We were about almost half way home and realized that we forgot to give out the carseats!!!!!!! So we turned around and went back and were fine til we got to Susan’s because they were outside raking leaves (So cute!) and jumping in them!!!!! Hannah was all happy to see us and Leah didn’t care that we were there! Hannah watched us as we left til I couldn’t see here anymore and SCOWLED at us the whole time! I hated it and felt so bad! But I did prepare her and she knew she was going to susan’s! I still feel bad!
When we finally got home, we finished our packing and watched Grey’s Anatomy and went to sleep by ten something…the chauffer man was going to pick us up at 3 am!!!!

Friday, November 10. 2006 Three am came so very fast and I felt like I might cry when our alarms went off! I am telling you I really thought that I might not be able to go! I finally got up and got in the shower! Jen and Scott arrived soon after that and once we had done all the last minute things, then man was here and we took off! And so had started the day of the longest travel ever! Our first flight was so long that I hated it! The girls did really well and drew in their journals I had given them and really kept themselves occupied very well. Mady fell asleep for the last hour or so of that flight so I was relieved that she would not be so grouchy the rest of the day!
The second flight, Mady and Jon sat in front of Cara and I and Cara was fine the whole way…. We had gotten into Phoenix late so we didn’t have time to eat lunch so on the second flight we were all very hungry! But all was well and when we landed in California, we got to get out ON the runway! It was so neat! We waited for our luggage and got our cars and finally (I do mean finally) found a Chili’s restaurant and gorged ourselves because we were all so hungry (Thanks Jen for lunch)!!!! Then we went to our hotel and vegged for awhile! I really like our room. It has a littled kitchen and the girls have the pull out sofa and we have a door on our room so it is nice. The girls even have their own tv which works out very well!
Tonight we went to the church after going to Target to get swim suits and some other items I forgot to bring.
Everyone at the church is so nice. There was a three string orchestra and great desserts brought to everyone and they explained that the people invited were their top contributors to the new building and that that night was a thankyou to them…I’m still not sure why we were invited but maybe so that they could meet us ASAP. The pastor introduced us and the question he asked astounded us: ‘Are your babies natural’ the question we HATE mind you! I jumped in and said  “well I have good answer for you: it was written in God’s history book so yes, they are natural’. Jon said that my answer was divine intervention!
They gave the girls each a cute basket filled with babies and a stuffed animal each, and two movies, playdough etc! We don’t know how we are going to get this stuff home…. We are discussing a duffel bag purchase! More tomorrow after the Sequoia National forrest….

Saturday, November 11, 2006  Today started very early because we all were awake at about 6 am! It was great for me! We met Jen and Scott downstairs in the lobby after a pre breakfast in the lobby! This place is great! The rooms are nice and clean and the free breakfast is so good! Anyway, we went to IHOP for breakfast and ate a lot! It’s a good thing: we had a lot of walking to do!
We drove and drove (we went in Jen’s van) and drove. We saw orange trees and vineyards and even pistachio trees! Many of them! We stopped to take pictures under the mountains and were in front of the pistachio trees! Then we stopped to take pictures in front of the orange ttees and I didn’t allow the girls to pick any oranges because that is stealing (we saw people picking and taking) but we did pick up some off the ground to dry for a souvinier but when we turned around, there was a cop waiting across the street! So I dropped everything I had and we left!
We continued to drive! We stopped to go to the bathroom and saw by the restrooms a huge stump!!!! Jon climbed to the top of it and sat and we took pictures! We thought it was so big til we drove further! I was screaming at these trees--  there is just no way to describe the sequoia trees! They are so beautiful and awesome! They are amazingly tall and round and huge!
At one point we stopped to take pictures under a sign and it was snowing and you could smell smoke of resort chimneys and it was like we had stepped into Christmas season! So beautiful and amazing!
At lunchtime, we stopped at a beautiful resort to eat lunch! It had amazing food with a log cabin look to it! I bought a very expensive jacket and got the girls each a shirt and a mug for myself as well! I had to buy souviners because I knew that I would probably never get back there again!
After our delicious lunch, we continued on… we found the Giant forest and walked into it down a beautiful trail where there were tons of huge trees. It was very cold (which we were unprepared for)  but the girls did very well! Then we saw him…. General Sherman! He is the largest (not oldest) tree and living thing on the earth! He is 2700 years old and is undescribable! I love him! I saw  these huge (long as my forearm) pinecones people were taking out of the park… they all said ‘congress trail’ so we pressed on despite the cold! I needed some pinecones! We made Jon jump down off the trail and he got ten pinecones! It wasn’t til we got home and read the literature from the park that we realized that you are not allowed to take the pinecones! Woops!
We were finally done with the park and it was a LONG drive back to our hotel! The mountain was curvy as ever with 12 switchbacks (uturns) down the mountain! Jen was grouchy by now! And we were all tired!
Tomorrow is speaking day…..
Sunday, November 12, 2006 We were all up pretty early this morning due to the time change! That was good because Jen and Scott came a calling at 7am to shoot us getting ready!
We also arrived at the church a little early. They double miked us up and we were given a tour of the property. We took the girls to their class and they weren’t sure of it at first but rather quickly warmed up and were fine! There were no other kids in their class yet so I think that may have thrown them off!
We first went to the young married class. That was fun. They shot questions at us for the fifteen minutes that we had with them! Then we were whisked away to do the first service! That went awesome! We sat on the stage at a table with the pastor. He asked us questions and we answered them. I spoke mainly and jon answered some questions as well.
When we were done, and sat down, Lisa Schumaker repeatedly said ‘you wowed them’ and it showed! After the service, we were to stand at the visitors booth and talk but we never made it! We were right outside the building and people were just bombarding us! They were also handing us money and checks too! That was great and very unexpected! Jen and Scott filmed all of this! Lisa told us that she thinks this is a ‘pilot’ performance! That was good to hear because this is definitely where I would love to head!
If we could book a monthly family weekend to speak at a church, that would be my dream!
More later…..


















































Monday, November 20, 2006 Okay! Have some amazing news here! And a little backround first… On Friday night I called to get my December schedule. Evidently I had been scheduled to work a double on Dec 23 and a double as well on Christmas Eve!!!! I don’t think so! So after I got over the shock, I called Joe, the boss at home. He told me to call on Monday and he could help me work something out! In the meantime, I have been praying really hard about what to do about my job. I have not wanted to work for awhile, my heart is not in it and I have been feeling God urging me to quit for a while! I have not wanted to give up that bit of control and cash flow but I really have feeling like I need to quit working and be home with my family, but I have been ignoring God’s urging… He continues to urge and I continue to ignore! Jon really wants me to quit too which is amazing! So I think this schedule is the last shove! So after I called today to leave a message for Joe to call me back, I was reading my online devotions…..the following lines appeared and I couldn’t believe what is was reading! I had asked God to make it very clear to me what to do….
The Israelites failed to enter the promised land because they did
not believe in God's protection, and they did not believe that God
would help them conquer the giants in the land (see Numbers 14-15). So
God sent them into the desert to wander for 40 years. This was an
unhappy alternative to the wonderful gift he had planned for them. Lack
of trust in God always prevents us from receiving his best...... Our
hearts turn away from the living God when we stubbornly refuse to
believe him. If we persist in our unbelief, God will eventually leave us
alone in our sin. But God can give us new hearts, new desires, and new
spirits (Ezekiel 36:22-27). To prevent having an unbelieving heart, stay
in fellowship with other believers, talk daily about your mutual
faith, be aware of the deceitfulness of sin (it attracts but also
destroys), and encourage each other with love and concern. [Life
Application SB re Heb.3:11-19]

The above line: lack of trust in God always prevents us from receiving His best!!!!! That line to me was God’s answer to my prayers. I am scared even so to do what I am about to do, but I will do it because I feel that God is asking this of me! I am sure that I will be amazed at how He provides for us! I am also relieved to be home and to be able to go to church every week—whether it be Saturday night or Sunday am.!!! Thank you Lord for your amazing direction and love!!!!!
Finally, late that afternoon, Joe (the boss) called me! I was ready and prepared and told him that I needed to be home to be with my family so this coming Saturday  I would work dayshift only (not a double) and then on Dec 9th I would work dayshift only and then be done. He replies with ‘okay so I have you down for dayshift on Dec 9th and the 23rd then  I will take you off the schedule after that.’ I couldn’t believe that he would try to pull one over on me so I said ‘No I want Dec 9th  to be my last day!’ And he said that was fine! Ugh!
I am honestly quite scared to be ‘out of work’ but I am also thrilled and know that this is what God wants me to do! Cara and Mady are so thrilled too! When I told them, Cara just lunged to me and hugged me! That made me really happy!
Tuesday, November 21, 2006  Today was a great day overall. Janet came in the morning to play with the kids and then iron as usual. Then at the end of lunch, Kendra came with my 225 (250 total) cans of tomatoes—organic tomatoes that is—and off loaded them inot the garage! She also brought my 20 pounds of organic butter! Such great buys! Thank you Lord! The tomatoes were only .79 cents each that is half of what they cost on sale at Giant!
I got an email today from the international publicity person, Barbara C, from Disc Health. I will be doing a phone interview with a London reporter for a magazine called Reveal. Also on Tuesday, Jen and Reenie Kuhlman (our Disc Health Publicity person) and wendy Douglas (Exec Prod from Disc Health) will be visiting to meet us.
I want to put here something I saw on Jacob’s site:
The Best Things in Life Are Free

When we count
our many blessings;
It isn't hard to see
that life's most valued
treasures are the
treasures that are free.
For it isn't what
we own or buy
that signifies
our wealth.
It's the special
gifts that have
no price:
our family,
friends and health.
Author Unknown
I love this poem! It speaks so true! I want to remember it!
I was hard on Joel the last few days…he says ‘no’ way too often and I must work that out of him!
After dinner tonight, I sent the kids down to the basement to play. I came down to be with them soon after. Hannah turned to me and said ‘mommy you all done clean up?’ Ha ha, she is such an old lady!
Tonight Cara got to go to the library with Tanner. Mady was not allowed to go because she told Cara (for the third time!!!!!) that she ‘hated her’. Mady instead was sent to her room while Cara was gone. When Cara got home, I showered her in our bath room and Cara mentioned that Mady had woken up and told Cara that she is sorry and will never say that again and Cara said ‘And  I forgive her’ She said it so very maturely! It is so amazing!
Cara also helped me so much tonight without complaining! She cleaned the entire basement playroom by herself!

Wednesday, November 22, 2006  today I spent the entire naptime baking. First I baked my pumpkin cookies, a double batch, a pumpkin pie, two apple pies and an egg custard pie. I started baking at one and didn’t finish til about 6 or 7…. Fortunately Jon got home around 4 pm so he could go up and get the babies so that I didn’t have to stop baking!

Thursday, November 23, 2006 I got up at 3 am to put ‘Tom the turkey’ in the oven. This was my first organic turkey so I was nervous as to how it would turn out! Anyway, I went back to sleep and got up about 8 to start cooking the rest of the meal. Gammie and poppop were coming at noon… so I was busy working!
We didn’t eat til 2 pm because the turkey took longer than it was supposed to! The meal was awesome! I made turkey, stuffing (with sausage- my new tradition), mashed potatoes and gravy, a triple green bean casserole, a triple pineapple casserole, a double candied yams, rolls. It was really good and Poppop said ‘well Katie, at least your kids wont starve’ I took that as a compliment!
I wish I would have videotaped Gammie giggling like only Gammie can at the girls and the babies! She was so cute the way she squeaks ‘who-who’ and I can’t even describe it! For dessert gammie brought a pumpkin cheesecake! I preferred my egg custard pie! Oh man was it good! I loved it a little too much! I scared myself with my baking ability!

Saturday November 25 2006 today I only worked day shift and it was quite a day! It was very  hard and stressful! I am so glad that I am done soon! However my coworkers are not glad! Yes well! Thank you again Lord for this opportunity! I pray that it will last a long time that I can stay home with my kids!

Sunday, November 26, 2006 today we went to church. It went very well… because I wasn’t tired and stressed! We had a good day!
When we got home I started my laundry that at 10:19 pm is still not done! I never get that behind, but because of thanksgiving week, I didn’t do my laundry at all! I think I did about 8 loads today! Whew!
Jon went and got dough balls again for dinner and I made four pizzas—cheese, pepperoni, onion and pepperoni, and a margharite! And boy were they goooood! The kids really ate a lot!
Oh I wanted to say that the other day while we were all at the table. Leah looked at me and said ‘I like Jesus’.
 And Hannah knows her alphabet up to letter ‘p’.
Hannah has been using the word ‘allowed’ for awhile!

Wednesday, November 29, 2006  First I want to start off with this verse I got from Jacob’s site…
"Your righteousness is eternally right, your revelation is the only truth. Even though troubles came down on me hard, your commands always gave me delight. The way you tell me to live is always right; help me understand it so I can live to the fullest."
Psalm 119:142-144
The Message

That is a great verse! I love it!
Anyway, I will start off with yesterday, November 28, 2006 ….
I worked to stay on schedule all morning because at 2:30 Jen and Reenie Kuhlman (publicity person assigned to us from Disc health) and Wendy Douglas (exec producer from Disc Health) – big people- were coming!!!!
I was actually under control when they got here, and I was showered and the house was in order and I had eaten lunch!!!!!
The visit went very well. They started off by telling me that the Disc health people were just ‘obsessed’ with us! Especially a lady named Eileen. Okay whatever!
Then they talked about traveling for promotions on different shows…. Ellen, Dr Phil, Oprah, Jay Leno, GMA or Today etc… uhhh okay, how fun!
They brought Christmas presents for all of us! That was nice!
Talked about the girls room finishing… Jen said that Deenie said it would have to be something that Disc paid for outright. I need to tell the contractor that we need to work this out….
Anyway, it sounds really exciting. I guess we will start to promote right before the series begins.
It sounds like they are really excited about this! They want me to meet Sara Snow- the new organic lady on Disc health! I would love to do that!
So this is going to get busy!
Meanwhile, friends are coming out of the woodwork… Heather wants to bring her family and Suzannes family to visit here… I am doing my best to find somewhere else for all of us to go….
Then Lori Zimmerman has started to desperately contact us to come for a visit ! ugh! People are making me want to move to an island!
 Tonight (Wed) I took Hannah to the grocery store for the second time. She was soooooo good and she was so sweet! I love having her with me! I told her though, that next time I must take a brother or a sister with me! She gives me a sad look!
I got all my groceries for 87 something tonight and I don’t know how! Thankyou Lord! That is awesome!

Friday, December 1, 2006… wow December already! Hard to believe. I must be getting old!
Here is something from my devotional I want to save….
If we take counsel with our doubts and fears, or try to solve
everything that we cannot see clearly, before we have faith, perplexities
will only increase and deepen. But if we come to God, feeling
helpless and dependent, as we really are, and in humble, trusting faith
make known our wants to Him whose knowledge is infinite, who sees
everything in creation, and who governs everything by His will and word, He
can and will attend to our cry, and will let light shine into our
hearts.  SC96-7

To claim that prayer will always be answered in the very way and
for the particular thing that we desire, is presumption. God is too
wise to err, and too good to withhold any good thing from them that
walk uprightly.... SC96-7

I have been nervous, specifically yesterday while paying bills, that I didn’t do the right thing as far as quitting my job. Well I read this and it was just what I needed to read! I am going to continue to rely on the Lord for our needs. He will pull us through I know because I am deciding to stay home for my family- so that I can be a happier mommy, and so that we can attend church every week! I know that God will provide for us!
Thank you again Lord for this opportunity!
Tonight instead of Friday night movie night, Jon and I are going to surprise the girls and once we put the babies to bed, we are going to decorate the tree !!!! They will be so happy! Next year we will plan on having the six help! Jon is also going to affix the play gate around the tree! Good idea!
This morning while I was wiping Leah’s hands and face and we were listening to the Christmas music I had playing, she was staring up at the ceiling  sort of in a trance, and she pointed up and said ‘mommy why scott do dat?’ she was reffering to the lighting they put in for the series! It was so cute!
Tomorrow they are filming us going to Toys r us with the kids to let them shop for who they drew the name of! It will hopefully be fun and festive and not frustrating!

 … I must catch up about what has been happening! It is a lot and I don’t know where to begin! I will start and go back wards…
Thursday, December 14,2006 The six, actually, five have been coughing since last week. I heard Leah wheezing while I was putting her in her high chair and decided I should listen to her with my stethoscope… I heard wheezing and lots of other crackly noises that made me nervous! So I called the doctor and they told me they were going to call in a round of steroids to decrease her inflammation and that I should call them if she was not dramatically better by Friday (dec 15). After I thought about that for awhile, I decided I was not happy with that and that I wanted her seen today… there were numerous reasons why… we had a filming weekend coming up starting on Friday and there was no time. So I called them back and they made great mention of how inconvenient that was but they did fit her in. I could not locate a babysitter and almost missed the appt but Jon left work and came home… and it is a good thing that I did because my baby has pneumonia!!!!! My poor baby! She has never had to do nebs before but it is a good thing that I started them!!!!!!
Anyway, we took our first dose of Zithromax and she threw up ( not on purpose) 15-20 minutes later! She was hysterical! I was worried that she threw up the med and so on Friday, December 15, 2006 I called the ped again and also told them that Aaden also sounded crackly and asked if they would call in Zithromax for him and add 5ml to the bottle for Leah…well well well… when Pat called back she accused me of trying to be fraudulent and told me that Dr Iriana would NEVER do something like that!!!! I know that that is a lie, because Dr Iriana has done all but the same thing in the past!!!!! They were just annoyed with me and wanted to make my life difficult! (I had also had enough of the front office staff grilling me on every detail only to have to repeat it again to the nurse!!!!) I tell you what, this area and medical care is quite backwards!
So I had to get off the phone and get to Giant where Jen and Scott and Mike were waiting for me to do my grocery shopping…. That went well. I went over budget of a normal week but too bad. It is Christmas and I probably would have anyway! I was starving and weak from not eating ALL day… it was not pretty!!!! And then I have my sick babies to come home to!
Then that evening, Jodi babysat and Jon and I took the girls to the mall- Park City- and did the girls Christmas shopping for each other. While being filmed, of course. Then I went off by myself while Jon took the girls for a pretzel and slush. Then I took the girls to a few stores to do shopping for daddy from the kids. We got him (and I took a big chance on this one) an orange county choppers hat (two actually) and I don’t think it is the kind that he likes but it was better than a third gift card!
So….Saturday, December 16, 2006 Jon was supposed to go to Lowe’s to get a ‘mantle’ to hang our stockings on while being filmed. He did not find anything but junk and didn’t get anything! I was bummed but secretly knew that it would not happen. Jen was willing to put it in their budget and all! Did not happen! Very sad but there is always next year!
 So this am Jon told me that Aaden had a ‘rash’ and after nap he absolutely insisted that I come and look… and it was hives of all things! So now I was annoyed! The ped office had told me to ‘give Aaden nebs and if he wasn’t better by Monday I should call to have him seen!!!’ And here he was with hives! So I called and talked to 900 people til I got a jerk of a doctor, Dr Baker, and he treated me like I had no brains let alone medical experience as a nurse!!!! So I made an appointment for Sunday am for Aaden and who even knows what doctor he will be seeing! I hate this set up…. I miss Reading Peds!
Anyway, we did our narration of our show open and it was kinda fun to hear it! We also did four million other interviews along with three to four outfit changes. I think I had a total of five outfits on today!
So to recap the last two weeks… the talking Hannah and Leah amaze me! They say absolutely everything in the world and a favorite is ‘what is this called?’ and Leah is my little buddy since we have been doing so many nebs over the last three days!
Collin is becoming such a nice little boy! So sensitive and sweet and caring! And his talking is improving to the point where I can really almost understand his ‘scooby doo’ type talk! So much inflection!
Last Sunday, December 9, 2006, the kids were all in a Christmas program at church. This is probably the only program they will ever be all in together. They were grouped two year olds to kindergarten! Anyway, it was really cute and we invited Joan and Terry and they came and had a good time. I got a chance to talk to Pastor Bryan for a good while and I was glad about that! I really appreciate him!
Taliah Carson has been really sick and I have been praying for her! There is something making her vomit and have diarrhea and stomach pain for over a month now! She is losing a lot of weight and I am nervous. I don’t want Cara and Mady to worry but it is scary.
We put a tv in the babies room with a vcr the other night to let them watch a movie before nap. It seems to be going well but I feel bad that it is soooo small and that Hannah, and especially Leah and Alexis can’t see it too well. They don’t seem to be complaining so oh well. It is what we have and it is what we will use.
With the filming crew here this weekend, there were a few things thrown out to us… Discovery will pay for our Florida trip but want us to go to a place called ‘Discovery Cove’ and are not interested in paying for Disney. How lovely! I want Jen to get at least Magic Kingdom included. Period. We will see.
Then she mentioned that they want to change the filming schedule. They want to take a break in April and May and resume filming in June. It has to do something with getting money for companies buying advertising on our shows. I don’t really understand it and I don’t really like it. It could mean that if we get a second season, we will be shooting right through. It will also mean that we will be shooting a THIRD Sept- December….ugh. it will also mean that maybe we will miss the six’s birthday again and we will miss Mother’s Day and it sounds like Jen has something cool up her sleeve! If they are willing to bargain about the girls room, then I am willing to listen but it sounds to me like Jen is against taking a break because she wants to get ‘done’ so she probably won’t go to bat for us on the girls’ room issue so I shouldn’t even try that tactic.
I think I am somewhat caught up but will add here if I think of anything…..

Sunday, December 24, 2006 Today we had everyone here for a Christmas eve dinner. Kendra and Jeff and kids, Kev and Jodi and Kids and our family. We set up and decorated in the garage and it turned out great!!!! Everyone was able to eat together in the same room and the two year olds did well eating and letting mommy and daddy eat. As the girls and I were talking (Kendra, jodi and I ) I realized that the little kids were playing with the big kids and were not babies any more! It is really a relief!!!!
Lately Jon and I have been talking about adopting our baby from Korea. Jon is not totally opposed to the idea and is actually nicely entertaining the idea, which is quite nice for me! I don’t need to have Jon sign his life over to the fact that we will adopt, but I have always had the idea to adopt from Korea and the idea is not going away, nor the desire!!!! So we shall see if God provides the funds and continued desire… the reaction of people that we tell is so funny ! They think that we are nuts and we always just say ‘when you have eight, what is nine?’ ha ha. But true.
Leah is continuing to scare me as far as how little she is eating and how little she is. Her missing hair is also a big concern lately. (she has patches of thinning hair on top of her head at her part and the dr said it may continue or run it’s course and stop).
Cara and Mady are fighting the rsv/cold the babies just got over (Leah had pneumonia if I did not mention it earlier) and I just hope that they are feeling good for Christmas tomorrow!!!! So exciting for the kids! The girls are obviously very excited!!!! They kept mentioning it all day and over the last few days! They kept up faithfully with the nativity advent calendar without being reminded!!!!
My parents are being crazy as usual… will discuss later the details.
Hannah knows that tomorrow is Jesus’ birthday and keeps mentioning that she can’t wait to ‘eat cake with daddy’—did someone mention a birthday? She wants to eat cake!!!!!
The other day (during Leah’s sickness) she pushed her plate to me at dinner and said ‘I hate it’. Alrighty then!!!!!
Our presents are out and praise the Lord, somehow we pulled off a sea of presents again! Money DID fall from the sky!!!! 200 from Marie, 100 from Joan and Terry, 200 from jerry and diane, 250 from my parents, Jon;s mom gave us 212 for the kids bouncy thing, 200 in memory of grandma and grandpa from their friends, 100 from the leut gov, and I think that is it! And it did the trick!!!! Thank you Lord.
I will let you know how it all goes tomorrow!!!!!
December 25 Today went well! The six really caught on quickly! They all stood at the gate and continually asked for a ‘pesent’. (We had extended the gate to envelope the presents as well as the tree). We had to stop of course to play with everything as we opened it. I felt sad though because the six were done opening presents way before the girls were.I finally asked the girls if they would let the babies help them open their presents and to my surprise, they answered ‘sure!’. Boy was I shocked…and almost weepy at their kindness on Christmas! Next year I will have to incorporate more little things to have more things to open for them! The day went well and was complete with our traditional sticky buns for breakfast with hot chocolate and we incorporated our ‘the sky’s the limit on Christmas’. Cara really used that one quite often and got a lot of extra treats!!!!!
Gammie and poppop came at four as invited and Jon’s mom also called and said that her and Albert wanted to come with them! We all ended up eating leftovers for dinner!!!! Interesting!
Overall, the day was great! It was made totally worth it when I asked Cara and Mady if they had gotten all that they had asked for and hoped for and Cara responded that ‘Yes except that I got more than I had hoped for’, Sweety! Mady mentioned (later) that ‘you only forgot two things on my list’ oh whatever!!!!!
Tuesday, January 2, 2007 I must recap the last few days….. We have been dealing with a lot of illness! First Leah had pneumonia then Aaden had RSV and now today. Alexis was diagnosed with double full blown ear infections! After much prodding to get an appt at the obnoxious pediatrician, imagine, this mother knows what she is talking about! That pediatrician office is driving me nuts! I really can’t stand this area’s lack of intelligence!
Anyway,after nap Alexis said and pointed ‘my ear horts’ and for her that is remarkable to have her tell me! Poor Alexis was traumatized when the doctor pulled tons of wax out of her already infected and painful ears! She quickly and lovingly forgave the doctor as is usual character for her and went on! I love her! She is so kind and loving to everyone!
Before I forget, I want to write two things that were said by the kids lately: the other day, Mady stood from her evening snack (hasn’t been feeling well and is not eating well so I gave them a snack) and said ‘I’m done, my food’s extinct’ I cracked up terribly and Cara called out and said that ‘I’m the one who taught her that word’. It was so cute!
And Leah was on the changing table after nap the other day and I told her we were going out to jump on the jumper. Leah said ‘no chewies on the jumper? Jus ony me? (just only me)? I said yes. She is so cute!
They really enjoy the jumper. It is good for relieving lots of energy.
The crew is coming again this weekend, we are filming the garage organization and our show open—getting our photos done as a family by willowstreet pictures! Should be interesting!
Alexis is really talking better these last few days. She is really starting to put quite a few words together to make sentences. I can also understand her more than I had been able to. She is such a sweety!
Oh I wanted to mention my stress melt down today. After dealing with insurance companies all day due to being sideswiped by the old lady in the Shillington farmers market parking lot and having to file those reports, then having Heather stop by unannounced and it was the girls first day back to school after vacation, then Alexis and her ear pain and trying to make her an appt to see the doctor at a retarded practice, I let the kids play for the first time in the water table that had beans in it instead…. Collin decided to pour the beans all over the floor while I was inside peeling potatoes, so the girls told me and I sent all the offenders inside. Well Collin didn’t like that I sent him in and when I was out in the garage, I heard three large bangs…I went inside and three highchairs were on the floor literally. I was instantly so SO angry, that I grabbed him and spanked him as hard as I could and thought I may seriously injure him so I sent him to his crib…. And whipped him into it very hard! I for the first time thought I may really lose it and am glad that I just let him in his crib til Jon came home! I have never felt that I may really seriously injure a child but today was that day!
I don’t know what it is about Collin! He is usually kind and caring and nice and tender but when his temper flairs…. Watch out! I don’t like that he doesn’t know how to handle his frustration and anger! I didn’t even get a chance to have him apologize to me because I had to drop everything and take Alexis to the doctor!
This day stank and Lord I am praying for tomorrow to be a better day! I ended up crying as I was getting dinner ready and I was trying not to let the kids see me. Well Mady did and came over and just quietly gave me a hug and said nothing. Because I thought I owed her and explanation, I told her that sometimes my stress is just too much and she said ‘I know’ and kept hugging me!!!!! So in tune and kind!
I love my kids and I love being a mom but boy oh boy is it a tough job! After today, I feel like a really horrible mom! We are sitting here watching old videos of Cara and Mady when they were two and three and they make me cry! I was such a patient and good mom back then and now I feel like a mean awful mommy! Lord make me kind and loving and patient and caring. Help my children to know that I love them and that everything I do is for them! Amen

Sunday, January, 7th 2007  today is the day of our Willowstreet pics. I can feel it in the air that this is bigger than we were thinking. Jen had an editor flown in to be there and once we got there, there was a second camera guy there that had this really big camera with him. But anyway, I tried to pack and be organized about the outfits we were taking with us. For example, all the girls wore their tights under their skirts or outfits and their shoes for the pics. The boys also had their black shoes and socks on to match already. It was a good thing because we got there and it was hot and we had so many kids to dress with about a million people waiting to get started! We I must admit all looked so good together in our varying black and white! And jen was very obviously impressed with my outfit and how I looked because she about yelled out when I walked in! ‘Kate, you hotty!’ which I didn’t think a girl should be saying to another girl! But anyway, Darrin in his natural posing, let all the kids gather around in any fashion that worked and started taking pictures! It went well and we took breaks here and there! One of the best things I did as soon as we got there, was I asked Linda, Darrin’s worker, to find a reading phone book so I could get Austin’s phone number, and she offered to call them. I told her that there would be about 15 people and she took care of it! I don’t know what she told them. But boy did we have awesome service that night! More later on that…
The thing that strikes me about our photo shoot with Darrin, two things actually, was that when we walked into the studio, OUR original photot were on his walls. Only ours. And as he was clicking pictures of us, his guy was up in the loft, shooting pictures of him and all the cameras around him who were all taking pictures of us! Kinda strange when you think about it!
So we were done finally and we changed all the kids back into the outfits that we had come in and we  were off to Austin’s. it is a good thing because all the kids were in meltdown stage and it was difficult even trying to get the last pictures… they were all so hungry!!!! We got to Austin’s and they were ready for us right away which was awesome and in we went. They had set aside two large tables for us and we got situated and started eating. My kind husband ordered each of us a glass of our favorite, pinot grigio!!! Yum yum. We each had an app and ordered the kids meals right away. The kids all ate free because it was Sunday and that was great! I did my usual and ordered three chicken fingers with fries, one ch sandwhich, two mac and cheeses with brocc, one hamburger and fries for Mady and of course a hotdog for Cara. That is a lot of free food! Jon and I each had the crabcakes and he had green beans and I had asparagus. We both had salads. I really enjoyed that meal! And so did Mady! She must have said a million times how good the food was and even said ‘thankyou mommy and daddy for bringing me here!’ the best was at the end of the meal when Cara ordered a hot fudge sundae and Mady ordered a brownie and icecream and each of the six got a scoop of vanilla icecream (it was their reward if they behaved and smiled for the pictures) and then Jon was wiping Hannah up and she looked at him and said ‘thankyou my daddy. Take me home’ so sweet. In other words, ‘It was really good, but I am tired now so please take me home and put me to bed!’ over all, it wasn’t as aggrevating as I thought it would be and the great dinner at the end was perfect!
Monday, January 8th , 2007 Today the crew arrived at 12:30 to put a camera in the nursery to catch the climbers. And they wanted to do some interviews with me. So that is what we did. Before the camera was even on, Leah, Collin and Joel were out! They ran across the hall and locked the girls room door and wrote on the walls with marker!!! I lost it completely when I saw that and melted down! I scrubbed the marker off and didn’t bother to get Jen. They were busy in the basement relaxing or something! After I calmed down, I went down to do my interviews. Then we had a schedule meeting. This month we will hire a cleaning lady. And supposedly we will be able to keep her til the end of the year or longer because in the words of Jen ‘I can’t see Deenie taking your cleaning lady away’. And we will also do valentines day at green hills on Feb 10th (YEAH) and will shop for beds for the six that same day. In March, we will do the ‘girls cooking/ piano lesson show’. Which will be the end around my/Jon’s birthdays. Wish we could do something more fun for our birthdays!
I made Jon talk to Jen after our night interviews about the beds. I made him tell her that basically if Disc Health wasn’t paying for the room, then they weren;t going to film it! In other words, push has come to shove and this is what it is coming to. Jen was obviously annoyed and this am I received an email from her that Bill Hayes was going to talk to the network about this situation so I am going to pray! Pray that they will be willing to at least help with the room so that it makes it worth it for us to have it done soon and have it filmed! I am not sure even still where God wants us to go with this but I am still trying to be patient and let His will play out! We will see! I am quite certain that in the end we will be quite happy about what God has in store for us concerning the girls room!
Tuesday, January 9th, 2007  I will start with today and go backwards to update…
After yesterday, with the incessant crib crawling out of Leah, Collin and Joel, and the locking themselves into Cara and Mady’s room and writing on the walls with markers, and my meltdown that went with it, all while they were here filming, I was determined to have a better day today! And I did. I really talked to the kids on and on about staying in their cribs and how happy it would make me and how I would hug and kiss and jump up and down and be happy if they did… (they had climbed out this am already and so instead of spanking, that doesn’t work, I decided to put them back in their cribs and make them stay in there for at least a half hour and let everyone else come down stairs… that makes them quite upset) after nap, everyone was in their cribs so the girls and I danced and hugged and jumped and on and on to let them know we were so happy! Life was good at that moment!
We got another Disc health check today… although it was on our porch with another package flapping in the breeze! Lovely!
Leah looked into my glass of organic green tea tonight and said ‘that’s ascusting’ (that’s discusting).

Friday January, 12, 2007  Last night at dinner, I was sitting next to Hannah on the corner, as usual, and she out of the blue looked at me and said ‘Mommy, I love you’. I was just floored! Not that she can’t say it clearly just that she hasn’t ever said that to me!!!!! I gave her kisses and said ‘ I love you too!’ Cara then told me that Hannah has said ‘Cara I love you’ many times!!!!! She said she says it back to Hannah when she says it! So sweet to see their love!!!
This am I was returning an email to a sextuplet mom (she is now my third sextuplet mom.. I have had a quad mom in Canada- lost all four, a quint mom in Indianna or Illinois who is still preg, Stacey Bailey in Arizona ( who lost two babies) had been pregnant with sextuplets and the Canadian sextuplets of Vince and Candice Melo who had their six at 25 ½ weeks and one boy died a few days later!) anyway, Leah wandered into my room and said ‘Mommy I’m sad!” She didn’t know why she was sad, just said it! So cute!
Tonight Jon is leaving for Kevin’s cabin with 5 other guys for the weekend! I am so happy for him and am glad he can go! He didn’t ask, I just gave him permission to go! He needs the break and I hope he has some time to relax and that we are all alive and well when he gets back!
Saturday, January 20, 2007 To answer the above hope, Jon did have a great time and became friends with some new guys! We were alive but very very happy to see daddy on Sunday afternoon! I am glad he went!
On Thursday, Jan 18, Leah insisted she had to pee….and then so did Hannah. I had planned on starting on Monday, January 22, but I gave in and let them start. This time they seemed very ready! So out came the pull ups (the bad parenting method that I have given into to avoid the stream of pee I would have training six….my stress level has decreased immensely since I decided that pull-ups are the way to go!) AND the girls have been going and doing a great (not perfect, of course) job ever since! Leah even pooped in the potty yesterday and as is custom, we took a picture of her next to her potty of poop so that daddy could see when he got home! I have been rewarding the girls with mini m&ms after each potty use…one for pee and two for poop! Daddy even took their crib sides off last night so they could get up and go pee! Neither one did and Leah fell out once and so starts this horrible day….
So we were up late with Cara and Mady watching our Friday night movie (I am still sooo glad that I don’t work on Saturdays anymore! Not one goes by that I don’t stop at some point and say thankyou to the Lord for this wonderful blessing!) and then in the middle of the night I asked Jon to carry the girls to bed. Then at 4 in the morning, Leah fell out of bed. Then soon after Mady came down and told us that her ear hurt…and returned asking me to look in it. Then it was 7 and I called the doctor (I hate that weekend service and the whole practice!) and repeated myself a million times only to get an appt for noon which I did not take because I wasn’t going to make my daughter sit and writhe in pain for four hours…needless to say that Taliah’s birthday party was today! So I packed Mady up in her pajamas at 7:30 and we headed to the office in Hershey trying to beat the first patient and be seen! Jon stayed at home with the other seven and the man coming to give us the estimate on the girls new room! They were very rude to me about seeing Mady but did agree! So even though Dr Iriana was on, the resident saw us and dug in Mady’s ear and made her cry and couldn’t see anything anyway and gave her a script for Amox…which I refused and she was rude about (I explained that it never never works for her and we always end up switching so I asked for something different) and she produced a new script for Augmentin! We got home and Mady cried and cried about the pain and wanted me to hold her while I was to be getting Cara ready for the party and watching the six…while Jon went to fill the script and needed to get out the door! Once I finally got Jon out the door, it didn’t get any better! Mady continued to cry and finally took a cat nap. When she woke up, she took her Aug. and I gave her a little lunch and the babies were fed. Then between potty stops for Hannah and Leah, and dealing with my sick girl, I got the babies in bed for nap and was able to hold Mady. When she fell asleep and when the phone rang I slipped away and miraculously got lunch quick and then Mady threw up and was miserable again! When I went up to check that Hannah and leah were in bed, I realized that Hannah was sleeping in puke and then she threw up again while I was standing there! UGH! I cleaned her up, took Leah to  the potty and got everyone settled again and even though they (the majority) weren’t sleeping anymore, I slipped away to get cough medicine for Hannah and start her load of dirtied crib sheets (one from nap yesterday that she puked on too!) and jounal and deal with Jon’s questions regarding his errands! Talk about filming…. Where are they when this stuff is happening!????!

Sunday January 28, 2007 Well a lot is going on… we had some more ear infections (Hannah had double this past week) and Leah was also put on antibiotics due to her chest (whatever that means) and I put Alexis on the same meds myself due to her ‘my e-u hurts’ and her wheezing. Then we had five of the six on nebs three times per day (all but Aaden) and boy was that exciting!!!!! I thought this past week that I may really seriously lose my mind! I had the filming crew here during all my treatments and was to interview cleaning ladies (which they were all very interesting for one reason or another. Including the non English speaker—as if we need another barrier and ‘Mrs Brown to you’).
Over all, it has been a nutsy week! I almost don’t know which end is up!
Leah is all but potty trained. She doesn’t poop in the potty routinely (she actually has only gone once in the potty) but she is the peeing queen! She was dry today at church when I picked her up and went on the potty at church! Very good girl!
Hannah took a potty break during her illness (‘Mommy, I sick’ she says and her and Leah would say ‘mommy I don’t feel [fee-u] well’) and now is sorta back at it. She has no problem peeing in her ‘princesses’ (pull up- the method of choice with sextuplets) and being wet but insists on the underwear versus diaper usage. Everytime Leah pees she says in a sing-songy voice ‘mommy I peed. I get a m&m’ in a slurry sort of way!
Jon and I continue to be irritated with the Elizabethtown school system. Kev and Jodi aren’t annoyed but we feel that we need to look into the whole Lancaster Country Day situation for the girls. I am praying that God works out a scholarship for them to attend. Their brains are being wasted away and I hate it! There is an open house this Thursday so we shall see.  Oh Jon just said it is a financial meeting- Yikes!
Today after church, we went to Austin’s with Bob and Beth and the kids. They took Leah and Aaden to their house overnight. Jon will pick them up tomorrow after work.
When Jen and the crew were here, she told us that Donald Thomms  (the head of Disc Health) said we ‘are the most intriguing family he has ever seen’. So after she told me that, I looked at Jen and said ‘okay so tell me, when do we start filming the second series?’ and she replied ‘Probably January?’. Jon and I think that they already know that we have a second series but that they are not telling us so as to not overwhelm us.
Friday February 16, 2007 A lot as usual is going on. First I will start with the things the kids are saying. Alexis’ speech is getting a lot better. She said to Leah the other day ‘dawdy eu ope’ . That is ‘sorry Leah Hope’. She always calls her her first and middle name! It is so cute!
Leah tells daddy that she likes his ‘hair by his mouth, hair by his nose and hair by his ears’ instead of his beard! Ha ha. That thrills daddy!
Hannah is getting across her complete message. She uses the word ‘actually’ for a few weeks now! Ha ha. It is so funny to hear from a two year old.
Leah and Hannah and now Alexis are potty trained! We are about 90-95 percent there! We are still having some issues with night time dryness and pooping in the potty but mainly since February we are working towards it! Even Alexis started yesterday wearing big girl underwear …. Of course she peed in them and her pants at one point and didn’t even tell me…but we are getting there! She pooped on the potty once so far and didn’t tell me that either! Yesterday she had a few pee accidents near the potty in the laundry room and didn’t tell me that either!
Well filming continues…all the same disorganization! This Sunday we have pictures and filming for publicity and it is going to be stressful—to say the least!
Then on Monday, Cara and Mady have their head shots done! That should be exciting except that we need to have three outfits to take…on last minute notice! Lovely!
Emily (my quint mom) had her babies last night at one day shy of 28 weeks. Scary! Sounds like they are all okay for now!
The girls were supposed to go yesterday to Lanc Country Day for their kindergarten trial day but because of the nine inches of snow and ice, all schools were cancelled. Even Jon had off on Wednesday—Valentines day.
I don’t know if I included info about Lanc Country day school earlier, but never have I been in a school that was so well suited for Cara and Mady. It was full of learning and fun and cleanliness and organization! We are praying that they get in and that mainly we can afford the part that we need to pay! Keep praying…if it is God’s will, then they will get in!!!!!!!
Saturday, February 17, 2007 Today I was exhausted upon waking up! There is so much to be done for the next few days events… I had to find outfits for the girls head shots—three each—and outfits for all eight kids for the family photo shoot tomorrow. Outfits without brand names etc on them. I must go tonight and buy something for the boys because they don’t have anything! Ugh.
Tonight we are going to Sam’s after nap and then to church at 6 pm.
Funny story: tonight we picked up the kids after church. The man was telling me that Hannah pooped in her pullup and that he changed her. Blah blah blah. As we were all walking down the hall together, Hannah said ‘mommy I told Jesus that I had to go potty’. I laughed and yelled ahead to daddy that Hannah told JESUS that she had to to potty. We both laughed- hard. Later in the car we started laughing again about it and Jon leaned back to Hannah who was sitting behind me and said ‘Hannah what is your teachers’ name?’ and she replied ‘Jesus’, Hahahahhhaaaa. So so funny.
Oh and a lady asked Alexis if her name was Leah and she answered ‘no I Sassy’. So at least she has a name she can call herself. She still doesn’t pronounce Alexis. Still working on it.
I ran into Target on the way home, and by the time we got home it was very very late! The kids were exhausted and I stripped them and put them in their beds and then went to each crib and put their pj’s on. Alexis especially was passed out! She was in a lump in her crib sleeping and didn’t even know that I was dressing her! Poor thing!
Oh, before I forget, on Friday night, Mady was dancing around like a loon showing us how she will act for her head shots on Monday. I said to Jon ‘where did we get her?’ and without a slight hesitation, she replied ‘Chinatown’. We died laughing! I don’t even know how she knows what that is or if she has ever heard of it before! She is truly a nut!
Cara had gone to Giant with me. She is really missing me lately. And she has developed a fear that someone is going to take her or that I am going to lose her! She asked me while we were shopping when I was ready to leave the aisle, to call her name. I did. Then at one point she got a cart behind me and freaked out. Then the kicker was when I locked her in the car to return the cart and when I came back, she was out of her seat huddled down behind my seat on the ground! I was shocked that in ten seconds, she was THAT scared! I talked with her and told her I will never put her in danger and that she is my ‘prized possesion’ and that I love her and will take care of her! I mean, I told her that it is good that she is concerned and aware of other people etc but that is a little over the top!!!

Sunday, February 18, 2007  today was bound to be a stressful day from the beginning! We had eggs for breakfast. Then I got busy on my dinner because all the filming people were coming to do our publicity pictures and were staying to film our dinner hour! So I made dinner, also cooked the darn beef cubes that Jon accidently got out of the freezer instead of ground beef (3) that I needed…. And then I decided to make a pound cake for dessert to go with our organic strawberries that we had. (It turned out amazing by the way)
The photographer.Gil (pronounced Jeel) was very nice. He has a two and a half yr old half Japanese daughter named Lana and was very nice and very tolerant of us. I am amazed at how well the photo shoot went. On white paper back drop. We did Jon and I and the girls then the four of us and then the babies and the girls and then all ten of us and then the kids coloring with crayons on the backdrop….my idea and it turned out great!!!! No one was overly crabby… and of all people, Hannah really hammed it up. She drew ‘applesauce’ on the paper with her crayons and kept saying ‘I’m still working’. She gave a lot of smiles and I was shocked! Collin danced to the music, Leah was nice and herself and sang etc, Aaden was scholarly, Alexis was friendly and herself, and Joel was in her own world! It was great! Cara and Mady were wild! They were enjoying the captive audience of all the adults and Mady sang and they both did this hysterical ‘skunk stinking’ where they turned around and stuck their hiners out and made a sound! Very very funny! Whatever works! I am hoping for tomorrow that they will be equally funny and fun! We are taking Hannah and Leah with us too!
I must go to sleep…it is one am and I have been staying up later and later! I don’t know why and I am always soooo tired in the am!

Monday, February 19, 2007 This morning got started early. I tried to get  a head start before the film crew got here. By the time Jen and the crew got here, I was out of the shower and getting ready. Then we faked Janet being here while we ‘were away’. I had to feed Hannah, Leah, Cara and Mady lunch while I made lunch for the other four. I had already packed things to take—snacks, outfits, shoes etc in the morning, or last night! Anyway, the morning was very stressful but we did get off in time….and as we were leaving, Jen called Jon’s cell phone to tell us that we had left the garage door open! Ugh! So we had to go back to close it!
After a good trip, we got the the King of Prussia mall on time, to the casting agent…and were instantly horrified… the office smelled of smoke, noone acknowledged us and the woman snapped at me as I tried to talk to Mady. We should have walked out of there! That was a complete waste time!
We moved on to the photographer, who was a pompous jerk himself. He wanted the cameras on himself the whole day and commented about why they weren’t filming him taking pictures of the girls instead of what he was filming (Leah and Hannah sitting at the makeup table looking in the mirror and ‘putting makeup on’). He was extremely annoying but took good pictures…. Awesome pictures! So we will be purchasing some just for the memories!
Finally at the end of the day we found somewhere to eat dinner and it was nice to have some time ‘alone’ with Cara and Mady and Hannah and Leah at dinner. Of course Scott and Jen and Mike were with us…we had good conversations about our ‘wrap’ party when we are done filming etc.
We got home at 8:15 or so and we were all beat…so was Janet! All the kids were happy to see us! And it was obvious they had a good time. Hannah and Leah have mentioned our day away every day since! They certainly had a good time!

Tuesday, February 20, 2007  Around lunch time, I got an email from Reenie Kuhlman, our publicity person at Discovery Health asking if I would be available around 1’30 to discuss ‘an opportunity’. So they called… and it was three people and me discussing a possibility of our family being on Dr Phil! I was excited, not shocked but they said his people are ‘extremely interested’. So we shall see. Sounds like the end of March and I wrote a list of ‘travel logistics’ for them so that we are accommodated well…. Two helpers of our choice, one stop flight max, six carseats for toddlers and two boosters, adjoining rooms and one travel vehicle for all to travel together.
As of today, Thursday, Chris Finnegan from Discovery Health, says ‘I think things look good’. We have our official phone meeting next Wednesday at 2 pm. I am sure the plans will be clearer by then!

Thursday, February 22, 2007  This morning as I was dressing the kids, Leah was crying on and on about something. She was outside the gate and I had Collin on the changing table dressing him. All of a sudden, Leah said ‘Colli I need a hug’ ‘I need a hug Colli’. So when he was done, he went to Leah and gave her a hug…and before long, ALL five girls were lined up for a hug from Collin! So cute!
Lately, Hannah continues to say in her high little voice ‘mommy, I love you’ out of the blue and quite often! I love it!
Leah calls grape juice (I have been buying organic grape juice) ‘blue baby juice’.
Tonight I was saying goodnight to my babies and I was kissing Hannah and she said ‘kiss me on my lips, not on the cheek’.
I have to add that Sidney Portier just said a quote that I want to write ‘My father told me the measure of a man is how well he takes care of his children’ and it made me think of Jon!
Lately, I have been the queen of messes…such as potties in the laundry being poured out by Leah and Alexis, pee on the floor—every floor, poop in the underwear times a million, water under Mady’s sink in their bathroom, and more that I can’t think of now!!!! I am so tired of messes that I could throw up – that is what I usually say throughout the day!
Only two more weeks….. til…… you know what!!!!! So exciting! I wish I could talk to Jon about it!

Sunday, February 25, 2007  Happy would be 90th birthday, Grandpa! Today was a more relaxing day than yesterday, that is for sure! (yesterday, haircuts at Kidscuts, errands, dinner at GNA—the worst out to dinner with all eight- ever! And then church)
We were pretty laid back today and the kids took a looong nap so it was nice to have the break!
After dinner, Jon took the kids down stairs with flashlights to play in the dark for fun!
The funny part of the day was how Jon and all the kids were teasing Joel about spiders… and he would FREAK out! He grabs his hair  and his face and screams! They are all so mean to him! And in the dark too, Jon scared him and he screamed!

Two things about the kids that have happened lately: The other day, in the am while I was changing and dressing Aaden, he looked at me and said ‘I yub you’—I love you. I ate him up that is for sure!
And a few weeks ago, Hannah was watching me get dressed and kept looking ‘down there’ and staring and making her ‘steinrey’ look as Susan calls it and finally I said ‘do you see my hair? Someday you will have hair there too’.
Well the next time she saw it, she said ‘I like your hair on your hiner mommy’. How lovely! And the kicker is that she said that same thing IN the bathroom of GNA last night! Oh dear, no one was in there with us that I know of! Whew!
One more thing: back when Aaden and Leah went to Beth’s overnight, Beth said that Leah was in the bathroom with her while she was getting dressed and she said ‘Oh, Bevis (Beth) have boops too!’ (she knows I have boops and was amazed  I guess that Beth has boops too!) Oh kids!

Wednesday, February 28, 2007 Quick story that was not funny at the time but is now: Entitled: 'My Afternoon from 2 pm to 6pm Today'
So At two, I had the conference call with the Disc Health network that I have been waiting for. I called in promptly at two (obviously my morning ran smoothly and I was feeling quite accomplished up to that point). The introductions were made and blah blah blah the conversation started. Exactly at 2:17 a call beeped in from the girls school. I quickly excused myself, knowing that there must be some sort of trouble going on. It was the girls' teacher explaining that Mady had had a bloody nose and (I could hear her in the backround and she was hysterical, literally) wanted to come home immediately. Did I want to talk to her? Yes, duh. So I got on the phone and quickly realized that I could make no sense with her and told her I would be over to get her as soon as I could get someone to sit here... I switched back over and told them I would have to reschedule  this meeting and hung up....and then started ferociously dialing neighbors to find someone...Jodi was available, praise the Lord! I ran to the mirror and scared myself at my appearance and discovered immediately that a shower was in order! A ten second shower took place and I dressed while wet! Ugh!
Got Mady who, by then was sitting happily and smiley in the school office. I guessed that the whole commotion she caused must have embarrased her and I felt for her! Off we went for home!
The little kids were stirring by this time and only after a very brief  reprieve, I went up to get them! Being oh so kind, I (rarely) offered them a snack because I was preparing a new recipe and hadn't even started it yet...and it was 4 pm!!!!!
As they were finishing their snack, I began to prepare my dinner. I had about 900 ingredients laying out on the counters, had water boiling for pasta, and had chicken breasts broiling in the oven...WHEN... Leah announce behind me that her belly hurt. I only half listened as I was concentrating on my dinner.....when I turned around to see her laying on the shag rug in front of the kitchen sink....vomiting continuously and profusely!!!!!! I ran to sit her up so she would not choke and held her over the rug so at least it was contained!!!!!!!
I stayed calm...amazingly.... I sent Hannah for a new outfit, Cara for a towel and Mady and Alexis (lovely combo, huh?) for a bucket!!!!!!
I quickly began to scrub the kitchen sink aka tub....and put Leah in it after I carefully peeled her vomit drenched clothing off! I sat her in the sink, took the time to take two pictures, and washed her in between tending to my nearly blackened chicken and almost over cooked noodles!!!!
She had a blast splashing between phases of her bath....while I cooked! All seven of the other kids watched in amazement as they observed the most fabulous multi tasking skills on display they had ever seen!
Once bathed and out, I handed Leah off to Cara and Mady to be dressed in her lovely unmatching outfit chosen for her by her fellow two year old sister and I ran off down the hall with vomit rug and vomit outfit in the cherry red bucket! I quickly set a stove timer to remind me that dinner WAS still cooking during all this excitement!
Once the washer was running, I was able to return to my disasterous kitchen and continue the task at hand.... dinner! Fortunately, my SOS call to daddy rewarded me with his timely reappearance, and we all were able to eat dinner together.....and it WASN'T EVEN BURNT!!!! It was delicious!!!!!
HAHAHAHA WHAT A DAY!!!!!

Tuesday, March 6, 2007  Well today was another interesting day on the home front! I packed the girls today for the surprise trip…and put their suitcases back upstairs. (I had done the babies’ last Friday and put their big heavy suitcase upstairs too!)
Anyway, another glitch in the system, Joan emailed this am and said that we are supposed to get snow tomorrow and if we do, they can’t come! GREAT! So I called Beverly and asked that if worse comes to worse could she come and sit here after we put the babies to bed! And she said she would be on standby! Whew! It will still be tough and not what I would prefer but as long as we get there and I can surprise Jon, I am happy! I feel like I have been planning this trip for so long that I just want it to be here and relax on the beach!!!!!
Otherwise, today went well and there is big news….
Dr Phil is a FOR SURE on March 22, 2007. Just Jon and I and we will be on stage for a 15-20 minute segment!!!!! We will be in front of the panel of ped, ob/gyn, psychologist etc…. and they will show clips of our new show and of the kids throughout!
We are so excited! I asked that we get a direct flight to LA and car service to and from to make it easier! The network was even willing to pay childcare and I explained that it is not so much that but the availability of our caregivers (Jodi and Beth). Oh and the Dr Phil show pays loss of wages too for Jon—missing three days of work.
Sounds good…if only Jon knew that we have two trips planned in the next two weeks!

Lord, I ask for safety for Jon and I during both trips. Please help us to be able to relax and enjoy our trips so that when we return we can be more loving and patient parents! Please help us to reconnect and really remember that we love each other a lot! Please bring us back to our children together and safe! Thank you for this opportunity to show your love to the world. Help us to glorify YOU in all that we say and do throughout the  next two trips and always! Thank you for this never boring journey you have chosen to send Jon and I on. Please keep our children safe while we are away and help them to be happy and feel safe and loved! Thank you Lord. Amen.

Sunday March 11, 2007 So here we are, just Jon and I…. in sunny Florida at Key Colony Beach—burnt to a crisp!!!!!! At first, we thought we had been ‘jipped’ as far as our location….but we soon discovered that we are this is the ‘gem of the Keys’ as it is called. It is quiet, on a private white sand beach and very tranquil. There is a feel of non tourism and GEORGOUS mansions on the water. Jon forced me to do two open houses today and I fell in love with both of them! The condo one was absolutely perfect for us in retirement!!!!! I am hoping we have 1 ½ million for it when we are ready! Ha ha.
Yesterday, we did Key West and had a blast! It is a little town with lots of shopping and restaurants and fun stuff, including the roosters who ramble around everywhere and the cats with six toes- which we saw none of- and breath taking water views and georgous hotels on the water! We bought tons of stuff for the kids (we missed them terribly by this point—and ate and did everything on our time! We kept seeing signs that said ‘It’s five o’ clock somewhere’ and it really did fit! You have no sense of time and it doesn’t matter anyway! The other one that was great was ‘I’m on Island time’ so that will be my new saying when I get home!
Today we met a lady at lunch that has twin boys and an older boy!!! We talked for awhile and then she explained that her parents have just bought a house in Big Pine Key and that we should contact her for a ‘free place to stay’….okay! That would be awesome!!!!! Her name is Brenda Bernard and her number is 954-651-5120 and her email address is: beadsbybb@yahoo.com. I am thrilled at this possibility! The other lady we met is Grannie Annie. She makes children’s clothing and I bought five dresses that are alike today at a craft show her in Key Colony Beach. Her infor: www.grannieannie.net . I plan to contact her in the future for Easter dresses etc. I can’t wait to put all of my girls in the same dress!!!!!!! Thanks Grannie Annie (and our $115)!!!!!
Jon and I have really enjoyed the relaxation and the time to do anything we wanted to do! I am still suffering from the effects of the sun on the first day here! It is still really painful to do anything but I have been trying not to say no to any of Jon’s ideas—after all this is ‘his’ vacation and birthday present!!!!! He has said this is the best birthday present ever and that he doesn’t want to leave!  I am so glad that this is truly what he wanted and that this all turned out okay! It has been really great to get away! Now the next trip is to Dr Phil in a week and a half!!!!! Oh dear!
When we get home, we have to get the kids on Monday night after the airport, Tuesday is reacclamation day and our phone pre interview for Dr Phil, Wednesday we are filming for the series, Thursday is our Dr Phil filming day (Jen and Scott may be the ones to do this) and Friday is our phone interview with ‘Chicken soup for the Soul’ magazine!!!! I have a feeling that this is the beginning of lots of weeks to come like this!

Friday March 16, 2007  Okay so much has changed…tomorrow is filming day for Dr Phil however, we have received 12 plus inches of snow and it is still coming!
Over this past week, there has been a big brew haha about me being ‘radical’ and it all stemmed from my interview that I did for the Chicken Soup for the Soul magazine with Chris finnigan listening in (as per Disc policy I guess). I was called after the interview and treated like a high school kid receiving a detention! I didn’t appreciate any of the message and now that I have been dealing with this for two days, I realize the following: AMP is on our side, I can not say any ‘hot button’ words, I can only say the approved phrases and words, I am missing being on my own and not being governed by others, I am exhausted (and so is Jon) from this whole ugly turnout.
Leah said yesterday when I went up to reprimand them for not being in their beds and laying down ‘mommy big girls don’t want a spankin’ I said ‘then lay down and you won’t get a spanking’ and she then held up two dolls and said ‘this is my Cara and this is my Mady’. I thought she meant she was a big girl but she meant that her dolls were the big girls!!!!!! She is so cute! She is so little and has been talking so much and even on camera!!!!! So clearly!
Leah had some trouble with poop in her ‘unna wears’ at Beth’s but since we have been home, she has been back to totally potty trained! All three girls for about two weeks have been potty trained- pee and poop. At nap they are usually dry but at night they are usually wet in the morning! I am so proud of them—and so relieved for us!!!!
Gotta get to sleep for tomorrow- we are praying that the snow keeps them away! And praying for strength!!!!! ‘Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me’

Wednesday, April 4, 2007  Okay, it has been awhile! Here is the quick update. First, the most important things: what the kids are saying. The other day, Hannah pointed to a magnet on the fridge that is mine and said ‘mom can I borrow this?’ I smiled and said ‘yes’. I might be imagining this but I think she said ‘do I have permission to borrow this?’ either way, totally Hannah.
And today Leah (who is really the equal with Hannah as far as speaking goes)  pointed to a red bear (tiny stuffed bear) that fell under the table during dinner, and said ‘my bear….that’s my best bear of my life!’ yep that’s my dramatic Leah…aka Mady!
Oh and the other day she said (as she was pulling a stool up to our bed so she could get in for the millionth time) ‘this is my stool and that’s the trufe (truth). Ha ha.

Okay so about Dr Phil.On Tuesday, March 21, we dropped the girls off at aunt Jodi’s and then headed to beth’s to drop the six off. We had arranged for our car to pick us up at Beth’s so that we could leave our van there making it quicker to pick the six up on our return. So he picked us up around 9:30 or so. He was really nice and got us to BWI in plenty of time. He also offered to be our personal driver when the time was right.
Okay so our flights connected in Denver and then we were off to LA. The weather was unseasonably cold for this time of year (60’s) and the previous week had been in the 90’s they said…but it didn’t matter. We had to wait at the airport for more than two hours with our Dr Phil driver for our luggage that wasn;t on our same flight….thus we had to forfeit our lovely dinner at the hotel restaurant…ugh. We had room service which made me sick because it was too late and by that point I was too excited….i had read Robin’s book ‘Inside My Heart’ on the flight and I was pumped to meet her (Jodi reminded me to have her sign it while there)  so that and handing her our book (first four chapters that Beth and I had prayed over before we left that morning)  and asking her to get it into the right hands for publication.
So Wednesday morning, March 22, we were up early (thanks to the time change) and got breakfast delivered to our room and then we were picked up by Chris (our favorite Dr Phil driver) and saw the sights (the Hollywood sign, and the crazy undescribable world called Hollywood) on the way. We had to all hand in picture IDs at the gate to get into the stages which I thought was interesting. We were very early and had a lot of time to sit and talk to Reenie while we waited. Some things were the same as Martha but a lot were different…very organized, no helter skelter stuff, they were so genuinely nice and they completely dressed us! I mean if they didn’t like your shoes (they didn’t like either of ours) they gave you new shoes to borrow. And they changed the color of my under shirt thing and gave Jon a whole new suit to wear! Then they delivered awesome turkey sandwiches to us (which I didn’t eat because I didn’t want to ruin my lipstick).
Anyway, we were very curious about who we were on with. We kept seeing people in the hall and didn’t even know if they were on our show or another let alone what they were about.
Finally they started lining us up in the hall and we looked at each other. I saw all these interesting people all done up and didn’t think we were dealing with parental issues (and I was right)  and so I made sure that Jon and I were the first to follow the man down to the back stage area. Once there they touched up our hair and makeup and handed out straws and bottled waters. Then we were briefed and headed out to front row seating…. Where the stage manager was fat and hilarious. He was handing out Dr Phil mugs (and by the way, that was another objective of mine- to get a mug. They informed us that there would be two in our dressing room when we returned-yeah! One for Jodi and one for me. You cannot buy them, just get them when you are on or in the audience rarely) and his books and was funny! Finally, Robin came in and I jumped and cheered (I had had a lot of coffee) and I was determined to meet her!
Then Dr Phil came in! YEAH! The first guest was shockingly an excorcist or however you spell it….he was awful and I just prayed that satan would get out…he was sitting in the exact chair that I had to sit in!
Then a jealous girlfriend! Ugh she was so immature! It was actually pathetic! Then was us! We were the ‘breath of fresh air’ to the show!  Everyone was clapping and so supportive! Dr Phil was very complimentary of us and lined up six months (four hours per day, three days per week) of a nanny from nanniesforhire.com  AND 3000 worth of toys from Hasbro and playskool!!!!!  I started crying at the thought of his generosity! And his message was for this nanny to help us ‘flow like Tokoyo’ and he said he was going to check up on us to see how it was going. He promoted our show and after our segment, I leaned over and asked him if it wasn’t too much could I meet Robin after the show? He said ‘Oh yeah’ and said ‘she’s right out there’ and pointed to her. Of course I was scanning the audience and could not find her…and then I caught her, she was sitting in the back in the middle and was waving her little Robin wave… I waved and said with sign language, ‘Your book (paging with my hands) thank you!’ and she nodded ‘yes’ and then I said ‘after the show, can I talk to you?’ she nodded a big yes…. So after the show (there were more nuts on after us) I told every producer or person that worked there, ‘Dr Phil said I could meet Robin’ and repeated it to the point that I think it as annoying almost. So we were paraded up down and all around with all the nuts that were on with us! And finally, the lady that was leading us, peaked in a door (we were in an alley between buildings) and popped back out and said ‘Jon and Kate, come here’ and we did and she took us in a place where all these people were standing and there in the small crowd I saw Robin poking her head around and she said ‘Oh there she is’ and she came over and we hugged and she said ‘I am so honored to meet you’  and I said ‘no I am so honored to meet YOU’ and then we just started talking (I had my-her- book in my hand and our book in my hand) and a black marker came out of nowhere and she signed it and then we talked about a few points of the book that I wanted to mention (Hollywood not changing her and family and how I knew and so did she that she would be something) and then I handed her our book and told her what it was and asked her if she could get it into the right hands to be published and she said ‘Oh I will. I will I will’ and then she turned to the same lady who had let us in and said ‘please put this on my desk and make sure it does not get lost’ and then the music started and she had to go but she turned back around and looked at me  and I said ‘contact info on the last page’ and she said ‘perfect’ and ran off!
Well was I on a high after that! Reenie was also on a high about three plugs for our show!
So we all went out to lunch at Wolfgang Puck and had a good time.Reenie also gave us a hundred bucks cash to spend on a driver or so we thought!( Reenie made us dinner reservations at Crustaceans in Beverly Hills while we were leaving Dr Phil.)
Then Jon and I went shopping and got a ton of souveniers. We had a coffee from Starbucks and shopped…so fun. We saw some amazing sights on Hollywood blvd that is for sure! Soon it was time to get back to our hotel and get ready for dinner. The driver took us on a slight sight seeing tour and little did we know that when he picked us up what we were in for later….but anyway, about Crustacean…oh my golly! First, there was a fish tank in the floor when you walked in. It lead to a wooden bridge that you walked over. We were led upstairs and seated in the corner. I was on a sofa with a pillow and I curled up and told Jon that it was my dream, dinner in bed!!!! Jon and I both agreed that it was the best dinner of our lives! It was also the most expensive (267) and the most delicious. I had a baked crab and Jon had the drunken crab and we split the garlic noodles (there are no words to describe them!!!!!) And we split a plate of sugar snap peas! That meal was so stinkin good that I am still thinking of it everyday! We both agreed that Disc Health is wining and dining us and Jon chimed in ‘it’s working!’ I had tears in my eyes telling Jon how fortunate we are and blessed to be there together, expenses paid totally and having such a magical time! It was wonderful!
Then our driver picked us up and after a picture under the Santa Monica Blvd sign, we were off on a four hour tour of LA partly by our will and partly by hostage… I swear that we asked to go home four times or more and he kept driving!!!! We saw the beaches (I had never seen the Pacific ocean before) and Disneyland!!!!! It was a long night! We got back at 1 am (four our time!!!!) and after an inappropriate tip, that he convinced me to sign for, we went to sleep  completely exhausted and had to get up for a 6:15 pickup in the morning for the airport!!!!!
It was a whirlwind trip and it took me a week to recuperate!!!! I am still dragging and I think tonight I am going to go to sleep early. It is 10 pm and I am signing off! More another day!

Thursday, April 5 2007 I have had strawberry (May) and blueberry (July) picking on my mind these days…here is the only place in Pa that I can find that we can pick blueberries at:
 	Berry Fields Farm - ORGANIC, U-pick Blueberries
RR2Box114B1, New Albany, PA 18833. Phone: (570) 924-3019. Email: gerlach@epix.net. Berryfields Farm was established in 2000 to promote sustainable agriculture. We are dedicated to producing organic products of the highest quality. Our goal is to sustain ourselves and market the excess. Our produce products include many varieties of apples, garden vegetables, and berries. The blueberries are on two acres of mowed fields which are available to the public, in season (typically open May 1 - October 31 , with the bulk of the crop in July, but be sure to call first!)
I have to look up the strawberry place again and list it as well. Jodi and I plan on picking for a day straight!!!!! For each fruit and freezing them for the rest of the year!!!

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Pick Your Own
•	Pick Your Own
•	Things to Know
•	Directions
•	Hours
•	Photo Gallery
•	Contact Information

Pick Your Own
Coming Soon ~
Strawberries!
5 acres
New varieties
The best around!
Looking for a fun way to connect to your food and reconnect with your family and friends? Visit Willow Creek orchards for a unique PYO experience in a one of kind setting. You can’t get your food fresher unless you grow it yourself. Kids, young and old, have a blast sampling strawberries, raspberries and blackberries, picking the perfect pumpkin or finding the biggest potato. See you in the field!




2007 Pick-Your-Own Schedule
Asparagus - Late April and May
Strawberries - Mid-May through June
Summer Raspberries - Late June and Early July, Limited Quantities
Blackberries - July and August
Fall Raspberries - Mid-August through September
Pumpkins - Late September through October
Vegetables, Herbs and Flowers - June, July, August & September
Potatoes - Can you dig it? A big success in 2006, check in for dates
Please Call 610-584-8202 Before Coming to Avoid Disappointment as Picking and Weather Conditions can Change Availability.
No Pets Please!!
Thank You and Enjoy the Farm!!
•	Home
•	Contact Us
3215 Stump Hall Road Collegeville, PA 19426     Tel: 610.584.8202

Okay, so I didn’t know where to put my treasured organic strawberry and blueberry information….. oh well, it’s here now!!!!
Sunday, April 8, 2007 Great Easter!!! All eight of the kids had their own Easter baskets which Jon and I filled together the night before and also shopped for the six’s baskets together  so it was fun!!! I know they were thrilled to have their own baskets and toys to themselves because there was no fighting on Easter morning and they were amazed that they were allowed to open the filled eggs in their baskets and eat the candy and cookies that were inside (organic!!!! from Beverly) And I happen to know that they were happy because Hannah told Aunt Jodi ‘Aunt Jodi. I got my own Easter basket’) that just made my day!!!! I was so happy to hear that and that they appreciated it! We had about thirty some people here- us kev jodi and kids, Kendra and Jeff and kids and Julie and Dave and kids. It was fun and the easter egg hunt was fun!!!! Over all good day. And the sign of a good day is if the kids are happy and our kids were thrilled!!!!!!
Thursday, April 12, 2007- Well on Tuesday, Apr 10 the first ‘Jon & Kate plus 8’ aired at 10 pm and it got great ratings…. Of course we will never know what those ‘great ratings’ are!!!! Anyway, we watched it with Kev and Jodi and had fun! I can’t wait to see the response as more and more air.
I don’t know if I mentioned the AWESOME news: a few days after we got back from LA, the call came in about Cara and Mady’s financial aid/ scholarship money…. They are going to provide 12000 each of the 13500 that first grade costs!!!! We are responsible for the other 1500 and the 1200 each that bussing will cost for the year so that brings us to about 5400 for the school year which is a lot but so worth the sacrifice for the awesome education they will receive!!! I am human so I am already fretting about the next year and what if we can’t afford it etc but I don’t want to underestimate the power of God… He knows what we need and what is best for us and I just KNOW that it will all work out!
The other day, I was at the stove (as usual) and Hannah was at the fridge and she pointed to a certain magnet and said ‘mom do I have permission to borrow this?’ I swear she said that or just ‘can I borrow this?’ Either way, it was so ‘old’ of her!!! She is really like looking at a three year old now! It is scary and amazing!
Leah the other day, when I handed her this little itty bitty stuffed bear that she had not seen for a long time (it was on top of the entertainment center for a long time) said ‘ohhhh that’s my favorite bear of my whole life!!!’ Oh it’s mady again. And tonight when she was asking me what was for dinner and I mentioned fries (organic of course!) she said ‘that’s my favorite in my life’!!!! So dramatic!
The best best ever was the other day when Aaden came to me with his thumb in a hole in a wiffle ball and said very honestly and earnestly ‘I put my penis in there’. I almost died but made him repeat it so that I knew I was hearing him right! That is the best ever!!!!!
Tonight when I was disciplining him I included ‘…. And I love you….’ And he looked immediately up and said ‘I love you too’. Well that just totally melted me!!!!! His little small voice just does me in!!!!
And then there’s Alexis: that gitl is so darn squooshy sweet and so darn bad all in one!!!! I could seriously kiss her for ten years straight and the next minute she does something totally naughty and doesn’t care! It’s like she just can’t help herself! She is so kissable and love to kiss me and be cuddled!!!!
Poor little Joel- he is in love with his daddy and wants to be loved by me. I do love him… but I hate to say that his father like cluelessness makes me crazy! He is sooooooo cute though. That little innocent face when he is really up to no good!!!!
Collin continues to try my nerves! He is really extremely helpful and I can count on him to get the job done one minute and the next he is doing something to make me nuts—like calling me a ‘boy’ repeatedly when he knows that I am a girl. Little things like that just to annoy!!!! I love him so much though. He is such a squooshy bear!
Cara and Mady are very excited about going to Country Day next year! I am so happy for them! They are maturing so fast now! They are pouring their own juice and that of their little brothers and sisters. They read books to them now and are just so old!!! They are my babies turned ladies! So amazing that Jon and I are growing them up and that we are their parents!!!!!
Tomorrow I will make a ham (leftover from Easter) and asparagus casserole for dinner. I also want to make hummus for sometime too. I have never made it yet so I want to try it--- yum!!!!!
Monday, April 23, 2007  Today Jon had off to take Mady to get her molar out at Berks Oral Surgery. I was soooo nervous by last night that I told Jon that it was a good thing that I wasn’t taking her because I was a mess already! So he took her and kept me informed of the events and Mady did really really really well! I was so thankful and relieved! She came home a tad bit grouchy but opened up later and told me about the events of the day! Thank you Lord for helping my baby through a rough day and making her ‘all better’! BTW, the tooth fairy left her a note of pride and five one dollar bills!!! Mady was thrilled!
Tuesday, April 24, 2007 Today was another hair raising day in the Gosselin household!!! Last night, as Jon and I were having a discussion in the garage (important marriage issues that needed to be cleared up!) Cara and Mady came running out to tell us that it sounded as if someone had fallen out of their bed…we looked at each other and decided that it was probably Alexis- as usual- and Jon made the decision to send the girls up to check on her and help her back to bed…we would be right in. About ten minutes later, we came in and couldn’t find the girls and eventually found them coming out of the little kids’ room. When they came out, they told us that it was Leah and she had ‘a lot of snot in her hair’. We thought she had thrown up so Jon grabbed a flashlight and went in and all but screamed when he saw that it was BLOOD everywhere!!!! He grabbed her and I went in and started cleaning up..it was a lot and it was everywhere! I thought that she had had a bloody nose originally…but when Jon was bathing her, her realized that she had a huge gash on her forehead!!!!! It was about ¾  in long and it was gaping open. Not terribly deep….so we brought her downstairs in our bed and gave her Tylenol for the pain and debated whether to take her to the ER. We were both so absolutely exhausted that we decided not to (not to mention that I was getting a cold!) We continued to check her gash and it did continue to ooze…
In the am, it was still oozing a little bit and I was so torn as to what to do about it so I made a ped appt (I love them so much you know! Yeah right!) Then I canceled it and instead had Sandy Frantz (Amanda’s mom, a trauma nurse) come check it on the way home around 11:15 from work…she thought it should have been stitched! Oops. I felt bad but I did NOT want her to be tortured!!! And I did not want to take her by myself!!! I just could not do another day of nerve wracking stuff after yesterday and Mady’s tooth!!!! So I hope that I was not being at all selfish when I made the decision with Sandy to get steristrips and once we had cleaned it, we bandaged it that way. I am praying that it heals without a scar and without infection!!!!! Lord, I know that you love Leah more than we do and I pray that you will protect her little head and help it to heal ‘good as new’. Thankyou for not letting something worse to happen to her! Amen.
Then, since Cara and Mady were at Amanda’s all morning playing, and were going off to school with her, I made lunch for the six very late (it is Tuesday, Janet was here), fed them and put them up for a nap and then ran around and tried to do clutter control because this house has been out of control! Then I walked up to Jodis to watch Dr Phil because they aired our episode today! It was cut down very short but that is okay, at least they promoted our show!!!!

Thursday, April 26, 2007  I want to include an analogy in here about encouraging our kids to stay pure til marriage.  I do well with analogies and I wish that this had been shared with me…




you pick up the biggest rainbow sucker you can hold
you know, the kind with all the swirls...

you plan on giving it to the one person you truely love
the one you plan on being with forever...

(i'm gonna use a 'him' for the story
but guys feel free to substitute 'her' as needed)


but before you give it to that person
you share it with a friend
then another friend
and another one takes a big lick...
pretty soon the rainbow swirls are all mooshed together
and the stick is all sticky

finally you hand it over to the one you love

disappointment crosses his face
while he is thankful for the gift,
he can't help but wish you hadn't shared it
with so many other people before giving it to him
he's kind of hurt
but doesn't have the heart to tell you

now think about it
how many people have you shared
the most precious gift you have to offer to your future spouse?
trust me when i say it is so hard to hand that sticky lollipop over
to the one you truly love

keep those colors bright
and the swirls swirly
you can never get it back!

Anyway, interesting and I saw it on the Dr Phil message board after our show aired! Of course most of the talk is about the other wackos that were on that show!

The other dayt (Sunday)  as we were getting ready for church, I had just finished doing Hannah’s hair and Collin walked over to her and very sheepishly said ‘you petty’ (you are pretty). I shrieked in delight and almost cried! I said ‘Collin, did you just call Hannah pretty?’ And hd blushed and said looking down ‘yeeaah’ in his drawn out shy way! I love him so much!


Thursday, May 10 2007  HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEXIS, HANNAH, AADEN, COLLIN, LEAH AND JOEL!!!!!! I am really having a hard time with this new grown up age!!! It has actually caused me some tears in the last few days… I just can’t believe that my babies, my last babies are big kids now!!!! This morning when I came into their room, Leah came running up to me, parted the crowd and exclaimed, ‘mommy, daddy says we flee now!!’ So very cute! She meant that daddy said they are three now!
Today they were actually naughtier than normal. Collin and Aaden continue to try my patience as usual. It is as if they set out to do exactly what I have just asked them not to immediately after I tell them not to! It is soooo frustrating and I can’t say that I am as patient as I should be…in fact, I am plain rough sometimes in response to their constant disobedience!!!
During naptime, (or whatever you want to call it, maybe romper room) I made my now famous ‘extreme chocolate cake’ from scratch… I am becoming quite the baker lately! And after our rush to get in all the party prep stuff (mowing the lawn, and running to the country store) we sang and ate our cake- each kid had their own candle to blow out- and then we opened presents. Connie Benchoff (shoe lady in Ohio- bless her heart) sent hooded bath towels with monogramming and Mrs Pam sent wooden name puzzles for each child and a small gift for Mady and Cara as well! It was such a blessing to have two gifts for each child to open on their birthday!!!1!!! We are so blessed! These two ladies continue to help us out in such wonderful ways. I truly don’t think that either knows what a blessing they are despite how many times I have told them!

Now I want to back up and talk about the last few weeks…. On Saturday, May 5th, we filmed while we did the party prep for the big THIRD BIRTHDAY CARNIVAL!!!!! We are all so excited and getting stressed as the days dwindle! Me and Jodi and Beth and Carla (whom I have hired for the summer for Mon 3:30-5:30 and Wed and Friday 9-1) did the paper stuff which included punch cards, party bags, signs (Beth—oh my goodness pure perfection!) and Kevin and Jon made the game stands!!! All I can say about all of it….EAT OUR DUST, pottery Barn!!!!! Overall it was a successful day and it relieved a lot of my stress! Around 4 pm, Wendy Douglas, Donald Thomms (Discovery Health) and Bill Hayes (AMP/ Figure 8 Films) came and met our family. They brought a whole bunch of Discovery Health gear with them for us and it was nice stuff! Anyway, they stayed and played with the kids and enjoyed all of the noise including the slamming of Cara’s finger in the garage door near the kitchen!!!! Donald Thoms was nerve-wracked according to Jen! Anyway, after a very noisy and hairy visit, Jon and I were able to slip away and go have dinner (a dinner meeting) with Jen, Bill, Scott, Donald, and Wendy. I think we got some things accomplished and I am hoping to hear what is happening for our vacation coming up to Florida. The options include: going by ourselves- driving. Going with filming via air or going with filming- driving only if they are willing to pay for the installation of our van air (~3500). We also discussed an offer from a lady in Park City Utah who wants our family to come and stay at their resort and have the kids learn to ski and my ears perked up when I heard that there is a spa for me to go to---Yes please!
Another high light of the dinner was when Donald Thoms mentioned ‘we should probably start talking about a second season sooner rather than later’ – as usual, he didn’t let me grasp that too tightly or nail him down any tighter to details…he floated there and flew away quickly!!!! BUT it was mentioned and to me that means that it WILL happen!!!! Please Lord, help that to become a reality! It is a second income for us and I know that this is a way tthat you are providing for our needs! I thank you for all of the opportunities that you have given us this far and I pray for many more! Please help our series to renew and renew and renew and renew! And I thank you for it, amen.
Tomorrow I will be party preparing some more. I made Jon a map of all the locations of the games including the pony rides, the moon bounce, the game stands (gum ball guess, ping pong toss, tin can alley) , the other games like darts and bean bag toss and the clown location!
At 6pm I will go grocery shopping with Jen to get the party food and cake and hope to get to bed at a decent time because we will be getting up super dee duper early on Saturday to get all of the stuff set up before one pm when the party starts!!!!  Should be very interesting skipping naps on Saturday!!!!!
One last prayer… Lord please give us 75 degree weather with full sun and NO wind on Saturday! Please shine down on our beautiful and amazing kids and help them to have the party of a lifetime!!!!!! Thanks Lord! Amen

Saturday, May 5 2007 Today went very very well. We filmed the party preps. Jodi, Beth, Carla and I were here at our house making signs (Beth painted—OH MY GOODNESS they were beautiful!), party bags, event necklaces etc. we got all of our work done and Kevin and Jon made three of the most beautiful game stands I have ever seen! (thanks pottery barn for the idea!!!) We had a four foot subway sub for lunch and then kept working. Very very late, Wendy Douglas, Donald Thoms and Bill Hayes arrived for their scheduled visit! It was very stressful for me because Jon was still up at Kevins’ working on the stands and Mady slammed Caras’ finger in the door by accident! I had to get all the kids fed and get ready to go out to our business dinner… and it was very difficult! The visitors stayed throughout dinner (fortunately Jon was home by then!)
We got to dinner on time and had a good time! I forgot to mention that a few days before this, Donald and Wendy called Jon at work and told him that they were giving us a 5000 bonus!!! Wow!
Anyway, the dinner was a success. We discussed the plans for the summer dinner. They want to film the vacation so we mentioned Jon’s idea of putting rear air conditioning in our van so that we can drive instead of fly (a long term investment). Wendy also mentioned that a company in Park City Utah wants us to come and ski and I can use the spa---Yeah! That looks like it will happen in January or so. That is exciting…our kids will be able to fly!
The most important things that I heard in that dinner discussion: Donald mentioned this: ‘we should probably start talking sooner rather than later about a second season’. Yippeee!
And the second thing (besides the vacation) is the fact that with product placement is we will get a shed to hold all of the extra toys that will come our way with that! That is awesome—we need a shed, that is for sure!

Thursday, May 10 2007 HAPPY THIRD BIRTHDAY ALEXIS, HANNAH, AADEN, COLLIN, LEAH AND JOEL!!!!!!!Leah came rushing up to me when I got up to their room this am and she shouted out ‘Mommy, daddy said we flee now!’ (daddy said we’re three now!’)  It was an emotional day for mommy! I am having a really hard time with my babies turning three! Two I was okay with, but three is just plain old!!!! I made them a chocolate sin cake (extreme chocolate cake) and sang to them and then we let them open two presents each (a monogrammed towel from Connie Benchoff and a name puzzle from Pam). They were very happy! Especially with the cake! YUM!

Saturday, May 12 2007 Well the weather was awesome, thank you Lord!!!!! It was warm (very) and still just like I had prayed! We got up very early and started decorating. Margaret took the kids for two and a half hours so that we could do it all! It was a lot of decorating!!!! When we were done, our yards had magically turned into a REAL carnival!!!!! The day went so well from the ponies to the clown and the games and popcorn, funnel cakes, cotton candy, and hot dogs! Thirty kids and about the same amount of adults—what a party! Alexis, Aaden, Hannah, Leah , Collin and Joel all had a great time and Cara and Mady were sad that the party was over! I think I will have a repeat carnival with a few changes next year!!!!
Probably the best part of the party was when I announced that we had to sing happy birthday SIX times!!!!! Everyone kinda chuckled…. But they did it!!!! And the absolute BEST was when each child beamed with delight when they heard their name as we sang! That will be a memory I will never forget!!!! It was so great!!!! I love my kids!!!

Wednesday, May 16 2007 Today I think I crossed the line. With the kids. All was sorta fine up til naptime. During naptime, Alexis and Joel trashed their room TWICE and were spanked both times….they had to stay in their beds for a long time and when I allowed them to come down with everyone else…and FIVE minutes later they were into the m &ms (potty training rewards) with Collin and I really REALLY lost it! I pulled Collin up by the hair and I spanked them so hard!!! I love them so much but I was so very angry with them! I put them back in their beds for their safety and I have apologized many many times but I still feel very very guilty!!! I love them and I saw my dad in myself today and that really scares me!!!!! Lord I am begging you to help me be a loving caring kind and slow to anger mommy. Please stop me somehow from hurting my kids and help me to be slow to anger!!!! I love them SOOO much. Help them to obey me!!!!! And not get into trouble!!!!! Please Lord, amen!!!!

Friday May 18 2007  Here are the answers to a questionnaire that I filled out for a college student…. Thought they would be interesting to add here….
1. How do you manage the grocery and clothing issue for your family and do you have some cost cutting tips you have learned along the way. Yes, I use all store coupons, sales etc that I can! I have become extremely savvy to say the least! I have a friend who sends boxes and boxes of lightly worn clothing from her three children that totally (and excessively) clothes my six! Another friend gives me awesome clothing from her youngest for Cara and Mady. We are well taken care of there! The bulk of our bills are toiletries and food.
2. What is your biggest struggle or concern; for example time with each child or cleaning or Kate time and do  you get any Kate time?  I really have no time to myself. There is ALWAYS something I should be doing so that I don't get behind. The smallest things can feel like huge things because I can never get to it! I just do my best!!!!
3.What do you think about or are you planning to go back to work when the six are in school? I went back to work already.... when the six were 15 months old until they were a little over two and a half. I worked every saturday unitl I couldn't do it anymore and we decided to rely on the Lord to help make ends meet-- and He has... I am still home! Praise Him. But I officially plan to go back once the six are in school full time. I pray that I can stay home unitl then and when I do go back, I hope to do three days a week so that I have two at home to do all the many house things!
4.How long were you in the  hospital with them and how long were they in the hospital before you could bring them home? I was in the hospital for 10 weeks total. They were in about 6-7 weeks til they came home.
5. Did you have any help with them at that point and how did you manage the help coming and going. We had TONS of community volunteers (minimal family help- none from our parents to speak of). The help was so necessary but the MOST difficult time of this whole thing! I am not very good about having strangers in my home 24/7 but it was necessary and we got through it! No words can describe how difficult it was. We slimmed down our help by the time they were 8-9 mos old and only had a few remaining helpers til the six were one year old.
6. Can you remember your first thoughts when you were able to have them all at home for the first time. It was extremely overwhelming. We were exhausted by the time we had them all home (they came home in two, one, one, two) and I almost dreaded the last few coming home! (sad but true). However, it was nice not to be split in so many ways anymore and to all be under one roof!
7. Were you a patient person before you had the six? How has that  changed I was very very very painfully patient with Cara and Mady and looking back they were extremely obedient and wonderful kids...now I must say that I lose my patience at times and it is only because the messes the six make are ENDLESS because there are six of them. And becuase they feed off of each other's ideas and the messes become huge before long! Exhausting! Common and daily messes include: taking cribs apart, shredding entire rolls of paper towels, boxes of wipes, books etc. Getting into and removing contents of drawers, pouring potties of pee everywhere, smearing poop...you name it, they do it!!!!!

Anyway, today marks the fifth day of Aaden’s potty training and I thought he was doing extremely well UNTIL…right before lunch, I was in the kitchen making lunch and Hannah announced that ‘Aaden pooped on the floor’….and sure enough, he had pooped on the dining room floor in front of the sliding glass door!!! Tons of poop, squooshy poop and pee and had trailed it making heel prints on the wood floor! You know, that floor that I can’t clean with antibacterial stuff!!!! I screamed at the top of my lungs as I picked him up and another plop of poop rolled down his leg onto the floor!!!! I scrubbed and scrubbed and even used soap and water and toothpicks in the grooves to clean that nasty stinky crap up! I spanked aaden after all was clean because we are not dogs and by five days, I felt that he should be able to handle his functions a tad better! What a gross day!!!! And it’s not even over yet…. I am at the point where I dread what they will do next!!!!
I must mention quickly that yesterday Alexis slipped away and went into Mady and Cara’s room and poured a bottle of water all over their American Girls!!! The three of us were howling and crying but fortunately, the fan dried them off and all is well!
This morning after three of the six were in the powder room shredding tp and flushing the potty, I hung a key above the door of the powder room and one above Cara and Mady’s room door and announced that those doors needed to be LOCKED at all times!!!! I don’t feel like anything is safe here anymore!!!!! HELP MEEEEEEE………………………

Wednesday, May 30, 2007  Today was another recovery from being sick day…for the kids today, not me. I felt like myself without an overly huge appetite…but unfortunately it wasn’t absent.
Mady is on my mind today. It has been almost four weeks since her strange belly pains began. It all started back at school on the day of the magic show in the gym. She began crying and had to leave because she was ‘doing that loud thing’  as annoying as could be Mrs Dolan put it. And since, she has complained every single day about belly pain off and on. She carries a bucket around with her a lot and when it is time for school, she says she is tired and her belly hurts. She has also complained of leg pain (without evidence of a growth spurt) and  the kicker is that she turns down sweets and offers to go do special things with family and friends!!!!! She told me today when Aunt Jodi asked her and Cara to go to target with her, ‘I want to do fun things but my body just won’t let me!’. That is really when I started to think that this needs attention! She didn’t want to go to the zoo on Monday (we didn’t go anyway because we were all getting this little 24 hour virus). I am perplexed at this point so I made her an appointment for 2 pm tomorrow with dr Iriana and I hope that she doesn’t poo poo me and really takes my concerns to heart. I am praying that we actually get somewhere. I am personally thinking that we are dealing with 1. stress and 2. constipation issues.  We shall see….
The latest things that the little kids are saying: yesterday, I was emptying Leah’s poop (diarrhea) and I said out loud that it was ‘pure liquid’ and she said ‘it’s lick-lish’ so this morning, when she pooped, of course she had to ask ‘was it lick-lish’? I laughed and said ‘no’.
Alexis is working on saying ‘this is’ or ‘that is ‘ instead of starting all her sentences with ‘di di’. For example ‘di di you cup?’ That is how she talks. She is such a wild woman! Nana Janet was here yesterday and she had gotten her hair cut short since the last time that we saw her and Alexis said to her ‘you hair crazy nana’.
For the last two weeks or so, Alexis has a new room!!!! She sleeps alone in the little playroom and I think she enjoys it! As soon as we had told her that she was going to start sleeping in there, she told all the kids ‘di di my room!’. So much for a ‘punishment’ for waking your brothers and sisters at the crack of dawn! (waking them BY NAME I might add!) Anyway, she wakes up and is Jon’s new shadow now!!!! It is like little Mady  all over again!!!!! She tells jon in the morning ‘I wave bye to you from my house?’ meaning from inside the little playhouse in the little play room!
Well, construction will finally begin!!!!!! We came to an amount with Bob Norton and he will start in about two weeks! We will also use Jeff Wilber and his friend who hangs drywall to do that part and Jon will order the heating/ cooling unit from the internet and have it installed by an HVAC man that Mark Turner knows. Then Jon will paint and Jeff Martin will lay carpet. I am hoping that the total expenditures don’t exceed 8000. Then comes the move in fun!!!!!
On Saturday, I went to the Pottery Barn Kids outlet that had just opened that weekend and was so thrilled to pieces to get all of the little girls quilts for just 39 each and the little boys for about 65… and lamp for the boys and cradles for the little girls!!!!! So very exciting!!!!!  The whole store was an extra 40% off that weekend!!!! Wow what a great answer to prayer!!!!I could not convince Cara and Mady to get the other Pottery Barn quilt that was there!!!! It was annoying because I wanted all the kids to have a well made quilt. But the polka dot ones that Beth found them will also work!!!!
The beds will be picked out on July 14 I think. We are filming it because the network is paying for them!!!! Our budget (in the form of a check) will be 4113. I am hoping to spend no more on beds than 3613 so that I can recap the costs (about 500) that I spent on the kids’ bedding. Then all in all, the beds, mattresses and bedding will just about be covered. Minus mattress pads. I think I have a set of sheets for all the kids.
That is all the news I can think of now. We have lots of filming events coming up that I hope to write about in here for the sake of memories!!!!
Bye.

Friday June 1 2007 Yesterday, I had taken Mady to the doctor about her month long belly pain issue. She had said that I should take Mady for an xray to double check her suspected diagnosis of constipation. But Friday when she got up and all day, she was great! We went to a place locally that has organic produce including strawberries, and got a bunch of stuff! She ran around and played and I only heard two belly complaints the whole day, that is all and very minimal compared to usual. She had missed the whole week of school and had had some diarrheas here and there which made no sense to me!!!! But was feeling good so I sent her to school….
Around bedtime, she started complaining a lot of belly pain and I noticed that her belly looked very distended. So I talked to jon and we agreed to go ahead and give her the Miralax that Dr Iriana mentioned even though I hadn’t done the xray yet. I didn’t want Mady to be in pain any longer and I wanted every one to be able to have a good time at the zoo….once Mady pooped! That was 10:30 pm.
We put her on our floor to sleep because she was terribly uncomfortable at this point, and I even made her a hot water bottle to hug.
At midnight, she was crying in her sleep and thrashing around some. Jon told me (I hadn’t even gone to sleep yet) to take her to the bathroom to poop! I thought, ‘oh yeah!’ and got up to take her! She sat up and projectile vomited three feet onto me, the bathroom door, the floor and covering the comforter she was sleeping on!!!!! We both were shocked! At this point, the howling began! ‘MY BELLY HURTS SOOOO BAD!!!!’ Etc and so on! So we decided enough is enough and took her to the ER.
What a joke that place is! It was so angering, that I can’t even go into detail! We sat a total of three to four hours before even being seen! It was terrible. My uncomfortable daughter was sleeping on her daddy’s lap!!!!! She did have a few (3-4) bouts of diarrhea while there and then seemed to be more comfortable!!!!
They did xrays and said there is stool in there but that it wasn’t enough that really concerned them. They told us that they thought it could be reflux and to give her Zantac 75 mg daily (good luck with those pills) and sent us on our way….. at 7 am!!!!! Ohhh that place angers me! I am so glad that we didn’t’ take Leah the time when she cut her forehead!!!!
Anyway, since the visit, Mady’s appetite has not really increased and she says that the zantac today ‘only helped a little’. So we shall see. I want to know what Dr I thinks of her xrays…..


 Sunday, June 3, 2007 Well if you really want to know, here is how the zoo day went...and just for the record, it was NOT uneventful as you will see.....
So we got up this am (Sun) to go to the zoo, yes I did say Sunday....we had to reschedule for the fourth time because we spent the whole of Friday night in the Emergency room with Mady and her ongoing times one month belly pain. It took a turn for the worse at midnight Friday night and we were there (we waited longer than is humane) and didn't get home til 7 am Saturday morning....so we didn't go yesterday for obvious reasons!!!! But I digress.... (see above for the Mady story)
Got up and got ready. Jon had checked the weather forecast not once but twice and said 'perfect weather! Overcast but no rain and mid 70's (cooler and less humid than it has been!). So we were thrilled that it worked out that today was the day....
We leave uneventfully and get about an hour and a half into our drive (total about 2 1/2 hours) and it starts to look like rain...I asked again...'are you sure it's not supposed to rain?' 'Nope, overcast and no rain'. Okay then!!!! a few more miles....it starts to sprinkle....then it starts raining. We are almost there...I can almost see the giraffes by now and we have rescheduled this so many times our kids think that we are liars...... so we decide we will go and see how long we can last!!!!! No rain jackets or umbrellas were with us  either I might add!
Got the kids loaded up in the six seater stroller and Mady in hers (don't know quite what is going on with that belly.... but she agreed to ride in a stroller and that concerns me even more.... but didnt know what else to do with her!) We were quite wet and as soon as we entered, Jon sent me to the first giftstore to see if I could get us each a poncho...SOLD OUT, of course!!!!
So we were doomed to be soggy all day. Jon and I agreed not to make a big deal out of the rain, after all it IS just water....and the kids didn;t even mind that there was so much water in their eyes they could barely see the animals! :)
Okay so we walked for an hour or two and finally we had a brainy idea to do what the (or at least Grandma's) girl scouts used to do.... we asked at a food stand for trash bags. I offered to buy them but the kid gave us a whole roll!!!!! We cut head holes and wore them! Picture a six seater stroller with clear trash bags poofs and little faces sticking out of each one...yes, quite hilarious indeed!!!!! As if we didn't stick out before, we did now...with our trash bag kids!!!!! I even donned one.... but Jon could not stoop so low!!!! Ha HA.
So that was the trick! WE were able to see about 3/4 of the zoo We stopped at the bathroom before lunch. Promptly as I sat Leah on my very beloved and trusty folding potty seat, it BROKE!!!! I will mourn his loss greatly....until my new one arrives in the mail in a few days!!!! I cannot live without one of those! Anyway, that made our day EVEN better!!!!
 We ate our packed lunch under an unused vending tent (people walking by thought we were an exhibit I think because they stopped and stared and mused as though they had seen an arrow on their map that said 'the Gosselins' on it! We get stared at a lot but it struck me as extra funny that we were under this abandoned zoo tent and the fact that people stopped there and talked about us as though we were behind glass!!!!)
Okay so after lunch we did one or two more stops (including the gift shop which was the MOST important thing to two six year olds I know!!!! I had given each child a budget of  eight dollars to spend and this was quite a treat to them and they wanted to spend it!!!!!
We got back in the van. We changed each childs clothing to a fresh and dry outfit because you could almost wring our clothes out by this point! And tucked each one into their seats with a blanket.I handed out a snack of ‘zoo animals’ or Barnums animals that I had gotten the kids after Hannah announced to me ‘mommy, I’m tursty (thirsty) and hungy (hungry)!!!! Ha ha. I  thought 'okay so it was a challenging day, but it could have been worse!'
We left and I asked Jon to drop me off at a grocery store right up the street... I wanted to check out their organic foods in that area. I was in there about 10 minutes and when I came out, it was raining cats and dogs...I mean raining! I ran to the van and when I arrived I saw Jon standing outside IN the rain! I came around and saw his completely horrified face.....he yelled.....'LOOK AT HER!!!!!' I looked where he was pointing, and I saw Alexis sitting in her ( BRAND NEW of one week) car seat COVERED from head to toe in vomit!!!!!! Discusting thick nauseating smelling vomit!!!!!! The whole van reeked so very badly and every one of the other seven kids were letting me know that they could smell it and that Alexis is SOOO gross etc!!!! I stared at her for a minute because I truly didn't know where to begin!!!!
I handed Alexis out (into the rain) to Jon) but I have to say that I braced myself before touching her! I didn't want to!!!!! Then I got to work on the carseat which took me a good twenty minutes and about fifty baby wipes to get to the point where the smell (in the rain with all windows UP) would maybe be somewhat tolerable!!!! I also handed all the other kids a lemon wipe to put up to their noses to smell as a sort of an air freshener!!!!!!  They continued to complain and I (having surprisingly stayed calm throughout this ordeal, surprisingly!) found myself using this opportunity to give a little family pep talk. I told them that 'in a big family, there will be good times and bad times but we are a family and this is what a family is! We deal with what we have to and do our best!!!!' I don't even know where I got that....all while I am playing in slime, cleaning away! I get mom brownie points for that one, no doubt!!!! :)
Jon and I had a quick discussion about who would wash Alexis up and after presenting my argument about ME having been the one to play with slimy the carseat, I won and he wiped her whole body down with lemon wipes.....we reoutfitted her for the third time and off we went....in the now stinky Big Blue Bus!!!!!
Ahhhhhh....memories.....aren't they grand?


Monday, June 5, 2007  Today was certainly a busy day! I continue to go to the local organic fruit farm in Mt Joy that is run by the nicest Amish couple, Linda and Henry Stolzfus. They are holding all of their ‘seconds’ of strawberries for Jodi and I and we are grateful…they are only charging 2 dollars per quart instead of 4 dollars per quart for the ‘nice’ ones. I have put away close to 20 quarts by now I think. Praise the Lord! I am going back all this and next week to fill the freezer—and eat some too! The kids and Jon are thrilled!
This evening, as I was making dinner, very late, Leah announced ‘mommy, I poo-ooped!’ in her sing songy voice! I asked Cara who was standing next to me to wipe her and she emphatically said ‘NO I don’t wipe them’ and then as if to read my thoughts, she said ‘I only wiped Mady because she is my twin. She’s my twin and that’s why I wiped her’. I said ‘Was it like wiping your own hiney?’ and She giggled that Cara giggle and said ‘yee-ah’. How sweet!
Tonight while I was cleaning up the kitchen, Cara and Mady came down from their showers and did a little song and dance, literally, and then pulled down their matching pj shorts to show me that their UNDERWEAR matched too!!!! Then I realized that they were matching from head to toe!!!! How amazing their love for each other! IT never ceases to amaze me!!!!

Wednesday, June 6, 2007 Today took the cake….. I woke up and when I went up to get the little kids, Hannah had puked BIG in her crib. It was in her hair and everywhere, so I had to shower her. Then I thought ‘okay I can do this!’ because it was the day that Carla Turner was to start! She would be here from  9-1 and I was really looking forward to it by now!
So the day was hairy. I took Hannah with me to get today’s batch of strawberries. We sneaked out the laundry room door to go get the Lumina (the BBB is in the shop getting rear air cond put in it) and off we went. Henry has been giving us the strawberries lately, He won’t let us pay for them and we really really have been appreciating them!!!!! SO  when I got home I had to make lunch and get the girls off to school. Right as we were coming inside, joel was following me around whining, as usual. Finally I looked down and saw that there was blood running down his shoulder…. I freaked out! I discovered that ‘someone’ had bitten his ear lobe, well, actually above his ear lobe behind the cartilage. It was gaping and I immediately thought of my steri strip collection!!!! So Carla helped me get the others in bed and I put Joel on the infamous kitchen counter and did ‘surgery’. It turned out well!!!! I hope it looks well when it is healed!
That afternoon, I sut up a bazillion strawberries as I have been every day and after nap, Alexis was in the laundry room and announced that she had pooped….so in between making dinner (cabbage rolls) and dessert (fresh strawberry cobbler) I went to wipe her and when she stood up, I was aghast when I discovered FOUR PERFECTLY ROUND bullseyes on her hiney!!!!! I immediately thought ‘lymes disease!’ And in a panic, called Sandy Frantz (we had just been talking on the phone) and we both did some internet research and didn’t know what to think!!!! Just as all this was happening, I heard some gleeful laughing and giggling in the laundry room (and I might add, that by this point exhausted didn’t even describe my state!!!)  which is usually NOT a good thing!!! I followed my ears and discovered that Alexis and Aaden were splashing and wearing oxiclean water from my soaking buckets!!! There was all but an inch of water on the  floor and Aaden was wearing it in his hair and down his face….and it is STRONG oxiclean water!!!! I lost it! I absolutely melted down!!!! I started cleaning it up and called jon to tell him ALL of the news and sobbed so hard that he couldn’t understand me. I told him in so many words that I felt like I may hurt his children etc and so on. Fortunately, I know to send them to their beds when they have been naughty so that they are out of my sight and then I know that they are safe!!!! So they were in their beds and I was sobbing and cleaning up the floor when I decided to lay down on the towels and continue to cry. I was sobbing  ‘please somebody help me…please wont somebody help me’ when I heard this little voice say ‘mommy I will help you!’. It was little Leah and that melted my heart!!! She had been standing there watching my melt down and to hear her say that was so very dear!!!! She and Hannah then offered their help and I appreciated their support if nothing else!!!
I looked up about this time and saw Beverley pulling into the driveway and realized that Jon must have called her to come help!!!!! I was actually very relieved and glad that jon thought of that!!!!!
That evening, Aaden had a few more potty accidents which caused me to finally put him back into diapers (which about two to three weeks into it I hated to do but I just can’t take the million accidents a day!). when Jon got home he had the nerve to lie to me about buying lunch in Philly that day! I KNEW he was lying, his eyes were as big as saucers!!! But he insisted that he ‘didn’t have lunch’ when really he had put it on the credit card!!!! That was the absolute end to the most horrible day in history!!!! Why am I so unloved that he has to continually lie to me? Am I that stupid? Is he that character less? Evidently he cares more about his OWN fear or whatever that lying is okay! Does he really think that I would never EVER find out? Just be honest weak boy!!!!! Some life lesson he is teaching his kids! Great we will have a house full of lying kids….. that makes me completely sick!!!!!!!
I wish Jon would crack the Bible daily and really seek the Lord in this matter! I wish he would really seeeee what God is all about and how He just wants to love Jon and help him to be a spiritual role model for his family. I pray that his complacency would leave him and would turn into passion for the Lord! Lord PLEASE help Jon to desire these things!!!!!! Help him to become a man of integrity!!!!! Lord please!!!!! He could be the perfect man if he could get these things under control and let God take control!!!!!

Friday, June 8 2007  Today I woke up and realized that it was Cara and Madys’ last day of school at Rheems!!!! (Last night was the LCDS new parents dinner and it was so good to see that the teachers and staff care so very much about the students!!!) So I got them off to school and Mady did her usual crying routine but ran for the bus when it came!!! Then I went upstairs and faced another ‘bodily fluid war’. Collin had vomited in his crib so I stripped that and then started the laundry and then started to dress the kids. When I got to collin, I discovered that he had had diarrhea in his diaper and it was rolling down his legs and when I changed him, the poop ran out of the diaper into the changing pad and down the front of the changing dresser!!!! After a shower and all the annoyance, I took the little kids downstairs and fed them. Carla had arrived and the plan was to take Alexis with me to the doctor for her bulls eyes….fortunately Aunt Jodi had stopped to give me the Lumina and took Hannah and Leah home with her! So Carla just had the boys. I left finally with Alexis and we went to the doctor. They saw the pictures and tried to tell me that she didn’t necessarily have Lymes’ disease but that she could have ‘another virus’ instead. Regardless, they tried to draw her blood work there and missed on both tries while my child screamed her lungs out and I felt soooooooooooo terrible for her!!! They didn’t get either vein so now on Monday morning I have to take her (with Jon this time) to Cherry Drive to get more blood work….. great!!!!!
I then went to the strawberry patch and Henry had promised another lady the ‘seconds’ that day. I said that was okay and that I would be back on Monday!!! He gave me some yesterdays lettuce and would not let me pay for it! I guess he felt bad that I didn’t get strawberries. Regardless, I got broccoli that I can make tonight for dinner.
Jen and the crew are on their way. We are doing interviews and they are bringing us dinner which will help us to get done faster! That is nice.
I am glad that I didn’t get strawberries today. It is nice to sit here with mady next to me (Cara is at Winston’s) and journal.
Tomorrow is Dutch Wonderland!!!!! Should be exciting (without a potty seat)!!!!

Saturday June 9 2007  Dutch Wonderland was great!!!! We had a fun day with admission covered as well as lunch—whatever we wanted so I loaded up! The PR ladies were so very nice. I wish Mady would have been kinder and more polite. She had a belly ache and wasn’t herself in any capacity. She didn’t ride but two rides maybe and wanted to go home the whole day! But despite that, the little kids had fun and so did Cara, Jon and I.
We hopped right on the Turtle Whirl in the morning thinking that it would go ‘slow’ but it was even nerve wracking even to me!!!! Hannah and Leah were literally white by the middle of the ride!!!! Oh dear! Cara and I and Cara and Jon were able to go on some really great rides together!!!!
At the end of the day, we got ice cream and called it a day at 3 pm. It was a very very hot and sunny day and we had fun!!!! The potty issue without a potty seat was very annoying but we got through it…..and guess what was on our porch waiting for us when we got home? The potty seats I had ordered!!!! Yeah! I am very grateful for them!!!

Sunday, June 10 2007 We went out to diner with Beth and Bob tonight…just the two couples—in other words no KIDS!!!! We had such an awesome time!!! We went to the organic restaurant in the Lancaster hotel. I don’t even know the name of it but it was yummy!!! It was so good to have a dinner with them! Jon and Bob got silly together and Beth and I just talked and talked and talked!!!!! What a great evening! Kayla babysat our eight and Taliah!!!! What a nice thing to have a built in babysitter!!!!

Sunday, June 17th 2007 Happy Fathers Day daddy!!!! We got up and made daddy breakfast and it turned out so yummy!!!! I made pancakes and used fresh organic strawberries and thickened it and made it into strawberry syrup.  And I topped them with whipped cream and served it with bacon!!! Yummmmmmyy!!!! We had gotten daddy a 100 gift card to Park City Mall. He was happy because he could get himself some new pants, he said.
Anyway, needless to say, we didn’t make it to church and decided to stay home and have a family day. We were outside playing and got talking about Beth and Bob and decided to call them….little did we know that they had called us and left a message about coming down to swim and have a father’s day picnic together!!!! We were thrilled and said that we could be there at 1:30. we all hopped in the BBB and were off!
We had a super great day! The kids truly love the water and we enjoyed, as usual, their company!

Week of June 18 2007 OHHH what a week! Bob Norton started construction on the girls room and it turned out to be the icing on the cake as far as my stressful week went!!! The added noise and mess just sent me over the edge by Thursday which happened to be the worst day….the day he trashed the garage by removing a sheet or two of drywall via saw and then he drilled into the fridge water line!!! There was no water and tons of running in and out and door slamming and dirty foot prints and a list to get done as long as my arm!!! I absolutely melted down to the point where I could not form words and just called jon sobbing and crying. Turns out, he called Beth and asked her to call me to help me work it through! That was nice of him and of her!!!!! I did do my crying and got back up with a vengeance to finish my projects at hand!!!! I got all of the herbs frozen that I wanted to get done and got dinner made! I also got to see Jon Hixon whom I haven’t seen since high school! It was nice to see him again!

Friday, June 22 2007 Today we had a phone call (Jon and myself) with Donald and Wendy who wanted to be the ones to ‘pull the trigger’ on season 2. they wanted to make sure that we wanted to do it and we do of course if the price is right! We are supposed to get a call from Jim Ford (money guy) on Monday so we are praying that it will all work out and we will agree!

Saturday June 23 2007 Today was our second yard sale of the season and we had as much to sell if not more if that is even believable! I couldn’t believe the full garage (and neither could Kevin) of stuff after the yardsale we had eight weeks ago!!!! We sold all six of the cribs for 300 total and all six of the carseats (Graco comfortsports) as well and a lot of other stuff to total 760 something in profit—of which I was sure to give God his 10 percent of the proceeds. Thank you Lord for helping us make some spare cash and now we can get the hitch for the BBB for our trip to Florida!!! And rent the trailor too! That will be a relief to haul that to have enough space for everything we need!!!!
Sunday, June 24 2007  The message today was absolutely amazing!!! I mean it was made for Jon and i. It was about Abraham and how he was asked by God to sacrifice his son. And it boiled down to for us…giving God even the things that are hard to let go of or hard to stop. For Jon and I it is how we parent and speak and discipline our kids!!! Pastor Bryan was saying that it takes one step at a time to let those things go and follow God. And to me that meant it is every exchange with our children adds up to being a great parent! It hit me hard! I know that we will fail… a lot! But to strive to let God handle our words is what we want to do! Lord help Jon and I to be able to let go of our frustration and ugliness and help our words to each other be kind patient and loving. Take away our ugly parenting and replace it with LOVE!!!!! Your love Lord! Thank you so very much for your blessings on our family…way more than we deserve. Thank you for allowing us to influence so many and help us to be able to honor your name in all of it! Amen.

Monday, June 25 2007  Today was a very frustrating day but I didn’t lose my cool! I have been trying to remember to give God each and every day from the start and they do go better when I do this!!!
Anyway, we had our talk with Jim despite a power outage for two hours, five nosebleeds in 12 hours (Mady) and no phone or water for most of the afternoon following the power outage!!!! It was amazing how Beverly came down right at the right time and had her cell phone on her! I was blessed by that!!!
So I did my schpeel with Jim Ford and we presented our case and he said that he would get back to us tomorrow…. We asked for 6000 per episode season two!!! And when he called back this afternoon, he said that the network was thinking more like 4000 but would meet in the middle at 5000 per episode and that as I put it to Jim is our ‘bottom line number’ so we took it. We have also asked for some sort of payment for public appearances to cover Jon’s work loss for trips. He said they could probably swing like 250 or 500 for each trip and that to us is good. We talked about the mailing of the checks versus direct deposit so we will see what they come up with for that detail…
Overall, I am not shocked with a second season coming, but am amazed at God’s provisions and the way He has decided to go about it! Thank you Lord again and again! You alone are worthy of our praises!!!!!!
I want to add something that I don’t want to forget. Aaden is really really into animals lately. He gets up in the morning and announces who he is everyday. For example, yesterday he was ‘dragon’. He has been giraffe, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, monkey, etc and so on. It is indescribably cute!!! So this evening while jon was trying to fix our phone and was in our room, Aaden was (again) looking at an animal book. When I looked to see who he was talking to, I saw that Joel was sitting on the floor at the foot of our bed facing him. Aaden had the animal book open in his lap facing Joel…and he was ‘teaching’ Joel the animals. If joel said the wrong animal, aaden would say ‘no that’s a giraffe’ or whatever! It was sooooo cute!!!! I just sat and reveled in that joy of my boys and let me tell you, I don’t often get to revel in the joy of anything that the kids do!!!! Sad but true!!! I really hope that I am able to remember that very special moment.
Other things the kids are saying- Hannah says ‘nes’ for ‘yes’ I really think it is a combo between no and yes.
I am so in love with them today (and always)! What a bunch of great great kids!
In other news, the Morrisons in Minnesota had their babies at 22 and 6 on June 10 and now as of this past Saturday, four have died!!! I am so grief stricken for them!
Stacy Bailey in Arizona is pregnant after her frozen transfer and we are waiting to hear with how many! I am nervous that she is trying to come up with another show for herself in all of this!

Friday, July 13, 2007 Okay, so a lot has happened!!!! I need to update more often! If I only had the time!!!! ☺
Stacy Bailey is NOT pregnant. She has two more embryos that she needs to use but they are of bad quality supposedly.
Things have really transpired with Jon’s work and job opportunities. For the last few months, he has been very grouchy and stressed about work in that they are dividing up their office and are going to split them into different areas. Jon has put his resume in in the House and we are both praying about what will become of him.
Meanwhile, we have been spending a lot of time with Beth and Bob and Jon and Bob have been talking. We have gone and done pool lunches/dinners numerous times and the last time, Bob asked Jon to take on his web stuff from Beth’s brother Carl who had given his quitting notice the day before.
Well Jon and I were really excited about the prospect but me and my hate of change did not want to get excited…and by the next day, Bob told jon that Carl had come back and that he wanted Jon to consult on the job (basically tell Carl what needed to be done.) so he wanted Jon to set up a meeting in West Reading with Carl and go from there. By the time the meeting was set up, Jon arrived and Bob was there. He and Jon had a long dinner and talked about the whole thing. Bob basically asked Jon to start working for him part time now and said he wants to take him on full time around September. He had even gone to the trouble of checking how much our benefits would be!!!!! So that told me that he was pretty serious!!! Again, I was very excited yet very guarded!!!!!
So, Jon got to work on Bob’s stuff and was working so fast on it that he offended Carl and got a somewhat unkind email from him!!!! Bob told Jon to keep going and not to worry about it! So he did.
This afternoon a lot of too strange to be coincidence things occurred: As I was getting home from the co op, Henry’s (my answer to prayer organic amish produce man) and the country store, Jon called and told me that Bob was looking at a house for US!!!!! He told me about it and it does sound intriguing and it is sooo close to Beth and Bob’s!!!!!
Anyway, he told Jon (I am sure it was in a joking manner) that he  would buy it for us!!!! And then I guess we would pay him back!!!!
THEN, Jon calls me and says that they had their reconfiguration meeting and that it is for sure that the four of them within six months would be divided up and that Jon would be doing menial things among other computer people. He is going to put a call into Bob and basically tell him that he is his whenever he is ready!!!!!
I am just praising you Lord that this has alllll worked together!!!! I could just cry sitting here that God has put the deep desire in both Jon and my hearts to move back to Berks county and very deeply lately. And that Jon’s work is getting scary and then Bob appears with this job opp. I know that Bob wants Jon as demonstrated by what he said to Beth. She also told me that today. She said that Bob told her that he knew that Jon was brilliant, but he didn’t realize that he was this brilliant!!!!! YEAH! That is what I have known for a long time and have hoped and prayed that someone would pick up on that and make jon a successful person!
Anyway, I must go clean corn and feed the kids. Jon is working late AGAIN tonight and we all have to get to Bennetts birthday party at seven. Our little baby is ONE already!
Last night, I was walking the six on their walking rope through the neighborhood and Hannah was telling me about some of the cute things that Bennett says and does and then she said ‘he’s my special baby’.
The other thing she did today, was while we were in the car (she went with me to do my errands while the other kids stayed with Carla) she was sticking her fingers up and she said ‘mom this is me and this is Gandmom and mom look this is poppy’. She almost made me cry!!! Then she smiled and did her eyes like ‘yeah I know I am smart!!!’
I was even shocked that she mentioned Grandmom…. She doesn’t even really know her!!!
The last thing of the day is that I got an email from the national convention of mothers of twins and they want to know speaking rates and all that stuff for their convention in July 2009. I don’t know what amount to tell them and I need to pray about it!
Whew a lot going on!
Reenie wants me to think of holiday tips to pitch to magazines….
1.	Plan ahead!!
2.	Figure out a realistic budget- and stick to it!!!!! I set a moderate amount per child to keep it fair and avoid the after holiday panic! The holidays are about much more than ‘getting’!
3.	Wrap as you go! Don’t wait til the night before Christmas to wrap your gifts!
4.	Make a list of most important things to do and memories to make on Christmas and keep it as simple as possible. We have a traditional family breakfast consisting of homemade sticky buns and hot chocolate. Such warm and fuzzy memories that creates!!!!
5.	Remember that the holidays are a great time to deepen that family bond! We always have our kids draw names and buy for each other—even if it is something small and inexpensive! It is so amazing to watch them hug and kiss and say ‘thank you’ to a brother or a sister who thought of them!!
6.	Have a ‘no rules on Christmas’ policy! Because we have eight children, we have to have a schedule, rules and routines! On Christmas, all rules are off (within reason!). The kids can have candy for breakfast. They can skip their naps. They can have seconds of dessert! They can spread toys from one end of the house to the other…..it’s Christmas, who cares!!!!!
7.
8.



Monday, July 16, 2007  Today is quite a rough day! I am being horrible to my kids, and they have also been horrible! The Hvac guy that we are not impressed with to begin with came—four hours late! That was after Jon’s dentist appt that we learned from Dr Ache- Whitmer that Jon needs to have an implant done on (3000 or so)  and I was on the phone all day about that!
The kids were outside playing with play dough and I was on the phone and saw a HUGE centipede walking on the wall where the coffee maker sits! I almost died and couldn’t get off the phone…Mrs Caherly kept talking and talking and I was sweating! So I got a solo cup and taped it to the wall with packing tape so that Jon can kill it when he gets home tonight!
Anyway, I was awful to the kids and they were unusually awful to me…. And I told Jon to tell the guy that he needs to use the powder room bathroom and that he needs to be done by 5 so that we can leave for Bible School…..he asked me for Jon’s number and QUIT!!!!!! Yep, he packed up and didn’t say a word and left!!!! He told Jon that it was ‘too hectic here’!
Quite a day, I am having! So I got an email from the Knoxville church and this is what I wrote back (Stephen Deel asked if there were any specific prayer requests that we had!)
Thanks for your email! It is actually encouraging to me! We would love if you would add us to your prayer today...and whenever you think of us! We are SO bogged down right now with so much (more than normal) going on! We have construction on our house (making an attic into a bedroom--imagine that! :), and the one worker that was here this morning quit because it is 'too hectic' here?! Also, we are getting ready to DRIVE to Florida for vacation so packing needs to begin for ten, as well as learning this am that Jon needs extremely EXPENSIVE dental work done...and soon! All that in addition to the 'normal' stress.
I feel like some days I lose track of needing to surrender EVERYTHING to God and let Him handle the stressors for me and I think today is one of those days! So while I may sound under control, it's hard to have the energy  and patience to get through! I feel like a 'bad mommy' today (all moms have those days!) Here is my email:

So, prayer requests? That both Jon and I have the strength, patience and grace to make it through the days...one after the next!!!! That we don't take our stress out on each other (easy to do!) or the kids!
And that we remember to hand our stress to God and rely on Him for everything! (that is a daily battle!)

While I know that our story encourages others, it is hard not to let Satan win when he throws rough things our way and tries to convince us that we are 'bad examples'. Make sense? So please pray too that Satan will not win the battle and that only God will be glorified through everything we say and do!

There you have it! And thanks again!
Kate G

Jon and I need to pray together everyday and read our Bibles. I feel like Satan wants to gain ground with us and I do not want that to happen and I know that Jon doesn’t either!
Tonight is the first night of Bible School….

Tuesday, July 17, 2007 When I came up from nap, I found a site that only a burglar should make!!!! The one tall dresser was toppled, lying on its’ face. The lamp was scattered, the light bulb shattered with shards of glass everywhere. In addition to that, there was a two foot long and one foot high section of the wall that was peeled down to the brown part (into) the drywall!!!! Those pieces were strewn everywhere in the room. Then, the 'locked' box of lotions and potions was opened and on the floor with the contents smeared everywhere!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How do you like this day? This all happened while I was downstairs listening on the baby monitor thinking 'oh well, if they aren't going to sleep, at least they are playing nicely.'
Amazingly, no one was cut on the light bulb glass and the dresser didn't land on anyone!!!!! And they came down from ‘nap’ and acted like nothing had happened!!!! What nerve!
I am so exhausted, I don't even have energy to clean the kitchen!!!!! (I called Carla- who is helping me this summer- and we left for bible school and she cleaned the room for me! God bless her!!!!)

Monday, July 23,2007  I am going to start journaling verses that ‘hit me’ as I find them! This one was in my email this am (email devotions) and I LOVE it! It reminds me why I need to keep a positive attitude and trust God for EVERYTHING! (even when I don’t understand!)

Josh. 1:9 (KJV) Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a
good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD
thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

Recently, all these talks of Jon working for Bob are confusing to me! I know now (that Carl is leaving that position) that there is a position for Jon and I trust Bob that we would be ‘safe’ but I sure don’t understand why we were here for so short and started and finished the girls’ room and now could be moving? I know that Beth and Bob are SO supportive in so many ways to Jon and I and our family…. And I know that it would be a great move. I will just continue to wait and trust God to send us the ‘right’ house in His right timing. I guess that I just worry that the house that we need to be our ‘forever house’ as we call it, will be too much and we won’t be able to afford it and then we will outgrow again soon,….and on and on and on!
Anyway, that verse above tells me not to be discouraged! And I love the reminder!

I am currently packing to leave for Disney and Venice. Our room is torn apart with suitcases and stuff. I need to get packing!
There is another verse I want to share though…..
Last week as I emailed with Stephen Deel (Knoxville church who wants us to come) and he asked for specific prayer requests, I told him how Satan was attacking us and wanted us to think that we weren’t ‘good enough’ to speak and tell our story etc and how upsetting that was to us and that we were sooooo bogged down with too much to do and that the list just went on and on and on. Well he emailed me this passage and it does really fit and I love it! It reminds me of when I was in the hospital….. it was one of my very favorites then and it still is…
1 Peter 5:6-10, 6. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 8. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.  10. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
Wow, so awesome!
I’m off to pack now!