Tristan's birthday cake this year. Star Wars theme and i made it myself!

Entry for March 03, 2007
Ok, feels like forever since I have posted! Let's recap on the last few months. We all had a wonderful holiday season and the new year was rung in with a bit of chaos as we got down to business with school again! The three youngest are totally potty trained (YAY!), and for those of you that know me, you know that I have been changing diapers for ten straight years so not having to drag around a diaper bag is HUGE!
The kids are all well, doing very well in school. Tristan's birthday has just passed. I can't believe he's eleven! Mack's is up next. We are having a small family party tomorrow and (hopefully) a bit of rest after. After running around doing all the shopping and whatnot today I am exhausted, and I still have two cakes to bake.
Been kinda letting the AVON slide lately, been so busy with the kids it's just been nuts around here. But I have a few great customers that keep me in it. Actually considering reopening Quite Contrary Creations and setting up an ebay store, but am waiting till things settle down in the summer for that.
Chad is working with Charlie these days. They are both happy at AMS even though is has been a bit slow. I am trying to get all our doctor and dentist appts out of the way before summer hits and they start working his tail off again. I know it won't be long!
Well that is all for now, I have family pics to share but I will have to wait till I find the cord for the camera. I went on a cleaning spree and I put it right where I would find it! (we know how that works, don't we?)
Love and hugs to all,
Mary

Entry for November 01, 2006

Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween!
Love, Mary

Entry for October 16, 2006
Thought I would catch everyone up on mi vida loca! First and foremost my two youngest are POTTY TRAINED!!!!! Nathan is well on his way, just a little stubborn! I should be pullup free shortly and I CAN'T WAIT!
Weekend before last we decided to go back to church. The kids have been asking for a while and we have missed it. But boy are our Sunday mornings hectic! With homeschooling and AVON I am constantly running. But it is nice to have a little time every Sunday to just sit and listen!
As for the kids they have been stuck on monster mode for the last couple of weeks. The babies have taken a liking to peanut butter. Not necessarily eating it but using it to decorate! I spent the whole day cleaning last week, when I realized that the babies had been quiet , in their room for a long time. Thinking they had fallen asleep I peeked in on them. As I opened the door, the stench of peanut butter nearly knocked me over! They had smeared it into their carpet!
Hercules was more than happy to take over the task of cleaning up the mess. That dog worked on the mess for an hour!!!!
The babies color scheme wasn't complete........two days later they added grape jelly to the decor! Half a jar was smeared into the carpet. (For those who don't know, we recently replaced the carpet in all the bedrooms, grrrrrr!)
Lucky for them our carpet steamer seemed to have removed most of it. Then on Thursday they snuck the peanut butter in once again and made the brand new mattress match the carpet!!!
At this point mom locked up the pb & j, gotta love child cabinet locks! But I underestimated the remorse they felt over all the added work they created for me. They must have really beat themselves up about it because they tried to clean their room themselves.....WITH THE HOSE!!!!!!!! Yes, folks, you heard me right they used the hose to clean their room! Some how they managed to get the safety lock off their window (Chad put it on with plyers, even I couldn't get it off!) , climb out the window and drag the hose in and spray the whole room! The carpet was literally sloshing when we walked in and the ceiling was dripping!
Needless to say we were a little upset! Aidan spent a long time thinking about his actions while standing on the wall (he's usually the mastermind in these little adventures and he's the one we caught outside when we walked in). I do have to say I am grateful we purchased the carpet cleaner a few years ago, that thing paid for itself in the first month!
The kids are all off on fall break from school, and I am using this week to try and develop some sort of organization in this crazy house. Hoping to have a garage sale on Saturday If the weather holds. And I would like to get a head start on some future assignments for the kids to get us a little ahead before my busy AVON holiday season arrives.
So I am off to start my week, I am sooo hoping it's less eventful than the last one!
Thanks for reading!
Mary

Entry for September 14, 2006
Haven't posted in a while so I thought I would catch you all up on the chaos around here. The kids started a new school. We are now enrolled in CONNECTIONS ACADEMY, a virtual school (technically public school, but they still learn at home) and they are all pretty excited about it. After one month I am happy to say that I am impressed with the progress they are making. We are still trying to get into a regular routine but I am sure it will come in time.
Aidan had a birthday yesterday. My baby is now 4 ! Where did the time go? I can't believe how grown up he is now. Unfortunately he spent his birthday sick ( a nasty stomach bug!) so we will be celebrating over the weekend. He wants a "CARS" party, even though he hasn't seen the movie. I guess it's my fault we bought him and Raven new comforters and sheets for their beds in that theme now they both love it. I even painted their room to coordinate with the bedding- so there's my creative thing for the month! (by the way, the monsters have already started peeling the paint off! )
Heaven had a birthday in July, she is now eight. But if you would talk to her you would think she was thirteen. It's bittersweet, time goes by so fast. I know that in the blink of an eye she will be a teenager.
Her bunny died about a week before her birthday. It was HUGE drama! She ened up getting a kitten for her birthday. A cute orange tabby named PUNKIN. Lily wasn't one bit happy about his arrival at first but she has since gotten use to him.
Chad has been really busy at work. He says the slow season is coming soon so he wants to get in as much work as he can now while they are willing to let him. Charlie's working with him now so he is finally working with someone who is just as serious about earning money as he is and he can rely on him more. So things seem to be going well for him.
And as for me, my AVON business is still in the baby stages. I get new clients every campaign but with everything going on I can't devote as much time to it as I would like to. I am able to toss books on the weekends and I hope to have an open house very soon (the holiday brochure is AWESOME!). Was thinking about going to beauty school over the summer to get my cosmetologists license and then only using AVON products but we will see what I have going on then. That's all I have going for now. Have to get back to teaching.
Will try to post again soon!
Love and hugs,
Mary

Entry for May 07, 2006
Hello all, I know it has been a while since my last post so I thought I would catch you up a bit. Ashleigh broke her arm in March which was a huge ordeal, but I am happy to say it seems to have healed nicely.Chad quit his job at the end of March and after doing a little soul searching, ended up going back to a company he had previously worked at. He is still doing drywall but it is at a company in which he seems to be a better fit so things are much better there!The rest of the kiddos are doing great, we are looking forward to warmer weather. Chad has began the warm season by buying a whole bunch of water pistols so the kids will have hours and hours of fun in the sun. I am sorry to say I was one of the first casualties in the Pittman water war of 2006. The kids used the first opportunity to drench me (with Chad's full support, of course) so I will be spending this summer getting them all back! tee hee!As for the kids schooling, we are working on a unit study right now of the Revolutionary War. Tristan and Heaven have both just received their own library cards and are looking forward to giving them quite a workout this summer when the reading program starts. We are all determined to earn the Diamondbacks tickets this year! That is all for now, I will post again soon!

Entry for March 10, 2006
Well, Last month was a very busy month. We literally had company every single weekend. We celebrated Tristan and Mack's birthday on the 25th they are now 10 and 5 respectively. It's bittersweet for me . I love watching them reach their milestones but it's sad to think that there growing so fast. In the blink of an eye they will be grown.
We put the kids back into karate, after both kids promised that they would apply themselves and practice. They love interacting with the other kids there so I don't mind it.
Chad has been working a lot over the last few weeks and I think it is really wearing on him. The kids and I miss having him around a lot but we understand that it isn't his fault and if given the choice he wold rather be here. So we'll just have to be patient until things slow down at work.
As for me I have been keeping busy between homeschooling the kids, keeping the house in tact amidst all the chaos, and crocheting my little hands off. We are going to clean out the garage this weekend and try to get rid of some junk. Chad wants me to get my craft stuff organized (yeah right like it's possible for me to get organized!) and he is even setting aside a part of the garage for all of it. So I have my work cut out for me.
Talk to you all again soon,
Love and hugs,
Mary


Entry for January 09, 2006
Hello all,
Had a house full of sick kiddos over the weekend so wasn't able to get to the puter. Ashleigh lost her first tooth last week! She was really freaked out about it until the tooth fairy brought her a dollar! Now she wants to run to the store and buy something, poor thing was nursing a fever all weekend so that dollar has been burning a hole in her pocket! The custest part was when Mack came to me the next morning telling me she saw the tooth fairy. Did you all know she wears a tutu???? Mack swears it's true!
I am hoping we are to the end of our passing of the sickies. At least one of us has been sick since Thanksgiving and quite frankly I am a little burnt out and stir crazy. Spent the last two days disinfecting the house so that we can get back to our normal routine.
Chad's schedule seems to be settling down since the holidays are over. He begins his softball season tonight.
The kids took a month off of Karate to reevuate whether they want to stay with it or not. I think Heaven may be more interested in a dance class or ice skating so we are going to use this time to explore our options. Tristan most likely will be back in karate class next month, he loves it!
As for the younger ones, I am hoping to get Ashleigh involved in some sort of class this year. She says she wants karate but I am thinking she will enjoy singing or dance better and Mack wants to be a ballerina.
As for me I am working on several projects right now and trying to get my online crochet group up and moving. Would like to get a few people to join and maybe start some charity projects over the next few months.
That's all for now will post again soon!
Love to all,
Mary

Happy Holidays to All!

Here is our tree on Christmas morning. Santa was VERY good to the munchkins this year! Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and will post more pics of the unwrapping frenzy and the house all lit up just as soon as I can.
Love to all,
Mary

Happy Birthday Ashleigh and Nathan!

Had the Birthday party on the Sunday after both of their birthdays. They have both grown so much in the last year! We took a few pics but will have to get them all up later as yahoo seems to be running slow tonight and I don't want to spend all night uploading pics.
Ashleigh was very excited about her birthday and she got everything she asked for (the main thing she wanted was my little ponies and a new baby doll) Nathan made us all laugh when he opened one gift and his face just totally lit up when he saw the giant semi inside ( he is all boy through and through!)
warm hugs from Mary

Thank You to Fox 10!
Our news segment aired yesterday. I can't explain how surreal it was to see my family on t.v. just doing our reg day to day stuff. We had a lot of fun doing it and I would like to thank Ron Hoon and Fox 10 for giving us the opportunity.
Got a few calls today about it and I am thankful for all the kind words we are recieving. I am extremely proud of my family and was blessed to show the world (or at least a part of it) how wonderful they all are.
Hugs to all,
Mary and family

New Addition!

The day after Thanksgiving we went and picked up my newest baby. This is Isabelle, our eight week old rat terrier. Just wanted to show her off.
I'll catch you all up later on our holiday, most of us are sick with the flu right now so computer time is at a minimum.
Laterz!

Entry for November 22, 2005

The kids had their Karate promotions on Saturday and they both promoted to a yellow belt. Heaven is on probation for six months due to her lack of focus but we are hoping that this is the kick in the rear she needs to get serious.
On Saturday night we attended the class holiday party at Barro's Pizza. Everyone had fun and the babies had way too much sugar! When they held the raffle for door prizes every one of our tickets ended up winning! It was cute.
The news came to film our segment yesterday and the reporter called me today to let me know that our segment has been moved to nex Wed, apparently there was too much to fit into tomorrow's time slot but it was still a lot of fun. They did an interview with both Chad and I and the kids, then they filmed us in the yard, coloring at the table, making lunch, and loading everyone in the van. But the kids were awesome the entire time!
Probably won't post again untill after the holiday. We are having family and a few friends over so it should be fun around here, gonna cook up a storm tomorrow so I can relax a bit on turkey day. I hope you all have a great one!

Love and Hugs,
Mary

Entry for November 17, 2005
Hello all,
Been a while since I have posted so I thought I would catch you all up. Ray ray's birthday was a hit and he got lots of great stuff, I have posted pics in my album so feel free to take a gander.
Halloween was interesting to say the least. It started off rather rough. I walked into the girls' room to find Heaven dangling from the plant ledge in her room. Upon further inspection I noticed that the porcelain dolls we have been collecting for her have all been redressed, including a very old one with frail clothing! It spiralled down hill from there. I walked in to find chunks of blond hair all over the floor. Thinking the hair belonged to the dolls I went into an immediate lecture about taking car of your belongings when I saw both girls glance at Ashleigh at the same time. When I looked a little closer I noticed that most of the hair on the side of her head was cut about 1/2" from her scalp!!!!!!!
"We wanted to make her into Cinderella," explains Heaven!
CALGON TAKE ME AWAY!!!!!!
So we did not go to the church fair like we had originally planned (had two boys at home sick anyway) but Mom is a pushover so I took them trick or treating around here.
Then last weekend I got a nice surprise, Chad let me take an" ever so quick but delightfully alone" trip to Cali to blow off some steam. To all the peeps who didn't know, I apologize and I plan to visit again soon so just hang tight till I get there. I kept a really low profile while I was there so it's nothing personal.
So now I am getting back into a groove. Got a call today that they want to do a news segment on my family. Totally random on the local station. We are supposed to film it on Monday and it should air on Wednesday so we are all excited. Now I am gonna clean like a maniac all weekend!
And if I don't post again before the holiday, I hope your Thanksgiving is wonderful! I will be cooking for everyone this year as it makes more sense for my tribe to stay put and let the masses come to us. So if anyone see's smoke from my direction- grab a bucket and come running!
Love and Hugs to All
Mary

Happy Birthday Raven!!!!!
As I am sure you have guessed it is Ray Ray's birthday today. He is now three years old and entirely too independent to need me anymore! It's great to see how far he has come since that first month where we spent every three days in the doctor's office trying too figure out how to get every part of him healthy at the same time!!!!
It is such a joy to witness him growing up, he loves to giggle and play games (hide and go seek is a biggie) and make you chase him all over the house. For having such short legs you would think he would run a bit slower!!!!
We plan to have his party on Sunday, when Chad will be home to celebrate with us. It's going to be a pretty full weekend for us because our neighborhood is having a big block sale and we decided to try and clear out the garage a bit, hopefully we can still manage to make it to church but I am not counting on it!
Still trying to get used to flying solo with the kiddos so much. Took all the kids to run errands this morning and they were all angels! (can you believe it?) I guess I am going to have to bake some cookies to commemorate the occasion! They were all disappointed when they came home and found out that karate was cancelled this evening though, so we are going to watch a movie together instead.
Got to run for now but I will be sure to post pics from the party this weekend.
Squishy hugs to all,
Mary