David just finished up his Family Practice/Urgent Care rotation. He would come home every other day and say, "We saw three people today that slipped on the ice. I can't believe that people that have lived here all their life and still fall so much on the ice, they should be used to it. I think people that haven't lived here forever don't fall because they are more careful. Have you ever fallen?" "Ummmm, yah, a couple of times and it hurts."

Mac just came running into the family room yelling..."mom daddy fell down!!! Daddy need to go to da doctor!!! Hurry, come see, daddy fell down." Imagine if you can, me still sitting on the couch, um cause that is what I did! I told Mac to go help him up. David walked in a few minutes later. I asked him if he really slipped. "Ya how did you know?" "Mac come in and told me." "Thanks for being so worried." "Hey I yelled your name and you said 'wwwwhhhhaaaattt' so I knew you were alive!" True love I know!

So, it was Christmas Eve and all the kids were supposed to be getting their jackets on. I have set up a little station downstairs with all their winter jackets, boots, and mittens. David was down at the bottom of the stairs when he heard this scream and thud, thud, thud. Last time he looked up Mac was at the top...and now he was screaming at the bottom. "I got bleeds I got bleeds...need to go to da doctor...I got bleeds!" David picked him up and brought him up the stairs, noticing an over sized shoe at the top of the stairs which may have been the reason for the fall. Sure enough, Mac had bleeds! He had a huge hematoma the size or an egg with a little cut that was oozing blood. My first thought was "poor Mac," but my second was, "please don't be so bad that we have to spend Christmas Eve in the ER!" Thanks to the Dr. in the house and his professional opinion. We put a cold rag on it, bandaged him up and loaded the kids in the car. The whole ride Mac would let us know that he fell down the stairs and got bleeds and was going to the Dr. He got a little ticked when we pulled back into our driveway. I finally talked him out of going to the Dr. "Mac if we take you to the Dr. then he is going to give you a shot and you will get more bleeds!" Good parenting I know, but it did quiet him down and he was fine with coming home!

Tia has been funny these last few weeks...begging for a baby sister! I keep telling her that we just have to wait and see if they will bring us one. Everything she opened up for Christmas, she informed me that she will share "it" with her baby sister. She has turned into the prayer police and reminds us every meal to say the prayer and then at night she likes to come upstairs with me to put the boys to bed and "say prayers." I was putting the boys to bed last night with a little parrot at my side. "Okay boys, do not get out of bed!" "Ya boys, do not get out of bed or you will get in lots and lots of trouble...do you understand?" I am constantly reminding her that I am the mom." "Ya, you are the mom!" She doesn't quite get it!

It amazes me how normal my kids have turned out with all they have gone through. A couple of weeks ago I caught Tia carrying around a piece of paper that her birth mom had given her at her last visit. It had her name drawn on it and a picture of her when she was a baby sitting on her birth moms lap. I had intended to put it away for her so she could have it when she was older. I took it from her and told her that I was going to put it somewhere safe for her. She handed it over and pranced up the stairs. I didn't get very much of a reaction so I thought with the subject already up, I should talk to her about how she is feeling. I went upstairs and asked her if she knew why she couldn't see or live with her mommy Karen. She replied with a "yes, because she is sick." I then noticed her get a little teary eyed. I told her it was okay to cry, she then replied, "Nobody can take me away from here right." "NO NO, of course not, you are going to live here with mom and dad and all your brothers and be our little girl forever." "Forever and EVER." "Yes, forever and ever." She dried up gave me a hug and went off to play! Sometimes I wonder if her being so obedient and such a pleaser, has anything to do with her thinking we will send her away. If she only knew how hard we fought to keep her and Mac! Of course, all we could do is pray, because as a Foster Parent, we really don't have a say!

If you don't like the subject of poop, you might want to skip this post...however, I do have six kids and poop happens!


It was the next Saturday after the other poop incident...David and I decided to sleep in a little bit. I could hear the kids playing around 7:30...I heard Dexter and Mac come downstairs and get into the candy stash. I could hear Joey's "eeeedle eeeedle eeet." We finally rolled out of bed about 8. I asked David to go and check on the damage upstairs. I figured the worst it could be was candy wrappers all over the floor, boy was I wrong. The night before somehow Joey missed the night diaper rotation and had peed, and then decided to lay an egg for us. So, Joey was the easiest to potty train and never had a poop accident. But for some reason, those last two weeks he has some issues. It wasn't bad enough the Joey pooped his pants, but that Dexter had taken his car and got the egg stuck on wheels and drove it all over the bedroom. It was so disgusting. I thought I was going to beat them. Mason, for not telling me, Joey for laying the egg, Dexter for driving his car though it and then all over the bedroom, walls, toys, carpet, crib and Mac, cause I know he was right behind Dexter playing along. I was so MAD. I don't think I have ever been so upset at my boys. David had to go help dry wall a families house in the Branch so it was just me to clean up the room. First I bathed the kids and fed them breakfast....yelling at them the whole time. Then I gated Tia and Toby in the family room and told her she was to babysit Toby and make him happy. I took the four older boys upstairs and sat them on a 4x4 blanket and they watched me clean. I yelled at them every 10 minutes just to remind them why they were sitting on the blanket. "This is disgusting....do you like playing in poop...See this toy, it is going in the garbage..." and much more. After I would finish an outburst, Mason would always reply, "Mom you da best....I love you do much....mom you are duch a good cleaner....Mmmm, that smells good mom." It was nice to have a cheerleader, but he was in trouble too, so I would reply, "If you loved me you would have told me Dexter was playing with poop...It smells good cause mom is cleaning up poop, cause you were not a big boy and tell me what Dexter was doing." He would just smile at my replies. He really is a good boy. I changed all five beds, shampooed the carpet, smelled every corner, scrubbed the crib (it was a spindle one, and the poo car went on every spindle) I tossed any toy that I thought had something on it and disinfected the ones that I knew didn't. I don't think a room has ever been so clean. It literally took me 4 hours, and I made those kids sit there the whole time and watch me. It was lunch time and I was done, but still mad, so I loaded up the kids and we went to McDonald's to get TIA and MOM a happy meal and some ice-cream. The boys had mac and cheese and did not love it! And Tia did a really good job at her mmmmm's while she ate! As for David and I, well, we haven't slept in since!

The fight is over. David and I have been going back and forth about space heaters in the boys' room. My idea (the better one) was to put warm jammies on them and several blankets. And I am sure you can imagine the not so good idea of David's. "Allison, they will kick their covers off." "David, they will learn to put them back on." The boys room does get kinda chilly at night. But, I have heard that so many houses start fire from space heaters. We even bought the ones that turn off when they get tipped. Guess what, they don't turn off, I tested them. It has been a constant fight for about a month. Me winning with "Fine, turn the space heaters on and if our house catches fire and we lose our kids, I will never forgive you." Okay, so I know it was a little harsh, but I really felt strongly about it. We had one really cold night a couple of weeks ago, and the conversation started again. David said he was going to just run it for a little while to take the chill off the room. "I don't think the kids will mess with it, they are all asleep except for Dexter and he is laying in his bed. I don't think it will be a problem." I rolled my eyes with a "Whatever." About 15 minutes I hear some kicking on the wall and asked David to go check on everything up there. David found Dexter hugging the heater under the blanket. He had gotten up out of bed unplugged the heater and took it over to his bed, put it under the blankets with him and plugged it in. We got lucky and it popped the breaker and stopped running. There was no need for an "I told you so." The fight was over and has not come up since.....Oh, and I won! :)

Mason came up to me and was blabbering....okay not that unusual for him, but I couldn't understand the 50% that I usually can. "What are you taking about Mason?" "I speaky Spanish...adda sudda adda lato tedo." Either the Spanish is coming out in his blood or he has some Spanish speaking amigos at school! He is sitting by my while I type laying on my arm. He is always so happy and sweet and loves everyone. A couple of days ago we were running late into school. I have to sign in Dexter and Tia, so we all walk in together. Because of our late arrival the halls were filled with Teachers and kids. As I was taking jackets off of my little preschoolers, I hear, "Hey Mason...Hi Mason...How ya doing Mason" several times. He replied to all the his greetings. I was very surprised that all these teachers and kids knew Mason. I told David how well known Mason is at School. That night we bundled up the kids and went to Wal-Mart to play in the toys! Mason was walking past everyone asking their names. "Hey what yo name?" "My name is Bob. What is your name?" "My name Mason Bryce." David looked at me and we figured that is how so many people know his name!

Dexter is so good at dishing it out...but that kid just can't take it. Joey was whining to me for the 2nd millionth time today that Dexter hit him. Obviously Me yelling at Dexter to stop didn't quite make do the job. So, I called Dexter over to Joey and told Joey he could spank his bottom. Joey got so excited and made sure I was holding Dexter so he wouldn't hit back. Joey got this huge grin on his face and started spanking Dexter. Joey really can't hit that hard, but you should have seen Dexter's crocodile tears spilling down his cheek. Mothers don't enjoy watching their kids pounce on one another and a part of me was sad.....but not a very big part. He needs to get his feelings hurt ever so often so he knows how it feels. Oh, I and I do offer parenting classes...If you are interested!

We just had our Christmas Enrichment. I along with Dana Vella from our Branch had gone early to set up all the decorations. I was lucky to only have three kids with me, Mac, Toby, and Joey (sick) which were fabulous little helpers let me tell ya! Dana was in the Kitchen baking the pies we were having that night for dessert and I was setting up the tables. She comes in laughing saying, "Mac just patted my tummy and ask me if there is a baby in there." (She is a heavier set woman) "Oh I am sorry Dana...." Um what do you say to that? She was so cute and just laughed it off and said she didn't care. I love good natured people!

We had a really rough start with school this year. I had all the naughty kids! I was getting notes sent home from Mason's teacher, telling me that he would not stop whistling after being asked to, and that he wouldn't keep his hands to himself. Joey got a note sent home, telling me he told Miss Mindy "NO" and wouldn't get his bus vest on, got free, went to the book corner, grabbed a book, threw it on the ground and stomped it. AND then there was DEXTER. Over all Dexter has been going through a rough patch for about a year......and a half. NOT kidding! So, when I found out he could go to preschool for free, I jumped on it. This also gave Mac a break from getting pounced on all day! After three days I was met at the door by his teacher. "Allison can I talk to you for a second." "Sure!" "Well, we think Dexter might be a little immature for this program." "Well, it is designed for three year olds....and he is three so....." Her next tactic was my favorite. "Well, (she paused) we think it would be good for him to be evaluated for special ed." "Steph, we have lots of special ed at our home, and I really don't think he falls in that category, he is just very naughty, but do what you gotta do cause I am not taking him out." I am not sure if she thought I would take my child out before sending him to special ed? Obviously she doesn't know me at all!! Now things are so much better, he actually had a whole week that I wasn't met at the door by one of his teachers with a story. Mason continues to get his clipped moved to yellow at least two times a week, usually for not paying attention (he's a dreamer.) I actually like those days because when he gets home, we clean together while everyone gets to watch an hour of Sponge Bob . And for some reason I think he really enjoys cleaning with me! Joey is usually my happy go lucky kid, I have gotten fewer notes home from him. But, the other day, the Bus Driver told me that he said, "I don't like you...I'm gonna kick you!" Baby steps I guess!

We were all getting ready for dinner and Tia needed to use the bathroom. Most all of these old homes here in Des Moines have the light switch outside the door. It is a little high for our short little rice eater and she won't go in there if it is dark. She came into ask for help, we were all getting ready for the dinner rush, so David gave her a little book and told her to use it to turn on the light. She hollers back, "DAAAAAAD, I still can't reach it!" David walked around the corner to see our brilliant little girl standing on the book, reaching with all her might to get the light on. David starts laughing, "No Tia, you don't stand on it, you reach up with it in your hand to turn on the light!" It is a good thing she's cute!

It was Sunday morning a couple of months ago and I locked myself in my room to get my lesson ready for Relief Society. David was getting all the kids set up to breakfast. When Joey doesn't want to eat something we are having he ALWAYS has to go to the bathroom. Well, this special morning David told him no and that he was going to eat his breakfast first. About 30 minutes later, Joey was done and sitting on the potty. I popped my head in to check on him and I noticed that he had some marks on his underwear. I asked David to come and see and reminded him that he had to be nice, since he was the one that would not let him go to the bathroom. "Of all the times we let him go...and this time he really needed to...DANGIT!" David took care of him, bathed him and together we got all the rest of the kids ready for church. Just as we are getting ready to load the car, Mason runs in to tell us that Dexter is playing with Poop...actually what he said was "Poop mom Poop, Detter paying wit poop." Both David and I walk into the Kitchen to find Dexter and a big poop "(that fell out of Joeys pants earlier that morning) and a shoe in hand smashing the poop and making lovely shoe prints all over the kitchen floor. The next thirty minutes we spent cloroxing the Kitchen and Dexter! Ummmm, we were a little late for Church, I guess that is what I get for procrastinating my lesson!

I was rushing to get all the kids dressed so we could take Joey to the Dr. for his pain in his leg. I was scrambling to get a Jacket on Dexter with two little babies in front of me fighting over a little airplane. Mac was holding it up high over his head and Toby was screaming for it. As I am grabbing it away from Mac I said, "UGH, Mac will you please just give the baby whatever he wants." As I am handing the airplane over to Toby, Mac with a very disgusted face said, "HEY MOM...I'N A BABY TOO!!"