Now that I've waited so long to update, I can't remember all that I wanted to update! Things are moving a long here and the kids are keeping on my toes, with a broom in hand.

Elden had a weight check on his 5 month birthday. He weighs 10 pounds 10 ounces! He is doing well with his weight gain. Just some advice to mothers out there: 1. Never leave your stroller in the rain. 2. Never go to a doctor's appointment without a stroller with 5 kids because you left your stroller in the rain. 3. Never do it alone. Actually, it wasn't too bad, but I am not going to attempt it again! A Major was kind enough to help me find the clinic since they moved it to the 3rd floor and I had quite the group with me.

Elden is doing quite well at sleeping a good chunk of the night, which has surprised me! He lights up when the other kids to kiss and play with him and he smiles back at them. I think he lights up more for the kids than for me or Lee! I LOVE his smiles!!! I feel like it takes normal babies a really long time to smile anyway, so it a priceless treasure to see this little guy smile and coo.

The last several days have been filled with trips to the sprinkler park and the river, playing with friends, and haircuts for the boys. Last Saturday Lee took Clark to Six Flags. Clark earned a free pass to Six Flags for doing his reading assignments during kindergarten. Clark loved it and so did Lee. Someday when the kids are older we ALL go. Too bad I can't handle amusement park rides too well. They are still fun though, even if I do get extremely nauseous. After they got back Saturday night we had a neighborhood (well, almost all of the neighbors!) get-together in our backyard. There are quite a few members from my church on this street, plus some great neighbors. We had s'mores and other snacks and talked. Those who stayed late got some yummy french caramel.

The kids have been getting worse about getting into the food and eating it in the bathroom. I need to buy some locks or something! (Or feed them?) Yesterday Lee found a kitchen KNIFE in the empty bedroom upstairs with empty ice pop wrappers on the floor. And we keep our kitchen knifes up high so the little ones can't get to them...or so we thought. This morning I found a chunk of cheese in the shower that had been sitting out all night; and I am sure it was there even longer than just all night. Cal is enjoying being the ring leader of his little clan of Shanna and Haley!

For awhile I hadn't found the time for personal time, mainly reading. There are a few things I am reading right now, and as each day would pass I would get further and further behind. I finally decided that I needed to re-prioritize and do something different. Since I am not a fan of getting up early, I decided that the girls need to take naps again. They weren't taking naps because they are in toddler beds and I didn't want to sit around trying to keep them in bed during the middle of the day. But I realized, that is what I need--some sitting around so I can read! They didn't fall asleep today and just played, but they were in one area (and not in the shower eating food!) and my reading time went very well today.

The other night I starting thinking of the idea of getting out of debt in October, instead of November. Well, I figured out a way! We are going to go crazy the last few months and live not on beans and rice, but just rice! It won't be that bad. It will be an exciting next several weeks to really watch the money by extremely cut down on expenses. Yes, it's kind of crazy to do all this just to be debt free two weeks sooner, but I really want finish these loans and kick them out! The sooner the better. It will make for an exciting ending. So, tune in to Dave Ramsey October 30th to listen to us scream: "We're debt free!" When we buy a house in a few years, we'll have to re-call his show again after we pay off our house.

Yesterday while all the kids were awake, (Elden was sleeping) and Lee was at work, I decided it would be a good time to take a shower. Later I heard a weird noise downstairs. At least no one ran outside and was playing in the middle of the street. This is what I found.




The other day Cal came into the kitchen before dinner and asked if he could have a popsicle. Of course the answer was no, but I couldn't help but crack up.


He has Shanna's 18 MONTH jeans on. They fit him great! And I even took the waist in! Shanna of course has Cal's shorts on. I don't know how the mix-up happened, but Cal was clueless. See Lee's post for a good laugh: nostrebor.blogspot.com.


I was a bit more creative with the girls hair last Thursday



Later that day we took a trip to the river and the park






Last Saturday at the get-together with a fire and s'mores. YUM!