"If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands. If it changes your life, let it."


Wow, it's been a long time since I posted on here! Amazing how much your life can change in 16 months, or even 3 months, or a week, for that matter. You wake up one day and everything is different, good or bad only time will tell, but definitely different. I debated for a long time whether or not to erase all the previous posts and just start over, but chose no.  A person can't erase the past, even on a computer. So I choose not to go back and reread the past, but will leave it there as a reminder of how far we've come.    
Some thing haven't changed:  I'm still cheap (ha!), still afraid to let the kids buy anything from the creepo in the ice cream truck ( ugh, as he drives down our street right now. Thank god they're not home.) , and we still love our adventures. Even with 5 of them now,  I refuse to let it stop me from taking them anywhere.  Five kids in a tent or at the beach might be a challenge, but it's MY challenge, and I like to think I'm pretty good at directing the herd, haven't lost one of them yet :)
 Some things have changed a lot. It's hard to let the kids go, even just for that one day a week, and know that it's a day in their life i have no control over and don't get to be a part of. 52 days a year. Then again, it's also nice to have one day of week to have free time to myself, more of that I think i've gotten in the last 12 yrs. I've been trying really hard to get out and meet people and have some grown up adventures as well.
A lot of people have asked about Aubrie and her surgery, thank you all for your concern! As a mom, going through that surgery with her was one of the hardest things i ever faced. She is doing great, I can't believe she will be a year old in September already. There is some concern that she could develop cysts in her other tube or ovary, but no other problems have shown up so far, so we will hopefully shelf that worry until she is a teenager. My last baby...(for sure this time LOL)....she went for her last ride in the infant carseat today and it made me so sad. It seems like I have been carrying around one of those things practically forever.
The summer hasn't really started out too good for us. It's been dampened (literally and figuratively!) by rain and funerals. Theoretically I know god takes people out of your life so he can bring new ones in, but it still sucks, and it's hard to let go.  Here's to hoping July is a better month, and we can put the fun in summer!