Life is Just So Daily

Face Painting at the Zoo

2010-07-26T01:14:00.000-07:00

Aren't these girls cute?

I got a matching face with Natalie. You'll have to excuse my hair I was

wearing a hat that day.

This Matthew and his new best friend Austin. They're both autistic and

they're perfect for each other!!

It was such a fun day.

Fun with Aunt Jennifer

2010-05-24T14:52:00.000-07:00

Aunt Jennifer came to visit for a week. Everyone had so much fun with her!

Ben gave Matthew a much needed haircut.

BEFORE & AFTER

(possibly the best before & after pictures ever)

Scrabble Jr. with Aunt Jennifer

Aunt Jennifer brought the kids to the park. Everyone had such a good time.

(Matthew is telling someone he'll be right there)

Aunt Jennifer gave each of the girls manicures.
They all sat patiently and waited for them to dry.

Aunt Jennifer and the girls drove Sage
to the airport so he could fly to California.

Doing handstands in the kitchen . . .

Ta Da!!!

Rachel dressed herself one morning. Cute!

Is this better? Still super cute!

Playing outside one day. Lovin' it!

A new cut & color for Mom:

Ben got his hair cut too. The kids love their daddy!

Haircuts for the Girls

2010-05-23T14:06:00.000-07:00

While Grandma Shepherd was visiting, she took all of the girls to get their hair cut.
Rachel went first. It looks like washing her hair might have been a little scary!

Rachel had A LOT cut off.

SOOO CUTE

Natalie's turn:

Another Cutie Patootie!

And, finally, Little Miss Megan:

Sweet!

Now we all look like Mommy!

Woowee!!!

2010-05-10T15:05:00.000-07:00

Check out the hair on this hotty pitotty!

Happy Mother's Day!!

2010-05-09T09:19:00.000-07:00

Although I don't have any pics to post, I thought it was pertinent that I say something. The past 2 years have been full of new illnesses and many hospital stays for me. This Mother's Day I am truely grateful for my Mother, who has come to my rescue so many times and for my sisters who have done the same when they could. Most of all I feel incredibly blessed to have my five children and I hope to be around for many, many years to come. In past years my annual Mother's Day gift has always been that Ben takes the kids for the entire day. This year I'll be spending the day with them because I've realized just how precious my time with them is. Have a great Mother's Day everybody!!

Girls's Weekend in Ohio

2010-04-19T20:22:00.001-07:00

Easy-Bake Oven

2010-01-13T11:40:00.001-08:00

Grandma Shepherd took these pictures with her phone when she came to visit. The girls made pretzels in the Easy-Bake Oven. Who doesn't love an Easy-Bake Oven?

Sisters

2009-11-11T07:55:00.000-08:00

Need I say more?

Halloween

2009-11-06T06:25:00.001-08:00

It's Halloween!

The kids are all decked out for trick or treating:

*Matthew & Rachel were Mario & Luigi.

*Can you guess what Natalie is?

*And the cute little doggie is Megan.

Don't let the crabby face fool you.
Natalie is just being serious as Bumblebee from Transformers.

Have you ever seen such a cute Luigi? Adorable.

Sage is looking at handsome as ever dressed up or not.
Megan loves to play dress up with the other girls. What a sweetie!

Go, team! Dressing up just for fun is always a favorite.

Chuck E. Cheese Birthday Bash

2009-10-27T12:39:00.000-07:00

Natalie turned 6 on Saturday and Megan turned 2 on Sunday!
The only thing Natalie wanted to do for her birthday was go to Chuck E. Cheese.
How can you turn down a request like that? The kids love it there.

Sage gladly helps the birthday girl. Go, Megan!

Natalie looks like she has this one all figured out.

Look out everyone . . .

Wild women on the loose!

Matthew is very skilled when it comes to his games. Just ask him! :-)

Rachel is a serious Skee-Ball Thrower. Can't you tell?

Going on a Sunday drive.

Turn to the right . . . and turn to the left . . .
Oh, look! A passenger!

Nice driving.

Happy Birthday, Girls!

The Elusive Sage-arama

2009-10-16T17:51:00.001-07:00

Finally got 'im. Gosh, he looks old.

Did You Fall In???

2009-10-10T11:49:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures from June that are way too funny to leave out . . .

Have you ever spent so much time sitting on the toilet that your mom would yell, "You OK in there? Did you fall in???" I don't know if that's what happened here, but the story goes like this . . .

Megan is good at going stinkies on the potty, but she needs her privacy. We kinda forgot about her and she started calling.

This is what
we discovered!

Natalie wrote this sweet letter to Grandma.
It says "Dear Grandma, I love you. You're awesome! Love Natalie

And here they are coloring. Beautiful, Rachel!

Look who lost his two front teeth!

(Sage really does live in the same house. He somehow escapes the camera.)

Silly Kids

2009-10-08T06:21:00.000-07:00

When Grandma Shepherd came to visit, she took some silly pictures. She accidentally started out taking a video. Too bad she didn't keep it going!

A Visit from Aunt Lisa

2009-10-07T07:33:00.000-07:00

Aunt Lisa came for a visit at the end of September.
The girls had a lot of fun coloring.

We LOVE to go to the park!

San Diego Trip in July

2009-09-27T08:12:00.000-07:00

The Combs Family flew to San Diego for the 4th of July!

Rachel distinctly remembers walking up the stairs and seeing Shamu.

Best Friends Jorge & Marianne

And Lidia came with her kids!

It was a happy reunion!

Hangin' with the girls.

Lots of fun at Bob & Penelopes' house.

Almost 3 months later, the kids still talk about going to the beach.

Happy memories!

(pictures provided by jorge & grandma)

Does anyone know how to turn a picture?

2009-06-28T15:18:00.000-07:00

I know that I haven't been posting and I've been a little busy. I really wanted to take my kids to San Diego for the 4th and we decided to fly there. I waited untill the last minute to book the tickets because I knew as soon as I booked the trip something would happen. So sure enough I booked the tickets and I ended up in the hospital for pulmonary emboli. Whatever!!! So I'm pretty weak and I get very winded when I walk even from room to room. Life goes on. We're still going to San Diego and we're just having to make some modifications for me.

Swine Flu

2009-04-30T09:12:00.000-07:00

Park City has closed all of their schools and cancelled the Prom because we have an outbreak of swine flu!!!!! i'M TERRIFIED. No one is leaving my house!!

Easter Pics and Videos Coming Soon

2009-04-14T17:54:00.000-07:00

I made Matthew say cheesy cheese balls in my ears. He was cracking up!!

Happy Easter!!

2009-04-12T06:56:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in almost a month. It's because I've been out of wack and i can't bring myself to say anything nice. I wanted to wish my loved ones a very Happy Easter, I'll be posting pics and videos later today.

Megan's "NO" Routine

2009-03-16T13:37:00.000-07:00

As requested....

I'm So Frustrated

2009-03-15T12:54:00.000-07:00

I haven't been posting because I've been in a permanent bad mood and I have nothing positive to say. So I guess I'll just vent. Matthew is still having major meltdowns at school. He has to be removed from the classroom and put into his safe room in the office at least 3 times a week. Sage is still calling home almost everyday trying to get me to come and pick him up. Rachel keeps peeing her pants which is hilarious considering that Megan is pooping on the potty fulltime now. They all are not getting along and are constantly arguing, screaming, hitting, spitting, biting. You name it, they do it. Then there's lovely Ben who either doesn't notice that we exist or is freaking out and shoving tooth brushes in their mouths because they wont do it on their own. I'm at my wits end and I'm counting the days until our girl's weekend. I've made a goal to cut back on my cussing. I've had the mouth of a sailor lately. Next weekend I'm getting 2 massages. We got our tax return and I bought 50 massages because when you buy 50, they're half price. So I paid $12.50 for an hour!! That's my only good news.

Rockstar

2009-03-01T17:46:00.000-08:00

Introducing Rachel Rebecca singing Miranda Cosgrove's

How I Feel About You Now

It's the New Me!!

2009-02-18T18:55:00.000-08:00

Bells Palsy Pictures

2009-02-18T17:37:00.000-08:00

Bells Palsy is Not a Joke!!!

2009-02-18T06:43:00.000-08:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell's_palsy
I thought I was having another stroke but fortunately it's Bell's Palsy. Now that I know it's not life threatening it's really hilarious to have. The right side of my face will not move. My right eye doesn't blink with the left eye. I have to sleep with my eye taped shut. I'm going to post pics and videos of my funny face! The huge bummer out of all of this is I have to go back on predisone for 10 days.

Church

2009-02-15T15:25:00.000-08:00

The kids wanted to go to church today so I asked some stranger to take a family picture of us. It didn't turn out well so I took a picture of just the kids when we got home.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

2009-02-14T16:54:00.001-08:00

Ben bought me flowers!!!

Being Girly

2009-02-14T16:21:00.000-08:00

The girls wanted me to paint their nails. So I did...including Megan's!! Oh and yes, Natalie is wearing a Spiderman costume.

For My Mom

2009-02-12T07:27:00.000-08:00

The stripes don't do me justice!!

Tinkerbell

2009-02-10T20:07:00.000-08:00

Rachel got her birthday present from Grandma Combs today. She loved it and Megan did too!

Put My Stinks in the Potty!!

2009-02-08T13:17:00.000-08:00

Well we waited so long to potty train Rachel that all I really had to do was put her in undies and she took the reigns. The one problems we've had is her stinkies. So I continuously asked her, "What do you do with your stinkies?" and she always answers, "Put my stinks in the potty!" So today she runs into the room and says,"Uh oh, mommy, my stinks, it's coming." We ran to the potty and got her on it. I could hear her saying, "it's working, it's working!!!" Success!! Finally she put her stinks in the potty.

Happy Birthdays!!

2009-02-07T12:52:00.000-08:00

We took the kids to build a bear for their birthdays and I got my hair done!!!

Silly Girls

2009-02-03T14:50:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pics of my silly girls painting, dancing, and modeling :)

The Secret

2009-02-02T17:56:00.000-08:00

Rachel just saw this post and I asked her what that picture was. She said, "the Secret"

Rachel's birthday is on Thursday and I bought her Elmo Live from http://www.walmart.com/. So the other day it came in a box and the kids were asking what it was. I told Natalie that it was for Rachel and it was a secret. So she told Rachel the box was for her birthday and it was a secret. The next day I came in and the box was moved. I asked Sage if he moved the box and Rachel yelled at him, "No Sage, Don't touch this. It's my secret, for my birthday!"

Megan's Phone Call

2009-01-29T18:27:00.000-08:00

Watch this! Oh and it's worth mentioning I've lost 18lbs since Christmas!

Medical Mayhem

2009-01-28T14:59:00.000-08:00

Well goodness sakes, we are in the thick of it!! Last Friday Natalie got up at midnight and told me her cough was worse. When she came closer to me I noticed that her lips were blue and I asked her if she had a popsicle after dinner. She could barely get the word no out of her mouth. Her lips were blue because she couldn't breathe! I immediately opened the door to the 10 degree weather and stuck her in the doorway to help her airway open. I got dressed and scooped her up and flew to the hospital. Her o2 stats were at 90 even after the car ride in the cold. Of course she had croup. They took her back immediately and gave her a breathing treatment with steroids and eppinephrine in it. So now all of the kids are sick with fevers of 102+. I'm taking them all to the dr tomorrow.
Now on to me. I went to see a rheumatologist today about my joint pain. I don't have arthritis at all!! I have bursitis everywhere and fibromyalgia. Of course the treatment is simple. It's high dose of anti inflammatories, which I can't take. So he said that it will be a big problem for me. To receive a diagnosis for fibromyalgia there are 18 pressure points and 11 of them have to exude pain. I had all 18. My bursitis is in my hands, wrist, hips, elbows, knees, and feet. He gave me injections in my knees today and I already feel a little bit of relief! Hopefully my hemotologist will let me take celebrex. That would really help.

7 Brides for 7 Brothers

2009-01-17T18:33:00.000-08:00

We're watching 7 Brides for 7 Brothers and the kids were all laughing that one of the girl's names was Dorkus! Then we were watching the scene where the girls are dancing in their undergarments about being married in June and Matthew asked what they were doing. I said they were dancing and he replied,"Well they're really good at it."

Response to Bedtime

2009-01-14T17:34:00.000-08:00

Okay you people are hilarious. Don't put me up on pedestal yet. I was all for locking them in but then it dawned on me that they wouldn't be able to get out to go to the bathroom. That's all I need is pee soaked carpets in the morning!

My Little Hellion

2009-01-12T14:03:00.000-08:00

Matthew has decided that he hates school and is not going anymore. Last week he had a meltdown during writing and started kicking and throwing furniture. I eventually had to come and pick him up from school. So today the principal called me about an hour before school was over. Matthew had another meltdown in class about reading and writing and he hit, kicked, and pushed the kid next to him, then some other kids told him to stop so he hit them too. The principal had to come down and remove him from the class. He told Matthew that he was going to sit with him until he calmed down and of course Matthew just screamed louder. I had to come and get him again. It was funny because when the principal called he said that he was calling for advice. I told him that you have to get in front of the meltdown and if he's hurting people then he needs to come home and I would make Matthew finish his work and follow through with some discipline for hurting that kid. Ah the joys of autism...

Parenting tip of the Week

2009-01-11T09:30:00.000-08:00

Do your children get up in the middle of the night? Are you losing sleep because you're constantly putting kids back into bed? Do they sneak downstairs in the middle of the night to play video games and eat forbidden food? They don't?!!! Well mine do. I have come up with a solution. Every night when we put the kids to bed we close their doors. So I'm going to the local hardware store and buying door chimes to put on their doors. That way if anyone tries to escape at 2am I will immediately be woken up by a very loud "DING,DONG"!! I will jump out of bed and apprehend the perpetrator! HA, I win!

Welcome, Welcome

2009-01-10T13:08:00.000-08:00

This past Christmas we went to California. We had a great time and I'm so glad we went BUT nighttime at the motels were awful. None of my kids sleep through the night. I don't think we'll be coming back for a while. So I've decided to start a blog so everyone can still see us and keep up with our family drama. I just got a video camera for my anniversary and I'm posting my first video. We were just playing around with it.

Also, we're cleaning the entire house this weekend and this is the task that I had to conquer!