Vacation

So far our vacation has been so much fun! The kids have been great and pretty well behaved, thank God!! Our flight was wonderful, as both Carter and Jonah slept the WHOLE time. We seriously couldn't have had it any better. I actually got to read a book and listen to my ipod for the first time on a flight in years. Pure heaven on earth! The first night we ended up going to my grandparents for dinner- sloppy joes and corn on the cob. Not just any corn on the cob, BUT Iowa corn on the cob. Seriously, if you've never tried it, it's to die for. The BEST corn EVER. We then checked into our hotel and fought the kids off to bed around 1030. After they went to bed, I headed out to my aunt and uncles house for some late night chit chatting with them and some of my cousins.
Yesterday, Sunday, we went to my aunt and uncles farm for the day. It was such a relaxing time, but so much fun. We rode four wheelers, ate lots of food, played basketball, talked, napped, and visited the new house theyre building. The kids always have soooo much fun on the farm. It's actually the highlight of the trip to them. So far vacation is going great and were having a blast!! Off to get the kids in bed..this is the not so fun part considering were all stuffed in a small studio type suite!

Best Deal Ever?

It is, really. Okay, so many of my friends now I love good deals and many times fall for any good deal I find. Our vacations the past 3 years have been determined by which airfare I can get for $9 or $11 a flight through Spirit. :) Well, this newest deal is FREE. Seriously. They say nothing is free in life, but this REALLY is and it WORKS!! I've known about it for some time, but have never actually done it until now because I always thought it was too confusing. However, it truly isn't.

So, what I got for free is a one night stay at the Hollywood, Fl Ramada right on Ocean Dr, on the beach.

This is how, and is really is SO easy!
1. Go to http://dealsnare.com/BRG.aspx

2. Choose a city and date for your hotel stay.

3. This program will search and let you know if there are any available. (I'll explain this in a second).

4. If a hotel is listed when your search is complete, you can now proceed and begin the process.

5. From here, I will use my experience as an example. I searched Fort Lauderdale on August 9th. When my hotel came up, I clicked on it and was taken to kayak. com. Basically how the program works is that many hotels, such as Wyndham, Days Inn, Howard Johnson, Ramada, etc. all offer the Best Rate Guaranteed. This means, if you happen to find a better rate, they give you the first night free (and you can only stay that one night if you want).

6. I save the screen shot showing the lower price by pushing the PrtScn button and pasting it in a paint program. This is for verification purposes just in case they cannot find the better rate. Most times, this is NOT the case though.

7. So, from here you can go directly to the hotel website (ie. www.ramada.com) and verify their price is higher than listed on reputible site (orbitz, hotels.com, etc.). MAKE SURE ITS THE SAME ROOM (ie. nonsmoking, double beds, etc.)

8. You, then, book the room for the night. Keep in mind, it states that your card will not be charged until checkout and you can cancel up to 2 days before, just in case.

8. Go back to the homepage for booked hotel (ie. www.ramada.com) and you will see the Best Price Guarantee. Click that and go find the place to fill out a claim form. Just fill it out and you should hear back within a few hours. :)

9. You will then receive an email letting you know if the claim is approved (as long as you did it right, and they can verify their price is higher, you will get approved). They will also send a new confirmation email stating your total price will be 0.00.

Seriously, this works and is quite amazing. It's perfect for a Saturday/weekend getaway. There are no strings attached. Check it out, play around with it and see what you can find. :) Happy searching!

Hmmm....

So, just because I'm nursing and what not, I decided to take a pregnany test just to make sure that I wasn't pregnant again before our vacation.

My husband just asked what the results were. They were negative. I told him I was a little disappointed, just because I would have been really excited to be pregnant again. I asked him if he was upset. He said no, I'm not upset, I'm just not really anything.

Then...drumroll please...........


he said, I would be excited if you were. WHA??? Yes, this is the same guy who swore we were done having kids just last week. :)

On that note, I think they *may* eventually be a number 6 to our gang....at some point.. :)

And we're off....

to Chicago and Iowa first thing tomorrow morning! We don't really have anything planned while were gone, just spending time with family, hanging out, and going to the farm for a day. The kids are all so excited. Carter is watching me pack and keep saying things like, "are you packing for the airplane tomorrow?". Even though he is only 2, he KNOWS that we are going on an airplane tomorrow and because well, he is obssessed with them, he cannot wait to ride on it! He's been on a few plane rides in his short life, but none that he can remember, so this should be fun. It will be even more fun (for me :)) if they let me bring his carseat, so he can sit in that during the flight! :)
So, tomorrow, we arrive in Chicago around 2ish, I believe, and then will drive 3 hours and make our way to my "home" (more like "birth") town where all my family is. It is going to be a long day, so here's hoping and praying that the kids behave and deal with the traveling well tomorrow!

BTW, I'll be posting while we're up there since our hotel has internet. :)

Life Updates

Life is great! God is good!! I am truly enjoying summer and everything that comes along with it (yes, even being with 5 kids all day long..).

My best friend, Natalie, was in town last week and she, along with her sister, hosted a wonderful cookout on Friday night. Not only was I excited to see Natalie and Michele (her sister), but I was really excited to finally meet Nate, Natalies boyfriend. I had heard so much about him, and Natalie would tell me how perfect he was for her and how he is the one. I was a little skeptical (sorry, Nat :)) at first, mainly because she had just gotten out of a 5 year relationship. However, after meeting him, talking to him and getting to know him I now am beyond excited about their relationship and their future marriage. God is so good and I know He is going to do the most marvelous things in their relationship. Anyway, Friday night was great. We stayed up talking until the early morning hours and I just had a blast spending time with her. I truly wish we lived closer, but I am sooo grateful we are able to maintain such a wonderful friendship despite the thousands of miles.
Kirt was on call last week so we just basically hung low all week. We've spent a lot of time with friends, spent plenty of time in the sun and just enjoying the ending of summer. It's hard to believe that summer is over 4 weeks from today. I am excited about getting back into our old routine, yet a little sad summer is ending. I LOVE summer.
In other news, we leave Saturday for Iowa/Chicago. We are all really excited about going and visiting family we haven't seen since last summer. I just pray the travel and sleeping adjustments go well for the little ones. The thought of vacation is grand and exciting, yet when I think about these types of little details I tend to stress and get a little worried. Well, I am exhausted, so I'm off to bed.... :)

Excited to Announce..

We are excited to announce that we have added a new vendor to our site and are now offering beautiful headbands, bows and beanies for little girls!! They are sooo cute and quite popular these days!!
Check them out under the Bows and Beanies section of our site....www.bluepaisleys.com.

..now, if only I had a little baby girl to make frilly and play dress up with!! Kyla no longer wants her mommy picking her clothes at the tender age of 4...

Naming Rights

So, I LOVE baby naming. I could look and make up baby names for an imaginary baby for hours. Tonight, as I was compiling a list (weird, huh?) the only names I was drawn to were boys. I always thought girls names were easier, especially after poor little Jonah was nameless for 4 days! However, right now here are the names I'm loving...

Reid
Rhys
Thane

I think *if* we were to have another boy (or baby, for that matter), I would use my maiden name of Meyer for the middle name.

Sean, Kevin, Kyla, Carter, Jonah and Reid Meyer
Sean, Kevin, Kyla, Carter, Jonah and Rhys Meyer
Sean, Kevin Kyla, Carter, Jonah and Thane Meyer

...oh the things I do while all my kids are sleeping and my husband is out working...

Painting Projects...

So, the past few months have been filled with A LOT of much needed painting in our house. I love painting, and the idea of it changing a whole room. However, after about 10 minutes I question why I even started this project that I must now finish. I repained our bathroom, bedroom, Kyla's room and then Sean and Kevin helped me paint the living room and dining room. Why I was not smart enough to have them help with the other rooms, I don't know. What kid wouldn't love to pick up a roller and paint a wall? They absolutely had a blast, thought it was so cool and it saved me a lot of time and work. Anyway, I am so relieved to have this done, although, there are still a few more things to paint (under the bar stool area, kids bathroom, kids hallway, etc.). So, here are some before and after pics. I don't think I have any before pictures of Kyla's room on the laptop, so I will have to go and add those later.

Okay, here's one somewhat of her room...it was yellow and I hated it. :)

Kyla's room after (Benjamin Moore Ribbon Pink)"

Here are some pictures showing the living/dining rooms before (it was a flat pinkish beige hideous color):

And After (color is Benjamin Moore Rich Creme):

Busch Gardens

Well, my mom and I took the four older kids to Busch Gardens for the day yesterday. The kids had fun and loved the new Jungala area they recently opened. We went on a few rides, saw a few shows and did way too much walking. We finally went on the Congo River Rapids this time after Kyla's constant asking. Here I am trying to stay dry, while my kids are all dying to get soaked on the ride. Guess who ends up dripping, sopping and walking in wet clothes the rest of the day? ME. My kids walked away with damp shirts from a little bit of water and here I am DRENCHED. It was fun though and the kids thought it was hilarious. Of course I brought all of them changes of clothes, and forgot a change for myself. We also took Carter on the train ride there which he has never gone on. Thinking back with all our trips to Disney, I'm not sure if he ever went on that train either. He had so much fun and thought it was so cool! All in all, it was a great day filled with family, food and fun..what more could you ask for!

Dress Like a Cow?

We had a great day today! Ali and I went to Chick-fil-a today for lunch with the kids. It was Dress Like a Cow day which was quite interesting. However, we all got free lunch and the kids got to play in air conditioning for about 3 hours. The kids had so much fun, and Ali and I had a nice time talking. Kyla and Emma loved chasing the big cow character around- I'm sure he was quite happy to see us leave. Chick-fil-a is one of my favorite places to go with the kids because I feel like I can actually relax and not have to be in a constant kid chasing mode.
Anyway, afterwards, we came home, the little boys napped, while the rest of us hung out. Tonight, we went and celebrated my brothers birthday at Arizona Pizza. It was really good! We had so much fun and so did the kids.
Tomorrow I'm off with the older 4 to Busch Gardens for the day (my mom is coming with though to help. :)). It should be a great time! I'll leave you with pictures from our day today (Ali, feel free to take any you want :)).




Helping AJ blow out the candles!


Kirt, myself and the little two :)

Sister, brother, myself and Ky

Kyla, Emma and Carter (with their cow friend)


Carter-the swinging cow..and Madeline watching in the background.

Madeline, Emma, Carter and Kyla chowing down!

Pictures of my Walking Boy!

Here he is in all his glory. :)

Yay!! He loves to clap!


My happy boy!! I love him SO much!

Baby Steps.

Jonah officially took his first two little baby steps today. Sean, Kyla, Carter and I were cheering him on to walk to me and he FINALLY did it! Kyla walked the day she turned 8 months and hasn't slowed down since. Carter walked right after he turned 9 months. I'm thinking Jonah will be a 10 month walker. I'm excited for HIM, but for myself, I was selfishly hoping he didn't walk until after one. :)

John 9:3

I just love these words Jesus spoke and find them comforting to stand on whenever need be.
John 9:3- "...but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life."
There are so many cases with myself, family and friends where you wonder "Why, God?" and then later God reveals his answer. I LOVE testimonies like these. I LOVE hearing "God stories". I LOVE his work. My prayer is that we never negatively question Him "Why" in His ways. Rather, hand Him all your trust, faith and praise in each given situation. God has a plan, a perfect plan. Just remember when things aren't going the way WE think they should, HE is at work and His marvelous plan will be revealed in perfect timing.

If I only knew...

A cheap, no name cd player- $30.00
A Baby Einstein Lullaby CD- $8.00
A baby who has slept through the night 3 times- PRICELESS!!!

So, if I only knew this would solve our sleeping problems with Jonah, I may have been a little more sane the past few months, or should I say year (where has the time gone!?! I HAVE been awake for most of it!). Seriously, the boy just doesn't need sleep. He's completely fine with two 15 minute naps a day (however, I am NOT.). Ever since I bought this darn CD player at Target two weeks ago, we have had major success. Jonah has slept through the night 3 times and the nights he doesn't, he only wakes ONCE.
Don't really know if it was the CD player or the fact that he realized he is almost one and therefore, he REALLY doesn't need to get up 5 times during the night any longer. I also decided I probably should have been praying about this for the past 9 months. So I did. I am a much happier mother these days and am sooo thankful for great nights sleep again. :)

I just have to share...

...the way I found my boys sleeping during their nap today. It was so precious!

(Carter climbed into Jonah's crib and fell asleep next to him.)

Our Trip to Home Depot

Our Gang...minus the littlest!

Here are some pictures from our Home Depot trip this past Saturday. The first Saturday of each month they offer a kids project, which the kids love. Carter probably loved it the most though because for the first time in his life he was actually allowed to use a hammer. Most of the time him using a hammer involves a chase and continuous yelling of "No!". He was in heaven and is always trying to be like his daddy! :) Anyway, the kids made super cute birdhouses. We had a great time and can't wait until next month!

Another summer day gone by...

Boy, summer is FLYING!!! I cannot believe a mere 5 weeks until school starts! Anyway, we had a great day today. I took the kids to the library for storytime. We met up with Vicky and her girls, like we have practically every week this summer. After picking out a few books and some movies, we decided to make our usual after library trip out to lunch. I'm actually surprised we've done this every week (lunch, that is), because the thought of 2 adults with 7 kids is quite frightening. I love meeting up with Vicky. Not only is her daughter, Ellie, Kyla's best friend, but I just enjoy spending time with Vicky as well, so it's a win-win situation. :) It's hard on Kyla to be surrounded with 4 boys at all times, so a great girlfriend she can play Barbies, Princesses and house with is so important and fun for her. Some of my best memories as a little girl are playing house with my sister on our lanai. It was great fun, and more than anything I want Kyla to have that little someone to be able to pretend with. I think it's so important. Anyway, after lunch, we came home, little boys napped. Kirt got home early today so I ran around making numerous returns to various stores that had just piled up in my car. I am so relieved that is done. As for the rest of this week, we are plan free but are sure to keep the kids busy for my own sanity. My mom is coming over Thursday to watch all the boys while Kyla and I go get our hair cut. I'm excited for a little mommy-Kyla time! Our biggest news of the week is our day trip to Busch Gardens on Saturday. The kids (as am I) are very much looking forward to going there this weekend, as they had an absolute blast last time!

John 6:27

I come here to post tonight what God has been laying on my heart recently. Until tonight, I haven't truly embraced it. However, when I was reading His Word tonight, the knock on my heart was finally loud enough. I have been letting my laziness of summer come into my relationship with the Lord in the past few weeks, and have truly struggled to stay atop of my reading. Finally, I decided I would sit down and start reading John again, as basically a fresh start after my hiatus. For the past few days, I have really realized that, as bad or as weird as it sounds, I am a bad shopper. I buy everything I want and don't need and truly struggle with this. I don't mean I put ourselves in debt, because we are not. I just spend, spend, spend without any true need. I have no problem buying my 85th pair of shoes, or that shirt that may actually just sit in the closet. Basically, although I do have self control, I have a spending problem. God had been totally laying it on me that I need to stop and start exhurting the self control I do have. There are SO many people on this earth, SO many people God created that have TRUE need and here I am buying another pair of shoes. Talk about rediculous. However, I tried to ignore and block out what God was telling me. Tonight, when I opened up to John 6:27, I realized God has probably had enough of this and he is going to lay it out right here in front of me. John 6:27 reads "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you." Now, I'm not talking about food here when reading this. I'm referring to all of the non-necessities of life that I buy on almost a regular basis. So many clothes sit in my closet with tags, I have so many pairs of unworn shoes and my kids have so many outfits that are only worn once. My husband is working so hard and here I am buying all these things which spoil and without any true benefit. We rather need to put our money in places where benefits can be reaped. As I sit here in my lovely home, that has everything and more than I could ever need, I just think of all the poor starving children, children who have lost parents, people without clean water. Those people are in need. Heck, there are many people I'm sure within a 20 mile radius of me that are in desperate need. So, I am making a vow to stop spending frivolously. Until our vacation on July 26, I will not purchase anything I do not need. Although it's a short amount of time (19 days), it's a small start. I pray God uses me to fulfill his desires of my purpose here on Earth as I fully surrender to His will and purpose. All the glory is His, and I give Him all of my praise. Heavenly Father, free me from the trap that is set for me, for you are my rock of refuge.

Weekend

We had a great weekend. I love when my husband has 3 day weekends. We did a lot of shopping, a lot of hanging out, and a lot of spending time with our kids. Some highlights would have to be taking the kids to Home Depot for the monthly building project. This weekend they made super cute birdhouses. I am excited to see them hanging thoughout our yard. We also watched the LONGEST Wimbledon EVER. In fact, it was so long our TIVO didn't even record it all after 6 hours of record time! It was the most fantastic match though and my husband and I truly enjoyed watching it. We also did the typical Fourth of July fireworks. It was a little sad knowing that exactly one year ago we had arrived for our summer vacation in Iowa. Last year we were surrounded with soooo much family, and this year, all of our family in town actually left. It was weird not having any family in town.
Speaking of Iowa, we thought we would not be taking a trip there this summer. However, thanks to Spirit's wonderful deals, we got $11 flights. Needless to say, now we are going. :) The kids are ecstatic and I am super excited as well. We leave July 26 and come back on the 31. Two weeks later, school is back and session and summer will come to a close. I've actually enjoyed summer thus far, not having anything to do or places to be. It's been so relaxing and fun, even with 5 kids all by myself all day. I do look forward to the school year thought. I'm a little sad about Kyla going to school for such long days though this year. Well, my husband is home and my babies are awake, so I'm off to get some dinner started...

Baby Fever!

Man, there are so many days where I feel like I can be done having babies (because truly I would probably just keep having them..). Although I don't know if complete would be a great word, but satisfied and grateful for the children I do have. However, the second I look back at my little kids baby pictures, this feeling of satisfaction disappears and instant baby fever sets in. It makes me sad to know that I can never get those days back when my kids were teeny tiny and depended on my every ounce for their being. I carried them for 9 months, nursed them for another year and spend each and every day playing, laughing, crying, punishing and most importantly loving on these little guys. I'll leave with the oh so tempting pictures that may just coax me enough to take advantage of another blessing for the big man Himself!

My Boy is Growing Up...

My big boy that is..Sean met three girls at our little Third of July celebration and this morning when he walks out of his room, hes wearing jeans, shirt and a backwards hat. Coincidence? I think not. He's 11 now, going into middle school next year, and I have totally seen him shift from the not caring cootie stage of girls to the hmm, I think I'm starting to like one (or three) of these I've always said whoever gets Sean is one lucky chick because he is seriously going to make the BEST husband. He's a lot like his daddy, and I'm definitely one lucky wife. :)

Happy Birthday America!

What a special day today is when you truly think about it! Last night we went and "celebrated" the fourth somewhat by watching the fireworks that were displayed at Miromar. We usually see them every year, however, this year we went to our church parking lot with a group of friends. We had a great time and so did the kids!!
We are beyond blessed and grateful to have such wonderful friends in our life. Life is so much sweeter when surrounded with good people. I can only pray that all of my kids are surrounded with as great of people while they are growing up. I wish for them all to be God loving leaders in life, and I pray they never stray from this path due to influence from others. May God always be the biggest influence in their lives. Therefore, I also pray that we, as parents, continue to be influenced and led by God daily so we can lead our children through example.
Happy Birthday America!! What a glorious place our God has made for us!!

The Cutest Thing

So, I'm sitting here watching The Wimbledon and my cute litttle Carter is watching and playing in his own little match. He jumps up and hits the ball constantly(as if he's playing in the match) saying "Mommy, watch!". This boy already loves watching ANY sports more than any cartoons or kids show. His favorites are tennis, football, golf, basketball and baseball. In fact, he knows the names of all the sports, too. So, if he sees one on TV (I LOVE watching them..) he'll say, "Mommy, golf!" or "Mommy, basketball". I know in my old blog I had a post about Carter and his golf obsession. The kid just loves loves loves sports, all sports, more than any kid I know. At such a young age he was playing baseball and golfing like it was nobodys business. I can't wait for him to turn 4 so I can start signing my little man up and he can REALLY play!! For now, I will enjoy his huge amount of cuteness and sweetness in his small little body. I love my boy sooo much!!