My favorite things

Captured a kiss from Brendan 

Brendan trying on daddy's shoes. The day before he had on heels. 

Christian sits up all by himself in the tub, he also pulls himself to standing in the tub. 

The next few photos are of Christian and I taking selfies. He was loving seeing himself and mommy in the camera. In the last picture he actually grabbed my hair and threw up in it. That's not a duck face I'm making, I am saying nooooo I think. 

Our new kittens. Poppy and Pepper. 

I happened upon this delightful scene. Sonny reading to Anderson. 💚

My view

This is what I get to look at today while I fold laundry. :)

Hope for Kitty

Kitty: "Mommy you're SO pretty, because you have Jesus in your heart. He LIVES there."

We are doing something right!

Are they all yours?

I took Kitty, Brendan, and Christian on a walk today and heard three different comments. it was cracking me up inside. One person smiled and yelled across the street "You've got your hands full", another said "look at all those kids", the next person stopped me to ask if they were all mine. my new favorite response when we have just three is "this isn't the half of it". :)

Ben's First Holy Communion

Busy day with the family. We went to St. Bernadette Church for Ben's First Holy Communion. He did a great job. Looked cute in Jonathan's suit which will be passed back for Sonny's First Communion! We saw a ton of people which is funny because a lot of them go to St. Mary's too! It was a nice mass, the kids were good. After we went to Pizza Cottage for a pizza party. It was yummy. Brendan tried to escape at the end, but what's new?!

Jonathan fed Christian

It's well known in our house that Christian HATES bottles. Breastfed bottles he will tolerate if he is hungry. Formula bottles though, forget it. He has to be hoooongry! A small miracle happened today in the car. Jonathan offered a crying Christian a bottle of formula (one he had been offered and rejected a few times before) and he took it without fussing. He didn't do the usual gagging, spitting, choking, or face making. Maybe he will start taking a de bottles here and there and get some more fat on his bones. :)

Play dates and vans

We had the best time with two of my good friends and two of Kitty's friends today. We had yummy cake and lunch! The girls played dress up and play dough all morning with minimal arguing! :)

At around 3pm we went to Columbus to test drive a 2013 Nissan NV. As far as 12 passengers go, the NV is my favorite. It also had lots of safety features, like higher seats, side airbags, and rollover curtains. It also has removable and re-arrangeable ( is that a word, I don't know) seats so that's a plus! Love it! Need it! 

Christian gets weighed in again!

He's getting bigger! 12lbs 12oz and 25"!

Longest day ever

We woke up at 6:30 AM. Everyone got breakfast, brushed their teeth, made beds and then I took the boys to school while Kennedy stayed with Kitty. I came home and made the second trip to school with Kennedy. This was the best option because Tom wasn't home and they all don't fit in one car! I was successful! They were all at school by 7:50 AM!! Check that off the list. After that I came home and packed for the day because I knew I would not be home for a long time. I went to my faith sharing group because I hate to miss it. It's so refreshing! We left at 11:30 AM and drove to meet my dad. Dad hopped in my car and we drove to downtown Columbus where we had lunch in the state building. It was pretty hectic in there and I didn't have time to nurse Christian so he was a little cranky. After that we went over to Children's Hospital to get Kitty's cast on. She was a trooper! Brendan was a crazy man thank the Lord I have my dad there to help me out. I normally would not make appointments like this while I have more than one child with me but it needed to happen.  after children's we went to Don's house to hang out for a little bit so the kids could stretch their legs and I could nurse Christian. You were only there for about 30 minutes until I had to take off to get time at the airport. It was so nice seeing my husband again after his Miami saga! Lucky Tom though he got to fly first class all the way home! 

Daddy Goes to Florida continued...

So, Tom went to Miami yesterday to look at a Nissan NVP and hopefully drive it home. Well, apparently Hertz lost the car! Seriously. They don't know where it is.... So we are missing Daddy for the next few days. He is stranded in Miami, Florida which is beautiful if he had a way to leave the airport area!

Meanwhile at home the kids had to go to bed immediately at 8pm. It's that kind of day. We need daddy!!!! On the bright side I finally finished Kennedy's Renaissance dress for their school play "The princess and the Pea".

This is also making me realize how spoiled I am to have a husband that lets me sleep in while he gets the kids ready for school. ❤️

Daddy Goes to Florida

Daddy left at 3pm today to go to Miami, Florida for spring break or was it to possibly buy a van? I can't remember. Fingers crossed it's the van and we are happily driving it around on Wednesday.

Actually I think that he planned this trip knowing that the inside of Kitty's cast would begin to itch today… Lord save us all!

Easter and Birthday celebration

We had to go to church separately because our van has a flat tire. It worked out better that way anyways. But I do like to go to church together on holidays. After church we headed to Grandpas house for Easter hunts and dinner. The adult egg hunt was a success! I won $10 plus a gift card to Applebee's was gifted to me from Brent. He found it but gave it to me for my birthday! The kids did great with their hunt. He did not want help. She looked hysterical. Every time she would find an egg she would have to use her bad arm in the cast to roll it to the good hand! So cute! We had a delicious meal, then carrot cake with the number 33 on it...eek! It's actually happening. I'm getting older.  

Easter eggs and fractured funny bones

We colored Easter eggs tonight! It went pretty good, it's funny how 20 eggs doesn't go very far when you have 6 kids coloring eggs. I mean, I could give them each a bunch of eggs to color but that just means I have a bunch of hard boiled eggs I won't know what to do with! 

After coloring eggs the kids ran upstairs like a herd of animals. Not too long after Kitty came downstairs screaming....Jonathan had ran into her after bursting through a door. Apparently playing monsters. After trying to calm her down with chocolate and a bath we decide to take s trip to the ER at 9pm. They gave her an ice pack, took some X-rays, and gave her medicine. She liked the medicine I guess because it took 3 people and 10 minutes to get her to actually swallow it. She said it tastes good 😕.Well, an hour and a half later we find out that she did in fact fracture her humerus (yes, that the funny bone) 😂😢.  She went home after havin a purple popcicle and went to bed. It's time for the Easter Bunny to visit after all. 

Walk to the library

We went on a walk today to the library. 3 miles total! Unfortunately when we got there I had forgotten to bring my wallet so I could not pick up my hold or get the other DVDs that we had picked. At least we got exercise though! It's such a beautiful day.

Brendan's fit - 2 is always fun

Brendan is typically easy going, but I have a feeling we are going to have a problem this summer with the kids going in and out! He threw a major fit today because he was desperate to get back outside to play! Bonus: I was on a very import Face Time call with our Swiss family! Here he is having a much happier moment!

The Last Supper per Jonathan's request

Jonathan announced this morning on Holy Thursday that he would like to only have bread and juice for dinner. So I bought a loaf of bread and some sparkling grape juice for us all to partake in. Tom read the Gospel for the day and we broke bread. We also had salad bar night, but this was close enough right? 

P.S. I told them to fold their hands for the picture, not look depressed. 😕

April Fools Day

Happy April Fools Day! I decided to prank you mommy by staying up from 3am-6am!!! I'm pretty funny right!?!

East School

We went for a walk in the sunshine to East school.

Mom jeans

Kennedy (sweet voice): "I like your mom jeans"

Me: "I hate you."

Kennedy: "Would it have been nicer if I had said - Are those mom jeans?"

Me: "No"

Enjoying the Bumbo

This little guy lives him lamb from Grandpa Crook, he also is living sitting up in his Bumbo!

Boy or Girl

Brendan is desperate to get into my makeup every morning. This morning however Kitty helped him. I went ahead and finished the job using purple eyeshadow. He was pretty excited. Later I asked him, "are you a boy or a girl?". He put his hand behind his head to pose, batted his lashes, and giggled out the word "girl". Oh boy!

Playing Apples to Apples

Having game night per Jonathan's request. Love that the kids are old enough to play games with, don't love how their personalities turn to loud insane people. Like they're so excited to be playing a game they turn annoyingly hyper.

Are you done yet?

We have seven kids. I get it. That seems like a lot if children. It's really not. Really. I used to think that it was a lot of children. When we had 1, 2, 3, or even 4. But now living it every day it doesn't seem like a lot of kids. I'm sure that it is and I'm just so used to it that it doesn't phase me anymore. Only sometimes when I have them all in the grocery store or when I'm knee deep in laundry or when they all bring home school pictures that we're supposed to buy! Okay, I'm lying to myself - seven children. That's a lot of kids. But it works. They're happy. We're happy. I know what you're going to say because I've heard it a million times before.

"Are you done yet?" I don't know, are you? Abraham's wife Sarah was like what... 90? So I guess I've got a good 60 years of baby making left in me. 

Or wait. Maybe you were going to ask my favorite question. "You know how that happens right?" Yes. We know that having sex causes pregnancy. We enjoy being married to each other and the fruit that comes from our love. Our bodies were created perfectly to embrace each other and be fully open to one another. Fully open. Not just my body, my heart and my soul too. The way I see it if we use a form of birth control to stop pregnancy from happening I am breaking part of that bond that my husband and I share. I am not fully open to my husband, to God, to life. Not just new life forming, but also my life. I will never allow my life to take a turn that I am not ready for. God see's the big picture, let's leave the big decisions up to him and see where they take us.

Could be that you were going to say this -"As long as you can afford it." But what you really mean is "as long as I'm not paying for it". Because really, saying "as long as you can afford it" almost feels like you are prying into our finances to prove to me that I can't afford it. We'll, you got me. No. We can't afford it. Who could this day in age? But, I suspect that you knew that when you asked. I am sensing that you may not be the giving type. Or maybe you were taught that poor people are lazy, and you never wondered if maybe they are poor because they value different things than you. If by afford you mean can we feed, clothe, and shelter them? Then, yes. Barely. Our kids are happy though. Do we have cable? No. Do our kids have brand name clothes? No. Are we going to buy our children a car when they turn 16? No. Are we going to pay for their college? No. Are we going to have kids that hopefully grow up knowing the value of a dollar, or that drive safely because they paid for the car? Kids that work hard in college because they work hard to pay for it? Kids that are compassionate to the poor, who may only have $10 to buy groceries but give it away to the man standing on the street corner with a sign?  Children that grow up wanting to share what they have, share what they earn? Will they be charitable? Kids who value life and welcome it no matter the cost? Lord I hope so! 

I NEVER thought that I wanted so many children, but thank GOD that I followed my heart and listened to the Holy Spirit. If we had stopped having children after 2 (which we had discussed) then we would never have met 5 amazing kids. God took this decision away from us to give us peace and  trust in Him. The more I let go of trying to control my life the happier and more at peace I am. So are we done yet? I don't know. Ask God. Oh, while you've got Him on the line could you tell Him Ashley Crook says thank you?

All Before Noon

Well, let's see...

I couldn't get Kitty buckled in the seat so I struggled with that for a good five minutes.

Brendan rolled down the window in grandpa's truck. I couldn't figure out how to get it back up. I wish I had known I was going to have to do this BEFORE I had taken Christian out of his carseat. Poor kid was getting hit with wind left and right. It was freezin out!

The next part went great. The kids were so good while Jennifer and I walked 4 miles. Christian kept pushing his head back, but that's about it.

Now this is when the shit hit the fan. The train at the mall went by. Oh man. He saw THE TRAIN! He turned around and CHASED it! He actually grabbed the back of it, luckily it had just stopped he preceded to climb aboard. I stopped him of course because it's $3 a ride. He was pissed. The next 30-40 minutes I tried to just keep him from attacking people with his anger. He grunted and fought off and on until we left. It was so glamorous and fun pushing a stroller with one hand while a toddler was thashing around trying to get out and I'm trying to hold a blanket on the baby.

Also, Kitty was no help. She took a balloon and bitch slapped 2 kids with it. Sigh....one time out and she was fine. Oh, she also screamed "WAKE UP" in Christians face about 5 times on the way home. 

Bonus- I couldn't buckle Kitty's seatbelt. 

We got Wendy's because I didn't feel like making lunch after our outing. I emotionally scarfed down a chicken go wrap and a chili before remembering it's Friday during lent. Yay me. 

Little man was so loving at home and passes right out. 

Oh to be a toddler.

Brothers

Sisters

Boys don't like princesses

"Kitty is calling these princesses! And they're not. They're Jesus' helpers." - Anderson

"They're princesses. You're a princess." -  Kitty

Sonny is just hanging out.

Brendan and the potty

I came home today to find Brendan bottomless. Tom said that apparently he was potty training himself. He just missed the potty and left some poo next to it. Later after Tom had left the house Brendan undressed himself again climbed on the counter to grab a drink and a fountain sprouted across the kitchen. Oh dear.... This will be a fun potty training experience.

Christians weigh in

Christian is 3 months old and he went in the the pediatrician for a weight check today. Last month he weighed 11lbs 4oz, today he weighed 11lbs 8oz. Apparently that's not enough of a gain, so they are recommending I supplement with formula  :( I talked them into giving me a prescription to boost my breastmilk. We will recheck in 2 weeks. I'm so bummed because I was really hoping the breastfeeding would go better this time. I don't feel like it's gone well since Sonny. Let's hope the Reglan prescription works magic.

3 kids 3 and under

It's 10:46 and I'm not doing anything. I should be letting the kids play or something. But I gave up and turned the TV on. I quit for the moment. I realized just now that having 7 kids, that is not he hard part. Having 3 kids 3 and under. That's hard! I love it, but not everyday. This morning it was cute when Brendan took my pump and tried pumping. It was cute when I was in the shower and the curtain opens and a little naked toddler jumps in with me. It was not so cute when my rings disappeared, or when one of them shoved the toilet paper roll down the toilet, or when I stepped in pee. 

Also, why aren't kids born enjoying tidy spaces. There are toys everywhere. Time to get up and get things in order.

I suck a keeping track of anything

So, here I am. Trying to keep track of moments in time. I really stink at this. I am going back to this blog because j think this might be the easiest way to do it. I am sick to death of Facebook and really don't feel like letting people in on my life anymore. I don't know why, I just feel like it's more special when it's just a mine. Weird I know. Okay....here we go