Happy Birthday Tia!

I can't believe it's Tia's birthday already. It seems like just 7 short months ago she came to be with us. It seems like she came just yesterday, but at the same time like she's been part of our family forever...no really, it's been a REALLY long time. We just couldn't imagine our lives without her.

We had an awesome party for Tia today. We invited our "group" over for cake and ice cream, and a good time was had by all.

The boys and I made a delicious carrot cake. The boys thought it was pretty funny that Tia wanted a vegetable cake. Does any one else think that's a whole lot of candles?

Then Tia opened presents. She loved her gifts, especially the ones I got her, and she opened some really sweet cards like this.

And cool ones like this

Some with hidden activities like this (count how many hearts)

And some really random ones like this

Ummm...Okay...

All in all, I think it was a great success..

We love our Tia, and are so glad you're here with us to experience all we are together, the good and the bad. We hope this year's a great one!

Tongue Untied

From the time Matty was a baby whenever he smiled REALLY big, he always stuck (or tried to stick) his tongue out. It's the ultimate Matty face, and it's now forever changed.

This Thursday Matty had his tongue clipped to help with his pronunciation. He did great, and it took longer to put him out than it did to do the procedure. I got to hold him for about an hour after surgery while he was trying to wake up, and I just stared at him and rubbed his sweet little face. It's not often you get to sit and rock your big boy. We went to McDonald's afterward, Matthew's choice, with Ethan and Leah and he was telling anyone who would listen "Me got me tongue clipped!" and then he would roll his tongue around.

We hope to see a lot more of that tongue soon Matty...literally.

Gimme a head with hair

This is my sweet little Leah. Compared to the boys, she's my hairless wonder. I've rubbed her head, combed her fuzz, begged, pleaded and prayed for her hair to grow.

This was Leah on her first birthday. We've become quite adept at headbands and bows.

One day not long ago Leah woke up from her nap. Something was different about her. It was halfway thru her snack until I realized.

SHE HAD ENOUGH HAIR FOR BED HEAD!

It was obviously momentous enough that I stopped and got the camera.

This is my Leah now at almost two. I guess all my prayers paid off, look at all that beautiful hair!

100 Things

Today is Ethan's 100th day of school. He brought 100 rubberbands and 100 cheerios on a string to wear. He was super excited to find 100 things to bring, and Tia helped him count out all 100 Cheerios. I've never heard him count that far before. So in the spirit of 100 I'm attempting to share 100 things about myself. We'll see how far I get before one of the kids needs me.

1. I have 6 sisters

2. only 1 brother

3. I've lived in New York

4. California

5. Texas

6. Minnesota

7. that's all 4 sides of the U.S.

8. I've lived in a lot of places besides that

9. I speak Hungarian, used to be fluent

10. it's my dream one day to get my Masters Degree

11. if I could have any job in the world it would be motivational speaker

12. I always wanted to be a mom

13. I always thought I'd have 6 kids

14. three is overwhelming

15. when I was 12, I wrote a goal in YW that I wanted to marry a Dr.

16. I married a med school applicant

17. now I'm married to a resident

18. some day I'll be married to a "real" doctor.

19. I don't get as excited about orthopedics as my husband does

20. I HATE going to the doctors

21. I love good food. Good food is usually expensive

22. I like cooking, but I hate cleaning the mess

23. I have a degree in Marriage Family and Human Development

24. it's embarrassing to have a degree in Marriage

25. I usually just say Human Development

26. I met my husband at BYU

27. I was seriously dating someone else at the time

28. I served an 18 month mission in Hungary

29. I wanted to go State side spanish speaking

30. I love watching chick flicks

31. I love to sew

32. I love to go to Hobby Lobby

33. I spend WAY too much money at Hobby Lobby

32. I just made my first wedding dress

33. I really liked the way it turned out

34. I look better as a blonde

35. I have a goal to read the Newbery Medal books

36. I've read about 20 so far

36. when Stan's on call I spend a lot of the night reading

37. I don't usually cook dinner when Stan's on call

38. three of my best friends are Mexican, or at least they think they are

39. my second family is Mexican

40. I've been to Mexico a number of times

41. I got really sick on a Mexican Cruise. I didn't drink the water, but I did have ice

42. I once helped slaughter a pig

43. I love photography

44. I haven't once used my nice camera since my children were born. it's been 5 years

45. I love my in-laws, I hear that's rare

46. I wish I played the piano

47. I love to sing, but I don't have the greatest voice

48. I love Indian food

49. maybe more than Hungarian food

50. people make me happy

51. I make friends fairly easily

52. sometimes I feel insecure around women in medicine

53. I feel like they've accomplished amazing things, and I've made babies

54. I'm a COSTO snob

55. I love giving gifts that I've made, especially baby

56. I really don't like fish, or any food from the ocean

57. I love to lie in bed in the morning with my family. There's no better feeling

58. sometimes I put myself in time-out

59. Girl Scout cookie thin mint ice cream mmm.....

60. I'm running a half marathon this spring

61. I hate running

62. I've never run more than three miles in my life

63. making goals stresses me out

64. I'm afraid of failing

65. I was steadily dating my husband before I learned his last name

66. some of the best dates I've ever had were in San Francisco

67. I've always wanted to go to Turkey

68. I've also wanted to go to Greece

69. I want to go to Greece for the ocean and the food

70. I don't really hold a grudge

71. I usually end up crying when I pay bills

72. they used to call me "love em and leave em" DeNae

73. I have best friends all over the country

74. I never really knew my grandparents

75. It's really important to me that my kids know their grandparents

76. my house is usually messy, clean, but messy

77. sometimes my house isn't very clean

78. my favorite room to clean is the bathroom, a little effort makes a big difference

79. I worry that my kids aren't perfect

80. I hate suspense. I always want to know the end

81. I wish I had longer legs

82. I used to dig dinosaur bones and prepare them for research

83. that was the best job I ever had

84. I like to listen to kid music in the car (only when the kids are there)

85. when kids aren't there it's classic rock or talk radio

86. I'm retarded when it comes to pop culture

87. I love to buy gossip magazines when I fly

88. I'm embarrassed about that and usually try to hide it from Stan

89. I'm glad I have a girl, she's more fun to dress

90. I love cowboys, and I've convinced my boys they love them too

91. my favorite candy bar is a twix, or peanut M&M's

92. it was my dream to go to Hawaii and the PCC

93. Stan took me when I got pregnant with Leah

94. Leah was a surprise

95. Matty was a surprise

96. Ethan was planned

97. Stanford was planned

98. I hate checking my voice mail

99. My parents loved me best, and all my sisters know it

100. My kids know I love them.

Big Families

This is my family. Plus two more grandkids from the time this was taken a year and a half ago. It's no small feat keeping track of all these people and their comings and goings. You would think with just the shear number of small children we've reproduced that we wouldn't have time to do anything but keep track of all those kids. Maybe it's because we're seven girls (plus one boy) that we somehow manage to not only keep tabs on one another, but we also manage to butt into one another's lives whether we want them there or not. Louisa May Alcott wrote in her novel Little Women "there's no one I love more than my sisters" I agree, there's a bond between sisters that if you have sisters you know exactly what I'm talking about, and if you don't have sisters you never really will understand. I love them, I would open my home to them, fly around the country for them, I want to fly around the world for them, I would laugh with them, or cry with them, I'm fiercely loyal to them, but sometimes I think we assume we know what's best for each other without knowing all the changes we've made as grown up women. I think we get stuck in the birth order rut, or in old rivals long ago forgotten by that other sister. We assume that we've grown up and taken on our own small part of this world while all the rest are still where we left them, new moms overwhelmed by small baby challenges, new wives who struggle with meshing two lives together, new graduates who have faced no great challenges in life, and therefor offer no great advice, or just little pimple faced teenagers who's drama is no match for our lives. It's a rare blessing to be able to see your sisters as they are in present state, to see them as friends, equal to the task that we've all taken on as different as they may be.

So, here's to you sisters, all of you all over the world, I think you're doing great at whatever role you have at the moment. Thanks for letting me in, not only as a sister, but as a friend.