Spring Fling

After getting up at 5:30 am to frost about 75 cupcakes for the cake walk (as well as Mitch running to the grocery store for frosting around 6am) I went to work, then after we all attended Tucks school carnival. We all try to show up at everything and support each other. We make a huge splash with our large family. Tuck was very very proud to have all of his brothers with him.

I am really happy with this hugely busy life.

Carrying Johnny

So what do you do when your "brother" Johnny has knee surgery and cannot get out to the pool easily? You carry him. Mind you he is Mitchel's size 6'2" or so and 220 at least. Jeff is 145. Jeff carried him from the den out to the pool, by himself and did not drop him! I was shocked (while laughing hysterically) but my gosh Jeff is just a powerhouse!

Prom

Friday night was the guys prom. I am still waiting to edit all of the photos but the week flew by with all of the shopping and other things involved. All in all a very good week but soooo darn busy.

The guys all decided to go with new suits instead of Tuxes and I must admit they all looked great! We had a huge dinner here at the house, and all of the girls got ready here.

But enough of that. Lets begin with shopping for suits.

Mitch ended up with a black suit with white pinstripes, a black shirt and a red and black tie. Jeff went white suit with orange accents. Shane went white suit with a lavender shirt and tie, and Courtney went with a white suit and turquoise tie. The end result was wonderful, the boys all had to have everything altered. They work out a ton so the jackets were all in need of major tailoring, but all was well and everything was finished in plenty of time.

WRESTLING BANQUET

A Year of Endings:


It began with the last football game, then homecoming, then football banquet. Now we have the end of the wrestling season. The banquet was great. Tuck and I showed up to find our places saved by all of our guys. They take such good care of us. We are truly a family.

All of my boys.... Shane, Coty, Jeff, Tucker, Me, Mitch, Courtney, at the wrestling banquet.

Courtney with all of his patches.

Coty with his trophy.

Jackie, RJ, and Snapp with all of their patches.



The boys with Tucker being his usual silly self.

The boys were all happy and sad, we all left with the surety that nothing will ever be the same. We all enjoy every single moment....Together.

They Make Me Proud!

The huge breakfast the boys made all by themselves whilst I was at work this week. I am so very proud that they can and do cook. I always try to make things pretty for them. I must be rubbing off on the guys, they have the french toast artfully arranged on a cake plate. I am amazed. Great work guys!

The guys getting ready to eat their feast:

Johnny with a very silly face, as usual.



I was running last night to get dinner, and the boys took out a huge hunk of concrete that made our back door very short. So I was late. I had dinner almost ready and left. When I got home and downloaded some pictures, the boys had taken photos for me. It's just like I was really there! I love all these guys! Dinner without mom.

Just another day with my wild and crazy family.

Happy Easter!

Another great day! The boys all had a really great day of feasting. My friend Jenny and her husband fed all of us a wonderful Easter lunch and dinner (the boys kept going back for more). Jenny cooked all day and served ham and greens (a southern thing very great!) green been casserole, asparagus casserole, mashed potatoes, homemade mac and cheese, rolls, cheesy rice and the list went on and on. Tons of desserts including cheesecake. The guys were in heaven!

Jeff and Shane taking our very minor contributions to the feast over.

I bought some chickens for Easter. The boys are in heaven, they each have their own "pet" now. At least these are useful. In a few months we will not only get eggs but they eat bugs. Great for this area for sure. The chicks are all claimed and are named. The guys play with them constantly, they have names like Pink Floyd, Tropic Thunder, and the others I have momentarily forgotten.

Courtney with his Easter chicken.

Tucker with his Easter Chicken:

The guys eating breakfast and candy:

All day we laughed and played and visited with friends and family. A really great day!

HAPPY EASTER!

SPEAKING OF BROTHERS:

There is a common thread running throughout these photos, I will give y'all a moment to find out what....Look closely.

He is in so very many of our photos over all of the years that we have lived here. Varsity football with all the guys, over all the time. Just one of the guys that works hard and is very thoughtful, funny and easy to be around. Well the spare room is now all Shane. He moved in a week ago and life doesn't get much better than this. Tuck is very ecstatic to have a new brother, and Jeff and Mitch, well they always considered Shane part of the family. Now we are just lucky to have another on site.

I really don't know why, or how I get so very very lucky. But just as I was so very sad thinking about all of the boys moving on and going their own separate directions, I have another happy surprise.

Shane, welcome to the family.......

Surviving another storm:

Cranium by Candle light:



Thursday night...Projected thunderstorms. Result? Tornado's (yes plural, with an s) Hit inside the city and really less than 1/2 mile away from our house. Picture this, me and 7 teenagers and 1 nine year old squashed into the main hall bathroom. This is the safest place in the house, in the middle no windows etc. A very smelly hot 15 minutes. Our house is great, we just lost pool toys, tables in the pool, and a huge branch took out the cable line in the back yard. Better the cable than my bedroom.

We lost power for about 20 hours. Luckily most everything here is gas so we had hot water and could cook just about anything. Very nice. I also have a generator (thanks Poppa!) so I un-crated that big guy this am and ran the fridge and my coffee grinder. Hey I have my priorities! I did use my French Press to brew the coffee, aren't I so Eco friendly? Anyway, last night was cranium by candle light, and this morning a hot game of Risk. Tuck was in heaven to play with all of his brothers.

This is the Risk in the morning crew:



Tucker this morning, he slept with me. He is deathly afraid of tornado's and last night just about pushed him over the edge. He is allot better this morning though.

Busy Days

Coty had his all weekend 17th birthday party at our house this weekend.
Friday: surprise party for Coty (he had no idea)

The table before the party

Coty's cake, he just turned 17


The cake from the front. I think it turned out really great!


Tucker and Miranda being silly

Coty making a wish


Coty being surprised, all of the boys hid and then yelled when Coty got within range.

Mitch, Brandon, and Courtney


Saturday, pool party and BBQ with white chocolate cheesecake again for Cotys birthday:

Shane being silly while grilling

Mitch by the pool

Sunday the boys grilled and played the 360 with Coty, they slept in and ate all day. Oh and watched movies.
Sunday Tucker helped me plant some flowers in the front yard. We threw in some daisy seeds just because as well.