RETREAT!!!

Just kidding...it wasnt like that! This weekend Jeff and I and the kids went to Topeka for an ARMY sponsored marriage retreat....all expenses paid....it was fantastic. Jeff and I have been married 11 years now, and when he signed up to go we both felt a little bad because there are so many more that could definitly use it more than us...We ARE happy. Not just for pretend, but for real! It was a good time for reflection, to remember the hard times that got us here today...because there were definitly some very unhappy couples there, with serious issues that seeped from their just being there, sadly all they had to do was be there for me to see the pain and troubles they have in their marriage. It made me sad, that everyone cant have what *I* have, what Jeff and I have. But it also made me grateful, for our trials and for the knowledge that we have that we will be together for eternity...I love him with every fiber of my being, and i am excited to be with him for that long!
It was an awesome weekend, it was good to just get away and spend time together. The Chaplain that did the seminar was awesome, the Childcare provided was great, the kids had so much fun! They took them miniature golfing, swimming and to the movies. They did tons of fun crafts and of course played lots of vidoe games. I sure Love my little family!

Potty training and morning presents....

Alli is a night owl...she doesnt go to sleep most nights before 11 or 12. stinks to be us...i know. Anyway the only good thing about it is that sometimes she will sleep in till 9 or 10 and so i go back to bed after getting everyone off to school. This morning was just one of those great mornings, i climbed back into my cozy warm comfy bed and drifted back to sleep....only to be awoken a few hours later by a poopy diaper in my face...one that wasnt where it should be....ie ON HER BUTT! she had obviously pooped her diaper and taken it off and was coming to show me. no more slumber for me! I had to get up an throw her in the tub before my bed turned into a big poopy mess like hers was...yeah. good times. Gross.

Zach and Ty

Zach and Ty wanted a video of their own after seeing Sariahs on here....so here ya go! just ignore all the laundrey that needs to be folded in the background! ;0) if you scroll down the page to the sound mixer on the left hand side (green box) you can pause the music and hear the kids better!

Sariah cheer video

Sariah is in the very back in the middle. She is so cute. I think i will keep her!

This is where we find him on most mornings...

Ty has a hard time sleeping at might sometimes...and has gotten better about not waking us up in the middle of the night, so this is where we usually find him in the morning...poor Sadie has to share her bed!

"MOM!!! I can see!!"

Zach got his new glasses today, he was very excited because i got him the "transition" lenses, so they get darker when he goes into the light...He seems to be excited to wear them and ecspecially excited that he can see!! He is so handsome!

Why is LIFE so crazy?

i keep asking myself why life seems to nuts around here. I try my best not to over-schedule myself but inevitably something comes up and someone has to be somewhere or needs an appointment for one thing or another. Some days i think i should have a room at the Health clinic (the past 2 weeks it has been the dentist instead) with our name posted in big bright red letters "BLACKWELL FAMILY SICK ROOM" between the kids and i, we are at some kind of "office" at least 3 times a week. Its madness. Of course when you throw all the sports (cheerleading, gymnastics, football, soccer)in there...jeffs included...WOW and dont forget YW and scouts! . I have decided i should weigh 20 lbs less with all the "running around" i do...Life is GOOD. If it seems like i am complaining it is actually the opposite, i am happy that my family is active (although i could do without the sickness) and that we stay busy. I love being a MOM (although somtimes it would be nice to have super powers so i could be in 5 different places at the same time!)

TY

funny thing is....he is ALWAYS this dirty.

Grandpa McClellan

I was so glad we were able to go see grandpa while we were in TX. He wasnt really sure who all these crazy kids running around were but he seemed happy to see all of us and just to know that we were family. Sure hope we get to see him again soon....

UH....who said her hair isnt RED???

can you say LIONS MANE? alli has awesome hair!

Alleah

DO I REALLY NEED TO EXPLAIN?????

Oma Heuther

Oma Heuther....i was her visiting teacher and Jeff was her home teacher in Germany. She actually wasn't even in our ward, she belonged to the German Branch but her husband (who was killed in WWII) was an American and I think that she liked the connection with the Americans through our ward. We were SUPER worried about visiting her at first because the previous people who visited her told us she was difficult and that she really didn't like anybody. WRONG! She is one of the sweetest, yet orneriest old women i have ever met. We adored her and she adored us. She loves our children and looked forward to our visits. She was often ill and would call and ask for a blessing and for us to come and visit and sometimes i wonder if her illnesses were fabricated to generate visits. I am pretty sure she was losing her mind, as she would call often and be upset that we hadn't visited in a "long while" when it had only been a week, and sometimes she would call and say that we had promised to come and never showed up...She was great. We think of her often.

Making Pie

Alli likes to help and be up in the middle of Anything that i am doing. This picture was taken in Germany when we were in lodging waiting to come back to the states. I was making Chicken Pot Pie and Alleah decided that she needed to make her own pie. I learned along time ago not to argue with her....isnt that suppose to be the other way around? Any way she had a great time and made a huge mess. She loves to "cook"!

Sundays

Sometimes Sundays are really rough around here. Most Sundays one of the kids complains of a stomache ache, a headache, a runny nose, a cough...(the list goes on and on... )to try and get out of going to church. of course all of the "ailments" go away as soon as we are at church and everyone has a great time once they get to their classes and we always get a full report on what they learned on the way home. A few weeks ago we had a family home evening lesson on tithing and why we pay tithing and why it is important. MAN! try explaining to a 6 year old why it is important to give up some of his well saved money....Tyler must have come up with every reason under the sun to NOT pay his tithing. He had $18 left from his birthday money that he has been saving. We explained to him that 10% of that was only $1.80..."but why do i have to give it to Heavenly Father? I have saved it for so long!" We explained that everything that we have, has come from Heavenly Father, and that when we pay our tithing we will receive blessings and sometimes end up with more than we started but that it was HIS choice whether or not to pay it, that we would not make him. Reluctantly he decided that he WOULD pay his tithing that day, and we helped him fill out his tithing slip and he put his $1.80 in his tithing envelope and took it up to the Bishop. Apparently that Sunday the lesson in his primary class was on....yep, you guessed it...Tithing. All the sudden it became the "cool" thing to do and Ty was SO excited to tell his class that HE had paid his tithing that morning. His teacher went on and on about what a great example Tyler was to his class, and that it was so great that he paid his tithing! Thank goodness for that lesson that day! now he LOVES to pay his tithing and we have to tell him every Sunday that he already paid on that $18 in his wallet, because he keeps wanting to pay on it!

Zach and Football

When we gave the kids their options for sports this season, Zach chose football over Soccer...I was a little concerned, mostly because i worried he would get frustrated (as he often does) and not ever want to play again. He has never played football and has never really shown interested in watching it on TV and learning either. I had visions of him getting hit by someone or something and crying in the middle of the field...(this happens regularly at practice)
Today was his first game! He had such a great time! he did pretty good, he wasnt really sure what he was doing but he seemed content to just run and pretend! There was only one time that offense was called back in and Zach was nowhere to be found...he was playing in the water fountain about 15 yards away. But all in all, it was a good day. He was happy so I am happy!

My childhood...by my sister amie!

Fall Rains on Walkway

Many fond and vivid memories are linked to my childhood in the small town of Socorro, New Mexico. One particularly clear memory is that of the warm, fall afternoon rains on Walkway Street. Cars seldom passed down this tattered street. The ground was three feet higher than the asphalt which was cracked and filled with potholes. This street was more gully than walkway. There were no sidewalks in this upper, lower-class neighborhood. Every modest home had at least three children and a pet or two. The landscaping on the dirt and rock banks included every weed imaginable and occasional pet turds.
In mid August, the fall rains began. Along with the rain, came the anticipation and excitement for the activities that lay ahead. My sister and I would sit in front of the sliding glass door listening to the rain beating down on the slab of cement just outside. We would watch and wait for the rain to subside so we could go out and play in the streams the rain had left behind. We dressed in our well-loved bathing suits, faded and tattered with holes in the rear and stomach. Once the rain had stopped, we dashed out the door to the street, or rather gully, which by then was transformed into a rushing stream. There we met our friends and other neighborhood children who were equally as anxious for the festivities and were dressed much the same as we. Children and dogs littered the street. We would run and kick the water, splashing not only ourselves but anyone or anything in our path. Squeals of laughter and howls of delight, from kids and dogs alike, could be heard throughout the neighborhood.
We adored floating styrofoam boats cut from garbage treasures or leaves from our father's fruit trees found in our own backyard. Small pieces of wood were transformed into the Love Boat booked with red ant passengers and cockroach crew. It's a heady thing in a child's mind to condemn unworthy bugs and red ants to certain death, sailing to a watery grave. Anything that would float was fair game. Mother's iris, four o'clocks, and german daisies were torn from their unsuspecting beds were not spared from the savagery. Remnants of this days activity could be found up and down Walkway Street long after the stream was gone. Just visualize the debris.
Our favorite activity was lying in the center of the road where the water ran the deepest. Our human dams diverted the water to new paths creating mud holes to die for, an activity for another day and time. As the warm water flowed over our small frames, our suits were filled with mud and debris which settled in the cracks and crevices of our bodies and went virtually unnoticed until bath time. Still, we were enveloped with pleasure. We were absolutely oblivious to the busy world around us. The world was Walkway Street. It never occurred to us, or any of the neighborhood gang, we could be killed or seriously maimed by a passing car.
I wish that I would have more fully appreciated those days of childhood, when my greatest concerns were so simple. Looking back, life was so effortless, so sweet. Wouldn't it be a wonderful world if it were possible to live simply. Wouldn't it be cool to leave work after a tedious day and float ants with friends in the neighborhood, and not feel particularly concerned about the holes in our suits or the location.
When did life become so complex?

Friends

So i was sitting here looking through all the blogs of my friends that i have acquired in the past few hours and thinking how great it is to have friends. To me a friends is someone who accepts me for who i am, and can definitely laugh and cry with me at a moments notice. There are certainly alot of people that i have met in my life that are friendly acquaintances, but then there are those that i know i can still call after i haven't talked to them for months (because life just gets to busy...you know who you are!) and chat forever about nothing, just because. Then there are the ones who will always be in my life (whether they like it or not) ie my siblings and sister in law, moms and dads...you know ~the family type. The ones that aren't "just my family" but are my friends, the one's i know i could count on for just about anything. All these "friends" family or not, i cherish with all my heart, i am grateful they are in my life and i feel privileged to know them. I am sure i don't tell you all how much i appreciate you and cherish you enough...but i do.

This should make you smile

This is just his personality...silly goose

The sweetest things

This morning Ty was having a rough time getting out the door (he had to potty at the last minute) So when he finally got out the door he knew he was almost late for school. I watched (from my upstairs bedroom window) him running through the grass on his way to school and about halfway to school, which for him i am sure seems like a long way he turned around and started running back. I ran down the stairs to meet him at the door, a little irritated because he was now definitly late for school...i opened the door and he said "mom, i forgot to say bye and i love you"
Sweet boy. i sure love him!

What do you remember about us?

a sweet friend of mine had thison her blog and it looked like fun!

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together (jeff or Heidi). It doesn't matter if you knew us a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Garfield

We got garfield not long after we got to Germany. The kids

really wanted a kitty...we watched the paper for months and found nothing. Ty kept saying he wanted an orange kitty. Jeff finally saw a kitten for sale in one of the papers and we went to pick him up...it was our lucky day! he was orange! whew. So the kids named him garfield and he has remained true to his namesake...fat. lazy. onery. and yes, he even likes pasta.

SADIE

Sadie is our Great Dane that we rescued while we were in Germany. She is 2 now, She was 86 pounds when we got her (she should have been about 115) and she is about 105lbs now. She is a Huge part of our family...literally. She thinks she is a lap dog and wants to be where we are. The kids climb all over her and i think she loves it? She is rotten like the rest of our kids! (obviously by the picture)

Tyler

Tyler.

i have to stop and think of all the things i can say about this one! He is definitly his fathers son...the apple didnt fall far from that tree. Talk about a clown! this kid will keep you laughing for days! if it isnt his silly faces its the things he says that come from nowhere. He is 6 now and in 1st grade. He had a rotten kindergarten year so we were a little worried about him this year but he loves his teacher and seems to be having a great time in first grade. He is definitly our most affectionate child, he always has his arms around you, touching or kissing you...that wont always be a good thing i am sure! i keep waiting for a call from his teacher....

Alleah

Alleah is 2 1/2 now....(wow, a 13 year old and a 2 year old, at the same time! YIKES!) We call her AlliCat, Stinky, alli, and most of all TROUBLE. She is SO much fun, you never know what she is going to say next, and most of the time when she is doing something naughty...she knows it and she will bat her big blue eyes at you and smile her mischievous smile and all you can do is laugh! She is WAY to smart for MY own good...and hers too. Alli loves her brothers...Zach especially because he gives her piggy back rides everyday. she loves to be outside (you can tell by her mosquito bitten legs!) and would rather be naked than have clothes on any day! We love her beautiful red curls...although its not so fun to comb them! last week when we were getting ready for church i was combing her hair as she was running away from me and screaming at me saying "STOP BUGGING ME!!!!"
She is super snugly!

Zachary

Zahary is 10, and SO smart. He is in 5th grade this year and is our math wiz, (sometimes he answers his sisters math questions....which doesnt make her happy!) He started playing flag football this season and seems to be having a great time. Zach is our "thinker" he is always coming up with new things to invent "when he grows up" and never fails to tell us how something might work better if we do it "this way". One day i think he will be a doctor or do some breakthrough research that will change the world!

Sariah

I never thought a teenager could bring so much joy into my life...but this one does. Sariah is still my angel...my princess...my girl!

She is doing awesome in school, couldnt ask for better grades, and she seems to have chosen a good group of friends here.

Intead of soccer this season she chose to tryout for cheerleading. (much to my dismay). I wasnt really sure if she would make the squad since she is a "soccer player" not a cheerleader...they are a VERY different species you know! but we rooted her on, she tried out and...SHE MADE IT! She is having a great time and again...much to my dismay...she is starting to "move" like a cheerleader. GGGGRRRR. But if you ask me...she is definitly the cutest girl on the squad...i could be a little biased though! Any how, thank goodness she is a good girl, thank goodness she is who she is...I would love her with all my heart...even if she wasnt!

New to this

So I decided i would try my hand at this blogging stuff...i am definitly not very computer savy but i figure i can e mail, and use facebook, so maybe i can figure this out!
we will see how it goes! I am hoping that this will be easier to keep our friends and family in the loop about whats going on in our lives and ecspecially in the kids lives! so anyway, hope it works!