Animal Love is equal to the love of a child.

Meet a baby bird. We found him on our back porch last weekend. Unfortunately, he had a brother or sister that did not make it. We had to bury him. The kids were heart broken. A baby bird had died on thier watch. So I did what every other mother would do out there.......... Loaded everyone up in the van with the tiny little bird, some grass, and some seed and headed to the vets office in hopes of a "good "outcome. We drove the 20 minutes to the closest vet open on Saturday morning only to find out that they do not do anything with birds. I beggged........ I could not tell my little ones that we lost another bird, not now not in the middle of a move from AZ to CA. They were already so confused, and sad about losing their house, their friends, their schools, and now a bird. It was very traumatic. Luckily, they headed me in the right direction to a bird rescue. So another 20 minutes in we finally found her. She had a finch mother that would take it and teach it to fly and all would be happy. The kids were thrilled and happy. We were the heros. :> Now we got nothing done at the the house that we should have been doing. Packing, cleaning, etc...... but we did save a baby bird. Feels pretty good. If I do say so myself. :>

Next meet Sammy. She is our rabbit. We have had her for about a year. She was Tanner's pet but he was a little rough for her (tying her legs together and throwing her off the bunk beds), so she lived in the laundry room. I felt so bad for her living there and not getting interacation so I moved her to the front family room. Here she has free run of the downstairs. She likes to tease our guinea pig, Bolt, but she does love to be out of her cage. She is litter trained so it works out nicely. Yes, I have a bunny, that lounges in my house. What have a I turned into to, dog, guinea pig, and rabbi. Besides the six ......oops make that seven kids if jay is around. :> What do you do? We love them all. I have to say about the pets, they are easy to clean up and feed. They never talk back and they love unconditionally. Very forgiving, no matter what. You can snip at them and they just look at you like you have lost your mind but next minute they are right there in your lap looking for affection. So they never hold it against you. Interesting. Well my friends, it is well past my bed time and I do have a lot to do tomorrow. Have a great night!!!!!

Staying Cool!!

With all the heat here in Arizona, living in Rancho Sahuarita does have some benefits. It is a very family friendly community. At the clubhouse they have a water park. I am not a swimmer, nor do I actually enjoy the water.( I really don't know how to swim.) But, as the kids are getting older, and a little more manageable, we have discovered the water park is a great place for the kids. It allows them to burn off some of that pent up energy. We have been there several times and they love it. It also works as a great motivator to keep them in check during the day.

This crazy bucket dumps water on them about every 7 minutes. As weird as it sounds, they love it. A bell will ring to let them know when it is getting ready to dump and no matter where they are they will run to be under that very large bucket. And yet, it knocks them on their cute little butts every time. We have even been known to almost lose our shorts completely. Cute little plumbers crack!!! :> I just shake my head and laugh.

The best part for me or the added bonus is..... when we get home they head right to the shower and as soon as their little heads hit their pillows they are out. Not too bad, if I do say so myself. Sleep well, my friends, the kids are!!!!!

My little Rock Band!!!

Jay and I love to play rock band. I never thought I would say that. Very out of character I know.( it is a great way to relieve stress) But a year ago when I was in Utah , Adam convinced to me to try. He is amazing on the drums!!!! We played one night for what I thought was a mere hour or so and as it turns out it five hours had passed and it was nearly 1:00 in the morning. LOL. So for my birthday I got Rock Band. I try (and try is the key word there) to play the drums and Jay plays the guitar.

Well ...... now the kids have decided that they like to play too. They just rotate around and sing, play guitars or the drums. It is so funny to watch and see how much they get into it. Eye of the Tiger seems to be the favorite song. We have heard rumor that coming out this Christmas will be Lego Rock Band , so it will be a little more appropriate for the kids. I think this will make a great gift.

As for now, we are doing anything we can to help make this move and transition as easy as possible. And for a few minutes while they are playing Rock Band they forget that all of their toys, beds, and everything else around them are packed. They even seem to forget that they are living with boxes all around!!!

Kids are the best. They may be loud and messy but they have so much resiliency and courage. Sleep well our friends and play a little Rock Band!!!

Summer Monsoon Fun.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

For those of you not familiar with AZ summer, one of the highlights is the monsoon. Once the temperatures hit the triple digits we can get a lot of storms. We will get a lot of thunder and lightning but some days a lot of rain. The kids love the rain and sometimes we will let them play in it. This was one of those days. I was impressed because Daddy let them play in the pond as well. Which he had just cleaned out. But he reminded us that , "you are only kids once."

Here are a couple of pictures of the monsoon at night. The storms can be fun to watch and they do create some gorgeous sunsets. Enjoy and have a fabulous day, our friends.

Happy Birthday Lauren!!!

So we learned that Lauren was having a birthday. Of course, we never want to miss an opportunity to have cake and celebrate with our favorite people!!! We put up some birthday signs, got some cake and waited. The van was in the shop (AGAIN) and Lauren and Phil were going to pick up the boys from Karate and come over. Cassie, Nathan, Jayson and Bryan had been hiding for what seemed like hours for little people, but it had only been minutes. I was watching at the door and finally announced their arrival. They jumped and and "surprised" Lauren for her 24th birthday and we had a party. I remember 24, wow, how time flies when you get old. :> LOL.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We hope you had a great surprise!!! The kids were so sweet. All day long they went around and found their favorite toys and gave them to her when she came in because they all wanted to give her something special. That was one of those ah- ha moments. Good kids who really love you!!! Thanks for all you do.

Sleep well our friends. I have a lot more to share, hopefully over the next couple of nights. Life is crazy at the Kearl household but not boring!! Sleep well.

Sleepover with Lauren and Phil!!!

I just love this picture!!! Some of you may not have heard the news yet........ we are moving again!!! Jay is going to be the new DO for the Joint Strike Fighter for the Air Force at Edwards AFB. It is a very exciting opportunity, however it does mean that we will be moving. They wanted us there yesterday, but we will not actually get moved until August.

Jay was actually in California all of last week and we needed to join him to do some house hunting since the time to move is very rapidly approaching. The market in California is crazy and houses are moving very quickly, some are not even on the market for more than 36 hours. I needed to get there fast. Our surrogate parents for the kids (Lauren and Phil) jumped right in to watch the kids. Poor Lauren, (after working 12 hours all night long) showed up Friday morning so Tanner, Hunter and I could hit the road. Phil showed up after work and they had a sleep over with the quads. I am not even sure the kids really knew I was gone.... they love Lauren and Phil so much that they had a great time. They played games, went to the park, went to the ice cream store, made cookies, and did crafts. What more could a kid ask for?!?!?!?!!?

Make a Smilebox slideshow

The rest of us house hunted until there was no more hunting to do and then drove back Saturday night. We pulled in at 2:00 am. Not bad. Did we find a house? Well....... we left Califorina with a bunch of confusion and frustration. Everything was very over-priced and in very bad condition. We did make an offer on a new build that should be perfect. Great location, good schools, great view and best of all a Lauren and Phil suite. However, we have not been able to convince them they want to leave AZ yet. :>

We will keep you posted on the move and the house status. It is going to be a crazy month and we pray that things will go smoothly and we can make this transition as easy as possible for the kids. It has been interesting to watch them and to see how much insecurity they are currently feeling. I know it is hard for me, as I had gotten into a very good groove. Great friends, great comfort zone, with schools, extra curricular activities, and doctors all in order. I guess I was just getting too comfortable. But we are off to another adventure and I know that we are lucky to have so many great friends that will always be friends no matter where we go!!! And how awesome is that to have friends all over. Thanks again Lauren and Phil for all your help this weekend!!!!!

Another Broken Arm!!!

Yes, it is true. It is poor little Nathan's turn this time. He actually broke the arm in Utah while we were on our short lived vacation. He had been playing hard and having a great day. Everyone else was in the tub and it was his turn. As he was jumping off the trampoline his long legs got twisted with each other and down he went. It was like it was happening in slow motion, I could see it happening but nothing I could do about it.

I knew it was broken when he landed. So off we went to the emergency room. It was interesting how it all worked out though. We had no wait time in the waiting room, and there was an ortho doctor that just happened to be there consulting about a different patient. He looked at the x-rays and said that the arm was broken and it had to be set. The ER doc did not want to have to set it, and the ortho doc on call was in surgery. It could have been hours for us to wait. Luckily, the other doc said he would set it for us. He was also a little concerned that Nathan was not complaining of pain in the elbow because he thought there might be something. However, decided not to pursue it at this point.

If you have never had to watch a child have an arm set you are very lucky. It is horrible for the parents. They put Nathan out and you can hear the crack as they reset it. Your baby will scream out in sheer pain and agony, but they promise they will never remember any of it. However, I promise you, as a mother you will never forget it!!!! This was my second time to experience this. (Hunter was my first.) I must say...... I am always so impressed with the pain tolerance of my kids. The doctors also cannot believe that their bones are broken because they are so calm and good.

Anyway, we had to see a different ortho and get a cast put on before heading back to AZ since they did not want it to get bumped and moved out of place. By this point, he had started complaining of elbow pain. So I insisted on more x-rays and a full cast. I was not impressed with the doctor we saw on Friday because he did not seem very interested in us. (I think because he knew we were leaving.) He did agree to cast it all the way up but did not really examine the x-rays. He did call me back later in the day and tell me that there was a hairline fracture in the elbow as well.

Well we finally saw our ortho last week and he did more x-rays. Sure enough it was a good thing that I insisted on the full length cast. Nathan broke three bones, both in the arm and boy, did he do a number on the elbow. Not a hairline fracture, it was worse. The good news is that they really would not have treated it any differently. Which is great news and means that we are not behind in the healing. He will be in the cast for three more weeks and then they will relook at it. It will be a long summer for him. Thank heavens for water proof casts!!! Have a great night my friends!!