Being a momma of 6 kids: Wash, Rinse, Repeat

A friend had asked me why I have two anniversaries :)Well it's kinda cute and dorky but you see, we still celebrate our DATING ANNIVERSARY because we think a good marriage is one in which we never stop DATING each other. So June 13th, 1986 is our dating anniversary origin:) LOL So every year on June 13th we celebrate our dating anniversary :) This year will be 24 years. June 29th is our Wedding Anniversary and so this year will be 19 years married. And I can honestly say I am head over heals in love, more so today than on my wedding day! :) I give all praise & glory of it all to God my Heavenly Father because without I have nothing. In 1991, the year we got married, June 13th didn't roll on a weekend LOL So we had to pick a different date. It would have made it easier if it would have but oh well, now we have two special days in June just for us :))) AND with 6 kids, it's nice to have 2 dates for us that we don't have to share with the kids :) LOL As your kids get older you will find yourself FINDING time to be with your hubby, excuses to GET OUT OF THE HOUSE together hahaa and just sneak off and do anything even if it is garage saling or shopping or out to eat or just parking by the road up the drive-way, far enough where the kids can't see you, LOLOLOLOL SERIOUSLY!!!!!!! It's weird in the place I am in right now. I have 2 little ones and that reminds me of course of how it was when all of them were little; the pros and cons of it all. THEN I have the view of them MID GROWN LOL in Junior High ages and then I have the view of them grown in upper High School and 18. WOW>> no wonder my brain scrambles sometimes LOL LOL But seriously, I can stand back and see alllll the pros and cons. Like, I LOVE SNUGGLING with my little men... the smiles, tickles, bed time stories, tents, giggles, late night cookie sneaks... The cartoons, the complete joy of chubby cheeks and grins and just holding them and feeling the joy of their spirits :))) They want complete independence but don't want me more than 2 ft away LOL Now, jump to Junior High age.... no more snuggling in bed. From them, I get an a few hugs unless it is Meg, she hugs me allllll the time. They want a different kind of attention, one of more.... "TAKE ME TO A FRIEND'S HOUSE" hahah or church event and I take a side seat and watch them starting to grow into their own "person" own interests in an independent way. I adore watching them from afar when they are sharing laughs with a good friend. Kinda of like snap shots of time... the time of their lives unfolding right before your eyes. Still at the age where I can squint and see them 4 yrs old in pig tails or in their little muddy over-hauls with kool-aid grins. Now jump to HIGH SCHOOL! Now it's a hug maybe once a day if I'm lucky. Now it is COMPLETE INDEPENDENCE and yet they want all my money and want me to be about 10 miles away at all times because somebody MIGHT FIND OUT THEY HAVE A MOTHER!!! OMGOSH!!! LOL Actually their friends like me but you know what I mean. They want me to praise them NONSTOP like they are the only ones in the world, to which I do :)) but sometimes there is these moments that I HATE and yet I know as a good mom I am the only one on the planet that has to RATTLE THEIR CAGE occassionally and REMIND THEM THEY ARE NOT THE ONLY PERSON IN THE WORLD AND THEY NEED NOT BE SELF-CENTERED, RUDE,CRUDE, OR MEAN TO OTHERS OR JUST COME TO ME FOR MONEY MONEY MONEY. There comes a point where I feel like they treat the house like a hotel, grocery store and laundry mat ALL FOR FREE and not want to participate in family activities. THATS THE SUCKY part of raising teens. It flat out hurts. THEY are trying to pull away, we understand that, but want them to do it in a respectful Christian polite way. THEY are nice for the most part LOL but sometimes they still like to sharpen their teeth on their parents when we LEAST expect it (kinda like wild wolves LOL) then comes those moments that change time when the older ones rebel a bit breaking my heart over something when really it's the apron strings snapping one by one... and nothing is quite the same again. I will always love them but there is that moment that I get it that I am nearly READY for them TO LEAVE. TO WHICH I NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS COULD HAVE guessed I would ever feel when they were JackRyan and Jacob's ages (so cute and chubby and adorable snuggling with me, eating cookies and milk while watching Marvel movies). I LOVE THE GOOD MOMENTS... those are priceless and I CHERISH THOSE. Those are the moments to which God allows me to see what they will be like as adults. And so far, I love what I see. I, now in the back seat of their lives, watch them from afar and my heart swells with pride and love for what they are accomplishing and who they are becoming. Some days are so sweet I want to freeze frame that moment, the last moments of their youth. Like seeing my daughter put on her graduation cap and gown, time STOOD STILL, after all, it was yesterday that was her Daddy and me? How can she be 18 if I am still 18? LOL Time moves on... Now that I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly...; and the SOOOO SWEET side of it all from ages 0 to 18. I think ALL of US MOMS need a gold medal by the time we raise any child to 18. I know each phase only lasts but a blue moon and a blink of an eye, so in the bad phases I hold my breath knowing THIS TOO SHALL PASS & keep praisin God but in the good moments, I of course keep thanking God, but I HOLDDDD THOSE MOMENTS and try soo so hard not to blink because I know they won't last long. I nearly tear up just writing that. So, with JackRyan and Jacob I HOLD THEM EXTRA TIGHT and cherish those moments an extra lot.> AND if they want to climb into my bed now and then and watch a movie or stay up late eating bowls of ice cream or popcorn, then that is JUST FINE because I only have those moments for a little season. :)))) Good momma's know this :))) and we cherish this!!! :))) I may not be a lot of things but I know I am a good momma:)))) We may not be millionaires but we know what LOVE IS :) We know how to hold a child's hand & make them feel ever so safe. We know how to wave mommy magic over an owie or boo-boo with a kiss and a bandaid. We know how to embrace and scoop up our children when they need us most. And when it comes time we know when to let go :) even though our hearts feel like jumping out of our souls. Then it seems, life starts all over again in a different phase. And someday, that phase will be grandchildren and then it will repeat all over again :)It's like the directions on a shampoo bottle: Wash, Rinse, Repeat LOL There is a season for everything and then it seems to start all over again... I call it life. Sorry to get so deep but I am very passionate so I laugh hard,cry hard, and live hard :)))) I want to LIVE every day of my life and not let life LIVE me. :) LOL And in the end, I want to be all of me God intended me to be :))) Until next time :) Hugs, Melanie ***It's almost like a Back to the Future type of movie, in a flash, it is now 2022! By the end of next year, both of my BABY BOYS, Jackryan and Jacob, will be 18 years old! Where did the time go? Wow! My kids currently are 16 3/4, 17 3/4, 24, 27, 29, and 30 years old! I have four more kids, my in-law kids, as well as 10 grandbabies ages 8 months to nearly 12 years old! It is insane how things have changed over the past 12 years. 14 new family members! Becky, my oldest got married to Justin. They divorced years later and she found the love of her life, a handsome man named James. Becky and James now raise five sons! Peyton, Hunter, Michael, Tristan, and Liam. She is an RN to which I am very proud of her. Adam married a woman named Danielle. They now have 2 amazing kidos named Lily Rose and George Thomas. Adam's graduation is next month and he will be a police officer to which I know he will be fantastic. Megan married a man named Justin R. and they have 3 adorabe boys ages 8 mo to 5 years old: Oliver, Luke, and Wyatt. Megan graduted college with a Bachelor in Criminal Justice and now helps counsel children with anxiety problems. John Austin married Sami just this last month. The honeymooners live in town and are doing great. John got a promotion at work this year and I am so proud of him. Jackryan is turning 18 in February, and is thinking of joining the military. It is really all he talks about so I will be shocked if he doesn't go in. He works a part time job and has completed most of the credits for his Senior Year, so graduating is in the bag for him. He's amazing. Jacob turns 17 next month and is also in his Senior year. He's doing fantastic at school and at a part time job. He is outstanding at pretty much anything he does. Tom and I remarried this past summer with a vow renewal ceremony. We celebrated 30 years married and 35 together. How are we old enough for this? It is mind blowing to us, we still feel 30 at the most, just with more stiffness and aches. I must go but I will update again soon.