A Large Family?

It appears that Curt and I have entered the 'large family' category as far as most of society is concerned. I am not sure how many children puts you in this area, but we have qualified.
Now, most of the time I go places, I have Annie and Zach, my friend Tracey's 2 kids......no, they don't live here, but they might as well. :-P

Last week I took the kids all to Carl's Jr. for dinner before basketball practice. I ordered 6 kids meals and thought the guy behind the counter was going to pass out for the mere thought of it. I explained that only 4 of the kids were actually mine, the other two were not. He replied "only FOUR??? re you one of those Mormons?" "Um...no I replied, I just have 4 kids....I am Baptist"...like I really needed to explain, but I was caught off guard.
I emailed several of my friends who I consider to have large families (6 kids or more) and asked them how they handle it. We obviously have entered the crazy person stage as far as most are concerned and I don't know how I feel about that (more on that in a minute)... Most of the families state that maybe my family gets that attention because all the children are black...maybe a family with 4 white kids would not get noticed as much. Others feel that most believe that anyone with more than the standard 1.5 kids is bizarre...maybe I do belong to the weirdo club then.??!!
Either way, I am not sure how I feel about being branded a weirdo for the number of children I have. I know it is not the typical family size, I know they are all a different color, I know they are all adopted (which comes into play with the "how much did it cost you to adopt all of them?" question (also considered rude by most standards...)but still.....why do people need to act so exasperated when they see me??
I guess maybe I just needed to vent, to try and figure out how to fix peoples perception of family....I will never fix it so I might as well smile and live with it! ;-P

First Basket and Rodeos

At Saturdays game Hunter finally did it....

The game was close, the kids on the other team were all over our team like flies. Hunter was open and his teammate threw him the ball.....Hunter, knowing he had a shot, tossed the ball to the basket for a 3 pointer!!! SWISH....that sucker went right in, like he had done it a million times before...Curt, Me, Friends, coaches and teammates came off the seats to yell...Hunter had made his first basket during a game!!! His team, the Wizards, lost the game anyway, but Hunter had made his basket....that is ALL that mattered to us!

Afterwards, Hunter went to his friend Tyler's house. Curt and the kids and I went home for rest. That evening I ventured out with the kids to see Tyler's brother Michael ride Bulls in a local rodeo. Kai and Nikaya, and Hunter and Demi for that matter, saw their first rodeo. Typically we don't go since they are so expensive and I usually side with the animal (hehe) but with this being a small local rodeo it was much cheaper.

You know, I wonder what Kai and Nikaya think sometimes. Here they are in a family now. That has to be cool. But now that family goes to this BIG market and buys food, more food than 1 person could eat, more food than they have seen at one time...money just seems to appear ( I wish). We go watch our friends ride 'Gwo Bef" (Big Cows) and watch them tumble off and people cheer. Holidays this year we celebrated at our Matant and Tonton (Aunt and Uncles) house, and they have animal heads on the walls. (Side note, Curtis' Uncle is an avid Hunter and has bear, deer and elk heads and hides proudly displayed). The only people in Haiti who might have animal heads up and around are more than likely Voodoo Priests....."What kind of family did I get adopted into?" Must be there thoughts. he he

Daily Happenings

Tonight is a busy night of basketball and Parent Teacher Conferences. I am somewhat glad that the kids do not have school tomorrow due to the conference schedule, this will allow some down time to have fun. I am planning on taking the kids for a day trip to the YMCA. I am anxious to let them swim, run and play to get the wiggles out....they all need it. If we are at the Y, they are away from me and the boredom of home and will leave me alone. hehe
I do have a question though.....if our house is so boring, why do the neighborhood kids all want to come here? Everyday after school I have no less than 2-3 kids....PLUS the 4 that actually live here. Most days I don't mind it, but there are a few where the house looks like a cyclone hit it and we have no snacks and I have no nerves left when it is over. Those are days when Curt comes home and looks at me like i need to up my medicine. hehe

So, I will post how all of us got along at the Y and hopefully some pic's of the new kids swimming...Their first time at the pool...should be a blast!!

Cat Pee...

Does anyone out there know how to get rid of cat pee smell?
I have been fighting with Macey, our oldest cat that we have had for quite while. She has taken to peeing in our upstairs hallway. I have tried putting 3 different litter boxes out, so she wont have to share, and using different kinds of litter. I took her to the vet and they 'treated' her and charged me $358 and she came home and promptly peed again AARRGGHH!!!
I cannot in my mind pout her to sleep when she is otherwise healthy. I am not 100% sure if it is a dislike for the other cats in the house (we have 3 total). I have taken to letting her live in our large master bath with her own food and water supply and own litter box....she has not peed on the floor in their once in 2 weeks....makes me know for sure she is just being a butt head!!!

I have just tried Urine Gone...use the black light and all....here is to hoping it works. Let me know if any of you have any great ideas...I am open to any of them!!!

Sat. Night Fights

MySpace Glitter Graphics





Once again I sat Ring side Medic for the Ring Warrior Fights. WOW. I enjoy being a little bit of help, but Saturday night was a busy one. I however managed to not be boo'ed as I was in November...YEAH!!!
I did have one man completely knocked out. Man, his eyes were rolled to the back of his melon like no ones business. Took a good 1 1/2 minutes to bring him to. He then proceeded to vomit everywhere and bleed from his nose, mouth etc. You see...he was going to shoot for the legs of the other guy and when he ben to do it the other guy kicked him square in the face...OUCH!!! Needless to say, he took a merry trip to the hospital by ambulance! :-)

Next, I was summoned to the back area that is for fighters and trainers only. I rounded the corner to the sound of horrific cussing.....I see about 2 guys trying to hold a guy to take his gloves off. When I get to him I see his middle finger on his left hand is bloody and bent at an odd angle. As I clean it off I see 'meat' and bone sticking out of his finger. Once I convince the men that there was no way a glove was coming off that hand and that I had to indeed CUT it to remove the glove they all wanted to take photos of the battered finger first...MEN....
I was able to cut, clean and wrap the man's finger and send him off to the hospital for bone reset, stitches and good pain med's....I am sure today he is in pain!

Next I went into the ring to see a guy who had been cut above his right eye. We went to the backroom to work so the next fight could start, I was met by a room full of guys waiting for their fighter to go out. I announced that I was coming in, since it was a mens lockeroom, and was greeted by a guy who felt it necessary to show me his FULL MOON, just for fun...I told him it was the whitest butt I had ever seen and if he had anything I had never seen before I would dedicate him to science! His buddies laughed that I didn't oogle his hairy buttocks and went about my business ....he may never live it down... My patients eye was cute pretty deep and I knew immediatley that he would also require stitches. I cleaned him, butterflied his eye and gave him some ice and instructions for the ride to the hospital. I promised him that chicks really do dig scars and he had quite the war wound.

The rest of the fights were pretty uneventful...Thank the Lord, I had had enough bones, eyes, vomit and hairy butts for the evening. A new friened of mine, Marko, won Amateur Welterweight belt though....proud of the warrior for that! Eric (my brother) and I finally arrived home at 12:30am...LONG NIGHT and FUN had by all!