M.E.K.E.N.A - Happy 7th Birthday!!

Dad says there are three peas in a pod - 

 and you are the third right behind me and your noni. 

I love sharing the pea pod with you! 

You are sweet and loving, protective, wise and genuine. 

Your sisters and brother love you and think you are the smartest girl in the
whole world. 

I'm excited for SEVEN - I can see a little lady forming and I love what I see!

Here's seven little memories that come to mind as I think of YOU:

1. You were at the park with Grandpa Cervenka when you were about two and a half and you were asking a little boy in a spider man costume, if spider man flies.  The boy said "what are you stupid".  Grandpa Cervenka was ready to give the boy a knuckle sandwich until he realized you had no idea what stupid meant and that you were content as could be and just kept on asking spider man trivia to this young "hero". 

2. Since you could sit you would arrange all of your "little people" toys facing the same direction.  You would hand me cards but if they were not the same direction you would put them the right way.  Sorry about this... I think you got the "insane detail" gene from both mom and dad - double dose.  Uh oh!

3. You made a big mess in mom and dad's room, you were four years old.  I came in and said "wow, this looks like a party in here, but you'll need to clean it up".  You said, "no mom, this is no party, this is an event and as you know events take a long time to clean up!". 

4. You woke up every morning from the time you could talk and stood up in your crib and hollered "bise bispies".  So out of bed we would take you to get your bowl of rice krispies.  To this day before both your eyes open you are ready for breakfast. 

5. You indeed were meant to be the first born, time after time you have protected your siblings.  From shouting at the top of your lungs "choking hazards everywhere" when Kirra was a baby to saving Reef from a million death defying stunts.  And watch out when someone says something mean about one of your siblings, you've definitely held nothing back.

6.  Prior to having children, I could imagine all of the adorable outfits my little girls would be wearing.  Perfectly matching, each hair in place... uhh, until I gained a true love for your individual style.  How could I possibly tell my adorable Mekena to change her clothes when she walked down the hall sporting an outfit above and beyond anything I could imagine...

7.  All of your wonderful illustrated stories, what keepsakes they have become.  You are an incredible writer and have amazed us with your creativity.  I can't wait to share them with you over and over again as you get older.

We love you Kena!  xoxo ~ Mom

the GREAT escape...

Had to do it or I might have FREAKED OUT!  Ok so there's no denying that my "plate of life" is full, very full, like 5 servings full... but I can't complain because each little helping was put on there by me and everything on the plate is delicious and like I was taught when I was young if you put it on your plate you have to eat it!  But when we found out there was a leak in a kitchen pipe, when the back room where we practically live all day was draped off from the rest of the house with a big "DON'T GO IN THERE" warning because of water damage, found out that there was water up the walls, that kitchen cupboards were history and soon to be demoed, carpet was torn out, that we would have no use of sink, dishwasher or laundry machine for at least a week...I hung in there....but who forgot to mention the DRYING EQUIPMENT??  As the fabulous equipment was plugged in, the Packer home instantly became an airport hanger with four Boeing 747's running full blast!!  REALLY??  Has technology not advanced enough in this field to offer a quiet option... clearly not!  So I asked "um, how long will this equipment be running"... and the answer, well that's what led to the great escape... "mam, you'll need to leave this running for a few days, we'll call you." 

Ok... "Rand, when you get home from work be prepared for an adventure, we're outta here, there is no way I'm staying in this house!"  So the kids and I did some dishes in buckets in the driveway (I know ghetto) and prepared for the GREAT ESCAPE.  Rand got home and just before we left Mekena asked daddy to put her pants in the dryer (wet from the dish duty).  I had a full load of baby clothes, practically her entire collection, in the dryer and when Rand went to pull out Mekena's pants the warm smell of chocolate filled the laundry room... And then Rand's voice "MEKENAAAAAA, Who gave you permission to have a handful of chocolate chips in each of your pockets??"  I came in to see (and smell) chocolate all over the walls of the dryer and now all of Kai's clothes had brown polka dots... my only option was to laugh.  Oh and re-washing them, not an option.  Just more ammo to hit the road... and OFF we went.  The Packers loaded up the truck (minus a few of Kaia's clothes) and headed to Amelia Island.  We found a great little resort that was ready to pamper the Packers, an ocean front room that we could hear the waves crash and a breakfast buffet that was delicious!  Be gone worries of the world, hello relaxation!  We had a great time swimming and building a sea shell mountain, an amazing pillow fight, bellies full of everything healthy including blue and red superman ice cream, mud pie, rocky road fudge, 2:00am room service of garlic knots and pizza - so yummy!! A fabulous time together!  And it was quiet {well as quiet as it can be with four little munchkins!}  And I was able to build up some strength to head back to the airport hanger and my full plate of life.  BRING IT ON!!!

K I R R A

Is it possible that YOU are F-I-V-E??  



Happy Birthday Goose (blog-belated)!  You are an absolute joy to our family!  You make us all laugh everyday... your funny faces, your silly body movements, you are hilarious!!  You're amazing, mysterious, beautiful and sweet as can be!!

Thanks for being ours! 





OH Santa!!! You spoiled us rotten!

The magic of your wonder filled our home for days upon days and then in the early hours of Christmas morning three little ones were reassured of your existence (even though an older friend tried convincing Mekena and Kirra there was no Santa, they weren't about to give in to such nonsense!!). 

They savored each gift, giving each a few minutes of play time before moving on to the next.  How do they have so much patience??  Me savor, no way, I ripped through anything with my name on it in 10 minutes flat!!  I do love presents!  You can wrap up anything and I'm excited.  Especially excited when I found a little black box at the bottom of my stocking... inside what was once my poor bent wedding ring was now all blinged up with shiny new gold and more diamonds.  Woo-hoo!!  I must have been very good this year!! 

I did a little spoiling myself... my hunk of a husband has driven a vehicle around that has seen better days - but no longer.  Now you'll see Mr. Packer sporting his new Dodge Ram around town!!  He was SO surprised to find that the neighbor driving "her" new truck, big red ribbon and all, was actually HIS!  Actual dialogue:  Tiffani says: "Hey Judy, awesome truck, you look great in that truck!".  Judy says, "Well, I do look great in this truck, but actually it's not mine."  Tiffani questions, "Oh, really, well who's is it?"  Judy responds, "It's HIS!!"  And then Rand, realizing that he is "His", looks at Tiff with huge eyes and an almost shaky voice, exclaims a few happy "choice" words and jumps in his new truck!

Oh the excitement and joy in his eyes, he really couldn't believe it!!  I'm telling ya we could have sold tickets to witness his reaction.  We spent a couple of hours all of us inside the truck checking it out, the kids brought their new toys and played in the back.  We laughed when we figured out how long we'd been outside and that we'd each sat in every seat within the truck.  Worth every hard earned buckeroo!

It really is so much fun to give!!  Thank you little loves and my big love for making Christmas absolutely magical!

ME blogging... who'da thunk it? (Nooo, I'm still not a facebooker.)

In an attempt to document the crazy days living amongst my Packer people I thought a blog would be a fabulous way to freeze a few memories. Not to mention I have FAILED miserably at sending pictures to the 13 grandparents, and all of the aunts and uncles that my children are so blessed to have as family. So now I can share stories, post photos (maybe even videos), document our day to day musings and it will all be here for whomever so desires to take a peek. Woo-hoo!! Even better, I can print a yearly copy of all the blogs contents for our family journaling. Thanks to Mr. Henry L. Blogger for creating such a wondrous piece of technology. We hope you visit often!!

Almost ready...

We will be sharing our first post shortly...