Surprise

I just pulled off the biggest surprise of my life with tears streaming down my face. About 6 months ago or longer I started planning a cruise for my husband and I to take. There was a lot of mis-truths that were told to get the husband to take off of work. The biggest regret I have is that the kids thought they were going on a trip too. Basically it went down like this. Hey Jeff my dad wants to take us on a vacation to visit my Aunt in Texas. Can you take some time off? He got the time off and I booked the cruise. We got together with my dad a few times to talk about our trip. I felt like such a LIAR this whole time. Well Sunday night I pulled the two oldest kids aside one by one to tell them what was really going on. I wanted to be able to spend some time with them and not have them wake up the next morning with us gone. I told GG first. She was SAD and Upset about it. I thought oh great this is going to go down badly. A few hours later I told Monkey. He seemed to be fine with it and had a huge smile on his face as I was telling him then he got sad and mad. Great. So I called a family meeting and told everyone as I had tears rolling down my face. The kids were so sad and upset about not going on a trip. Jeff was utterly and completely confused as to what I was saying. He thought I was lying! Now that everyone knows what’s going on they are fine but I am freaking out. I am leaving my babies for 5 days for a vacation. I have never left them that long and we are leaving the country! I pray that this anxiety will leave me and that I will be able to enjoy myself on my very first cruise. I really am excited but also scared. I love those kids with all my being and I really want to see them grow up. Please Lord bring me home to them. And help my not feel anxious while I am away. I know they are in great hands with my mom-in-law and my sis-in-law. Thanks for helping make this work!

A Day off

The kids don't have school tomorrow and I am so excited. I was going to take them down town to a Museum but when I got thinking about it more it didn't make sense to get up early and drive an hour and then drive an hour home just to eat dinner and head back out that way. So we are going to go over to Chuck E Cheese with some friends from school. The best part of this outing is that I was organizing my drawer as it was getting very messy and I found a $20 gift card to there and a $10 visa gift card! Total score. I wasn't going to feed the kids there but since I have those cards I think I will get them a pizza and maybe get myself the salad bar!!! I am just so excited to have a long week :)

Crowd Pleaser

Tonight for dinner we had a breakfast dish. It is super easy to make the the whole fam LOVES it. I got the recipe from a friend and then I tweaked it to our family's dietary needs. I will type out the original and put what I used in parenthesis.

6 slices bread (sourdough without yeast)
1 lb sausage (turkey sausage)
6 eggs (organic ones ~ really not a difference but health wise there is!)
2 cups milk (rice milk)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese (whole food cheese with no hormones or antibiotics used)

Brown the sausage. Cut off the crusts of the bread and place in baking dish. Put cooked sausage over bread. Mix eggs, milk and salt. Pour mixture over bread and sausage. Top with cheese. Chill over night. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. It is really yummy. I made bacon to go with it and thinking next time I will have to make some sort of fruit salad as well.

Homemade Laundry detergent

Yesterday Peanut and I made 10 gallons of laundry soap. I am really excited to see how long this will last us as one gallon usually lasts a good 4 to 6 months! I used the recipe I found on the Duggar's website under their favorite recipes the 3rd one down. They have a liquid one and a dry one. I am curious to try them both but I typically like liquid better. And since we have a basement to store it I can go that route. I know I did this with the homemade dishwasher soap as my starting date. But then I didn't come back and update when I used up that first batch. Well if my memory serves me right I was done with it about Dec 20th, 2010. I just looked up when we made it and the post said Nov 18th. So it lasted a month. I wasn't all that impressed with it but I made it again. I find if you alternate between store bought and homemade it works better. But I am planning on looking for another recipe for that to try again. It is just WAY cheaper to make your own then to buy it at the store! For the laundry recipe I bought a bar of soap Zote which is about a $1, a box of borax not sure of the price and washing soda which was about $5. I used the whole bar of soap but only a cup of the washing soda and a 1/2 cup of the borax. You spend about 2 dollars making 10 gallons of laundry soap when you buy a gallon for about 8 dollars give or take at the store. My math isn't precise because I don't really care to calculate how much is in each box and then divide it by a cup or 1/2 a cup so it may be more or less to make. Either way it sounds to me like a great way to save some of my hubby's hard earned cash. I did two loads of laundry with it today and I seemed to work fine. I had taken GlamorGirl and a few friends to go painting on Friday night and wouldn't you know that my daughter got her WHITE shirt in the paint several times. She had the paint drip on her pants as well. BUT it all came out. In my book that would make this laundry detergent successful.

My snuggler

Last night right before I went to bed. Peanut woke and was crying. I asked her what was wrong and she said she was scared and wanted to come sleep with me. I let her and all night we snuggled. She is so sweet. She slept great and has been feeling great. I pumped her full of vitamins and natural immune boosters and she was fine by Tuesday. Praise the Lord for healthy kids.

Getting In Shape

I have been wanting to get into shape this year and have actually gotten videos at the library and online to work out to. I have do some form of exercise for the last 2 weeks either ever day or every other depending on how sore I was from the day before. (Most of) my friends and family pretty much laugh at me when I tell them I am going to start working out. If you don't know me I am 5'4" and weigh about 105 to 110. The thing they don't realize is that I'm not doing it to loose weight. I'm doing it to tone my body. My husband has been in full support of me and has even told me to buy P90X which is $120 online! I'm not sure if I'm ready to make that big of a commitment yet. But I did go out and buy a yoga mat and 2lbs weights to use. I am thinking of using a bunch of different work out videos from the library until I decide what I really like or what works best for me. The thing that is the most discouraging to me is all the flab that hangs down when I am trying to do push ups, all you moms know what I'm talking about. I try to keep it flat like the videos say to do but being pregnant 4 times does NOT lend well to tight skin! My only saving grace is that this summer when I have the kids at the pool I won't be in a push up positing while in a swimming suit!!!

Sickness!

This is the first time in over a year I can say one of my kids is honestly sick. Peanut was up half the night coughing a very croupy cough. She has no other symptoms other than that nasty cough! The first time she started coughing we were still awake and Jeff went in to check on her. Then she woke coughing again about an hour and a half later. I went into her room and laid with her. I propped her head up with my arm and she was breathing really great. Once she was sound asleep and my arm was also. I headed back to my bed. A few hours later she was coughing again. I went in and laid with her again. This time I brought an extra pillow and put it under her head to see if that would help her and it did. I went back to my bed. An hour later she was up coughing and needing to use the bathroom. I had been giving her drinks when she had coughing fits. She went pee and I put her in our bed. It was about 4:50am. She coughed while in our bed and Jeff scooped her up and held her so she could breath without coughing. At some point he left and I didn't hear him! I always hear him in the morning. I tried to let her sleep as long as I could but as soon as the other kids get up she gets up. I have Red going to school all day today because we are having our small group over tonight and I figure it would be easier to keep the house clean if I only had one kid home! I hope to get her down for a nap earlier in hopes she will sleep longer. I have been pumping her full of natural immune boosters to help her. Well off to start cleaning :)

My oldest is 10 today!

I totally didn't expect to be so emotional today. I woke her up with a big ole Happy Birthday and a snap of the camera! This is how she woke up on her 10th birthday...

She got ready for school in her new birthday dress and birthday tiara!
Doesn't she look super cute?!

When she got to school one of the girls made a comment about why she was wearing the tiara. She got embarrassed and took it off.
Ugh! She was so excited to wear it to school she even asked me where it was this morning.
I didn't push it and let her put it in her locker.
At lunch I watched her come into the lunch room and sit down with her lunch.
She started to unpack it and realized I didn't give her anything to eat.
She comes up to me and asks where her food is!
I took her I ordered her a pizza.
The smile and excitement on her face made it all worth it.
After I finished helping with lunch I headed up stairs to decorate her class room.
At the end of the period the teacher had her to go the library.
I passed out noise makers to her classmates.
As she came up to class her teacher scolded her for being late, nice little added bonus!
Then we got her GOOD!
I didn't realize that there was another girl with her and since I was looking through the camera.
You can hear me mess up on the video, oops.

I didn't record us singing "Happy Birthday" as I was chocking up.
My baby girl is 10!
As soon as she stepped all the way in the room and we started singing, she spotted her daddy.
She ran over and gave him the biggest hug!
This was half of her ice cream sandwich I made her :)
Tonight we will be going out to eat at the restaurant of her choice.
Happy Birthday to my beautiful daughter!
I love you so much.
Love, Mom

Busy Busy...

Today we are getting ready for the party tomorrow to celebrate GlamorGirl turning 10!!!! I still can't believe she is going to be this old. She has asked for homemade ice cream sandwiches to take to school so we are making them today. They are so yummy but very time consuming. First you make chocolate chip cookies and then you put ice cream in between two of them, smooth out the edges, wrap, and then freeze. I have 14 made so far. She has 18 kids in her class. Since Monkey has a summer birthday he said he wanted to have ice cream sandwiches for his half birthday. He and GG are 18 months apart which puts his half birthday a few days after her real birthday! I figured if I'm already making them for her class I will just do it for his class too. Yeah I'm crazy! The house is pretty much cleaned just have some laundry to put away, but no big deal. Then tomorrow I will make the food we are having baked pasta, salad, homemade apple sauce (because it is so much better then store bought!), french bread and cake! Right now Jeff and Red are at a birthday party for his friend from school. So glad he choose Jeff to go as I feel like I need to be doing stuff at home for tomorrow even though I am sitting at the computer updating my blog :) Tonight my dad and step mom are picking up the girl and taking her shopping for her birthday. Can't wait to see what she comes home with it is always interesting! Also tonight Jeff is taking the two boys to the motorcade which they have no idea about. They should have tons of fun. Which means it will just be me and Peanut at home tonight. Love it!

My kids...

So lately I have realized that I haven't been enjoying my kids as much as I should be. Once I realized this things have gotten a lot better. I have been able to really listen to the things they are saying and boy are they funny little people! Some funny things that have come out of Peanut's mouth lately are as she stepped on a scale to weigh herself she says, "I'm 3 dollars!" Or she looked at the clock and says, "mommy it's 8 o'clock." when it is nowhere near that time but it is always 8 o'clock in her world! The other thing she did that just made me giggle was when she was playing with a balloon and watching her jump to hit it. I never want to forget those moments. Red has always been one of my harder kids as he doesn't like to obey and therefore teaching his youngest sister the errors of his way. But with even that I am able to enjoy listening to him read his homework as we snuggle on the couch. I love listening to him talk about things he has done or things he is going to do...like going to a birthday party on Saturday. I really need to arrange a date with my oldest son sometime soon. I get to spend the least amount of time with him and his older sister with them at school all day. GlamorGirl and I went on a date last night. Her birthday is on Monday and we are having a party for her on Sunday. We went and got her a dress for said party. We went to the mall and tried on so many dresses at a ton of different stores. We also ended up finding Peanut an Easter dress for a really good price! My time with GG was just so pleasant. I loved how she choose her dress too. She had found 3 dresses that she liked two where 29.99 and the other was 23.99 I told her she could get any of them. She choose the cheaper because she said it was "a better way to spend money". She is growing up so fast before my eyes. She had me laughing so hard trying on some of those dresses. I just wish I would of brought my camera! Just want to add this is the first year EVER that I have gone out and bought her a nice fancy dress for her birthday. But she is turning 10 and I thought it would be a fun activity for her and I together. We stopped for a shake from Mikey D's on the way home because we were both thirsty. I was going to get a drink at the mall but they only took cash and well I never have cash. We decided instead of walking around the mall for somewhere else we would just find something on the way home. On the way home she told me how special she felt by getting to spend this time with me. Which is way I really need to take Monkey on a date soon! I have one on one time with the two little kids almost every day. Here is a picture of the dress she got and the same color :)
She looks so cute in it too! I will have to get a picture of her actually in it to post :)

Ahhh

Sleeping kids is the best feeling in the world! For some reason I feel really stressed out today. These days are going by so fast and I feel like I'm not getting done has much as I'd like and then I have a shorter temper with the kids. I hate it. I think I have too high of expectations for my kids. I expect them to think through what they are doing and know if it is a good idea or a bad idea. For example: I gave Red a stack of Peanut's school papers because I needed to go pick her up because she wasn't obeying me. We get in the van and he takes those papers and puts them on the floor and then processes to WALK on them with his WET shoes. Seriously! I know they are just papers but why would you do that?!? Is that asking to much out of my almost 6 year old to think papers shouldn't go on the floor? I told him if he didn't know what to do with them he should of asked me. Why is that so hard for my kids to ask those questions when they don't know what to do? Instead they just do whatever they want. I think I just need to remember that they aren't adults and are learning but it is so hard when I KNOW I have told them this stuff at least once before.

Not starting out very good...

I was hoping to update more than I have been but things just get busy with 4 little munchkins running around! One thing I have realized is that unless they are sleeping their little mouths are talking. They are watching a movie right now and two of the three are talking while it is playing. OY. The kids and I made it through this weekend verily well, which gives me a little hope for the 9 days Jeff is planning on being gone to Canada with his dad this summer. I have already told Jeff I am taking them on some sort of trip. I need to keep them busy and entertained or it will not be good for any of us. I need to start planning the trip we are planning on taking with Jeff's side of the family. I think it would be great to have a half way meeting place with stuff for all the kids to do. We are planning on camping somewhere half way between his brother and us. I just don't want another summer that goes by that we didn't do some kind of vacation.

First post of the NEW YEAR!!!

I wanted to try doing a photo of my kids each month this year and was hoping to post on the first of each month but alas that didn't happen as it is already the 3rd and I didn't get a picture of the kids today. I will shoot for tomorrow and pretend it is the first :)

Just a recap of our break! Christmas with my dad and siblings on the 20th, water park for 3 days, Christmas Eve with Jeff's family, Christmas day spent most of the day at home except for when we took the kids sledding, day after Christmas with Jeff's extended side of the family. Then just chillin at home playing with all the new stuff. New Year's Eve party at our house with families from our Sunday School class. We rang in the New Year kid style at 8pm! New Year's Day was spent at our friends house with my in laws and a bunch of people from church. Then it was over was too fast!

I didn't make any new year's resolutions but I really do want to get into shape and tone the body God gave me. I'm sick of seeing flab! haha It isn't about weight loss as I don't think that would be healthy for me to do that, just want to tone up a bit!

Getting ready for school this morning wasn't as bad as I thought it would be but it was still pretty rough! Tonight we went to our friend's for dinner so it was a verily late night for the kids and I hope it won't be bad tomorrow morning.

Check back to see a picture of the kids...

Ok so let's pretend that this is the first of the month picture. I actually took it on the 5th because on the 4th the batteries were dead and I had to charge them over night.

The kids eating breakfast!