Holiday Weekend

Typically a holiday weekend means that Jeff works a half day and I am home with the kids. This year wasn't much different. Jeff was in the parade and he asked Peanut if she wanted to be in it too. The three older kids were in the 4th of July parade a year or two ago with daddy. I wasn't going to go to the parade but figured I should be there to take pictures since I got pictures when the other kids were in the parade it would only be right. Anyways fairness is a totally different topic! Peanut looked super cute in the car because you could really only see her little hand sticking out of the window waving most of the time. I guess halfway through the parade she told Jeff her hand was tired of waving. After they went past us we jumped in the van and drove over to the end of the parade to pick her up. Jeff said some friends were at the end of the parade so we walked to where they were and watched the rest of the parade with them. When the parade was said and done we made plans to go swimming. Then my friend called and asked if we wanted to come for lunch. So we headed to their house for a bbq and water fun. After we ate we drove to the pool and it was PACKED, we decided to go back their house and let the kids play in the sprinklers. They ran around for about 2 hours getting muddy and wet. Then we called the pool and decided to head back. It was still a little crowded but was starting to clear out. It was nice for the kids to have friends to play with at the pool. But the coolest thing of the day was right before we left Red went off the diving board. It took him three tries before he actually jumped off but once he did he didn't want to stop! I now have 3 diving board kids, oh boy! He was so proud of himself. Though we do have to work with him to jump off the front of the board and not off the side ;) After all the running around and swimming the kids were so tired and I had such a hard time waking them up this morning.

Waiting and wondering...

I am sitting here almost 10pm wondering if my 10 year old is going to call me wanting to come home from her friend's birthday party sleepover. You see this is the first time she has done this. She has had sleepovers before but with only one friend. There are 5 girls at this party. She is prepped to call me if she feels uncomfortable or just wants to come home. We have a code question she is to call and ask, which indicates "COME AND GET ME!" How it works is about an hour later I call and tell them mom I need to come and get her because of a family emergency. I just don't know if it is 10pm now and she hasn't called am I going to be getting a call?!?! I really hope not because this girl is TIRED. Ok, I'm going to call her. She's not answering. Hmmm Not sure I'm ready for this independence! ****update she called this morning at 7:30am because she was the first one awake and didn't know what to do. I told her to go back to bed ;) I pick her up in an hour and a half!****

In other news, I just have to share the coolest thing! Jeff went fishing with a buddy Thursday after work until Friday evening. It was a short trip but he was 3 1/2 hours away so I was single parenting it. Thursday night as I was putting the kids to bed Monkey said his arm hurt. He had a scab that had obviously become infected. There was a red circle that was hot and puffy around the scab and one little line that was starting to spread the infection. I called my friend and asked what she would do. I really didn't feel like calling the doctor who would tell me to take him to the ER with all four kids in tow. She told me to use grapefruit seed extract with a little water and rub it on the infection. I also gave him a cup of water with two drops of the grapefruit seed extract. The next morning his arm was completely better! I haven't checked it today but I'm sure it is still fine. That stuff works as a natural antibiotic. If you don't have any in your house I highly HIGHLY recommend getting some. It has saved me on many trips to the doctor. When I think the kids are coming down with something I give them some drops in their drink. Many visits to the doctor have been avoided in the past year from our use of this vitamin/supplement! How cool is it that God gave us so many wonderful things that naturally heal our bodies. Our bodies are so amazing!

Field Trip

I got the pleasure of going on Monkey's field trip to the Museum of Science and Industry in downtown Chicago. One thing I love about his teacher is she always allows as many chaperons as parents who want to go. Most of the parents had two kids their kid and one more. One dad just had his kid. I like going on field trips for two reasons, I love spending that time with my one kid and their friends and two I always wanted my parents to go on field trip growing up, my dad went on one. It was the best one ever!!! I know that if I go on all of them it doesn't really make it special but I stay home and I don't want them to feel like I did as a kid. Also my oldest had a field trip that she told me not to come on and she explained her reasons. I didn't go because of her wishes and other factors. Back on topic...I really LOVE this museum out of all the ones downtown I think this is the most educational with hands on stuff to do. Our group consisted of 3 moms, one dad and the teacher and a total of 8 boys. We took them to the coal mine. I haven't been to that exhibit in years and I have to tell you it is WAY better than I remember it. We did the storm exhibit with the tsunami and tornado that was pretty cool. Went to the hatchery with the baby chicks. We did the water room which was a big hit. We got to see everything the boys wanted to see and do. It was just a really fun day. I also got to see my boy interact with the kids in his class. He is a very independent little boy and I am just so proud of him for being his own person. I love that boy with all my heart and I was so glad I was able to spend the whole day with him. I owe a HUGE thank you to my wonderful sister-in-law who came over and had some very special quality time with my little Peanut. The other three kids were pretty jealous that she got Auntie Liz all to herself and they have no idea that David spent most of the day with them. It would only add insult to injury ;)

Lovin IT

This time of year and the weather being warmer has been so exciting. I have decided that I thrive on being active. I love doing stuff with my kids and planning get togethers with my friends. This is the run down of my last few days. Monday after school to the chiropractor, homework, dinner and baseball practice. Tuesday was Red's birthday so after school was a spontaneous play date at the park with some friends (it was beautiful outside) and then to his birthday dinner. Wednesday we had BIC graduation for the junior highers who completed the course. Monkey also had a game but my step mom graciously took all the kids to it so we could be at the graduation. Thursday was a BIG day. We had Red's party at Chuck E Cheese at noon until 2pm and then right after that we picked up the older kids from school (early) and went to the chiropractor, rushed home and got dinner and off to Monkey's baseball game. Today Peanut had gymnastics this morning and then a field trip at school and then we did a picnic at the park with some friends. I still have to clean up the kitchen from dinner and breakfast but I am waiting for Peanut to fall asleep so I can go downstairs. If I leave before she is asleep she will stay up and we have a meeting at church tonight that will last until 9:30 or so and with all the running she NEEDS to get a nap today.

Just a side note about the birthday dinner for Red. We went to Chilis because the kids eat free on Tuesdays. Jeff and I decided that we were going to have the crew sing happy birthday to him. We have never done this for anyone's birthday before. He was so stinkin cute sitting there with his hands by his face. I don't think he knew what to think.

A Birthday Letter

This is the letter that Red will read from me in the morning when he wakes up as a SIX year old.

Dear Red,
Six years ago you became apart of our family. What a wonderful day! I can't image our family without you. Your smile lights up the room and your hugs and kisses are so very precious to me. You are such a blessing. You have so much energy and always keep me on my toes! I am so thankful that God choose our family for you to live, love, learn and grow in. I am so proud of you for doing a great job in school, learning God's word and hiding it in your heart, and being a good brother to your siblings. I love seeing the man you are growing up to be! You are so sweet and fun. I love you so very much. Happy Birthday!
Love, Mommy

I just can't get over how fast these years are flying by me. I feel like it was just yesterday that I was holding that 6lb 20z baby in my arms and now he is 48 inches tall and almost 50lbs. I am on the laptop that doesn't house all of our pictures otherwise I would post that award winning smile of his. It melts my heart every time. I am such a sentimental sap!!! Only on birthdays do I get this way...

This weather! And my menu

It has been absolutely crazy here. We have gone from 50 degree weather to 90! Then in a few days it is suppose to be in the 60's. A few minutes ago it just hailed here for 5 minutes. So strange. Here is a list of the meals I have planned out...
noodles and sauce
shrimp
chicken
stuffed hamburgers
breakfast type food (that is always a hit for some reason and so cheap!)
out to eat at Chipotle I have gift cards
roasted chicken salad (it has grilled zucchini and onions in it...yummy)

A day for the record!

It was absolutely gorgeous outside today and tomorrow is suppose to be the same great weather! I packed a picnic lunch for the kids and we ate at the park and played for a little over an hour with some friends. Then down for a quick nap and then to get the kids from school. Then it was a quick dinner and off to drop Monkey off at his baseball game and GG at soccer practice. Then we headed over to the game. I let the little kids play at the park while we wait for the game to start. As I was getting the kids ready to head over I noticed something was up with Peanut's shorts. I asked her to come here because I wanted to see what it was she told me she pooped in her pants. I looked and she sure did. SO GROSS. This kid has been potty trained since she was 18 months old and I can't even tell you the last time she has had an accident. I was not happy. I had to take her home, clean her up and get GG from practice so we could get back to the game to see Monkey pitch. He was on the schedule to pitch the 3rd inning. We only missed seeing the very first pitch he threw out. He got the first batter out. Then the second batter out. The third batter hit a ground ball right to Monkey he scooped it up and threw it to first getting the 3rd guy out! I was so proud of him. I was so nervous he would be one of those kids that walked a bunch of batters but he didn't! YAY. Then the second time he was up to bat (I wasn't there for the first) they switched pitchers right when he got up because that pitcher had walked 4 guys. They put in their best pitcher and he struck Monkey out. But he did get a few good swings in there!!! I'm just so proud of him for trying. When I went to pick GG up at practice her coach walked over and told me how she had picked up a hot pepper off the ground and ended up touching her face which caused it to sting. I will NEVER understand what would possess my 10 year old to pick up some random food item off the ground. REALLY? When do they out grow that nastiness??? Well that was pretty much all our excitement for the day.

Mother's Day

My second favorite day of the year! The first, of course, is my birthday ;) I really don't know why but every year on Mother's Day it just seems the kids are WAY more snuggly and lovey then normal. I mean my kids will fight over who gets to sit by my so we can snuggle and I love it. I love Mother's Day because the kids make me gifts at school instead of going out and buying something. Just a side note I love store bought gifts too! In the morning they typically make me breakfast in bed, accompanied by all the home(school)made gifts. This year Peanut is in preschool so she will be bringing me a gift too. Last year she was so sad as the other kids had gifts after breakfast. Not sure what we will do next year though! I also get some nice gift from Jeff. I told him this year all I wanted was for my diamond to be put back in my ring. Since I still have the ring in my possession thinking that isn't going to be happening tomorrow morning! No worries though because I will get it put back in soon. Anyways, this year we are getting together with my mom and grandma to celebrate. We are going to a Japanese restaurant which I'm not so sure how that is all going to work out with the kids and what they are going to eat. Also it is about 15 to 25 dollars a person, yikes! I just have to remember it isn't about the money it is about spending time with the people you love. This evening GG and I went to the store to buy all the mothers in our lives a gift...my mom, my step mom, my mother in law, and my grandma. We had fun. I also got myself some leggings to go with the Mother's Day gift I bought myself ;) I finally own a little black dress! Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out in bloggyland.

Menu Mon-Wed

I go shopping on Wednesday and so I have decided that I am going to start listing the meals I have planned for the week because I don't always make them on the day I have planned too. Sometimes it rains on the days we are suppose to grill and so I made something different.
Monday we had Fish on the grill with brown rice and Tuesday was Pub Burgers on the grill with salad and chips. The next 6 meals are as follows...
chicken on the grill,
lasagna,
chili,
pancakes with fruit toppings,
fish on the grill,
and hotdogs/brats on the grill.
Each of these meals with have a side or two with them. This should get me to next week Wednesday when I go shopping again!!!

Monkey

I could of easily tacked this on to the last post about baseball but I believe this is worthy of it's own post!!! Last night Monkey had his normal Monday night practice. During the practice the coach had all the kids on the team sign the game ball from the first game. Then he awarded that winning game ball to Monkey for his excellent plays at first, getting the guy out and catching the pop fly getting another guy out. What an honor!!! I am just so proud of him. He has really taken to this sport and is making friends with his teammates. This has just been such a great outlet for him and it is worth the effort of all the running we are now doing. I love watching him grow in new ways! I love that boy.

Games

Saturday morning bright and EARLY we got up and went to GG's second game. This team hasn't even had a practice yet! Oy. They got schooled big time. They were allowed to have an extra girl on the field. I think this loss was great for GG to go through. Up until now she has not wanted to listen to anyone's advice on how to play soccer. She is now more receptive to listening to the coaches and her father when they tell her how to do things. It was good for her to be taken down a notch! Though I will say it was sad to see them get killed out on the field it will make them all better in the end. At least that is the hope!

Monkey had his second game on Sunday. I think his confidence is building which is good. I know...I have one kid overly confident and the other not so much. Neither of them have played the sport they are doing but their personalities are just so different. Let's see the highlights of his game. He batted 3 times. First was a hit and got to first base. Then he stole second and then stole third. He didn't make it home because they got to 3 outs first. Second up at bat he stuck out but he tried to hit the ball. Third up to bat he hit the ball again and got on first. He didn't make it home that time either but he did his part :) He didn't make any great plays in the field like last game but he didn't royally mess up either which is good. He schedule the past few days have gone like this. Wed: Practice Fri: Game Sat: Practice Sun: Game Mon: Practice Thurs: Game We've been busy!!!