Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Prayer Request

For anyone visiting this site. Could you please offer a small prayer for my nephew/godson. He has severe asthma and has come down with H1N1 and pneumonia. He's home on antibiotics, but I am sure he could use some prayers for a quick recovery.

Small Successes

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We SAHM's often have a thankless job. No one notices what we've done unless we don't do it. I'm not complaining - that's just the way it is. Even I don't really give much thought to the laundry unless it starts piling up. Most of us are very appreciated though. I know my family appreciates me and my husband makes a point of telling me every so often. But, since our successes often aren't really "noticeable" we need to be aware of them ourselves.

For more small success stories click on the button above.

In the past week:
1. Made one new side dish. I am going to try to make one new meal or side dish every week - OK let's be honest - most weeks.

2. Planned meals and went grocery shopping without my master meal chart and master grocery list since my computer was holding them hostage. This was challenging. But I did it.

3. Called my MIL again to fold laundry (she's coming tomorrow!). I was too busy with 1-4 above and fell behind, again, on my laundry.



BONUS: Bought some cute little pumpkins and let the kids decorate them. I am not necessarily that crafty and the thought of all the work/clean up associated with carving pumpkins is daunting to me. Terese and Henry found some that looked similar to these at Target for $4 each, and right next to them was a bag of 8 undecorated ones for $4. We opted for decorating them ourselves.

CRUNCHY MOMMA - WHAT ARE YOUR SUCCESSES?

HI! This is Crunchy... Let's see....
1. I fixed the toilet myself rather than paying the plumber over $100 + tax + parts + extra time to come. The part was $12. I love the cute little old fashion hardware store near us. They are so helpful and save me big $$$.

2. Took Jack to get his first pair of glasses and then out to lunch with just the two of us. He got them today and he looks SUPER cute in them.

I think that is all I got for this week. How many of these am I required to have?

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Easy? Dinner


At our house, pizza for dinner generally isn't the EASY way out. With 2 people allergic to dairy (1 cheese free pizza), 2 allergic to dairy and tomatoes (1 cheese AND tomato free pizza) + 5 others....we have a number of pizza options. Add that to the 3 different kinds of milk! But, alas, I will NOT complain. I am NOT one of the people that needs to eat one of these unique pizza's. I can enjoy the real thing. The only reason there are 4 normal pizza plates is because I had to cut the two pizzas and separate the pieces so they could cool faster. Note to self: Next time bake the younger kids' pizzas first, the older people can cool their own off.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Spoiling the dog

We have a super fabulous Labradoodle. His name is Chewbacca or Chewie for short. He is great with the kiddos, loyal and tons of fun. One of his downsides is that he has tons of energy. Most times dogs with lots of energy like to chase a ball. Chewbacca could care less about retrieving a ball. So sometimes it is hard to get all of his energy out. This weekend we took him for a 2 1/2 mile walk and then to the dog park to play. Both were tons of fun. One of the nice things about wearing the dog out is that it wears the kids out too. Chewbacca is now asleep under my desk (and it must be my imagination but it looks like he is smiling) and I hope the kiddos will be asleep soon as well.

What did you do this weekend?

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Ode to my Computer: A Haiku

Meals, Bills, Charts, School
I trusted. You let me down.
And now I am toast.

As stated above........Crunchy Momma and I love Excel and schedule/simply as much as possible.

My computer is holding everything hostage!!!
My chores charts (now every asks - whose turn is it this week to sweep? what do I do today for my extra chores?)

My grocery list. It is all on the computer, organized by subject, I just circle what I want, now I have to figure it all out!

My meal chart. What do I buy for meals next week? What meals do we even eat?

My cleaning rotation schedule. What area of the house are we supposed to clean this week? Sounds a little rigid, I know. But I spent months tweaking that schedule so that everything got done on rotation at the right time. I.E. Laundry room cleaning came right after purging kids drawers for end of season clothing. It was very slick (thank you Crunchy Momma for that idea).

The kids' school schedules. They were tweaked! I didn't have do anything on than reprint them each week!

Our train history plan. I purchased the PDF version. I'm winging it for now.


This is so sad. It reminds me of the cashier who cannot count cash back because the cash register is down. Give her a $5 bill for a $4.85 purchase and she doesn't know what to do.

I do believe that those lists and charts have greatly simplified my life. But, I've also become dependent on them. Like I said, this is sad.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Small Successes

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For more small success stories click on the Faith and Family link above.

1. Finally took the time to log in and check my email from another computer (read dig out password and get used to a different system). Ours is having some problems.

2. Managed to stay Flu-less when dh and all 7 kiddos came down with the flu. This one was a doozey. Some were sick for 8+ days, others just a few.

3. Cleaned out under the bathroom sinks. OK the credit really goes to my dh and son Nathan who took everything out to unclog sinks (and put new fixtures in and recaulk the tub/tile!) All I had to do was decide what/where to put back.

4. Changed sheets on all 4 boys' beds trying to rid the house of germs. I don't usually change all at once so I was short some boy sheets. The other boys were going to let Logan (21 months) have the cool Batman sheets until they found out someone was going to get stuck with pink ones. Logan got them. I don't think he cares, but I do think he'll get some boy ones for Christmas.

5. Called MIL for help in folding laundry after becoming incredibly behind - 1. behind about 5 days due to the flu 2. added all those sheets and some quilts 3. new towels (desperately needed and BIG sale today only - I saved a boatload!) I've washed 10-12 loads today in my ultra capacity HUGE washing machine in preparation for her morning arrival to fold tomorrow. Why is this my success? 'Cause sometimes it's hard to ask for help, even when it's for the good of the family.

NOW CHECK OUT CRUNCHY MOMMA'S POST BELOW. LOOKS LIKE A GREAT SUCCESS LIST TO ME!

In the few days days...

I made environmentally friendly, reusable gift wrap.

Dried and chopped the parsley that we harvested from the garden.

Made pumpkin cookies with fresh ground whole wheat flour, raw sugar, organic pumpkin and powdered sugar.

I did not have enough butter for grilled sandwiches for lunch, so I skimmed the milk (we use raw milk), whipped up some fresh homemade butter and proceeded with the sandwiches as planned.

Beat that Martha Stewart!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Cute Quote of the Day

"Mommy, I want to touch the frog. I just do not want him to touch me back." --- Cute three year old

Monday, October 19, 2009

You know you have a large family when...

... People stop asking "Are all these yours?" and start asking "What school are you from?"

... You start referring to the small boxes of cereal as "the why bother size."

... You start referring to the boys' bedroom as "the barracks."

... Your family qualifies for group discounts.

... Even Mom has to stop to think how old everyone is.

... The kids in the neighborhood refer to you as "the pregnant mom" even when you are not pregnant.

... Your pantry contains two sizes of boxes "family" and "industrial."

Anyone else have any to add?

Pretty Pink and Purple Princess Pony Cake

This was not as challenging as the Falcon but it certainly made one 3 year old very happy!

I got the idea from FamilyFun.com. They have a ton of cute ideas for children's birthday cakes.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Whew! All done!


This is the Millennium Falcon (Hans Solo's ship from Star Wars) made out of cake and icing.

And as a side note, in the second picture you can see the color I just painted my kitchen.

The idea for this cake came from here... http://www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com/coolest-millenium-falcon-star-wars-cake-2.html

Monday, October 12, 2009

New Reality Show - Homeschool Insanity

This week we have two birthdays, five dentist appointments, two eye doctor appointments, a day trip to a neighboring state (3 hour drive each way), a trip to the theater, a wedding and, uh, homeschooling. Oh and I should add that for birthdays the kids get to pick out a cake for me to make. That means I will be crafting a Pink Princess Horsey Cake and the Millennium Falcon out of nothing more than chocolate cake and powdered sugar icing. Wish me luck.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Take time for the important things

Prince Charming recently set the screen saver to run pictures off of our computer. It has been delightful to relive those moments again.

Having had five children has been wonderful, but at times overwhelming for me. To be honest I do not remember a lot of the moments until I see the pictures again. It is so nice to recall that there have been wonderful, fun, unplanned times of pure delight. I need that. All too often I remember the laundry and the messes and forget the good things. So my best advice for this Friday is to go find your camera or go invest in a good one. Keep it handy and take lots of pictures. One day those pictures will be more precious than gold to you.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Explanation please

Tell me, how can it be that when a person (OK - me) drinks a caffeinated pop in the afternoon will still be up at almost midnight? (and just for the record, I can count on one hand the number of times I actually drink caffeinated pop in a year - that's either the reason, or the cause).

Yet, if I drink one to deal with a migraine I can wander out of the bedroom, slug the can of pop and 2 Tylenol, go back to bed for hours, wake up, and still go back to bed a couple hours later?

I just think it's weird. Does the caffeine get sucked into the migraine black hole? Just don't get it here!

Does the caffeine know why you are taking it and head to the right location? Just kidding....

On a side note though, one of our kids was being given different prescription meds to try last year to find the one that would work for her. She wasn't too keen on trying the new pills since the last ones did nothing anyway. My husband looked at the pill and said, "But look, these new ones have directions printed on them, they'll know where to go and what to do, the others didn't." (The new ones just had some numbers stamped on while the old ones had nothing, but our dd got a kick out that explanation! And while she clearly didn't believe him, she took those new pills with a smile on her face.)


And....spell check tells me that while decaffeinated is a word, caffeinated is not. But I like it anyway.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Small Successes

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My sweet but small successes this week...


1. Played ponies and people with my my 4 year old dd. Our neighbor has outgrown the set and passed it on to us. Elizabeth never wants me to play dollhouse, or anything like that because I keep messing up the names of the people, her 10 year old sister knows all the names, in fact some of these people have been named for 14 years! (Maybe I should take a picture of them lined up and have her dictate the names to me!) Anyway, when my pony asked her pony her name I was told, "Mom, we haven't named them yet." Ahh, that's why I got to play. I'd better stay current on this one.


2. Helped the kids "re clean" the basement. I will NOT let those toys get to be in such a disarray again! (yes, I've said that before)


3. Organized a months worth of receipts into 5-6 nice little labeled piles so they will be easier to work with.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Where did he get that from? ...

And I am so hoping he did not make it up....

For those of you that know me in real life, you know that we do not have a lot of media in the house. We have no tv. Internet access is restricted to observed computer time. The boys do not have access to ipods or game boys etc. The friends homes that they visit know our rules and know that the boys will not be returning if rules are broken. Yes, I am "one of THOSE parents."

In general there are not a lot of times that I have to ask "Where did you learn that from?" But this evening I walk by Jude as he is singing the line "Don't you wish your girlfriend was a freak like me?" over and over. Ugh, not good.

So I ask, "Jude, where did you learn that song?"

He thinks. "I don't know. I think I made it up."

At this point, I am less concerned about where he picked it up at as I am that he could make up something like that. So, I googled it. BIG MISTAKE. There are some not nice websites out there. But I am sure that he did not make it up, whew! Now where did he get it from- that I am still clueless on.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Cute or Weird part 2

Logan isn't even 2, but this is getting strange to me. I really don't have a problem nursing him at this age at all. But, I sneezed while nursing him. He stopped, looked at me, and said, "Bless you."

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Cute or Weird

Logan gets done nursing and crawls off my lap. He runs to the middle of the room. Stops. Turns around and looks at me for a minute then smiles and says, "bye, " and scampers away.

After 11 years, 6 months and 8 days ....

... our home is diaper (and Pull Up) free!

Woo hoo!