January 31

The twins love to play on the couch. They throw all of the pillows on the floor and just crawl/stand on/bounce/jump all over the couch. They are so cute when they play together. Like tonight when I caught them doing exactly that :)

January 30

Church this morning. Tyler's skating party this afternoon. Grocery shopping. Followed by cleaning the house and making dinner and cleaning up yet again makes for one exhausted momma!

These pics of the day are SOOC. Here's my beautiful momma and my baby sister and nephew.

Cheesy Potato Soup

This is my version of O'Charleys Soup. Though I am not sure I want to claim that mine is anything like theirs anymore. I think they changed their recipe :( Jonathan and I ate there for lunch a couple of weeks ago and it was awful. Nothing like mine anymore. Mine is awesome!
Try it. You'll like it. No, you'll love it so much you'll make a double recipe next time. It's that good! I promise :)
3 lb. bag of baby red potatoes, sliced into 1/2 inch strips
3 chicken flavor bouillon cubes
3 cans of Campbell's Cheddar Cheese Soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cups milk (any kind is fine)
1 large bag of "Real Bacon" Bacon Pieces
1 Tablespoon Hot Sauce
1/2 stick butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups heavy whipping cream
Garlic Salt/Pepper to taste
Make sure that you slice the potatoes lengthwise into strips about 1/2 inch thick. If you dice them, they will fall apart and be mush. It will still taste good, but it will be better if you don't cut them too small :) Boil the potatoes in their own pan of water, enough to cover the potatoes, and throw in the bouillon cubes to add flavoring to the potatoes. You only want to boil the potatoes until they are tender, not soft. Usually about 6-7 minutes.
While the potatoes are boiling, you can start preparing the rest of the soup. Get a large pot and pour in the 4 cans of soup, 2 cups of milk, and bacon bits, hot sauce, a sprinkle of garlic salt, and a little pepper. Stir that all together and simmer on very low. You just want to heat it through for now.
In a separate pan, melt the butter. Stir in the flour, and slowly add the heavy whipping cream. Cook on low heat so you don't burn the butter or cream. When this mixture thickens, you can add it to the other pot and stir it all together again.

By now, the potatoes are probably done. Drain them, but save the liquid. Add 1 cup of the liqud to your soup mixture. Next, add the potatoes to your soup mixture and very gently stir them to incorporate into the soup. Once they are mixed in, you can decide if you want to add more of the broth or not. Let the soup simmer for about 20-30 minutes before serving to blend the flavors.
I usually serve this soup with honey butter and yeast rolls. Garnish with sliced green onions, shredded cheddar cheese and more bacon bits if you want :) Enjoy! You might want to print out this recipe if you are planning to share with someone else. They will want it!
Refridgerate leftovers, or you can freeze them. If you do freeze them, make sure you allow enough time to thaw completely before reheating. It tends to separate a little if you reheat in the microwave, so I recommend low heat on the stovetop.
If you make this recipe, please let me know what you think of it.

January 29

Today we went to Emily's birthday party at the bowling alley. Kalyn has been looking forward to it all week. She told me, " Mom, nine year olds don't like taking pictures. It's not cool unless you are still 6. The girls think taking pictures is weird now."

Too bad for her :) She did promise to give me one good one, but the rest I took were candid, which are not my fave but they are growing on me. I'm still holding out that she'll change her mind back.

January 28

I got a new lens for my camera today and I think it's (in my singing voice) AMAZING! One of the most important things I look for in my point-and-shoot camera was the zoom capability. It's kind of funny to me that now that I have a real DSLR, I love the 35mm lens the best. No zoom. I am the zoom. It's exciting learning how to do new things on my camera. (like I need another challenge in my life! haha!).

Jonathan took my picture of the day today. I absolutely love that he's starting to get interested in this photography thing now, too. He's probably going to need his own camera soon :) I think this picture is perfect. My sweet little Caleb! Just look at those dimples :)

January 27

Today we took Kalyn to Build A Bear for her birthday. She had so much fun just being by herself and getting ALL of the attention. With five kids, one of my biggest concerns is that they all do get enough one-on-one attention. At their ages, they are all so needy all the time, it's hard to balance my time as a parent between all of them and making sure that they each feel just as special as their siblings. I am so thankful for our support system of family and friends. Without them, days like this would be nearly impossible!

January 26

I have been going to our Ladies Bible Study for the past six years and I have to say it has become one of my favorite times of the week. We have formed a very close knit group and we can always count on one another to help each other out. It's very comforting to know that these women have got my back and are there cheering me on through some of life's most difficult circumstances. I don't know where I would be without their support and encouragement.

Most of our studies in the past have been geared towards the different relationships in our lives, like parenting, marriage and friendships. This semester, we are studying the book of Ephesians. I actually read my whole lesson in the book and answered the questions. I am so glad that I made it a priority in my busy week. It really prepared me to be able to discuss the topics with the group. I hope I can stick with it for the whole semester this time :)

January 25

So I have been telling you about the picture wall that I have been working on for a few days now. I finally finished it, literally seconds before the guests started to arrive for Kalyn's party on Sunday. If it weren't for my sister working her tail off helping me clean up I would have never gotten it finished. I couldn't be any happier with how it turned out! I love the scrolly thing (is that a word - hopefully you know what I mean) at the top of it. I haven't put all of the regular decor on the buffet yet. In fact, I had Kalyns birthday cards all along the countertop until I took these pictures. All of the pictures were taken at the park and in my front yard. I used the techniques I learned in JessicaSprague.com's Good to Great Workflow class to convert them all to black and white. While I am an avid scrapbooker, I have never cared much to have my family photos displayed all around my house. Until now. Hopefully I can keep them updated regularly as my photography skills and editing skills get better :) I am dying for some feedback. Tell me what you think :) I have so many ideas for how to change this up for different seasons and holidays. If you have any ideas, please share :) For now, I will leave you with some pics of our family pics :) Hopefully this will inspire you to update your own family photos in a beautiful arrangement. Remember you can take pictures anywhere and with any camera. Find your moment to freeze forever!

Sorry about the glare here :( But at least you can get a general idea! Closer-ups are below :P

Here's the left side a little closer.

And here's the right side a little closer :)

Kalyn asked me to take a picture of her with her Ipod and all the apps I figured out how to get on it. I am super proud of myself for figuring it out :)

January 24

Happy Birthday my sweet girl!

I spent the majority of the day today (thinking about how high the scale read this morning after so much cake and buttercream in the last few days) working on Kalyn's Ipod. I can't figure that thing out for the life of me. Help! Please!

We made Kalyn's favorite food for dinner tonight, grilled steaks and rice. Plain, steamed rice. I get the steak - who wouldn't want that for their birthday dinner? But plain rice, really? Only cause it is your birthday. And of course more cake (which means even higher numbers on the scale tomorrow).

I posted more party pics on Facebook. They can be found here. See if you can find the picture wall and tell me what you think about it. I am going to write more about it tomorrow. Hope you had a great day today!

January 23

Well we had a very happy almost officially nine year old at the end of the day today. Church this morning, lunch at Shark Fin for the birthday girl, complete with her own ice cream sundae, and a birthday party.

Kalyn hasn't been going into her regular Sunday School class lately, and this morning when she was heading to Kidz Cove, I told her it was okay for her to go into Mrs. Tammy's class. I am so glad I let her, because when she came out today she was ecstatic about the poster that Mrs. Tammy had made her. As soon as we walked in the door, she went to my desk and got a push pin (I am trying not to think about the holes in the wall because it is her birthday and she was sooooo excited!) and hung it up right next to her bed. Who would have thought something as simple as writing "You are so special" on a piece of yellow paper could mean so much? But it did to her. She treasures it. Thank you Mrs. Tammy for being so kind to my daughter. You have made a huge impression on her.

Lunch was delicious as always :)

What would I have done without my dear sister today? She came over at 1:00 this afternoon and started cleaning (I mean scrubbing) for us. She wiped down counters, swept and vaccuumed floors, washed dishes, cleaned mirrors. She hung the streamers that Kalyn wanted so badly, and she tied a pink balloon to each chair. She was a total lifesaver today!

Kalyn was so excited to see each of her guests arrive. She will always let you know exactly what she's thinking - this girl holds nothing back! There were squeals of delight every time someone else walked in - especially for this little boy, Darrien, her friend from school.

She has been begging me for an Ipod Touch, and I was really on the fence about whether or not to allow her to have one because of the internet, etc. I told her that if she saved up her money, I would let her get one, but I would have to set it up for her with the right kinds of music and videos and apps. I never really thought she'd get enough to buy one so I didn't worry to much about it, but she did! Her cousin was actually trying to sell his and she decided to just buy his and save the extra money for accessories. She can hardly believe she has her own Ipod. I guess I have a whole new technology to learn how to work now!

She had a great time at her birthday and it was worth all the hard work preparing for it just to see her so happy. She is such a sweet and beautiful girl and I feel so blessed to be her mom. I am so grateful for all the lessons being her mom has taught me and I am proud of the little lady she is becoming and I am excited to see what the future holds for her life.

January 22

We worked ALL DAY on this cake. And since we worked all day on this cake, I thought rather than writing about everything that we did I would show you in pictures. Just so you know, I am not a baker, or cake decorator, and, judging by the pictures below, I am apparently not a very good housekeeper either. Just keeping it real here on the blog today!

Here's the before cake, and the reason we spent all day making it -- it looked awful! Kalyn doesn't like fondant, and I do not know how to make frosting smooth like fondant. I also didn't have enough room in the freezer to freeze the cakes so it was like crumb city trying to ice it :(

What would I have done without Kendra today? She came to our rescue and helped us out with the fondant. She taught me how to make the fondant and she is very good at rolling it out into one big piece. That bottom layer was a 12 inch square! Kalyn begged her to come over and help make her cake.

Here's Jonathan and Kalyn in the kitchen with the finished fondant-topped cake. It's in the bottom right corner if you can't see it amidst the riduculous mess! I had quite an accident with the mixer and trying to add color to the fondant and we'll just leave it at that :( Jonathan and Kalyn have confectioner's sugar all over their faces.

And for the grand finale, a close up of the finished cake :) Bonus: Me with no makeup in the messiest kitchen ever -- like I said, just keeping it real on the blog today. But look how happy my little girl is :) Totally worth it!

I could NOT have done it without my wonderful husband, who mixed all of the black fondant (and still has purple hands), helped with all the kids, and cleaned up this atrocious mess so that I could work on the picture wall that still isn't finished. Hope to see ya at the party :)

January 21

Whew! What a day. Best Buy with 5 kids. Walmart with 5 kids. By myself. What was I thinking? We went to the bathroom like 17 times, (slight exaggeration! haha!) stood in line for over 45 minutes, and arrived home 2 1/2 hours later with a car full of groceries and party supplies, one exhausted momma and 5 cranky kids. Why didn't I want to wait until Saturday to do all this you ask? Because on Saturday, I have to make the biggest cake ever for, like, the most important party ever. Kalyn's words.

But at least it's over. Finally. Now I can bake cakes and start to make all my little girl's cake dreams come true :) I carried Chloe in a backpack apparatus similar to what a hiker might wear, and it was a serious workout! Now, I fully intend to indulge in a taste test of homemade buttercream after baking said cakes and not feel guilty about it. Hmmmm. Buttercream. Praline Buttercream. Almond Buttercream. Bubblegum Buttercream. If I keep thinking about all that buttercream, I am going to be in a buttercream-induced coma very soon :) And to think, I have never liked frosting until I started making my own....

Today's picture is of Kalyn and Claire. I was telling her earlier today that I do not have hardly any pictures of her and Claire together. (She usually plays with Chloe because Claire prefers to walk on her own and Chloe will still let you hold her.) Random thought - I can't wait to learn more about editing pictures because I would really love to take that garbage can out of the background. Any tips?

January 20

Organized Chaos. That's my dream. And since I am all about making my dreams come true, the nanny and I spent some time together today trying to hash out a plan to organize the chaos that is my daily life. I felt like I had the real SuperNanny here with all the talk of schedules and charts and time management and meal planning. I may need more than one helper :) haha! Just how did the Duggars ever do it when their kids were little and not able to help out? Oh well. Monday's a new day with a new plan. Instead of my usual "What would you like to eat for lunch today?", which is usually followed by Kalyn offering a healthy suggestion and the boys' groaning and looks of disgust, we now have a menu. If you don't want what's on the menu, you may choose not to eat until the next meal is offered. Say I am not the only one! Please?! We also have designated outside activities and scheduled school work times. If this works, it could actually be amazing! She talked to all of the kids about expectations for behavior, too. We decided on a one-time warning, followed by timeout, and then by a spanking by the appropriate parent when necessary. When this new discipline plan became necessary for Kalyn, and she was sent to timeout, she was begging for a spanking! She said timeout was for babies and she'd rather get a spanking so it could just be over with. Ummm, no, thank you, timeout is exactly what you need. Off to the bathroom since you so generously reminded me that you could play in your bedroom. Maybe this is going to be easier after all! Because so far, my plan to not have a plan (so that I don't get disappointed when things don't go according to plan) hasn't been working all that great for me either. I feel like I am all over the place and constantly moving from one disaster area to the next. So what do you do when life's stressing you out? Me, I turn to chocolate. Sixlets are my fave right now. See what kind of damage I did today below. And yes, that is a 13 serving container (which I plan to finish off after posting today's blog) and no mommy is not sharing her special candy so don't bother to ask.

January 19

Another busy day :) I took Caleb to speech this morning and then we came home and made breakfast for Bible Study. We went to church for Bible Study, and came home and did schoolwork and cleaned the breakfast mess and made lunch and cleaned up again. I worked on my picture wall a little bit more and then it was time for dinner and cleaning up again (Maybe we should quit eating so much and then I could quit cleaning so much!) and back to church for our Wednesday night class. I didn't take any pictures today either :( I guess it's a good thing that I took so many on the other days so that I would have a few filler pics for the days like this.

This is one of Kagen at the park. Not sure what's up with this sideways hat :) He's such a little cutie!

January 18

I was excited to be able to leave the house without any kids and enjoy some adult conversation at book club tonight. For once, I think I am actually going to read the book we picked for next month. I am not sure what it's all about but it's called The Trial and it's written by Robert Whitlow. I am hoping to be able to read it after Kalyn's party is finished and I get all of the paperwork together for the accountant. If you know of anyone who is good, I am shopping for a new accountant. The one I currently have makes my stomach turn and I do NOT like that feeling. I'd rather pay someone I actually like (and who doesn't make me feel stupid) to deal with the IRS and taxes on my behalf :)

I did get to spend some time working on the picture wall today while the nanny was here. I am really looking forward to seeing it finished. It's going to be awesome when I am done!

I took a few pictures of the kids playing outside this afternoon. I love this one of Claire and Caleb both looking away from me. I usually take my pictures with the kids smiling, directly facing me, but as I am learning more about photography, I am starting to venture out and try different types of shots. I am not sure what they were looking at, but I love the profile of Claire, and her pursed lips and how you can still see the other side of her chunky-monkey cheeks. You can tell Caleb is smiling from his dimples and raised cheekbones. Yes, this was definitely a happy moment for them :) Love my kids!

January 17

Nothing special about today, except for my accidentally finding Lysa TerKeurst's blog. I came across it when I was reading the EWomen Newsletter/Magazine and saw an article written by her about her new book, Made to Crave. The DJ's at the radio station I listen to, K-Love, are going through her book together. It sounds like a really good book. I put it on the list to check out the next time I go to Lifeway :) I need to pick up my book for Wednesday Bible Study anyway. I can't wait (desperately need adult conversation even if it is still about my kids) for Bible Study to start back up! I have grown so close to each of the women there and I am looking so forward to catching back up with their lives.

No pictures today! I knew it was bound to happen, and when I realized it did happen, I was tempted to at least get my crummy phone and attempt to document the day with it. But then I decided now was as good of a time as any to drop the ball :) haha! I will take pictures tomorrow! I will take pictures tomorrow!



Here's one of the other pics I turned to black and white for my picture wall :

January 16

Whew! What a day...We took over 400 pictures today. This new camera is amazing! I am completely loving everything about it. I think I already mentioned that I am working on a major project right now, but just in case I didn't, I will let you in on it here and now. When we remodeled in November, we added in some cabinets across from my kitchen table to act as a serving/buffet area. Above that my sweet husband put up 29 black picture frames in varying sizes. I am editing all of the photos for it to be black and white and it is taking quite a while. The goal is to have them all done by Kalyn's birthday party this weekend (along with making a cake and decorations, remember?) so I better get busy. Here's one of my favorite photos that I have edited so far. Jonathan and I hardly ever get to take a picture together. Kalyn took it for us when we were having our little photo shoot after church. She did pretty good for such a big camera :) Hope you like it!

January 15

Oh, I miss the nanny! Oh, how I miss the nanny! Jonathan worked all day today and I am not quite sure how to do it without help anymore :( Having her here three days this week has been such a tremendous help! She's unbelievable -- she feeds us, she cleans up after us, she plays with the kids, and she loves to hold the babies. What more could I ask for?

I can't believe all that I have actually been able to accomplish this week. I, yes me personally, read 5 separate books to my kids, out loud. We also started on The Little House in the Big Woods for our daily reading. The kids are enjoying that book so much. They get really excited when there's a picture. I hope they will like it enough to want me to read the whole series. :) We did homeschool every day this week. My floors were mopped twice in one week. (I told you she was amazing!) I am still caught up on laundry. But best of all, I have had time to take pictures -- my most favorite thing ever!

I haven't spent much time taking pictures today, but I did get a great one of Kalyn playing with Chloe. I can't believe how many pictures Kalyn's letting me get of her lately. I hope this trend continues :)

January 14

So Kalyn's 9th birthday is fast approaching. I really need to get a plan together. We looked at cakes online this morning to pass the time while Caleb and Jonathan were out getting doughnuts. Yummm! We found a ton of really cool ideas. She wants a pink, black and white vanilla and chocolate cake. It has to be at least three tiers since there are going to be so many people here for her party, she told me. I hate to disappoint her but I haven't really given it much thought yet so I think the next few days are going to be busy. She has also informed me that she will need a banner, with Happy Birthday and her name just has to be on it! When we were searching for cakes one of the sites that we were looking had a place where you could search by the age group. Did you know that 9-12 is considered a tween? She said, "Really, Mom, I am going to be a tween already? That's like a teenager, right?" to which I replied, "You already are. You already are."

We started a new Life Discovery class last night at church. It's for teenagers. Yep, she already is.

We did go to the park today, but only long enough to try out the burst mode for like 20 minutes. Yay for me figuring it out but BOO for the cold. Did you know that you could take 472 pictures in less than 15 minutes? Me neither and I am in LOVE! All of my kids were cooperative, too. Even the tween. One look at this picture and you will agree. She is definitely a tween. Far too soon.
Next year she'll be in the double digits :(

January 13

Rant warning: I wonder if I am the only one who pays for it when I take advantage of sleeping in. I did this morning, and I was playing catch up all day. I have decided that I am a way better mom and wife when I don't sleep in. It's like a vicious cycle, sleep in, stay up late, promise myself not to do it again, sleep in anyway, promise myself not to do it again again, repeat, repeat, repeat again. Am I the only mom who can't pull myself away from the peace and quiet and clean of the house at 10:00 at night to get the full eight hours of beauty sleep that I really need ? Why is it that I am dragging all day and then all of a sudden when the kids go to bed I get a third wind and end up still awake trying to settle the nerves at around 12:30-1:00 a.m? It's a lost cause I guess. Oh well. End rant.

So today I forced myself to brave the frigid cold and take pics of the kids outside. Some of them turned out really good. I took over 200 shots even though I still can't seem to figure out the continuous shooting mode but I am determined to work on that tomorrow. Jonathan is not working so hopefully we will get the opportunity. I think the kids are stir crazy anyways from being in the house so much. Maybe we will go to the park...I need to spend some more time with this lens and figure out if it has the right zoom. No edits on these pictures. I'll save the edits for the digital scrapbook pages and not overwhelm myself on the blog right now. I need to save my energy for a big project that I am working on right now.

January 12

Today was very stressful! I was knee deep in taxes and business paperwork so I didn't have a lot of time to play :(
Boo! I am still trying to figure out how to work the features on this camera - like video for one! I missed out on catching Chloe taking several of her first steps today! I have to buy a Class 10 SD card in order for this camera to be able to record movies. I know crawling is about to be a thing of the past for Chloe and I will regret it if I don't get a card in time to record those sweet moments! In my quest to unwind after the kids went to bed tonight and still be productive, I continued trying to organize photo and video folders on the computer. Looking through those older but still fairly recents pics and videos made me realize how fast the twins have grown and how quickly time flies by! I can't believe how much they have changed my life in the last 16 months. They are so precious and it is a pure joy to have these beautiful little girls in my life. My last baby is about to be walking!

Here are a couple of pictures of the girls from tonight after we got home from church. Chloe's got skills when it comes to making a poochee lip and Claire is calm as can be, just taking it all in as usual. What sweet girls!

The Eye Roll

So today I am going through all the pictures on my hard drive and trying to free up some space and I find this picture of Chloe, doing her famous eye roll. Anyone who catches her doing it just thinks it's hysterical to see a little baby roll their eyes so dramatically. And trust me, it's dramatic. She always does it at just the right moment too, which completely adds to the effect. I love it! She's so full of personality! (and attitude!)

January 11

I am feeling so excited and refreshed about everything that was accomplished today! Like it's the first day of the new year all over again :) We have been trying to get our schedule for homeschooling worked out and it has been very challenging with all the kids -- definitely a lot different than just homeschooling one child. Caleb is a joy to work with for the most part. He loves his worksheets and he loves his computer lessons, too. He's a pretty easy going kid most of the time and that is certainly helpful. Kalyn, on the other hand, is frighteningly (is that a word?) like me -- determined to do things her way or not at all. Because that's who she is. I am trying my best to push her in the right direction, and use that strong willed nature for her benefit.

Side Note: I have to give some praise to my super supportive husband, because I get these ideas in my head about what I want to try and he pulls all the stops to make it happen. Yesterday is usually when I want something done, so he does his best to get to it right away :) Love that man! He put up this awesome white board from basically floor to ceiling right by our desk area. He framed it out and it turned out really nice. The kids and I both love it :)

So, on this new board, I wrote out a good morning note to Kalyn and Caleb, and listed their assignments on the board. Since Kalyn doesn't particularly care for worksheets, but LOVES to write on the board, I am trying to take advantage of that for the subjects that are frustrating for her right now by putting those problems on the board. She did so great today! Wonderful attitude, almost all the correct answers, and didn't complain when I made her correct the wrong ones. She's doesn't like to be corrected or critiqued either. Another personality trait that I am quite familiar with! Haha! She gets it honest! I am so proud of her. She got right to work on her assignments as soon as we came back from Caleb's speech therapy and completed them quickly. Her journaling assignment was to write about what she wanted to be when she grew up. She said she wanted to be a teacher of lots of kids so that she could talk all the time and be the boss. She said that she would give them recess six *x* (times) a day. Can you tell she loves multiplication? I thought that was cute but I did make her erase it and actually spell out "times". Attention to detail :)

To top it off today, I was able to take the older kids to the public library, which they absolutely LOVE! I had no idea they'd get so excited about getting 5 books to take home. I think the school library only let them check out two. I also made a quick trip to Kohl's to return something and I found a cute pair of pants for $4.00. Gotta love deals like that! As great as all of that was, the icing on the cake was coming home to a clean house with freshly mopped floors. My babysitter, who is an amazing mom, is now coming to my house, instead of me taking the twins and Kagen to her house. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about letting someone else take care of my housework while I am sitting in the same room, but I must say, I think I like it! I just hope we didn't scare her away :) She said she'd come back tomorrow so I guess it wasn't too bad. I could sure get used to this! I was so happy to have all of my work done today that I decided to make a big dinner and a new dessert to celebrate. Now that's something my husband could get used to :)

This post is a lot longer than I had originally planned so I better wrap it up with a picture for my P365 :) This is Kalyn showing me that she finished all of her work. She's getting Chloe away from the board since she erased the note on the bottom. Please forgive me for the awful glare on the white board but I don't feel like editing today. I am going to catch up on my shows!

January 10

I use an online curriculum called Time4Learning for the kids science and history lessons. They are great -- very interactive, full of games and quizzes that I don't have to grade! Yay! They keep track of everything for me so that I can focus on teaching the kids the 3 R's :) It's awesome that whenever Caleb (or Kalyn) work on their lessons, Kagen can join them, too. Fun for everyone! The boys were really enjoying today's lesson on insects and Caleb got a 100% on his quiz. He was so proud of himself! I love to see my kids excited about their accomplishments.

Today's picture is of the boys in Mommy's bed doing Caleb's science lesson. They are so cute! Even though they make me crazy sometimes, I wouldn't trade being home with them and being blessed enough to homeschool them for anything in the world!

January 9

Today was just a typical Sunday except I wasn't able to go to church. Jonathan took the boys and I stayed home with the girls so that we wouldn't spread the germs :) We went to lunch together at Shark Fin. Man, I love that place. I could eat there everyday! After that, we took the kids to Sam's again since I made my grocery list. (We went there yesterday, too, but I would not allow myself to buy anything without the *list*) We sampled a TON of stuff again and had to edit the said list, despite all my best efforts to stick to the budget. Ah well, what's life without turtle cheesecake anyway, right?

We splurged for a sitter for a while tonight so that we could go shopping for a new camera. How am I supposed to take a photo a day for a year without a decent camera? Now if only I could decide if I got the right one...

I didn't take many pictures today, just a few of the babies climbing the stairs. This one of my sweet Chloe Bug was the best one. She is making her little winkie face again :) I just love her to pieces.

New Blog

I decided to change up the blog. Well actually, I decided to just start a new one that better reflects why/what I am blogging. This blog was really designed for my business and since I don't run that anymore, I wanted something different. Click on the link below and sign up to follow me again if you dare!

http://ourlifeontheverge.blogspot.com/

Thanks for your support :)

January 8

Today we went for a hike. Yep, that's right. I went for a hike. In the woods. With all five kids. No, I did not wear my heels. But they were in the car in case we decided to go shopping afterwards, if I wasn't too sweaty :) I got some great pictures of my kids today, too, despite their efforts to not let me! I took 196 photos but I only had time to work on these three. I carried Claire in the baby Bjorn and Jonathan carried Chloe in the backpack carrier, so our pics weren't that great anyway :( I had such high hopes for pictures today. Oh well, we did have fun, and I had a chance to learn a little more about my camera.

January 7

That dog has got to go!!!! What happened to the, "Don't spank her, she's just a puppy!" from three weeks ago, you ask? I'll tell you what happened. Three weeks ago I didn't lose my lunch (or my temper) when she pooped on my rug. But today, today was a different story. We have been trying to kennel train her, and she does well usually. We have only had about one accident a day on most days. I have wood floors in my entire house, except for two rugs in the living areas. Usually, when she has an accident, we clean it up, disinfect, and remind ourselves that she's just a puppy, and a pretty small one at that. But today, when Caleb stepped in her poop (on my rug again! GRRRR!!!), after walking all the way across my (almost) freshly mopped floor, meanwhile smearing smelly poop everywhere, and grabbed my kitchen towel, I lost it! Forget on the verge, today I have been pushed right over that proverbial cliff! And I am screaming the whole way down! And obnoxiously gagging. Repeatedly. I asked him what he was doing and he nonchalantly said, "I got poop on my foot". Like no big deal. He could handle it -- he was just cleaning it off with my dish towel. Seriously? Seriously? You have got to be kidding me! I have like 19 containers of baby wipes, one on nearly every surface in my house and this boy walks all the way to the kitchen dragging his poopy foot and gets my kitchen towel. I tried to take a deep breath and remember that this is only a six year old boy, but then the smell coming into my lungs was so toxic that I literally didn't care how old he was, or what he was doing. I guess I'll have to add that to the list of things I need to apologize for today. No, I am not done yet. This made up a large part of our day. So then poor little Claire comes walking up. Smiling, of course with her beautiful baby blues. She has poop on the top of her hand, on her fingers, on her pajamas, on her leg, and by the time I got it off her body, it had made its way to her belly and the back of her head. So as I continue violently (okay, dramatically) gagging, like my kids do when I spray ACV in their mouth for backtalking, I tell Kalyn to call her dad and tell him to put an ad in the paper. Puppy for sale. So, I put the dog back into her kennel, give the babies a bath, send all of the kids upstairs and mop the floor again, and clean no less than nine spots on my rug with lysol with bleach. Fun times I tell you. Really, what was I thinking? I am so NOT an animal lover. I have five kids under the age of 8. I homeschool. I help run my husband's business. Did I think I'd ever not have enough to do already? She is cute though. Especially when she chases the leaves blowing in the wind. See? Don't you agree?

January 6

I have had a pretty rough week around here. Between all of this sickness, the changes in our schedules and all of the extra chores that having a puppy brings, my emotional tank was empty. Dead empty. I was all gave out until my dear, sweet husband blessed me with lunch today from my favorite restaurant, Shark Fin. No really, it is my favorite! The first time I ate there, I went back 4 times that same week. We won't even talk about what that can do a girl's figure. He brought me everything that I like, not just the lunch plate. I'm talking chicken lettuce wraps, soup, Shark Fin chicken with the crispy rice noodles, white rice (even though he prefers the fried rice), extra sauce like I like it, crab rangoons with thai chili sauce....Hmmmm! Making me hungry again :) Does it make your mouth water, too?

January 5

Chloe Bug! She is a daddy's girl from the word go. Her daddy has been trying to teach her to wink. It's absolutely adorable and I love this sweet little face more than words can say. Her she is, all geared up with the one eye not quite shut and her head ever so slightly leaned to one side. She is a total delight!

January 4

So eventually they had to get sick of chicken noodle soup, right? Well luckily, I have plenty of other soup recipes that the kids love. One of their favorites is my Loaded Baked Potato Soup. With it, I serve yummy honey buttered yeast rolls. The yeast rolls that I normally buy are very expensive, like $3 for just 10 rolls, so I have always wanted to try to make them myself. So I did and I was very pleased with the results. Now I won't have to set a limit of "1 1/2 rolls per kid" to have enough to go around. Hey, I do have 5 kids you know! Here's the recipe if you wanna try it and a picture of how they turned out. Enjoy!



1 pkg. active dry yeast
3/4 c. warm water (105-115 degrees)
2 T. Sugar
2 T. Vegetable Oil
1 egg
Salt
2 1/2 - 3 c. self rising flour
honey butter

Dissolve yeast in water. Add sugar, oil and egg and stir to dissolve sugar. Sprinkle in a little salt. Stir in 1 cup of the flour until smooth. Cover with a cloth and place on a rack over bowl of hot water. Let rise 15 minutes. Grease Pan. Stir down batter and turned onto greased countertop. Knead for 3 minutes. If dough is too sticky, knead in more flour, 1/4 cup at a time, keeping in mind the more flour you use the heavier the rolls will be.

Divide dough into 16 pieces and shape quickly. Arrange in pan and brush tops with butter. Cover lightly with a clean towel and place on a rack over a bowl of hot water. Let rise until fully doubled in size, about 25 minutes. Heat oven to 425 degrees and bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Remove from oven and brush with honey butter; Serve warm.

January 3

Other than still nursing the sick ones, not a whole lot has been going on around here. Our biggest highlight was getting to watch one of our favorite shows, The Next Great Baker. We have always been a fan of the Cake Boss, and since I have recently gotten into cake decorating myself, this is definitely on the TIVO list. Claire was feeling the worst today, so she stayed up late with us. She had fun playing with Gabby and climbing all over her Daddy.

January 2

The babies are not babies anymore :( so we have decided it's time for a big girl bed for them to share, like the boys. We didn't really want to put another bed under Kalyn's loft bed, so we figured the best thing to do would be to get a trundle bed and flip flop the boys' and girls' room. The babies can sleep on the trundle, which is only a few inches from the floor, and Kalyn will sleep on the top bed. She and the boys are excited about the change. I hope the babies catch on too! They can now get up and walk around wherever they want. We really need to get another gate for upstairs :/ We have lots of ideas of how we can girly up this room. We are planning to remove the yellow/orange flowers and the pink/green flowers in the white frames and replace them with a shopping girl silhouette. My mom bought two adorable princess pink and white arm chairs and a vanity for Kalyn. This room is going to be so cute!

January 1

Jan 1 - Hopeful that this bowl of chicken noodle soup with the cutest little saltine crackers I have ever seen will make everyone better soon. All 5 of my kids are sick with fevers, body aches, head congestion and the most annoying non-productive cough in the world. It took me two whole weeks before I felt better :(