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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 :(