Feeling Inspired

I'm usually not one to deep think.  Actually it's rare that I can keep a straight thought in my head at all.  But this quote I read today from a friends blog got to me.  I just couldn't get it out of my head.  I've read it several times and each time something new pops out to me.    Very intuitive.


So I want to share...

God, being all-knowing and anticipating every eventuality that would befall our children's mortal experience, carefully positioned our children into selected families to provide them the best chance of nurture, repentance and exaltation. This is a critical piece of information for parents. Despite their feelings to the contrary, a child's rebellion is not a parent's failing but rather a parent's calling.

God organizes his children into saving relationships so that the weak might be nurtured by the strong. That fact is most evident in families. God's divine positioning often calls for weak children to be placed with strong parents, strong children to be placed with weak parents, or strong individuals to marry into weak families. Why? To do the work of redemption.

Larry Barkdull,  "Rescuing Wayward Children"

 And if that isn't enough to make you think about the effects children have on families, maybe this 6 week old little man of mine will.

4 weeks, The New 4 months.

Are you ready to be amazed?

To be wow-ed?

To be so shocked your jaw will drop?

Introducing...

a 4 week old who is trying to crawl!!!!

I guess all that baby PX-90

is really working for him.

Dusting Off Old Projects

Newborns grow lots.

They grow really fast, especially during

the first month.

Which means they are very sleepy.

And oddly enough,
I find myself with time on my hands.

Strange?

So I love to take advantage of this down time.

And for some reason 3 kids at home

instead of 5 seems to be relatively easy.

(I know most people think I'm nuts

for saying that, but it's true)

This past week I've read through a new book

that came out, kept up on household chores,

created a mini-schedule for after school time

with the kids and made dinner every...single...

NIGHT!

What?

Crazy, right?

Ok, maybe not for the average SAHM,

but for me...let's just say it's been awhile.

Remember these past 10 months I've

sufficiently neglected my duties

and focused on storing up energy to 

bake that bun in the oven?

See, I was just doing a "different"

kind of cooking!
HA!

So I've dusted off the 1/2 empty recipe box...

...and started to fill it up with loads of

delicious meals / desserts that I fully

intend on making.

Reading through recipes has always

been a favorite pass time for me.

Besides some great books I've collected

there are also some super websites 

I steal from, like...

this, there, here and here.

Good thing there are plenty of people

around my house to taste test my

new obsession!

Creamy Italian Crockpot Chicken

I've tried many recipes to get just the right flavor and consistency.  And finally this recipe was perfect.  Although the next time I make it, I'm going to reduce some of the more "fattening" ingredients.

5-6 Chicken breasts
1 stick of butter
1 italian seasoning packet

Place in crockpot.  Cook all day on low.  Or at least 4+ hours.  Chicken will be very moist.  Stir randomly.
1 hour before serving...

1 pkg cream cheese
1 can cream of mushroom

Place cream cheese and soup in bowl.  Heat up for 2 mins in microwave.  Stir until creamy.  Pour over chicken in crockpot.  Finish cooking 1 more hour.  Then stir to incorporate butter and soup mixture.  Eat over rice or egg noodles.

You know it's a good recipe when your husband takes out the leftover tupperware to eat more before it's even cold!!

Cheap. Frugal. Free.

With money always being tight around our house, I've really enjoyed the freedom of free $$.

You heard me.

About a year ago a friend turned me on to "ehow".  A website that lets people write articles about stuff they know.  So I took the time to write a few articles, set up a paypal account with them and now every month I get free money.  For doing nothing.

My articles earn money from people that read them.  These consumers sometimes click on an ad along side the article, which in turn brings $$ from the ad company to Demand Media (owners of ehow) to my paypal account.

With my free money I've enjoyed purchasing books, movies, random stuff off ebay.  Even car parts.

But it's time to expand.  On word into another realm of free $$ with swagbucks.

Another company that I can earn points just by using it as a search engine and then turn my points in for purchasing items.  Like gift cards.  Which I can't wait to use to buy christmas presents.  By just clicking here, you can link yourself to my swagbucks page and start your own free $$.  It will have you download a "search engine" just like yahoo or google to put at the top of your internet web browser.  Totally easy.  Completely worth it.

First Day Of School

So mom's are hesitant, anxious and down

right teary-eyed when it comes to dropping

off their kids at Kindergarten.

As for me?

I'm happy.

Happy my children will

be around friends,

have something to entertain them,

be surrounded by good things to learn

and that they are just as happy to be

there as I am.

Sydney 2nd grade  Ms. Hatch

Emma Kindergarten  Ms. Deville

We all felt totally at peace for their first day.

Thanks to super nice teachers and

a blessing from Dad.

If you ask Larry,

he takes the girls to school to help me out.

If you ask me,

he likes doing it!!

#1 remind me to look in the mirror

before I rush off doing the morning

routine.

#2  note the super pouty face

on someone very jealous

To start this new phase of life,

I needed a helper.

Ben wasn't sure he wanted the job.

Until I told him..

a.  he was the oldest.

b.  he could be in "charge"

c.  he would be the "sheriff" like Woody

When he heard reason "c"

he accepted the challenge.

He helped mom play with the kids

in the toy room.

Made rice krispy treats for his

sisters as a special snack after school.

Helped stir the noodles while 

mom made mac'n cheese for dinner.

Brought Dan his pacifier when he was crying.

And made Keira her own star.

(isn't that sweet?)

I was happily surprised at what a

great day we had.

Three kids was cake!!

I really like how productive I could be.

And I'm sure the littler kids were

happy to not have to share mom so much.

Definitely a successful first day of school!!

(note:  I did shed a small tear or two when I

saw my sweet girls come out of the school.

I'm just a tiny bit sappy.)

Good Morning

LITTLE MISS GIGGLES

enough said.

Genetics

Biology was one of my favorite classes in HS.

Especially the chapters on genetics.

I found it thrilling to piece together how

people became who they were

with the DNA from their parents.

And it became even more exciting

when Larry and I got married,

and started envisioning what our

future children would look like.

Fast forward a few years and here we are.

Completely baffled.

So let's discuss Dominant and Recessive genes.

For example I have brown eyes.

Larry has blue.

I am supposed to be DOMINANT.
And those blue eyes are claimed to be

recessive.

Giving these RAD brown eyes a strong

chance of showing up in our children.

But I don't know if you've noticed...

but only 1 child out of 5 has a slight

resemblance (and a cruddy one at that)

of my brown eyes.

Hence we have a handful of kids

that "kinda" look like each other.

Like Keira.

This little beauty reminds Larry and I

a lot of when Emma was her age.

Emma at 2 yrs old.

All those facial features and body shape

are so similar.

But as for coloring.

They are the exact opposite.

Keira matches Sydney when it comes to

hair, skin and eye color.

So I guess when strangers question me

if Sydney and Emma...

...are sisters.

I'll just stick Keira in the middle!

Private Eye

I promised myself if I could get the baby down and the kids occupied I would write a blog.

Something to divulge the mad detective skills I've been acquiring over the years.

Yesterday the long awaited postcards from the Elementary school came in the mail to reveal who the girls would have as teachers for this upcoming year.  I too, was anticipating the information so I could process who they were and what kind of influence they would be on my 2 precious daughters.

With the last names finally in hand.  I hit the internet.  Starting simple with accessing the isd website for their full names and then googling.  I was shocked that one teacher came up with her name being attached to another persons blog.  Easy enough.  I found her name listed as a comment and then linked her to her own "info" page on blogger.  There I found out she lived in my county and had recently had her first baby in March.  And much to my pleasure a picture of her and her family.  This revealed a ton.  A picture was my main goal, so I could show the girls what their teacher looked like.

The other teacher was just as easy.  I found her attached to another friends FB account.  And surprisingly she hadn't made her FB account private.  So her life was an open book.  We looked through photos, read past comments, found her link to her family blog and continued from there.

But I'd have to say my favorite Sherlock Holmes moment was when I found the home addresses on www.whitepages.com of each teacher and then looked them up by our county website to see the public records on their homes which includes their property taxes, assessed values, and tons of more details you'd be shocked people could read about.

So what does this say about me?
Nosey?  Yes.
Protective?  Yes.
Skilled?  Most definitely

Just be grateful I didn't go through certain avenues to see if they or their spouses had criminal backgrounds.

Because I did think about.

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1.02.28

Make Room

Four gorgeous kids
Three of the blue eyed
Two of them blond
and
One awesomely, cool Dad.

(*note: car is no long roomy enough for Dad to join the crew in the back set)

Peach Pie

Thanks to Great-Gma Jane for cooking up one of her classic Peach Pies for us.  With Peaches from a local orchard!!

It was mega delicious!

The kids were fascinated by Great-Gma Jane's mad cooking skills.  Pie from scratch?  Who knew?

Simply Stylish

Always following her own path in life.

Keira couldn't get enough of goofing

around with Grandma Nancy,

while she was visiting.

They would tease, chase and

play fun games.

Like Keira gives Gran Nan

her favorite red blanket,

then runs away.

While Gran Nan chucks

it at her.

If Keira got hit...

she screamed with joy.

As for the bag head picture above.

Well, that was Gran Nan's 

way of distracting Keira from

a meltdown.

Although we should have thought

about the repercussions....

because putting a bag on your

kids head, probably isn't the

safest thing.

Gran Nan will be signed up for

a refresher course in "parenting".
asap
But she gets an A+ in great
shopping skills!
(she found Syd and Emma's dresses
for a great discount)

Plenty Of Helpers

These guys can't get enough

of holding their little brother!!

As for me...

I'm slowly absorbing the fact

I have 5 kids!!

Similarities

Daniel is now 3 weeks old.

He's such a wonderful baby.

He takes naps, he eats loads,

he'll take a bottle, and

even a pacifier!

Although there are a few things

that are a bit...

irritating!

For instance,

he's passes gas ALL THE TIME,

he poops constantly,

and he spits up after every meal

no matter how much we burp him.

Which leads me to this conclusion.

Daniel is officially my brother Dave,

reincarnated.

As if I wasn't teased and pestered enough

as a young child by this goofy, older

brother of mine.

But now I have a child just like him.

 

Just ask my mom.

Besides their obvious similar facial features

and hair lines,

Dave was nicknamed

"Burp-a-Lurp"

as a baby because of his constant

regurgitation.

And I can attest for his passion

for passing gas at any given moment.

Now that we know how similar

Dave and Daniel are,

maybe I should do some preventative

maintenance.

Like... check to see if

his vertebrae have been fused together.

Or possibly set up a meet & greet

with Marion Jones.

What do you think Dave?

"Hey, good lookin'!"

"Watch me flare my nostrals!"

"Wow, all the work made me sleepy."

"It's hard to stay awake for longer then

2.5 minutes."

Keira Speaks

Currently on PBS there is a cartoon called,

Martha Speaks.

It's about a talking dog who ate

some alphabet soup.

The letters went to her brain instead

of the stomach

and now she can speak.

If only it was that easy!!??

I would love for Keira to speak.

   

But instead, she finds it easier to

point, grunt, whine, cry

and then shake her head

 yes/no.

Here's an example:

I'm at the computer and Keira comes up,

grabs and pulls on my leg.

Then points to where she wants me to go.

If I stand up she'll start walking toward

what she wants, leading me.

But looking back to make sure

that I'm following and don't get

distracted.

Until she stops at her high chair.

Can you guess why she wants to

sit in her high chair?

"Please Mommy,

put me in here!"

Yep, it's snack time.

I think the bib is rather appropriate.

Since she won't say it,

she can wear it instead!!

My Day

When the garage looks like this...

(aka:  Dad is at work)

And all you hear is this...

(aka:  Dan wailing)

And the sink looks like this...

(aka:  dirty)

You do what you do best!

You tell your kids to get busy doing this...

(aka:  slave labor)

So you have time to eat this...

(aka:  Monkey Bars)

...all by yourself.

Hangin' In There

This is Sydney's FRONT TOOTH.

He's been dangling from her gums 

for at least 2 months.

And as you can tell,

it's NOT very attractive.

Larry and I have been offering

our "services" to rid her of this tooth.

But as you can tell from this photo,

she doesn't trust us.

Her Aunt Kim even offered to pay her $1

if she let her pull it out.

But Sydney would rather wiggle it

all day long until it decides to drop

out of her mouth on it's own accord.

Lately we've been watching a lot

of AFV.

(america's funniest video)

So after seeing the whole

"string on a tooth"

option, 

Sydney FINALLY

let Daddy do it to her tooth.

And the best part...

was that she came over to

show me the whole string set up

and caught her finger on the string,

which popped her tooth out.

It was so fast.  So painless.

She didn't even know it came out!!

Fuzzy Peach

After taking a trip to an orchard,

the kids decided that Daniel

is our Baby Peach.

He's FUZZY.

He's SOFT.

He's ORANGE.

and

He bathes in the SUN.

At 2 weeks old

Dan is 8 lbs 15 oz.
We still have him sleep in front
of windows to help rid him
of Jaundis.

I was surprised at how much

he weighed at his appointment.

But he IS a pro at doing the usual

eat, sleep and poop.

If you zoom in on this picture

you can see just what we mean

by our "fuzzy peach".

I guess he takes after his

Uncle David!

(BTW:  My brother Dave is the
hairiest guy EVER
and
Dan has little peach fuzz hair
all over his body too)