Thinking about next week...

The kids have had two weeks off. It's been really nice to just hang around the house... no schedule... no routine...

And no lunches.

I thought I'd show you some pictures I took one Monday morning when I decided I would make Reid and Zach's sandwiches for the whole week that morning...

This is bread for 20 sandwiches. Two sandwiches a day for each kid. Now... this doesn't include the PB&J that I send with Reid every day... I don't make those ahead of time.

The meat... one slice of ham, one slice of turkey. And the cheese... provolone or muenster. We spoil our kids...

Here they are all wrapped up ready for the freezer. The ones at the upper left are the ones for that day. I just pull a bag out each morning for the rest of the week. Not too bad.

So the kids each get two of these sandwiches, a water bottle, an apple, and a small bag of chips. Reid gets an extra PB&J, a banana, and a trail mix bar to help him make it through wrestling practice. It is a lot of food every day.

It makes me grateful that we have sufficient for our needs. I can't imagine the feeling of not being about to afford enough food for your family.

It's lots of work, but it's a lot to be grateful for.

The Year of The Stocking

A couple of days after I posted my stockings post here on my little blog, I got a call from my mom. She said, "Well, we are mother and daughter." That morning, after working hard on a gift for the kids, she went to the post office and shipped off a nice package. That afternoon, she checked my blog and had to laugh.

The package contained stockings for the kids. :)

We were thrilled to get stockings from Grandma Becky (of course!), so we decided to hang them on the kid's doors. (All except for Zach... go figure... Zach wanted to do something different from the rest of the kids...)

Here they are:

Cole's

Jacob's

Reid's

Kira's

(no surprise there!)

Zach

Hopefully the kids won't be disappointed in the morning when Santa doesn't fill both sets of stockings. Santa just didn't have enough candy.

Oh... and guess what??? We're having a WHITE CHRISTMAS!!!!! We have about an inch of snow! I'll post pictures tomorrow!

Schnitzeling

We're up to our elbows here. I think we're about 2/3rds of the way through. I had to stop to take a break. I've had handsome assistants.

I'll start cooking it around 2pm.

Hopefully everyone is having a great Christmas Eve.

I've got a fun post coming in later today... hopefully you're all too busy spending time with family to see it! :)

Their Snowman

Jacob and Cole are the best of friends. Two peas in a pod. Best buds. Mucho Amigos.

So when we got a slight covering of snow in our yard, they worked together to gather up almost every flake that was on our grass to make themselves a snowman.

You see those long arms? Those are one of Mikes many (MANY) pairs of chopsticks.

They tried raisins and a carrot, but the fruit and vegetable variety of decorations just wasn't working for them. So...

He has googly eyes and a crayon nose. Isn't he cute!?!

Stockings

Because last week wasn't traumatizing enough, I decided on Sunday that we would make our stockings. I had purchased the material a week or so ago and thought we would do this project when school was out and the kids were bored. But I guess I decided to do it sooner. I was sooo tired, but it was nice to have the kids buzzing around cutting out their stockings and their names.

This is me helping glue Jacob's "JJ" onto his stocking. If Mike hadn't walked by when he did, the Js would have been backwards. I was too tired to notice. Pretty sad. :)

And here's Reid doing what he does best: messing with his brothers. Look at the expression on his face... it's just a routine thing he's doing... nothing unusual.

And here's the final product. Kinda nice. It's the first time we've ever had stockings. I think the kids are pretty excited. I'm very pleased with how they came out. Hopefully this will make Santa's job just a little bit easier.

Our first Artisan Bread.

A couple of weeks ago, Mike and I finally got around to trying out the Artisan bread from the book that Judy gave us over a year ago. My mom got Mike a baking stone and large pizza peel to make the work easier and look at what we made!

Isn't it pretty? Mike liked that it looks almost exactly like the one on the book cover. Not too shabby for a first try! Now I'm just looking for a container that will fit in our fridge to hold the dough. I'm trying to decide between the 5 qt and 10qt. Probably should do the 10qt since we'll go through the bread like crazy, but the 5 qt will take up less space in my already overloaded fridge. Decisions, decisions!

Yee- Haw

We went up to Mountain View, AR for Thanksgiving. Mike's sister, Sara, and her family joined us. We arrived around 4pm on Wednesday and immediately began preparing for Thursday's meal:

We enjoyed the traditional BBQ sandwiches and chips Thanksgiving meal.

And I'd say that's not so bad when you're relying on a crock pot and one burner to cook with and your counter space is actually a dresser in your hotel room. :)

And dinner was really great. We had BBQ that Sara had made in advance, baked beans that I made in advance, store bought coleslaw, potato salad, and fruit platter, and a bag of chips. Not too bad. Then Sara whipped out some veggies that she brought from home that she had leftover and didn't want them to go to waste. Kira tore into the baked butternut squash. Definitely something I'm going to have to start cooking for her.

We stayed in little hotel-ish cabins at the Ozark Folk Center. It's a cute little place with lots of old timey crafts and trades that are showcased in a little village. Most of the shop owners were vacant this time of year, but we were able to see quite a few. We ooh and aah over pottery, aprons, hand woven rugs, musical instruments, and more. One shop that was closed that made me really sad was the furniture shop. I thought maybe they'd be open on Saturday, so I went up all prepared to buy a wooden spoon (you should have seen them hanging in the window! so pretty!), but he wasn't there. I was pretty bummed. But I consoled myself with a pretty pottery spoon rest.

(If I can't have a spoon... at least I can have a spoon rest, right? Huh?)

The spoon rest is very pretty. And it's nice to have met the people who actually made it. It has a fern pattern on it and the guy told about how he and his wife pick fern leaves while hiking, dry them in old college textbooks, and use them to make the prints on their pottery. I like knowing that about my spoon rest. :)

And someday it'll have a spoon resting on it whose history and maker I know just as well. Until then, it will just have to wait longingly for it's soul mate.

Who knew spoons could cause such trouble!

On Friday, we went to a local cavern with the intention of taking the tour, but I guess that's what everyone else within a 100 miles thought they'd do, too, because there was a two hour wait for a tour and the guy said no guarantee that they had any left (it would have been the last tour of the day). We opted to not wait for the tour and went instead to a place where the water comes out of the cave. Pretty cool. There were lots of rocks to climb around on and after a few minutes, all six kids (my four and Sara's two) were missing. We found them climbing the side of the mountain! We hurried after them as fast as our 30 something bodies would allow. :) It was steep! Sara's youngest, Annika, is 4, so it was probably a bit worrying for Sara and Trevor to know that she was climbing up that steep slope. Reid was right behind her helping her. It was cute even if it's wasn't the best decision either of them have ever made. But all was well and we eventually came down and took a longer hike (more horizontal this time) over to the dam where there was a really nice waterfall.

Friday was a nice day.

Saturday was gorgeous. The high was 68! I wasn't expecting that in northern Arkansas at the end of November! We went to a local park and grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. The kids played baseball, played on the playground and just had a good time. We celebrated Sara's birthday with a yummy cheesecake that Trevor got from Walmart and some tricky candles that are supposed to not be able to be blown out, but that would hardly light thanks to all the wind!

Saturday was also a nice day.

Then Sunday came around all too soon and we parted ways. Our trip home was a good one except for some construction traffic around the AR/TX border and then more traffic in Greenville. I ended up exiting a couple of exits early so that I could try to avoid some of the interstate traffic and managed to get into a really long line of cars trying to turn left. The left turn was easy enough, but it was just a REALLY long line of cars. But, I was being patient and we eventually got up about four cars away when a car came up on the wrong side of the street to pass all of us (it was a two lane road). The car that was up at the stop sign stuck their hand out the window to tell them to stop or go back or something. The wrong lane car tried turning left, but the car at the front of the line whipped out in front of them and steered them in a different direction. They both sped up, were dangerously close to each other, and the car that was in the right lane to begin with apparently was quite mad and was chasing them. I was freaking out a bit, so I just stopped looking in the direction they were going. I don't know what ended up happening, but I figure it's better that I don't know. Scary stuff.

It took us 9 hours to get home. Not the best, but actually better than I thought it would be with all the traffic. Mike was a super trooper and got the car completely unpacked right away. I followed his lead and made sure everything got put away right away.

Sunday had it's ups and downs.

Today I'm doing laundry. Lots of laundry. And I'm typing this post with a big cat on my lap who I think missed his humans while we were away. And one little human was particularly excited to see her tee-tat when she got home. She was soooo cute laughing and giggling when she saw him.

We really, really like Sara and her family. We've all decided that we'll go back next summer and stay at a local campground together. It's in the same area as the caverns, so we'll hopefully get to go on that tour.

And I can get my spoon.

Almost Back to the Land of the Living

Many of us have been/are sick. Kira and I both were sick at the end of last week. By Sunday, I thought I was beginning to get better, but the universe had other plans for me. I ended up feeling like I was going to die for a couple of days. Kira hasn't been sleeping well because of congestion, which means I haven't been sleeping well... although, I don't think I'd be sleeping well even if it weren't for her.

But, aside from lingering coughs, we are both doing a good bit better. Kira's cough is a bit croupy at night, but it's not really bad. I just have that annoying tickle in your throat cough that keeps you from relaxing and falling asleep. So I've been taking some cough medicine that Mike got when he was so sick a few weeks ago and it's been helping me sleep at night.

And it's a good thing I'm feeling better, because tonight we're hosting a party for Parker. Parker is one of Kira's morning brothers. He's moving in a couple of weeks, so Reid wanted to throw him a party. So we have about 7 teenagers upstairs watching Madagascar 2 (their choice!). They were dancing. Shaeson (the other morning brother) brought a strobe light and they were all dancing and having a really good time. Then Shaeson decided to jump up onto the back of the couch and down onto the spot right where two sections of the couch connect. Crack. It broke. I yelled at him as I saw him about to come down hard on the couch, but it wasn't in time. Our new sectional couch. Broken.

Deep breaths.

I took the section of it that is now loose, but still in tact, into Jacob and Cole's room so it wouldn't get broken and Mike thinks we might be able to figure out a way to patch the break (which is on the corner piece). I hope so.

Tomorrow I'm taking a smaller group of the kids to Six Flags. I don't know yet if I'll be taking Kira. I'd like to leave her with Mike, but it might not be very realistic. I don't know what on earth I'd do with her at Six Flags all day.

Okay. I better go poke my head upstairs to make sure the teenage boys and girls (yes, someone invited girls... not too wild about that) are behaving.

Sick Girl

She's so congested. :( She's having trouble sleeping and just fell asleep on my chest.

Lions and Tigers and PEARS, Oh My!

Sam's had their boxes of 8 15oz cans of pears marked down to $1.81 per box. Eight cans for $1.81! They had 48 boxes left, so I bought them all.

I got lots of funny looks.

But I hang around with Mike a lot, so I'm used to it.

Toothy Grin

I've told you how much Kira likes to nurse, right? Used to, she always wanted to play this game while she nursed. She would put her foot up to my cheek and push my face away. I would make it a little more dramatic by moving my head away quickly and making a "ahhh" sound. She thought that was great. Nothing cuter than a baby smiling and laughing while still nursing.

Then she started doing gymnastics while nursing. She's not the first of my babies to try to do somersaults while nursing.

But lately, it's been so funny... she nurses for a little while, then pulls off and flashes me a big toothy grin. At first I wasn't sure if she was trying to smile, or if she was just being silly, or what. But now that she's started doing that, I've realized how often I look at her and smile a big, toothy grin. I think she's just practicing it. What cuteness.

And lucky for you, she flashed one at me just as I was taking a picture of her in her fancy bath robe she got from my Aunt Addeen. What a cutie pie!

Last Week of Football

Tonight marks the last football game of the season.

I've taken pretty much no pictures. I've captured a pitiful amount of video. Zach played in maybe three of his 8 or 9 games (don't ask). Reid plays full time defense now.

My dad got some pictures of one of Reid's games... he's #26.

These two shots show him wrapping a guy up and making the tackle. It was a pretty impressive tackle.

This shot is of Reid chasing the runner down. He gained 52 yards. He was totally in the clear with the goal line in his sights, but Reid kicked it into high gear, made the tackle, saved the points, and was very pleased with himself.

As well he should have been.

So this Friday, I will not have to pick anyone up from school. But, "Rest-a while you can, monkey-boy!" because next week Reid starts wrestling. He's not sure if he's going to stick with it, but I think he wants to give it a try. If he does, their season ends at the end of February. FOUR months. FOUR. Kill me now.

My Friday

Mike got home late Wednesday night. Yea. So my Friday was considerably better than my Monday. It went something like this:

5:15 - Kira wakes up... I try to get her back down, but no luck

5:45 - Still sort of trying to keep Kira from waking up, I send Mike to get Reid in the shower

6:00 - Give up, get Kira up, get Zach up, make lunches

6:45 - Zach out the door for the bus

6:50 - Load Kira up, take Reid to seminary

7:05 - Home, start watching Survivor

7:50 - Sneak out to get Reid while Kira is playing in the living room

8:05 - Home, finish watching Survivor, start watching Amazing Race

8:50 - Ask Mike to take the boys to school and to take Kira, so Mike loads up Kira and takes the boys

9:20 - Put Kira down for a much needed nap

9:25 - Finish watching Amazing Race, watch Grey's Anatomy and Ugly Betty

11:40 - Kira up, lunch, play

3:30 - Zach comes home off bus... he didn't realize he had practice after school

4:50 - Reid home off bus... he actually didn't have practice today

5:30ish - I put in Gladiator upstairs and start watching it

8:30 - Zach loads the dishwasher and runs it

8:45 - Cole cleans the kitchen table

9:45 - Sitting on couch posting to my blog while Mike and the kids are upstairs

So I went out of the house a total of two times today. And one of them was without Kira. Ahhhh... I'll take more days like this anytime!

My Monday

Mike left really early yesterday morning to catch a flight to Boston. He'll get home super late Wednesday night.

So my day went like this:

5:45 - up, kids up, make lunches

6:15 - Kira wakes up

6:50 - Load Kira up, drive Reid to seminary

7:05 - Home

7:50 - Load Kira up, pick up "Morning Brothers" from seminary

8:05 - Home

8:50 - Load Kira up, take "Morning Brothers" to school, stop by bank

9:20 - Home

10:00 - Put screaming baby down for a nap

12:00 - Feel grateful that Kira napped for two hours

3:00 - Load Kira up, take food to Zach (who has a football game I can't go to because it's windy and rainy and not good weather for Kira to be out in)

3:40 - Home

5:20 - Load Kira up, pick up Reid from football

5:40 - Home

6:40 - Load Kira up as well as Reid, Jacob and Cole, pick up Zach from football game... it takes me 30 minutes to get across town because of a broken down truck on the highway... still rainy and windy and now it's dark, too)

7:20 - Get Zach, drive to book store to get book that Reid has needed for English class for over a week

7:40 - Park a million miles away from bookstore because apparently everyone is at the mall where the bookstore is located... leave all kids in car because Kira is sleeping... threaten them with their lives if they wake her up

8:00 - Home, Kira wakes up, screams for half an hour before going back to sleep

9:30 - Bed, pray that Mike makes it home safely because this whole single parent thing is not for me!

Piggy Flu and "The Bearded One"

So Mike has swine flu. He went to the doctor yesterday because he was running a fever. He figured it was an infection related to his poison ivy which now covers many sections of his body. (I told him he should have warned me of his defectiveness BEFORE I married him.) However, it was just that his body was kicking him while he was down and he tested positive for swine flu. The doctor gave him a steroid shot to help with the poison ivy and wrote him a prescription for some fancy ointment to help with the really bad spots. He also got a prescription for some super duper cough suppressant.

And he's feeling much better today. His fever is gone (the dr said it usually only lasts around 24 hours) and the steroid shot has really sped up the healing of his grotesque face. :) (I'M KIDDING!!!)

--------------

Kira woke up this morning while I was taking Reid to seminary. Mike said she yelled out, then another minute later made a couple of sounds, so he went to her crib. At this point, she was pretty quiet and it was very dark when he picked her up. She reached out, felt his beard and burst into tears. I wish I could say that she wanted me because of my great mothering techniques, but we all know why she really wanted me...

Small Things

The church has early morning lessons for high school students called seminary. The class starts at 7am and ends at 7:50am. So every morning I drive Reid there, come home for a while, and then go to pick him up. Kira usually comes with me to pick him up. We also pick up two to four other boys who come and hang out at our house until around 9am when I drive them all to school. We call these boys Kira's "morning brothers". She loves them and they love her! They talk to her, sing to her, and have recently begun talking about what they'll call her when she's older. Right now they call her "Baby" and say it with much gusto!

Shaeson and Parker come over every day. Two other boys are more sporadic. Shaeson is the one holding her. He usually carries her in from the car when we get home each day. And Parker is the other boy. Reid is peeking in from the background.

And last week, we took the baby gate off the stairs. Kira can go up and down safely now. We are keeping a folded sleeping bag on the floor at the base of the stairs just in case she takes a tumble, but she's a little pro, so hopefully she'll do alright. While I was folding clothes just now, she went upstairs, played for a while, then came back down.

What a cutie!

I thought her birthday post should be about something that she both likes to do and is good at. She likes her puff snacks and she is quite good at getting into them.

See how the edge of the lid is starting to curl up? She uses her bottom teeth to pry it up. (And she has 10 teeth now. All four molars are in!) Then she takes the lid off:

And reaches ALL the way in! The only thing missing is a picture of them spilled all over the floor! I love how she has her whole arm inside the container!

She is such a precious little person. We are amazed that she is a year old.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Kira is 1!!!

I'll post a bunch of pictures of our birthday girl later in the day!

Freakazoid

Poor Mike.

He went with Jacob and the 11 yr old scouts on their campout this past weekend. And now his face and lips are covered with poison ivy (or some other plant... he's allergic to EVERYTHING!).

He looks plain freaky. It worked it's way into his right eye overnight and now it's all swollen like his lips (which are also oozy).

Poor, Poor Mike.

And to make matters worse, he has his annual business meeting next week. I would say that maybe he'll have time to heal by then, but he's Mike and will probably have it completely covering his face by then. Maybe I need to knit a couple of leper bandages. I told him he was reminding me of Robert the Bruce's father in Braveheart. He was an evil, hideous looking guy. Mike's not evil, but he's not too far from hideous.

No. He's not hideous. Pitiful is more the right word here. I'll say it again:

Poor Mike.

(Kira is walking across the living room with one of my flip flops on her foot.)

So lots of kind thoughts in Mike's direction will be appreciated.

Four Kids, Four Winds

I know I have five kids, but the saying doesn't work with five. And Kira's a bit young to be going off on her own.

Anyway. Yesterday Mike and Jacob headed out to Jacob's 11 yr old scout campout. They left around 4pm with the plan to come back today around 5pm.

At 4:15, Reid comes in asking if he can go to Parker's (his good friend here). He had a day full of church activities this morning and was supposed to be done by 4pm, but I haven't heard from him yet. There's a Stake dance tonight at 8pm that he's going to, so if he doesn't come home before that I probably won't see him until tomorrow morning since I'll be in bed by the time he gets home tonight.

Then this morning around 9am, I got a call from a friend from Austin who is up visiting family in McKinney. They invited Cole to spend the day and night with them (their son is Jake, Cole's one and only friend from our neighborhood in Austin). So Cole left with them this morning and won't be back until 11am tomorrow.

Zach has stayed home and thankfully my dad called (they've got their own wind and are spending the evening with my step brother James who is performing in a play tonight) and asked if Zach would wash his truck if he dropped it off here and picked it up tomorrow on his way home. Zach was thrilled. The truck is now washed and all spic and span.

I have had an unusually empty house. I like it when my house is empty. :) I know that in 10 years when all the boys are gone, I'll feel differently, but for now, I really enjoy a quiet house. Cleaning is so much easier that way.

I had decided last night that my cleaning strategy for today was to start at the front door and go from there. It has worked pretty well. The house is pretty clean and I've even got dinner in the oven.

However, the dinner also has a wind because it's going to the neighbors who just had a baby. I didn't have enough ingredients to double it and make some for us...

Oh well. Be free, dinner. Be free.

New Experience

I've known for a long time that no matter how many kids I have, I'll always feel like a bit of a first timer. All my kids are so different. And recently I've been proven right all over again.

It's been clear for a while now that Kira likes to nurse. A few months ago, when she started walking and becoming a little more independent, she would, at times during the day, stop and just cry and cry at my feet. She wanted to nurse. The boys never really cared. She nurses a lot more frequently during the day than they ever did at this age. The two boys that I was still nursing at 12 months were down to twice a day. Naptime and bedtime. And by 14 or 15 months, I decided it was time to stop, so I stopped. No big deal. They didn't care.

Not so for Kira. Yesterday she was fussing, so I picked her up and she started banging her head against my chest. Then today she was sitting beside me on the couch when she lifted my shirt up and started "nursing" on my stomach. When I pulled my shirt down, she started crying and banging her head against my chest while also lifting my shirt.

I don't really have a plan for weaning her. I guess I figured it would be like it was with the other boys. I'd decide I was ready to stop and stop. I had thought the other week that I might want to nurse her through the winter to hopefully help her avoid colds and such. But now I'm not sure. I don't know that I want to continue on and have it become a big fight. But I'm not necessarily ready, either.

So... something new for me to experience. Lovely.

Good News

Jesse is home from the hospital. I called him yesterday afternoon to see what room he was in and he said he was home. So Reid and I went over to his house yesterday afternoon to take him some cookies and a small gift. He looked good. I visited with his mother and grandmother while Reid talked with Jesse. They are really nice people and were very nice to Reid. Jesse told Reid that he was going to be out of sports for 6 months. So he won't be able to play basketball like he had planned, but he said he'd be playing baseball in the spring. It just emphasizes the fact that while you know it's all part of the game and everything, Reid has changed this kid's life.

While I was thinking of what to write on the note that we sent with the gift for Jesse, I kept thinking of the line from Better Off Dead: "Sorry I blew up your mom, Ricky."

Well. A little, cute girl just made a present for me in her diaper. I should go tend to that.

Double Ack.

So yesterday I picked Reid up from football practice and asked if he had heard how Jesse (the boy who got injured) was doing. Reid said that Jesse was still in the hospital with broken ribs, a cut spleen, and a bruised kidney. I pulled the car over and went in to get Jesse's parent's number from the coaches. Good grief. I knew I needed to do something for them.

So I called the number today and talked to Jesse's dad. He said that Jesse was still in ICU and that he wasn't allowed to move at all because of the danger with his spleen. They're trying to keep it immobile so that it can heal. They're trying to avoid surgery and removing the spleen. Then he said, "But they let him start eating today." How do you respond to those things? And then he says, "It was really great of you to call. You really didn't need to worry." Didn't I? I know it's part of football, but my kid just put your kid in the hospital for four or five days... I think I'm required to call!

I asked if it was okay if we take a gift basket to Jesse and he said of course. They are supposed to be moving him to a regular room tonight or tomorrow. So we might get to visit with him a bit. Hopefully he's out of the woods surgery wise and may even get to come home on Saturday or Sunday. I certainly hope so.

Ack.

I went to pick Reid up from football practice today. As I was coming up on the school, I noticed an ambulance in the parking lot where I pick Reid up every day. I pulled into the lot, trying to make sure I didn't get in the way of the ambulance (and fire truck). I'm wondering what's going on and if it has to do with Reid's team, another team, or the middle school football players who are playing a game at the high school field. I knew Reid was okay because he had called me a few minutes before to come pick him up.

Reid starts walking to to the car and as he's getting in, I ask him, "Do you know what's going on?" He says, "Yeah, I tackled a guy and he came down on my knee and broke his ribs."

ACK. I was not expecting that.

I feel bad for the kid, but as Reid's mom, at that very moment, I felt really bad for Reid. I asked him if he was alright and what the coaches had to say and all of that.

I think he's alright. But I'm going up to give him a big hug before bed just in case.

And I think I'll make some cookies for the kid who has broken ribs. Reid has a class with him, and hopefully he'll be back at school soon.

In Love

Today was a bit of a hard day for Kira. She woke up really early and was pretty grumpy. One of her three molars is really coming up quickly. The fourth one has yet to break through, but is "right there". I think they must be causing her trouble.

She napped well, but early, so the evening was getting tough. Mike took Reid and Zach to scouts and I stayed home to take care of Kira. I took her in to give her a bath. She's so cute in the bathtub. She was putting her hand in the running water and when the water would splash up in her face, she would turn her head away and smile a huge smile. She kept leaning over and putting her head on my arm (I was leaning over the tub) which was very endearing. Then at some point, she slapped her hand on her stomach and that got her tickled. She kept slapping her stomach and chest and had a big, big smile on her face. The song line "Hopelessly Devoted to You" came to mind as I watched her discovering her world.

Then we came out to the living room where she played for quite a while climbing on me, sitting in my lap, playing the "lean back" game (where I catch her head as she leans back from a sitting up position), and just wandering around the living room.

Finally, she got fussy. It was 8:20 by this point, so I scooped her up, nursed her and then snuggled with her for a few minutes after she fell asleep before putting her in bed.

I think it's safe to say that I'm totally head over heals for this little girl.

What We're Up To

Football. Pretty much football. Reid and Zach have practice after school every day, so I pick them up from that and then they each have a game each week. Zach was sick and didn't play in yesterday's game. Reid was sick a couple of weeks ago and didn't play in a game. It's been a bit odd that way, but still busy.

We're still unpacking and getting the house organized and comfortable. We're about to hit crunch time, though. Our couch for the gameroom will come in next week. There are lots of things that need to be done before that gets here. Hopefully that will motivate us to get some things organized and put away. For now, we're going to throw unpacked stuff in the garage. We'll go through that stuff hopefully within the next few months to decide what stays and what goes. I'm having a little birthday party for Kira on the 24th of October, so I'm hoping to have things mostly organized inside the house by then.

Jacob and Cole are doing well with homeschooling. Mike has found a group here in Collin County that is very active. They have a weekly gymnastics gathering at a local gym. It's $5/kid and they get about an hour and a half of open gym time. That is just wonderful. Both Jacob and Cole loved gymnastics when we did it before, but the cost has been prohibitive. So this will work out extremely well. And I'm considering a language software so they can learn Spanish. We'll see if I do that or not. It's on sale through tomorrow, so I guess I need to decide! :)

So life is pretty crazy, but good right now. If Kira would start sleeping better through the night, I'd be much more capable of handling all that is required of me each day. But I must say that for the most part, I don't mind going in a few times each night, picking up a sweet little person, nursing her in my arms and then tenderly laying her back in her bed. She's a precious little person and I know these days will be over soon. So I'm trying to enjoy everything about them. Even when, like last night, I wake up at some point in the night (I think around 1am) to find that Kira is in bed with me and I have only the foggiest memory of bringing her in bed with me (I typically don't do that). I must have been VERY tired when she woke up (probably around midnight). So at 3am when she woke up again, I nursed her and put her back in her bed.

So life is good. Come and visit. :)

Malachi

I went down this morning to see John and Kristin... okay, I really went to see Malachi. He is a cutie pie. I managed to get a few pictures of him to verify that fact with the rest of the world. :)

Look at all that hair!!!

Crazy Girl

So Kira turned 11 months old yesterday. I'm in denial that she'll be a year old soon.

I was visiting with Kristin yesterday morning (who, btw, had her baby tonight - Malachi South, 9lb 8oz) when I noticed some dots on the back of Kira's gums. I was hoping it wasn't thrush again. That was no fun and much too recent to be able to deal with again.

So after we got home, she was sitting on my lap and was crying about something when I saw the dots again. So I stuck my finger in there and lo and behold, it was a molar. Eleven months old and a molar. Craziness. So then just for the heck of it I feel around some more and she's got three molars! And the fourth one is just about to pop through. She's had six of her eight front teeth for a little while, but I guess her body decided she needed some molars before the other two bottom incisors.

What am I going to do with this baby who seems to be determined to grow up way to fast!?!

Yummy Recipe

Kira ate the family dinner for the first time yesterday.  I made this chicken stew and she loved it... along with the rest of us.  Dinner success!

Recipes:	1
Servings:	6
Makes: 9x13 pan	1
Ingredients:
Chicken, boiled and chopped	2 C.
Chicken Broth	6 C.
Sliced Carrots	3
Cubed Potatoes	1 lb
Butter	1/2 C.
Flour	1/2 C.
Parsley	1/2 t.
Morton Nature Seasoning	1/8 t.
Salt and Pepper to taste
Biscuit Topping:
Flour	2 C.
Baking Powder	1 T.
Salt	3/4 t.
Shortening	6 T.
Milk	2/3 C.

Place vegetables in chicken broth and boil 10 minutes.  Remove vegetables.  Set broth aside.  In separate pan, melt butter.  Add flour to melted butter and cook for about a minute.  Add chicken broth and bring to boil.  Add spices.

In 9x13 casserole pan, place chicken, vegetables and pour sauce over.

Add dry biscuit ingredients with shortening and blend.  Add milk, mix well, roll, cut into 1 - 2" rectangles and place on top of vegetable mixture.  Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes.

Comments: Recipe comes from Judy (Mike's Mom).  The biscuit recipe is from Joe’s (Mike's brother) middle school cooking class.

The Office

I agonized over desks for a few weeks.  I wanted lots of file drawer space.  I had planned to put a desk in my bedroom.  Nothing seemed right.  Mike thought I could put a desk between the kitchen and dining area.  I couldn't find the right desk.

I got the IKEA catalog in the mail.  That thing is dangerous!  I debated, but finally decided.  I got three Effectiv cabinets.  Each one has a file drawer in the bottom drawer.  Two have drawers on top and one has plain cabinet space.  It is along the wall that is just across from the kitchen.  So if I need desk space, I sit at the bar.

I put a nice calendar and some magnetic dry erase boards up to keep up with where we are or where we need to be.

And I fashioned a simple, but nice charging station with some hooks on the wall.  I feel particularly proud of this.  This makes life SO much easier.

And my papers all have a place to live.  Keys have hooks so they don't get lost.  Pencils have a home.  So do calculators, school supplies, and my checkbook.

I'm a happy girl.

Zach's Scrimmage

I took my video camera.  I was completely ready to video tape some of his plays and put them up here for everyone.

Well... little did I know that this scrimmage was a city wide event!  All of the McKinney middle schools were out there scrimmaging each other in 20 minute increments.  There were four sets of teams on the field at a time.  Two eighth grade teams on one side and two seventh grade teams on the other side.  It took me a while to figure out which team was Zach's and after two and a half hours of watching out for him, I never did see him on the field.  But I got this picture of him after it was all over.  He said he played a lot and got lots of tackles.  He looked like he had a good time.  And the kid running behind him is a kid (Tylan) on the team that lives near us.  We took Tylan and another kid, Bo, with our family and my step sister Kim to Grand Buffet after the game.  Zach's been wanting to eat there forever!

So...  next week I might actually know which one he is and can put up some video of him.

The Eye

Move over Sauron.  There's a new evil lord in Middle Earth (or at least Middle US).  So, can you guess who's eye this is?  (And I just found this picture on my computer.  I guess the kids were having a good time with the web camera.)

The Gameroom

So, just like all of my home improvement projects, there's always something that makes finishing it take longer than expected.

For the decorating of the gameroom, that has turned out to be the couch.  I'm ordering a couch from IKEA and it is on backorder.  They say they hope to have a few available next week.  I have been waiting now for about two weeks.  I can get some pictures put up while I wait.  And I still have a shelf I need to install.

And while I've been waiting for the couch, I've put in a couple of cabinets in our very open hallway to be the office.  I'm very happy to have a place for all of my papers and office stuff.

This house will come together one day.  :)

The First Week

The first week of school went pretty well.  Reid and Zach seem to be adjusting to their new schools and routines.  They are both playing football.  Zach has made some friends at school who live near us and he's gone out to hang out with them a few times.  One of them happens to be the boy who used to live in our house.  Kind of funny that they are now friends.  He told Zach that he was sorry for the black marks on the wall in his room.  :)

Our daily routine is about to change, though, because Reid starts seminary this week.  He will need to be at the church at 7am each morning for the 50 minute class.  Fortunately, that coincides with Zach's 6:45 bus pick up.  So we'll get up at 6, Zach will get on the bus at 6:45, I'll drive Reid to church.  I may hang out at the church during his class, or I may come back home, or go to the grocery store.  Hopefully I'll get that routine figured out.  But, Reid will be home by around 8 and he gets on the bus at 8:30.  Whew.

The afternoon works out alright because Zach needs to be picked up at 5pm and Reid gets picked up at 5:15.  Game days will be a little tricky, but we'll get that worked out when the time comes.

Jacob and Cole are staying home this year.  The first week went well.  We'll be working the kinks out of that routine for a while.

And Kira wasn't so sure about the changes going on in the house.  She's been sleeping pretty poorly the past several nights.  Which hasn't made things terribly easy on me.

But overall I think things are going well.  The first few weeks are always the hardest.

Reid's Scrimmage

Football practice started August 10th.  At this point, I'm pretty sure that Reid is playing on the 9th grade B team.  He plays running back on offense and free safety on defense.

On Friday, Aug 21st, they had a scrimmage practice against a team from Greenville, TX.  I took lots of video of Reid playing, but only got one good clip of him making a play.  And even then, he made the play on the opposite side of the field, so you kind of have to follow helmets to figure out that he made the tackle (or at least assisted with the tackle... it's hard to tell).

So... he's in the yellow jersey and playing furthest back.  He has black bands on his arms if it helps you find him faster...  (and click the full screen button on the video box to see it more clearly)

The Trampoline

We got the kids a trampoline a couple of weeks ago.  They have been enjoying it quite a bit.  Since there's not really any kids in the neighborhood, and we don't have a neighborhood pool, they were in desperate need of something to do.  We talked about an above ground pool, but opted for a trampoline instead.  I think it was a good choice.  If for no other reason than I don't have to go out there and clean it and keep it clorinated.  It can just sit there happily waiting for children to bounce on it.

Look at those big kids!  It scares me most days as I watch the boys get bigger and bigger and bigger!

I LOVE this picture!  I was a bit lucky on the timing.  It is perfect.  And I can't believe how easily he does these back layouts!

It's nice to see the boys interacting in a (mostly) positive way out there.

And here's a little video we got the night we were putting the trampoline together.  Mike put Kira on it before all the springs were in and the boys were all out helping to get the springs on, and this is what ended up happening.

I love that this video shows so clearly how rich Kira's life is.  I think of how wonderful it is to be able to provide a home for her that is filled with people who adore her.  What a special person she is.

Picnik Part 2

I appears that you can create a free online account and then upload your photos to touch them up a bit.  Most of their fancy features require paying for their service.  Like... I would have liked to add some color to Cole's eyes, but that required paying, so I left them as is.  I was able to work with the contrast a bit, but nothing above what I can do with iPhoto, so the only feature that's really nice is being able to write text on the picture.

He does, indeed, rock!

And speaking of iPhoto, I was able to do some fancier stuff with their editing software.  Check this out:

I like the fuzzy on the outside and the changes in color.  His eyes are a little more prominent this way.  I suppose if I want to do this stuff for real, I need to buy Photoshop.

Maybe someday.

Picnik

So Reid told me about Picnik.com.  It's a photo editing site.  I don' t know all the details, but it looks like you pay a fee to have full access.  I just took one of Kira's photos and touched it up a bit and put some words on it.  Pretty fun.  I think I'll mess around a tad bit more to see how much they let you do for free.

The New Sink

In a post long ago in a land far, far away, I said something like, "Mike and I don't feel normal if we don't have a major project going on." Something like that, anyway... I think it was during the "tile every floor in the house time" or the "replace the freaking countertops" or "HEY, I KNOW, Let's tile the backsplash" days. Ahhhh, good times.

Anyway... so we've moved into a house that is basically perfect. Two years old, nice walls, nice countertops, nice tile, nice floors... there's not a whole lot to do in this house.

But one thing that stuck out to me was the kitchen sink... do you remember the kitchen sink we put in the house in Cary??? My beautiful.  My PRECIOUS?

Okay... not really my PRECIOUS, but still.  I really, really liked that sink.  So I bought it here and put it in.  Along with an upgraded garbage disposal.  The one here was a whopping 1/4 HP.  So I put in the nice sink rather than the very, very plain one they had here and put in a 3/4 HP disposal that is very very quiet.  So nice.

Here's a picture of the sink in use:

And now that the sink is in... there's no real need for home improvement projects, so I'm trying my hand at decorating.  I'm part way through the game room re-do.  I'll send an update on that room soon.  Hopefully it will be super awesome when I'm done!