Praises from this week:

My little Isaac is finally able to eat and drink again without pain. He's had a cracker, some grapes, and a yogurt this morning and that's the most he's eaten in a week. The poor guy's lost so much weight that his pants don't stay on any longer.

Isaac didn't throw up this morning! It was the first time in a week.lol

My dh was able to take two days off from work to help me on the hardest days. He's been working really hard since the move and for him to be able to take that time off was a real blessing.

My dh and I were able to spend A LOT of quality time together, nearly round the clock, for a whole week.lol

I was able to keep up with the laundry and most of the cleaning for the week. This was a biggy for me. Normally, I would have left it all for after we got better and it would have taken me a week or more to get us all back to normal, but this time, I made sure that I worked on it a little each day. What a blessing to be able to jump right back into our daily things without a huge clean up needed. The cleaning part was harder. There were many times when I almost threw in the towel. I mopped the kitchen floor a total of 6 times this week. 5 of those on the same day. LOL

I was able to fix a healthy dinner each day except for two days. That's just amazing to me.lol I used to be the "take out queen" whenever illness struck but this time I stuck to my guns and dished out good food. I even managed smoothies a couple times this week. As a side note, one of those take out nights was planned. We usually get something on Saturdays because it's too hard to plan dinner when the kids spend the day with my parents. Sometimes they come home fed and sometimes not, so we order when they get home for whomever's hungry.lol Also, it's nice to have a day off.

As you can see, I have a lot to be thankful for! This illness was awful but a lot of good came out of it. I would never wish for this to happen to anyone but to be able to face this with grace and patience was awesome!lol I never lost it or got upset about the lack of sleep or got so overwhelmed that I wanted to run away.lol I don't think that I've ever taken sleep for granted in a very long while but it was a good reminder to be thankful when I actually get it.lol I also looked at my chores differently than I would have in the past. I actually saw the NEED and instead of seeing it as drudgery I was actually happy to get them done to bless those who needed it. I had to wash Isaac's blankets a million times and the joy I saw on his face was a true blessing to me. He NEEDED those blankets and I met his needs. What a week!lol

Blessings,

Lisa

Update:

We're sick.lol Everyone except for dh, who got a flu shot, has gotten this. The littles are still struggling with this illness, that's why I'm writing this at 4:30a.m. Both littles are awake right now. Now I know why they are so miserable, this is a yucky illness. The littles both woke up with secondary infections in their ears on Saturday night and it was rough.lol This is the first time ever that I can say I'm glad that tomorrow is Monday. At least the doctor's offices will be open. The big kids are still at the early stages of this so they aren't too bad off but I know that Jon's going to need some major meds to get through this. He caught this on Saturday night.

Both kids played in their first football game on Sat. morning. They lost their first game but still had a good time. They had only had two practices before the game so I wasn't expecting a miracle but I'm really seeing a confidence in Allison this season. This season has been such a blessing. All their games are at home and most are on Saturdays. This is so unexpected but sooo welcome.lol

If you all could pray that we get well soon, that'd be great. Especially the littles who haven't slept in a week and have thrown up everyday since Tuesday morning. And Jon, please pray that he can get through this illness. He really worries me. Think of a kid with barely an immune system, who really shouldn't spend time with sick people and that's Jon. If this illness runs it's course and has no secondary illnesses to spring up in him, we're looking at a recovery time of 2 weeks, with a cough that will last a month. If he gets the secondary illnesses that usually occur in him, well, we're looking at over a month, with a cough that may last until Christmas. I wish I was exaggerating. A few prayers sent my way, would be great too. One good thing about getting woken up every 2-3 hours, is I'm staying well hydrated.lol

Well, all the littles are laying down watching t.v. and resting. I think I may try laying down too, although I'm not a good sleeper and my nose is stuffy and they will probably wake me about 20 minutes after I finally fall asleep. Boy, I envy Eric who can fall asleep at the drop of a hat.LOL

I really appreciate all the prayers and well wishes I've received. THANK YOU!!! I'm in survival mode right now, so I just can't write as much as I'd like but wanted everyone to know that you all are a blessing to me.

Blessings,

Lisa

My menu for this week


I'm making the menu now and shopping today because I'm not feeling good and I'm worried that if I wait, everyone will go hungry.lol Called the doctor and he said I'm on my own, there's nothing they can give me, so if I'm getting this, it could be a long week. Prayers still appreciated!

Lunch

Ramen
Sandwiches
Lunchables
Mac and cheese


Dinner

Crockpot "Rotisserie" Chicken, baked potatoes, and salad
Homemade Pizza, salad
Garlic-butter Parm pasta, steamed brocoli
Black beans and rice, rolls
Chicken Noodle soup w/dumplings
Salisbury Steak, mashed potatoes, green beans

If you notice, most of the things on this list are easy prep things that my kids can accomplish on their own if needed. I really feel the need to be prepared, just in case I get hit with this and feel better knowing that if at least one of us is standing, we'll eat this week.lol

My dh stayed home today and so we've declared our first "sick day" of the year. The older kids have been keeping themselves busy with fun stuff. Jon's been working on a "Rube Goldberg" contraption and Allison was working on finishing off a project that Jon was working on yesterday which was to make a "Post Office" for Genevieve on top of her bunk bed. It's quite cute and I'll try to upload a picture after my shopping trip. The littles are feeling better today. I had a feeling that they'd be o.k. but am glad that we got some meds for their noses. They did not sleep last night at all.LOL Eric was so nice to let me take a nap this morning. It's been a rough week and I really needed that nap.lol You can only take so much sleep deprivation and puke before you want to throw in the towel.LOL

My ultrasound is on Wed and I'm so hoping that I'm feeling well enough to go. I'd love to get a look at my newest little one. The last time I got a look, the baby was only the size of a peanut.LOL Have a great week!

Blessings,

Lisa

My dh took the littles into the doctors tonight and they feel that the littles both have the flu. Please pray that they respond to the meds that the drs gave us and that no one else catches this. The last flu I caught almost killed me and has given me asthma for the rest of my life. So far, I've been o.k. but if I start to have symptoms I'll call my OB right away. Maybe they can give me that anti-viral stuff, I'm not sure. Prayers would be greatly appreciated!

Blessings,

Lisa

I don't know if it's wishful thinking or not, but upon closer inspection of my little ones, I think that they may be feeling a little better today. This has been a rough one folks. I am soooo glad that I followed God's leading and completed all my laundry on Monday and Tuesday. I almost let it wait because I've been so tired. Well, if I had waited, I would be doing laundry for the next 3 days or more.LOL Instead, I'll be able to concentrate on getting these germs out of my home before they take root. I'm doing the sick laundry right now and will be able to wash all bedding involved and my futon cover by the end of today! What a blessing in all this sickness.

Also, the outside weather has warmed up nicely today and will actually be hot tomorrow so I'll let the littles get some fresh air while I sterilize everything.LOL Lysol, here I come!

Blessings,

Lisa

Morning came early for us today. At 5:00am I got my first child in my bed. Eric rolled out of bed and decided that getting to work early wouldn't be such a bad idea. I'm sure that it had nothing to do with the hacking, gagging child between us.LOL Believe me, if I could have gone early to work, I would have.LOL By 5:15 I had my second child in the bed. This one was hacking, gagging, and screaming. Eric left hurriedly.LOL By now, I had the song "10 in the Bed" playing over and over in my head except it was....

3 in the bed and the little one said, "I'm thirsty, I'm thirsty!"
Mom got up and got a drink.
3 in the bed and the littlest said, "A Ba-ba, A ba-ba!"
Mom rolled over and got a ba-ba.
3 in the bed and the little one said, "Cough, cough, cough. Hack, hack, hack."
Mom got up and gave her a drink.
3 in the bed and the littlest said, "Waa, waa, waa. Waa, waa, waa."
Mom stood up and rocked the child.
One in the bed and the little one said, "Gag, gag, gag! Gag, gag, gag!"
Mom ran over and grabbed said child.
One in the bed and the littlest said, "snore, snore, snore. cough, cough, cough."
Mom tiptoed out and took the other.
One on the couch and the little one said, "Why does HE get the bed?!"

LOLOL

So far today has not gone as planned but it's been pretty good anyway. Or maybe I'm so tired that the things that would make a day seem bad just don't trigger that thought in me.LOL Just picture an empty void where my head usually is. Speaking of vacuums... I have to say that I still love my Little Green Machine. So far I've sucked up Rootbeer and Vasoline.LOLOL Enough said.

Blessings,

Lisa

This has been one of those days that you just wish would end.lol Both littles are sick yet again. Genevieve has this nasty cough that made her throw up last night in bed and she's been sharing it throughout the house all day today. Isaac woke up with "the nose"...that just can't stop and a little cough that will probably be up to Evie's scale by tonight. I am praying that my older kids skip this one because this is the kind that just about kills Jon. I'm praying desperately that I'm immune.LOL

Really, the littles have been good today. They've been low energy and besides wanting a lot of snuggles they've been a fairly good bunch. I guess I'm just feeling discouraged by all these illnesses we've been having. I know that it's this new climate and the yo-yo weather. The kids just aren't used to it being hot one day and cold the next. This move has been such a hard adjustment in every way. I have to admit that I miss Miami like crazy. I'm trying to stay focused on the positive and the future instead of the past but days like today make it hard.

Now for the brighter side of things...LOL The kids and I were able to get the house back into working order and now it's just maintanence for the rest of the week. We're planning on making some tic tac toe mix tomorrow and the older kids had a great time at P.E. today. All my laundry is caught up and I'm going to get to all the ironing tomorrow. We're having spaghetti casserole tonight for dinner, which is Allison's favorite and garlic bread.Yum!

I'm revamping some of Jon's subjects and have been working on this for most of the day. He's going through the brain fog of adolesence and has been having trouble focusing on his work lately. He's also not been following directions and/or not completely understanding what he's supposed to be doing at any given time and/or not telling me that he didn't understand until Friday night when everything is due.LOL Now see, he's benefitting from my experience with Allison. Since I know that this is just a phase, I am just going to adjust his work for this period of his life and not torture him because he just can't meet my demands.LOL I'm going to be focusing on his quality of work, following directions, and making sure that he does things my way for a while. No use hitting my head against a wall until this goes away. I need to address the character problems that are causing this to happen.

Anyway, that's been my day. Long, but productive. Isaac just fell asleep on top of a video, so I'm guessing this is going to be a long night also.LOL Poor guy, I know he needs his sleep but I just wish he could've waited until tonight.LOL

Blessings,

Lisa

As you can tell from the pictures, we had a cold front move through last night. I had no idea until I went to let the littles outside this morning.LOL We did the lets change everybody into more appropriate clothes dance, while the littles squawked at the change of routine.LOL

We've had a good day. The kids got their work done and the littles played inside and out. I've made Heavenly Chicken for dinner and it's baking in the oven. I also made some Chocolate Chip cookies. The older kids were so nice! They helped me make dinner tonight. Usually, they rush out to play during dinner prep but today they just wanted to help. What a blessing. I've been so tired and it was so nice to get this time intensive meal done so quickly with the extra help.

I've got most of the laundry done, just one more load for the washer and the kids all got smoothies today with lunch. lol I guess that's it.

Blessings,

Lisa

LOL They love this trampoline.

Lovable, indeed. She's looks so grown up in this picture.

My two guys having a good time on the trampoline.

Here's my cutie.

I'm facing my first test. Energy was at an all time low this weekend and now I have to decide. Do I throw up my hands in disgust and throw in the towel, saying that I just can't keep up with the demands of this household? Or do I rally the troops and face this mess that I allowed to happen over the weekend? In the past, this wouldn't have been a question. I would have reconciled myself to the fact that no one could keep up with these kids and, really, why should I? They're just going to mess it up again. I would have told myself that I didn't stay home to have a picture perfect house, I stayed home so that I could homeschool the kids! So what if it took us 3 hours to find our math books or that we didn't quite get to science because I couldn't remember where I put the supplies for this week. I mean, science isn't THAT important.LOLOL I WAS tempted this morning but I guess God has been working on me because I am rallying the troops and will tame this beast of a house back into what we NEED it to be. An orderly, peaceful, inviting home to live in, where I'm not afraid of drop-in visitors or door to door salespersons.LOL

Goals for this week:

1. Get the laundry under control. I have at least 5 loads to do today and I need to make sure that I work on it Friday so that Monday won't be so much.

2. Make sure that each room gets a once over each day.

3. I need to make playdough and bread this week.

4. Give both bathrooms a deep cleaning.

5. Mop all hard floors.

I guess that's all. I need to keep it low key for this week. Genevieve's not feeling well today and I need to focus on the kids this week. I think that I can get all this done but my focus will be taking care of my children. I don't plan on making progress this week, just going to try to keep up.LOL I best get started making those smoothies, since I've already got illness in the house.

Blessings,

Lisa

Smoothies...

Here's my recipe for great tasting smoothies...

All ingredients are approximate.LOL

1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup yogurt
1 tbsp dry milk powder
1 tbsp sucanat
1 1/2 cups strawberries, frozen
1 banana
*sometimes we add frozen blueberries, about 1/4 cup

Blend until smooth and enjoy! It's high in calcium, vit C, and low in sugar.

Blessings,

Lisa

My Menu for this Week...

Lunch

We are going to mostly do sandwiches this week. I bought a variety of meat and cheeses, mayo, lettuce, and I found some wonderful ripe tomatoes. Yum! If someone gets tired of the fare, we have on hand Mac and Cheese, Ramen, and one last can of Beef Stew.LOL

Dinner

Heavenly Chicken
Baked Salmon with rice and veggies
Hamburgers, french fries, and veggie tray (This is the third try.lol)
Grilled Chicken, rice and veggies
Spaghetti, garlic bread and salad
Grilled steak, baked potatoes and spaghetti squash


We made it to BJ's yesterday and I nearly wore myself out.lol I walked all the way to the back of the store and wasn't sure I could make it back to the car. I ended up spending the rest of the day laying down. Boy, the rigors of pregnancy!LOL

Today we got the regular shopping done while the three older kids went with their grandma to a Fall Festival being held by our little town. Afterwards, grandma's taking the older two to their football practice and will spend some time with Genevieve.

I think I'm entering the tired phase of my pregnancy. It's amazing how little I can do and still be very tired.LOL At least the big stuff is done for the week and I can always scale back my organizing to fit my new energy level.

My new goals for this season will be focusing on the kids. Now that we are entering the cold and flu season, I need to step up the nutrition for my kids health. We need to stay healthy this year. Jon has not been handling illness well since the move and I need to make sure that I'm doing all that I can to keep him healthy. Also, Isaac's next surgery is next month and I need him to stay healthy for it. He only gets them every three months so he really can't miss one due to illness. So I'm going to make sure I make smoothies at least 3x a week. I've bumped up the fresh fruit and will be making healthier breakfasts in the morning. I'm going to get more fresh veggies into their diet during lunch and will continue to make healthy meals for dinner. I will also limit sweets to one small dessert a day which will be homemade if possible.

I'll post my household goals tomorrow. I have to admit that I'm worn out and am going to go lie down.LOL I hope everyone has a great Sunday.

Blessings,

Lisa

Here's Genevieve with her new pink cowgirl boots that she picked out last Saturday. She absolutely loves these things and I can see her still trying to stuff her feet in them once she's outgrown them.LOL You can also see some of her paintings on the fridge.

Blessings,

Lisa

First the blessing! We went to our first football practice last night and found out that both kids are on the same team! Whoohoo! The coach will be doing one practice a week and then the games should be on Saturdays. What a big relief. I was worried how I was going to handle so much running around and God took care of it for me.lol

Today has been a good day. The kids finished all their school work and I was able to do a little tidying up while they were busy. For lunch we called my Mom and went to Larry's again.lol It was a very nice visit and we ended up hanging around for two hours! The little ones amused themselves by running around the empty restaurant. After lunch mom took Genevieve to her house and the rest of us came home. Isaac has fallen asleep again at 4:30. I turned on some music in his room and will see if that helps him sleep through the night. He hasn't slept well for several days so I'm hoping this is one of those sleep for 14 hours days. We could really use one of those today.LOL

The public schools were out today and we decided not to go to the park. It was also hot outside and I just didn't think I could take the heat. A cold front is supposed to come through next week and I will make an extra special effort to go on that day.

Oh, before I came home from lunch there was a tent sale in the parking lot selling used cars. I took a look since Eric has been considering trading in one of our vehicles for a more gas friendly car for him to take to work each day. Well they had some really good prices and are willing to take a trade in. Who knows if anything will come out of this but if Eric likes what the guy says we may have a new to us car at the end of this weekend or the next.lol Right now, it costing him $60 a week to go to work and back. It would be so nice to have that bill lowered. The guy said he may be able to make a fair trade with us, and then we wouldn't have to pay anything! That would be really nice. I know that we wouldn't do it if we had to pay more than sales tax and title.

I'm making salsbury steak for dinner tonight with mashed potatoes, gravy and steamed veggies. I was going to make hamburgers but the grill is out of gas and I'm too tired to go get more. lol I'll save that errand for this weekend.

Really, that's our day. Nothing too exciting...lol

Blessings,

Lisa

Here are the two little ones playing in the rain that collected in the lid of their sandbox. This is right before the downpour hit.lol

I'm a bit grumpy today. LOL O.k., so I'm just extremely tired! My littlest evidently does not need sleep and will never need it again. I kept him up ALL day yesterday, even though he was just plain horrible and we finally put him to sleep at 9pm last night and he slept a total of 4 hours. ugh. I feel like I have sand in my eyes. I found my dh sleeping on the floor this morning, lol, you know things are getting desperate when he's resorted to sleeping on the floor. The poor man. I've done everything I can think of to get this kid to sleep but nothing is working. We even tried the let him cry technique and all that did was wake EVERYONE up. Not pleasant.LOL

Enough complaining.lol I have a lot to be grateful for. I finished all my goals for the week! I am going to celebrate by not doing anything else til next week, except basic maintenance. The pie was excellent! I ate 2 pieces for dinner last night and a piece after lunch today.lol There is definitely a plus to being pregnant. No one said anything about my indulgence.lol My little ones were enjoying the outside for the first time in two days and it started downpouring on them.LOL They were having such a great time and Genevieve came running in to tell me that it was raining "A WHOLE LOT!"LOL I got a towel and dried them off and they stood at the open back door screaming in delight with the rain pouring down. Ahh, to be little again.

The older kids are at P.E. right now and I'm going to go pick them up soon. We've had a nice afternoon and hopefully we'll have a good evening at football practice.

Blessings,

Lisa

I know it seems like all I ever post about is organizing, menus, and the like but I also want to share with you about the heart issues that God has been working throughout all this. For the past few years, I had lost sight of the amazing blessings that God had given me. They were lost in a cluttered home, a disorganized mom, and mostly in my fear. I was afraid of what God had given me. I just knew that I couldn't handle it. I had a lot of people telling me that I couldn't handle my children, house, or life in general.lol I let that fear be my focus and I lost touch with how to make things better. A few months ago, I prayed that if my life was to be blessed by more children, that God would give me the strength to rise to the occasion and instead of drowning in the chaos of my, then, current life, that I would be able to have a vision of what our lives should be. God has given me that plan. He has, slowly over the past 4 months or so, helped me out of the fear and chaos that we lived in. I prayed for a schedule that would fit us and he has provided. I prayed for organization and he has met our needs--ten fold! I prayed for strength to keep my house in working order and God has not only given me the ability to keep it clean but he has given me more hours in my day to do it in.lol (Of course, I fight this one, but it's really been a blessing!) I prayed for the strength to be able to feed my family healthy meals from scratch and with my menu system, I've been able to meet that goal also. I am no longer afraid of my family and no longer do I fear more children. This new baby will be met with the same amount of excitement that the very first one produced in my heart, because, I know that I can do it and that my children are well cared for indeed. What a blessing God has given me! I am learning mostly about trust, to guard my heart from those who would have me lose focus, and not to fear anything that comes from my Lord and Savior. So in my cleaning, organizing, and my life in general, I am finding joy.

Blessings,

Lisa

Here's my pie. Looks yummy! I can't wait until after dinner tonight.

Lisa

Yesterday was hectic, today is much more relaxed. Isaac decided that his wake up time was at 1am this morning, he pretty much kept Eric and I up all night. Therefore, we're slow going this morning.lol Well, the older kids are trucking along with our schedule but they're having to drag me along. I've got a lot that needs to be completed today, so I'll rest later if it's all done. So far, I've made a pumpkin pie that was touted to be the Best Pumpkin Pie ever by some magazine I was reading at my mom's house yesterday. It is made with real milk instead of evaporated milk, which means I can adapt it to my needs.lol Not that I NEED PIE but I would love to have some kind of pie for the holidays that I can actually eat.lol (When you can't have fruit, most pies are out.) Here's the recipe in case anyone is interested...

Best Pumpkin Pie

1 15oz can pumpkin
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cloves
3 eggs
1 1/4 cup milk

Mix and put in pie crust. Bake for 30 mins with foil around the crust. Then 25-30 mins without the foil. Let cool, then refridgerate.

Enjoy!

I'm also making Pizza and smoothies for lunch and will start the yogurt after we eat. I'm working on our laundry today and will try to begin the laundry room clean up while I'm working in there. I need to make homemade playdough either today or tomorrow, since I received the playdough cutters in order to make the Toddler Bags for Bridget's trade thing we're doing. I was able to get some really neat cutters from Oriental Trading for about $12 for a 100 count. I figure that is pretty reasonable for making 20 bags to send along and then I'll get 20 bags from other women! Should be fun!

We got the call that Football practice starts tomorrow. I'm really hoping that we don't have to do too much running around this time. The kids are very excited! I will be too, after I see the schedule and see that they both have coaches. We had a snafu last season and Jon didn't get a coach until the week before the games started. He was a great coach but it was hard on the team since they didn't have much time to figure out how the game was played. I guess we'll see tomorrow. This also means I need to start working on more crockpot meals in my weekly menu. They'll be having practice 2x's a week, maybe on different days, and 1 game each on the weekends. Hopefully there won't be any games during the week this time. Some weeks we were at a game or a practice 6 days out of the week. Yikes! I just need to remember to breathe. The kids love this and I know that it's only for a short 8 weeks and then we'll be done.lol

Well, the pie's done and cooling. The pizza's in the oven. The smoothies are consumed and I'm trucking along.lol I better post this before I have to rewrite it.lol

Blessings,

Lisa

The traveling computer bug...

Yes, I got the bug too.lol For some reason, my internet access went down last night at 9pm and Eric finally got it working again tonight at 9:30pm. I went through some major withdrawls but seemed to have survived with my sanity mostly intact.lol It took 4 phone calls to our internet provider to get it working again and who knows why it quit in the first place.

Here was my day...

Today started at 5:45 this morning, before dawn, with a little boy who has decided that he likes to sleep odd hours. He's been doing this off and on ever since he caught this last cold. He will be up all night the first night and then will sleep 14 or more hours the next, always starting at around 4-5pm. Now if I could sleep when he does, like I did with my first child, I'd be in good shape, but alas, I'm getting to bed by 10:30-11:00pm and then getting the bugle call at 05:30 every other day.lol Of course, that'd be a great amount of sleep if it wasn't interrupted by Genevieve most nights, trying to sneak into our bed...lool

For my goals, I was able to focus on the Hot Spots today and got most of them cleaned up again. I also finished all the bedding. I had P.E. to contend with this afternoon and almost didn't make it.lol I promise I just laid down for just a minute and well, before I knew it, I was being paiged for an emergency run to the P.E. class. We barely made it in time and I was so groggy I really didn't want to go home but that's where we went. When we picked up the kids, I needed to run by my parents home because my brother asked if the kids could help him move an entertainment center but when we got there it was way more than just one piece. It ended up being two bedrooms of furniture and took until 5:oopm. Then they went to get the new stuff and I left Allison with them and rushed home to make dinner. Unfortunately, when I arrived home, I found a sleeping baby in the carseat.lol He had passed out from the excitement. I tried to coax the little guy back awake but it was useless. He was completely out. Who knows when he'll wake but I'm praying it'll be tomorrow.lol After getting him changed and in bed, I made dinner. We had Shepard's Pie and it was good. Eric spent the whole night talking to BellSouth and I took Genevieve for a walk in the sprinkling rain. She was quite upset that daddy was busy and needed to be given some one on one time, so off we went.

Well, everyone is in bed, and that's were I'm headed. I noticed quite a few comments and I'll tackle those tomorrow, God willing. I'm beat.lol

Blessings,

Lisa

The attack of the little people!lol They had Allison pretty good.

Here is a picture of my very first water lily flower! It bloomed this weekend and we were very surprised! I just figured that we wouldn't get any flowers and then here at the end of the season, it bloomed.LOL

Lisa

Well, this weekend went by way too fast. Here it is Monday, and I'm not ready!LOL My asthma is bothering me again today, so I'll probably take it easy but for the rest of the week, these are my goals.

Clean Laundry room-I've never had a laundry room and since it's in the house, I'd like to keep it neat. It has some shelving above the washer and dryer and I use for bulk items and cleaning supplies and it's gotten quite messy. Also, the trash can for the lint and other items I find in pockets hasn't been dumped ever and it's spilling over onto the floor.(How's that for real and gritty.LOL)

Check Hot Spots for build up. I've noticed that some of our more popular "spots" for setting things down have some build up. I'm going to concentrate on getting everything put away.

Wash everyone's bedding. Some people, who will remain nameless, have not brought me their bedding in a while so I figure I'll just do everyone. I finished all the regular laundary yesterday since we bought new clothes over the weekend and we needed them so I'll just use today as a catch up on bedding day.

Make yogurt. I have to admit that I've been buying it lately but one reason I bought the yogurt maker in the first place is that Publix runs out of the organic yogurt all the time and I wanted to have the ability to make it on those weeks and this is one of those weeks. I have some left and will make the new yogurt with it before it's used for bottles.

Put Isaac on the potty every diaper change during the day, for the whole week. I'm only looking for more chances for him to get the "point". If after the end of the week, he's starting to figure things out, then we'll try going bottom-less next week. If he doesn't go in the potty this week, then we'll continue what we're doing this week for a little while longer.

I'm also going to work on getting more activities put together for the little ones out of the books The Toddler's and Preschooler's Busy Books. I haven't been spending enough time getting these together and the littles really need it. They are always asking for more to do but I end up giving them the same stuff over and over and they are bored. Believe me, I can tell.LOL

I think that's it for the week! Today is going well so far. I reviewed the older kids work from last week and they both got a B on their Module tests for Biology and finished all their work. I'm proud of their hard work. We've made a lot of progress! I spent an hour going over what they did, grading, and scheduling out their work for this week. I also spent some time discussing the books that they read. I've also given both little ones a bath this morning and they've been taken for a walk. After that, I swept the back patio, straighten it up and I fixed lunch.LOL

Blessings,

Lisa

My menu for the week...

Lunch

Pizza
Publix Mealwheel
Sandwiches
Ramen


Dinner

Hamburgers-hotdogs on the grill w/french fries and veggie tray
Fried Chicken-mashed potatoes and steamed veggies
Shepard's Pie
BBQ Chicken-rice and steamed veggies
Minestra Soup-bread
Grilled shrimp-rice and veggies

I found FRESH SPINACH at my local Publix grocery store today and bought some! I am very happy to see it being sold again.

Isaac had his first temper tantrum that couldn't be redirected in a store yesterday. I guess he's hitting the 2's early.LOL We were all at Walmart getting some warm clothes for Isaac because we were a bit blind-sided by the cold weather that greeted us yesterday morning. While there, Jon and Genevieve wanted to go to the toy section and look around. Well, when we went to pick them up, Isaac found the car aisle and went balistic! He REALLY wanted one.LOL As we left the area, he blew up! Eric picked him up and headed for the exit and you could hear him all the way out of the store. It was so funny! The rest of us were in fits of laughter and I mean the WHOLE store was laughing with us. All those little old ladies were giving me pointers as I paid for our stuff and left the store.

It's so hard being that age! I was a little worried taking him to Publix today but he was fine. I'll just chalk it up to the irregular-ness of the age.LOL I'll be on a look out for the next explosion though.

Blessings,

Lisa

Semi-success!

I've been putting Isaac on his potty everytime I change his diaper and usually I'll leave him sitting on it until he decides to get up. Well, I came back from throwing his diaper away and there he is standing up and he had gone both #1 and #2 in the potty! Then he proceeded on finishing up by spraying my great room.LOL It looks like we had a success! I'm hoping that he'll start figuring it all out and be potty trained early. What a blessing that would be! He was quite excited about what he did! Pretty great! (I'm so glad I have my Little Green Machine. This would be a very stressful experience without it.lol)


Blessings,

Lisa

Today's been a good day! We went to the park this morning and it was just beautiful. The weather couldn't have been better. I always bring bubbles to the park and I'm beginning to feel like the pied piper.lol All the little ones run up to me and start yelling Bubbles! and I blow and blow until I feel like I'm going to pass out.lol Isaac brought one of his little match box cars and had a really good time burying it and digging it back up. Genevieve spends a lot of the time collecting acorns to feed the multitudes of squirrels and Allison has been spending her park time drawing some of the paintings inside of the park. She really has a talent for art. She can recreate just about any picture now a days. It's fun to see what she decides to draw. Jon spends his time actually doing "park stuff" like swinging and running around on the play structures. Really he disappears while we're there and reappears when we're ready to go.lol My mom met us there and went to lunch with us. Afterwards she took Genevieve to spend time with her and we went home to get some work done. It was nice to spend some time with her.

The kids are almost finished with their school work for the week and I've been cleaning. The kids are really making progress in their studies! They are really enjoying the topics this year and Jon keeps telling me I should read the book that he's currently reading.lol I keep reminding him that I already have read them all but he's just so excited that he forgets each time.lol Allison really loves her reading this year also and she loves her writing! She says the topics are really interesting. Her writing has really improved this year. Here's her latest paper...

The Strength of Writing
by Allison G.

With his mouth the godless destroys his neighbor, but through knowledge the righteous escape.-Proverbs 11:9

The battles of Trenton and Princeton are considered by most historians to be the first major successes of George Washington's campaign. There is no doubt in my mind that the powerful words written by Thomas Paine in his essay "The Crisis" are the reason they won. The words that Thomas Paine wrote were so incredibly strong they did what no man or weapon could do, they inspired an entire confidence lacking, down hearted army! If Washington had not read that essay, I know they would have lost.

The power of writing is amazing; a book can take you to completely different worlds. As we have seen, the pen can be used for good, but it can also be used for great evil. Written works can completely change a person, as it did for a man named Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. A book wrought destruction on his soul.

Vladimir was at a down point in his life, nothing seemed to be going for him so a friend brought him a copy of the book "Das Kapital" written by Karl Marx. He had seen the book a couple years prior to this but he did not think much of politics then. That literary work spoke to his soul and totally transformed him into a tyrant, who we now know as Nikoli Lenin. That book changed him forever.

As it says in the Bible, "With his mouth the godless destroys his neighbor." That is the strength of writing.

The End.


So I'm planning on finishing up some last minute cleaning and I'm going to finally get to the granola. It's been a pretty good week despite the doctor visit but I'm glad that Eric will be home tomorrow. LOL

Blessings,

Lisa

The Value of a Menu...

I've had some people ask why do I make a menu each week. I think one of the main reasons I make a menu is because it helps me to keep my grocery bill managable, which in turn makes me a better steward of the money that I have. A lot of people think that having a menu for each week can stifle your creativity but I have found the opposite to be true. It makes me really be creative while making my list but also, I need to be creative WITH my list so that if things don't work out, I still have ingredients to work with. Here are some examples of how I use my menus...

First I come up with 5 main ingredients that I want to use for the week. I only do 5 because I've found that left overs take at least one day and usually someone wants take out on Saturdays.

Let's say I decide on 2 ground beef, 2 chicken, and one bean for this week. Now I decide on the secondary ingredients that give me the most freedom with these main ingredients.

First meat:
I will usually buy one spaghetti sauce and noodles. I will also make sure that I have 2 cans of tomato sauce in the pantry and different kinds of cheeses in the fridge. If I'm out of something, it goes on the list.

Now with those ingredients I can make: spaghetti, chili, baked spaghetti, soup, I can also branch out to make meatless spaghetti with garlic, butter, and cheese. I can also decide to use my sauce to make pizza.

I can also make salsbury steak with the meat, some flour, seasonings and water and serve with rice. (If rice is in my pantry.) Now, with those two ground beef dishes, I just got a total of 7 dishes! This was just using staples and the few ingredients from the store. If I buy the ground beef in bulk, it will be cheaper and I'll have it in the weeks to come and it becomes a staple in those weeks, lowering that bill for that week. If I buy frozen veggies in bulk, then I can also expand my menu to make even more dishes. (Like De'Etta's shepard's pie.)

Now lets look at the chicken...depending on what I have in my pantry, it may be the only thing I need to buy! I can grill it, saute it, use it in stir fry, fry it, bake it, BBQ it, kabob it, make it into soup, whatever! Depending on my staples. I usually buy BBQ sauce in bulk from BJ's. It usually lasts me for 2 months. I also have soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, flour, season salt, taco seasoning, and broth. Now all I need is my secondary ingredients: I usually buy frozen veggies, potatoes, rice, and egg noodles. With these ingredients, I can make at least 8 different meals that week. Pretty cool, huh?

Next my beans. We love black beans. They are usually a staple here, so on bean night I just need to check my pantry and purchase any secondary ingredients that I may need. I make sure that I have bacon, onion, rice, canned diced tomato, canned corn, tortillas and salsa. With these ingredients, I can make two different meals: Black beans and rice, or beans, corn and salsa on tortillas. Usually, I have most if not all the ingredients for this meal, without even needing to buy anything extra.

I've found a lot of freedom with my menus and I've saved a lot of money. I would recommend this to anyone who is on a budget or is looking to cut back on their spending in this area. Use your favorite main ingredients and add your favorite secondary ingredients and you'll see that you have almost endless possiblities.

Blessings,

Lisa

Here's the inside of the truck with compartment. Notice the double finger-knitted straps and the cargo.LOL

Lisa

Here is the back of the truck. I'll post the inside next.

Lisa

Update: the sauce was terrific! It's definitely a keeper in this house. Thanks for posting the recipe, De'Etta.

Blessings,

lisa

Here's De'Etta's recipe for those interested...

PIZZA SAUCE
2 6 oz cans of tomato paste
1 15 oz can of tomato sauce
1 tsp Thyme
1 tsp of Basil
1 tsp Marjoram
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
2 tsp Oregano
1/2 Tbl Honey (I used sucanat)
1/8 tsp Crushed Red Pepper

I add a bit of crushed fennel to some of the sauce - yum.
*add 2 Tbl water as needed

Mix all ingredients
Cook on low to simmer 10 - 20 minutes.

Makes - enough for two pizzas....We quadrupled the recipe and got four quart size bags. We're going to make 8 times this recipe next time. I freeze them and pull out a bag on Friday a.m.

I finished printing out 66 photos today! It's slow going with my picture mate but I'm enjoying seeing the photo album fill up. I made it to April 8th, 2006. Maybe in a day or two I'll do some more but for now, I'm done.LOL

I also cleaned out both cabinets in the dining room and straightened the house. I think I'll have one of the older kids vaccum for me since I'm exhausted.

I'm making homemade pizza for dinner tonight. I'm going to try De'Etta's pizza sauce with my crust. NO this isn't on my menu but I'm hungry for it and we have all ingredients on hand, so we'll just chalk it up to pregnancy cravings.LOL I really dislike the sauce we usually use, so I'm excited to try something different. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Blessings,

Lisa

Jon made this costume for Genevieve. She said she wanted to be a truck, and while everyone else scratched their heads at her request, Jon just got started.LOL He even made a back compartment where she can put things while she's driving around. Pretty creative!

Blessings,

Lisa

Today has been a pretty good day so far. The kids are working hard on their studies and the little ones are feeling a little better today. I was able to clean out the big pantry yesterday and will work on our two white storage cabinets that are in our dining room today. I usually store bulk snacks in one and extra buys in the other, like mac and cheese, ramen, and cake mixes. The snack cabinet is a mess as it's frequented by little hands but I don't think I'll need to do much to the other. I've got most of the surface areas in the house clean and orderly, so now I'm focusing on the inside stuff, like cabinets, drawers, shelves, and a few boxes left over from the move. I feel like I've never had a house so organized! It's great to wake up each morning and know that I don't have a huge mess to clean up. I just need to stay healthy so that I can keep it up. The kids are in training mode right now and if I went missing in action then the house would fall to chaos.LOL I still have to remind Jon to unload the dishwasher each morning and if I don't remind the kids to switch activities, they don't.LOL I'm guessing that after about 2 months, they should be able to keep things up without the constant reminders.

I'm also planning on a baking session either today or tomorrow. I still need to make bread and I need some muffins for the freezer. I'm going to play it by ear though, since yesterday was so stressful. I only have to do the minimum but anything extra will be a real boost right now.

I'm still printing out pictures. I've printed the most current and now I've gone back to 1-1-06 and will print everything from there to catch up. It will be so nice to have all the pictures printed and in books so that everyone can enjoy them. I got a shipment of picturemate paper and ink in the mail today so I should be able to print all the pictures. I'm also dating them as they come out of the printer, so everyone will know when these were taken. I'm only printing each date at a time so when one batch is done, I just mark them all and start the next date.

I bought Isaac a Potty. It came in the mail today. He thinks it's a vehicle of some sort.LOL I'm hoping to introduce potty training gently within the next few weeks. He may not be ready yet but it would sure be nice to only have one in diapers at a time. He has figured out how to get naked now and I'd at least like to have a potty for him to try out on naked days.LOL

Well, I guess that's it for now. I better get out of this chair if I'm ever going to get anything done.LOL

Blessings,

Lisa

The Suds...

The suds have returned. Isaac, my worst patient, was up all night last night, showing his unhappiness at having to re-live the whole dramatic snottiness of it. The poor kid just doesn't know what to do when his nose isn't working properly.lol I've caught it and Genevieve, the culprit who began this mess, is almost through with it. I'm dreading when Jon get's it. He just can't fight these little illnesses. He'll be on breathing treatments and such by the weekend.

My MIL is staying with us for the next day or two. We found her on our doorstep at 9pm last night. Evidently, she called but we didn't hear the phone. Good thing she got here before lights out or we may have found her this morning.lol She's having her ceilings redone and her plans for staying with a friend fell through. The kids have enjoyed having her here, though, so it's nice that things have worked out.

I have my doctor's appt today. It was supposed to be tomorrow but I got a nice little post card in the mail stating that my doctor won't be there and I needed to reschedule. I really don't know what to do. I keep praying that God would help me to decide but so far, I'm on my own here.lol I think I'm going to talk to the nurse today and tell her I'm not happy. Maybe she'll have some suggestions. She really seems to listen when I'm talking, as opposed to the doctor, who just smiles and then does what he wants. The kids will have to miss homeschool pe because of this doctor and I'm tired of having to go in on days that are not good for me. This is the 2nd reschedule I've had and this appt will be my third appt over all. Not good.

I made the banana muffins yesterday and the kids have promptly eaten them. At least they're efficient.lol I guess I'll need to make some chocolate chip muffins for the freezer. I think that I'm going to work on the pantry today. I figure it'll keep me from thinking about my appt all day long. I'm also going to make a stew in the crockpot for tonight. I've been grilling a lot lately but I could use a break.lol I made some awesome shish kabobs last night! We had garlic-butter shrimp kabobs, chicken terriaki, and steak with nature's seasonings. Very good! I loved the grilled shrimp ones the best. I served them with rice and steamed veggies. Yum!

I'm pretty exhausted today as you could probably guess from this discombobulated post, but I'm still standing, so I'll take that as a good sign.lol I'm also happy to report that this baby has finally started wiggling around a lot lately. I always feel better when my residents start making their presence known. That is definitely a big blessing!

Lisa

My menu for this week.

Lunch

Pizza
Turkey sandwiches or Ham
PBJ
Ramen
Mac and Cheese

Dinner

Hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill
Grilled chicken
Irish Stew
Shish-Kabobs
Pork chops


Blessings,

Lisa

We had a good weekend. My dad took the older kids skating on Saturday and my mom took both littles to the zoo! All the kids had a good time. Since Eric and I had the Saturday to ourselves we decided to clean the garage.LOL It looks great. I just wish we could figure out a way to store the bicycles. They take up so much room but the kids use them everyday so hanging them is out of the question. We have 4 adult bikes and 2 trikes. We also have 1 electric scooter and 3 regular scooters.LOL They end up taking half the garage! We also bought some more sand this weekend. The kids have really been enjoying the new sand. (I decided to go with regular white this time.lol)

I had trouble with my asthma on Sunday so just about everything was put to the side. Eric did the shopping for me, after I got the list made and Isaac took a nap from 4-9pm. He wasn't feeling well, so we let him rest. We think that he's finally getting that last tooth! He woke up at 9pm and stayed up until 11:30. Then he slept through the night. Genevieve on the other hand was up at 5am this morning. Eric was able to convince her to go back to bed after a little while.lol

We ended up having an early morning, which means I've been able to get a lot done. Most of the wash is finished and I've already vaccumed the house. The older kids are 1/2 way through with their work and the littles have been outside almost all morning! We finally had a real cool front come through and the weather has been a pleasant 68 degrees all day today and yesterday. (Thanks, Jodi!) My kids don't know what to think of this weather but I'm happy.lol I can actually stand to be outside again. Isaac keeps pulling at his long sleeved clothes like he thinks there's something wrong with the length and Genevieve keeps trying to wear her summer clothes.lol

I finally dug my Epson Picture Mate out and began printing out some pictures. I wanted to try to get the photo albums updated since our move. I've just been too busy and since I couldn't do much yesterday, I did this. My kids love to look through the albums! My hope is to scrapbook the pictures eventually, but I like having them avalible in albums for now.

Here are some things I hope to accomplish this week...

Banana muffins
granola
bread
and clean out the pantry. I hate this chore but it's sorely needed.

Blessings,

Lisa

Today's been a good day. We went to the park for a hour and everyone had fun. I would've stayed longer but it was just too hot. Evidently, the schools were off today, so the park was crowded but everyone seemed to play well and I didn't feel uncomfortable with the crowds. After the park, we went to Larry's Giant Subs again because I was craving it and was far too tired to make my own.LOL It was really good and once again, everyone belonged to the clean plate club. I don't mind spending the money if the food actually gets eaten.

The older kids had some work to finish when we got home and they've already completed it. Eric has been amazed that our schedule has allowed the kids to not only get the work done but on Fridays they usually finish early. He asked me last night if they needed more work.LOL I said no, they are just getting the time they need to finish these complex subjects. What a blessing it is to have this area of our lives working again. The kids worked on part 1 of a pond experiment that they had in their Biology book today and it was pretty interesting. We happen to HAVE a pond in our front yard that I've been taking care of, so we didn't even have to find one.lol I have been growing different water plants in there and I have noticed quite a bit of life in the pond. I'm sure that they'll have the different creatures that they need to finish the project. They are really enjoying Biology and are getting really good grades so far.

I think that Genevieve is going to be a lot like her older brother Jon. She loves science and requests a Magic School Bus book every night before bed. She loves to find out how things work and she absolutely has to see in the microscope everytime the older kids are using it.LOL

I guess that's our day so far. I'm pretty worn out and my asthma is bothering me so I think that I'll be resting shortly to give my lungs a break. I'm glad it's Friday!

Blessings,

Lisa

I've hit the half-way mark!

20 weeks down, 20 to go!(lol) It's amazing how fast time is flying lately! My next Dr's appt is on Wed and I should get an appt for an ultrasound then. I am really excited to find out if this is a girl or boy! I think I've nailed down names for this baby either way but I'm not going to reveal it until he/she gets here. I've had people in the past say not too nice things about my choices before the baby arrived, so this one stays hidden until birth day.

Eric and I had a great day yesterday. Dinner was great and dessert was better.(LOL) We had pork roast with buttered noodles and salad. For dessert we had brownies with various toppings. After dinner, I told Eric about the Organic Rice Crispies I discovered and he took me to WinnDixie to buy some! When we got home, we took Genevieve for a walk and talked with the neighbors for a while. Isaac fell asleep at 5:45 last night and Allison stayed home to keep an ear out for him. Well, he slept until 5:30 this morning! Wow, he must have been tired! I was tired at 5:30 this morning but was able to stay awake until around 7:00 when Eric left for work.(LOL) Eric trapped Isaac in our room with a baby show on tv for me so I could rest and Isaac was happy and I went right to sleep. Genevieve got up at 7:30 and was delighted to find her brother awake and ready to play. lol She promptly let him free from his bedroom prision and he promptly laid down on the great room floor and fell back to sleep. lolol She was so upset. She came to me and said she couldn't find Isaac and so I got up and there on the floor, was Isaac, sound asleep. She was not amused. lol Allison put him to bed for me, as it's hard for me to bend and pick up and he slept until 10:30 this morning. Boy was he tired! Well, now we are getting ready for the park and hopefully it won't be too hot. Oh and I made my first batch of rice crispie treats this morning and we will eat them after lunch! YUM! lol

Blessings,

Lisa

15 years today!

Today is Eric and my fifteen year anniversary! Here's an old picture of us at our wedding. Boy we look young.LOL

Blessings,

Lisa

LOL

Genevieve comes running in and says...I've lost all my cute little Zoombini's! They all fell down the swirly whirlpool and now they are all gone! She was upset because she left the game running during dinner and evidently this is what happened while she was gone. She's really enjoying this game, even with all the pitfalls.lol

Lisa

Today was a low energy day. I've been sore lately, so I'm guessing the baby is growing. I've been taking it easy. The little ones have settled down from the exciting weekend and are back to their usual selves. I received a video I ordered in the mail and the little ones enjoyed watching it. It's called Wee Sing King Cole's Party. My older kids loved this video when they were little, so much so that it wore out. Amazon now sells the DVD, so I bought it. It's a real treasure! Even my older kids were excited when they saw the video.lol

It's so nice to have a clean and organized home. I've always wanted one but I am a very cluttered person so it always seemed like something *I* could never have. For some reason, I've just been able to let material things go lately. No more holding on to it "just in case", I just let it go. I've been cleaning each room in cycles. First the room gets a very basic "clean." Then the next time I do that room, I go for less clutter and work through any hot spots. I liberally throw things away or put in my car for Goodwill. Then the next time I go through that room, I go for deep cleaning. Now, that means that I have to keep that room up to whatever level it's at during the week and time that it isn't it's turn but so far it's working. Keeping this house up makes me realize that I don't want a bigger one, though.lol I'm stretched thin already. In fact, if I ever move, I think that I'd go for something just a tad smaller. It's nice to have the extra room but the responsiblity is more than I'd like to have with this many small ones. I'd rather spend the time with the kids but I also want to take care of what God has given me.

I bought some fudgesicles last night at Food Lion and gave one to Isaac today in his highchair since he is STILL teething. He loved it so much that we had to move him to the tub.lol I'll try uploading the picture here, if it doesn't work I'll upload it in a new post...o.k. it worked but put the picture at the top. Good enough for me.lol

I was going to take the kids to the park but the older kids wanted to wait until Friday to see if they could finish some subjects up and who can argue with that? So here we stay.lol I'll take the littles outside to play in a little while once it's cooler and they will be just as happy.lol

I need to make some goals for this week or nothing major will get done. For one thing, Eric and my anniversary is tomorrow! 15 years, what an amazing, wonderful life I have! I am so thankful for my wonderful dh and all the blessings God has given me over these 15 years. Not everything has been good but everything has worked out for good through our Heavenly Father. I will choose to rest in His arms more for these next 15 years and I will be more thankful for the good times that come along. I will also make sure to look for the good even during the harder times. I have seen God's grace during even the hardest times and I need to make sure that I am thankful and resting in that grace.

Back to goals...lol

1. buy or make something for dessert for tomorrow

2. buy Eric a card and some dark Chocolate

3. make more ice cream and yogurt

4. go to the park on Friday

5. fix a nice dinner for our anniversary

Well, that's probably all I can do in 2 1/2 days. lol

Blessings,

Lisa

Here's a picture of Isaac and I taken by Allison today. This is a much better picture than the Avatar I have. lol Maybe I'll see if it'll fit.

Blessings,

Lisa

Today was a good day. We are plugging along with our school work and were able to make it to Homeschool P.E. The older kids had a great time. They played "Gator Ball" and some other things. They love going and are trying to earn patches this year for the Presidential Physical Fitness tests. I think they can make it if they work at it.

I'm feeling pretty good, so we cleaned the back patio this afternoon for our clean-up time. Summer had left it's mark on it and it was no longer fun to go out there.lol Everytime you went outside you ended up with blue feet from the blue sand strewn everywhere.lol It has left a permanant mark on my carpet also. Next time, I think we'll opt for traditional white sand.lol We also picked up the numerous bottles of empty sunscreen, the thousands of sand toys and pool toys and re-arranged the patio table so that we have more room outside for fun. Now that we are getting into the cooler season, I really need to add some things outside for the littles to play with. I think we'll start with some white sand. (I'm a glutton for punishment.lol) I really like to take advantage of the cooler weather. We'll definitely have more park days, walks, and outdoor activities.

I brought out the video camera and set it up on a tri-pod for the kids to play with today. They spent an hour just hamming it up for the camera until the tape ran out. I just love these tapes! We've done this many times over the years and they are the most fun to watch. We take out the old ones and watch them all the time. Seeing how much the kids have grown is amazing!

I also measured Genevieve on the "measuring stick" today. She has grown about an inch since July!

Really, that's about all we did today. I have to admit that I'm still trying to recover from the weekend and so I've been taking it easy. Well, as easy as you can with 4 kids.lol

Blessings,

Lisa

My menu for this week...

Lunch

Pizza
Turkey Sandwiches with pineapple and chips
PBJ's with fruit and cheese sticks
Dinty Moore Beef Stew
Ramen


Dinner

Pork Roast with noodles, broccoli
Chicken, Mashed potatoes, asparagus
Blk beans and rice, salad
Steak, rice and cooked carrots
Hash, canned veggie
Stoop(ground beef and greenbean stew), bread



We're doing great on the schedule and things are going smoothly. I just finished helping my brother with his writing and now I am resting up while all the kids go for a walk. Normally, we save outside time for later when it's cooler but the little ones are a little riled up from all the weekend's activities and are needing to get rid of some pent up energy.lol

Blessings,

Lisa

Here's the Swiper game that Allison made. The kids loved it!

I just love this picture of her.

Here's everyone singing to Genevieve. The look on Jon's face is priceless.lol And Genevieve looks so happy.

Here's the party!

Here is the pull string pinata and everyone poised to pull. You can't see Sammy who is beside Genevieve but he's there too.

My little Genevieve is 4!!!

Whew! What a whirlwind weekend! Have I mentioned that I'm not much of a run-arounder?lol Well, if you judged me by this weekend you'd think that I live for this stuff.lol

Friday night after we got the littles to bed, we left Allison in charge while we made a run for Target. We spent the next 2 hours there getting everything we needed for Genevieve's party. Eric is the one who remembered that Target would have everything we needed and it would mean less running around. God Bless him! We were able to get all the party supplies and her presents that night. We got home at 10pm and we were wiped out.lol

Saturday we spent doing the things I usually do on Sundays. I made a grocery list, the older kids went skating and Genevieve went with my mom, shopping for her birthday. Eric and I made a run to BJ's and then to Publix. I also made calls and invited some friends and family to the party. Then I started cleaning.lol Now, I've been keeping the house pretty clean but I really wanted to get the deep cleaning done and get rid of all the different hot spots in the house. I ran out of energy on Saturday and took a nap.lol When Genevieve got home she had a bunch of new clothes and a new pair of shoes and was so hyper I was worried how she'd handle the real party.lol

Sunday came bright and early. Genevieve was excited. So excited, that she ended up in time out for most of the day.lol I cleaned, while the older kids went with Grandma to church. I even shampooed some of the carpets! I also washed the curtains in the great room and dusted everything. It was a long morning. Eric went to get the cake. It was a cute little Dora cake and then we had to put it on top of our china hutch because the littles wouldn't quit trying to touch it.lol We had Genevieve open the gifts from us at 2pm just to give her something to do and really she'd been as good as could be expected with all the waiting she had to do. She loved her gifts! She got a Playmobil castle and two new games featuring Dora and Diego. She also got a China doll dress up costume and a Blue's Clues puzzle. Oh and a little bead kit that target had for a $1. We had a good party. We invited a family from the neighborhood that has a little boy just her age and we invited all of our family. Everyone came and I think the party was fun for everyone! We ended up with an extra child from the neighborhood that just showed up and so we had 7 kids at the party! Genevieve was so excited! We had a pull string pinata and Allison made a pin the tail on Swiper the fox game that the kids enjoyed. Allison is quite the artist! She freehanded the drawing and he looked just like the fox on the Dora show. We had pizza and cake and ice cream and lots of soda in Coconut cups. The party lasted for about 2 hours and at the end Genevieve opened her gifts. She got a Dora trike, a Princess Genevieve barbie, a Doodle Pro Glow, a princess crown, and some curtains for her room with butterflies on them.

Genevieve has such a wonderful sharing and loving spirit. She kept making sure that all her guests had everything they needed and kept asking if they needed more gum or candy.lol What a blessing to see, even in the midst of a party just for her, she was most concerned with her friends. When we lit the candles on her cake, she said that everyone should help her blow them out and when one of her friends didn't get ice cream with their cake, she made sure that I went and got him some. She got a pack of gum in her gifts and she proceeded to give most of it away, to share with others.

My plan is to upload pictures next but I'm going to be tutoring my brother sometime today so I'll get as much done as I can. This was a good weekend! I'm so glad that everything went so smoothly and that Genevieve had such a good time.

Blessings,
Lisa