Grocery Shopping

Today I had the pleasure of taking all three girls grocery shopping with me. I really didn't want to go to the grocery store but we were out of all the basics. I could not physically feed them one more meal without grocery shopping.

I was hoping when we got to the store they would have one of the red carts that holds two and still has the spot in the basket for the third. Charlotte isn't feeling well today and I knew if she had to walk for the entire shopping trip I wouldn't get much done before I had to call it quits.

We were in luck they had 2 red carts left! I put the three girls in and all three cracked up. They thought it was quite funny to be sitting that close together and see each other. The laughing lasted for a good five minutes. It was adorable! I love it when they actually enjoy each other.

Of course since I had to go to the store that meant we had a lot of items to purchase and grocery shopping took a little over an hour. That is a long time to entertain three girls in a shopping cart. Ruby kept trying to pick up the eggs and smash the chips. Eliza was happy as long as she had a snack (we went through a package of nabs, a piece of fruit leather, some sample cake something or other, and a snack trap full of apple jacks).

By the end of the trip Charlotte was in tears and had lost "buddy buck" privileges for not being a good listener and for bothering her sister. She has this really annoying habit of messing with Ruby. She just won't leave her alone. Sometimes it is touching her head or holding her arm, today it was pulling up her pant leg and shaking her leg. Ruby did not like it but of course couldn't get away from her.

Ruby's solution? She bit Charlotte's finger hard enough to leave a mark but not break the skin. Sad thing is Charlotte didn't get much sympathy from Mommy. And I had a really hard time telling Ruby that "we don't bite." If I had been Ruby, I would have bitten her too!

Poor Charlotte...

The funny thing is grocery shopping took so long I had to pick up lunch on the way home. But at least I can now make dinner!

Oh Happy Day...
Jenn

I still need to write about our trip to Silver Belle Ranch, the Pine Wood Derby and Rehm's new career as an author...Hopefully I'll get caught up this weekend.

The Magic Washing Machine

It seems that the people living with me in this house think that our washing machine has magical powers. You see they think that if they lay something with stains on it (such as ketchup) that the washing machine magically treats the stains, puts the laundry in the washing machine, soaks it, washes it, gets it in the dryer, dries it, and gets it out and folds it! Lo and behold the washing machine is so great it can even find the stained things that are just thrown in the laundry hamper and get them clean too!

Do you see anything magical about the washing machine? All I see is a 12 year old machine that "ain't what she used to be" as stains seem to be harder to get out (but maybe that isn't the washing machine's issue...) but keeps on, keeping on.

Now I know some of you are thinking "She's complaining and her family gets things to the washing machine or hamper! What is her problem? What does she expect. I'd be thrilled if my family got things that far!" All I have to say is you probably don't have a cat that pees on anything made of cloth that is left on the floor. At my house if you don't want to smell like cat pee you don't leave clothes on the floor.

I can not buy a front loader until this machine dies...I can not buy a front loader until this machine dies...I can not buy a front loader until this machine dies...I can not buy a front loader until this machine dies...

Jenn

PS. I do have to say that I believe in the Lunch Box Fairy. He is this very magical fairy that comes in at night and makes lunch for whoever needs it the next day. He even makes lunch for me! I love the Lunch Box Fairy more than I can begin to say. So I guess having a Magic Washing Machine is a very small price to pay.

Ketchup

Yesterday I was feeling like a good mommy so I made the three girls scrambled eggs for breakfast. While getting something out of the fridge Ruby spotted the ketchup and asked nicely for some. My first thought was "no way!" and my second thought was "why not?" So I got the ketchup out and let all three girls have a little with their eggs.

Of course by the time breakfast was over they were all covered in ketchup. Faces. Shirts. Everything had ketchup on it. Did I mention that the ketchup was the only part of breakfast that Eliza Claire ate? I got the wipes out and worked on faces, hands and clothes. After everyone got down I worked of faces again because they were still covered.

Then the mental battle started over where to change their clothes or not. On one hand they were going to get something on them at the next meal so why change their clothes. On the other hand, was I bad mom if I sent them to school in "dirty" clothes. Because I can't have people thinking I dress them in dirty clothes, but people have to know they have to eat. If I change them that means that much more laundry and that much more time before we can leave the house. If I don't change them they go to school looking like rag-a-muffins. (OK so what is a rag-a-muffin anyway? Hmmm I'll have to google that in my free time)

In case you are wondering I sent them to school without changing their clothes. Tracey, I know you are laughing right now because we just had this conversation this weekend about dressing before or after breakfast. I thought about you during my mental battle.

We get to school and I get everyone out of the car and what do I see on all three faces? Yep, more ketchup! How in the world did they still have ketchup on their faces? I wiped their faces two or three time each! I swear ketchup is a very evil thing.

Next time someone asks for ketchup for breakfast I'm going to be a mean mommy!
Jenn

Onomatopoeia

Today I was in the car with all the kids. Rehm was in the back reading his beloved Pokemon book. I hate this book and Pokemon in general as he is obsessed with them, but he actually reads the book and makes charts comparing the different Pokemon so I deal. He was sounding out one Pokemon name. It had the "dr" sound and he asked me what sound "d-r" makes. I told him " 'dr,' like drip, drop and drink" and went back to listening to the radio. A few seconds later I heard him mutter "Onomatopoeia."

After I recovered from the shock, righted the van and closed my mouth, I asked him if he just said onomatopoeia and he said "Yeah" in that "so what's the big deal" tone. So I asked him if he knew what it meant and he said "Yeah that is when a word is like it sounds."

I was completely shocked and pleasantly surprised that onomatopoeia is already in his vocabulary, I didn't hear the word until I was in high school.

Next thing I know he'll be able to spell it!
Jenn

Prayers

Last night I was doing Charlotte's bedtime. After we read our stories we said our prayers. Here is Charlotte's prayer:

Dear God, thank you for Mommy, Daddy, Ruby, Eliza, Rehm - even though I don't like him, Cici, Papa, Grandma, Grandpa, and Granny. Amen!

She didn't pause, skip a beat, change her tone, nothing! I guess the good news is she is praying for him even though she doesn't like him. It could be worse, right?

Jenn

A year later

I realized Monday while having lunch with a friend that I have been doing this blog thing for a year. When I started it was just a way to make sure my NC family had somewhat regular updates and pictures of the kiddos. Somewhere along the line I found I really liked recording the history of my family and that my outlook on some of the things my kids do was more positive when I thought about the the "blog entry" it would produce. Another thing I noticed is that I take a lot more pictures because a story is much better with pictures.

Over the course of the year I've found things are much more humorous when I'm blogging. I love being able to look back at all the silly, fun, educational, etc things my family has done. I mean would I really remember Frank the fairy shrimp or the 6 baby birds that hatched outside my kitchen window if I were not blogging? Would Rehm be getting regular gifts of Propel from my family if I weren't blogging? Would all of you appreciate your grocery shopping trips as much if I weren't blogging? Would I have so many great and funny pictures if I weren't blogging? Probably not.

I enjoy sharing my family with you all. I hope you all enjoy living a little vicariously through us.

This seems like a good time to do a little updating so if I don't have your blog listed in the friends blog section please leave a comment with the link so I can add you. I promise it isn't that I don't like your blog I just keep forgetting to add them.

Also for all of you that read regularly and don't comment would you please leave a comment just so I know who's reading?

Thanks and please keep reading,
Jenn

I'm not sure what this says about my life...

Today as I was working on the grocery list and weekly meal plan, which I do in a spreadsheet so I can sort it according to the order things are located in my store, I thought "I need to put the meal plan on the calendar. Then I don't have to remember what I came up with it would be quicker to find as I check it anyway." So I click on my google calendar, start to add this week's dinner, and realize I don't want what's for dinner to get lost in all of our appointments - it needs to be easy to see.

My solution, I make it its own calendar. Yep, in google calendars I have six calendars on my normal view. They are Michael, Jennifer, Rehm, Charlotte, Ruby and Eliza (they share a calendar as most of their schedule is the same), and What's for Dinner?. That way everyone (or thing in the case of dinner) has their own color so it is easy to pick out what you are looking for. Michael wanted to know if I would be inviting What's for Dinner? to appointments and meetings.

So what does this say about my life? I have too many kids? We have too many commitments? I desperately crave organization? I'm anal? I'm a control freak? I like pretty colors? I have too much time on my hands? I'm not sure, but if you figure it out let me know. OK, on second thought, don't - I'm not sure I really want to know :)

I know you are thinking that it isn't so much the calendar that says something about me but the grocery list spread sheet, weekly meal plan and calendar altogether that really scares you just a little bit . Yes, I know, I know, apparently I like to have a small sense of control in my crazy life.

Happy Day,
Jenn

PS. I really like google calendars and highly recommend them. They have been great for our family. I have access to all of our appointments any time I have internet access - I can see it from home and work and so can Michael. No longer do either of us have the excuse of not having seen something on the calendar. It really has been great since we made the change. Now if I could just access it when I was on the go...But that would require me to have a data plan on my phone and that would require $$$. Oh well. It is still better than my calendar just being available in my kitchen.

Christmas Is Over

As my grandfather would say, "Well, Christmas is over!" He would always say this as soon as his last gift was opened. At our family Christmas gatherings he was always the last to open presents and when he was finished he would declare Christmas over. I have found myself smiling fondly several times in the last week as I have declared Christmas over, as it reminds me of him - he passed away 11 years ago New Year's Eve. I said it when we opened our last present. I said it again when we ate the last piece of Christmas cake, when the outside decorations were taken down, when the inside decorations were taken down and finally when the last piece of fudge was eaten.

We had a wonderful holiday. We stayed home and kept is simple. We had very few places we had to be and just got to hang out as a family and catch up on things around the house. Michael had 10 straight days at home! I told him we need to win the lottery (which would mean we would have to actually buy lottery tickets) so we could both stay home full time. It made parenting four kids seem manageable. It also made me remember what kind of mom I used to be when there were fewer kids, fewer activities and few responsibilities. I was actually Super Cool Mommy, well at least on occasion. It felt good.

So what did we actually do?

We ate out way too much and mostly pizza and mexican food. The best was Shady Grove where I had awesome enchiladas. They are not on the menu but apparently always have them. They were brisket enchiladas, corn tortillas filled with brisket and cheese and topped with chili and more cheese. Not exactly low calorie but very, very yummy. I highly recommend them.

We went to church on Christmas Eve. Well, Michael, Ruby, Eliza Claire and Rehm did. I worked getting the animals and people set up for the live nativity we had between services. Charlotte spiked a fever due to a sinus infection and had to stay with Grandpa. She was very upset not to get to wear her Christmas dress, but was mollified when I told her she could wear her new Christmas PJs (thanks Dallas, Cathi and Griffin).


After church several couples who all have small children got together for dinner. It is such a fun time with all the kids running around excited about celebrating Jesus' birthday and singing happy birthday to Him. They have a great time and so do their parents. Fortunately for us, unfortunately for our friends that host, their son also had a fever and nasty nose so they and the other families were OK if Charlotte came as well. She was so glad to get to come to the party she didn't even notice that she was the only one in PJs.

Then it was home to get ready for Santa. We left out fudge and milk for Santa and spread reindeer food in the front yard (oatmeal mixed with glitter). Then it was off to bed for four very tired kiddos.


Christmas Day Rehm and Charlotte were in our room at 6:45. We were all waiting for Ruby and Eliza Claire to wake up. At 7:00 we decided it was time to wake the little girls as the big kids were getting very antsy and it seemed cruel to make them wait any longer. Ruby was sleepy but more than happy to get up. Eliza Claire on the other hand wanted no part of Christmas morning if it meant waking up already.

The wrapped presents are from family not Santa

Santa has indeed visited and the kids were delighted with what he brought and all the other presents they received from their parents and other family members. Grandma and Grandpa came over to watch the kids open their presents and have breakfast (stolen, breakfast casserole, and pecan rolls). We spent most of the day hanging out in our PJs playing with all the new toys. Eventually we decided to put on some real clothes and venture to the playground at Rehm's school to get some energy out. We had planned on making a 7 cheese lasagna for dinner but decided we would rather hang out with the kids than cook. So our Christmas dinner consisted of mac and cheese and frozen pizza. The kids of course loved it.

After Christmas we took a couple of days to just hang out and recuperate. Then on Friday we went to Sea World with our friends the Weatherbys. They children the same age as Rehm and Charlotte and then a 2 1/2 year old. The kids had a blast and so did their parents.

Rehm talked to a diver from the shark exhibit about what they do and what kind of education and skills you need to work there. Did you know that if you want to be an animal trainer the best degrees to have are psychology or education? For other areas zoology or biochemistry are good. We also saw a giant pacific octopus while we were there. We've all seen the exhibit many, many times but this was the first time the octopus was where we could find him. He was out on the glass of his tank and started moving around it was fascinating.




Several rides and shows later it was time to call it a day.


We also got to see our friends the Wevodaus and Olney at Zilker Park. We took the kids to play at the play ground and for a ride on the Zilker Zephyr. And of course there was visiting with everyone on New Years Eve.

And those are the highlights of our holidays. I hope your holidays were as wonderful as ours were.
Jenn

Where We Come From

Tonight I was reading Charlotte a Bible story. Actually we were reading the Little Blessings book What is God Like? It answers questions about who God is on a preschooler's level. On the page where it talks about God being around before he created the world she stopped me. She said, "That was before there was a Jesus." I replied that I thought Jesus was living with God at that time. Then Charlotte said, "Mommy, I know where we were before we were born, behind the clouds where no one could see us. We were little tiny tadpole thingies (at this point she holds up her thumb and forefinger pinched together to show me how tiny), way up in heaven, with God."

So there you have it ladies and gentlemen. Charlotte has solved the question of where we were before we were here. We were tadpoles swimming around is a random cloud in heaven.

Happy Day,
Jenn