Summer challenges

I have decided that I want a project for this summer, well honestly several so I’m going to start blogging about it. My first Challenge is going to be a photo challenge. I’m going to challenge myself to take at least one photo everyday this summer June 1st through August 31st Some photo’s of the kids, maybe some totally random things as well. I’m also going to work on getting my home more organized so that our school years runs more smoothly next year. In other news we had a lovely day out yesterday. Light shopping, Lunch at Jodi B’s one of Morgan’s favorite restaurants. I think she likes it so much because Daddy lets her order off the grown-up menu because the children’s meals are too small. As per usual everyone had breakfast for lunch except for me. I always have the mind set to get something I could not or wouldn’t make at home, and trust me we eat enough eggs an toast. Dh got us a new grill last night. For the first time its not one of those crappy family dollar ones, a real nice big charcoal grill. It took a bit longer to put together than I thought but I didn’t care that it was 10pm we where going to grill. The girls where already bathed and falling asleep on the couch but quickly where wide awake for steak lol. We are so ready for summertime to come. We have a lot planned this year. Kicking the summer off with Kennywood on June 1st. We plan lots of library days, museums, Picnics, swimming, zoo, lots of arts and crafts and of course sleeping in lol. As for today’s project I really need to clean my kitchen fun fun!

Morgan on our trip around town yesterday sporting her new shades

She speaks!

I was trying to put a new toy together for Cady last night. Erynn was playing with her and brought her over near me. I said to her “Mom is trying to put this toy together for you but I can’t” She reached down and grabbed my face and smiled and said “ma ma” as clear as day. It was like she said don’t worry I love you. It was adorable I nearly cried. That is just proof she is growing to fast. Before we know it she will be crawling and walking, talking, graduating college & getting married. Maybe, I’m over thinking things a bit. I was thinking too when she is Erynn’s age Erynn will be 20! That seems so unreal 10 years will pass in the blink of an eye.

Something else that really bugged me recently. We pay 99% of our bills online. The only bills we don’t pay online are the 2 that are in hubbys name. I looked at a bill for our wireless net it always the same every month. But I noticed it went up though we are locked into a rate for 2 years. So I’m reading and it’s a “paper bill fee” I’m like oh for the love of all things! What is it with companies anymore I mean really people, we pay top dollar for your mediocre services and you can’t even send a bill in the mail with out tacking on a few bucks for it. That just really bugs me a lot. I would never assume that everyone should pay their bills online.

I’m looking forward to the afternoon. Dh is off and we both have chiro appointments, going to do a little shopping & have some lunch. It’s rather cold out today which stinks. I wish that the weather would just make up its mind I keep putting away the winter coats and keep dragging them back out. I got all the kids spring clothes out and packed away 90% of the winter clothing I mean it is mid May and all. It was 33 degrees last night. Broke a weather record from the early 1900’s lol.

Now on another note.... I wonder who can tell which baby is Cady and Which is Morgan??

Soggy Saturday

It’s been raining almost all day long, we had plans to go out but I don’t like dealing with rain. Its one thing if it’s a nice warm sprinkle but this is a soak you cold steady rain.
Saturdays are always boring. It’s a very busy day at dh’s restaurant so he is usually gone 14-16 hours. I love my kids unconditionally but after 16 hours alone with them it’s enough to make you a bit crazy. I try to find constructive ways for them to spend there time. However, today has been deemed “spring cleaning take two” With me being injured the house has really gotten away from me. I’m not a great housekeeper to begin with so lets just say I would not invite anyone over. I have been doing little things here and there but anyone who has 4 kids would understand that it’s hard to keep up with it. We have a pretty big house, which makes it even harder. I’m looking forward to moving and downsizing. Not downsizing the space so much as wanting use able space and storage. I do like the idea of having 4-5 bedrooms the girls like sharing now but that wont last. Everyone has their own rooms now but they don’t use them. Erynn has a small room on the 2nd floor, Aria and Morgan share a loft which is like 3 rooms in one, yet they wont spread out in fact most nights they sleep in each others beds or one will sleep on the floor next to the other ones bed. They have 4 beds in there so they can change it up as much as they like. They also have a really nice playroom; I would have loved it when I was a kid. They honestly don’t use it much so I’m considering when we move to get rid of 90% of the toys down there. Truly they are spoiled they recently got a mini fridge down their as well. Here is a glimpse into the playroom,

Ideally I would like a ranch style home, with a nice finished basement, 5 bedrooms, 2-3 bathrooms, and a huge yard 5 acres would be ideal. I want to be able to plant, and maybe have some farm animals. I would love a ranch though because I want this to be the home I retire in and I don’t want stairs. We have 3 flights now and it drives me batty. First floor laundry would be awesome too. It would be awesome to build our own home but I just don’t see that happening anytime soon.

Got to love her for her commitment to the game.

The game of hide in seek that is. Dh and I where enjoying a late dinner together watching a movie. When we hear the famous words “Mom guess what Morgan did?” Well, usually I can guess she peed her pants. This is not an often occurrence I would say maybe 5 or 6 times in the past 15 months or so since she has been potty trained. Usually this happens when she is about 2 feet from the toilet and involves a wardrobe malfunction. Well not so much this time. You all remember playing hide in seek and finding that perfect hiding place and unless there is a fire your not going to make a peep. That was Morgan tonight she went to the upper level into her sisters closet a new hiding place for her. And yes she peed in the closet and into her sisters shoes LOL. I was cracking up so hard she explained to us that she didn’t want to be found. We told her next time just to yell “TIME OUT” luckily the shoes where older ones that don’t fit anymore and I’m not that in love with them that I felt the need to wash and keep them to pass them on to the next child so I tossed them.

In other news, as you all know I have an awesome husband who blesses me in so many ways he is a wonderful chef and her brought us home dinner tonight. His restaurant makes the world’s best burgers he brought me home an excellent one with some fresh cut fries. I felt so spoiled and loved. I felt terrible for him though part of being an awesome chef he gets lots of burns. He managed to burn his stomach this evening with some really hot sauce it looks terrible and about the size of a sliver dollar I know that really has to hurt. I felt the pain for him it managed to burn him through his top and they are pretty thick tops. So if you could all say a little prayer for him that it heals quickly.

I have added a new little photo to the top right of my blog that I plan to change every few days to highlight the big kids. I know that sometimes having a new little one their tends to be extra pics and milestones highlighted more so than what the big kids are doing. I talked to them about it and they agreed that they wanted pics of them when they where younger featured. I don’t have many because Digital cameras where not all the rave then as they are now but I have about the last 3-4 years so I’m rolling with that unless I want to bust out old boxes of pics and use the scanner. That just feels so primitive to me lolI will add a few pics to this thread as well. It’s amazing how much they all really looked alike as babies and toddlers.

Erynn is 7 here (10 now)


Aria is 3.5 here (7 now)


Aria is 4 here, this is at our old house where we had a small classroom we just use the kitchen table now I do miss our cute little desks.

Morgan is about 8 mts old here (she will be 4 in Aug) she and Cady look so much alike it is uncanny.

Cady is 6 mts (and a few days) Old

I wanted to take this time to post a few pics of our darling little Cadence (Cady) she is growing far to fast. She is such a blessing! I'm so thankful for my husband who works so hard to provide for us so I can stay home with our girls.

Just hours old

1 month old

2 months old

3 months old

4 months old

5 months old

6 months old

Krafty Kids

I decided to take today to share some of our crafts and special family projects. I usually try to do at least 1-2 crafts per week. My girls are really into painting and anything that is messy. I used to be the mom who worried about them and the house getting messy, or spilling stuff, running clothes etc. However, when I just let go of that control and seen how much joy came with the activity I have just rolled with it

This Craft here would scare most people, and no the clean up was not fun but it was so much fun doing this. (Koolaid finger paint/paste) you can tell these pics are old MoMo has on a pull-up

I’m always looking for new ideas of things to do that are cost effective, educational & fun. You would be surprised by how many items you already have can turn into crafts.
Another project we did once with just a big of rice, tin foil & empty paper towel rolls. We painted the paper towel rolls, covered the bottom end well with tin foil (secured it with a bit of hot glue) put about 1/3 cup of rice (yes that is uncooked rice lol) and secured the top with the tinfoil/glue and instant rain sticks. The girls also used them as musical instruments and danced around listening to their favorite cd (worship jamz)

The girls are also really into baking. Especially Morgan, she really loves making bread because kneading the dough and punching it down is so much fun for a 3 year old. We bake a ton of bread so she pretty much knows how much of everything we need better than I do and I have been making it for a long time. I recently have given up some control in the baking department. I never wanted to let the kids crack eggs because I always feared shells however I started letting them do it in a separate bowl and they are quite good at it now. That is one thing I find as a parent is one of the hardest things to get to the point of teaching them something although you know errors will be made and minor stress involved VRS just doing it your way and not showing them because of time factor, wanting it done right etc.

My little Chef MoMo! And group bread kneading

Now I will also let you in on one of my favorite websites for kids, this is an awesome source for Homeschoolers & tons of craft ideas. http://enchantedlearning.com/ It has both free and subscription service, I opted to join because we use it so much totally worth $20 for the year.
I will be back with more later, my littlest darling just woke up from her Am snooze.

2 posts in one day.. boy your lucky!!

I have been spending more time on the computer than usual due to having a rib fracture. There isn't much more I can do right now. I'm eagerly awaiting dh's return home with my meds I ended up going back to the ER last night because I just couldn't take the pain anymore. I have in my down time taken full advantage of my Christmas gift (a crock pot) Its quite useful when cooking is painful. I'm making BBQ beef right now it smells wonderful though I added 1/2 cup of sweet baby rays bbq sauce because it tasted like it was lacking a bit of the bbq flavor. We are going to have salad and sweet potato fries along with it. The girls seem to have some attitude problems today I blame the weather. They don’t understand why I wont let them play outside with out me. Because, all the other kids are allowed to. Call me over-protective if you will but these neighborhood kids have terrible manors, foul language & are down right mean. Therefore, no unsupervised outside time it's simply not worth it. If I'm outside I can at least remove them from the situations that occur. I do though try to make up for it buy taking them to the park, library, the store etc. to get them out of the house. Honestly its quite sad how some children behave anymore, like they where never taught manors or respect. I pray for them and their parents daily, I have a heart for all children and it just saddens me to think of how they will end up as adults. Now, I'm not saying that my children are just happy perfect shinny children or anything but they do know how to treat others with compassion and kindness. I have been thinking more and more about getting out of this area and moving somewhere that is a little bit more in line with our morals No not thinking Utah or anything LOL. I think you can kind of just tell by driving around and observing where a good place is. I was in love with the idea of this area because there are so many churches, decent enough schools, and it seemed quite but I was totally wrong here. I just want some place that has that feeling of "we can raise our children and grow old here" I want to sit on the porch and knit while my kids ride their bikes and not have to yell "CAR" every 5 minutes when a car is coming. A cul-de-sac would be wonderful. I like the idea of usually only people who live on that street being on the street. I know that God knows what is best for us and that he will lead us to our perfect place in his perfect timing. I feel that I can be somewhat of service to others while living here, weather it’s my lectures on car seat safety, cooking a meal for a neighbor after surgery, babysitting for a single mom going on a job interview. I like to help others when and if I can. While at the same time not being taken advantage of which has happened more times than I’d like to admit. In other news I got a camcorder for Mothers day so I hope to take some fun short movies once I figure out editing a bit better. I hope that all my friends have a blessed evening. Who knows I might just aim to post everyday. I’m going to attempt to add some photo’s to this as well, so we shall see how that works out.

This pic was taken with the camcorder of the girls on the deck, its so hard to get a pic of everyone at once and get them to look at the camera, this is an easy solution.

This pic was taken at Forest Hills Park, we go here often in the warmer months.

This was an attempt at getting a "good" pic of all 4 girls for a Mothers Day photo this was the best of about 100 pics LOL

Starting a Blog

I need to start a Blog and keep up with it. I have started blogs before mainly to keep in contact with friends and family however I need to do this just for me, for accountability and to maybe be of service to others. I'll start with the basic generic aspects of my past and present. I grew up in Seminole Florida. Where I lived with my Mom and Step Dad. I was blessed to have Godly parents who molded me to be the best person I could possibly be. I however was stubborn, rebellious and under appreciative of their attempts. I never thought I would ever be the one who says, "I wish I listened to my parents" but yeah I admit I have said that a few times in adulthood. Fast forward to present and WOW I'm so very blessed. I have an amazing husband we met and fell in love in 1999. We moved to Pittsburgh, PA in 2003 and hope to one day own a home in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. We have 4 amazing daughters 10, 7, 3 & 6mts. I'm pretty sure that our family is "complete" but I leave the big plans to God as we trust in him to make those hard choices for us. I'm a bit crafty I love to sew and knit though I find that I have little time for that these days. I'm somewhat of a pack rat so I’m constantly attempting to de-clutter and get organized but my attempts are futile. I'd rather enjoy my Husband and Children than clean house all day, I have time for that for the rest of my life but precious moments with my Girls won't last forever they grow far to quickly for that. I would like to say that I will post something everyday but that is not a reality I'm going to shoot for Bi-weekly and go from there.

Proverbs 31:28 (King James Version)
28Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.