Win it Wednesday @ TTT

Another great give away on Meghans blog

http://tuckerstaketennessee.blogspot.com/2009/09/win-it-wednesday-head-over-heals.html?showComment=1254305593799#c8235538529559649894

Baby wearing week

Check it out, one of my dear online friends is doing a giveaway on her blog :)

now if your not a baby wearer you can always enter and pass it along to me ;) lol

http://heathergwood.blogspot.com/2009/09/my-very-first-blog-giveaway-in-honor-of.html

click the link to enter :)

Wednesday's Whine

I hurt my wrist so typing a lot is pretty much out. It hurts like CRAZY...ugh.. I have to see an ortho because xrays showed an abnormality no break but "boney density" which Dr Google says could be osteoporosis.. great..

In other news looks like asfos is going back to hyena cart :) I have joined a congo. hopefully this will go well despite my self not being at 100% wish me luck.

MGR's TWBA for the week of 8.31.09

From Kristin: Do you work better with a routine? Or do you prefer to fly by the seat of your pants? Or maybe it's in between. Post about it. You can post a daily routine. You can post about not having a routine. You can post about how you want a routine. Or how you used to be routined and something happened and you're not. (Not that it's happened to me or anything!)


Uh well, I do try to have somewhat of a Routine, as in meal planning, bedtimes etc. A cleaning routine. but as far as a regimented daily schedule it just never happens kids are unpredictable and trying to follow a set schedule tends to stress me out if I don't follow it. Therefore I am a "fly by the seat of your pants" kinda mama 90% of the time
now just because this is a blog assignment you didn't think you would get away without some form of images.. here is a look at our weekly menu. I post this on the fridge and avoid the MOM WHATS FOR DINNER line..usually LOL


however this is just a guide, meaning we will cook these meals at some point this week we often swap days and tonight eating out we have the kids open house and no time to cook.

Work at Home Wednesday/Thursday

Well it is after midnight LOL
I spent a good chunk of my evening getting my blog set to a fall theme. I know its not quite the fall equinox just yet, but it sure is getting chilly already. If you want to know I personally don't like fall *gasp* only because it means that yucky ol' winter is on its way. For those who know me well know that I have some medical issues one being I'm physically allergic to the cold.. sounds strange I know but google cold urticaria it will blow your mind, you will all want to send me some snugglies! ha! Last year I was also diagnosed with Raynaud's disease. Talk about a double whammy! So my hibernation will begin soon. Every winter I tell dh I want to move to Hawaii and he says he wants to move to Alaska. I can't blame him, he is a chef and works long hours in a hot kitchen everyday. I do though hope God allows us to retire as snowbirds. That would be such a blessing. I always say I'm going to get better about posting more, and I always fail. I have such a busy life and I'm gearing up to re-open my online store soon. I'm no longer going to be on hyena cart moving over to ETSY. I like the set up better, no frills let the merchandise do the talking. I will be offering many of the same products minus the Hyena cart graphics/set-up packages, and a little less on the apparel and tie dye's I love to do that stuff don't get me wrong but I can also admit that many others do it far better than I and I'd rather focus on products that I do well at. I will leave you with some pics of interesting things over the past week or so, and some of new necklaces I made. I will be selling my necklaces and earrings of course.. these are just to cute not to share.

Cady wearing one of my mama made tutu's she will make a better model when she can stand on her own.. this is Mo's tutu but Erynn wanted Cady to try it on lol

Mo just had a pedicure.. I gave her the works, she is blowing on her feet here.

Necklace #1

Necklace #2

Check this out cloth diaper lovers

http://dotcomkari.blogspot.com/2009/08/giveaway-fuzzi-bunz-one-size-pocket.html

enter now.. but if your not a cloth diaper user.. enter anyway and win for me LOL

Family Friday

Not much to say today, I am just spending the day with the Little's while the bigs are at school. Putting around on the computer and Taking Mo to her last day party at "get away camp" (its a 2 hour a day camp for toddlers 2 days a week) Should be fun :) make sure you check out my new blog for wahm'ing and the freebie for today. http://aspoolfullofsugar.blogspot.com/ enjoy!!

Tuesday's Tyrant

Tyrant is my new word for Cady today. She is just into everything. It's driving me banana's but severing as a good reminder to keep on top of cleaning the floors. She will part the carpet threads to find the tiniest lint ball and eat it. She also will pull up and reach to get anything she wants off of tables, couches etc. I'm not much into baby proofing but I think this adventures one is going to make me do it. In other news I'm doing my best to have a positive out look today regardless of what I'm feeling. I'm going to make a nice dinner and a little cake and spend sometime enjoying family time with hubby and the girls. I might even do a fun craft or something depending on how our time is looking. The girls don't get home til 5 and by the time dinner and homework is done its usually time for bath and bedtime. I still haven't quite figured out what time I want for bedtime, I try to aim to have Cady down at 7:30, Morgan and Aria by 8:30 and Erynn by 9:00 I have to space it out a little because getting everyone situated at once isn't going to work.
I also wanted to invite friends and followers to join a new message board http://www.mygreatretreat.com/index.php its a great site. We are doing a digital quilt promotion where you can design or have a designer make you a 150x150 square. its going to be really neat when its all done it will close for entries midnight of the 27th. so check it out.
here is an example of some of the squares

Make a list Monday!

Thought it would be interesting to share my to-do list with you all. Sahm's get this stigma that their homes should be in perfect order, children well behaved and a home cooked meal on the table every night. This of course is a goal, but not at all reality, at least not for me. I truly believe that some days it would be easier to switch places with my husband and work a 9-5 and come home. My husband works very hard and I'm sure it would kill me after a day or two. When you consider the role of a sahm several things to think about. 1. how many children she has 4 2. how large of a home does she have to keep up with 4 level 4 bedroom + finished basement town home 3. Does her spouse share in cleaning duties No not often 4. how involved is she outside of the home moderately involved id say 5-10 hours a week outside of the home 5. does she have any special needs or high needs children yes 7 yr old with adhd & growth issues and high needs 9mth old 6. what are the ages of her children 9mts, 4, 7 & 10 7. does she homeschool 1 child 8. does she have any helpers outside of the home. No (answering my own questions in red)
now for my Monday to-do list, this of course is a goal, not really what will get done
-wash, fold and put away diapers
-clean kitchen
-clean Erynns room to get ready to move her out and Cady in
-clean living room, dust and declutter
- wash dh's clothes
- iron uniforms for school aged kids
- prepare dinner and re-clean kitchen
-make important phone calls
-clean out fridge & take out trash
that is it in a nut shell.. give or take a few things..
now I can't leave you without some pics

Feeding her self oatmeal and peaches and earning herself a mid day shower

We really like fruit in our family!!

A siggy I made myself to use on various message boards

Scrumptious Sunday

I thought it would be fun to take a few pic's of our Sunday brunch. We used to do this every Sunday but finding its hard to put on such a big production. On the menu today was Homemade biscuits and sausage gravy with scrabbled eggs and Fresh squeezed OJ, followed by leftover biscuits and honey. YUM! I'm so stuffed I can barely post these few snap shots I took! I should of gotten a pic of the finished product but after cooking such a long breakfast I was ready to eat LOL.

Biscuits in the bowl (I usually use a glass bowl but with a 4 yr old assisting me today plastic won)

My baking assistant Morgan. I think she will be wearing a hairnet next time.

Mama needs an eclectic juicer, the hand juicer takes FOR-EVAH

Daddy making the meat, I love my new red skillet its is great!

I may edit latter and add some pics from dinner :)

Scavenger Hunt Saturday

Yes that is right today is a scavenger Hunt here in the Crawford house. Missing items are My mini wet bag (for those who don't know what that is its a bag for the diaper bag for holding dirty cloth diapers) My cellphone charger, & my digi scrap Cd's. it seems their is always something hiding in our house. I do wish to be more organized but it so hard to find the time to be organized. It seems we are always getting things and never getting rid of things. I'm going to make it a goal to get rid of 10 things a month for the next year. I will be post crazy on freecycle and ffs (free for shipping) boards. 10 is the goal but I would like to do more than that. A big problem is books we have thousands of them. I have the hardest time getting rid of books. In other news we celebrated Morgans 4th birthday last weekend, while my mother was vacationing here. So lots of pics to share! Enjoy

Sitting on the big shoe outside of the L.L. Bean store

The Pittsburgh Bridges in the play area at the Mall

My Mom & Erynn at Morgans Birthday lunch at the Cheesecake Factory

Morgan enjoying cake & ice cream cone wearing her mama made birthday tutu

Birthday desert at the Cheesecake Factory

Tasty Tuesday.

I haven't blogged in a few again. Life has just been so stinking busy! The girls started school. Their first day went well day 2 is today so we will see what their story is when the get home. I really wish I was a student. They have an awesome school. It's the first year of the school, they have an indoor pool they have Ipods for every student, and each class has a set of Kindles.. I'm like at least we know that the money in the school is well spent. I think i love most is that its a small school only 300 students k-6th, lots of attention give to each child. Today is tasty Tuesday so a recipe will follow. Today my mom is flying in from FL! big anticipation for her arrival. We have lots of plans but I will try to blog along.

Tuesday's Recipe

Chicken Fiesta Salad



INGREDIENTS
2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 (1.27 ounce) packet dry fajita seasoning, divided
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (11 ounce) can Mexican-style corn
1/2 cup salsa
1 (10 ounce) package mixed salad greens
1 onion, chopped
1 tomato, cut into wedges
Add to Recipe Box


DIRECTIONS
Rub chicken evenly with 1/2 the fajita seasoning. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat, and cook the chicken 8 minutes on each side, or until juices run clear; set aside.
In a large saucepan, mix beans, corn, salsa and other 1/2 of fajita seasoning. Heat over medium heat until warm.
Prepare the salad by tossing the greens, onion and tomato. Top salad with chicken and dress with the bean and corn mixture.


and back to the kids Erynn is in 6th, Aria 2nd.. and yes color me paranoid but I black out their school logo's

Fab Friday..

Oh yes fab it was..No really it was.. Erynn and Aria had a field trip to AIU they came home with goodies, faces painted.. even treats for Mo who couldn't go. Mo and I discussed our plans for her school year. we are "unschooling" yeah I know that may be a foregin term to some however its doesn't mean that we are not educating. Education is a top proirty in our home. It's more so a child-led type of learning. We are starting monday I asked Morgan "what do you want to learn" she says "I want to learn about chocolate, scarecrows & how to make a skeleton" I turn that around to "Ok, lets learn about chocolate and the letter C because chocolate starts with C" She gives me the thumbs up and we role with it. So we will be talking about the coco plant, Hershey PA, and the letter C and C sounds. We will also eat some chocolate of course, and bake some chocolate cookies and if time and weather premits maybe a trip to the library to find a book about chocolate. Everyday of course will be differnt but this will really help me in finding out what her learning style is. Some days I will give suggestions as to what I think we should talk about but I will be making sure we are keeping learning to her intrests. Monday is also the girls first day at thier new school. They are very excited, we are about to do a fashion show with thier uniforms so I will add those pics in a bit.

Scrumptious Saturday

I feel like doing some cooking today. I got a bunch of random things to use up in a hurry. It's raining cats and dogs and so humid. I got the A/C blasting away so I might as well warm up the kitchen. But what to make..I have Black Berries, Zucchini, & tons of banana's

I'm thinking I'll start with

Fried Zucchini




3 zucchini
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS
Wash and dry the zucchini. Trim off ends, then slice zucchini into 1/8 inch thick rounds. Place cornmeal in a medium bowl, and toss in zucchini slices, mixing thoroughly to coat.
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Place all of the zucchini pieces into the hot oil and fry over medium heat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Watch zucchini closely, adding more oil if it begins to brown too quickly. When it is golden brown on one side, flip it over to brown on other side. It will clump together as it cooks, that is what you want.
When zucchini is evenly browned, turn heat down to low and cover pan with a lid. Allow it to steam until zucchini is slightly tender. Turn zucchini, replace lid, and steam until soft. Remove lid and turn heat back up to medium-high. Fry on both sides until crisp. Serve hot.

And maybe for desert

Blackberry Cobbler





INGREDIENTS
1 cup butter or margarine, divided
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour*
1/3 cup milk, room temperature
2 cups fresh or frozen blackberries
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons sugar

DIRECTIONS
In a 10-in. round or oval baking dish, melt 1/2 cup butter; set aside. In a saucepan, heat sugar and water until sugar melts; set aside. Place flour in a mixing bowl; cut in remaining butter until fine crumbs form. Add milk, stirring with a fork until dough leaves sides of bowl. Turn out onto a floured surface; knead three or four times. Roll out to an 11-in. x 9-in. rectangle 1/4 in. thick. Spread berries over dough; sprinkle with cinnamon. Roll up, jelly-roll style. Cut into 1/4-in. thick slices. Carefully lay slices in baking dish over butter. Pour sugar syrup around slices (syrup will be absorbed). Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes. Sprinkle sugar over top and bake 15 minutes more. Serve warm or cold. (*If self-rising flour is not available, use 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour plus 1/4 teaspoon salt and 2-1/4 teaspoons baking powder.)

For dinner, not so sure what to make. I might make some homemade mac n cheese and some fresh green beans. My kids are not big fan's of homemade mac n cheese but I keep hoping they will find the love for it because I DONT like the boxed stuff.

Fab Friday..

Nothing news worthy today other than Cady is 8 mts old today. Her first year is just flying right on by. One thing I can say about having a large family is I have so much going on that it happens right under your nose and you feel that you don't get as much 1 on 1 time as you did with just 1 baby. She is really nothing like her sisters. I was really hoping she would be more like Morgan she was the most easy going of all the kids. She has her own little personality though which is great. Didn't do a whole lot today just spent a little time with the kids visited with a neighbor friend. Tomorrow is going to be a bit more busy and I hope to hit the library and park as well. I don't like just sitting around the house on a sunny day. I really want to try to get some nice pic's of the girls to do some digi scraps. My darling hubby is working all day so it will be nice to just have a girls day.



Cady's 8mth pic (not the best pic but she wasn't being very photogenic today)

Thankful Thursday.

I often see on blogs that people spend a fair amount of time complaning and griping. I too am guilty of doing it as well..And still will from time to time. So taking today to write about being thankful. Sometimes it's hard you may have to dig deep. I have many blessings My Girls for 1..they are healthy..That is something you sometimes take for granted. Just spend 5 minutes at caringbridge.com and you will know what I mean. So many sick children in this world it breaks my heart. Always makes me want to hold my babies close and never let them go. Another thing to be thankful for which many take for granted as well is my husband, sure we can all gripe about them. He is amazing, crazy smart & talented. He works hard to provide a lifestyle for us which allows me to stay home with our daughters. I'm trying to be more greatful for him. I know he works hard for us everyday. And most of all im greatful That God gave us his son to die for our sins so that we may be forgiven for our sins. That is HUGE. When you think of that sacrifice that was made for us as sinners its just bigger than what you can really wrap your mind around. I was trying to find a good scripture on thankfullness to post here but, had a hard time choosing what I wanted to use. So I decided on an entire chapter


Psalm 66
1Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands:

2Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious.

3Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee.

4All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name. Selah.

5Come and see the works of God: he is terrible in his doing toward the children of men.

6He turned the sea into dry land: they went through the flood on foot: there did we rejoice in him.

7He ruleth by his power for ever; his eyes behold the nations: let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.

8O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his praise to be heard:

9Which holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our feet to be moved.

10For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.

11Thou broughtest us into the net; thou laidst affliction upon our loins.

12Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place.

13I will go into thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay thee my vows,

14Which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken, when I was in trouble.

15I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings, with the incense of rams; I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah.

16Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.

17I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue.

18If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:

19But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer.

20Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me.

Working Wednesday...

So, today Is going to be my new cleaning day. Yes I understand with 4 kids I do have to clean EVERYDAY..I don't..I should...So I'm calling this Working Wednesday (deep cleaning day) My wonderful hubby helped work on the kitchen last night, I cleaned out the fridge so that is something I can scratch off the list for today. I need to finish up the kitchen & organize the pantry. We have been packing some because moving will happen hopefully sooner than later so really trying to get through everything and attack the laundry monster.



Things just need to be more orderly in my home. I want things to run smoothly. I don't want to feel stressed about the house. I want my husband to come home to a tidy home and a hot meal on the table. I don't think that is to much to ask. He works hard, therefore I should work harder. I'm doing 2 bible studies right now on Proverbs 31 & Titus 2 and its working in my life in someways. God can move mountains and I want to see him move in me so that I can be the best wife to my Husband and Mother to my children.

The 4th & stuff

I so wish I would of gotten better pics. The kids where so busy with all the activities my Aunts had planned for them. I wasn't surprised that Cady loved fireworks, she loves loudness which is a good thing with 3 LOUD older sisters lol. We had a huge bbq with family and friends it was really nice to see everyone. The girls had appointments today. Morgan and Aria had dental appointments, and Erynn and I had Doctors appointments. Erynn is still battling eczema and metal/alloy allergies the poor thing is always with skin issues, we changed up her meds a bit and started a preventive antibiotic because she is very susceptible to MRSA/Staph infections waiting on a culture to come back hoping it is negative then we can stop the antibiotics. Aria needs to see an orthodontist apparently because of her prematurity and her "failure to thrive" one of the drawbacks of under development is that her jaw is not large enough for adult teeth we are not sure what the plan of action will be but her teeth are not falling out like they should she has only lost 2 and she should be at least at 4-8 and the 2 that grew in have the teeth pinned to where they can't come loose. Her enamel is very week (due to under development) Morgan has the start of 2 cavities so they are going to do sealants in 6 months nothing to be done at this stage of the game. As for myself.. still high blood pressure :( I was hopeful that it was improving but I had to give in and start meds hopefully it will be under control soon and I can go back off them.. I was without for 2 years and did fine. I have to go back in another month to see if the meds are helping. Aria and Morgan still need summer physicals, and Cady will have her 9mth appointment soon as well. Then Erynn to the dentist and we are done for a bit. To be safe I'm keeping Erynn home from camp til the culture comes back or after 3 days of antibiotics. My best friend Michelle is coming on the 19th so we are looking forward to some fun girl time. I haven't seen her baby boy Jack yet I'm so excited to get to see her in the role of Mommy and its been awhile since we have seen her. She will only be here for 3 days so we have a lot to fit in.

Healthy me

started my new healthy life style officially on June 9th. After visiting the doctor to discover that my high blood pressure is back (it had been fine for 2 years) I go back for a re-check on July 6th and will be happy for the doctor to see that I have taken this seriously and have lost 20 pounds hoping that will drop my bp down some as well. I think the combination of breaking my ribs and nursing Cady around the clock (thus making me so hungry all the time) didn't help my weight at all. My goal isn't so much to lose weight as it is to live a more healthy life style, losing weight is the bonus. Today I started the 30 Day shred with Jillian Michaels (the evil trainer from the Biggest Loser) it was hard I'm sure I will be feeling it tomorrow. I really do want to get into better shape physically I would love to run a mini marathon next year. I'm not brave enough to post before and after pic's maybe when I'm all slim and cute again I will post and be like... look at me now... and now look at then... lol..
the funny thing is as I'm still nursing a rib injury I decided to watch the workout first. Aria and Morgan did the entire thing.. I was impressed.. I was thinking GEEWIZ if only they listened to me they way they did Jillian LOL. I did pull a muscle in my thigh last week so I had to modify a bit. I'm going to do my best to stick to this 30 day workout. However, I cant imagine doing it with dh home so I will have to do it on his off days before he wakes up.
And lastly I have a few pics.. no post is complete with out those..



Morgan w/ Clifford at the 3 rivers art festival (her special daddy day)

Cady playing on the front deck, she moves he arms so fast the blur LOL

I

I have been really lacking in blogging. My apologies to my few followers. Life just always gets so busy in the summer months for us. The kids have lots of activities, we try to get out more, hubby gets busy at work etc. The kids of course are growing like weeds. Erynn is nearly as big as I am. Aria is getting so smart, her reading is excellent. Morgan will be 4 years old next month. Cady is changing everyday. She still isn’t really crawling but she wants to. She loves to jump and gets into everything. I don’t recall any of the other girls being as active as she is she rarely sits still. I do wish she would start sleeping through the night. We took a little walk to a park we had not been too since last summer. I love when we get to the park and no one is their. I got some good pics of the girls. We took some snacks but they just wanted to play so we munched on the way home. We also found a place we had never been before with a really neat mosaic stone so got a pic of that too. I was going to give myself a photo challenge but I just have so many other things to keep up with right now. We are educating through the summer which is going well. That is one wonderful thing I can say about my girls they LOVE learning. Aria is crazy about math. My printer sure gets a workout lol.

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.