Table talk

We were having dinner the other night, chicken, rice, salad and the kids favorite asparagus. Of course the kids loaded up on asparagus, Cheeseburger Boy had four servings with dinner then while we were cleaning the table up he grabbed the asparagus container and ditched his fork in favor of the serving spoon and proceeded to eat the rest of the asparagus.

The Babe with the Power is going to be starting on solid foods next week so we decided it was time for him to start to get comfortable in his new highchair, plus we want him to be able to be with us at the table while we eat without having to hold him. He did really well, he looks like such a big boy, 4 months old already.

Blessed Yule!

Yesterday we celebrated Yule (Winter Solstice) here. It was a great day for the kids, they each got to open a gift from us and a gift from their secret shopper. Holidays are expensive, especially for a family the size of mine. The kids all wanted to buy for each other which of course would mean my wallet getting lighter, so instead of them buying for each sibling they did a secret shopper drawing and each bought for one person. The things they chose were so cute and it really was inexpensive they each spent $5.00 or less. Yule really is not really about gifts, so the things we gave the kids were little or handmade. This year for Bookworm I made a purse out of a pair of jeans she has outgrown. After dinner we all decorated a gingerbread house together, it really was a great day.

Holiday fundraiser

Well my fundraiser last week turned out great. I was short staffed but we made it through. The kids had a great time. It ended up being a family affair, most of my helpers were related or good friends. Deli Dude and Bookworm were big helpers, Bookworm helped Blais man a table while Deli Dude was a personal shopper for kids that attended. The Babe with the Power made sure his Aunty, Daddy and Mom had soggy shoulders all day. It was a little slower than usual, but there were a few other events taking place in town at the same time this year. Cheeseburger Boy and Super Why came and shopped and them hung out and "helped." I wish I was able to get more pictures, but I just didn't have the time.

For the Dogs

So the holiday fundraiser I chair every year for the PTO is on Saturday and I'm a bit behind since everyone in the house has been sick in the last two weeks. I still need to make a few lip balms and 100 packages of dog bones to sell. While Super Why and The Babe With The Power were napping and Bookworm was at school, Cheeseburger Boy and I decided it would be a good idea to make some of our dog bones. We made the milk bone variety and they were really quite simple. The first batch looked a lot paler than the ones you buy so on the next batch I used half white flour and half wheat flour, they looked great. Although they are perfectly fine for human consumption I did not try them, i figured we would leave that up to the dogs.

Organized

In part of my ongoing attempt at being well organized and having my house run smoothly, I have come up with something new. I call it my Home Folio. Basically a 3 ring binder, loaded with everything it takes to keep my house running. I have it broken down into 5 basic categories, home organization which has a Where can I find page that has a list of where to find things like the first aid kit or fire extinguishers, things that usually would warrant a "Mom" or "Honey, where can I find....?" This will also come in handy if we ever need to have a babysitter come in. Next in this section is a rough schedule that I try to keep the kids on during the week, to keep them busy and me sane. I have my daily to do's, outlining what chores should be done on what day, for instance Friday is my kitchen day, I wipe the counters and keep up on dishes daily, but on Friday I take everything off the counters to clean, toss out anything questionable in the fridge and sweep and mop. Following my daily to do's is a breakdown of what things need to be done in each room on its cleaning day. Lastly in this section is a clothing needs section so I can keep track of what kids need what clothing for each upcoming season. My second section is menu planning & grocery organization, in this section I have a copy of the food pyramid that is appropriate for each member of the family since we all have different caloric needs, a menu calendar for the current month, a master list of meals we have, a list of all grocery items we buy by store and food type and lastly a shopping list, this way its in one place not on several scraps of paper. My third section is education organization. I have a sub-section for each child in school that includes a calendar of the current month so that we can write in upcoming projects or important test, school shows, etc. this way I can keep tabs on what they need to be doing and if they have a project due I am aware and can give them a nudge or a push to get moving. There is also a folder where papers I need to look over or need to be signed and returned can be put so they are not misplaced. The fourth section is for extra curricular also with sub-sections for each child with a calendar marking all of the activities they are participating in and on what days/times and any needed information. The fifth and final section is for contacts, again so the husband and kids can look and find numbers and addresses themselves without yelling "MOOOM."

Full of beans

This morning the boys were messing around, playing pirates (any excuse to attack each other). You like their pirate hats? Super Why is wearing a knee pad from a ninja costume and Cheeseburger Boy is wearing the king hat from Bookworms princess party a few years ago. Anyhow, after I could take no more screaming and attacking, boys pouncing at each other over the entire house I knew what had to be done. I had to dig into the craft cabinet and get something that they could both play with, next to each other without having to come into direct contact with each other...BEANS. Beans, beans the magical fruit? Better believe it, if it can keep my boys happy, busy and not screeching through the house pummeling anything that dare get close enough it's got to be magic. They loved measuring out the beans and pouring them back and forth between the bowls. The kidney beans and the white beans that fell on the floor were pretty easy to clean up but the lentils that's another story. They actually weren't that bad, at least I used the green lentils and not the red ones, I never would have found them in my carpet.

Karaoke anyone?

This morning Cheeseburger Boy and Super Why were listening to their Cars CD in their room, when I went in to check on them they were singing into their microphones and dancing on Super Why's bed. They looked so cute, and were having so much fun. When they saw me pull out the camera, Cheeseburger Boy hammed right up while Super Why clammed up, he would turn away from me and keep on singing every time I aimed the camera in his direction. They must have sang and danced for a good hour in there this morning.

Trick or Treat

The day they've been waiting for finally came, Halloween. All week long the kids have been trying to behave so they could have their night prowling the town scoring some loot. Deli Dude dressed as a football player, Bookworm a bride, Cheeseburger Boy of course a race car driver, Super Why was Thomas the train and The Babe with the Power was a chili pepper.It was really funny to watch Super Why, he understood it better this year, he knew he was suppose to walk up to the door and say trick or treat and the people would give him candy, but being the youngest one walking around he was slower than the rest, by the time he would reach the foot of the stairs at each house the older kids would be coming back down so he would turn around, sigh and start to walk back to us. We kept telling him it was ok, that he could still go up and get his candy, he refused at the first few houses, once we took him by the hand and brought him up he was fine, then there was no stopping him. The kids all started out at full steam, racing house to house (Cheeseburger Boy was making the noise of an engine revving while he was racing around), after about 45 minutes the sprints had slowed to a walk and after about an hour and a half the walk slowed to dragging feet and cries of "I need to go potty." After we got back to the house and they started checking their bags they began coming back to life, it was as if they absorbed the sugar through their finger tips, kids who were just minutes before completely drained suddenly had so much energy that they were running, jumping, wrestling and practically flying through the air. The only one who didn't go crazy with all of the Halloween hoopla was The Babe with the Power, as you see in the picture, he wasn't all that impressed so he decided to take a nap. Ah, the magic of Halloween!

Bookworm's disappointment

So High School Musical 3 opened tonight. You know Bookworm is a huge fan so I promised her a couple of months ago that she and I would go together for girls night out. She has been anxiously waiting and trying real hard to behave. We went and got our tickets at AAA this afternoon, Bookworm made sure all her chores were done and I made sure The Babe with the Power had enough milk to get through until I got back. We left for the theater after we cleaned up dinner. Of course being a Friday night traffic into the plaza was ridiculous. The entire ride there she was telling me how excited she was and she could barely sit still in her seat. She sprinted across the parking lot, down the escalator and to the ticket line. Waiting in line she had a smile from ear to ear and was bouncing like crazy and then we got up to the counter... SOLD OUT! The only two showings we could possibly stay for were sold out. I have never seen a child's face melt so fast, the bounce in her step was gone. Sheer disappointment.

Little pumpkins

Well we finally managed to get our pumpkins painted on Sunday. Actually we managed to get a lot of things painted on Sunday, the kids, the table & chairs a few door jams, I'm sure over the next few days I'll find other things that got a fresh coat too! Cheeseburger boy and Super Why managed to get so much paint on their pumpkins that as of last night they still had wet spots. This was the first year that Super Why was able to participate so of course he was just thrilled that we were allowing him to paint on something other than paper. We're gearing up to start our holiday crafting so I'll have some new posts coming soon.

A New Blog

Well I have decided that since most of posts thus far have been food related and since the kids and I really love to cook (and eat) that I would start a blog dedicated to food. I will post about all the different foods we make from day to day with pictures of course. Now that the cold weather has started to set in I'll be cooking and baking even more to help keep the house warm and since I have a tendency to go a bit overboard baking around the holidays I should have plenty to write about. Anyhow, if your interested the address to the food blog is www.Tribeinthekitchen.blogspot.com .

Jam

Well Bookworm decided to pull a Jekyll and Hyde over homework today so pumpkin painting was out of the question. If she can keep her cool we'll paint them tomorrow after dinner and I'll post some photos.

I did manage to make and can a batch of strawberry jam that came out pretty good if I do say so myself. I made and canned apple butter the other day too! It has been a pretty productive week, hopefully the weekend will continue to be as well.