80's Adult Prom Fundraiser

The boys' school hosted an adult 80's Prom for a PTO fundraiser.  I thought it was a good idea but had no plans to go to it.  Then I mentioned it to Brad and he said he would go, so I thought what the heck lets try something new.  My mom already had plans to watch the kids that weekend as part of our Christmas present.  I told her about the dance, she is creative and loves finding costumes and decorations and she is good at it.  I enjoy making costumes for the kids and lean on her for ideas when I get stumped, but the thought of finding clothes for Brad and I did not sound fun.  My mom showed up on Saturday with bags full of clothes for Brad and I.

She couldn't let us go without taking her picture with each of us.

Once I was dressed and my mom did my hair Joel saw me and said "Oh mommy you are beautiful!  I love you like that!"  Cecilia told me I was beautiful because I was wearing a pink dress.  Vincent saw me, his jaw dropped and he walked away yelling "There's a creepy lady in our house!"  On our way to the event we stopped at my brother and sister in laws' house to borrow his letterman jacket for Brad.  They weren't home but our niece, her boyfriend and my nephew were all home.  Brad thought it would be fun if we both went in to get the jacket.  Getting dressed up in 80's garb was worth it for their reaction.  They were surprised, shocked and laughing.  It was great!

Brad and I had fun at the dance.  There were only a handful of people that we knew.  They had a silent auction and we won front row seats for Vincent's music performance next year and a reserved parking spot at the school for 1/2 the school year next year.  It will save me time at drop of and pick up!  I am excited!

Brad and I ended up spending the night at my inlaws, they were out of town so we crashed in the guest bedroom.  The bedroom is in the basement and it stays very dark in there.  We were able to sleep in!!  I can't remember the last time we both got to sleep in past 7am.  We also were able to go run errands Sunday morning together and get a lot accomplished.  The kids loved having Grandma Dawn here and weren't real happy when we came back home.  They wanted more time with her! 

Saved by my cousin!

I had to work on Thursday and my sitter couldn't watch the Cecilia and Dean because her kids were sick.  I sent a message to my cousin Kristy and she was kind enough to watch those 2 all day.  They were so excited but I made them promise not to tell Joel or Vincent because the big brothers would be mad they had to go to school.  Joel informs me at least once a month that Brett and Luke's house is more fun and he wants to go to their house.

I think she loves him!

This may have been the highlight, I heard a lot about it!

The littles had fun there but the problem is they will probably never want to go to the regular babysitter's house again!  Kristy spoiled them!  They  played with chalk, played at the park, went to a McDonald's with a play area, picked Brett up from school and just had a blast with their cousins.  It was fun to see the pictures of their day that Kristy was sending me at work.  School gets in the way of us being able to get together as often as we would like, but it is such a blessing to have them living close to us.  We grew up having so much fun together and begging our parents to let us have sleepovers.  It is so cool that we live close enough that our kids get to have fun together too.

And this is what they looked like after a 15 min car ride

I let them have a 30 minute nap before I woke them up.

A Balancing Act

This week has been an exercise in communication and multitasking for Brad and I.  Vincent was sick from Monday night until Wednesday night.  Wednesday night he perked up but he stayed home from school on Thursday.  He missed 3 days of school.  It is hard to go to different activities and work when you have a sick kid at home.  Vince had a headache, stomachache and a fever and felt so bad he didn't even want to read, which is how you know Vince is really sick.


Explaining to Cecilia she can't go to gymnastics because Vincent is sick doesn't go over well and dragging him along to get other kids sick isn't great either.  My mother in law is usually my go to in situations like this, but she was out of town and not an option.  Luckily Brad's schedule is a bit more flexible this time of year and Vincent is older and doesn't need constant supervision.  They were able to work something out for the 2 hours we were gone.  On Wednesdays I work in the mornings and Vincent was still sick, so he was with Brad for the morning.  Vincent spent part of his morning in the car while Brad was taking care of some things at different fields and then got to come home and rest while Brad was working outside.  With the main farm being right next door it was easy for Brad to keep checking on Vince, although I did notice that we ended up with one of the 2 way radios from the farm in the house.  I think that was Brad's way to be able to check on Vincent more often.  Wednesday afternoon I had to take Joel to the doctor and Vincent wasn't doing well and didn't want to leave the house, so I left him behind for Brad to pick up and take with him to where ever Brad needed to work.


Wednesday night Vince was still acting pretty sick and he didn't look that great either.  I asked him what his pain score was and he said 10.  I reminded him that a 10 was like someone cutting off his leg with a chainsaw and he said "fine I am at a 9!"  He is a bit dramatic in the ranking of his pain.  By Thursday morning he was pretty much back to normal but I kept him home just to be sure.  I had to work all day Thursday so he spent the day actually being able to help Brad with different jobs around the farm and our barn.  However, he kept telling Brad his pain score was at a 4.


Both  Vince and Joel are pretty dramatic in their responses to things.  Joel was having some urinary issues and we had to go get an abdominal x-ray this week.  I had everyone but Vincent with me.  We got to the x-ray department and the receptionist said that Joel might need to take off his pants for the x-ray and just have is underwear on.  I said ok, and Joel pretend to pass out and say "what the heck!".  The receptionist looked very concerned that he was laying on the floor and she said "I have never had anyone pass out like that before!"  I barely turned my head to acknowledge him, because I would have laughed, and just said "he is dramatic, don't worry about him!"


Vincent is back to being healthy.  Joel's urinary issues have resolved.  Cecilia had a fever for 12 hours and then was fine and Dean, Joel, Brad, and I have seemed to have missed whatever strange virus has passed thru our house.

Presiden'ts Day

We spent President's Day visiting our dear friends Katie, Olivia and Deegan.  Katie was our nanny for a couple years and she lived through the early years of Joel (they were rough), she helped potty train Vincent, she cooked and cleaned and helped keep our house running while I worked.  When I had Cecilia and Brad had a 2 day meeting out of town that he had to leave for the day after we brought Cecilia home Katie came to our house during the day and took care of the boys while I rested and took care of Cecilia.  She is the sweetest person with more patience in her little finger than most people have in their whole body.  And she is smart!  Along the way we have become good friends.  Unfortunately between living 40 minutes apart and having kids in school and other activities and work we don't get to see each other more than a couple times a year.  President's day was one of those days.


We drove out to Katie's house and were able to spend several hours together.  It was so great to see Katie and visit even if it was conversations interrupted by  small voices every few minutes.  Such is life and we are not phase by it anymore.  Olivia is a year younger than Vince and they are two peas in a pod.  They both love to read more than any kids I know and they discuss obscure topics.  Deegan is 6 months younger than Cecilia and he is a riot.  Joel and Deegan seemed to enjoy spending time playing and Cecilia mostly played with Vincent and Olivia.  Dean is just happy to have some new toys to play with .


While we were there Joel wet his pants which he hasn't done in years.  The only extra clothes we had with us were Cecilia's underwear and a pair of Dean's size 2T jeans.  It turns out he fits in both.  The jeans weren't even too tight, a little short, but he kept walking around saying "skinny legs!"

Pants if you're short and shorts if you're tall

We were so busy enjoying each others company and watching the kids play that we forgot to take a group picture!  I did manage to get one of Joel in Dean's jeans.

Freezer Meals

We have a group at our church called FISH.  It stands for friends in service to him.  At one point all of us ladies and most of our spouses would meet together and do a formal Bible Study.  Then we all got married and had kids.  Now the dads get together and are currently working on playground project for church and us moms get together at least once a month and work on other projects.  About twice a year we have been doing freezer meal packing.  One of our mentors brought the idea to us a couple years ago and we loved it.  Even better was that she did all the shopping and prep work and we just showed up, wrote a check for our portion and had 5 meals in under 2 hours without even going to the store!! 

We heard that some other people in church were interested in participating so our FISH group decided to plan one and open it to everyone in the church.  I ended up being the one to do the shopping.  I don't enjoy shopping at all, never have.  It doesn't matter if it is shoes, clothes, food, etc I just don't enjoy it.  In order to make my shopping list I had to know random things like how many cups 3 diced carrots makes, or how many teaspoons in a tiny container of spices, or how many green peppers it takes to get 1 cup of diced pepper, or how many cups of chicken 1 chicken breast  makes.  You see when I cook I mostly follow recipes but if it says 1/2 a cup of onion I just cut up the whole thing and throw it in.  If it says 1 clove of garlic and I don't have any, I just sprinkle some minced garlic in and hope for the best.  When I am cooking for my family it doesn't matter when I am shopping for 13 other people it does matter.

I went to Aldi's one night and bought as much as I could from them.  I almost bought them out of beef broth.  Then another day Cecilia and I went to Costco and Walmart to finish up.  The entire back of the cart at Costco was filled to the top with meat when I got done.  We got several strange looks and 3 different people from the meat department asked if we needed help and asked what we were doing.  The cashier thought I was crazy, so I again had to explain what we were doing and he was impressed with the whole process.  One our way to the car our very heavy grocery cart hit a small pot hole in the sidewalk as we were going downhill which caused our whole box filled with chicken to spill onto the parking lot.  Don't worry it was all sealed in plastic and nothing ripped open.  Cecilia was very worried we would never get the shopping cart unstuck and to our car.

We were able to find everything but pearled barley on our shopping adventure and luckily we were able to enlist some help to go track it down and purchase it for us because I was over shopping by the end of the day.

I did all this shopping and our pantry, fridge and freezer are all running very low and it was going to be a few days before I was going to be up for another grocery shopping trip or had time to go on one.  I have a feeling my freezer meals are going to be used up rather quickly!

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is not my favorite holiday.  I have always thought it was a little silly because if you love someone do nice things for them all year and say nice things to them all year.  Then 10 years ago Brad's cousin, who was also a good friend of mine, died in a car accident along with her son, and I liked the day even less. 

I still remember it like it was yesterday although this memory I haven't thought of in awhile.  I was in my 4th year of vet school.  We had a blizzard that hit on Feb 12-13.  It was bad enough that the university cancelled classes.  After spending the day on clinics I was scheduled for a 6pm-midnight shift in the large animal ICU.  The next shift which was midnight-6am was unable to get to the school so two of us stayed on and covered the shift.  We were slap happy by the end of the night.  Another classmate had a truck with 4 wheel drive and was giving rides to and from the school to anyone that needed them.  The apartment complex where I lived along with many vet school students wasn't getting plowed at all.  I was happy to eat and get into my bed that morning after being at school for almost 24 hours.  A few hours later I woke up because Brad was calling to tell me about the accident.  I felt like I had to get back home,  there was no question about it.  I called the vet school and talked to the resident that was on that day and informed her of the situation and told her I was heading home for a few days.  I jumped in the shower, packed a bag and went to figure out how I was going to get my truck out of the parking lot.  When I got out there I found it all cleared of snow and shoveled out.  While I was getting ready my friend who worked overnight with me found out what happened and came over to help me.  Jen and Sam are missed by so many!

Other than sending cards to school with the kids we haven't done much to celebrate Valentine's day in the past.  Then this year I saw something on Facebook about writing on a heart something you love about your kids or spouse each day of February up until Valentine's day.  That was something that really spoke to me this year.  I found time to do it and the kids loved it!  They weren't even too hard on me when I forgot one day and put two up the next day.  I hung them all on the windows in the dining room and they doubled as decorations!  The kids loved to read the new ones in the morning and loved to see what I had wrote.  As a matter of fact I made all three of the older kids ones that said they were competitive, but I didn't hang them up on the same night.  When Cecilia saw that Joel had one that said he was competitive she said "I'm competitive too!"  I started laughing and she had no idea why. 

As the days went by I felt like I should do it for Brad too, but starting at day 10 seemed silly.  Before I went to bed the night before Valentine's day I put up 14 hearts for Brad.  He liked them but felt bad he didn't do the same for me.  He did take my car to the shop and clean it inside and out and that was a much better present in my opinion!

While we will never go crazy about Valentine's day around here, I am going to make the heart thing a new tradition!

 

Random places and ways we all sleep in this house....

The sleeping situation in our house is fluid at best.  It is a miracle if no one wakes up in the middle of the night crying and everyone spends the whole night in their own bed. 

Some things I just can't explain

Vincent usually sleeps in his own bed, but is known to say "I can't fall asleep" after a few minutes and beg to sleep in our room.  It doesn't seem to matter what I say because if I say no I sometimes find him sleeping in my bed when I go to bed.  Usually laying the normal way in the bed, sometimes taking up the entire bed, and lately at the foot of the bed.

J and C cuddling each other in our bed.

Joel has always been good about just staying in bed even if he can't fall asleep.  He will lay there for hours wide awake because he knows he shouldn't get out of bed.  Once in a very great while he will come out to the couch and beg me to cuddle him because he can't sleep and I usually give in and cuddle him.  The last 6 months he has been ending up in our room in the morning.  I have no idea what time he comes up but I am guessing he gets up to use the bathroom and decides he wants to come cuddle.  Honestly I usually don't notice him until I wake up.  The funny thing about Joel is no matter where I am sleeping he finds me.  I can be in Cecilia's room, or in Vincent's bed or the couch and he finds me in the middle of the night.  I am then scolded for not being in my room.

They trickled in our bed in the middle of the night.  How we all fit I will never know.

Cecilia no longer screams and cries when we attempt to put her to bed (90% of the time) which is wonderful and her night terrors only happen once every few weeks.  It used to be nightly, so we are thrilled with the progress!  She doesn't end up in our bed as much as she used to and if we are lucky she only brings 1 or 2 babies with.  Sometimes it is 10 or more and she gets mad if they can't all share my pillow with her.  My pillow is never big enough!

Sometimes the kids ask us to lay with them at night.  We say yes once in awhile and usually end up asleep in just a few minutes.

And sometimes you fall asleep cuddling a kid on the couch and your husband comes home and is nice enough to document it.

Dean ends up in our bed once in awhile, but only once a week or less.  If you get him a milk sippy cup and change his diaper he will go right back to sleep, but it has to be in our bed.  Returning him to his bed results in a very upset toddler who suddenly realizes he can escape from his crib.  He did this to me a few months ago and climbed right out of the crib and came down the steep stairs in the dark and made it to our room.  I need him in a crib still, he won't fall asleep unless he thinks he is trapped.  He has tried to crawl out 1 other time but I yelled at him when he tried and we have been fine since, but I haven't pushed my luck by returning him to his crib in the middle of the night.

Somebody loves that the bottom bunk is currently only for the stuffed animals

Then there are nights where the stars align and 3-4 kids end up in our bed all at once.  Pete hates those nights because he likes to sneak to the end of our bed at night and when all the kids show up there is no room for him.  A kind sized bed is never big enough.  We have had nights where 3 kids and Brad sleep normally in the bed and I sleep across the bottom because it is the only way to fit.  Or if Vincent's bed is free Dean and I will sleep there and leave everyone else in my bed.  Other times when Cecilia is screaming I will just go and sleep with her in her bed.  It is musical beds around here.  The other night the three big kids decided they were all sleeping in our bed and Brad and I were too tired to fight it.  We wanted them asleep and we didn't care where they landed.  Cecilia moved the dog bed and slept on the floor in our room, Vince and Joel took over the bed, Brad went to Vincent's bed and I squeezed in our bed with the boys who were sleeping with their heads at the foot of the bed.  It wasn't long before Cecilia stood up screaming and saying in a panicked voice that she needed water.  She was dreaming and I pulled her into bed with me and she went back to sleep.

This was naptime but most nights I find him sleeping with his hands behind his head.

When there are 3-4 kids in our bed multiple nights in a row I do get frustrated, but honestly I don't really mind it.  They won't be little forever and if they want to cuddle Brad and I then so be it.  Someday, sooner than I like, they will be too cool to cuddle us so for now I will cherish musical beds.  The different positions they fall asleep in make me laugh so I take pictures.  The angelic look they have when they sleep mesmerizes me, so I take pictures.  One day when they find out I have all these pictures they probably won't love them as much as I do.

Sleeping with his blanket and a book

Bristol seems to enjoy kicking Pete out of his bed every once in awhile

Passed out like a bunch of puppies

We were reading books on the floor while she was sleeping in the bed.

Asleep on the couch.

The Week of February 6th in Review

The week of Feb 6th was a little crazy around here.

Monday- Cecilia's Birthday!  I volunteered in her class, she had a friend over after school and then swimming lessons and Vincent's first dog class with Pete.

Tuesday- Cecilia went to her first gymnastics lessons, a birthday present from us and Grandma and Grandpa.  We had some free time before we picked up the boys from school, went to Joel's therapy, raced home so Vince and Brad could head to baseball camp and a 4-H livestock meeting.

Wednesday- I found out that 9/15 kids in Cecilia's class were going to be home sick.  Most of them had the stomach flu.  We were watching my nephew that day and I didn't not want him or my sister to end up with the stomach flu.  Dean went to the sitter's while I worked in the morning, Brad kept Cecilia with him and we all met up around lunchtime.  My aunt ended up meeting my sister at our house and stayed here watching my nephew until Brad came home around lunch time.  My aunt not only watched my nephew but cleaned up my house while he napped!  It was such a fun surprise to come home to. 

As soon as Abram was awake from his nap Dean wanted to take him outside.  I tried to tell him that Abram didn't have snow clothes.  Dean insisted that Abram could borrow his clothes, and he could wear Cecilia's and Cecilia could wear Joel's.  That isn't quite what happened but Dean did give up his winter boots and wore some pink and white winter boots.  We spent some time playing outside in the minute amount of snow that we had received in the morning.  Cecilia and Dean tried to teach Abram to eat snow.  He didn't know what to think about that but he had fun seeing the chickens, cats and horses. 

Me, Cecilia, and Abram

Abram and Cecilia

Dean, Abram and Cecilia

Me and the kids

Thursday- Our friend John came over after school to play with Cecilia.  They are a ball full of energy and they made use of every area in our house.  They have a lot of fun together until one of them gets tired and then they act like brother and sister.  While John was here Cecilia got her pants wet and needed to go change.  I asked her to go run and change in her room.  She didn't want to because she wanted John to go with her.  I had to try and explain that girls and boys need to change in separate areas.  She was so over tired and upset that she melted onto the floor and lost it. 

Friday-  We celebrated the kids' day off school with dentist appointments for the two oldest and a trip to the Crawford's for the kid sleepover.

Saturday-  Brad, Dean and I had a bit of time to ourselves on Saturday.  Brad worked on painting the tack room and Dean and I spent some time cuddling per his request.  Seriously who can say no to a sweet little face saying "Mommy, come cuddle me on the couch."  Not me!  We watched Paw Patrol and snuggled for an hour and it was great.  However, by 1pm he was saying "When we go pick up Sazee (Cecilia)?"  Either I wasn't entertaining enough or he just missed his sister.  It is hard to tell.  We concluded the night with the Crawfords dropping off the kids and staying for dinner.  The kids didn't to ever leave each other!

Sunday-  We concluded our busy week with Joel and I having our breakfast date in the garage.  Vincent was our waiter and we both got to have the food we wanted.  It was actually pretty great!  Now all the kids want to have their breakfast dates somewhere in the house or on the property.  After church Brad and Vincent stayed to help set up for an event that was happening that week.  They got home and we went to my dad's for dinner with my sisters and their families.  We left there early, after eating way too much delicious food, and headed to have dinner with a couple of my friends.  I was stuffed and watched them eat, but it was great to have a few hours out of the house with friends.

Aunt Carol and Joel working on Valentines

Cecilia and Nanno cooking

Joseph and Cecilia

Dean Loves Me!

Dean talks a lot.  He was slow to start (in my mind)  and I was a few weeks from inquiring about a speech evaluation and then he just started talking nonstop.  To the point that he is not shy to jump in and say "Hey, you not letting me talk!" when his siblings talk over him.  The kids speaks full sentences, tells jokes, says "I have an idea!", and is a backseat driver but he had never told us that he loved us.  We would get hugs and kisses and we knew that he loved us, but there is something so special about them saying "I love you!"  I have heard him say he loved the dog, horses and even food.  No kidding, on Christmas Eve we were celebrating Christmas with extended family.  My uncle made delicious pork for an appetizer.  Dean ate a piece, threw his hands in the air and said "I love meat!"  Like I said I knew he loved me but I really wanted to hear him say it.  On Saturday Feb 11 I got Dean up from his nap and told him that I loved him and he responded with "I love you too!"  I was floored and told him to say it again!  Now he says it almost everyday.  It is something I never get tired of hearing my kids say!

2-4-6-8

Ever since Dean turned 2 I have joked with the kids about saying 2-4-6-8 Who do we appreciate?  Mommy, Mommy, Yea Mommy!  They laugh and never really do it.  The night before Cecilia's birthday I decided I had to make them do it one time and get it on video.  There was no practicing and a little confusion about who they were cheering for, but it is all good!

Superbowl Party 2017

We are  not a big football family.  My dad used to make us watch football with him.  My sisters and I didn't like to, so he would tell us we were punished and make us take turns watching it with him.  I learned a little about football then.  Brad played football for a little bit while in high school and he likes it but we just rarely have the tv on to watch it.  It just isn't a priority in our lives. 

Siblings

We usually spent Superbowl Sunday at home trying to convince the kids it is fun to watch and sending them to bed after half time.  Exciting, right?  I made some snacks and made a makeshift "bar" for the kids to eat at where they could see the tv.  Normally food and drinks are not allowed out of the kitchen/dining room, so they were pretty excited.  This year 3 of the 4 kids paid attention to the game.  Joel didn't see the point, although there were a couple commercials he thought were hilarious.  Toward the end of the game Joel started paying more attention and there were protests about going to bed when the game got close.  Then the kids had to stay awake for overtime.  It was fun around here in the morning!

Superbowl party

One tradition around here is to take a picture with the birthday kid the day or night before their birthday.  A last night as a (insert age) picture.  Cecilia is getting particular about how photos need to look and where she wants people to be, so we took quite a bit of time trying to get  pictures she wanted.

Family Selfie...but we couldn't see Bristol so we had to do another

Pete's nose is in there so it counts!

And she wanted a picture of just the kids...but we couldn't get Pete to move

Bristol's back is showing so Cecilia was happy with the picture

Cecilia's 5th Birthday Party!

Saturday we celebrated C's birthday.  Part of our birthday tradition is that I make the kids a cake.  It isn't a perfect cake but it is usually something they have helped pick out.  We have had hungry hungry caterpillar cakes, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, monster trucks, Cars, Lego, TMNT, etc.  C was having a hard time deciding what to pick this year so we got on Pinterest.  She decided on a horse cake.  We found an idea we liked and built off of that.  I usually bake and decorate the cakes when the kids are in bed because it is just easier, I never make them ahead of time and I am usually pulling the house and food all together at the last minute.  This year the house was clean, the food (chosen by C was easy) and C really wanted to help with the cake.  We did it all together and it was a lot of fun.  She directed and I did the work.  She was really excited to get to help!

Cecilia was pretty excited to have her aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and friends join us to celebrate.  She is loved by a lot of people!

John, Cecilia, and Dean

Aunt Kasi, Cecilia, and Joel

Aunt Alyse, Cecilia and Aunt Jill

Cecilia, Uncle Bob and Dean

Cecilia and her Miss Jessica

Cecilia and her boys!

Cecilia and her new doll

Aunt Sarah and Cecilia

Grandma Dawn, Papa Razzi and the grandkids

Dean, Grandma and Abram