Last day of the break

We have been on break since December 21st, and can I say that, while I love my kids, I am very ready for all 4 of the them to go back to school tomorrow. I have broken up more fights than a WWE referee:-)
I think the kids are ready to go back as well--Emma had ballet tonight and was excited to start learning her recital dance. They are going to dance to music from Titanic:-) She asked if she could watch the movie and I had to tell her no--not quite ready for her to see all that movie involves.
Jake is still asking to take karate, so we will probably sign him up as a birthday present (which is in 10 days--how does that go by so quickly?). I will let him try it for a few weeks and see how he likes it.
Caleb is enjoying his new Kindle Fire and also playing on our computer. He received a Lego Harry Potter game from Shon's mom and he and Jake have played that as well.
Shon went back to work today after over 2 weeks off--poor guy had to go and sit through hospital orientation even though he has been working here well over 2 years. It somehow slipped through the cracks and they made him go today:-)
I am very ready to get back to my routine and hopefully incorporate exercise and better eating as part of that routine. Tomorrow I have a hair appointment scheduled, so at least that will be something enjoyable:-)
I need to import some pictures from Christmas onto this computer and will post them whenever I can.
Hoping everyone enjoys their first day back to school tomorrow!

Recipe post

I know, blogging 2 days in a row--don't fall over!:-) I am going to post a link to the roll recipe I use, because I pretty much follow it exactly and I don't ever remember to take pictures when I am cooking. I will say that you need to bake these the same day you make them, because they don't really work as well rising if you try and put them in the fridge and then bake them the next morning (I have tried it). They are also a bit labor-intensive, but very worth it. If you don't have time to follow this recipe, I just discovered Pillsbury's hot roll mix, and you can make cinnamon rolls with it as well, and they are just about as good. Here is the link for the rolls ( I divide the dough in half and make half rolls/half cinnamon rolls).
http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/10/worlds-best-dinner-rolls/ I use dental floss to cut the cinnamon rolls--works very well. I make up my own glaze for the cinnamon rolls--melted butter, powdered sugar, and milk. I don't really measure--I just mix until it looks right. Hopefully next time I make these, I will take some pictures of the process. Let me know if anything is not clear!

Happy New Year!

Wow, it has been a really long time since I have blogged. We have had a really good past few months, just very busy with the holiday. A brief recap:

Halloween was fun--Will went with me and the other 3 but did not dress up--he rode in his stroller and had a good time just being outside. The other 3 did extremely well candy-wise--we didn't even make it around the whole neighborhood before calling it a night.
Thanksgiving this year was just the 6 of us--and I am proud to say that I did the whole meal, including the turkey and it all turned out great:-) I bought a turkey breast that was 8 lbs and brined it--I think that is the way to do it from now on. It only had to cook for about 2 1/2 hours too. I also made rolls from scratch and they rose and turned out so yummy--we had enough dough that I also made cinammon rolls for the next morning.
For Christmas, my parents came here the 24th and we had a good time baking and hanging out. They stayed and ate veggie beef soup and rolls (from Harps--I really miss those!) and then we watched A Christmas Story and got the kids to bed:-) The next morning they weren't up too early and Santa brought them each a Kindle Fire (except for Will--he received a lot of toys with balls). We had a really good Christmas day--lots of eating and watching the kids play. The next morning we headed to Shon's parents and had Christmas with his sister, husband, and nephew and his parents. We stayed until the 31st and headed home yesterday. As always the kids got too much stuff but have really enjoyed playing their electronics and other items.
I have a few resolutions for this year that I really want to stick with so maybe if I list them here I will be more likely to do them:-) Here goes:

1. Exercise at least 3 times a week, preferably more (we have a beach vacation in August--definitely wouldn't want to be in a swimsuit right now).
2. Organize the house.
3. Clean the house more often and better:-) (this is my least favorite but most needed).
4. Be more intentional with praising my kids when they do well.
5. Be more intentional praising Shon for all the help he provides.
6. Try to read the Bible through in a year.
7. Try to add a new recipe to this blog a few times a month.

That is probably enough for now--I will keep you posted on my progress:-) I wish everyone a Happy New Year!

Crazy busy week

So this week instead of sickness we are dealing with busyness.  Shon is working 12 hour days with a go-live this week, so I am on my own to get all the kids to their respective locations.  Here has been our schedule so far:

Monday--thankfully nothing!
Tuesday--ballet at 4:30, football at 5:45, Girl Scouts at 6:30, which meant take Emmaa, run home and get supper going, take Caleb all the way across town in 5:00 traffic, come back and pick up Emma, run home to eat, take Emma to GS, then head to pick Caleb up. Come home, feed Caleb, bathe Will and put him to bed, then go pick up Emma ( Shon was home at this time so I was able to leave the boys with him)
Wednesday--today we have a dentist appointment for Jake (4:00) pick up cookie dough from the school, and take Caleb to football
Thursday--ballet at 4:30, football at 5:45, and Will has a doctor's appointment at 2:30.
Friday--Caleb has chess club, so he as to be at school at 7:40, then both older kids have eye appointments after school, and I am supposed to take my van in for an oil change and a recall notice on the power steering stuff.  I am tired just typing everything:-)  Jake asked me yesterday why he doesn't do anything after school--he told me he wanted to do karate--I told him if we can do it at a time right after school it would probably be ok:-)  Are you guys busier in fall than in any other time of year?

Sickness abounds

So last week 2 out of 4 kids and both parents fell victim to the sickies.  Not a fun week.  It started with me on Wednesday--I woke up with an ache in my stomach that got worse as the day went on.  I was able to take Will to his school and pick him up but nothing more.  I called Shon to come home and he arrived around 3pm.  I don't remember a whole lot because I slept off and on but finally threw up around 8 pm and felt much better.  The next day I went to Bible study and when it was over I had a few messages on my phone saying that Jake had thrown up at school--they were from an hour earlier. I felt like the worst parent ever.  I drove quickly over to the school and picked him up-he proceeded to throw up while we were there and then came home and slept for a few hours. He continued to throw up and not want to drink or use the bathroom, so I took him to the urgent care clinic.  He was diagnosed with strep throat. The next morning Caleb came down and said that his stomach, throat and head hurt, so I let him stay home that day as well--along with Jake and Shon was home too.  I took Caleb to the clinic and he was also diagnosed with strep throat.  Thankfully everyone felt better by Sunday--but it was a chaotic week for sure! 

Fourteen Months Old

Will you are 14 months old today!  You have been sick for the past week with some kind of bug--we have been to the doctor twice and you are still not over it.  You started running fever last Wednesday and continued to run fever until Saturday.  You have had an ear infection and cough and runny nose as well.  You have been sleeping a lot more than normal and your appetite is way down.  You are having trouble drinking your milk and water as well.  Normally you eat very well and are doing a great job drinking from your sippy cup.  You are enjoying school a bunch and have a great time while you are there.  You are wearing size 12-18 month for the most part in clothes. We had to buy you some new sleepers this month since the others were getting too small--they are 18 month size. You are finally getting a few more teeth--one has broken through on top and it looks like 3 more will come in pretty soon.  You are still eating mostly baby food, but have really enjoyed eating deli turkey and square cheese lately.  You also like goldfish, ritz crackers, mini vanilla wafers, and mini club crackers.  You have been standing up on your own but don't like to do it for long. You are very fast at crawling and love to go up the stairs--however you do not like to be up there by yourself. You actually fell down the stairs a few weeks ago--you managed to catch yourself about 3 stairs down but had a huge goose egg knot on your forehead:-( 
You are still receiving speech and physical therapy, and you are doing very well even though you protest at times.  You don't have any new words right now but are doing much better using the sign for more:-)
You had an ENT appointment last week and we started you on Prilosec 5 mg twice a day and also on Flonase, 1 squirt per nostril once a day.
You weighed 22 lbs and 15 oz at the doctor's office on Friday, and your head measurement was 49 cm. 
Since you have been sick you have been letting us snuggle you a bunch, which mommy loves, but wishes that you didn't have to be sick for you to act that way. 
Will, we love you so much!

Thirteen months old

This past Saturday Will turned 13 months old.  So far this month you have had a few milestones.  You have completely stopped breastfeeding.  You are drinking whole milk and water out of you sippy cups (we finally found 1 type you would take--so I bought about 6 of them at Wal Mart).  You still eat baby food but we have introduced quite a few 3rd foods and a lot of table food over the past month.  Your favorite food to eat right now is probably "square" cheese (American). You get so excited whenever you see it and are very impatient for me to get into small enough bites for you to eat.  You also are really enjoying whole bananas.  Another favorite food of your this month has been pumpkin muffins--you can eat a whole one on your own:-)  You are wearing 12-18 month clothing--some of the pants are a little long but most everything else fits you.  You have moved up to a size 4 diaper and are wearing overnight diapers at night. You are still not sleeping through the night--but now you wake up and want to get into bed with daddy and I and then you go right back to sleep. However if we try to move you back to your bed, you immediately wake up and are very unhappy. SO needless to say, mommy is very ready for this phase to stop:-)
Another first for you the past week is that you are standing on your own.  You were so proud of yourself the first time you did it you started clapping and that threw off your balance and you sat back down:-)  You also started going to a Mother's Day Out program last week--and you had such a good time.  There are only 5-6 other kids in the class and there are 3 teachers.  It is at one of the Methodist churches here and you did so well--no crying either day I left you. The school is from 9 until 1. Both days you did not take a nap but fell asleep in the car and stayed asleep--for 2 1/2 hours the first day and for 3 hours the second. 

You still love to play with balls--we bought you a toy that looks like a gumball machine that came with about 8 balls--you LOVE it.  You will play with it on your own for quite a while. You also like to bring the balls into the kitchen and roll them around and chase after them. You are cruising around on all the furniture and think it is really fun to fall into mom or dad when they are at your level.
You are also saying ball, mama, dada, and making motor noises with your mouth. 
We love you Will and can't wait to see what the next month brings!