all in a days work, even on Sunday

- woke up to W saying "wake up dada, lets go find G.... come on, lets go!"
- maintained status quo while C showered and finished getting extraneous items ready for church
- put out small toaster fire started by bagel I was attempting to eat for breakfast
- fixed W's pants - in his own words "momma, my bottom fell off. fix it"
- still managed to be 2 min late to church even though up @ 7:00 and don't have to be there until 10:15 (summer schedule - no Sunday school)
- carried noisy W out of church during congregational prayer. Most kids yell and cry, W shouts "Bye G, Love you!"
- took G out to go potty during church service
- sang to W and talked to him to keep him awake on ride home
- put monitor out in garage to keep ear out for sleeping Baby C in his carseat (DON'T disturb a sleeping, peaceful baby)
- bounced / rocked W for 1/2 hr once we got home in an attempt to get him to sleep. (awake/asleep, awake/asleep. sheesh)
- attempted to catch nap on new couch (in brown). got about 10 mins before W woke up
- got G down for short nap (I think C might have sat on her to get her down)
- clipped all kids finger nails and toe nails along with removing small plank that had lodged itself in W's heel (didn't seem to bother him though) while G and W watched veggie tales on TV
- got snack ready for kids once show was done and let Baby C go down for nap
- sunday night breadsticks
- ate said breadsticks and watched selected chapters of a DVD of kids choosing (also a smallish tradition here), which the popular choices as of late have been "Flibber-o-loo!" (Veggie Tales), "kids singing!" (Sound of Music starting with My Favorite Things and ending with So Long, Farewell - basically all the scenes with the kids singing), or tonights choice, "cars!" (Cars)
- changed poo-ie Baby C diaper (yeah poop!)
- played tag and ran around in backyard for 1/2 hr before bed
- yogurt, jams, brushed teeth
- prayers, Bible stories, hugs and kisses
- Sleep for everyone under 4 yrs old. (fighting off sleep for those of us who are just a little bit older)
- relaxed, ate ice cream and enjoyed A/C

----Rinse and repeat----

Another Sunday in the B household...... I'm tired.

happy anniversary J&C...

While this cute couple went out on the town and enjoyed an evening together for their anniversary, we enjoyed a night with their girls. And once again S & I were impressed with the "subtraction by addition" phenomenon. We add two more kids to take care of, yet find ourselves often not having to actively "baby-sit." The kids really play well together and have lots of fun too. (No, that is not making us contemplate having 2 more by any means!) Here are some pics of the fun the cousins had.

(And soon, all too soon, baby C, you will be able to run and play with these big kids!!!)

updated computer

Well, apparently the computer fairies have replied in the form of a Fed-ex man and a box. When the box was opened a familiar looking box was inside. Along with said box, was a service reports from the good fairies. And the faulty part/problem was ....... (drum roll please)..... (you'll never guess it)...... (what are the chances?).....
...
...
...
...
...
...

THE MOTHERBOARD.

Yes, that is right. The first computer's motherboard died and was replaced. And then that motherboard carped out again. Now this new, updated, nicer computer also has had a motherboard die. What is going on? I like mothers and boards and combined they are even nicer. Why do these things dislike me so, computer fairies? Why? Thanks a lot computer fairies, thanks a lot!

Back to full speed, large displayed computer..... for now.......
-s

computer issues...again

Dear computer fairies,

• New computer died last week. (won't power on - faulty power supply?)
  
• Much grr-ness and shaking of fists as this makes 3 computers that have died on us in 6 months. (is it us?)
  
• Very thankful for back-up computer, even though it is slower than desired and slower than what we are accustomed to working on. (G tells us, "You can use my computer, momma & dadda!" Thank you G.)
• S's wonderful brother J got all our data off dead new computer. (Thank you J!!! =)
• Issues with HP and warranty.
• Those resolved (1.5 weeks later grrrrr!)
  
• Box sent to us by Fed-Ex.
• Explanation given to G about sending computer off to be fixed by the computer guys, Hewlett and Packard. ("Why can't Hewlett and Packard come to our house to fix it, dadda?")
• S just packed computer in sent box (impressed with packaging- can you tell we are REALLY stretching to find the silver lining?)
• Will have Fed-Ex pick it up tomorrow to send it off to TX.
• Hopefully will have working computer again within 1-2? (if we're lucky) weeks.
• Bill SHOULD be $0.00....unless they find non-warranty issue is source of problem, then who knows how much. (if that is the case, we'll just stop answering our phone and go on the lam....except they have our address. carp, carp, triple carp. I hear hard drives make good door stops!)
  
• Told S, I am almost ready to buy a Mac. (He says, really?)
  
• Backing up computer monthly (or daily) just became much higher on the priority list.
  
• As did printing hard copies of photos.
• Blogging went down a little bit on the priority list right now as back-up computer does not have good access to photos. And frustration with slowness or other issues just isn't worth it. (Lack of familiarity with ubuntu. Ubun-what you say? Don't ask.)

that's all for now,
- addicted to computer / internet access in CR.

a little understanding...

You all know that our kids deal with sleep issues. G, especially, has suffered from nightmares among other things. When she has a nightmare, she needs comforting to be able to get back to the state where she can go to sleep again, and often wants to come in bed with us (ok, all the time wants to come and sleep with us!). This is completely understandable, but sometimes hard to carry out after you have been up with the other two just a half hour before and just want to sleep.

Well, I have received a little bit more understanding this month. Some of you also know what crazy dreams I can have (ok, so maybe G gets her nightmares honestly! And we also found out my mom had nightmares every night as a kid too.), but normally they are just weird things like eating pancakes in the middle of the street at midnight or starring in an episode of Friends that takes place in my parents old farmhouse. But in the past month, I have had 3 nightmares - I can't remember ever having nightmares before. Someone grabs me from behind as I walk into the room and drags me back out very quickly, men hiding in our garage trying to get into the house, dinosaur dragons flying through the air attacking me and my babies (yes C, that one came after your post about the dinosaur show! And I was worried about G having dreams about them! Sheesh.=). Ok, as I type those, they sound a bit silly, but all of them had me waking up in a complete and utter panic.

And all I wanted to do was get a hug from S and snuggle next to him to know that everything was going to be ok.

That's when the reality of G's nightmares and her needing comfort really hit home. Of course I know that she is scared and needs a hug, but not until I experienced it myself did I really truly understand G's reaction after she has a nightmare. Made me want to get out of bed and go hug her even as she slept soundly and peacefully! So now when G has a nightmare, I am going to happily get up and comfort her (or happily kick S out to go and hug her, ha! =) and snuggle her in between S and I if she needs it so that she knows everything is going to be ok - because that is what a mom and a dad are supposed to do, make the world ok for your kids, right?

We will sure try, honey.

baby Peter

Part of it was remembering G being in the NICU when she was a baby, part of it is being a new mom myself, but I have been super emotional about our friends new little one, baby Peter.

Please allow me to use s.i.l. C's words this morning and read her blog post about baby Peter. (note: story not for the pregnant, new mother, or faint of heart)

Baby Peter has a very critical week this week as they wean him off the heart & lung machine and then he should be in the hospital for about a month if all goes well. Thank you for your prayers for them, far and wide.

new post...

There. I needed something new to look at when I bring up the blog. I have a bunch of things that I want to write about, but just haven't had the time lately. I really don't have the time now either! We have a sick baby (double ear infection, 102-103 temp, typing this with one hand as I hold him), fussy other 2 who seem to just know that I need to pay attention to baby C (W is napping right now thankfully), things to get ready in the house for Aahma B to come, laundry to do to pack to fly to MI in two days (really hope C's ears are better by then ={ !!!!!), and should really put clean clothes on at some point today (maybe after I wash some)!! So hopefully next week I can make some time to post pictures and tales about all our travels in the past month, as well as some updates on the kids.

In the meantime, Happy Mother's Day to all the moms and grandmas out there! We are very thankful for all that you do for you families and love you all! (I am enjoying flowers early since I will be gone on Sunday - thanks, sweetie!!! =)

I absolutely love being a mom to these 3 (even when they are sick and fussy and crabby and don't sleep, because they also are bright, funny, happy and bring me such joy!)...

...I am one blessed momma!

Is this what my college education has come to?

Money well spent!

this post's for you, auntie A!!

Happy Earth Day everyone. The buzz today in everything is being eco-friendly and environmentally aware. While it is fun to see and hear this everywhere today, for S and I, we try to practice this everyday. To us, taking care of the environment is just plain being good stewards of the creation that God has given us to take care of. Growing up on a farm has instilled a literal love of the earth deep in me and while I would make an awful farmer (have the biggest respect for my dad and brother who are wonderful farmers), I will do what I can to take care of the earth. So we try to make environmentally friendly choices when we can and when money allows. Being "green" can take a lot of "green" and sometimes it does not make sense to us, as God calls us to be good stewards of our money as well. Which brings me to kind of where I am heading with this post and choices in the groceries that we buy.

After S was finished with pharmacy school and actually had a job was the first time we had a little bit more in the grocery budget and really thought about the option of buying organic food. It was also the first time we had been away from rural small (or smallish) towns where you knew where the food was coming from. In the big city, looking at the ground beef in the giant grocery stores just scared me. And THEN we had kids! All of a sudden we am responsible for what we put into their little bodies, and that kind of pushed us over the edge into making more organic choices. Now we do we buy organic everything? Goodness no! Once again, we try to be stewards of our money as well. We make what we think are the best choices according to what our family eats. I won't bore you all with the details, but instead, I will bore you with the savings on organic foods that I have had the past couple of grocery trips!

Dear auntie A has been "couponing" for a number of months now and has been finding the savings incredible. Enough so that when she lost her ~10 hr a week part-time job, she found she didn't have to look for another one - they are able to live off her other ~30 hr a week salary, even with M in school. She blogs about her couponing adventures here if you care to take a peek. I have always been a fan of coupons (after all, I am Dutch!! =), but only casually used them here and there when I had the time to look through the Sunday paper and I remembered to bring them to the store. A has been inspiring me to pay a bit more attention to coupons and I have been able to find quite a few organic ones in the past week due to Earth Day which has been fun. I also have been utilizing our local co-op's seasonal coupons and monthly specials (do this all the time), and scoured our Blue-Sky Guide for extra coupons too and it all added up to these savings on organic products in the past week:

(I would love to type out everything that I got like A does, but this tired momma needs to go to bed sometime today too! I basically bought - and stocked up in some cases - things that we either normally get organic, stuff that with coupons would be at or less than what I pay for non-organic things we buy, and just one or two things to splurge because I had a coupon too! =)

Local Co-Op (love this place!!! =)
Total before sales + coupons: $85.75
Total after sales: $70.25
Total after monthly member discount: $ 65.97
Total after coupons: $43.97
Total savings: $ 41.78 (48.7%)

-- ok, I will admit this is a crazy amount to save on a trip to the co-op and won't happen this big very often, but I was pretty excited about it none-the-less!

Rainbow
Total before sales + coupons: $38.84
Total after sales: $26.51
Total after reusable bag discount: $26.11
Total after coupons:$ 25.11
Total savings: $13.73 (35.3%)

Cub
Total before sales + coupons: $123.63
Total after sales: $102.37
Total after reusable bag discount: $102.12
Total after coupons: $85.62
Total savings: $38.01 (30.7%)

GRAND TOTAL
Pre-savings bill: $248.22
Post-savings bill: $154.70
Savings total: $93.52 (37.7% savings)

Not too bad for organic shopping....

supper success!

I don't think I have officially done a recipe post before, but after tonight's supper, I thought I would share one. This recipe, (which I found on the internet and then changed it a bunch keeping the basic idea only =), is so simple and kid-friendly, and it is fun and interactive too. I feel like we have been in such a rut with meals lately, and especially with ones that the kids will actually eat. So tonight was refreshing to say the least! So here it is as we prepared it tonight:

~~~~~

Canadian Bacon Pineapple Pizza Pasta

1 lb mini bow tie pasta
1 jar marinara/spaghetti sauce
1/2 - 1lb ham, cubed
1 jar pineapple tidbits, drained
shredded mozzarella cheese

Cook pasta according to box, drain, then add back to pot with sauce to heat through. Cube ham, drain pineapple, and shred cheese (or open shredded cheese package as I did - I have a fear of cheese graters that I won't go into right now!) and put them in separate bowls. Then when you are ready to eat, put a layer of noodles in the bottom of your pasta bowl (or plate or clearance Easter cow melamine bowls), and sprinkle the ham, pineapple and cheese on top of the pasta like pizza toppings! You can then microwave the dish to heat the toppings and melt the cheese if you'd like. Serve with good bread and a salad and there ya go!

~~~~~

Great fun was had by all tonight with this meal, and both G & W packed away so much food, and without us having the normal rigmarole or hullabaloo! They are not uber-picky about food, but they are not garbage disposals by any means either. I would say they are typical kid-picky. They aren't fans of casseroles, don't care to try new things (although we always make them take a "try" of whatever we are eating), like crustless sandwiches, and their favorites are of course mac'n'cheese (which they call mac'n'noodle), cheese pizza, hot dogs, and chicken nuggets. So I know that tonight wasn't packed with exotic veggies or exciting new ingredients, but it was new to us, fun for all, and everyone was full and happy after supper. So give it a try, whether you have kids or are just a kid at heart, and enjoy!