Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Levi...

DOES have a broken collar bone after all.  16 days and 3 appointments with Kaiser later.  I am pretty mad.  Kaiser is ridiculous.  Their ER is quicker than San Antonio's, but apparently that's because they send patients with broken bones home before they even x-ray them!

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Test Kitchen Tuesday

That's right.  I have dubbed Tuesday the night for trying new dinner recipes. 

I have been recently attempting to meal plan, because I have faced facts that running to the grocery store is not possible.  And when I don't know what to make for dinner, and I have only chicken breast and rice for ingredients, it makes me grumpy.  Anyhow, I have been looking over lots of recipes to add to our collection, and I think I'll share my foodie finds.  Yay! We are going to be saved from eating tacos or pasta every night!

So, tonight I made South of the Border Skillet that I found on a blog called Eat at Home.  You can find weekly meal planners with grocery lists already made for each week.  Seriously, that is the stuff of fantasy.  I am in love.

This is the finished product from tonight.  It's glorified beans and rice, but oh so yummy.  We usually eat dinner with meat in it, but we didn't miss it one bit!  I will definitely make this again!  We paired it with fresh salsa from Costco, and the most delicious salad I have eaten in recent memory:

4 cups baby greens
1 avacado, diced
1/3 cup salsa
1/4 shredded cheese
2 green onions, sliced
Cilantro, handfull, chopped
Toss.  Enjoy.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Our baby can stand alone!

Noah went to my mom's after pre-school was done, so we went to pick him up, and stayed for dinner.  Chicken legs, mac-n-cheese, and corn and peas.  Yum!  Nick snapped this picture of Caleb playing by the slide.  I am sure he will be climbing up it in no time!  He stood alone for about 15 seconds in the grass, the longest he has gone so far.  He will be toddling in no time...no rush please!  I want to keep him my baby forever!  I never want his squishy chubbs to go away!
All four boys had a grand ol' time getting a shower with the hose.  When it's this hot, just do have to do it!  Maybe my parents should put in that pool...or we need one once we move to Pinon Hills!

Sunday, August 28, 2011

It's so hot!

The summer has officially arrived, even though it's just about ended!  It has been over one hundred degrees the last four or five days, and boy is it hot!  It's a good thing it hasn't been this hot most of the summer, or our air-conditioning bill would be so high!  We have even been leaving it on at night, which we don't usually do. 

If the boys go outside we have to be playing in the water.  Luckily, Caleb loves the pool.  I like putting him in there because it is a mini-playpen that he actually likes!  He has actually learned how to crawl out in the last few days, but he usually stays in for quite awhile first.  A few days ago, he watched Micah and Levi get out of the pool and go get on their bikes.  He watched them for a minute and then crawled right out, went over to the little radio flyer bike and climbed on and sat on it just like you are supposed to sit on it!  He learns so much from having big brothers!

Today at church Caleb crawled over to a 3 year old little boy in the fireside room and was being so friendly and cute.  He really captures attention because he is so happy and smiley.  He is such a blessing!

We cleaned the carpet this weekend and man did it need it!  Too many spills and potty accidents, and it hadn't been cleaned in 2 years.  Hopefully we find a house in Pinon Hills soon so we won't have to deal with nasty blue carpet anymore!

Had an enlightening argument discussion on FB about evolution and God.  A girl I used to go to church with was claiming to be a Christian even though she said she wasn't sure if Jesus was real or not.  Ummm, how does that work?  I pointed out the fact that believing in Jesus is key to being a Christian, and she accused me of judging her!  Don't you have to believe in Buddah to be a Buddhist!?  Geez.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Ah, summer!

I took the kids on a walk to my mom's house today.  I wanted to die about halfway through.  I had the triple stroller, and four children who couldn't or didn't want to walk any longer.  It was about 90 degrees, and I was drenched in sweat, but I trudged on!  I couldn't dissapoint the kiddos.  It did help that a solo walker told me I was supermom right about the time I felt like giving up!

So in honor of all the exercise that was had earlier in the day, we had cheeseburgers, sweet potatoe fries, mac and cheese, and broccoli for dinner.  We ate it at the picnic table.  We had watermelon ganita for dessert.  It was the perfect backyard summer dinner.  It was followed by giving all four boys a bath outside in their pool!  Ah, how I love summer.

Levi's neck and shoulder are much better than they were a week ago, but it is nowhere near back to 100%.  It still hurts him and he won't lift his arm all the way up.  It is hard to put shirts on him without it hurting, and he still won't let me pick him up from under his armpits.  The doctor said he should make a full recovery but that it could take weeks or even months.  Poor baby.

I experienced hearing the twins talk to each other today, and it was obvious they totally understood each other, and I couldn't make out what they were saying.  It was so funny that they understood each other perfectly.  Micah has been so sweet pointing to Levi's neck and saying, "Levi hurt. Neck.  On slide."They are talking to much, and turning into little boys.  They can boht now ride a big boy bike with training wheels!  So we now have three little boys zooming around the backyard on bikes!  It's adorable! 

Caleb is still melting my heart on a daily basis.  He is so happy.  He is even happy having been taking naps very well for the past 2 weeks.  He keeps taking only one nap, either the morning or the afternoon, and staying awake for the other one for an hour in his crib, so I get him up.  It makes he an overtired baby, but he still doesn't get very cranky.  I am still troubleshooting trying to figure out what is going on with that nap!  I really doubt he is ready for one nap!  That would be veyr unlikeyl at only nine months! 

I am also having some nursing difficulty.  Suddenly a crack has appeared, and it is killing me!  I have no idea why is cropped up all the sudden!  For the time being nursing on that one side requires me to sike myself up before hand to stand the pain! Ouch!  Hopefully it goes away soon!

Been having such a good time with Nick lately.  We went to dinner at Buca di Beppo on Friday night, and we have been spending a lot of time together.  I'm such a lucky woman! 

Noah is doing really well in preschool.  He sometimes doesn't want to read the books we have without pictures, but I don't really blame him!  He is still excited to do his preschool "work" everyday, and I am so proud of him!  I really think he is growing in his love of learning, and he is learning about Jesus everyday too, which makes me the happiest of all.  That's what it's all about, and and I am so glad we get to share this time together!  I only get one chance to do this life with my family, and I am so grateful we are doing it this way!

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Nine Months

Caleb is nine months old today!  Boy, is he a busy, mobile little baby!

Friday, August 12, 2011

Water Baby!

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Noah's First Day of Pre-School!

My little boy is officially a pre-schooler!  He was so darn excited to start pre-school today, and his excitement made it so much fun!  The last few years he has been pretty resistant to me trying to teach him letters and such, so much so that I worried over how things would go when it was time to start homeschooling.  Well, all those fears seem to have been for nothing as of now.  He just wasn't ready to have too much structured learning yet, but now he is ready and he is very excited! 

The first thing we did today was learn a bible memory verse, which we will practice everyday of the week.  I am really excited aboout doing this with him.  I count it as such a priviledge to be teaching him how to hide God's word in his heart!  I am looking forward to memorizing the verses with him as well!

The rest of the school time was spent reading a few stories aloud, and talking about them, as well as a few activities for him to do out of a little workbook.  One had him drawing lines, and the other had him picking out objects that were identical to each other.  This one I explained to him using his brothers as examples of identical looking objects!  He totally aced that activity!

The day was a success, and we are both excited to do it again tomorrow...and I think Caleb is excited too!  I'm so happy they can all continue learning and growing together!

Sunday, August 7, 2011

6 teeth

Caleb now has 6 teeth! Both top teeth next to the front teeth are now visible! The right one appeared on July 30, followed closely by the left one on August 1! I don't know if the teeth are hurting or what, but he will not stop biting! He doesn't even really bite when nursing, he just keeps biting my left arm near my shoulder! Right where he can reach when I hold him! I have red marks and bruises! Ouch! He is too cute though, so I can't get mad when he does it!

I finally got my last bunch of cloth diapers. I think I have 24 now, and I am definately a believer! The first laundry soap I used (Rockin green) left the didpers stinky, so I wasn't so sure, bug the new soap I have (Nelly's) works great! So glad I took a chance because we are going to save a lot of money! Especially if we have 10 babies! :)