Wordless Wednesdays

A Sentimental Post: My Not-So-Little Boy!

Lately I've been a little more nostalgic than usual, especially when I look at my not-so-little boy.

My first born boy - there's just something about that. He is growing up way too fast lately. 

I just want time to slow down!

We've decided to send Buddy to a Christian Pre-k for the upcoming school year. This is something I battled and prayed over in my Mommy/teacher heart for a while.

I love the idea of keeping him at home making lesson plans and conducting my own little school for him. We've been doing this for the past year or so, though things became a lot less structured once Baby CJ arrived. I feel a little guilty about that.

I have a Master's degree in Early Childhood Education, so I know I am capable of teaching him everything he needs to know right now. I'm also pretty intent on being in control (as much as possible and for as long as possible) of his academic experiences. 

I want my kids to experience an individualized, Christ-centered education. I won't settle for mediocre.

Plus, I feel that it is the parents' responsibility to teach and train these little blessings we call our kiddos. Of course, this process will look different for each family.

With that being said, Mr. Fix-it and I are prayerfully discussing how to educate our children in the coming years. 

Homeschool? Christian School? A combination of both, perhaps? Public School? (and I must add that we do in fact live in a great county with great public schools of which I taught in and loved dearly before becoming a stay-at-home Mommy)

The decision is still to be determined. 

And we have some more time to decide. God will guide us, just as He has in many other decisions in our lives - both important and trivial.

But today, today we have decided to send our energetic, inquisitive, headstrong, fun-loving, playful and social little 4 year old to a Christian preschool owned & directed by a wonderful lady I've known for years. 

He will be in very capable & loving hands. He is so excited! And I am excited for this new season in his little life.

I remember my young days of school with fondness - and I pray he will build friendships, skills, and memories that will last a lifetime, too. 

This big boy of mine loves to draw! And he's getting very good at it, if I do say so myself. 

He's a perfectionist like his Daddy, and he gets so frustrated if he accidentally colors outside of the lines, if his paper gets even the slightest wrinkle in it, or if his drawing doesn't turn out exactly as he envisions. 

He insists he's the one to say prayers for us at every meal, leading the family in a blessing where he also asks God to make his sisters behave. Haha! He also prays over every family member's minor boo boo or headache.

His faith in God is so child-like, such an example of what faith should be. Such an example to me!

So as I sit here on my bed while Buddy snuggles beside me watching his cartoons while the rest of his siblings nap, I thank God for him. 

I look over at him and smile a bit as I remember how much he's grown. How many days I wondered which one of us would survive his terrible twos (no joke). How much he reminds me of a little man, now. How much I count on him in ways I don't even realize. 

One day he won't want to snuggle and watch cartoons. Soon enough he won't beg for crayons and paper and then spend an hour intently working on a new drawing to proudly show his Daddy when he gets home. In a blink of an eye, he won't be so little anymore.

He's starting school in less than a month! And even though it's only for 3 half days a week and even though it's only Pre-k...I still am going to be a little sad. And I'm going to miss having my boy around all the time.

Because time flies by way too quickly! And I'm trying to soak up and hold on to every precious moment!

God has entrusted me with four beautiful little creations and I am honored for this opportunity to be their Mommy - to train them up in the ways they should go, so that when they are older, they will not depart from it! (Proverbs 22:6)

Today, I am simply thankful!

Weekend Recap: The Things I Do to Get Out of Cooking!

Have you noticed that I've been blogging more frequently lately?

Yep, that means Mr. Fix-it is pulling 70+ hour work weeks again.

That leaves me with lots of extra time on my hands after the kids go to bed.

So my house is super clean this week from my late night vacuuming escapades and I'm blogging more. Lucky you! ;)

On Friday, Mr. Fix-it called to let me know he was going to be late again. It was almost the kids' nap time and I still had to squeeze in my "dreadmill" workout. And I hadn't had a chance to put our dinner in the crock pot yet. 

And then I remembered that it was Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-a (which just happens to be the kids' favorite restaurant) and that if you dressed like a cow, you could score free food!

Um, yes please!

So I laid the kids down for their naps, did my work-out, and then sweatily threw together 5 cow costumes with a little black construction paper, masking tape, and black paint. 

Wala!

I'm not usually very creative but when it comes to getting out of cooking AND scoring free food, well this Mama can come up with anything! ;-) Resourcefulness at its best!

One lady looked down at my cow-dressed brood and exclaimed, "Oh wow, you have a HERD!" hahaha

And since I have to eat, as well. I sucked up every ounce of pride in me & decided to become a cow for the evening, too.

Ya know, there's just something about dressing like a cow when you're in the middle of a weight loss journey after birthing 4 back-to-back babies and you still have 20 pounds to lose. Just not good for the self-esteem. Haha

But for my kids & for free food, I guess I can do it.

Ok, so I ditched the construction paper cow ears pretty quickly. Slightly blurry photo courtesy of my 4 year old photog.

The kids had a blast. We all ate for free. And they even traded their kids' meal coloring books in for free ice cream cups. 

It just can't get any better than that! It's all about the memories in this home. ;-)

Happy Monday!

Halfway to a Year!

This little man turned 6 months old yesterday!

It seems these months are passing by a lot faster than they did with the other kids.

It's easy for fourth-born babies to just sort of blend in with the rest of the mass chaos their older siblings stir up.

But I am determined to make every moment and every month of my sweet baby boy memorable.

And he truly is a sweet baby boy. Never have I had such a smiley, giggly, bouncy baby.

Sure, he shows his temper when he's teething. Or when he's super sleepy.

But more times than not, this happy baby is just simply...happy!!

He's been sitting up on his own for a few weeks now and he's loving this new found independence!

Playing at Gymboree!

And I have to say that having him sitting up now makes my life so much easier!

He can sit in shopping carts & high chairs. He sits up in the bath tub which makes bathing him and his siblings a lot easier!  I can sit him down on the floor to play while I get other things accomplished or manage to squeeze in a shower! He just seems to be a bigger part of the family when he's sitting & playing. 

He's my water baby!

 

 

He loves his siblings, and they are all quite smitten with him, as well. Especially his big brother. These two are quite the pair.

We moved Baby CJ out of our room (he was outgrowing the bassinet and we don't do co-sleeping....I mean, is there even a bed big enough for all of our kids? Ain't nobody got time fo 'dat!) and he's now sharing a room with his big bro.

I had originally planned on the two girls sharing since they're the closest in age of any of our kids - but it just ended up being more practical for the boys to share. 

And they both love it! Baby CJ is actually sleeping better & longer in his new room, now that his Daddy's snoring doesn't bother him anymore. :) 

 

 

And when these two wake up, you can usually find Buddy in the crib with his baby brother tickling him to make him giggle. It really is adorable! Hope this infatuation lasts a long time! 

 

 

This boy of mine loves to eat! He's by far my best eating baby. There isn't a food I've introduced that he hasn't liked yet. He even says, "Mmmmmm" when he's eating something he particularly enjoys - like his morning breakfast of oatmeal & bananas.

 

 

He also loves him some sweet taters! ;)

 

 

So here's to my 6 month old baby boy - full of bouncing energy, lots of contagious giggles, smiles that capture your heart, and the patience of Job as he puts up with all of the craziness of his new household like when his siblings adorn him with silly hats.....

....or when his Mommy can't find a blue bib and just uses one of his sister's......poor guy.

 

 

I think he looks pretty cute in pink, too! ;)

 

 

 He really is the perfect addition to our family and I am so glad I get to be his Mommy! I love you my baby boy, with all my heart! Happy halfway to a year!

 

 

 

Foodie Fridays: The Best Chicken Marinade EVER!

We eat a lot of chicken in our house. And since I've been implementing a "cleaner diet" lately, we've also been eating a lot of salads, as well. This is, by far, the BEST chicken marinade I have ever used.

 

I just simply pour everything (including the chicken breasts) in a plastic bag, toss, and store in the fridge for a few hours - making sure to swish the bag around every hour or so to make sure the chicken breasts stay coated.

 

Then, we grill the chicken and put it atop a bed of lettuce, or just cut into bite-size pieces for the kiddos.

 

Seriously, this chicken is TO DIE FOR!

 

 

 

 

Ingredients for the marinade

Dijon Balsamic Grilled Chicken

(adapted from Plain Chicken)

 

1/4 cup Dijon mustard

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil

6 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tsp dried rosemary

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1-1.5 pounds of boneless chicken breasts.

 

Place ALL ingredients in a plastic, zip lock type bag.

Place in refrigerator and allow to marinate 3-4 hours.

Grill chicken.

 

Marinating the chicken

End result after chicken has been grilled

I use the grilled chicken for a salad - but the possibilities are endless.

You have to try this next time you need a variation to your normal, boring chicken dinner. I promise you will love this. :)

Enjoy!

The Day Boo Got Stitches...

I've been slacking in my blogging lately for various reasons. Here's a few:

1. It's been raining non-stop for the past two weeks. No exaggeration. So we've been stuck mostly in the house without any outside play and positive vitamin D energy; therefore, my hands have been quite full of antsy, wiggly kids. It's currently raining again as I write this. You'd think we lived in London or something. Even the 4th of July fireworks in and around our town were cancelled due to this crazy monsoon. :(

No, we aren't headed to the pool! She's just ready to go outside in the pool of mud & rain we once called our backyard! :)

2. Mr. Fix-it has been home more as his work load has temporarily decreased so we've been enjoying the extra time with him!

Corky's first movie. She did really well! (Thank goodness for popcorn & candy!)

3. Buddy just finished 5 sessions of swim lessons. And those were mostly conducted in the rain. In freezing cold water. But he did awesome anyway! Kids are resilient, I tell ya!

A Popsicle to celebrate the end of swim lessons!

But during these rather crazy kind of weeks, we did manage to squeeze in some extra excitement...

She handled it like a pro!

Boo got stitches! 

I never in my wildest dreams imagined that the first child in our home to need stitches would be our little 19 month old Boo! (and it was on her 19 month old "birthday" at that....poor girl!)

Buddy, the one who jumps off counters, climbs on top of his mile-high play set, scales fences & doorways, and does acrobats from the monkey bars....he's the one I assumed would need stitches first.

But nope. Our little "Boo-Boo" as we now call her paved the way for the first traumatic experience in our family. 

Thankfully, she only needed 3 stitches to close up a small gash on the back of her head when she fell and hit it on a kitchen table chair. She was trying to steal more of her sister's peanut butter crackers.

Lesson learned: stealing & climbing are dangerous! :) 

But no, our little climber didn't learn a thing and came back from the urgent care visit blazin' through the house at 90 miles an hour and trying to climb right back on the table of which she fell.

She's fearless!

I will do a shout-out to our pediatric children's urgent care who made the experience less traumatic with a numbing GEL instead of a lidocaine shot (which I had to get last year when I needed stitches in my hand....from cutting a stinkin' avocado! That lidocaine shot hurt more than the actual slicing of my hand. Stupid lidocaine shot. Where was MY numbing gel?) The only terrible part was when they had to strap her face down in a papoose. She didn't like that part. Neither did her Mommy. Poor doctors had to hear me belt out every nursery rhyme I knew just to try to keep her calm.

I swear I am going to have gray hair from this bunch of monkeys I'm raising! 

4th of July and no place to go....because of the rain. So we went to the theatre. With 25,692 other rained-out 4th of Julyers. :)

Never a dull moment in our home! Never a dull moment! :)


Happy Thursday!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Weekend Recap: Teething Tantrums....Again!

I think Baby CJ plans to kill me with his teething tantrums by the time he gets all his teeth.

I vaguely remember going through this same rigmarole with Buddy, just four years ago, but when you have kids so close together, everything sort of blurs.

The girls didn't cut teeth until they were nearly a year old so the whole process didn't seem quite as painful for them. Or for me.

But this little man...he hasn't let his Mama sleep for the past three nights. This has been his expression now for days!

In other news, he is sitting up by himself now! :)

Poor baby boy! He's usually so happy-go-lucky. He won't let me touch his gums and he's not eating or sleeping well, either. 

My best friend told me about some magic teething ointment a local pharmacy sells in her town so come Saturday morning when I was literally propping my eyelids open with toothpicks, I decided it was worth a shot! 

So our Motley Crew loaded up in the minivan and drove the 40 minute drive to get this magical potion. 

I wasn't expecting to see stuffed wildlife mounted in the pharmacy window. But I guess this is the south after all. :)

But lo and behold, this $6 bottle of magic teething potion did seem to soothe little man's ailing gums. He has napped today for the first time since Friday. Hallelujah! 

This same little town is famous for its bakeries, as well. So after slathering Baby CJ's gums, we headed to Main Street (how quaint is that?) for some chocolate drops & iced cut-out cookies. No, they aren't on my diet plan but everyone has to have cheat days from time to time, right? 

Of course, I was super bummed they were out of their famous Rainbows. Those are my absolute favorite bakery treat. 

Growing up, there was this small bakery called Pat-a-Cake bakery just down the street from my grandparents that sold these little rectangles of rainbow-colored chocolaty goodness. Since they went out of business years & years ago, I had been on a hunt for the same treat.

This same friend who shared her golden nugget of teething potion wisdom had told me long ago that her famous little bakery downtown sold these Rainbows. I was like a kid at Christmas. 

I try to make the hike over there to get some as often as possible. Which equates to about twice per year now that I have a litter of kids. So needless to say, I was bummed they were out of them that day. 

But I'll be back....quite possibly for some of that magic teething potion pretty soon! 

We have a weekend tradition of an ice cream outing since summer has arrived. The kids know that when Daddy is home on Saturday it means ice cream time. So we headed out to our favorite ice cream spot only to realize that the 120% humidity was no joke. 

Ain't nobody got time to sit out in that blazin' heat. 

So we improvised and had ice cream, tailgating style. In the van. Which made for a sticky mess. And Mommy forgot the pack of wet wipes at home. Fail. 

Since Baby CJ was still sporting this lovely disposition the following morning, Mr. Fix-it took just the two oldest kiddos to church while I stayed at home with the two littles. 

 

Boo was so excited to stay at home and play with the toys her big sister never allows her to touch. Haha! She loved the special attention.

She always sees Buddy & Corky playing with Mommy's phone so she wanted to check it out. She was amazed she could see herself on the camera. :)

And let me tell you that Miss Princess here decided that she has outgrown the nursery & sat like such a big girl all throughout the church service with her Daddy & big bro. So proud of her!

But this little stinker also swiped her Daddy's wallet this weekend and kept it in her play kitchen because she liked playing with the plastic cards. She only revealed her special hiding place after we spent a few hours fretting over whether we had left it at the store and if we should report it stolen.

Next time something goes missing, we'll just check with Corky and her play kitchen. Moral of story, hide your wallets when you come to visit! :) 

We spent the rest of the weekend catching up on our around the house to-do list, like reorganizing our laundry room and finishing up piles & piles of laundry. 

Mr. Fix-it used his stud-finder to help him with hanging some things in our laundry room. Then he put this same stud-finder gadget up to his chest and when it beeped, he said, "see - it found a STUD!" True Story! *eyeroll* :)

Sunday evening is always breakfast for dinner and it's the one meal of the week that Mr. Fix-it does the cooking. 

As much as I love to cook, I'm just not that good at cooking breakfast foods. It's not my speciality. Maybe because I never woke up early enough to eat breakfast before having kids. :) 

Except for when I was teaching, and those crack of dawn mornings were a granola bar on the way out the door kind of meals.

My poor kids spend weekday mornings with a boiled egg, a banana, and a toasted slice of raisin bread and that's on a good day! Most of the times it's just cold cereal. :) 

So we all enjoy Mr. Fix-it's homemade blueberry waffles, scrambled eggs & turkey bacon every Sunday evening. Breakfast cooking is his specialty for sure! 

We've been really enjoying extra time with Mr. Fix-it at home more lately. Family time is the BEST, even when it's just spent at home, doing monotonous, everyday tasks. 

I am gratefully blessed! God is good indeed!