Nesting and 40 + 3

I've been here twice before, so you would think I would be used to it.  But I don't think there is a pregnant woman in the world who hasn't gotten a little impatient as that magical due date comes and goes.  I try to remember that Chloe and Micah were both born 3 days late, but here we are, and I don't think we're showing any more signs of labor than a couple of weeks ago.  I just keep reminding myself, it'll happen in God's perfect timing.  Right?

In the meantime, I've gotta keep myself busy.  So I've been finding little baby projects to do.  Lots of sewing and a little knitting.  The project thing actually started way back in the summer when we found out we are having a girl.  Isaac's carseat was wonderful, but it had this nylon fabric that made him sweat like crazy.  And it was brown and red, not terrible, but nothing girlie about it for sure.  So I found this awesome carseat tutorial by Ashley over at Make it and Love it.  It was a huge project, but totally worth it.

After Kevin got my sewing table all set up in the new school room, I got kinda wrapped up in finding new things to sew and I discovered these cute little fabric shoes.

I've also kept busy making baby blankets and nursing covers for a couple other moms due this week.  Not to mention making all of the bedding for sweet baby Corbin, Jody's little guy.

Last week I stopped in at the yarn store in town and found this beautiful, soft yarn that I just had to have.  It was ridiculously priced, but I decided that I needed to splurge, so I bought it with absolutely no idea what I was going to do with it.  But that's what the internet is for.  I found a cardigan pattern made specifically for that yarn and made the little matching headband with it at the top of the page.

So I suppose my little one will just have more fun things from Mommy if she decides to take even longer to show up.  But I won't be disapointed if she shows up soon anyway :).



My life as a Circus

Life has a way of spiralling out of control every once in a while.  Take this week for example: my husband, a banker worked 16 hours yesterday.  SIXTEEN!! With hours like that, no one should ever make comments about him working "banker's hours." Anyway, this post is supposed to be about my circus life.  We're a little crazy around here.  Homeschooling, sick kids having chest xrays, Mom2Mom on Fridays, plus all the prep time, and redefining the term "banker's hours." So isn't it appropriate that this year our family Halloween theme was the Circus!

We even made a "Rodies' Big Top" trunk for Trunk or Treat this year.

My dear scruffy husband is certainly the ringleader for this crew.

Chloe kept reminding everyone that she was a "male" lion, because the females do not have manes.

Micah is definitely our "class clown" so I thought the costume was appropriate.

Jadon loved the elephant costume that we borrowed.  I heard a trumpetting elephant all week after this.

And, yes, that is my sick little man out in the cold.  Don't worry, we didn't stay long.  And he still managed to get well, despite the cold weather and all the sugar the other kids kept sneaking him.

A Recap: Spring!

Spring has arrived, and full force I might add. And along with the warm weather comes lots of playing outside and the abandonment of the computer.  So we'll do a brief overview of the last month to make up for my absence from this blog.

Isaac turned 7 months old: he's adorable for sure, and rolling and squirming to get wherever he can go

He's also learned to sit all on his own which makes life much easier on this Momma, since he's happy to play alone or with the other kids for good stretches now

Jadon learned to pump his legs on the swing.  Our regular babysitter dropped by the yard to play with the kids a couple weeks ago and taught him how.  Awesome! (this Momma is thrilled to not hafta push too!)

Chloe is nearing her 8th birthday.

She's such a HUGE help around the house, I don't know what I'd do without her.  There are days that I have to remind myself to let her be a kid. Since she likes to help out, I sometimes take advantage without realizing it. But the help with Zac is awesome! I can even get supper fixed on time most nights with her help.

Micah hasn't changed much.  He's still a baseball fanatic, and he loves playing outside.

I spent last Friday repairing every bike we own so they can ride in this awesome weather we've had.  Micah asked to go out and ride at 8:00 this morning!  No wonder he's so stinkin' skinny!

Jody and I spent a day last week preparing meals for the freezer, along with another friend.  Together, the 3 of us made 36 meals: that's right, 12 full meals for each of us!  Now my freezer is stocked for those days I just can't get dinner ready, or nights when I've got something else going. 

Kevin shot his second turkey ever on Saturday. 

Oh, and the Rodies won their first tournament of the year!

                      (dodgeball tournament that is)

So that's what has been happening around here.  Tonight marks the start of softball season, so we'll be busy, busy.  Hopefully, I'll find some time to post updates on here, but if not, you'll know what we're doing... watching softball of course!

Triumph!

Jody called about a month ago.  She had a table in her school room that was too big for the room and wanted to know if we would like to trade for the dining table we were using.  Our table comfortable seats 4, a little tricky with our growing family of 6!  Unfortunately, there was a catch.  Her table had a bad finish, as well as some traces of paper permanently afixed to the sticky finish.  But, ever the adventurer that I am, I thought "How hard could it be to refinish a table?" So we made the trade.

Well, the job turned out to be a little trickier than I had first imagined.  Stripping was easy, and kinda fun.  As was staining.  I didn't love sanding the whole surface, but it wasn't too bad.  The problem came when I tried to put the 2nd coat of polyurethane on.  Remember high school chemistry (maybe it was even grade school) when you learned that oil and water don't mix?  I kinda forgot that part.  Or at least forgot to apply it to my table.  Oops!  After attempting to wash my brush with water, I reapplied my varnish.  It did NOT like the water in the brush! So after my lovely table had been stained to look like this

It ended up with a huge white streak across one side.  Needless to say, I was less than pleased.  So after debating for most of the weekend whether or not to leave it, I finally decided to bite the bullet and strip and stain it again.  In the end, the extra work was worth doing.  And today, we finally got to eat at our new table!  We all fit, and the food fits too.  We even have extra leaves for when we have guests.  I can't wait!

Beautiful...

Last week, I had the awesome privelege to visit with my girlfriend Val and her family in the Pacific Northwest.  Isaac and I flew out last Thursday and were met by Val's hubby, Andy, at SeaTac.  It was late, and dark, but I really appreciated getting to know this guy who had to be really cool to have married my bestest friend. Val and I stayed up way too late talking, but it was totally worth it.  We hadn't seen each other for over a year!


Friday, Val and I and her two girls, along with little Zac spent a lazy day visiting this cute little town nearby. It definitely had a great view from the pier.

And it was certainly a great place to let the girls run off some energy. 

Then we stopped at this cute little ice cream shop where I was forced to eat a waffle cone against my will.

Don't let me fool you though, I would drive back just to get another one.  You could smell the waffles cooking all the way down the street.  Yum!

I think Carolyn and Abbie enjoyed their ice cream too.


We had such a fantastic time.  I love that I got to spend so much time with Val's family.  I've met them, of course, and I feel like I know them, but really more from talking about them than to them.  But now, her family is my family.  Carolyn and Abbie are such great kids.  And Andy and Val are great parents and really fun people.  I am so blessed to have such an awesome woman as a friend and I feel even more blessed now that I've gotten to know her family better.


The area where Val lives is gorgeous, a photographer's dream! I missed the view from the bridge on the way onto the island because it was so late and dark, but I cerainly didn't miss it the next day.  I can't imagine getting to see this view every day.

The trees are awesome!  They seem to just stretch up forever.

And don't let reports of Washington rainy weather fool you.  I actually took this shot in the rain (you can see a couple of drops) but it's such a soft rain you hardly notice.

I love warm beaches with white sand, but there is something so awe inspiring to me about rocky beaches like this.

They are certainly fun to explore!

Andy joined us Saturday and showed me around his part of the navy base.  That was really cool, but I kept thinking, that Kevin and the boys would have loved it.  So, maybe we'll have to all come back someday.


After the base, we also went looking for tulips Saturday afternoon.  I've never been a huge fan of tulips, just not my favorite flower, but I think I may have changed my mind.

We had such a wonderful time.  Leaving was pretty tough, but I was ready to be home with my family.  Hopefully I'll get to go back with my whole crew sometime, but until then, I've got some great memories.  Miss you guys.

BFF

Do you have a friend like this?

 

Someone you can call anytime you're happy or sad, anxious or bored?

Who calls you up just cuz she was thinking of you?

Or who you call just cuz your kids did something funny and you wanted to share the laugh with someone else?

Someone who loves you even when you tell her your deepest darkest secrets that make you not like yourself very much?

Someone to make you forget why you were mad at the grocery store clerk, or who gets indignant with you so you know you're not a freak?

Someone who loves you even more when you don't agree with her, just because you're you and she values your opinion?

Someone to remind you that Jesus loves you and so does she when you're feeling most unloved?

 

Everyone should have a friend like this and I am so blessed that I do.  And I get to leave this crazy joint to go see her next week for 6 days!

My BIG Mistake

Kevin and I are getting ready to celebrate our 10 year anniversary next week. We have plans to take the train to Chicago for a few days and just spend some time together alone, something we don't get nearly enough of. So the other day, I thought I'd check into getting Cubs tickets for the two of us while we're there.

Unfortunately, I made the mistake of letting Micah know. For those of you who don't know Micah very well, even at 5 years old he is a diehard Cubs fan. He knows more about the Cubs than any man, aside from his own family, that I've ever met. He broke down in tears because he wanted to go so badly. After he finally got calmed down, he went outside to play while I fixed lunch. When we sat down to eat, he asked to pray for the meal. Micah got about halfway through his prayer and began to ask for God to keep Mommy and Daddy safe during the trip to Chicago to see the Cubs. He got just a couple words in before he broke down sobbing again. Poor kid. He was absolutely devastated.

Well, to make up for my boneheaded mistake, and to get the waterworks to stop, I finally suggested that we go outside to play in the sprinkler after lunch. That seemed to get him calmed down enough to eat at least. I have to admit, the kids had a great time and it did seem to get Micah's mind off of his heartbreak.

Micah's even figured out that the sprinkler is more fun if you actually get wet.

Jadon loves the sprinkler! He was asking for it today when it was only 65 degrees outside.

Chloe is definitely not afraid to get wet.

Mommy even let them jump in the mudpuddles just to keep that poor Micah happy. What a mess!

I'm afraid the Cubs game fiasco is still going to come back to haunt me, but at least this helped ease the pain on this day.

Oops!!

Jadon wrote on the couch today in orange marker. I kinda lost it. No, I really lost it. Then I sent all the kids to bed. Apparently I should have done that about 5 minutes sooner. But the nice thing is that they all went to sleep with no fussing or getting up. Even my little JJ knew that this was not the time to reject naptime. It's been one of those days all week long. Pray for me.

Ready... Set...

GO!!!

So I know that I've been rather sporadic with my blogging lately. Forgive me. With surgeries and extra children and potty training, life has been pretty hectic around here. But you'll have to excuse me for one more week. My Sis-in-law and I are going to Boca Grande tomorrow for the next 5 days. That's in Florida by the way. Where it's warm. And there are no children jumping in their beds at 6:30 in the morning. Or begging for supper at 4pm. Or arguing that he took my toy or she's in my way.

I'll miss my kids and my hubby, but only when I allow myself to. The rest of the time we'll be enjoying the sun and the beach. Doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!

See ya next week!

Whew! Long time...

Yeah, yeah. I know. I kinda went MIA for a while. But this has been a long month. And we've had quite a few fun days outside, too. The baseball tradition has continued in this family. Jadon has developed a strong desire to be part of the action already. Chloe and Micah are usually willing to oblige.
He's also really into basketball. Really any kind of ball will do with this guy.

Then last week, Jody and Mark flew to Orlando for the week. So Mark's mom kept their kids until Wed when I picked up the girls(she dropped the boys off the next day) and we spent the rest of the week at their house. I would've brought them here, but I just thought my two bedroom house was a little small to add 4 extra kiddos. Poor Lydia looks so sad. But she actually had a lot of fun playing outside with the sandbox. I hope her Mommy's not too mad when she sees her tights. I tried to get them clean;).Besides, can you imagine anything cuter than these little feet?

Jadon really enjoyed the sandbox, too. At least when he wasn't in trouble for taking Lydia's shovel away.

Anyway, so now we're home and praying for nicer weather. It's been so sketchy around here and these kids are feeling a little tricked by the short stint of 70s a couple of weeks ago followed by 3 inches of snow this weekend.

No Advil stinks

I've had a headache all day today. And being pregnant means no Advil. Tylenol is for the birds. So I've been self medicating with Girl Scout cookies. Peanut Butter patties to be exact. I would've had the Thin Mints, those are my favorites. But the kids were up and I do NOT share my Thin Mints.

Let's play...

So I'd like to play a game. How about "Where's Waldo"


Can you find Waldo in this picture?


How about this one?

Now try this one... Gotcha!

(I think I just displayed a little too much of my demented sense of humor.)

Life... at the moment

So the last couple of weeks have been rather crazy and full, so I'll just hit the bullet points.

• Kevin and Mark enlisted a friend of ours to help put in a new window in our basement. When I say help, I mean Justin did all the work while Kevin and Mark stood and watched.
• Chloe and I got really cute haircuts.
• Jody and I spent 4 or 5 days trading off babysitting for various errands.
• One of those babysitting tradeoffs was for a CT scan for Chloe's headaches. Scan was clear. Chloe's getting reading glasses. Hopefully, that will help.
• I celebrated my 28th birthday with a Pampered Chef party. Yum!
• Last weekend was the memorial for my Grandma. Despite the sad occasion, we had a good time with my Dad's family. My cousins are actually closer to my kids' ages than mine, so they had a lot of fun together.
• Chloe, Micah and Kevin went skiing with my Dad, the new ski instructor, last week.
• We had a really fun party with our small group Saturday night. (Another opportunity for Aunt Jody babysitting)

What can I say, life has been rather full. Some of those days were below zero temperatures, so the days we had to go out, we were bundled in full snow gear. But any day we could, we stayed huddled inside.

With all the busyness, school has been rather sporadic. Thankfully, Chloe and Micah do most of their lessons together, so make up time is quick. We've had a few days of 3 lessons in one. Speaking of which, we do need to get to work. So it's off to school for me!

Look at this!

What's for Dinner?

When I started homeschooling last fall, I decided I should probably get my act together with some time management ideas. The one that stuck best was menu and grocery planning. Using my datebook to keep track of what we were going to eat for dinner everyday kept me from dreading 5 o'clock everyday. I learned to enjoy fixing dinner every night because I never had to dig through the pantry to see what's there. It's also certainly cheaper to plan out meals in advance, rather than simply finding the fastest and easiest solution. It even helped me maintain my weightloss from last winter.

Sadly, though, when things started getting crazy, visiting family and being gone more nights then we were home between Thanksgiving and New Year's, my menu planning kinda fell by the wayside. And so did my healthy cooking and eating. I gained a few pounds (just 3 or 4) and the kids certainly didn't have the healthy meals I was proud to serve most days.

So... I have determined to get back to my meal schedule. It's not a resolution, I don't really do those, but it is something that's easy to change since the hub-bub of the holidays is gone. And since I'm getting back to this, I thought I'd share. Maybe you could use the encouragement or you can just keep me accountable. Anyway, here's the plan:

I typically do my shopping on a Saturday, since Kevin can keep a couple of kids and make the trip that much easier. I find it works best for me to go right after payday so DH doesn't think we have a budget surplus and do something crazy like overpay the mortgage;) Before I shop, I sit down with my calendar for the next two weeks and a list of 10-15 possible meals.

First I fill in all the high-pressure evenings: AWANA night, small group, any event we might have that makes dinner rushed. Those get meals like quesadillas and pizza. Anything that can be thrown together and eaten quickly or even grabbed on the way out the door. Then I fill in meals that typically are easy to make in bulk for the freezer or can be turned into something else later in the week. Then I fill in the rest of the week making good use of leftovers and crockpots. All of this takes me about 30 minutes, definitely a small price to pay for such a lifesaver.

Here's what this week looks like:

Sun Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

Mon Tacos

Tues Chicken Mushroom Pasta

Wed Quesadillas

Thurs Leftovers

Fri Pizza

Sat Chili

The chili will be use later in the week for nachos, and the chicken for the sandwiches was made in the crockpot, half used that day and half used in the quesadillas.

Tomorrow, I'll show you how to make this yummy chicken and mushroom pasta. Super easy and Super fast.

Beware...

It'll suck your life away. I've tried to avoid the whole YouTube craze, but every once in a while I start and I just can't stop. So click at your own risk.

My Dad had a book by Thor Ramsey at his house and it intrigued me because Ramsey is my maiden name. Check him out. He's hilarious!

Mother of Boys!

You know, I never wanted boys. I wanted girls. Don't judge me, I'm just being honest here. Now, really, I would never trade my two boys for anything. I'm so glad God knows better and He's in control. If I had my way, I would never have gotten Micah or Jadon and my life would never be as full and fun as it is right now.

That said, I never wanted boys. And here's why. Micah and Jadon have spent the morning chasing each other back and forth across the house. Smart mom of boys that I am, I sent Micah and Chloe to play out in the snow while I get Jadon ready for his nap. He's still little enough that a nap is what he really needs when he starts getting roudy.

Yesterday, after a similar episode, Micah and Chloe were told to hang up their coats and mittens and snowpants and put their boots away. I personally hung up Micah's snowpants and stuffed his mittens inside. So this afternoon, finding snow clothing should be no problem, right? Wrong! Boys do not work this way, at least not my boy. After his clothing had been hanging for several hours, I found Micah in the living room throwing one mitten in the air.

Mommy: Where did you get your mitten from?
Micah: (shrugs)
Mommy: Where is your other mitten now?
Micah: (shrugs)
Mommy: Please find your pants and put your mittens inside of them.
Micah: But I don't know where my pants are.

Mommy and Micah proceed to retrieve the snowpants and the other mitten. Mittens are returned to the pants.

Mommy: Please hang your pants on your hook in the hallway.
Micah: Yes, Mommy.

Now, I'm not sure about the exact wording, but that is pretty much how the conversation went. So today, at outside playtime, getting dressed should be a piece of cake. Right?

Again, not with my boy.

Mommy: Where are your snowpants?
Micah: In my pants drawer. (that makes sense, right?)
Mommy: Go get them and put them on, before you put your boots on. *note, he already had a boot on, and I'm not sure how the pants were going to fit over the boots
Micah: (retrieves pants and begins to put them on)
Mommy: Make sure you get your mittens out before you put your pants on.
Micah: But I don't know where my mittens are.
Mommy: (silently: AARRRRGGGHH!)

We eventually found the mittens under his bed. Don't ask me how they got there. But here is my problem. This is not a one time occurrence. I frequently find things in the weirdest places or don't find them where they should be because Micah has picked something up, wandered into another room, and put it down without ever realizing he has it in the first place.

Jadon discovered Daddy's comb in the toybox yesterday. I think that was his doing. Micah, when told to put his shoes and socks on loses his socks while looking for his shoes. Micah puts one ball away only to find another and begin tossing IT within seconds. When asked to carry his dishes into the kitchen, he walks directly into his bedroom with them. As I type this, I notice one of my socks on top of the computer monitor. I am certain I did not put it there and Jadon is not allowed in here unattended. My only explaination is that Micah found himself without a ball and my sock was handy.

I can definitely see how ADHD is so overly diagnosed in boys in this country. The attention span of a five year old boy is enough to drive any Mom crazy. Not to mention the wild, "hyperactive" behavior of most of them.

Of course, if I didn't have these boys, life would surely be more boring. I mean, is it really fun when everyone sits quietly in their seats? Or when no one is yelling and jumping up and down because they scored a homerun on Backyard Baseball? If I didn't have boys, I think I'd really miss the swordfights with turkey feathers and the giggling over Matchbox Car crashes.

So I guess God really did know what He was doing when He gave me boys. Maybe someday He'll give me a soundproof room to hide in every once in a while.

Mommy's Big Day

As a mother, I am often surprised at how quickly my kiddos are growing up. You'd think by the title that this post was about me. But it's not. My day was big only in that I spent the day waiting and (trying not to) worry while my dad took Chloe and Micah skiing. That's right, skiing. For those of you who don't remember, Chloe is just six years old and Micah just had his 5th birthday last month. And I know that there are kids out there who have been skiing since they were potty trained. But not mine. Mine are going to stay little for a very long time. My aversion to them skiing might just have a little something to do with how much I dislike skiing myself.

However, on the return trip, my Dad called to inform me of some bad news... I may have to decide to like skiing after all. Because, apparently, they loved it! I'm happy for them, I really am. And I'll probably decide that they should go a few more times this year.

My Dad, of course took some photos of the day. I didn't even ask him to. (Betcha you were all wondering where I got my photobug from) Their ski instructor for the morning was April. She met them when they walked in the door and spent the next three hours teaching the kids everything from how to put on their skis to how to make a "pizza" (with their skis, for those of you who have no idea). While the lesson did cost a pretty penny, my Dad said it was definitely worthwhile. He should know, it was his penny.

Chloe got the hang of the "pizza" pretty well and was turning and pulling herself up the tow rope. Micah, however, was a little distracted by all the snowballs he kept picking up. Not great when the snow is pretty much ice. But what else would anyone expect from my boy. I mean, he is a Rodie afterall.

Micah claims his favorite part was the magic carpet. Chloe never told me her favorite part, although I have a sneaking suspicion it was the hot chocolate break that she keeps talking about. She couldn't contain her glee while she was telling me about the day, despite the fact she was too exhausted to even eat supper. All in all, they had a great time, and I hope we can get some more use out of their new skis this year. It is only the beginning of winter and it promises to be filled with snow.