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This past Sunday was Mother’s Day (in case you didn’t notice) and it was a wonderful calm day. We went to mass and the kids did very well. Nate purchased Krispy Kreme donuts and cooked breakfast for all of us. Then we were able to just have some fun outside and enjoy the day in the great weather we had. After the yard work was done we went out for Mexican food and then stopped over at Nate’s folks to give his mom a Mother’s Day greeting before going home and putting the kids to bed. We ended the day by watching “Juno” which seemed to be the perfect Mother’s Day Movie! I think it was the first Mother’s Day in my 7 yr. experience as a mother that I have thoroughly enjoyed the entire day. 🙂

We had a robin build a nest under our dinner bell by the back porch. She laid 3 eggs, all of which hatched and I’ve been watching the baby birds grow ever so fast these past 3 weeks. Each time I’m doing the dishes I can watch the birds right outside the window. I feel that if that mama robin could talk we could hold a conversation about how our kids never leave us alone, especially for food. Lately I’ve been a lot of time and money on our kitchen trying to make it more “mom” friendly. Of course, the carpet is still there which is NOT mom friendly but other than our astroturf carpet, things are taking shape nicely. Now if I could only get the kids to eat meals instead of asking for snacks every 15 min…

We’re finishing up the school year. Noah and Marie only have 1.5 weeks of school left. In a way I’ll be glad because that means I won’t have to get them ready for school in the morning and things will be more leisure-like. On the other hand I’m sad because this means I’ll have a 2nd grader and a Kindergartener. They’re growing up so fast.

This week is kind of crazy with school activities and ball games. Marie is playing tee ball and Noah is playing coach-pitch. Two separate teams mean two separate practices and games in different towns. I think they’re enjoying it. At least they haven’t asked to quit yet! We had our first evening of both kids having a practice/game at the same time in two separate towns so Nate and I had to split up. It was hectic but hopefully that won’t happen too often!

No garden yet this year. I did get my “topsy-turvy” tomatoes planted and hung so at least I know we’ll have tomatoes this year! It just keeps raining just enough every few days to keep me out of the garden. The grape vines are coming along nicely though. And I was very happy to see the asparagus patch survive and return for this year.

We had Calvin’s family birthday party today. He turns 4 on Wednesday! Seems like just yesterday we were in the hospital admiring his scrunched up little face just after he was born. The kids had a blast playing outside in the sun and warmer temps with the cousins and the adults had a good time visiting as lately we haven’t seen much of our families just because we’re all busy with different schedules.

Which brings me to some thoughts: I dislike being so busy on weekends that we can’t schedule activities that really matter to us. Nate and I have been talking lately and we are starting to decline some invitations and for the summer and making sure we’re home enough to enjoy this time with the kids and each other. Last year we kept telling they kids we’d have a camp-out in the backyard and we never did it because we were just too busy. It’s the little stuff like that that really bugs me and I don’t want the business to get in the way of the fun times in life. I’m way to guilty of doing this. So many times during the day I’ll be doing housework and the kids ask me to play or read a book with them and I’ll tell them to wait, I’m busy. Busy with what???? So busy that I can’t take 10 min. to read a book with my son or play Barbies with my daughters? So I think that next week I’ll try harder to be more flexible and take a dose of my own medicine!

Holy cow, where did the time go? I thought I would be able to post a blog weekly but now it’s looking like a monthly thing!

Dominic started rolling over last week. He’s very pleased with himself. We got out some old toys that the other 4 kids have used. Dominic is really enjoying the exersaucer and the doorway jumper. Some toys are just priceless. He was sleeping through the night for a while but that has ceased and he usually wakes up around 2 a.m. for a feeding but goes right back to sleep no problem. I’m thinking he may be ready for some solid food but I’m procrastinating that issue.

We went over to Nate’s folks for supper tonight which was nice. We try not to invade Grandpa & Grandma’s house too much so it was nice to get together to talk and the kids played in the basement. When we left at 7, it was snowing and sleeting outside. Now the wind is horrendous and it’s really cold outside. Winter is far away from being over!

I’ve been spending some time on Facebook this evening and discovered my old camp has a site. It was nice to see all the famliar faces and names again, although even with my great memory, for the life of me I can’t remember a lot of the names of old camp friends. But is was fun to look and recall the fun times. I hope my kids can have the same camp experiences I had when I was young.

Heading to my favorite store this weekend–IKEA! I’m so excited I can hardly concentrate on anything else. Nate is being a good sport about it and he is keeping the 4 older kids at home. Dominic will be shopping with me.

Trying to stay warm…

Ahhh, so I’m a little behind on posting for this week. I think I vowed to post at least once a week or so? If only I had enough time in the day!

It’s freezin’ cold here! Today was a gorgeous sunny day though and it got up to 9 degrees this afternoon. After being at home for almost 2 weeks with a house full of germs, we ventured out to the indoor playground today. I’m becoming a real homebody but even I have to get out once in a while! Nate has been working from home this week but he finally went back into the office today just to let his boss see that he is still alive.

This week’s highlight included the stomach flu (which I haven’t caught yet–knocking on wood as I type this), super cold temps outside, and mouse hunting. I’m absolutely positive Nate thinks I’m the crazy lady who stays at home obsessing about mice and laundry. Our house isn’t overrun with mice but it’s close to it. No matter how much poison we put out, the mice eat it all and still make it indoors. The kids and I were in the living room and one large mouse came right out into the doorway and just looked at us. He ran back into the corner but he didn’t seem scared of us. So I went and set a trap and caught the little bugger 5 minutes later. Stupid mouse. Now I hear another one scurrying around in the ceiling. Argh!

Noah is enjoying his break from school but I think he’ll definetly be ready to return on Tuesday. Luckily the temps are supposed to rise to 30 degrees tomorrow so we’ll be booting the kids out into the snowdrifts. We only got around 4 inches of snow but it blew some nice drifts into the west yard and I’m sure the kids will love digging some snow tunnels and forts. Dominic has been turning into a little butterball and become so cuddly and cooey lately. Not to mention that my favorite part is that he has been sleeping 8-10 hours at night 🙂

Once of my big projects lately is cleaning, organization and money budgeting. Since we have 5 kids and 2 adults living in this house with few closets, I’m determined to make it work. We (ok, Nate and his dad) recently built on a utility room that holds our extra refrigerator, freezer, washer, dryer, and a utility sink. I have to say that Nate and his dad did an AWESOME job. The job took a lot longer than planned but it is so worth it to have that extra space. Nate even built laundry basket-sized shelves from floor to ceiliing so I dont’ have to have the baskets on the floor! One of the best things is that I now have the the diaper changing station set up in the new room so the cloth diaper duties can be done all in the same room! I’ve been sorting through stuff room by room and determining what we can keep, throw away, or sell. So far it has been very liberating and I have to admit that the house stays much cleaner without all the clutter. Even Nate, who is a super pack rat, is impressed.

As for the budgeting idea, my goal is to spend as little as possible this year on unecessary things. I’m so guilty of buying little things here and there and then they all add up in the end and we end up wondering where the money went. I’ve started creating a monthly menu and I plan out our meals one month in advance. I’m also limiting my trips to town to save on gas and Nate is learning to do some of the grocery shopping on his way home from work. If I go shopping, I don’t go without a list and coupons and I only take one kid with me for my sanity. (BTW, has anyone noticed that gas is starting to creep back up again? ) We switched to cloth diapers, purchased a side of beef from a local farmer, I cut the boys’ and Nate’s hair. I’m sure glad they aren’t picky about their hair 🙂 I can’t bring myself to cut the girls’ yet though. One of Nate’s recent proud accomplishments is that he replaced the brakes on the van himself. Ok, with the help of a friend who showed him what to do but I’m very proud of him for taking this on. Especially since it would have cost us over $600 at the mechanic but Nate did both the front and back brakes for just the cost of the parts! That’s my man!

I’ve stayed up way too late as usual. It’s hard to go to bed at night when I have peace and quiet and time to myself to do whatever I want.

So I never thought I’d start a blog. But, Nate says I should and encouraged me to give it a try. After all, blogs are cool and after being at home I’m getting less and less cool everyday, right ? So, here goes.

Dominic is up late this evening and Nate is at a meeting at the school so I watched a couple of very disturbing Law and Order episodes. Every time I watch that show I get freaked out. Not sure why I turned it on. Yes, I was subjecting Dominic to violent images on TV. Really, he just enjoys being up with me and being talked to and cuddled with the whole evening. Not to mention unlimited nursing feast while while my fat arse is glued to the chair for the entire time. Sometimes it’s just nice to veg out and watch pointless TV.

Speaking of my fat arse, I decided to do the Weight Watchers system and started Sunday, Jan. 3. It’s been 8 years since I’ve done the point system but it all comes back to mind quickly. The system I’m using is to start my points at 4 p.m. everyday instead of in the mornings. Hopefully this will mentally fool me.

Four of the kids are sick with a stomach virus. Not sure where it came from but it’s here. Noah stayed home from school today and it looks like Calvin will probably miss preschool tomorrow. The worst thing is that they feel fine other than all of the sudden they throw up or have uncontrollable diarrhea with no notice at all. Other than that, they’re running around here like banchees having the time of their lives. Noah says he’s not ready to go back to school but I really think he just wants to stay home and play with the Legos and DS again tomorrow. I’m betting he’s getting on that bus tomorrow morning 🙂