First Real Food Lunch

So the baby is so *over* baby food. I get it. But I have a shelf full of baby food and rice cereal!

I have been trying to feed him meals of half baby food and half bits of big people food.

Today he reached his breaking point. So I obliged.

One happy customer!

And one happy lunchmate.




--Kate

A little bit different

So I wanted to share a few things I am doing, in order to survive my chaos. I have been doing things a bit differently around here. And, Shawn, this will all go back to "normal" when you get home (especially #1 and #2).

1. I make my own coffee.

2. I take out the trash. On time.

3. I don't recycle anything more than what is collected at our curbiside. (Cardboard goes in the trash can, sorry. I am not driving all the way out there!)

4. I do a load or two of laundry almost every day. I normally insist on waiting for a "laundry day" since our washer is so enormous.

5. Dinner is at 4:30pm. And it will be simple. Last night was my famous "English Muffin Pizzas." I don't think you need me to write down that recipe!

6. Big kids get a shower or bath at 6:30pm. Hilarious, I know. But it works. Henry gets his bath at 8:00 so I have to start the other two early.

7. I pay someone to do my lawn.

8. Sometimes I forget to brush my teeth.

9. I eat standing up in the kitchen usually while preparing meals for the kids. I aim to get my meal eaten before the kids eat. I am quite grouchy when I am hungry.

10. I am not afraid to ask for help when I need it. (Shawn, listen to this...) Just this morning I asked a man to help me carry in my boxes at the post office instead of juggling everything myself! I KNOW! I could hardly believe I did it either! I should add that I attempted to carry everything first, but decided to ask when I didn't even have enough hands and arms to get out of the car.

--Kate

I QUIT!!!

YES, that's Right! I QUIT!

I quit the Air Force.
Officially. No strings attached- quit. I love it. I just resigned my commission altogether. Shawn would probably say "it's about time" I did so. But I never saw a reason to stop until now. Come on, three kids, husband deployed, losing my mind? Do I need another reason? Now I am just "dependent-Kate" not "reservist-Kate." Whatever- I mean the benefits are better as a dependent anyway.

OH WAIT- you thought I meant I quit doing housework! HA! I know what you must be thinking when you saw that picture, "what a lovely kitchen...too bad it is a freaking mess!"

Oh well. That is how I live. From mess to mess. I will clean it up here in a minute. But I betcha it will go right back to the chaos and clutter tomorrow. Maybe even by 5pm tonight.

Here ya go. Some shots from my new camera. Just playing around. No special functions. No editing or anything. Just a couple of cute pics of my (un)willing subjects. Enjoy! I actually have 30 minutes to myself! Kids slept all night last night. Which hasn't happened in Idon'tknowhowlong! It was starting to feel like I had a newborn again. And Henry is drinking a bit of formula from his sippy cup. He likes it from-the-fridge-cold. Miracles all around.



--Kate

Really? I mean, really!?

So this is what happens when your five year old thinks the crucifix would make a great gun!




Soon to be followed up with an "I'm very sorry" and a "but I can fix it!".

REALLY?

I had to follow up with a "things with Jesus on them are not toys."

Besides that- it is a great day! I get my babysitter for four hours tonight. I wil be running errands without kids and cleaning the filthy and sticky kitchen floor. Maybe even getting some sewing done. (my Tuesday night girl even puts the big kids to bed for me!)

-- Post From My iPhone

It's Fun to Stay at the YMCA!

Ok, maybe if you are 5 and 3!

Tonight was Parents' Night Out (PNO). I don't know what I was thinking! I truly thought I was going to accomplish a lot without kids around and that bedtime would be no problem because everyone will be so tired from playing and staying up late.

HA!

Never again, by myself.

I do need to mention that I got a late start due to soccer practice ending right at 6pm- the start of PNO. And due to I still had to nurse Henry because the little stinker will not, absolutely, no way, no how drink formula or breastmilk from a sippy cup. And don't even *think* of offering him a bottle!

But I did get to Lowe's. Got what I needed. My neighbor helped me WD-40 my garage door. (Bet you didn't know that "WD-40" could be used as a verb.) Emptied the dishwasher and filled it back up. Put away two baskets of laundry that I folded four days ago. And prepositioned all the bedtime ritual and routine items. But, POW- backfire. When I got to the "Y" Henry just fallen asleep. Apparently he had been crying so much that they were getting ready to call me to come get him. Of course he woke up and wailed the whole way home. Nicholas and Stella did so-so. The bedtime routine was all screwy and they were going nuts. I saw Stella running around naked at 10:15 and Nicholas decided not to brush his teeth. It was chaos here screaming jumping bean kids until about 11:00pm. I would have been better off renting a movie and parking them in front of it this evening. (My mom is probably gasping right now, because I NEVER do that. Next time I will.)

I did get to patch up the cracks along our back door since many little bugs have been meandering their way into my kitchen lately. However, I bought the wrong color. (It is that sanded caulk stuff. Easy-peasy.) I could have sworn the grout was grey! It's not. It is beige. Well...it is grey where I stand and cook. Maybe more accurately "dirty-and-stained-beige". Oh well, I will just get some more tomorrow when my babysitter comes and do-over.



I need a PNO do-over.

--Kate

Happy Easter to all...especially to Daddy!

Here's what we did for Easter.

1. Found baskets and Easter treats. Ate plenty of them before breakfast. Snuck a few more mini KitKats past mom and ate them before lunch.

2. Read our new books. (WHICH I was quite shocked...Nicholas can read!! What?! He read pretty much the whole book! I. was. excited-giddy-proud-amazed-and-wishing Shawn was here to see it.)


3. Sat in the front yard and reluctantly let mom take pictures. We pretty much ate candy the whole time...heehee. She fell for it.

4. Nicholas savored his candy.

Stella drank her candy (m&ms).

Henry just wanted to get his mits on candy.

5. Kicked butt in an awesome backyard egg hunt at Eli's house! We were peeking and our moms are NOT good egg-hiders. Found 'em all.

6. Dyed *real* eggs. No pictures. Mom was a bit nervous with all the dye splashing around. Ha!

7. Ate something pink for dinner. (Wait a minute, kids. Not just any dinner, people. For not being a "ham person" I still can't believe the way I devoured that meat! And stole more from the platter while cleaning up.Katie, I didn't know you were talking about sugar encrusted crack ham! I love THAT! Katie, it was a FABULOUS dinner.)

Thanks to you and Dan for having us and for entertaining my crew so I could stuff my face. No bowl of cereal before bed tonight...don't need it!

--Kate

One short

Well, take a good look at that picture because we are going to be one short of fully operational for the next four months. Tomorrow morning at 0'dark-thirty, Shawn is leaving for a four month deployment.

I know it is not nice to leave you hanging for so long then drop this post on you. But we have been a little busy 'round here. In fact I have 15 minutes before I have to have H and S in the car to get N from school. S is napping (what?!) and I am wrestling H on my lap to write this.

So I know already, there is never down time. I mean now, there is none. And now that H is mobile, any hopes that I did have of down time are shot. And you can't stay up late at night because you will be getting up soon with someone! I am always tired. Since H cut teeth he doesn't sleep through the night. And we always have one other kid up at night, too. Sooo tired and tired of being tired.

But I am ready to brave this storm on my own...kind of.

I surrendered before it even started! I have help. Grandma is coming for a week...I hired two babysitters to help...and- here's the kicker- we are "moving" back to my parents for most of the summer. This is all part of OPERATION Keep Mama Sane.

But we, like Shawn, are ready for the adventure! Stay tuned...this might be my only reprieve!



--Kate