Where are all of the Pictures?

If you have noticed the lack of pictures, there is a reason for it. Not necessarily a good reason but a reason nonetheless. In our last move, (which hopefully will not happen again for a long time) both of our cameras were misplaced. I recently found one of the cameras lurking in the laundry basket which has the clean pajamas in it. On a side note, the only reason why I found it is because our washing machine went out and I could not fold the current weeks laundry so I finally got to the basket which has all the PJs that need to be matched. While I was matching the huge overflowing basket, I turned up the camera and quite a few other things too. I downloaded all the pictures off the memory card and reformatted it. Then decided to take a few practice pictures and all of a sudden ... the camera stopped working so until we buy a new one my blog will be pictureless.

When Simple Plans Turn Complicated

How do our simple plans turn into a campaign for large complicated strategies of enjoyment? This weekend was supposed to be easy. I had learned my mistake from years in the past. We would do 1 maybe 2 things and keep things uncomplicated. I was purposely not going to commit to going to 4 different places this year. I expressed thanks for invitations but explained that we were keeping our weekend light for the sake of our younger children. (I wasn't going to tell everybody that it was I who did not want to deal with the complaining, whiny, over-stimulated littles.) Then somehow like always it all went downhill. It started out as attending a church's Family Fun Fest where my kids go to classes. Then we signed up for the school's Harvest Festival. After all, we could not miss that. We go every year and the kids love it. On another day my oldest expressed interest in attending another church's Harvest Festival on the preceding night. That did not seem too bad and we did not having anything else planned that day. (Ha!! I forgot about the baking I committed to and a pick-up of food for my MIL and our normal extra chores since it was a weekend) Then while driving home one day we finally saw our Community Centers Sign for their event which we have been wondering when it was going to happen. We have attended a few times in the past and enjoy it. Then my best friend invited us to her church's Harvest Festival and now somehow before I knew it I committed to not 1 or 2 events for the weekend but 7. Yes, 7 events and they somehow all snuck up on me so I still thought until today we were only doing 2 or 3 things not 7! Unfortunately, this does not include our regular weekend activities either. Once again, I will be dealing with a complaining, whiny, over-stimulated brood. I am beginning to realize the way to avoid this is not just saying no to the random invitations that we receive but using the calendar we have. This way when I glance at it right before saying yes to one more thing it will be a visual reminder of the plans we have already made. Someday soon I will be the perfect organized wife/mom. Okay, everybody can stop laughing now! :)

Growing Up

The older people in our house are sick again. This is the second time this year and it is only October. Erik came home throwing up after his last class yesterday. Brad has been gracing the toilet since the night before and a little while after I was home my stomach wanted to share with the toilet as well. Thankfully, I had my way and my stomach stayed selfish. (I like coffee, a lot, and I am not sure I could palate it after an episode such as that.) All this gross talk to say you know you are growing up when you still do your chores (at least some of them) when you are sick. Erik gets up from laying on his bed and goes into the kitchen and see the garbage and informs me "I think I better take the garbage and recycles out they are over full." I responded "I have already ask Jeremiah to so you do not need to worry about it." "Thats okay, I can take care of it." Wow, I thought I had a few more years before I could expect anything more than the moaning, whining, and pathetic looks when he was sick. I cannot believe how responsible he is sometimes either that or just does not want anyone taking his precious job away from him. :)

Freezer Meals= Gourmet?

Usually, I do not mind cooking except in the summer when I do just about anything to avoid adding more heat to my house. (This year, I tried to convince my children eating was unnecessary since it is too hot but for some reason they disagreed. :) Now that it is getting cold again I find myself in the kitchen more if only to keep from freezing but I am not a chef or even a good cook. I am not very creative aka I do not cook gourmet by any stretch of the imagination. I just try to get healthy, inexpensive, moderately tasty meals on the table in a timely fashion(aka before my children die of starvation at 5:00). Thankfully my husband and children are troopers who do not complain and are not picky. This lack of creativity is more because I do not feel like I have enough time at the "right" time. I have found out what works for our family is on the days I do not work I make "extra" meals. I usually buy in bulk and cook any where from 3 to 10 meals at a time and freeze them. For example, I will cook up 5lbs of hamburger meat and divide the meat to make spaghetti, some kind of homemade hamburger helper/casserole/ hot dish, sloppy joes, and tacos. I usually put a bunch of vegetables into the meals to make them healthier and to stretch the meat a little. If I do it correctly, each one of these different meals can then be split into 2 more meals. All this, so I do not walk into the kitchen at 5:00 having no idea what to make for dinner. For some reason the dinner hour seems to be extremely stressful since the boys are STARVING, tired, grumpy, etc. at this time and 1 or more of them always seems to NEED me NOW! I find if I have dinner, either defrosting in the fridge or microwave, I can then attend to the random but dire needs of whomever and still get a healthy, moderately tasty, meal on the table in relative ease. This weekend as I was making my freezer dinners I happened to be on the phone with my dad who suggested we share meals. Wait, am I understanding him right? All I had to do was let my dad take my home my extra boring soup to feed to his guys and in return in the next day or two he would give me what he made for his household. Of course we can share meals!! Now you should know something here, my dad should be a gourmet chef so whatever possessed him into thinking up something so grossly unfair to himself is beyond me but by no means am I going to let this enchanting deal pass me by. When I am at his house, I always end up eating more than I should, since there is always something too yummy to pass up! Today this translated into my dull chicken and dumpling soup turning into a yummy pork roast with garlic mashed potatoes! There is no doubt in my mind that I, by far, got the better end of this deal! Thanks Dad!! My only thought now is what is my next dreary meal going to turn into?

6-Year-Old Wisdom

Overheard while the kids were eating cereal for breakfast.

Jeremiah, "Mommy we need to get a cow because of how much milk we go through."

Matthew, "Why?"

Jeremiah, "Do you know what a cow pees out?"

Matthew, "What?"

Jeremiah, "Milk!"

I am now trying to decide if I need to make up a lesson covering this or if we should take a field trip to a farm.

UPDATE!!

Jeremiah does know where the milk on a cow comes from. He was just trying to pull one over on his brother. I think he got me too! :)

4-year-oldism

Matthew last night at dinner, "Mom, this is the BEST dinner I never had!!"