Growing

As we spent our Saturday cleaning and purging I decided now was the time to finally move Mister to a bigger bed. I'd been putting it off long enough. One of my biggest weaknesses is putting away baby clothes and equipment. I put it off as long as possible sometimes too long as you can see...

The most productive days

Around 4:15am on Thursday morning Mister woke me up for a little snack. As I lay there surprisingly awake I suddenly remembered that I was hosting preschool co-op this morning. Yikes! I can't even walk in the homeschool room let alone have someone teach a class in there. That settled it, time to get up. Here is what the room looked like at 4:30am.

I grabbed my ipad and put on "Tommy Boy" to keep me company (read awake) as I cleaned. By 6:30am the room looked like this.

See I had gone to bed on Wednesday night (if you recall in an heap of exhaustion surrounded, this time by nacho remnents and an empty glass of wine.) thinking that I wasn't going to leave the house and I'd have all day to work on school, clean, and prepare for Little Flowers which I was to teach that night.

So remembering that I had preschool not only meant I had to clean before 10am but that I wouldn't be able to do school or work on Little Flowers activities until the afternoon. Blah. So at 6:30am I head upstairs for my first cup of coffee and I was greeted with Mr. Sloth who with blurry eyes asked what time I got up. After seeing the homeschool room for himself he and I agreed that it was worth getting up at 4:30am.

Ten minutes later we were changing diapers, getting children dressed and starting breakfast when Mr. Sloth announced that Happy had a 101 fever. This means there won't be preschool here this morning. I logged onto our yahoo group to see that 99% of the boys in the preschool group had fevers. That settles it, no preschool today. Now before you think, "Oh no! You got up early to get ready for preschool!" Just know that I was super excited at this point. The room was cleaned I now had all day to work on things since we definately weren't going anywhere and the added bonus is that with a sick child you don't feel so guily turing on the magical box. The great mysterious thing about homeschooling is that sick days are work days and snow/sunny days are fun days. It's a pretty sweet system.
 
Demand and I had fun all day getting ready for Little Flowers. The saint this month was St. Joan of Arc and the virtue "fortitude". We got to work coming up with costumes for the skit.

Here is d Demand dressed as St. Catherine of Siena since she appeared to St. Joan of Arc.

Since St. Joan of Arc held a cross as she died. I thought the girls could make stuffed crosses to hold when they are scared or in need of fortitude.

St. Joan of Arc costume. She is wearing her St. Helen costume from Halloween/All Saints Day but we made a fire out of cardboard, toilet paper rolls, and tissue paper. Then there is a cardboard wrapping paper rolls that is down the back of her shirt. Demand thought that was pretty funny.

Then we made banners that were like the one St.Joan carried. We know that it said "Jesus, Mary" on the banner and tradition often shows Fleur de Lis on it as well. Thankfully with my cricut I can crank out 40 Fleur de Lis in no time. Then the girls were to glue an icon of  St. Joan and her motto and write "Pray for Us!"

I could have kept planning but decided to stop for the day. I was able to make a delicious, healthy, and gluten free meal. (More on that tomorrow) Bacon wrapped pork loin with broccoli/green beans/ brussel sprouts. It was yummy!

Mr. Sloth came home early so Demand and I could leave by 5:10. It's a long meeting, we didn't get home until 9pm. What a long day.  Today is looking less exhausting though.  Later, I'll tell you about  "the diet challenge."

4.....3....2...1.....

After a week of feeling completely incompetent in my vocation as wife and mother, today has only continued my suspicion. I always go to bed on Tuesday evenings kind of holding my breath because Wednesdays tend to be pure chaos that end with me in a heap of exhaustion surrounded by chicken wing bones and an empty wine glass.

I tried to plan ahead last night by setting out the boys clothes and showering at night instead of this morning. To complicate matters today is Happy's 4th Birthday so he was going to be opening some presents first thing this morning. So we woke up got dressed and headed down for presents. All was going well. The kids were playing with Happy's new toys while Mr. Sloth made breakfast. Fairly well until Baby,( can we call him "Mister"? ) had his first (that's foreshadowing) blowout of the day. Mr. Sloth then abandoned us left for work and we got ready to head to Good Shepard. (After a wardrobe change for Mister of course). As always I had lofty plans of dropping 1 & 2 off at Good Shepard and then heading to the Post Office, Aldi, Target, and Goodwill with 3 & 4.

Not so much.

Before we even got out the door I realized that aside from the small chance of me having time to head to Goodwill gathering the items I want to drop off wasn't going to happen. So much for my Lenten purging. I was so tired as we drove that I could barely keep my eyes open. It's only 9am. I digress. So I drop 1 & 2 off at Good Shepard and head to the Post Office, why the Post Office you say? Because I had Christmas gifts to send, yep, you read that right. February 20th and I'm sending Christmas gifts. I told you. I am incompetent.

So I get to the Post Office and just before I unload the kiddos I realize that I left my wallet in my gym bag...which is at home. Marvelous. So we head home, (10 minute drive) I grab my wallet and a snack for Pax to (ironically) make peace with him and we head BACK to the Post Office.(10 more minutes). On the way there I hear the verbal distress of Pax behind me. I turn to find that the was slowly pouring all the water out of my water bottle all over himself. 

Did I mention it's 4 degrees outside?

So I get Pax and Mister out of the van and grab my wallet and gifts and slowly make our way into the Post Office. I grab some envelopes to start filling out addresses when I realize that I forgot the addresses in my diaper bag. Sigh. Back to the van we go to get the list and back into the Post Office. Pax did a decent job of not getting into too much trouble while I was filling out addresses. I gave Pax the paper bag I used to bring in the packages to hold while I pay for the packages and stamps. There was some good news to this stop on our adventure. Everyone was in awe of how cute my kids were. Naturally. But the postal worker who always seems to remember me even though I avoid that place like the plague was extra supportive. I mentioned that I was just now sending some Christmas gifts partly because I have a certain two year old and she said that it was more important to spend time with the two year old than send Christmas gifts on time. So that was encouraging.

So we head to Aldi. Aldi is in the same parking lot as the Post Office not close enough to walk with two littles in the winter but close enough to be annoying that you have to get the kids in the van and drive to a closer space. Back in the van, drive across the lot, back out of the van.

4 degrees people.

Into the store we go. I reach into my pocket to find nothing, where is my grocery list? It's in the paper bag I gave Pax to hold which is in the van. Now those of you familiar with Aldi know that you can't just walk out the door you have to walk through the whole store to get out the door. Off we go. Through the store, and back out to the van.

4 DEGREES!

I open the van, find the paper bag and nothing is in it. "Pax?! What did you do with my list?!"  (insert sound of crickets chirping) Ugh, he's like talking to a two year old. I suddenly remember him doing some suspicious activities at the Post Office while I paid and I can only imagine it involved him putting my grocery list in someones mail box.

I called Mr. Sloth to talk me down remind me of the items that were on the list.  Thankfully Aldi isn't too big of a store and it can be a quick trip if you know what you are doing. Pax did a wonderful job. He never stood up in the cart once. Mister just sat there happy as ever. So as a treat I let Pax pick out an organic juice box for himself. 

I get the kiddos and groceries loaded into the van with ten minutes to spare before pick up time at Good Shepard. Clearly I didn't have time to go to Target before class was over so now I will be heading with all four in tow.  As we are leaving the van I was holding Mister, Happy and Demand were holding hands andas I reached for Paxs' hand he tripped, fell, and lost his shoe in the middle of the road. Of course the car right behind us was trying to back out. Out of nowhere I instantly became an expert at putting a shoe on a two year old in the snowy road while holding a baby. And remember,

IT'S 4  BLEEPING DEGREES OUTSIDE!!!

We only had four items on our list. Diapers, brussel sprouts, natural hot dogs, and cupcakes. Even with only four items on the list I still required two carts as box of size 2, size 5, and night time pull ups fills up the cart pretty fast. Plus I found a sweet little booster to restrain help Pax at the dinner table. That took up a lot of space. Don't forget, it's Target so you are bound to pick up a few extras under their hypnosis. We did pretty well and made it through quickly considering it was an hour past lunch time, I hadn't fed Mister since this morning, and Pax was wearing soaking wet pants.  The kids were disappointed that they couldn't get the free cookie from the deli but good grief people we have cupcakes in the cart!

As we drove home I went over in my head what lay ahead of me. Mister would be crying to eat soon, Happy wants all of his birthday gifts down to play with, it's an hour past lunch, and there is a trunk full of groceries to unload before making their lunch. We discussed the situation ahead of time which seems to help them but there was still a lot of "Momma I want this" for the next half hour. Finally the kids had eaten, I had put away all the cold grocery items, and made my own lunch. (stupid diet) As I sat down to eat Mister played happily in his exersaucer.  Then I heard the distinct sound of him having a blowout while he played. I looked at my half eaten plate of food and gave up. It was an hour past Pax's nap, Mister was probably up to his ears in "blowout" and Happy was not-so-patiently waiting for me to get his new toys down.

So that was my day up until 1:30pm.  I haven't even begun to dive into the five loads of laundry, or breakfast/lunch dishes that lay ahead of me. Then there's the rest of the groceries to put away, make dinner, and maybe, just maybe Demand well get some education today.  On the upside, at least to me, Mr. Sloth isn't going to Religious Ed tonight because our usual sitter has a sick child so we are opting out. That means the boys will get to bed at a decent hour and I don't have to rush through dinner to get all the kids to a sitter by myself which is what the plan was going to be for this evening.

I hope this post doesn't sound like me complaining. In fact I'm impressed with myself how much today hasn't bothered me. I just find it funny. Once upon a time I wanted to be an actress on a television sitcom now I feel like my life is a sitcom, or at least a dark comedy. 

I was going to leave you with pictures of the birthday boy but as I began posting the picture I realized it was the wrong baby. Mommy bad.

4...3...2...1...meltdown.

Happy is turning 4

Happy turns four tomorrow and we celebrated his birthday with a few preschool friends at an indoor park. When I made the reservations I was counting on the place being dead on a Monday night (which is usually is) but I forgot that yesterday was a holiday and as it turns out the second busiest day of the year for the park. Thankfully though we came after the rush of people had gone home. The kids had so much fun. Mr. Sloth had mostly forgotten about that place and is now plotting to bring kiddos 1-3 there so he can just sit and read a book....or catch up on Angry Birds.

Here is Happy's 4th Birthday Rocket Ship party.

Supposed to be a planet with stars.

Cake table.

Red duct tape + stars from my cricut + water bottles.= cute and easy

Gift bags with two space coloring pages and a Candy Saturn V rocket.

http://www.makeandtakes.com/space-shuttle-party-treats

The birthday boy got surprisingly shy when his friends started singing Happy Birthday to him.

Blowing out the candles.

How old are you?

Finally digging into that cake they had to stare at all day.

Say Cheese!

Opening gifts.

Big sister is more than willing to help.

He's about half way up the four story playground.

Mom! I'm up here!

The Pantry

 The long awaited pantry post. Let's call this the first of two as I have some labeling to do and no time right now, but soon, soon. I promise.

So I was on this super organizing kick and then my label maker ran out of tape. (Super sad face)

It took a few days but I was able to get a new stock of labeling tape. So upward and onward! 

Before. Stuffed. Unorganized. Wasted food and space. 

Emptied with the help of my lovely assistant. 

Yowza, tha'ts a lot of food! 

Behold! The new pantry!

First, I discovered that elfa makes plastic liners for the wire shelves. That changes everything! I bought three!
Upper shelf: Snack bin with snacks for the kids. I'll dump boxes of granola bars and fruit strips in here and like last week I'll pop a big batch of popcorn on Sunday and divide it up and/or divide up some trail mix or nuts. Our kids LOVE nuts! Then there's the  "Mommy/Daddy" snacks on top of the new shelf,  and bread flour and sugar bins below the shelf.

Next shelf is bread crumbs, and popcorn in mason jars on the left (for you Paul) and then two bins with cracker and flour, then grain containers.(All IKEA) Cereal, cereal, oatmeal, long pasta, short pasta, aborio rice. 

A step shelf so you can see everyting. Whatever jars or cans we have will go on this shelf. Right now we have an obscene amount of frosting and peanut butter on this shelf. 

I had two leftover bins from the freezer that I am going to do some fun labeling with . Then I have a tea container, and a the hanging shelf is for the extra tea we have on hand. I didn't include a picture of the bottom of the pantry but you can see there is a hanging shelf for onions and one for bread and then bulky items like our protein powder and Sam's Club supplies (coffee, vinegar)

IKEA tea container. Awesome. I was thinking of getting one and actually didn't realize that was what this container was for when I grabbed it but that's what I was going to use it for! We're really into tea these days. Thank you Mr. Chris! (Kachow!)

Lets take a look at the grain containers one more time, shall we? I woke up yesterday to find Mr. Sloth sweating over the stove making steel cut oats because he couldn't find the oatmeal. He didn't realize that I had put it in this pretty container and had yet to label the pretty-adorable-neat looking container.

So,there you have it, the new and improved pantry. It had been working great for two weeks now with only a slight learning curve. Also, for those who are interested the freezer has been AWESOME! I'll never go back, never again. I originally found this idea of iheartorganizing you may have to scroll down a bit in the link but she used the same containers for her freezer and she has top bottom freezer as opposed to our side by side.  The refrigerator has also been a blessing. It's the longest we've ever kept a refrigerator clean but there is some maintenance. I purposely left some flex space for when we just get groceries or will have items in the fridge only momentarily. This confuses Mr. Sloth but he doesn't complain and tries to learn the system. Not only has our refrigerator remained clean and organized but food hasn't gone bad and we're using more food efficiently. I go to the leftovers/dinner shelf first when looking for a snack and if we keep that focus we'll keep a clean and organized refrigerator.

Next I'll tell you how we got nothing done this weekend because our kitchen sink clogged hours before Mr. Sloth left on a business trip. So much fun.

Laundry Challenge

Take two. Thank you blogger for wasting that hour of my life.


Yesterday I picked one focus to help me get through the day. Often when I pick one focus I end up getting the whole house cleaned anyway. Yesterday's focus was laundry.

I will humbly show the before pictures.

Not too bad actually, but it does need to be picked up.

Folding, puzzle, Christmas decoration central.

These next three pictures I have titled "The Humblemaker"

Note: The pile at the end of the bed are clothes that were on our bed when we went to bed. I thought I would put them away the day before. Happens every night.


 

 It's hard to keep your master bedroom a haven for two spouses remotely interested in one another when it seconds as a nursery.



I was all set to go. Motivation and a plan, but then I remembered.....

I'm taking care of a dinosaur.

Oh, yes, then there is this guy.

I also forgot that I'm supposed to be Edgamacating (educating) these people. Hmmmm.....

So laundry was a little delayed. But I did learn that this dinosaur likes to color.

And Happy likes to pretend this little book is a hymnal. 

Here's Demand doing some Math. Three digit subtraction she can do...dot-to-dots send her into a downward spiral apparently.....

I thought I would try and sneek in some laundry so I built a distraction ramp for the boys while I worked on 

Mount Needstobefolded.

And that's when things got crazy. Friend came over who didn't realize a gathering had been canceled. Then Pax decided today was the day he wanted to start wearing underwear.  Then out of no where I realized it was 11am and I had a half an hour to make lunch, feed the kids, get them in their winter gear and into van. I also had to change the baby and change my clothes, pack a gym bag, pack a diaper bag and head to the gym. Thankfully Mr. Sloth had arrived to help out. 

On the way to the gym I was reminded that I was seriously low on gas and oh, forgot my wallet. Mr. Sloth had to check me into the gym and check the kids into the gym and give me his card for gas. 

My workout was great. An hour to myself with the trainer. I picked up the kids and headed to the gas station where I put 19.127 gallons of gas in my 20 gallon tank. Thankfully baby fell asleep on the way home so I was able to put him in our room and bribe the dinosaur Pax into his crib so I could take a shower. With two asleep and myself showered and dressed I was finally ready to start on that laundry.

2:30? Yikes! Only three hours until Mr Sloth gets home.

I was able to keep Happy and Demand entertained without using the magical box and in two hours I had accomplished this. 

The laundry room with the last load of clothes in the dryer.

Mt. Needstobefolded was removed from the dining room leaving space to collect more Christmas decorations to be stored for the season.

Look, even Happy is excited!

Ah, much better, no if I could only get around to donating that box of "stuff" that is in the box in the corner.

Much easier to find diapers, clothes, and baby in the middle of the night.

There, much better. This is a place to sleep. At least I'm assuming that is what one does here, I wouldn't know thanks to the fab-four. 

But wait, there's more! Not only had I met my objective but I was done early enough to clean the kitchen, have a drink waiting for Mr. Sloth and maybe watch a little television and play with the kids for the first time in two years. Feels so good! 

Next I'll finally post pictures of the new and improved pantry. (It's so exciting, you can hardly wait!)