Day 55: My Favorite Thirty One Product

 

I have come to the conclusion that I just can't have too many of these....Large Utility Tote.  I can think of about 100 uses for them.  I currently have 3 of them.  Two of them generally carry my party supplies and one of them is for the van.  I've taken them to BJs for my food, I've packed clothes in them for the kids to take to Grandma & Grandpa's for the weekend.  They hold everything I need for an afternoon w/ friends, they carry laundry to various parts of the house.  And that's just a start.  This is by far my "I can't live without" product.

Day 54: Game time

 

A little game of Uno to pass a rainy afternoon

Day 53:

 

Trying hard to be happy, but really not feeling good at all.

Day 52: Shrove Tuesday

 

Wow, it's been awhile since I took pictures.  I guess life got busy.  I often want to take a picture, but can't because my camera is in another part of the house.  And we've had a sick baby so things have been a little crazy.  Here is Samuel enjoying his Shrove Tuesday lunch of pancakes, whipped cream and blueberries.

Day 44: Coffee Roasting

 

Roasted Sumatran coffee beans.  These are our favorite.

Day 43: Cookie Baking

 

Brad and Augustin spend a Sunday afternoon baking oatmeal raisin cookies.  They were delicious.

Day 42: Game time

 

Matthias and Samuel playing a Monopoly card game.  Samuel always feels so big when one of the older boys plays a card game with him.

Day 41: Can you find the boy?

 

This is what I find when I go to bed and check on the boys?  Can you even find the boy in this bed?  Parker is in there some where, underneath all of his covers and surrounded by animals.

Day 40: Sleepy Head

 

Sleepy head, Samuel, ready for bed.  He loves his blankets and stuffed animals.

Day 39: Samuel makes lunch

 

A couple of the boys are very independent and really just do what needs to be done.  Augustin is probably the most like this and Samuel is learning from him.  It was a morning where no one seemed very motivated to eat breakfast, so no one ate much.  Of course, this meant kids were hungry by about 9am and lunch isn't until 11:30am...so it was turning into a long morning.  I was talking on the phone with Beth and Samuel comes up to me and says, "I made lunch, can you get plates?"

So of course I had to check out this lunch.  I had seen him grab crackers out of the basement and told him to put them in the kitchen.  What I didn't know was he'd had taken out cheese sticks (string cheese) for everyone, picked a tomato for me to cut so they could share it and gotten bananas.  Augustin helped by getting everyone a clementine.  There you have it LUNCH put together by a 3 year old.  It covered all major food groups and was well balanced. I think he has a new job, especially since everyone willingly ate it.

Day 38: Lazy day...no picture

I finally missed a day.  I'm doing pretty well so far.  Things were crazy and I just didn't get a picture taken.

Day 37: Breakfast help

 

I told Brad this morning that nothing make me happier than children being able to get their own breakfasts.  Now everyone down through Augustin can get their own meal in the morning.  Grant is helping Augustin put jelly on a bagel, but Augustin took it out, toasted it, got it on the plate and got the jelly and knife out.   Grant did the rest.  I love the independence of this kid!!!!

Day 36: Game time

 

Trying to figure out how to play Axis and Allies.  Grant got it for Christmas and it's taken until early February to find the time to sit down and try to understand the directions.  They spent 2 hours setting up the game and reading the directions (or should I say SOME of the directions).  No game play actually took place.

Day 35: Laundry Baskets are always fun

 

The kids all have loved laundry baskets and Veronica is no exception.  I think it helps that she's got 5 older brothers who find it great fun to push her around in her "boat".

Day 34: Math Time

 

Augustin loves to do math and he's very good at it.  He's almost done with his kindergarten math book and he won't be 5 until the end of March.  It always amazes me that my active, busy boy enjoys sitting and his fine motor skills are really pretty good.   Right now he's working on adding single digit numbers.

Day 33: Candlemas

 

Today is the feast of Candlemas or better known as The Presentation of the Lord.  We typically have crepes for breakfast, but I wasn't on top of things today as I normally am, so we had them for lunch and the kids loved them.  Such a special treat.

Day 32: Root Beer

 

I have been craving pizza and not just any pizza, but greasy, cheesy pizza with pepperoni.  The cheesier and greasier the better and nothing sounded better to me than root beer to go with that pizza.  I resisted buying the pizza and stuck with the root beer.  It was so good and I almost never drink pop of any kind.

Day 31: Gus the Talking Garbage Truck

 

This is Gus the Giant Talking Garbage Truck.  We've had him for years.  Grant found him at a consignment shop and bought it for Christmas for one of the little guys.  It was a favorite for a long time and then ended up in storage.  Augustin found it the other day and it has been a favorite of his (and Matthias and Samuel).  He was especially excited when he learned his name was "Gus".  "Just like me!!!!" he said.

Day 30: All the Girly Toys

 

After 13 years of only boys in the house with no girly toys to be found, it still makes me take a second look when I see Veronica's purse and tea set nicely arranged on top of the toy stove.  I'm not used to all the pink and flowers.  It makes me smile though, especially when I think about how much the boys love playing with her and showing her how to pour tea into cups....and then I find the little tea cups holding plastic dinosaurs and cars.