OUR THANKSGIVING

Nathan had to work at the fire station again this Thanksgiving.  We spent the day at home enjoying the beautiful weather and then headed to the fire station to have dinner with Nathan there.  I'm thankful that even though he had to work, we were able to spend a little time with him.  The kids love going to the fire station and sitting on the trucks so they were very happy to be having Thanksgiving dinner there.  I'm so thankful for all the things God has blessed our family with.  Adding Jude to our family was our biggest blessing this year.  

 I am thankful, grateful, & blessed!!! 

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well! 

MY MENU PLAN + A LITTLE SATURDAY FUN

Usually my Saturdays are spent going to 2-3 grocery stores, lunch out with the kids, and then rushing home to get Alanna down for a nap, putting the groceries away, doing meal prep for the week, and then not a lot of time for anything fun with the kids.  Today was going to be 70 degrees and sunny and I just did not want to spend the whole day grocery shopping and cooking.  So I decided just to hit one grocery store - Walmart - since I knew they had everything on my list.  Walmart is about 4 miles from my house so we left the house at 9:30am and got home at 10:45am!  Holy Cow!!!  I was so happy to be home just over an hour after I left with all my grocery shopping done.  Normally I don't get home till around 1pm.  As much as I don't like Walmart, in this busy stage of life that I am in...it sure is tempting just to only shop at Walmart right now so that I can be in and out so quick.  Another positive thing to my shopping trip besides how fast it went, was finding chicken breasts on sale for $1.17 a pound!!!  They had a sell by date of today so they had been way marked down.  I was so excited since I have never bought chicken breasts for less than $1.29 a pound and that was years ago.  I grabbed all five packs :)  

We went home and I nursed Jude, put the groceries away, re-straightened up the house, and then we went through the drive-thru at CFA.  We ate in the van as we drove to one of our favorite parks that is in the city.  There isn't a playground there but they have a little petting farm, a black bear, a bobcat, eagles, beautiful gardens, huge trees, and lots of space for the kids to run around and have fun.  Nathan was working at the fire station today so my mom met us there and we just spent a few hours enjoying each other and the beautiful day.  

Ruy's favorite part of the day was the goats and climbing on the huge rocks they have. Ruy felt a little sad today though because we used to always go to this park with my sister and her kids before they moved into their trailer and left for deputation to be missionaries to South Africa.  If you don't know my sister, you can read more about her and her family here.  They are all pretty amazing :)

 Liam fell from some of the rocks moments after I told him he had climbed too high and needed to come down.  I near about had a heart attack and ran up the rocks with Jude in the Ergo as my mom was yelling at me that she could go get him.   Thankfully he was totally fine...just had a little headache.  Alanna thought she was big stuff and tried to climb as high as Liam was but I wasn't about to have her falling and scaring me half to death too.  Liam's favorite part was the horses & the donkey.  He said the donkey's fur was "so comfy".

 Alanna loved all the animals and the fact that her skirt had "potets" (pockets) on it.  This is her new "smile".  I didn't even ask her to smile.  I just said "Alanna, show me your pockets!"  And this is the face she gave me.  Crazy girl :)

We were all pretty worn out by the time we left.  There are a ton of hills at this park and I had to agree with Liam that my feet hurt pretty bad.  But it was good to get out in the beautiful weather and I'm so thankful for a fun afternoon with my little treasures.

*Please do say a little prayer for Jude.  He had a cold for 2 weeks, got better, and now has had another cold for a few days.  He's coughing, has watery eyes, and is having a hard time breathing when he nurses.

Tomorrow my in-laws are coming up and we are celebrating Thanksgiving together.  Since my husband had to work Thanksgiving at the fire station, we are cooking our Thanksgiving meal tomorrow & if it doesn't rain, getting our Christmas tree.  I'm so excited for a fun family day!!! 

I hope you all had a wonderful day as well!

......

  I took a quick picture of what I bought at Walmart today.  I spent $165 on everything.  About $30 of that came from the chicken that I stocked up on.

And now here is my Menu Plan for the week. 

Enjoy! 

Saturday:  Grocery Shopping

B- Overnight Peanut Butter Oatmeal (Crossover from the peanut butter)

L-  Chick-fil-a (Cheat)

D- Crock Pot Black Bean Soup (E)

Sunday:  *Church & Thanksgiving with Nathan's parents.

B- Cinnamon Rolls (Cheat)  The kids asked for these and since we're celebrating our Thanksgiving this day, I am giving in :) 
*If I made these rolls with sprouted whole wheat flour & a cream cheese (on plan) frosting...would they be a Crossover instead of a Cheat??? 

L- Sandwiches (for the kids) Wraps (for Nathan, my in-laws, & me) fruit. (S)

D-  Thanksgiving meal.  Turkey, green beans, sweet potatoes.  (E)   *If I decide to eat rolls and pumpkin pie those will be a cheat.  

Monday: 

B- Me & Nathan: Chocolate Banana Muffins from the THM cookbook page 283 (E) Kids: Whole Wheat Banana Muffins

L- Chicken Rice Soup (E) 
*This soup is really good.  Kids all loved it too. 

D- Crock Pot Taco Soup (E)

Tuesday:

B- Scrambled eggs & cheese, yogurt with fruit. (S)  

L-  Me & Nathan:  Ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato wrap & fruit. Kids: PB & Jelly, Fruit

D-  Chicken Tacos (E or S depending on the toppings)

Wednesday:  Awanas

B- Giant Blueberry Pancake (E) From the THM Cookbook page 261

L- Leftover Chicken Soup (E)  

D- Alfredo & peas (S)  

Thursday  

B- Overnight oats (E)

L- Grilled Cheese & ham (sandwiches for the kids- wrap for me & Nathan) carrots & ranch, fruit (S)

D-  Slim Sloppy Joes & green beans(S) *From the THM cookbook page 63.  Serving these on Joseph's Pitas for Nathan and me, sandwich bread for the kids. 

Friday:  

B- Ham & cheese Omelets & Peanut Butter Banana Shake(S) *Use real banana for a CO or Banana Extract to keep it an S.

L- Homemade Chicken Nuggets, fruit (S)

D-  Homemade pizza, carrots for kids, salad for Nathan & me (E) 

Snacks:

Popcorn, Cottage Berry Whip, Shakes, Granola & yogurt, fruit, nuts, string cheese, apples with yogurt & pb (just a tsp to keep it an E),

*My kids also get animal crackers and pretzels occasionally throughout the week if I need a quick snack.  I try to keep it to when we're out somewhere but sometimes they get them at home too.

Dessert:

Cottage Berry Whip, Shake, Low Carb Ice-Cream, yogurt with PB & sugar-free chocolate chips.

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LIAM LATELY

Liam is a mommy's boy.  And I love it.  I love that he loves to snuggle and get kisses.  He gets emotional and extra clingy if I don't spend enough time with him.  He loves to stand on a chair next to me while I cook and help me.  If he's not standing next to me while I cook, he likes to sit on a blanket and read or play with toys, or sit in his chair and color.  He loves to be near me as much as possible basically.  

He likes to have me help him "fly" on the swing.  He lays on his belly on the swing and then holds out his hands for me to pull him and then let him go.  He holds his arms out and says "oh infinity and beyond" and pretends he is Buzz Lightyear.  He still loves his rain boots but hardly ever wears a hat anymore.  The only time he ever really wears a hat is when he is pretending that he is Gerard Butler.  He wears his straw hat, his red mask, and his black Zorro cape.  Then he runs around saying he's Gerard Butler.  I know...you're asking "why Gerard Butler!?"  One time Nathan and I were singing songs from Phantom of the Opera and he saw a picture of Gerard Butler as the Phantom and so he ran and put that on and then started singing and saying he was Gerard Butler.  It was pretty funny.  

His favorite costume though is his Buzz Lightyear costume.  He wears it almost every day since I got it for him back in September.  He plays with his Buzz Lightyear toy almost all day every day.  He lost both of his Woody toys and is so sad about it.  I can't wait to give him his new Woody toy for Christmas.  He watches Toy Story all the time and he even sings "Buzz Lightyear" songs to me at night.  He makes up little songs about Buzz Lightyear which usually consists of him singing parts of the movie.  

He started pre-school this year and it's exciting seeing him learn new things.  He's recently really started trying to stay in the lines with he colors and he gets really excited when I praise him for it.  He's even told Ruy "wow Ruy!  Good job you stayed in the lines" when he sees Ruy coloring, copying what I say to him.  

He doesn't like to eat Oatmeal.  It's a constant battle getting him to eat it when I make it.  But he loves pancakes, eggs, and chocolate chip banana muffins.  He loves pizza, spaghetti, and tacos.  Chick-fil-a is his favorite place to eat out...Lemonade and Chick-fil-a sauce all the way.  He is definitely my child.  

He wants to be "big like Ruy" so bad.  He always says "when I'm big like Ruy will I get to do...." He started crying the other night and when I asked him what was wrong he said " I just want to play on a soccer team like Ruy!"  I had no idea he wanted to play sports yet but he cried and cried telling me how much he wants to be on a team.  He loves to wrestle with Ruy and play outside with him.

Alanna and Liam have a great time playing together until Liam decides it's his job to make her do something.  He gets stressed out if she takes one of his special toys or if she's not obeying.  Then he tries to make her obey and it usually ends with Alanna throwing something at him, her crying on the floor, Liam yelling her name, and me trying to get everyone calmed down.  But when they aren't fighting they are best buds :)  

He still sometimes struggles with saying "th" for the "fl" sound.  So he will say "Look there is a thower (flower) on the thor (floor).  Or he'll say "Can you help me thy (fly) on the swing?"  He's starting to say the "fl" sound the right way more and more without me having to correct him.  It's so cute when he says it but I know he's going to completely out grow it soon.

He just started filling up his own cup with water and thinks he's so big because he can do that.  He even will help me and fill up Alanna's cup.  He's finally dressing himself most days without fighting me about it.  He still doesn't like to put on his own socks though.  He will say "I can't 'know how to put my socks on!"  He's learning to brush his own teeth and he just asked me the other day if he could stop using the "baby forks and spoons".  They are the plastic ones he's been using since he was one but I guess he has out grown them now.  He doesn't really wear a bib ever any more either.  He does a good job now at leaning over and not getting food all over him.  He's growing up so fast lately it seems!!! 

 

Something sweet he said to me today:

Me: "Liam, those apples are my favorite kind of apple."

Liam: "Well you're my favorite Mommy!" 

Me: .... heart melts! 

He's changing and growing so fast.  I feel like every time I blink, time just slips through my fingers and I just want to slow it all down.  Liam is my sweet little boy.  He completely melts my heart.  

Photo Credit: Lindsey Martin Photography

ALANNA'S SECOND BIRTHDAY

Alanna turned two on November 14.  I know I say this every year on each of my kids' birthdays, but really, I can not believe how fast this year went by.  

The night before her birthday, Ruy made Alanna a birthday banner.  He worked so hard on it.  It was so cute and special.  When she woke up on her birthday, I went into her room singing "Happy Birthday".  She asked for cake :) Then we started out her birthday with chocolate chip banana bread and some coloring.  

Nathan had to work some that morning so we spent the morning at home and played outside on our playground for a while.  Alanna loves swinging so much.

 Before heading to Ruy's soccer game, I took a few pictures of Alanna and the rest of the kids. 

Then we went and cheered for Ruy at his last soccer game of the season.  Alanna always claps and says "go Ruy".

  

Alanna was so tired by the time we got home and she doesn't handle missing her nap very well, so I put her down for a nap.  After she got up we ate Spaghetti for dinner (her favorite meal) and then had cake and opened presents.  She blew out her candle all by herself.  She loved opening presents. She got her first doll house and I think the boys may have liked it as much as she did :) 

It was a great second birthday.  We are so thankful for the two years we have had with Alanna and can't wait to see what this next year with Alanna will bring!

MENU PLAN

Last week I never got a chance to post our menu.  We were really busy, some kids were sick, and I just never had a chance to sit down and type up a post for it.  But I'm back this week with what's on our menu from today until Friday.  

My husband watched the kids (except for Jude) for me while I went grocery shopping today, so it was just little Jude and me out at Costco today.  Talk about a quiet grocery shopping experience!  It was rather strange not having to keep up with the other three kids.   Jude slept in the Ergo the whole time and I got stopped more than a few times with people wanting to see him and ask how old he was.  

I didn't get a chance to take pictures of what I bought today because I had to nurse Jude as soon as I got home and Alanna was screaming for me.  But here is our menu.  Please let me know if you have any questions.  Hope you all have a wonderful evening and a fabulous Sunday!

Saturday:  Grocery Shopping

B- Oatmeal (E)

L-  Chick-fil-a (Cheat)

D- BBQ Chicken, Green Beans, & Sweet Potatoes (E)    

Sunday:  *Church

B- Apple Crumble from the THM cookbook page 338 (E) *Make this Saturday night.

L- Chili (E) - From the freezer  

D-  String cheese, ham, fruit, veggies (S) *Keeping it simple on Sunday evenings.

Monday: 

B- Chocolate Banana Muffins from the THM cookbook page 283 (E) *These are really yummy!  My husband loves these.  *Make these Sunday night.

L- Tuna salad (sandwiches for the kids) & yogurt with fruit (E)

D- Cheeseburger Pie, green beans, hard boiled eggs (S)  

Tuesday:

B- Mufflets - from the THM cookbook page 237 (S) (I make mine with just chopped up ham & cheddar cheese) *My whole family loves these.  They are easy to make. *Make these Monday night.

L-  Ham,cheese,lettuce,tomato wrap, (PB & Jelly for kids) fruit

D-  Leftovers

 Wednesday:  Awanas

B- Giant Blueberry Pancake (E) From the THM Cookbook page 261 *Make Tuesday night.

*This really is so good.  My kids love it and it's so much easier than having to flip a bunch of pancakes.  With four kids (one being only 6 weeks old) I'm all about simplifying things.   

L- Ham & Cheese sandwiches (bread in a mug for me THM cookbook page 203) & Tomato Soup - from the THM cookbook page  (S)

D-Chicken tacos (E or S depending on the toppings I pick)  

Thursday  *Thanksgiving

B- Overnight oats (E) *I'm not sure what kind of oats we'll be having.  Probably mixed berry, banana, or apple.

L- Chicken rice soup (E)

D-  Dinner at the fire station with Nathan.   *My husband has to work Thanksgiving so we're planning on going to his fire station and eating there with him.   

Friday:  

B- Leftover Mufflets from Tuesday  (S)

L- Leftover Chicken Rice Soup (E)  

D-  Homemade pizza, carrots (E)

Snacks:

Pretzels & Animal Crackers (quick snacks just for the kids when needed), peanuts, string cheese, yogurt & granola/fruit, shakes, fruit, popcorn...and if I can find time, I'd like to try something new from the THM cookbook.

Desserts:

Shakes, Cottage Berry Whip, Yogurt with fruit/granola or Peanut Butter.

*I've been drinking tea a lot at night time instead of having dessert every night.  

Banana Oat Shake

LOCKED OUTSIDE MY HOUSE IN THE DARK WITH FOUR KIDS

Wednesday was nothing short of exhausting.  

 I had spent Monday taking care of Liam with a high fever of 103.6.  Monday night Ruy got a fever and I woke up in the middle of the night feeling feverish and was so cold and achy that I could.not.sleep!  My right breast was so sore and I felt so awful that it was pure torture to get up and take care of Jude the whole night.  Then Tuesday morning both boys woke up without a fever and thankfully Jude and Alanna seemed to be on the mend from their colds, however, I spent the day feeling like I was dying.  It's hard enough taking care of four kids when you feel perfectly fine, but add having mastitis to it and well...it's a lot harder!  I spent Tuesday doing as much school with Ruy as possible, which somehow we ended up doing pretty much a full day of school.  The house was pretty messy most of the day and I turned on a Wild Kratts at 7pm just so I could sit on the couch and nurse Jude while the kids were entertained and I wouldn't have to be up talking or playing with anyone. I was just feeling way to cruddy to be dealing with anything.  I pretty much never ever turn on tv past 4pm for the kids (unless Ruy and I are having a movie night after the 3 youngest go to bed), so they thought they were being spoiled and didn't mind in the slightest.  I had another rough night Tuesday night but thankfully not as bad as Monday.  I decided to go to see my midwife on Wednesday which brings me back to why it was so exhausting....

I got up Wednesday morning and decided to go see my midwife about getting on an antibiotic to help clear up the mastitis.  Normally I want to avoid antibiotics as much as possible but I didn't want it to get worse and I was really having a hard time feeling like doing anything (even though I still had to do everything), which is just not good when you have four kids.  My appointment was at 1:30pm.  I needed to get diapers and a few other things. The thought of making lunch and cleaning the kitchen again after having just cleaned up breakfast, was too much. So I opted to leave a little early and get lunch out.  We went to Chick-fil-a (of course) and then went to Wal-Mart.  I got some new nail polish, paper for school, toilet paper, protein powder, and diapers. I won't know what to do with all the extra money I'll have when I don't have any kids in diapers.  Yes, I will know actually but seriously...diapers cost way too much and can we just all agree right now that newborns poop way too much! :)

After Wal-Mart we headed to my appointment.  Thankfully we didn't have to wait in the waiting room but long enough for us to get our hands washed (Wal-Mart carries all sorts of diseases!) and then I was called.  And I'm so thankful we only had to wait a few minutes for my midwife to come see me.  She said it was an infection and prescribed me the antibiotic.  She treated the kids to some fruit snacks to help keep them busy while we went ahead and did my 6 week postpartum discussion.  Fruit snacks to the rescue!  I'm thinking after I have another baby we won't fit in the tiny midwife rooms any more.  I'll have to have someone either come with me to every appointment and keep some kids in the waiting room or leave some at home.  Good grief...how.you.know.you.have.a.big.family! Seriously though I love it all.  Hectic midwife appointments and all. 

Anyways, we left there and headed home to give Alanna a nap and then later that evening I would go back out and pick up my medicine.  The afternoon went pretty smoothly.  The boys watched Old Yeller while Alanna slept.  The movie pretty much blew Liam's mind!  He'd never seen it before and after it was over he took our dog Duke outside and tried to get him to act like Old Yeller but to his dismay, our dog just wanted no part in chasing Liam or fetching. 

I made dinner and then Alanna really wanted to take a both so I had her and Liam just getting into the tub when I all of a sudden remembered that it was Wednesday and Ruy had AWANAS!!!  It was 5:45pm and we needed to leave at 6:10pm to get him to Awanas on time!  I quick called to Ruy and told him to stop washing the dishes and go get ready to go.  Then I gave Liam and Alanna a quick bath.  While I was dressing them in their pjs, Jude started screaming to be fed.  I finished getting everything ready to go and then fed him for 10 minutes.  He wasn't near being done nursing but we had to leave.  As I was scrambling to get everything together so we could leave, Ruy and Liam were arguing and Jude was screaming.  I rushed all the kids out the door, grabbed the carseat (Jude was in it) grabbed my cell phone & the Ergo, locked and shut the front door....

And then before I took even one step away from the front door I knew what I had done.  I had left my keys hanging by the door with the diaper bag!!! I could not believe I had just locked myself out.  In all the rush and commotion, I had just not stopped to think about if I had everything.  Oh and just some information..it was 6:15pm and it had rained all afternoon so my yard was wet and muddy. It was about 60 degrees. No one had coats on.  Jude had no socks on.  But thankfully I had a small blanket for him.

My husband was working so I quick called my mom who has a spare key.  She said she's be over in 15 minutes to let us in.  Thirty minutes passed and I got a call from her saying that "she had backed her car up into a ditch while she was backing up in her driveway and that she couldn't get her car out of it!" Seriously!!! I can't make this stuff up people.  So...I called Nathan. No answer.  I texted him what happened and then called another 15 times.  I finally stopped calling and decided he would call back as soon as he saw the text obviously.  When he called back he was on his way home to let me in, but it would be thirty minutes before he got home.  When I got off the phone with him, Ruy had the genius idea to turn on a movie on Netflix.  Why had I not thought of that an hour ago???!!! After spending an hour keeping the kids on the porch and from running into the dark, wet, muddy yard, fighting, jumping on me, nursing Jude, trying to keep him from crying and being cold, playing rock papers  scissors and all sorts of other non sense...a movie was a very welcome thing!

We all snuggled up on our little bench on the front porch and while I nursed Jude again, Ruy held my phone and we all watched Christmas Winnie the Pooh.  I was so happy when Nathan got home and let us in.  By then it was 7:45pm.  Ruy missed Awanas, I didn't get to pick up my medicine, and it was now bedtime for all the kids and time for me to shower and sit down and do nothing but drink some tea and relax.

These are the crazy memories that my kids will probably always remember though.  Ruy said it was fun.  I can laugh about it now that it's over but in all honesty...I didn't think it was so funny when I was going through it.  I tried to stay calm and not get upset with any of the kids but I may have gotten unnecessarily upset a few times within that 1.5 hour time period.  

I think I will be quadruple checking to make sure I have my keys with me before locking the doors from now on.  Or maybe my kids shouldn't be distracting me by fighting and crying as I'm trying to get them all out the door...  
I can dream can't I!!! 
:) 



*Excuse the horrible quality of these photos.  It was so dark and I only had my cell phone. 

Ruy was doing a creepy face here but there was no light so you can't even tell it's him hardly. 

Trying to talk to our dog through the door.  He was just slightly confused as to what was going on.