week in review... again

maybe if i keep naming my weekly updates something different it won't seem so lame that i only blog once a week. ;)

soooo. here we go again. nothing really new to report on, that's probably why i didn't blog. yes, that's why.

monday - miraculously the kids had school on columbus day! it was crazy. matt would have been off, but decided to work so he could take off for frankie's surgery this week. so i dropped the girls off at sarah's and had a mom day. i thought about going to do something fun, but i just can't resist an empty house! it's just too tempting! i did do some things just for me, but i also got some projects done that had been sitting around forever. it was dreamy.

(i really do love my kids, and i love having them around, but i also really relish my quiet time. you get it, right?)

tuesday - i met with colleen for some churchy stuff. we were surprisingly right on and got things done quickly and efficiently. go us! then it was just another day of naps, big kids, cheer practice, dinner, etc.

   

wednesday - i dropped the little girls off at johnna's for lexi's 2nd eye dr. appt. she managed to forget her contacts again, but this time we had enough time to come back home and get them. we got some lunch, i dropped her back at school and returned to johnna's to pick up two happy girls. and mama was much happier because we were able to go to the dr. in peace. it rained that night, so no baseball, which meant the girls were able to get to bed at the normal time. bummed that bubba missed another game, but glad for normal bedtime!

thursday - preschool! i watched curtis this week and took the 2 1-year olds shopping and they were really good. except that frankie has become a hitter. :( as soon as i buckled curtis in the carseat, she reached over and whacked him. i talk to her each time she hits, and have started 1-minute time outs too. i blame addie and all her 3-year-old cronies that have always tried to "help" her do everything. i think she just got tired of people always being all over her and now she hits. but who knows, because she hits even when people aren't all over her. boo for hitting. :( that night was a rs activity at church and it was wonderful and much needed! i met up with becky and kristin for some panera and then had a wonderful 2 hours at church. fabulous evening. :)

friday - matt was off, hooray! i had made plans with johnna for her to come to gymnastics with us because she had her grandson, landon with her for the weekend, so i took the girls to gymnastics and gave matt a break. i guess he deserves one too. :) after that, matt took frankie to her pre-op appt while i let addie nap. we have not gone a week without at least 2 dr.'s appts in a good long while and it's got me really appreciating my healthy children! it didn't rain, so christian finally got to play baseball again. the grey penguins did a wonderful job and won! after that, christian and i rushed over to great mills hs for lexi's game. we were able to catch almost the whole 2nd half, and watch the boys lose again. :( still a fun night.

saturday was yet another divide and conquer day. matt and addie left the house by 7:30 for an all day cuboree. alexis, frankie, and i left by 8:45 for a krispy kreme fundraiser. christian stayed home to work on his talk, which he wrote all by himself and did an awesome job at, i might add! we hawked krispy kreme's till 12, then frankie and i left lexi and the rest of the cheerleaders (who are raising money to buy varsity jackets) to go get addie, who was officially done cuboree'ing. we picked her up, went home for about 15 minutes, and then got to go back to pick lex and friends up to take them to the hs for cheer practice (with a quick stop at kfc for nourishment). we were able to come home for another hour, then back to the hs to pick up lex and friends for their 1 hour break before yet another fundraiser that night, this time helping at a ducks unlimited banquet.  we had frozen pizza for dinner, and this time i actually got a 3 hour break before i got to go back and pick up lexi. so, for those keeping track, that's 3 volunteer hours, 3 hours in the car dropping off and picking up, and 1 very tired mama.

sunday - christian gave his first talk ever and like i said before, did a great job. all of sunday was nice and relaxing. we decided that since we had another crazy week ahead that we would have fhe that night and we worked on our family emergency plan. with a few natural disasters under our belts, we felt like we knew a little more what we were talking about. :)

and a few rando pictures:

hide and go seek is a daily event up in here. and frankie's getting pretty good!

christian getting ready to do the dishes and before he had a chance for the teen photo dodge. i'm training him up right. ;)

we have done a lot of running lately and it's been wearing some girls out!

(me included!)

a halloween hint... guess what addie's gonna be???

i got her a new "kleotark" for gymnastics and she requested a picture. 

and this is how she posed herself. (before she got her hair did!)

okay, this one is actually from this week, but lexi really hasn't been home a lot! it's spirit week at the raider nation, and lex and crew dressed like little kids in footed pj's on monday. apparently the footed pj's were all the rage at the hs. who knew?

(hmmm, 2 pics of the big kids doing dishes, maybe i am a slave driver!!!)

and that was our last week. :)

time management

with the arrival of this baby girl coming closer and closer, i am trying to seriously stay on top of things up in here.

in the spirit of that, a few time management updates:

 freezer meals from our day of cooking are like the best thing ever!
i hate when 5 o'clock rolls around and i don't know what to make for dinner.
but meal planning, when i know i only have 4 nights to plan, because 3 nights can be freezer meals/leftovers, is a lot less daunting! it is so nice to be able to pull a dinner out of the freezer in the morning, throw it in the crockpot for a few hours, or the oven for an hour, and voila!
delicious dinner.

and everything's been tasty so far!
so far we've tried the chili, white chicken chili, chicken pot pie, enchiladas, corn chowder, and lasagna. oh and both the shredded chicken and ground beef we had made extra's of.
love it and 2nd day of cooking is scheduled for next week!

cleaning schedule is still going strong. it's been almost a month and i'm still on track.
here's how i started (ever so many years ago). i wrote down every room/chore and how often they need to be cleaned and divided them over a 2 week period. it used to be 1 week, and i even used to have a day for shopping set aside, but with every move and every new baby i've had to adjust. i will probably be adjusting very soon, but for now it's working. here's how it works.

week 1:
(every) *monday i do all my floors on the first floor. i shark all the wood and vacuum all the carpets and do laundry.
*tuesday - my room, bathroom, and closet
*wednesday - addie's room and mudroom
(every) *thursday - all the first floor floors again and kitchen - cleaning out fridge, organizing pantry, wiping stainless steel, etc.
*friday - frankies room and girls bathroom upstairs

week 2: 

*monday - floors/laundry
*tuesday - formal living room and powder room
*wednesday - family room (it gets picked up many times every day, but it's nice to have a day to clean out the computer desk and pay special attention to small details that should be done regularly) and formal dining room
*thursday - floors/kitchen
*friday - basement and downstairs bathroom

that leaves saturday clear. :)
the only problem is stuff like windows, that i've never cleaned in the 2+ years we've lived here.
i did vacuum my truck out last saturday, so that was nice.
when i actually stay on top of my cleaning schedule it works so famously.

i also found this amazing new dry shampoo.
looooooove.
as allie pointed out, you can't use it every day, but a little refresh between washes?
yes, thank you!
(disclaimer: i've only used it twice, but so far, two thumbs up!)

sarah and i participated in our 2nd kid swap this week and last and it went swimmingly. i was able to get 2 days of work done, tackle 2 projects that were left over from my summer list, and take some time for me.
 awesomeness.

all this staying on top of things has even left me with enough time to coupon a little bit. nothing like i used to, but that's ok. every little bit helps, i always say.

preschool is still running like a dream. we take turns teaching and helping and watching the leftover little ones like we've been doing it forever. and addie's told me all about safety ("if there's a fire, we have to get low and go, and crawl like frankie"), tuba's, and constellations. love that she's broadening her horizons!

i'm always looking for ways to make life easier! these are just a few things that i've found that have worked for me. :) 

just because i love pictures

addie got all dressed up to go see sissy cheer. 

and she still makes awesome faces.

all. the. time.

we froze at christian's baseball game, and then at lexi's football game.

popcorn always helps though.

how can you not love this kid?

conference cinnamon rolls.

she had 4 mini's.

and addie had 5!

christian helping himself before the classic teen photo dodge.

this lady is always on the computer!

soon she'll be sending emails just like she sends texts and calls people.

i love footed pj's.

"hi!"

pre-potty training is still going on.

she will gladly sit on the potty and even clench her little tummy like she's trying to go.

this particular picture was taken about 2 seconds before she fell off and landed on her face.

that wasn't a happy minute.

gettin' halloweeny!

and since we're short on lexi pictures, a cute cheer video for good measure. :)

week-at-a-glance

• on monday we had our big ultrasound. everything looks good. not that the ultrasound tech would tell us if they didn't, she couldn't tell us much. but baby girl is coming along nicely.
• on tuesday we had abby over for the day. we went to playgroup and had a good day. that night we had the mccombs over for fhe. fun, fun, fun!
• wednesday was a terrible, no good, very bad day for me. it started with frankie waking up crabby and went downhill from there. i tried to salvage things, we even walked to the library with sarah and abby for storytime, but by that afternoon, when we got to lexi's eye dr. appt only to realize that she wasn't wearing (and didn't bring) her contacts and that we would have to come back for another appt., mama was in tears (which only made me feel super stupid and made things 10 times worse). that night christian had a baseball game and i had both the babies there alone. he'd only played 2 games this season (rain) and hadn't gotten any hits. i said a little prayer (and yes, i know bartering with Heavenly Father doesn't work) and promised i would lighten my load if my bubba could just get a hit and regain some confidence. he hit 3 times, and his 4th up to bat he got hit with the ball so he got on base anyway, and he scored 3 runs. needless to say, even though addie had an accident in her undies (diarrhea), i stayed smiling the rest of the night.
• thursday morning i dropped addie off at sarah's so i could take frankie to her 2nd surgery consult. i think that was part of my bad mood on weds, is that i was really nervous about sweet frankie. it went so much better than i could have hoped! the dr. was really good with her (an actual pediatric opthamologist makes such a big difference!), she didn't have to dilate her eyes and didn't think the surgery would be extensive. she said she has a 90-95% success rate without needing the balloon catheter or leaving in the stent. the surgery will only take about 15 minutes and she should be good as new. so, so, so relieved! 

she was throwing some weird tantrums at the dr.'s office!

 tantrum #2. complete with blankie.

•  that night, alexis had a game up in huntingtown, about 45 minutes away. i fed the family dinner and helped get the girls down and headed out there. they lost 35-0, but the cheerleaders are always cute, and thats really the only reason i go. :) 

• friday the babies had gymnastics, always fun. and then we went to leprechaun lilly's, the big twice a year childrens consignment sale. they were pretty wiped out, but we got a few things. that night was a laaaazy, nice night. and very much needed.
• on saturday we went to a fun birthday party for jack and anna. they had a pony (!), bouncy house (!), and fun playset. it was very cute and the girls had a blast. and it was nice to have daddy to share in the little girl duties! this whole, divide and conquer stuff is getting old! 

frankie was ga-ga for the goats!

 she stayed and fed them forever! and she ate a few pellets herself for good measure.

 (note to self: do not lean over for pictures. ever.)

 she was ga-ga for the bunnies too.

• that afternoon the whole gang headed up to our new sporting goods store, dick's, for their grand opening. small town fun! that night matt washed the truck, i washed the girls, and the big kids washed the dishes. nice and quiet.
• on sunday there were some excellent talks at church. the one on anger was especially given more me. (see my wednesday, above). after church i lazed about reading the scorch trials with christian and it was a wonderfully restful day. i went for a visit with colleen, we had a delicious freezer meal, and we got boo'ed with some fun treats. all in all, good weekend. :)

Seattle post #10 - final random edition

i found the pictures from our chocolate game's and aquarium day!

hoo-RAY!

if you haven't played the chocolate game, you really should, cause it's fun and it involves chocolate. 

win-win.

each player rolls a die until they roll a 6, then they have to get dressed (we used a hat, belt, and sunglasses), then they get to eat as much chocolate as they can (with a fork) until the next player rolls a 6.

*addie getting some help with her turn.

*happy girl!

*frankie helped me with my turn.

the next day we all (chantell and her 3, me and my 3, grandpa, and cosette) headed to the aquarium.

the big girls were so helpful with the babies. :)

we all liked the jelly fish.

a lot. :)

i can never resist these things. they get me every time!

every.time.

they have lots of fun things to see and do.

we even got to ride a killer whale. ;)

it's just a funny picture. :)

another funny.

adolescent girls. 

that's all.

the whole darn gang.

duh, duh, duh... the gift shop... we managed to get out of there unscathed!

they love eachother.

that night it was pizza time!

aaand another chocolate game.

this was after the bingo game. everybody gets a chance to unwrap a present when they get a bingo, and for each additional bingo, you get a candy.

bingo's a fun game. :)

 "what???"

 just 'cause.

grandpa wrestling time!

 and some fun with chantelly.

love these girls!

and this finally closes the july in seattle chapter.

phew.