having three kids make me tired!

WOW- I have been so tired the last week or two. With school starting again and all the running around that comes with that. And our busy life. How did life get so busy that one or both of us have had somewhere to be every night for about 2 weeks now. Even if that place was entertaining friends in our backyard. It has been busy and I am feeling like I need more sleep. Cali was diagnosed with a double ear infection a week ago and has been very good at taking her antibiotics. However, the night before we went to the pediatrician, she slept about 3 hours, which means I slept less! She woke up for the night before I went to bed and then slept with me holding her in bits and pieces. It was not fun. We are working with our oldest to build good habits in doing her school work, cleaning her room, and being a good listener. All these things make me tired. I love my kids dearly. Sometimes I wish they would all behave at the same time instead of all misbehaving at the same time. I get to go scrapbooking tonight and that is always fun for me. Hope to get some stuff done.

September 13 -already

The month of September is flying by. This week especially is very busy for us. . . We came of on Labor Day from a lovely weekend away. We visited with dear friends and their 2 lovely daughters. Since then we have been busy with something every night. Starting with Sept 7 one person in our family has/had to be somewhere for some amount of time 13 out of 14 nights. . .(I realize that some of those days are still coming). Looking further another week. . . it gets a bit better. . . 3 out of 7. Just trying to plug through these busy nights. Trying to plan meals that kind of make themselves. Nothing too involved or anything that takes too long. At dinner time I am tired. . .I know what I want to eat, sometimes it is just too complicated to make for a weekday. I am trying to feed my family a good dinner that EVERYONE will like. Also, something that might make a nice leftover lunch for my daughter at school. Tomorrow my best friend celebrates her b-day and I don't have a gift yet. She'll get it late because I have to mail it to her. Need to go make some lists of things to do. . . need to change the laundry and also clean out a closet. This fall I really want to clean out a lot of the closets in my house. They are a mess. Can't find anything anymore. Ok time to go be productive. First, another cup of coffee.

not sure

Not sure what is up with my blog. Can't get the background to appear. I noticed it a while back and tried to fix it but with no luck. I am so html illiterate that I have not a clue what to do to fix it. so sorry for the boring background. I am trying my best.

on another note. . . my 9 year old had a session w. a professional photographer and the preview pics were awesome. I am so excited and can't wait to order prints for my home and to give to family and friends.

The same 9 year old started 4th grade today. . . my 3 1/2 year old is going to Pre-K next week. so much excitement. Glad to get them split up but I don't do well with a schedule but I'll learn.

Hitting the pool later today since it is hot hot hot and humid humid humid here!

Making ribs, baked potatoes, and salad for dinner. Should be yum, have to start working on it soon b/c I smoke/barbecue the ribs for several hours on the grill. I think I hear my son who should be napping walking. . . might have to go sing some songs to him.

that's it for now.

Oh, yeah- - ben says all his sugar princesses are also his friends and he is not going to marry one of them. He can't wait to be a daddy and play with his kids.
:-) He also says, when he is a daddy. I'll be a grandma. . . yup that is right kid. He says so many cute things.

Meal plan for the week

As the summer weather seems to be staying around for a while I am challenged to plan meals for my family. Without central air conditioning I do not like to turn on the oven or boil water as it makes the whole kitchen too hot. My microwave is broken so meal planning becomes a challenge. I love to grill but always have to plan since we have charcoal. I love charcoal but there is nothing quick about it.
So this is the plan for the week.

Tues: Grilled Chicken, Tuna Noodle, Broccoli Slaw
Wed: Burritos filled with rice, beans, chicken, advocado, salsa, tomatoes
Thurs: kids only - Tim & Cell out for 10th anniversary - Brats and kraut and snicker salad
Fri: at Denekamps (tentative)
Sat: Great Adventure!
Sun: Breakfast - bacon, eggs, toast
Lunch - 524 Hopper Ave
Dinner - kids only - chicken nuggets, baby carrots
Mon: Timmy & kids only - cell out w. E-Beth to celebrate b-days
sloppy joes

that's what I have planned for now. This warmer weather is harder for me. I am looking forward to doing some ribs soon and also some sate.

Remedy Drive at Unity CRC

So last week our Youth Group hosted the
Christian Rock Band Remedy Drive. Check them out at http://www.remedydrive.com/. They were awesome. We had a great time
hanging out with them. here are some pictures from the night we spend with
them.

Here is the band and
their sound guy with the youth group leaders kids.

Eating dinner together.
During the show

Our youth group with Remedy Drive:

Lilac Garden

At the Botanical Gardens about 30 minutes from here they have the most amazing Lilac Garden we usually go on Mother's Day to see the flowers and have a picnic. We ended up going a week early because of the warmer weather all the flowes were blooming early. It was a HOT day. We had a great time as we asked our friends to come along and join us for this adventure. Here are some pics from our day at the gardens. See you next year.

Puzzle Soup

So some time ago my son made puzzle soup. He dumped pretty much every jigsaw puzzle we own into the bin and mixed all the pieces together. Lets count:
Ten 24 piece puzzles
Two 100 piece puzzles
Three 49 piece puzzles.

He did it at a time when I could not deal with cleaning it up in a proper manner so I put it all in the bin and put it high and dry. I think it was the day of Calista's first birthday party or some other time when I was having people in my house. We are now spending time together sorting the puzzles. He remembers better than I do which pieces go with what puzzle. Mind you most of the puzzles are boxless because they have been destroyed by Ben the distructobot.

It is a lot of pieces, give or take. I hope that they are all complete. We will not be testing all the puzzles today. But we are going to give a few of them a whirl. I however, am missing one puzzle. It is a Melissa & Doug one that has a wooden tray it sits in. . .I know we have it. It is a 48 piece of an underwater scene with lots of fish. I wanted to do that one with Ben today but it seems to have grown legs or maybe had some help from another adult that lives in this house finding a new home.

Happy puzzling everyone.