Hopelessly Raising!

Today started out awesomely...!  Despite having a three hour nap at 7 pm Millie went on to go straight to sleep at bed time and she slept for four hours in a row!!  I know it may not seem like much, but those four hours.... oh wow... bliss!!!  It felt like a full night's sleep to me!! ;D  After that she went back to sleep for another three hours and then it was time to get up and get the day started!!!  I felt I could pretty well take on the world!!

It did end up being a really odd day though!  The Meteorite hitting in Russia was kind of amazing and spooky all at the same time (which reminds me... "Oh, I guess we didn't get hit by that big ass Meteor and die"!!  Awesome..er !!! :D )  The entire day just had this aura of expectation to it.  I felt like we were waiting for something all day long and nothing ever really happened!  It DID snow, which was entirely unexpected to me ( heck I'm so ready for Spring I have practically put away all the winter gear!! ) so I counted that as The Thing We Were Waiting To Happen and used it as an excuse to light the fire and watch the TV... again!!!  This time we decided that Nanny 911 is just too dang depressing so we put on Raising Hope instead.  I hadn't seen any of the shows before but I LOVE it ... it was so sweet and funny!

Playing the Opposite game.

We watched several episodes of Raising Hope and then I worked with Jack on Opposites.  He didn't quite have the concept down, but once I printed out some cool cards from a blog I follow and we learned what opposites are!  We set them together to show, for example, hot and cold.  Jack had to read the first word, then guess what the opposite might be then we played a matching game where the cards were all upside down and he had to find a pair.  It was good fun and got the idea across really nicely I think!! :D  He enjoyed playing so much he asked to do it again and again!!

Science is hard!!

Jack playing outside....

 I also used our Brain Quest cards and quizzed Jessie with some science questions.  I was quite shocked at how few of them either of us got right so will come up with a game to play to learn some of the facts!  I find I enjoy making the games as much as the kids like playing them and it's such a fun way to learn!

Between snow falls Jack decided to go out and play... he took out his toy hammer and drill and put them on the swings where he pushed them back and forth!!  Bless him!!!  Jess and I tried to get a picture of him but he'd stopped by the time I found my camera...!

He saw me!! :D 

Millie had several good, long naps today and seems to be getting the hang of going to sleep "by herself" meaning whilst not nursing at the same time.  I'm really glad as this will help her fall back to sleep if she starts to wake up in the night thus longer nights of sleep for Mama....!!!  She's currently fast asleep in her little bed upstairs and Rex is watching her on the iPod!

What a wonderful sight for Mama's eyes!

So basically that was today!!  Rex cooked dinner and stoked the fire so it's blazing away!  The kids are all in bed and I'm going to put the dishes into the dishwasher and then sit with my hubby and do some more crochet!! ( he's just called through asking for a dish of ice cream so I'll be getting that too!!!)





Until tomorrow, friends! ;D

Happy Hallmark Card Day! :D

My Valentine's / Hallmark Card / Chocolate Day card!!

My day started out just lovely with a handmade card from Jessie and Jack!  Jess had used flavored lip balm to adhere the glitter to it so it smells lovely too!! ;D  

Millie was 6 months old yesterday!

Millie had slept really quite well last night... not awesome by any means, but much better than of late, so that was helpful!  

Hubby had booked a table for lunch for us at The Venue and I had to meet him there at 11:30 so at 9am I started getting ready!!  I remember in days of Yore when I would spend HOURS getting ready to go out...!  Shaving my legs, painting my nails, having a bath, faffing with my hair, putting on make up, choosing an outfit etc etc etc!  This time I did take the time to redo my finger nails, have a shower, put on make up, that sort of thing. Since my vast clear out and minimalization kick I realised I had practically nothing to wear!  I managed to find a black and white dress and some high black heels to wear... I also took a change of clothes with me incase I needed to nurse Millie since in that particular dress the only way I would be able to nurse her would be to take the dress off completely.  Hmm.  Not exactly "discreet" nursing.....!! ;D   I got Millie dressed in her Valentine's garb and headed out!  The two big kids were more than happy to get an hour or two to themselves and Jess does a great job of looking after them.  

The restaurant and lunch was lovely!  Millie woke from her car induced nap only moments after our arrival ( I had naively hoped she might sleep through!) so we had to contend with her a little.  Rex brought me a single red rose and a sweet card, I ate Lavosh for lunch with cheesecake for dessert... oh so good.  We were able to linger over lunch a bit and then he headed back to work and I headed home.  I picked up the kids and we headed out to the co-op Drama class.  My friend Shawna was there with her daughter and I hadn't seen her since before Christmas so we had a lovely long chat.  She's such a lovely lady, I really enjoy her company and Jess and her daughter get along great too! 

After drama it was back home to find the mail lady had been!  I had a package from my Mum and the mail lady had left a little gift bag with three boxes of candy hearts in... one for each kiddo!  I ate Millie's of course... she'll get them later! :D  It had started to get cold so I put on my heart covered pj pants and the kids and I loafed in front of Nanny 911... actually I didn't loaf as much as I would have liked as I spent a great deal of time getting Millie to go to sleep in her swing.... Once I got her down she napped for THREE HOURS!!  I told her she was tired!  

Dinner was delicious... I made ratatouille.... obviously the recent movie watching got  me thinking about it!  It's so yummy though!  After dinner we watched Big Bang and Jess and Daddy made paper airplanes!  

Now everything is as it should be...!  Kitchen is cleaned up, dishwasher is set to go, the kids are sleeping and the kettle has just boiled..... time to relax until tomorrow!  BOY these weeks go by fast! :D 

Trivial pursuits!! :D

I'm keeping it together here!... it's not easy given that I'm SO DANG TIRED!  Poor Millie... maybe it's teeth, or her six month growth spurt, or teeth AND a six month growth spurt, but whatever it is it means she does. not. sleep.   ... and that means I don't sleep either!!  I'm still following Flylady but for the last week or so I've not done the extra missions, just the daily stuff... all the decluttering I was doing made up for that and the lack of sleep lately has pretty much put me off!!  I'll be back to it as soon as I get a good rest!! :D

Today was a pretty lovely day though all in all! ;D

The morning began slowly as I was so worn out, but I did manage to make up the pancakes that we didn't have for dinner last night.  I don't know what it is about my making pancakes but I always manage to fill the house with smoke!!  I get the pan too hot and the butter scolds... and I'm always so busy cooking I don't notice the smoke until I see it filtering down under the light fixtures....   oops!  The kids and I watched some Nanny 911 again and congratulated ourselves on having a (relatively) sane household!  I guess we watch it for the same reason as people watch Hoarders!!!  At least we aren't as bad as THOSE guys!!! :D I always run a load or two of laundry if I watch TV during the day, that way if people call I can always say "I'm doing some laundry!! "  Ahhh... I'm so glad we don't have to do the laundry on the banks of the river anymore... wouldn't THAT suck!? :D

It was a balmy 54 degrees after lunch so naturally a walk was called for !  I wrangled Millie into the sling  ( not much of a wrangle as she loves it, but the Storchenweige is a trickster and it's been a while since I used it. )  I NEARLY caved and got out the stroller but I managed to hold off and sling her instead!!  It's totally worth it, I love her little baby head under my chin!  The kids and I marched down the street singing Pink songs and a Cher Lloyd song....  When we got home I tried to get Millie to have a nap in her swing.  She fell asleep ( after a bit of work.... ) and so I thought I would like to get some sleep too... I putzed around a bit......   yes.. did you see that...??  I putzed around a bit...  IDIOT!   I'd no sooner texted hubby that I was going for a nap, I mean, I literally hit send.... and what happened???  She woke up.  30 minutes she napped for.  You know how you feel when you are so tired the backs of your eyeballs get scratchy??  and your head hurts??  and you think you could just fall asleep RIGHT THERE...  yeah, that's how this afternoon felt!!  Jessie SO sweetly offered to play with Millie whilst I napped on the couch so I dropped like a rock and slept for about 30 minutes until Millie woke me up.   I felt a bit better so the kids and I made up and played a game using the Trivial Pursuit board and Brain Quest cards!  We've got all different kinds of Brain Quests... math, science, trivia, American history and all different grades so it was a lot of fun, the kids really enjoyed it and the questions were suited for each of us.  Jack won, clever kid!

Once our game was over Millie was growing tired again ( I can't think why!?!?:D ) so I put her back in her swing and sang to her until she closed her eyes so I would stop fell asleep and I decided I'd try for a few more minutes myself!!  I shoved some garlic and sea salt coated potatoes into the oven for baking, stuck on a timer and headed to my bed!!  I climbed in, fully clothed and.....  slept like a rock!!  The next thing I knew, hubby was home with a packet of Ferrero Rocher for me and it was time to get up and watch The Middle!  Jess and I played a game of Battleship ( where we made up our own boats, added sharks and swimmers ) and decided we should make up a new version of that too... either that or a smaller board!?! :D

Anyhooo.. the lack of sleep is starting to get to me again and so I'm soon headed to my bed!  Millie is all ready for bed and snoozing away in her swing...  Oh pleasepleaseplease may she sleep for a few hours in a row tonight... pleasepleaseplease!! :D

Happy Valentine's Day to you all for tomorrow... I hope you have a wonderful day full of whatever you hoped ...!!

Night night.....!!!

Pancake flinging day! ;D

Happy Fat Tuesday, Pancake Day, Mardi Gras and all that jazz!!!  What an awesome day today has been!!!  Millie slept a little better last night after our long nap yesterday but still only managed 3 1/2 hours as her longest stretch!  Never mind... for some reason I felt really rested when I woke up ( despite craaaaAAAAAzy dreams....!!)  but feeling rested makes a HUGE difference to my day!!!

I was thrilled to discover that it was pancake day TODAY instead of last week as I originally had thought!  I was in just the right mood to quickly whip up some pancake batter and cook pancakes for breakfast!  We all took a turn at flipping them and not one landed on the floor!!! :D

After breakfast I took the kids out to Target and for me to get my hair cut.  ($10 Tuesdays!!!).  Once we arrived at the hair cut place it was packed ( I guess I'm not the only one to think of these things!!!) so I left the kids there and headed next door to Target really quick to pick up a swing for Millie.  I had only a few minutes which was perfect really because I am HORRIBLE at making decisions!  The fact that I didn't have TIME to ponder too much meant that I ran in, looked for the swing that had everything I wanted and didn't make me faint when I looked at the price tag, picked it up, and headed out!  I got my hair cut and Jessie decided she'd like her's doing too, so that's what happened!!

Once home we set up the swing, put Millie in it ... and .... she slept for nearly two hours straight!!!!

Sleepy babies are ALWAYS adorable!!

AWESOME!!!  During her nap I got one or two things done and Jack and I made some more cranberry and orange scones.  We weren't sure whether our friend, Marsha, was coming to visit so we made the scones just in case.  ( She didn't, they were delicious!!)

In a frenzy of activity I pushed through three loads of laundry ( washed, dried and folded...!!) did math with Jack... ( more money activities...)

Counting to 100.  He figured out for himself that it was quicker to use four coins at a time!

Showing how many coins make a dollar.

had Jack read me a book ( just an early reader, he's still learning), mailed a ton of coupons for the military at the post office, put dinner in the crock pot (barbeque chicken) and rice in the rice cooker, whisked up a batch of pancake batter for dessert (which we ended up being too full to eat!) I even set out green beans in a pan ready for when Rex got home.  Jess and I sat and watched some Nanny 911 whilst I folded laundry!  Seemed like a nicely productive day!

Right now I'm showered and ready for bed.... ( I've not been able to do that lately for one reason or another and it does make SUCH a  difference in the morning ... )  Millie is fast asleep, swinging away, and has been since 7:15.  We'll see how tonight goes..!!  Jackster just came up to me and whispered "it's time to go to bed...!!"  so I guess I know what's next on my agenda!  I'll clean the kitchen up when I get back from putting Jack to bed and then I may get to sit and crochet for a while!!  I love a good, busy day! ;D






 

Math, money and Millie! ;D Oh, it MUST be Monday!

Oh my......!!  Not much more sleep last night....  but I have a plan....More naps are a part of it!!  I tried to get Millie down for a nap this morning, she napped for 20 minutes and woke up again.  I went up to her and held her, rocked and nursed her and she fell back to sleep.  I decided it was more important that she sleep than that I get anything done, so I held her whilst she slept for an hour.   She had a lovely nap and was well rested when she woke up.  I came downstairs to find the children scurrying around to put away the duster and the vacuum!! They had cleaned up the house for me including putting the bedding in the washing machine, cleaning the kitchen, picking up toys, tidying off the dining table and dusting the place!  They only didn't vacuum because they didn't want to wake the baby!!  

How awesome!! :D

I made the kids some vegetable and lentil soup for lunch and then worked on some math with the Jackster.  We worked on money today and I had a fun idea to teach him his coins and their values.

Spent a lot of time playing with Millie and watching her getting better and better at sitting unaided...  yikes... they grow
so bloody fast....!!

Awesome balance! She looks about TWO here!!

Going.....going.......

Gone.  Oops!! 

I should point out in the above pics that they are of two separate incidences of her tippling over!  I didn't just sit there taking pics of her falling down!!  I accidentally caught the last one!  I generally try to catch HER!!


.....and then, what do you know it, it's time for another nap.  This time I thought I would just lay down with Millie since I was exhausted. We slept for two hours!!  Man I needed that nap!

I woke up to find hubby home from work and then the usual night time routine began!  I had considered a run out to Target but even though it was only 6:30 it was so dark it just didn't seem worthwhile.  I really need to get out the house more, I'm turning into a hermit! ;D

Simple Sunday.

Hmmm.....  How can I describe the sleep I had last night?!?!?   How about......  NON EXISTENT?!? :D   Well that would be an exaggeration, but if you know me, you know that's how I roll...!! :D  I went to bed with a migraine about 10pm. 10:30 Miss M was awake.  I fed her, put her back to bed, crawled back into bed myself... and about 12:00 Millie was up.  I fed her etc.  1:30 Millie was up.  And at 2:30.  And 3:30.... and then 4:00.....  and then 4:30.... at which time I just put her in bed with us and she nursed constantly as I slept until 7:30ish.  I'm not sure what the poor little girl's deal was, I mean she was good as gold, she didn't cry or make a big fuss when she woke up and she went right back down after a bit of milk, but clearly she wasn't sleeping well!  I HAD been to Michele's and had drunk a fair amount of caffeine and eaten a lot of sugar so maybe that was it???  eeesh.  I haven't had any caffeine today so I'm crossing my fingers really hard that we get a better night tonight.  Seriously once it got to her waking every 30 minutes I had no idea if I were awake or asleep, I would dream I was sitting nursing her in the chair and couldn't figure out if I was awake or what....  We HAD been getting 4 and 5 hours straight so this is freaking me out!!  

Anyhoo... despite a lack of sleep we still had a good day.  Millie and I went out this morning to a photo shoot at Images for a Lifetime in Lincoln. They had advertised on Facebook that they wanted some models ages 6 months and up, to use with their new backgrounds.  I took Millie along and we had a really fun time.  She was a great little model, all smiles, and she seemed to really enjoy herself!  I can't wait to see the results!  

It was much colder today than it had been yesterday and it even rained a little which is so rare here.  It rained in the night and both Rex and I woke up wondering what that noise was!!!  It was RAIN!!  Anyway, once I got home I thought it was another perfect day for a fire.  Jessie and I put on our PJ's, lit the fire and sat and watched Nanny 911.  I love that show if only because it makes our lives seem so peaceful and organized!!! :D  Once hubby returned from the Home Show we put on Ratatouille so we could get a feel for Paris!!! :D  It's such a fun movie and also makes us hungry!  I must admit I cooked our dinner tonight with a little more panache than usual !! :D LOL!!

So now, as I type, Millie is snoozing away in her bed.  I have an awesome baby monitor that Rex got for us.. it's a video camera that works in pitch darkness and I can watch the feed on any computer... right now Rex is watching it on the iPod in the living room and I have it on my iPad in the dining room!  It's amazing!  Our last monitor all those years ago was just for sound.  It worked fine but it's so awesome to be able to watch her!! ;D   We are all so thrilled with our little girl... We got so very lucky!!

Migraine stops play...

Well today was lovely!  Hubby drove the kids and I to Omaha to visit with the lovely Michele and her family and friends for a tea party!!  We had tea and scones and chocolates and scones and tea!!  We had a lovely time and Millie got plenty of attention!! The big kids played at the park and Millie showed off her big smiles!  Hubby came and collected us to take us home and along the way I developed a migraine.  Bah.  It is not the worst one I have had but it certainly made me want to go to bed early... So here I sit ..  Blogging on my iPod ... Possibly the worst thing to do with a migraine!!  Time for sleep, peeps!!  Night all .

A day in the life ...

Well I got some good sleep last night... not sure what's going to happen tonight.. baby girl fell asleep at 6:30.... and ... it's 8:30 and she's still "Napping".... um.... she usually goes to bed for the NIGHT at 9.... eek.  Is she going to wake up at 10:30 tonight and be all rested?!!?  Will we get ANY sleep tonight?  Will she sleep through the night and surprise us all??  Tune in tomorrow to find out!!

Pay no attention to the cat infront of the screen...!!

Today we had a visit from Mary in the afternoon which was lovely!  We weren't sure whether she was coming and I'd spent most of the day sort of putzing about not really getting anything done but once we heard she was coming, well, it was all systems go!!  We put on a timer for 30 minutes and got busy!!  I lit the fire, started some scones baking in the oven, put the kettle on to boil and hoovered the main floor!  The kids hustled all their bits and pieces up to their rooms and Miss Millie sweetly kept herself busy with her toys.   Mary and I chatted for a while in front of the fire until Hubby came home from work and then I put Millie to bed for her "nap"... see above... whilst Rex started making some soup!!  I came back own and added a couple more ingredients and ... yum!  It was lovely.

So basically a pretty simple day.  I got a bit more crocheting done and will probably do even more tonight, I have the back finished now.  This really shouldn't be taking this long, I just haven't go as much time as I used to have!! ;D

Back.. done!!

.... ahah... Millie is stirring apparently and the timer has gone off to alert Jack to bedtime... looks like it's going to start getting busy around here!!

Ahhh.... lovely! :D 

Night all!! ;D

And the award for Best Daughter in the world goes to.....

....THIS girl!!!

Best Daughter Ever!! ;D 

What a star!!!  I had a pretty stressful day with one thing and another so when I put Millie down for a nap I fell asleep.  When Millie and I woke up I suddenly realized that Hubster would be home any moment and the kitchen was a DISASTER!!!  I came downstairs in a hurry and found......

THIS!!!  Bless her heart she had tidied the whole kitchen up for me!!!  I am so proud of her and so grateful to her for her help!!  What a star!  She knew just what I needed!!!  Top that off with a husband who brings home dinner.... (Chipotle AND ribs AND chocolate brownies......) and you can see what a lucky gal I am!!!!  

Thanks so much, Jessie... you ROCK!!! :D  xxxx

"Time to meet your [..] Ice Maker!"*

(*name that movie!!)

So!  Today!!  Last night Millie went to bed about 9:30 and only got me up 3 times between then and 8am.  :D  She was sleeping for four hour stretches .... oh MUCH better than the two or even one and a half I had been getting!!!  I was so thrilled!!!  Today I continued with trying to get her to nap... the stinker seems to fight sleep even though she is obviously tired!!  I found a great blog ( Troublesome Tots ) and whilst I don't agree with everything they espouse, I certainly have seen wonderful results by following a lot of their advice!!  Of course this DID involve me leaning over the crib this afternoon nursing her as she lay in her bed.  Tsk.  Don't tell anybody, 'K? :D

Anyway, I got more sleep, therefore I was a much happier, laid back, relaxed homeschooling Mama, right??!!  (pause for laughter......  ...   ... OK... that's enough laughter!!)  yeah.... No.  Not so much.  I tend to go through these panic stages every now and then about homeschooling ( about every 28 days as it happens.... ahem.... )   and I suddenly worry that the kids aren't learning enough, not learning the "right things" and their lives are going to fall apart and it will be All My Fault... etc etc... cue ranting, running around telling the kids they HAVE to learn stuff NOW... eating all the chocolate and bread in the house and then calling hubby in a state!  I think he's grown used to this as he knows just what to say "Don't worry so much, they are fine, watch some Frasier and relax" and he knows just what to do "I've hidden some chocolate in the truck in the garage, I'll make dinner when I come home" !!  Do I have a great hubby or what?!!?

I'm still on my purging the house kick....  I cleared out more drawers in my room this morning, can you believe my baby has already outgrown stuff??  I also cleared a couple more things  out of the pantry and started cleaning out the junk closet in the entry way.  I say started... I'd pulled everything out when hubby got home... seemed the quickest way to clean up the mess was simply to shove it all back in again!!  I did get a lot of it sorted and thrown out but there's still some to do tomorrow!

In the kitchen for Flylady this week... I haven't done all the missions yet.. I will probably do them all at once on Friday like I did last week but I decided to clear off the fridge.... Here's what it looked like before....

All cluttered and crazy.....!

 So I cleaned it ALL off....!!  Ahhhh... nice and clean and white and shiny.............

All clean....!!!...... but perhaps TOO clean?!!?

And then I panicked!!  Maybe that was TOO clean?!?!  Hubby thought it looked like we had just moved in!!! :D   We've had magnets and stuff on there for YEARS...!!   Hmm......

Ah.... that's better!!!

Soooo I stuck a couple of things back up there.....   That looks a bit better!! :D  LOL!!  

Well once again the kids are asleep... Jessie just came down to tell us goodnight and the other two have been snoozing for a while now.  Here's hoping for some long stretches of sleep tonight and a slightly less Harried Mama in the morning!!  Hey, there's always hope!! :D

Busy? Oh yeah!

Oh boy!!

So I did NOT get a good night's sleep last night either.  I went to bed at midnight ( I know, more fool me... ) and between the hours of midnight and seven am I was up FOUR TIMES with Millie.  I was worn OUT today!  I did get a lot done though....  dishwasher, bathrooms, kids fed...( yeah, I count feeding the kids!!) etc ... I also paid the bills, took everyone to the bookmobile, managed to get some rows of crochet done ( and I mean THREE... sheesh.. they take about 30 seconds a row.. but there ya go... three.  )  I got some school done with the kids, finished cleaning up my room ( though I still have a ton of stuff to get to the Goodwill store.. ) I watched a baby wearing video and tried out several new carries for Millie and I managed to go for a quick walk using the sling and the Baby Wearing coat the fabulous Lisa sent me!!  Millie and I needed to get some fresh air and sunshine!

This will work just fine!! 

Now... now I'm ready to go to bed... I'm so tired!!  I ensured Millie had THREE one hour naps today so I'm hoping that will result in a longer sleep tonight.  I think she has been over tired lately ( I know I have!! )  Well see how it works out!

Here's the "after" shot of our bedroom... looks better than yesterday!! ;D

Out of the closet ....!

Well I feel I have to type fast because it's been such a busy day!!!!  ;D   I did NOT get a lot of sleep last night...  *glares* but I DO have an adorable baby girl soooo... I guess that's ok!! ;D  I spent the morning trying to get stuff done around the house... and failing mostly!!  I did get the beds stripped and the bedding washed, got the toilets cleaned, dishwasher emptied, dinner in the slow cooker, school done at least a little bit, trash cans emptied, two more kitchen drawers cleaned out and sorted and I cleaned up some cat puke ( *glares again!*)  I also did an awful lot of nursing during which time I was able to finish my book "Let's Pretend This Never Happened!"  What an awesome book!  I loved it!!  It really is laugh out loud funny!!   Later in the day ( and I'd say "after lunch" only I realised tonight that we "FORGOT" lunch!!  HOW did we forget lunch?!?!  Jack is usually ALWAYS hungry!  I've no idea how we managed to miss it!!  I guess that Cream of Rice for breakfast really filled him up!!! ( YuK!! The only reason we have that in the house is because when I was pregnant with Millie my iron was low and that was a way to get a lot of iron... only it didn't work because I wouldn't eat it BECAUSE IT IS GROSS AND LOOKS LIKE WALLPAPER PASTE!!!! )  As you know we are eating out of the pantry (Yes, still....!!!) and so that stuff needs to be eaten by somebody and I am NOT doing it !!!  LOL!!  I guess it goes to show just how enough Maple Syrup can make anything palatable.  Almost.

Anyway, I totally digressed!!  So, after all the chores and nursing and reading I got to get back up in my bedroom where I cleared out my bedside table and got to work more on my closet.  It is here that Flylady would have a conniption fit.  I hauled EVERYTHING out of my closet and dumped it on the floor.  It's a really bad idea but I needed to know what was in there so I would know what needed to go where etc!  Ooooh!!  I just remembered I took a pic to show you what a mess it was!!  Hang on .......

Yeah......  and that's not really the worst of it.... I was halfway done when I though to take the pic!! :D  

   

So... yeah.... that's a mess...it actually looks a LOT better now but Millie is sleeping and it's dark so I'll post an "after" picture tomorrow!!

In the meantime enjoy these lovely pics of my littlest ....!!

She looks like something from The Sound of Music here!! 

And now she just looks cute!! :D 

What happens when you have a big sister, a baby sister, and a BIG box?!!? ;D  THIS!!!

Toodles!! :D 

Organization Station! :D

Wow....!!  What an awesome day today!!  Slept like a freaking ROCK last night... may have had something to do with the Corona I drank before bed and also may have had something to do with Millie getting so much sleep throughout the day yesterday... I think she had been overtired.  She got a fair amount of sleep today too so I'm hoping she sleeps well tonight also!

Hubby went out to the sports show this morning leaving me, Jack and Millie.  Millie and I got a bit of organizing in the kitchen taken care of.... I cleared out two drawers and my cupboards containing all my baking pans and so on.  I have two bags of stuff to donate from there!  Jack and I made some Black Bean Brownies but I didn't have eggs so I used apple sauce.  I baked them and they smelled great... came out rather ...um... not cooked.  I stuck it in the fridge to see if it would harden up a bit... but... nope.  Then I reread the recipe. I'm thinking if a recipe DOES NOT CONTAIN FLOUR... then you shouldn't be skipping the eggs!!! LOL!!  Oops. So Jack had black bean chocolate pudding!!!  He enjoyed it !!  (he'll be regular!!!)

Once hubby came home he came upstairs with me and the baby and entertained her whilst I went through my closet and tried on every single thing I own that was in there!!!  Anything that did not look GREAT got thrown into a huge pile!  I now have a lot less stuff, but everything I do have looks awesome on me!!  ( Or at least, looks better than the other stuff!!!)   I've been going through my dresser drawers too.... tomorrow I'll be going through all the sheets and towels, Christmas and craft stuff....  I just love not to have tons of stuff around me!!!  It's so FREEING to get rid of things...!! I'll be taking a few trips to the Goodwill store I think!! ;D  I'm also trying to make sure the house it nice and organized for when the lovely April and her family arrive to housesit for me next month!!  I want it to be that she can quickly and easily find anything she needs!

Anyway, the kitchen needs a quick clean then it's time to get some crochet done I hope!! :D  I fell asleep at 10:30 last night I was so tired... hopefully I can stay up a LITTLE later tonight! ;D

Night Peeps! :D

Just a quickie!

Today started off kind tricksy....  Millie slept NOT A LOT last night... she's probably getting teeth and was up and down like a tart's knickers....  !!  I got to the point where I was DREAMING I was feeding her and couldn't tell if I was sitting in the chair or laying in my bed.... ugh...!  Anyway, a cup of caffeinated tea and a dark choc or two later and I was good to go.  Jessie went to a sleep over at her friend's house today and I spent the majority of my time on the couch.  Millie made up for not sleeping last night by sleeping most of the day away in my arms ( never a bad thing....! ) I managed to get a little of my crocheting done, face timed with my mum for ages, and managed to get some of my book read.  I'd borrowed the book "Let's pretend this never happened" by the Bloggess from the library, but everyone else got to read it before me!!  Finally I got my hands on it and it's just as funny as I thought it would be!!! ;D  Hysterical in fact.  I wish I could write half as well as she does, but then of course I'd have to have had the crazy experiences she had, and, well, I just haven't yet!! ;D  So anyway, if you haven't read the book, DO, it's awesome!!!  ( just don't try and read it in bed next to your sleeping husband... your stifled laughter is sure to wake him and he'll be cranky about it...  oh he will... you know he will.....)

So, yeah, reading, crocheting, laughing, playing with baby... not a bad day eh?  Top that with 45 degree temps, a quick walk in the fresh, sunshiney air, beating a friend at Words with Friends ( YES!!!  .. I'm quite terrible at WWF! ) and having take out Chipotle for tea... well... it's a day that would be hard to beat!

Now Jessie is off sleeping over, Jackster is fast asleep as is Millie....  I'm off for a quick drink of something yummy... Here's a little clip of Millie ... she may be crazy....!!

Blabababababalllllllll

One of these days is not like the other!! :D

Well I thought today was going to go one way, but it swung around and went in another direction.   It basically swayed like a tree in the wind, and I just hung on for the ride.  It wasn't crazy or anything, just not what I was expecting!!  I guess that shows me, eh?  Don't expect, just ride.

Well I decided to get on and get the living room all done in one go instead of doing it every day last week.... Monday through Thursday were rather ugh days with fog, and snow, and cold etc.... today felt like a day to get stuff DONE so I did this week's missions all at once.  I took anything out of the living room that didn't belong, I checked under the couch cushions, I dusted everything that needed dusting ( HAH!  Get a log fire and see what DOESN'T need dusting!! ) and I moved the furniture and vacuumed along the baseboards and around the whole room.  The place looks lovely now!!
I made a simple pasta and cheese sauce dinner with another loaf of banana bread for tonight, I've got the kids to sleep ( well, Jessie is still awake in her room but the other two are sleeping )I'm showered and ready for bed and I can't WAIT to sit down and rest.  Hooo boy.  Busy, busy day...

But now for something completely different.....  

Miss Millie this morning !!


Cute eh?! :D

And January is GONE! 1/12 of the way through the year!! :D

Yeepers!

Today was super....  Rex had to get up early to go to Omaha for a root canal.  That wasn't super.... but since he got up early that meant I got up early and was able to get a great start on the days chores and so on.  Millie got up early too though.... so.... that was sort of that!!!  I did manage to sit on the floor with her and finish off a book I was reading whilst she played happily!

This afternoon I took Jessie to her drama class.. a rather dramatic event all in itself since, whilst the north south roads were dry as bone, the east west roads were THICK ice and snow where it had been drifting and blowing off the fields.  Talk about your terrifying ride!!  It was a pretty quiet journey that's for sure!  We made it one piece though so Jack and I and sat and waited for Jessie, me with my 3 crochet projects and a book to read..... turns out that was rather ambitious of me since, rather than stay sleeping in her car seat, Millie chose to wake up and need a constant supply of milk and attention!  Jack made a new friend and spent some time teaching him the ins and outs of Angry Birds and other assorted games on his MY iPad!!  It's practically his...I barely see hide nor hair of it most days! Jack's new friend's sister joined us and serenaded Millie and me on her violin.  She wasn't allowed to use the "stick" yet, so she just plucked the strings!!

Jack in the corner with his bud, as Millie listens to the violin!

Where IS Perry??

Anyway, we made it home again through the treacherous roads and I spent the rest of the afternoon with laundry and Millie!  She must be growing since she's eating MORE and napping LESS.... dang it. She'll be 10 by the time I get that sweater made for her.... might be a tad small by then!!! :D

When Daddy got home he'd purchased a calendar for Jack.... I THINK he likes it!!!

Snow day! :D

Well... what a week!!  A blown off Monday, a Fog Day Tuesday and today a Gen~ You~ Ine Snow Day!!  Perfect!! ;D  We woke up this morning to six inches of snow so despite a relatively good night's sleep I still felt that we should indulge ourselves once more since we can after all!! I got up and lit the fire and put some Easy Peasy breadstick dough into the oven.  The kids saw the neighbor lady clearing her driveway so they put on their snowgear and went out to help...  they came in to hot chocolate, a warm fire and fresh out of the oven bread!!  Not a bad start to the day at all..!! :D Nor, I might add, a usual one!  I could get used to it though...! We had a lovely day all round really, I got some laundry done, made fabulous soup ( using the left over soup from yesterday and an added ham bone ... oh man, I ate three bowls of it!!! ) and I also spent some time cutting up plastic bags to make plastic yarn!  I'm going to crochet a basket from the bags... they look great!  Right now I'm just cutting and knotting !! ;D I'll keep ya posted how it goes! :D

Stack your plastic bags and then roll them up so you can cut the handles and bottoms off.....

Like this!

undo the strips and, looping them together

make a long string of plastic yarn...

Roll it into a ball and you are ready to go!! ;D 

Banana Bread, Baby! :D

So.... another uggh sort of day!  Bleary and grey, a non perfect night's sleep and I did NOT feel much like getting Up and At'em this morning!  I DID get up and I suppose I was SORT of "at 'em" but what does it tell you that I finally had my breakfast at noon??  Yah.  That sort of a day!  I fought along for a while, the kiddies both did Math and I helped them both with it whilst juggling a tired and squirmy baby who would frequently yell in my ear and I bounced her and helped with math...  I did a load of laundry, cleaned the toilets, emptied the dishwasher yeah yeah yeah but didn't get the mission done today.... I'm hoping that my mojo will return with the sun and I'll get the whole week's worth of missions done on one day!  THAT'S my new plan!!!

I'm still working on going through the pantry to eat....  today I made Quinoa for breakfast  lunch, Jack ate pumpkin oatmeal left over from yesterday for his breakfast. The Quinoa was delicious!  I grated some sharp cheese on it .... Yumm!  For dinner I made bean and vegetable soup using a bag of dried beans, I also made some Easy Peasy Breadsticks... LOVE those things!!  For a post lunch, pre dinner snack I made Vegan Banana Bread... I was surprised how delicious it was!!  I didn't have the oil it called for so I used coconut oil and I used less sugar than suggested but it was fantastic and I'm sure as heck making that again!!  I am constantly amusing myself at my "there's nothing to eat in the house" thinking!!  There's TONS of food!!  For instance, if the family would put up with beans beans and more beans we could eat for weeks!! :D

Oh......  You want the recipe!?!? ...... OK!!  The recipe came from this blog and it's really simple. 

You need...

4 very ripe bananas

1/3 cup Earth Balance ( I used coconut oil)

1/4 cup applesauce ( I DID use applesauce!!)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup sugar ( I used 2/3 and actually that was a little too sweet for me) 

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour ( I just used up any flour I had.....)

1 teaspoon baking soda. 

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 

Mash bananas in a large bowl.  Add melted Earth Balance (oil) and mix.  Add everything else but the flour and baking soda, mix to combine.  Add flour and baking soda and stir until just mixed.  Pour into a greased loaf pan.  Bake uncovered for 15 minutes, cover with foil and bake another 30 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Let cool a few minutes in pan and transfer to a wire rack or plate ( or to a cutting board where it will be sliced whilst warm and the entire thing devoured before it even has chance to cool.... it's your call...!!)  

Taking a Fog Day and a Harried Homeschooling Mama's guide to Math....

Now, to be fair, most days I could easily be described as Foggy but today was a real pea souper!  One glance out the window at 3am last night told me that it was going to be pretty nasty out in the morning!! I could barely make out the trees across the driveway.  Sure enough, at 8 am when I finally awoke to my husband's goodbye kiss it looked pretty flipping gross out!!  I didn't really have to worry about it as I didn't plan on going ANYWHERE today but I was surprised at how lackluster I felt and how hard it was to get motivated to do anything....  I DID get the beds stripped and washed and yaddah yaddah but the Whole House Cleaning thing.....  ppttthhh.  Didn't happen.  Sorry!   We decided to call it quits and spent the day doing as little as possible or as much as we felt up to.


Miss Millie had a fun day......

Helping me with laundry.........

Feeding herself a cookie!! (Farley's Rusk...!)....

And just chillin' in her spaceship!!!

 I spent a little time working on some crochet....

On the hook today... a cardigan for Millie.

I've realised that this blog has moved away from it's original purpose, that of showing how to be an AP Parent.  I still AM an AP parent but these days the title of Harried Homeschooling Mama seems a touch more ... hmm.... apt??  So in that vein, here is Harried Homeschooling Mama's guide to Math on Fog Day.......

Did it suddenly get to be bed time and you've just realised the kids have not done their math?!?!  A simple and speedy solution can be found with the help of a lipstick and the bathroom mirror!!

LOL!!!! ;D   Simple AND fun !!! :D

Night all!!

Sunday.... renew your spirit and all that jazz! :D

The Bayer / Hrdlicka clan went home this morning leaving a huge hole in their wake...it's always so quiet when they leave....  not meaning that they are a noisy bunch, just that there is always someBODY someWHERE to talk to, have a cup of tea with, play with, sit with.... when they leave the house just seems so EMPTY!  Anyway, they set off early because the weather was due to be foul in Minnesota and they needed to reach MN before a) it got worse and b) it got dark.  They called this evening and had made it home safe and sound.  So, once they drove off I decided to spend sometime cleaning up and then dedicated the rest of the day to sitting by the fire, reading, crocheting and... yes... a little Frasier!!  

I cleaned up the basement, swept up popcorn, picked up glasses and plates, put away the tumbling mats, switched off the wii, stripped the bed in the guest room, ran the bedding through the laundry, cleaned up the dining room, vacuumed up MORE popcorn ( whenever my kids have popcorn somehow it manages to get EVERYWHERE!!!) vacuumed the living room, cleaned the kitchen, ran the dishwasher and tidied up Jessie's room.  She had worked really hard lately to get her room nice and clean but you can imagine after having 3 girls in it all weekend long it got rather messed up!  I knew she was going to be so disheartened to see it messy and she gets overwhelmed trying to clean it up so I did it for her.  It doesn't take me long, somehow I've learned how to quickly tidy a room and she was so thrilled when she saw what I'd done!  Anyway, once the house was tidy hubby lit the fire and we spent the rest of the day loafing around.  It was a rainy old day ... perfect for loafing!

Millie decided that SHE was going to do something today though.....  she rolled over!!! :D  Yeahy Millie!!  To be honest I wasn't in a hurry for her to roll since we all know what comes next.... crawling. Oh boy...!! ;D

Here's a few pics from our weekend... Enjoy!!

My Miss Millie!

Alicia with her baby, Fiona and my little cherub!

Sleepover!