If these walls spoke...

Cluck. Cluck.

2012-05-30T07:37:00.000-05:00

Our chicks have arrived! This was the view from our deck this morning. The coop and chicken run are placed strategically behind a low tree and some landscaping grassy stuff (super savvy terminology, I know!) which will probably grow so tall the entire setup will be hard to spot from the house. This is to keep Mitch from going completely insane.

Here, the girls are getting used to their new digs. They're bigger than I thought they'd be, kind of sad we totally missed the little fuzzy yellow chick stage. Who knows what will happen down the line, my aunt says a person can "rent" a rooster...

We paid the breeder to keep them until they were 6 weeks old, to make absolutely sure we were getting hens. She referred to them as pullets. Related: I need a poultry dictionary. Roosters aren't permitted in the city, and hens actually aren't permitted in our neighborhood. We like to live on the edge... Ha! Actually, we ordered them before we bought this particular house, and then decided to just forge ahead with our plans. Fingers crossed.

Our next door neighbor, Skeeter, said he couldn't care less about them being in our yard. Since he's the only one who should really give a care, I'm guessing it won't be a problem.

Ryleigh is beyond thrilled. The term, "dream come true" was used a few times.

I'll have to get better pictures of the awesome hen house my super handy brother-in-law built! Bless his heart, he is in this thing deeper than he probably imagined he could be. The first omelet is his!

We have two Sussex (white) and a Black Copper Maran. They will look like these below when fully grown (pictures from the breeder).

The Sussex with the "lavender" (I think they look grey) tail feathers is Queen Esther because the purple is royal, obviously.

The Black Copper Maran's name is Genesis. Geni for short.

The Split Sussex has the black tail feathers, and her name is Ruth. We have a books of the Bible theme going on here, in case that wasn't immediately clear...

Turns out this project has become quite an investment of time and money, so let's all pray they don't become some raccoon's midnight snack anytime soon!

Cluck Cluck!!

Etc.

2012-05-29T11:49:00.000-05:00

Since I only have six kids right now, and since they're involved in an air-hockey tournament at the moment, and since I just wore myself out setting up and anchoring to the wall 2 enormous bookshelves...

A mid-morning post of random things I hope I don't forget.

See those little cuties in the window, reading books? So stinking adorable.

Ryleigh took dance at the homeschool co-op this semester, and had an end of the year "performance". She did great, so proud of my big girl (almost 9!).

I took my two oldest nephews over night last weekend and loved it so much I'm hoping to make it more of a regular thing. Now that we aren't showing our house and whatnot. Seems like I'm motivated to do things I never did even before we put our old house up for sale, after months of listing off things we "couldn't" do. So irrational, I know :)

Be still, my heart. Seven of my absolute favorites, eating donuts, watching "our" geese on the pond!

I fear I have not mentioned "The Chickens" on the blog, here. Heavens. We ordered three hens over 2 months ago...and they're coming today. My super brother-in-law came over to let the kids help him build the coop. It was a HOOT.

Reise in her best babysitting outfit. She smothered Dominick to the death that day. That boy is a full time job, he's so busy and gets into anything and everything. Bless my sister.

Mitch's sweeter than sweet grandparents celebrated 65 years of wedded bliss last week.

They're clearing out some of the goodies they've collected from family over the years. Grandma said, "if you don't take it, it's going to disappear!"

I wish I had time to mess with pictures right now, because there are exactly 477 that I haven't looked at since I took them off the camera! We've got birthday parties this weekend, a fundraiser on Saturday to get ready for, VBS to plan, and did I mention the chickens...??! I might be blogging from phone pics here for a while yet :)

Rugger and I were writing to each other this morning to practice handwriting (his). I wrote: "Are you going to help me out today?" He replied, "Maybe mom. You never know." Hahahahaha!!

B

It just doesn't get much better.

2012-05-22T20:09:00.002-05:00

We spent the middle of the day at my sister's house this week. We got out of the house really late, and I was in the most sour mood of my life. The weather was absolutely perfect, the kids played awesome, and I was so happy we went anyway. Kinda made me wish we were next door neighbors living on a big ol' farm. In fact, there are several families I would love to force to be my neighbors. We could really have a good time. I'm just saying.

I often tell Rowen that if I could, I would glue him to my face so we could just walk around all day smashed together. "Rowen...GO GET THE GLUE!" He thinks it's ridiculous. Honestly, it sounds a little creepy when I see it typed out...

I could seriously get the glue for this kid while I'm at it. Give me a break, Dominick! You're too much!

Let's be serious, it just doesn't get much better than this. This created a very late nap situation, and I'm pretty sure no one cared.

Nine cousins. Such a fun crew!

Looking forward to a lot of this over the summer. So grateful for family!

Zoo.

2012-05-17T07:32:00.000-05:00

We love the zoo. {The end.}

My sister helped unpack a good chunk of my kitchen and ended up putting away 10 identical water bottles. Freebies from last year's JDRF walk. When we pulled them out for lunch at the zoo she goes, "Oohhhhhh, now I understand why you have all those...I really wondered what the heck your problem was. Hoard much?" Hahahaaaa!! Seriously! She didn't notice that each bottle had a name written in Sharpie around the top. If you see me gathering up water bottles this fall at the walk, you'll know what I'm doing. :)

So exhausted! We stayed until almost 2pm, and everyone passed out immediately when we got home. Post outing naps are the best.

Looking forward to lots of this over the summer :)

We are slowly but surely getting things settled over here, and when we aren't unpacking we're catching fish or hunting for frogs. I may be addicted to fishing. Really, I have no idea how that happened. It's like gambling...you think maybe this next cast will bring in the 10 pounder! And then my cousin laughs like a hyena at me as we release our 72nd 6oz. Carp :)

Fish.

2012-05-09T14:14:00.000-05:00

Hands down, the best part of this house is the pond. It was so foggy the other morning, the boys went out to make sure it was still back there because they couldn't see it from the window!

It's been fun, but we're a hot mess. We don't know two things about fish, tackle or bait. These kids have poles, and their parents read the back of the box of bobbers for tips. Tangled lines, near misses with hooks and eyelids, only one family member brave enough to remove hooks from the fish...

Turns out we just needed a few hours this afternoon with my cousin, who happens to know everything about fish kids ages 8 and under really need to know. We had some safety lessons and learned how to cast the ice fishing poles I bought on accident. Hey, I already claimed I know nothing :)

Almost everyone can now at least handle a fish with their hands-Rugger and I can remove hooks. It's a great start. The great thing about our pond is the fish are evidently starving. You have to wait about 37 seconds to get a bite.

This kid carried his fish around like he carries Biggie the rat. What a riot.

One of the adults may have needed a cerveza.

Someone caught his first fist EVER, and it happened to be his birthday!

This is how we wash hands when Joseph is in charge!

Ryleigh tried fishing without a bobber and reeled in this giant carp. (Well, it seemed giant to us!) She has yet to touch a fish. Hahaha!

What a fun afternoon, definitely going down as one of our best yet. Fishing sure beats unpacking boxes.

Back to it!
B

Some things...

2012-05-03T19:47:00.000-05:00

will never change.

It's nuts how we've settled into the same routines over here. Breakfast, play, school, outing, lunch, school, naps, play, dinner, play, bed. Different location is all that's changed. Weird, for some reason I expected some earth shattering meltdown of all systems. Hasn't happened (yet).

As I type, Rowen and Reise are outside meeting new neighbors and helping Mitch unpack the Uboxes, and my two biggest have been in bed for an hour for disciplinary reasons. Same ol', same ol' ;)

Happy early weekending, we have so much fun planned that lots of our unpacking will just have to wait :)
B

Of all the things...

2012-05-02T17:43:00.000-05:00

to be excited about.

The best thing about this house so far

is water and ice in the door of the new fridge.

{It's the little things!}

We are getting things settled around here and really loving our new digs!! So thankful!
B

Double Dog Dare

2012-04-23T20:30:00.002-05:00

This happened Sunday.

I laughed more than I've ever laughed through Target and Super Saver. Ryleigh earned $7.50, which I then rounded up to $8.00 because I was so impressed and proud of her for adding an "adios!" in at the end, completely unprompted.

She really knows how to rock out a dare.

On the way home she said she thought she probably brought a lot of joy into people's lives this morning. I said, judging by the smiles and chuckles and hey, nice hat 's she got all morning, I'd go ahead and assume she was right.

In unrelated news, we would really appreciate your prayers for our loan. It turns out no news is certainly not always good news, and bad news is really bad when you've only got four days to rustle up a Plan B. We've prayed our way through this entire process and the timing has turned out to be perfect all along. I do trust it will all work out like it should in the end, just pray that we stay sane (and married) to see the day when we look back and can say that it all makes sense!

B

For the Love of the Land

2012-04-20T07:36:00.001-05:00

I saw a response to a tweet yesterday that reminded me of a saying I am going to try and incorporate into my everyday vocabulary.

For the love of the land!

We move in one week. Lord willing. Our loan still hasn't made it through underwriting, (no news is good news right now?? Um, not in my opinion! That's just no news. That just means it's sitting in a pile somewhere where it's been for three weeks and needs to be looked at. "Approved!" would be good news!). Oh, for the love of the land, I'll be so happy when we're done with this process!

Reise's Jr. Drama class at the homeschool co-op put on a little performance last week. The script was written by the kids in a circle; so each person added a little to the story as they went around. It was very interesting!

Chickens, Yoda, snow people, a Popsicle woman...?? Her teacher told me in an email that Reise was delightful, and very kind to her friends. For the love of the land, I love that girl. I really couldn't care less if she ends up on Broadway, as long as she continues to be delightful and kind!

Be still my heart! I ~~could~~ do sit for however long they'll keep reading to me. Add an interested preschooler who's content to sit on my lap and listen the entire time...hello, paradise.

For the love of the land. Seriously, those snuggled up brother feet are too incredible!

You better believe I'm continuing my Fountain Pop Friday routine today. For the love of the land, I've been looking forward to it all week. I tried to quit sugar and white flour on Monday. Felt pretty good through Tuesday. By Wednesday after some S.O.S. texts to my cousin regarding my life in general, she replied, "this is no time for you to be starting any ridiculous diets". For the love of the land, she's so right. See how it works in so many ways? It's fun for me!

Happy Weekending!
B

Golden

2012-04-17T07:11:00.000-05:00

It's been on my mind lately, how fast these babies are growing up. Ryleigh will be NINE in June. I realized this while driving a few weekends ago, and just about went off the road.

Nine is halfway to adult.

It seems like just yesterday, she was a tiny little baby who fit into her daddy's Husker baseball cap. In an instant she's going to be nine, and in another blink or two she'll be registering to vote. I'll be 40. My baby boys will be 13. Teenagers! Un. Be. Lieveable.

I remember a Christmas just over three years ago-we had 2 babies in high chairs, Reise was 2, Rugger just turning 4, Ryleigh was 5. I actually said out loud to Mitch's brother after my third trip up the stairs during the meal to get someone something, "it won't always be this much work, right? It certainly has to get easier from here." We have finally arrived in the land of easier.

It is amazing.

We have reached this tiny little window-right now this very instant-of golden time. These kids are old enough to wipe their own bums, and young enough to still like us. All of them. At the same time. And, it's not going to last forever.

I am aware.

I am determined not to waste it.

Maybe we'll have a few teenagers who don't roll their eyes or slam bedroom doors. We might get lucky enough to never have LPD on our doorstep at 1am with one of our naughty children in tow.

Who knows, we might even discover that teens are our favorite.

I can't imagine it. All I know is right now, this very instant, is absolutely precious. If I could freeze this period of time and keep them 8,7,5,4 and 4 forever and ever amen, I would do it.

And, it's not that I'm dreading the teen years or an empty nest. I think we both anticipate a sense of sweet freedom will come at that point; when we're able to leave the house at 10pm for Dairy Queen if we want to, or just because we can. And, it's not that I didn't enjoy having babies. I loved having babies. It's just that I'm suddenly very conscious of the fact that these years are screaming by us, and they will probably go down as the best of our child rearing years. I was so busy when my kids were newborn, newborn, 1, 3, 4...it didn't feel like it was flying by at the time. The physical work required to keep those kids alive every single day was really incredible. I imagine the emotionally draining teen years might feel equally exhausting, in a different way. I could be wrong.

All I know is, this golden time right now is pretty awesome.

We spent the weekend watching the weather and packing boxes. In case you hadn't heard...we move in 11 days. Mercy!

Weekend Extras

2012-04-13T00:01:00.000-05:00

So many pictures, so much fun, so little time to blog. Here are a bunch of extras from our last weekend of birthday/baby/Easterpalooza.

Baby Owen, just over 12 hours old.

Ryleigh, at Mahoney state park, patiently waiting for cousins to arrive. She actually said, "if only I had a book..." That girl is a crack up. We went to the library today and Mitch just sent me a text saying, "Everyone's watching the bald eagles on the computer. Except Ryleigh. NEW BOOKS."

They are such hams, and they've obviously learned that if they sit still and smile cute it'll be over quicker ;)

Spring is here. For sure.

That'a girl, Reise. Show 'em how it's done!

Mitch's sister-in-law mentioned she'd heard of people roasting peeps. We are officially fans. Thanks, Lynnette!

I got one picture of my cousin before wild madness broke out in the backyard and human ring toss was happening. The next morning, no kidding, every single kid asked when he could come back. Must be nice, being so popular.

Silly string battles.

Silly string battle injury.

That's right. We may be allowing them to dig to China. What else were they going to do with that bare spot where their fort used to be? We took advantage of a nice weather weekend and took it down so we could move it. They are keeping the dirt they dig out in a very nice pile and will fill it back in before we move. None of the dirt will have gotten spread out into the yard or anything, and there will be enough to make it level again so the new owners don't get mad about a big hole in their (giant) bare dirt spot. I'm super certain of this!

Happy weekending out there!
B

Easter

2012-04-12T05:48:00.001-05:00

Easter morning with my little chickens. They were excited. I wish I had taken a picture of the little pink heart cards Ryleigh made everyone. She is such a sweet and thoughtful child. Loved it!

I felt like I was purposeful with the "baskets" this year-which isn't super unusual. I'm not the type to just buy a bunch of junk. For some reason I felt extra good about them getting stuff they needed (sand buckets- last year's pails all suffered quick deaths at the spray park) or items that could be consumed: art supplies, gum, bubbles (no candy-vitamin water with no artificial dyes or sweeteners, "fancy" yogurt, etc.). Nothing hanging around the house for months being transferred from stuffed-to-the-brim toy bin to overflowing drawer to overcrowded shelf. Amen.

The whoopie cushions were an exception to the banned useless junk rule. They are hilarious (especially to 2nd graders), and the two oldest kids have been wanting them for months. I saw them at the Dollar Tree and they jumped out at me. They were much appreciated ;)

Our church had an egg hunt for the first year ever, and the kids loved. it.

Small victory here again, no new clothes purchased. Their closets are full. I think they all looked appropriate, we saved money, and didn't add to the already stuffed drawers we have going on over here!

Easter dinner at the Sallingers was everything we expected it to be ;) Lots of food and an awesome weather day for playing outside and hanging with family!

Adorable moment here-Aunts Michelle and Mindy keeping the kids occupied in the basement while the Easter bunny did her thing outside.

Rugger said the prayer for dinner, "Thank you Jesus for dying on the cross to forgiven our sins." He says "forgiven" every single time, instead of "forgive"...and I'm not going to correct him. I love the tiny bits of him that are still "little"!!

Happy Easter!
Becky

FOUR

2012-04-11T07:39:00.001-05:00

I love birthdays. I really do. Of all the good excuses to use gift cards, take days off work, and hang out in a booth at Chuck E. Cheese's to kick off a long weekend of celebrating life, a birthday is as good as any.

I would just like to state, for the record, that I usually catch these kinds of things before they leave the house. These denim-capris-with-cowboy-boots kinds of things. Also for the record, she won't give that shirt up to the winter bins. Clearly, I have my hands full with this one. Carry on, my little independent one.

We have reached this golden stage in life (emotional post brewing). I've mentioned it before. Our kids are young enough to like us and have fun playing ski ball and whack-a-mole, but old enough to not need our direct supervision. If we choose to, we can sip fountain pop in the booth mid-restaurant, and require them to check in with us every 3rd token. It's pretty beautiful. (Cue hysterical bawling and previously mentioned emotional blog post in edit.)

I bought a "deal" a few months ago for a family art class, and we used it Saturday morning as part of the boys' birthday weekend fun. Maeson loves art. It's really all he ever wants to do, if he has a choice. All the kids thought it was fun, and we made some new decorations for our new house!

No, Mitch doesn't drive a bus on his days off. (Oh, wait. He doesn't have any days off!) The studio owner had a bunch of old uniforms to use as smocks, which was pretty fun.

Saturday evening, we met my sister's family and my parents at Mahoney state park's indoor playground. The kids ran themselves into the ground.

They also ran Uncle Brandon into the ground.

With this many siblings, plus cousins in the mix, everyone nearly always has a buddy.

I know I'm so biased, but they are so adorable! I love their matchy matchy shirts. I'm going to go cry now at the thought of them waking up one day and not wanting to wear coordinating outfits.

Monday night-waffles with sausage was Rowen's birthday dinner request. {Complete with a hard boiled egg.} He's so dang sweet (and he has a sweet tooth!).

Tuesday night-spaghetti with meatballs was Maeson's birthday dinner request. He's our savory guy-he likes candy and gum, but he'll ditch a piece of cake for a second plate of spaghetti!

Behold, the 2nd ugliest birthday cake I've ever made. Mitch: "second?? ugliest?!..." Apparently he couldn't recall anything uglier! Hahahaha! "The boys will love it, and it will taste great." I'm not sure if that was supposed to make me feel better, or what. I ran out of powdered sugar, so I substituted with blended Splenda and cornstarch. This all transpired between 1:30pm and 3pm-the entire cake process start to finish, including the idea. I am not beating myself up over here-there will be years for my cake decorating skills to shine in the future, Lord willing.

And, it did taste fantastic.

Happy Birthday to my absolute favorite four-year-olds on the planet, I can't believe how much I love you!

We celebrated the daylights out of those boys this weekend. Throw in Easter and we were all basically stumbling around party-drunk by last night. It might be rough coming down, but it's already Wednesday, and we move in just over two week. Two. Weeks. It's probably officially time to let my "works best under pressure" system do it's thing. (Don't judge my system on the cake, that was a fluke.)

Peeps.

2012-04-06T22:36:00.002-05:00

We used the boys' birthdays as an excuse to get together with our people. It was loud, semi-chaotic, and pretty much perfect.

I spent hours upon hours in preparation baking, shopping, gathering, packing, mixing, boiling...and then sat back and did close to nothing the entire night. My peeps are awesome like that. They manned craft tables, wiped up spills, moved tables, and brought food.

The kids stayed up way too late and ate way too much sugar. So, basically it was heaven on earth.

When completely assembled, our "small group" consists of 14 adults and 23 kids (...and counting). Of the 23 kids, 19 of them are age 8 or younger.

It. Is. A. Riot.

Look out, Sallinger Easter, cookies are coming your way ;) We had lots of leftovers, and spent a good portion of the afternoon today decorating.

Rowen doesn't mess around when it comes to frosting.

PSA: Dollar Tree egg dye kits are pretty fantastic. I ended up using more than one color tablet per cup, and they came out super bright in no time!

We assembled the leftover mason jar Easter "baskets" when we got home, and will give them away to our cousins over the weekend. I thought they turned out really cute, and everyone asked me if I saw it on Pinterest. I actually don't think I did; I think it was a blog, and I feel bad that I can't remember which one! These are cute, too (but a little more work).

A special thanks to my cousin Jenny, for holding down the tie-dye shirt making fort in the kitchen! She is the tie-dye expert, and even brought all the dyes. It was a huge hit!

I told Ryleigh I was posting this picture, and if she didn't like it maybe she'd smile nicely next time. Hahahaha! She's so funny!

Dear Jesus, please lead {at least the majority of} my children through their teen years with as much grace as Lexi. Amen.

The Big Reveal = the best part. Every time someone unwrapped a shirt, everyone "oooh'd" and "aaaaah'd".

We all went home feeling really lucky to be doing life with these people. Thanks for being our peeps!

Palm Sunday

2012-04-04T02:06:00.006-05:00

Yet another excuse for me to sit in the pew and snap pictures while smiling my face off.

Participating in a Sunday service definitely helps my kids remember the significance of (in this case,) Palm Sunday's role in the Easter story. The will refer back to "when we waved the palm branches and sang Hosanna" whenever we discuss it...even months later.

We'll dye eggs and eat our share of chocolate bunnies, but I know for certain they understand what happened this week so long ago and why it mattered.

They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them.

A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

"Hosanna to the son of David!"

"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"

"Hosanna in the highest!"

(Matthew 21: 7 - 9)

Rugger got to lead Jesus down the aisle, sweet thing. He was really pumped about it, and he did a great job.

He then got a huge kick out of seeing "Jesus" roll out of the parking lot on his motorcycle following the last service, sans wig. So funny!

I'm grateful for such an active church to raise my kids in. Thanks to all the volunteers who made Palm Sunday an awesome (and fun) learning experience for my big kids!

Becky

Long Weekending.

2012-04-03T20:57:00.000-05:00

I wouldn't say we "live for the weekend" at our house. We enjoy our weeks, and I love a good routine. I feel so happy about my ability to be home during the week with my kids and "work" at the same time. Our daycare families are absolutely amazing, which is the only way the whole thing makes any sense! It feels good by Friday to have a fun weekend planned with no naps, no routine, no meals planned out. After a few days, everyone's ready to get back to normal. Perfect cycle.

Friday night Ryleigh, Rugger, and Reise had a Sing Fling to prepare for their Palm Sunday performance (blog post pending!). They had a blast, but we were up later than I thought we'd be. I am so dang old. I never thought missing my 8pm Friday night bedtime would make me so sad! It was fun though, really. Mitch and I took Rowen out to eat, which really felt weird. I'm sure people probably looked at us sitting in a normal sized booth with our child and didn't think a thing of it. Normal looking family of three over there! So. Weird. A few errands, an ice cream run, and a stop over to see the Grandparents later, it was 9pm! By the time we collected the bigs, and got home, it was pushing 10. Heavens!

Saturday, we had a super fun birthday party at our favorite farm with some of our favorite peeps.

Maryn cracks me up, pushing all these big kids by herself!! Sweetheart!

Sunday, we had another awesome birthday party, which I got zero pictures of. Seriously disappointed with myself about that. The boys got to go through the safari near Ashland with the birthday boy and his dad, and are still talking about it. The girls and I met them all at Cabela's for more party. What a hoot.

I was able to convince my brother to let me steal his oldest child for the night, so we brought him home from Omaha with us. He happens to share a birthday week with Rowen and Maeson, and our daycare buddy Truman. Obviously, this called for a trip to Lost in Fun to celebrate (Truman's pick, since we went on his actual birthday). Then to top it off, my sister's kids were able to join us with their aunt Lisa...so it was cousin mayhem. The Lost in Fun staff actually gave us a party room, which I think was mostly an attempt to contain us.

Reise and Maeson slaved away making this house out of foam. Then, some (naughty) kid knocked it down (seriously, so rude!).

The birthday boys! Truman said this was how the 5 yr olds took pictures. This was after he showed us his super impressive (I'm not kidding) beat box. I may have howled with laughter, and then sniffed back a tear or two. He's really getting way too big.

Reise and Maeson's finished house (version #2). They are laying on their beds, can you see it?

They worked so hard! I didn't touch a single piece of foam. They even had to work out some structural problems with a few of their windows. I was pretty impressed :)

The entire gang. What a riot.

I cannot resist taking pictures of these sweet chickens when they're asleep. I cannot! Pretty soon they'll be way too big for naps and they won't let me take their pictures when they're awake. Maeson actually moved himself down to the bottom of the bed to sleep closer to the cat. Kind of cracked me up!

Easiest overnight guest, ever. I tell you, he's pretty much perfection.

Weekends that include a day before or after, are the best. Monday felt like a freebie, and I actually woke up Tuesday thinking it was the beginning of the week. So fun!

We have a huge weekend of partying coming up for our sweet (almost) 4 year olds. It's so unbelievable to me, I can't talk about it! I'm just making food, buying supplies, and not thinking about how big they are. Boo hooooo!!

Becky

Friday!

2012-03-30T07:44:00.000-05:00

The Baby: "um, could someone please fetch my sunglasses?"
This weather!

This particular park trip was super last minute, which is usually the best kind. We stayed way too long and napped way too late...all things summer. Loved it so much.

Rugger: "um, can I have another dose of Zyrtec?"

A little Phone Photo Friday action:

Rugger sent this with me last week when I went to visit my grandpa Rod for the last time. Sweet boy. The inside said, "I hope you feel better tomorrow". This was my mom's facebook status on Wednesday: "Off to Bismarck, North Dakota to bury my dad. Roderick Monroe, born Feb 27,1927 - died March 25, 2012. He is survived by 5 children, 12 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren - quite a legacy." Gpa Rod always had a jar of peanuts in his van, could fix anything, installed a lock on our deep freezer (safety first!), and always took our family out to eat at Valentino's when he was in town. He was a part of some really good memories from my youngest years.

If I do say so myself, I'm getting pretty good on the Heelys. I leave them in the van and practice at the grocery store, Target, etc. Home Depot has a prerecorded message that plays overhead reminding customers that skate shoes aren't allowed. While I understand the liability issue, it just seems wrong to waste all that wide open smooth surface!

"Oh, *that's* how you keep them so quiet at Super Saver."

I feel like I have a lot of words left, but no time, which is usually how it goes over here :)

It's Fountain Pop Friday, and coconut rum 8pm bedtime tonight, something I may or may not start looking forward to starting Wednesday each week! I swear I love my life, and I'm not in need of an intervention. "Calling in the PACT"-I love you, T and D :)

Happy Weekending!

Becky

Caught.

2012-03-29T02:43:00.000-05:00

I love catching this kind of stuff.

These kids make me insanely happy.

Becky

38

2012-03-28T10:36:00.000-05:00

So, it's my handsome husband's birthday. We'll just say he's turning 38. For over a year I've been messing with the kids, telling them that their dad is 37...then as his birthday got closer it was "37, going on 38". It's been going on so long that I actually forgot how old he was. Then, I started to forget how old I was. Hello! A sane person might decide this has clearly gone too far.

38 things about him that make me happy:

He only acts mildly annoyed when the kids bring up his (fake) age
He'll make those horrible phone calls (insurance, billing errors, etc.)
He knows how to use a coupon
And, price match
I can count on one hand the number of times I've pumped my own gas in 10 years
I can count to zero, and that's the number of times I've mowed the lawn
Same is true for scooping snow
He does dishes
And, takes care of the cat's litter box
When I leave for an evening, he doesn't call staying home with his own children "babysitting"
I can leave for an evening (or 3 in a row) and not get any hassle about it
He's learned to say, "I don't know how you do it..." before he complains about something when I get home
If I send him an "SOS" text during the day, he always offers to bring me a fountain pop
He doesn't judge me if I drink pop, even though I "gave it up" months ago
He lets me fall asleep first
He works so hard
His good looks have been passed to my children
His dad skills are off the chain
If he happens to be the first responder to a midnight hurler, he handles it
Same is true regarding the discovery of cat puke
He's a great gift giver
He understands that I'm a terrible gift giver, and loves me anyway
He's one of those guys who saves his change, then cashes it in every few years to make a "quick" $100
He's kind to telemarketers
He always remembers to take the trash to the curb on Fridays
And, the recycling to the curb on Mondays
He makes sure my vehicle has a decent ice scraper in it
He's supportive of all my weird-ish whims in life
He tells me I'm the best mom on the planet
He calls his dad to discuss sports
(And doesn't seem to mind that I couldn't care less)
He throws a mean dance party for the kids in our basement
Without him, our kids would not be exposed to the classics, like Charlie Brown
He can beat anyone, anywhere, anytime at "name that tune"
He can beat anyone, anywhere, anytime in an eating contest
He overreacts when the kids are sick, which is the only way they'd ever get to the dr. He's usually right.
He doesn't think flowers are a waste of money
He quietly, but confidently leads our family

Happy Birthday, to the love of my life!

Becky

...and you know what they say about that!

2012-03-26T20:01:00.000-05:00

This weather! Seems too good to be true, and you know what they say about that. I probably jinxed the entire state of Nebraska by switching out my kids' closets and drawers from winter clothes to shorts and t-shirts. {I'm sorry.}

It feels so good to fire up the grill and get out our marshmallow roasting skewers. Everything tastes better when you can eat it outside. Even better when you have cousins to play with. Those are just facts.

"Yes, we'll move the fire pit to our new house. And the roasting sticks. And all our food. And everything else in our house. Everything. Yes, even your bed."

I had no idea there would be so much anxiety over what items we'd be bringing with us. Once again, I tell you, everything.

So happy to spend an evening with some of my favorites. We don't have people over often enough. Now that we're done having showings and looking for a house, we're doing it. At the end of the night no one will care that we couldn't find any grill tools (packed up), or that half the homemade hamburger buns looked malformed (got stuck to the towel while they were rising).

The kids got to run around with their cousins, and the adults had some good face time. There's only so much catching up we can do via unlimited text plans and blog reading :)

Might have shaved a few years off my brother's life letting Dekker drive. Maybe a few more by letting Dekker sit shotgun while Rowen drove! Those two just look like trouble.

{Or maybe Rowen looks like trouble and Dekker looks sweet.} So fun.

I won't be shocked if we get slammed with some snow before we settle into summer for good. I'm just putting that out there. It just seems too good to be true, and you know what they say about that!

B

Phone Photo Friday

2012-03-23T06:39:00.000-05:00

Our week in very random pictures...

She's getting pretty good, but she's a terrible loser. I have no idea where she gets that. (By the way, I beat my mom at Words with Friends again this week. I may or may not have called her to gloat.)

Ryleigh is directing a movie about two teenagers who get lost in the jungle and encounter a large snake. Her cast members are practicing very hard. My lap buddy has incredible cheeks.

That's a Webster's dictionary, and yes, she's just browsing through it.

My computer when I got to work on Thursday. Blue screen of death!

Tried making bread in the actual bread maker, as opposed to using it to make the dough and baking it in the oven (which I may just continue doing). I'd love to throw a batch in and let it bake over night, but I can't get it right. The crust turns out too crispy and the top and bottom of the loaf don't slice well.

An incomplete list of things that make me happy right now: four 5am boot camps done this week, it's Fountain Pop Friday today, we are headed to co-op classes this morning, we have very little planned this weekend, no one is sick, I finally got in to cut and color my hair this week after way too long, I see a coconut rum/Coke Zero and 8pm bedtime in my very near future. Oh, yes. The kind stuff dreams are made of, folks.

Happy Weekending!

Ordinary

2012-03-22T07:43:00.000-05:00

It feels so good to have an ordinary day. Everyone's healthy, well rested, and we're finally able to get out of the house. And, speaking of the house. We have a new one to move into, praise the Lord!

Library story time is honestly one of our favorite weekday destinations.

The Baby is on the move. She and I started out way in the back of the room, but she eventually scooted herself clear over to Reise, pulled on her jacket to get her attention, and then scored a spot in her adopted big sister's lap.

My middle child is such a funny girl.

When the story time leader announced it was time for the "silly dance party", she made sure to move the baby all the way back again, so she wouldn't get trampled. She will make such a good mommy someday!

A few minutes into the story, our Realtor sent me a text saying the offer we'd made on our new house had been accepted. Obviously many texts followed that, and a few minutes later I realized Miss Susan was glaring at me from behind In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb. Ahem. Seriously sorry, but it was kind of a big deal.

I'm so happy we don't have to rent. SO. HAPPY. And, I really like the house. Everyone but Ryleigh is really excited; she usually takes longer to warm up to anticipated change.

Yay. Thank you, God. Our prayers have changed again, now including, "please help our loan go through smoothly." Rowen is still adding, "thank you for our house to sale and for our despections". Doing taxes when you're self employed is pretty fun (hello, tax return!). Getting approved for a loan isn't so fun.

Now that we feel like we can breathe again, the really exciting stuff starts. Packing, planning, organizing, picking out paint colors, counting down the days... So. Thankful.

P.S. If you're buying or selling, I would confidently recommend our Realtor. He always very quickly responds to texts/emails/calls. (Even crazed, irrational requests at the last minute. I mean, I've heard this about him. Luckily we're not prone to wild freakouts or semi-meltdowns.) Hey, this process can get stressful, and getting questions answered right away, or being able to see houses with very little notice really helps the sanity levels. Plus, he's pretty funny.

Momspeak

2012-03-21T08:16:00.001-05:00

Sometimes staying up a good two hours past my bedtime on a weeknight laughing my face off over long island iced tea and non-"shred" foods is just what I need to keep my sanity.

So thankful for people who speak my language fluently.

Happy Wednesday!

B

When the week is a blur...

2012-03-19T06:45:00.000-05:00

So, Friday after the week had passed in a fog, I got three texts in an hour asking me if I'd go ahead and blog again sometime soon. Then, another text mentioning said blog. My blog? Oh, shoot! My blog! Poor, sweet, neglected baby. I had real (sick) babies to tend to all week, and evidently I don't sleep through the night anymore (??) So, my blogging mojo took a hit.

Thankfully, I feel like maybe the sleep thing was a phase and most of my chickens are on the mend. Plus, I beat my mom at Words with Friends today. I mean, come on. Get outta here and shut the front door. {It's kind of a big deal.} Evidence:

From two weeks ago...

The bigs are moving right along with their piano lessons. A certain middle child may or may not have decided to pursue other interests for now. We are not 100% sure what's going on there.

Whoever isn't practicing the piano can usually be found doing something like this. {I think that's a train.}

Sometimes we do science during the day (as opposed to at bedtime), because everyone likes it. They think it's especially fun when I make things explode. {Like, 2ltr bottles of Fresca, for instance.} Even better if it's pajama day. Who doesn't like pajama day!?

From last week...

I feel like I lost a good week of my life to a virus, which attacked all five of our kids and held on for dear life. Good Lord almighty, I thought it would never end. We sure made up for being healthy all winter, I'll say that much. There must be a lot going around, my week included daily check-ins with my sister whose boys were also really sick (and we haven't seen them in weeks, so we couldn't have passed germs).

I can't get enough of kids who fall asleep with their toes sticking out of their blankets. Bonus if they're hanging off the couch.

Double bonus if they're near an empty barf bucket. Poor diabetic kids, really don't do well when they're sick.

You know your kids have been laid up in PJs for 9 days when they start wearing their wedge heels around the house to liven up their outfit. Oh, Reise. {Tiff, you really hit it out of the park last year for birthdays, just sayin'.}

{Aunt D, do you recognize that Scooby Doo blanket?}

I bought this giraffe blanket for Rugger before he was born, and he still loves it. So happy to see him not looking like death. {Not looking like death is a great thing.} He and Ryleigh took a step back yesterday, and went to bed feeling rotten again last night. Will you pray that they kick it for good sooner than later? Rugger is going on day 10.

{I love my husband.}

Words with First & Second Graders {a lot less interesting...what's "ZA" anyway, mom?}...

Here's to a new week! Here's to finding the right house, sleeping through the night (two issues that could be related?), and having all the kids healthy at the same time.

Project Groundhog Week Five

2012-03-07T14:37:00.002-06:00

You can find links to the rest of our Project Groundhog posts HERE.

For our assignment this week, we spent some time talking about all the things we're noticing lately, that let us know spring is coming! We also added some things we're looking forward to doing over the next few months leading into summer. Ryleigh typed them out here:

green grass
flowers
birds
birds nesting
worms
bugs
bees
frogs
trees
rain instead of snow
park play dates
swimming
boating
fishing
butterflies
water fountains

We cant wait!!!

Here are a few pictures the kids made of spring:

I hate to burst their bubble, but I don't think winter is over here in Nebraska. It's been too mild, I predict we get some snow in March! We'll see :)

HERE is the weather data we submitted for this week.

Becky