new loves

In our house, reading is a huge deal. The older kids all have an allotted 30 minutes of reading time before bed. SweetPea and PorkChop get read to daily before their naps. Hubby and I both spend quite a bit of time on our Kindles, compiling reading lists and cruising straight through them. Its a rarity when someone is not reading something. Reading for fun, reading for school, reading for learning or reading for enjoyment.... all of us love to read in our own ways.

For Christmas, SweetPea got something that she thought that she had to wait a few more years to get.... an American Girl Doll. And with that gift, a new story line to follow. Last year, SweetPea and I went on a very long journey with Jack and Annie (The Magic Tree House series). And while we didn't finish the series, it created some very fond memories. This year, we begin our journey to 1850s New Orleans!

a favorite past-time

I personally love history. I love hearing about daily life from "ago", I love learning about the styles, the nuances of the culture, how people thought and what motivated them. So far, I have yet to produce a history buff in any of the older children. The American Girl series reminds me of the Magic Tree House series. They both bring history to life in a fun and easy way. They are not "textbook" boring, but alive and colorful. They are fun and make you feel like you are part of the story. I am hoping that that also means that it will spark a flame instead SweetPea, one that wants to learn more about following the past instead of just living in the future.

There are so many series that I want to share with her and PorkChop. I hope that I can. For now, I will take it one small step at a time. And enjoy each and every step of those journeys.

unexpected gifts

Every once in a while, you end up with a special gift. An unexpected pleasure that you didn't even know that you needed or wanted but that was just perfect when given to you. That was today.

Things started off rough... my lap top decided to go on the fritz for about the millionth time in the last few months. Our television's lamp decided to burn out right when we didn't have the money to replace it. PorkChop started getting junky sounding again after having been clearing up for a few days. Peanut returned to school amid protests and refusing to eat. Even SweetPea's lessons took a nose dive after having finally looking up. It was just one of those days.

But the temps were beautiful! Low 40s with some sun and, during the late morning and early afternoon, no winds. In short, the perfect kind of day to bundle everyone up to play in the snow before it melts away. And that's what we did.

the five P's and one frozen buddy

Its a rarity anymore that we can get all five kids involved in the same thing at the same time. And I mean REALLY involved. Sure, once in a great while, we can turn on a movie or a show and everyone will sit together. But its not really the same. And with PorkChop too little for board games (and hubby totally not a fan) and with Pickle and Punk feeling "too old" to "play" with everyone, family fun time is a hard thing to come by lately. But something just clicked today. Everything gelled just perfectly for all of us to come together and enjoy 45 minutes outside.

The older boys took turns first lobbing snowballs at everyone, then taking a bat and hitting said snowballs towards the trees. Peanut and SweetPea worked together to create the balls for the snowman's body. PorkChop ran between both groups, giggling, just happy to be outside and included. The two youngest took turns on the swings and the slide. The boys tried inventing new snow themed sports (snoccer anyone?). Peanut kept working on her snowman, diligently filling in the gaps made by SweetPea's over-excited fingers.

Almost an hour and I had five freezing Ps. But I also had five happy kiddos. And one pretty happy snowman (even if he didn't get the hot chocolate that SweetPea thought would make him smile). I didn't even realize how much I needed that family together time until we had it. And then? The bad from earlier in the day melted away. I didn't worry about the electronics that were giving me fits. Instead, I rejoiced in the warm embrace of our little family. Into the house for hot chocolate and chorizo chili, all of us went. Happy, pink from the cold, and more relaxed than we have been in a long time.

A very unexpected, but very much appreciated, gift.

slow return to normal

Between Christmas break, illnesses and sheer laziness, we are finally starting to fall back into our normal routine. Not quite there yet, since daddy was here with us again today (migraine... yuck! We need to catch a break around here) and so was Peanut, but other things are falling back into our normal. Home schooling is back on, dinner menu plans are being posted again, school is back in session for the bigs, dance started again for SweetPea.... Just a normalizing of our days that I think that we needed.

Our family is busy. Constantly busy, it sometimes seems. But that's ok... its our family's routine and we are used to it. Its our life. And on the whole, we tend to really enjoy it. Sure, there are days when we just need to be lazy and kick back. We try to balance our busy days with breaks and time off. Like this morning when Peanut was still hurting too much for school. Instead of staying awake (like I knew that I should have) and showering, I got to snuggle back into bed with PorkChop. It was only for another hour but it was nice getting those extra cuddles for no reason.

Enjoying our packing snow... finally!!

Because we got a late start this morning, lunch was late. Thankfully, that meant that we got to spend 40 minutes outside.... which was double the amount that I had planned. A late lunch meant late naps, which is leading to late bedtimes tonight. Tomorrow, our first day of everyone being back to their respective jobs/schooling, I have a feeling that we will be dealing with some major crabbiness. But its cool, I can handle it. I feel like I can handle most anything today.

I really think that I feel that way because our normalizing of our routines also means that I get to catch two hours to myself on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Those are my guilty pleasure television nights, even if I don't sit and watch television. Its my chance to work on projects uninterrupted, surf the net and research without someone closing my windows, a small amount of time to decompress and breath. Some days, I feel that it would be better if I took my "me time" out and did something without the family. But I honestly like knowing that I am right here if someone needs me. I like being available when PorkChop calls for "bub". And I like the fact that once he is tired enough to go to sleep, that I get to feel his warm weight snuggled close. But I also enjoy not having to deal with each small crisis for a bit.

Tonight, I am doing a bit of everything and nothing at the same time. Which is good. Because tomorrow, life totally goes back to normal and I need to be ready to tackle the world. And I will be. Because today, life started going back to normal for us again.

Albuterol and amoxicillin and z-packs, Oh my!

Can I just say how very much I love the winter months? Sliding around on the ice, freezing while walking to the mailbox.... Your shoes filling up with slushy snow and the wind whipping straight to the bone.... Not to mention the very best part of the winter months, the never ending colds!

This season has been one of the worst ones yet for our household. Normally, Punk gets his deep winter cough and we might have a few small assorted colds pass through the house but nothing too major. This doesn't seem to be the case this year.

Right after Thanksgiving (like the very next day), I came down with the worst sore throat of my life. The only time that it has been even comparable has been when I have had too much iodine in my system. We are guessing that it started because hubby was nice enough to share his "cold" with me and it just morphed out of control. Since that point, every single member of our family (with the exception of Punk, go figure) has decided that they needed to have this bug.

Oh the joys of winter!

Last week, we took PorkChop to the doctor over his cough. She also was nice enough to check SweetPea out at the same time even though she didn't officially have an appointment. Today it was Peanut's turn. She woke for school at 7am, literally howling about her ear hurting. I figured that it was more of a case of the "I don't want to attend school" blues and ended up fighting with her for more than an hour. But she refused to get out of bed, preferring to keep screaming. I even took her temperature to make sure that she was fine (and she was fever free). Checked SweetPea to make sure that the thermometer was working... apparently it was because SweetPea WAS running a fever. So I caved and told her to go back to bed that she could stay home.

After listening to two and a half straight hours of crying, I made her an appointment to get checked. Good thing too that they could squeeze us in (thank God for cancellations!) because her ear wasn't just "sore" but severely infected. The doctor couldn't believe that we had had zero warning about it because of the shape it was in. Peanut now has a follow-up appt in ten days to make sure that the ear drum doesn't rupture and if it does, that its healing ok. Fun!

All totaled for this month, that makes two infected ears (both on Peanut's head), one child on breathing treatments for a junky cough without an apparent cause, one child that has been consistently running a low grade fever also without an apparent cause, two adults battling headaches (which we are thinking are being brought on by sinuses), one teen boy with a man cold and the other almost teen boy who went to bed early tonight because he was "too tired" to finish watching a movie with the family. Definitely doesn't bode well right now for our "healthy" family member.

Over the river and through the woods

Ok, so it wasn't to grandmother's house we went but to the sledding hills. But at times, it definitely felt that we were going to go over a lake river and I would say that a good number of people crashed through the woods. Thankfully, no one in our family, although Pickle did make a very daring crash into the tire barriers at one point. But I digress....

Hubby knew that I was a bit bummed about our plans for the weekend needing to be changed and asked me what I would like to do instead. Had I thought things through, our original plans could have held since this (initially) cost more. And I guess that I could have been selfish and chosen to do what we have been trying to do since Christmas. But in the end, I went with something that would benefit the entire family, not just me. So a-sledding we went.

Four racing down the hill.

Pickle hadn't been in years now (easily five or six) and SweetPea, the last time we took her (which was two years ago), wasn't old enough to go on her own. PorkChop was too little last year to go, so of course, this was his first time. I felt bad not having Punk and Peanut with us but c'est la vie. There is always next time.

The weather ended up being perfect, in my not so humble opinion. The day called for marginally warmer temperatures than Saturday and flurries. Instead, the day felt much warmer (which could have just been all the layers everyone had on) and it SNOWED! Sure, hubby said that they were just flurries but when it was enough to leave a light blanket of snow over everything, to me, that's a bit more than just flurries.

We ended up hitting two different hills and four different runs. SweetPea, after a few runs on daddy's lap and one on Pickle's, decided that she could go on her own! It was a little nerve wracking watching her stop in the middle of a hill and attempt to walk back up but by the end of the day, she got the hang of crossing to the side and walking up the pathway. PorkChop had an amazing time if his giggles were any indication. Even when getting some major air with daddy, he was laughing and squealing and pulling the ropes to go faster.

Getting the chance to spend the day outdoors doing something that was fun for everyone definitely was a spirit booster. Especially since hubby looked into other local sledding hills and found some that make their own snow, provided the weather is cool enough to hold. Looking at our forecasted weather for the rest of the month, I can definitely see another sledding day in our future.

Lalaloopsy Love

When my oldest daughter was about to turn four, she fell hard into the world of Littlest Pet Shops. I always thought that that was kind of fitting since my youngest sister, right around age four, discovered an undying love of the original Littlest Pet Shops. Even now that Peanut is 10 years old, she still has quite a collection of the tiny little plastic pets all over our house. Sometimes, quite literally. SweetPea discovered her sister's pets around age 2 and fell hard for them... especially when she learned that she wasn't quite old enough to play with them yet. This past summer though, the girls enjoyed dumping our all the storage containers of pets and spending hours playing side by side together. I really felt like this was going to be SweetPea's first big non-book obsession. I was so wrong.

About a month before Christmas, while asking the kiddos what they wanted, SweetPea brought up another avenue completely out of left field. She wanted a Lalaloopsy. I honestly had no idea at the time what that was. See, we don't watch much mainstream television, preferring instead to just scan shows off of OnDemand or Prime. So not only did I not have a clue what a Lalaloopsy was, I hadn't the vaguest idea where she learned about them either. Not that it really mattered because what I saw of them wasn't offensive or ghoulish so I just added it to a passing interest.

I was so wrong....

Ace Fender Bender's being brave!

Starting right after Thanksgiving, SweetPea received her first mini Lalaloopsy.. and she was hooked! A second followed soon after. More came at Christmas, along with the coveted "Lalaloopsy with spinning hair and spinning feet" and a play set. Most nights now find SweetPea at the kitchen table (so PorkChop can't reach the little toys) happily creating complex story lines for all seven of her little minis.

Lalaloopsy has become such a hit that she has already requested that to be her theme for her fourth birthday next month. I try never to do mass produced themes so instead of hitting the nearest Party City, I have already started brainstorming how to make the world of Lalaloopsy come to life for her. A special handmade dress to match Bea Spells a Lot for SweetPea, a little outfit to match Ahoy Matey for Porker. Button candy molds to decorate the cake and button suckers for the treat bags. Learning how to make bows for the favors along with clips made with felt and buttons. Our own version of "pin the button on the doll" and either a crafted BINGO or musical chairs (singing featured by Harmony B Sharp). I think that I can pull it off for her. And I think that I might even be able to pull it off well.

Winter Wonderland

I made the decision today that regardless of temperatures, as long as there is no one "sick" in the house, that we need to make it a priority to be outside. Even if its just for ten minutes a day, we need that outlet. PorkChop especially thrives when he is allowed to run wild outside. SweetPea, who has turned more and more into a couch potato (something that I personally cannot stand) really needs the excuse to not just unplug during the day. And yes, I realize that I am a contributing factor since if I didn't turn the television on during the day, she wouldn't watch it. And as a rule, I don't. From me, she might get twenty minutes a day.... might. But with having Squawk here, illness going around, cold temperatures keeping us inside, the television has run more than I would like it to have of late. Which brought me to today...

Enjoying our snow totals.

Knowing now that PorkChop isn't sick and seeing all that beautiful white snow outside just begging for some trampling, I bundled up the littles this morning so we could get outside and enjoy it. All my our wonderful plans for the weekend had to be changed and it honestly put me in a downright nasty mood. I know that in the warmer months, nothing helps right my attitude quicker than some outdoor time. Today, in our colder months, it shouldn't be any different.

Now true.... it took me about a half hour to coordinate everyone, get us all bundled and out the door. And it took us only 45 minutes of being outside to be thoroughly frozen. But those were 45 good minutes. That was time with no cell phones, no computers, no television, no video games or flashing lights. It was almost an hour of running, jumping, trudging and crawling through the snow. It was almost an hour of throwing handfuls of snow in the air (since its not packing snow by a long shot), of attempting to make snowmen, of hiding behind trees and trying to scale the fence. Rosy cheeks, cold noses, tingling fingers.... it was time well spent with just me and the littles with no outside distractions. And it was heavenly!

Coming inside for hot chocolate with marshmallows, stripping down and cuddling under blankets, teasing each other with frozen feet and icy hands.... It all made today special. It might not have been "doing" something but it was still definitely something to me.