Thanksgiving break

Ok, so it's been a month.....seriously, a month.  That's horrible!  Time.just.flies.

So, Nathan had 5 days off over Thanksgiving and here's the recap of what we did!

Wednesday: Hung out at home, cleaned the basement (Nathan did so much work down there, I'm so thankful!  He moved the beds, vacuumed, and went through boxes with me.  It looks so nice now!), and went over to Jonathan and Becky's to grill since the weather was so nice (in the 50s).  The guys played football outside and after a few hours we went home and spent the evening watching movies and hanging out.

Thursday:  Thanksgiving at Amanda's house.  Six out of the 11 siblings were there so not as roudy as it could be but still a good time.  Amanda had crafts for the kids to do and a few of us adults played some board games.  The weather took a turn for the worse during the day as well and ended up snowing! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday: Started out very early for Nathan since he went Black Friday shopping at 4:30am with his brother Jonathan.  They headed over to Home Depot to score some deals on tools for Nathan for work.  (Funny thing is that I think he's returned most everything he bought there because we've found it much cheaper other places!)  Then we had Thanksgiving brunch at my parents.  We got there a little early so mom could play games with the kids for school and they all came upstairs with birthday cards for me!  How sweet.  Then we had some awesome quiche (and I don't like quiche so that's sayin' a lot!) and hung out a couple hours before heading home.  That evening Nathan went out to eat with his friend Scott and his brother Jeremiah.  It's tradition that they take each other out to eat for their birthdays and this time it was Scotts.  A trip to Olive Garden it was, and after 4.5 hours of sitting at the restaurant, they were kicked out.  No, I'm kidding.  But they did stay 4.5 hours.  Nathan said they coulda talked even longer too.

Saturday:  My 31st birthday!  My parents came over at 9am to watch the kids so Nathan and I could run a couple errands and then go eat lunch.  We even left the baby with them so it was truely a date!  Lunch at Mexican Village was nice and quiet and we were home by noon.  After my parents left, we had planned on getting a Christmas tree but since we started cleaning and rearranging our house, we left that task for Sunday and decided to stay home.  We were also expecting company later so we wanted to keep picking up and I wanted to start getting supper ready.  Our friends Guy and Cassie (and their 6 wk old baby James) came over at about 3:30 to play some games and eat supper with us.  We played a game of Say Anthing, Hand and Foot, and Farkel.  They left about 9pm.  It's always a fun time when we hang out.

Sunday:  Sunday school and church in the morning, lunch at Gma and Gpa Legatts after, and then to the tree farm to get the Christmas tree!  It was different than I remember growing up.  I remember walking out to the trees from the parking lot and finding the perfect tree.  Here you just drive up and down the aisles of the trees until you spot the right one.  Nathan and the kids jumped out, cut down the tree and was dragging it back to the van before I even got out!  Well, that was quick!  We brought it back, got it all loaded up and then checked out the fun things they had for the kids.  A horse ride (they loved that!), a petting zoo with calves, goats and sheep, Santa sitting on a sleigh, a big bond fire, and we went on a hay ride pulled by 2 big horses.  Sunday evening was spent doing laundry and getting ready for Nathan to return to work today.

 

Seriously...look at this girl's face.  Do you think she was liking it?? :)

Decorating the tree....

 

A game of Go Fish and a cup of hot chocolate *with* marshmallows to end the evening.

 

It was a nice time having the hubby here for 5 full days....now we can't wait til Christmas vacation!

Tutu

I had to chuckle as I saw this as my sweet girl walked away from me....love her. :)

stay awake

We actually got to bed fairly early last night.  We were in bed around 9:30.  I thought 7 hours of sleep will be a great thing for Nathan before he drives 2 hours to work.  (We usually try to be in bed early but usually never happens...)  So 4:30am comes and we are both feeling mostly refreshed.  Nathan leaves for work and I debate about going back to bed or staying awake and enjoying the peaceful quiet before the kids get up.  For some reason, when the clock starts with a 4, I have a really hard time wanting to stay awake, thus the bed usually wins.  The only time I've actually stayed up after he's gone to work is when my mother in law came over at 5am to help clean my house the day after we moved in.  So anyway, back to bed I went. 

It feels so good at the time, but seriously....I don't think I get that much more sleep.  And if I do actually fall asleep, it is often interrupted with 7 million questions from 4 little children coming in and out once they wake.  I know I probably should just jump right out of bed and greet my little ones with enthusiasim and joy, but let's get real....I'm not a morning person. 

So this is how it went this morning.....

Back into bed at 5am
Jaeger wide awake, clapping and jabbering.
Lay him in his bed, he cries.
Take him out and nurse him in hopes he sleeps
He'd rather play
Nurse him again
He finally falls asleep at 6am
Not long after (once I think I'm finally drifting back to sleep) Brayan comes in
"Mom! Can I have an animal vitamin?!"
Seriously, can't you see I'm sleeping?
Brayan again "Mom! Can I have an apple?"
Whatever, cant' you see i'm sleeping?
Caedmon comes in
"Mom! Can I have an apple?"
Yeah, a little one, now go, I'm sleeping...
Brings one to me...
"This is all the littler they are"
Whatever. that's fine.
Tiernan comes in
"Is Jaeger sleeping?!"
Uh, yes..and so am I...
Brayan back in
"Tiernan has green gum."
Ugh...
Ariella in
"I wanna lay with you on the white pillow"
No, lay on the floor over there if you want, Jaeger's in here.  What are you chewing?
"Green gum"
Ugh...
Caedmon back in
"Mom, I'm hungry."
OK! I'M UP!

I think I should just stay up....it takes a lot less effort :)

Habit Chart

So a few posts ago, I told you about my chore system where I include their jobs right into their workboxes for the day. (which, by the way, is working wonderfully.  I don't hear any complaining at all when the jobs are in the boxes).  Well, here is a system that I put together a couple weeks ago and it has worked with awesome results as well!  There are certain things that I want my kids to get into the habit of doing every day....brushing teeth, making their beds, etc.  I listed them on the chart.  Putting their shoes away, picking up the living room (before bed) and brushing their teeth again at night are the other ones.  Each child has a row and a sticker chart on the bottom.  Once they do their listed "habit", they flip their card over to show a sticker on the other side. (Stickers are colored in their favorite color, as are the top of the cards to keep them straight.)  Once they finish their whole row, they get a sticker on their chart.  Once all the sticker spots are full (9 days if they do them every day), then they get a "reward".  Last time it was a little "all natural" sucker.  They don't get these any other time so they think they are something very cool.  This system has worked great and I almost never have to remind them to do anything on their chart. Yippee!

 

 

Here, Kids...Hold This....

I needed someone to hold up my mattress so I could put on the bed skirt.  A few kids would do the job.  At least they are good for somethin'! :)  And nevermind the fact that my daughter is mostly naked...she must have been in between changing her clothes like she does 75 different times a day...

 

 

Crazy Sleepers

They DO *each* have their *own* bed........but by the pictures, you would never know it.

 

Laundry room makeover

 My laundry room needed a bit of a pick-me-up......



BEFORE



 

 

AFTER

 

 

I can't wait til the rest of the house has some color....these WHITE walls are driving me batty!!