washer woes

My washing machine broke this week. It is only 2 1/2 half years old, but the computer in it died. It is going to be 2 1/2 weeks until it is fixed. :( In the mean time we'll be making a couple of changes around here to make situation work. Here is my plan so far....

Normally everyone around here wears their clothes/PJs at least two days/nights. This will change to wearing them until they really are dirty (so some of the nice and tidy kids around here may wear one outfit for nearly a week, other then errand day and Sunday). Have no fear, socks and underwear will be changed daily!

The big kids will help with hand washing clothes in the bathtub. So far they think this is a fun idea, and are happy to help out.

At first I thought that cloth diapering would be taking a break, but washing those newborn diapers is not so bad, so I'll keep that up for a few days at least and see how it goes. Miss J, however, will be in disposables. *I had just done a load of diapers the day before, so the only ones that were dirty when the washer broke were Miss C's. That is how I learned they were going to be easy to clean.*

Potty training may be taking a break. I just don't want to deal with that many messes while hand washing everything. I do plan to pick up some pull-ups though, so maybe it will continue to some extent.

new glasses!

Mr. R and Mr. S finally got their new glasses yesterday! Woo hoo! We ordered them nearly a month and a half ago, but through various mishaps by the lab and store they were quite delayed. These are not the glasses we had picked for them, but they are close and they look good on them! The boys are so happy to have them! We were very happy to find that we only needed to buy two pairs this year instead of four!

Miss E's eyes have improved to the point that she does not need reading glasses anymore! She had the choice to get new ones if she wanted, but she has opted to skip them this year.

Mr. R only needs his for reading, and was told by the doctor he didn't even even need them for that if he didn't want them. He wanted to continue with them for a while though.

Mr. M's eyes have improved so much that he did not even have the option of reading glasses with the doctor saying that at this point glasses would do more harm than good. Since he is such an active boy it is nice to have him free of his glasses!

Mr. S most likely will not grow out of his need for glasses for quite some time since he has astigmatism like his mommy. He has to wear his all the time. Bummer since he is the most likely to break his.

wedding day!

Rob's brother got married this week-end! The groom was quite hansom, and the bride was absolutely beautiful! The wedding and reception were wonderful and so thoughtfully put together. We had a great time.

Mr. S was in the wedding as the ring bearer. He was so hansom in his little tux, and he knew it! His brothers and sisters were so excited for him getting to have such a special job. The kids all did very well with such a long day at the wedding and reception. We brought plenty of activity books for them as well as some small quiet toys. Mr. R and Mr. M set up a little battle with the army guys I brought for them. Miss E enjoyed playing with pipe cleaners and stickers. The iphones came in handy for Mr. S and Miss J. Miss C was a doll, sleeping most of the time and easily settled when she was a bit fussy.

 

My mom was so kind to come out to help me with the kids so that Rob would be free to do his duties as a groomsman and also enjoy his brother's wedding without having to worry about helping me with the kids! What a blessing that was since even though the kids were wonderful the three youngest did require quite a bit of attention that I certainly could not give on my own at the wedding and reception!

winter weather

Well, we are experiencing California's version of winter weather this week.

Rain. Lots of rain. It comes with wind, thunder, and lightning. Its been fun. Especially for the two little boys that received weather stations for Christmas in their science kits!

We've stayed inside and kept ourselves busy. Daddy ran out of chocolate chip cookie dough (I keep little balls of dough in the freezer all ready to be baked up whenever we need them), so we made some up instead of running errands in the rain. The best part of this job was, of course, eating them! We did manage to save some for daddy!

With all these kids running around inside bouncing off the walls we've needed something to channel that energy. We had received a game from Aunt H for Christmas, so we pulled that out. The kids have been having fun jumping and spinning around doing that game for the last couple of days once we are done with school. We've also had plenty of forts built and wrestling matches too.

As the kids were peering out the window at the storm raging yesterday the lights began to flicker. I mentioned that maybe the power would be going out soon and it may be a good idea to flashlights handy. Oh the excitement! This is what the boys have been preparing for! An "emergency"! They sprang into action and found all the flashlights (cause little boys always know where those types of things are to be found)! The power went out right before dinner time, but everything was already in the oven cooking. By the time I checked on the food it was done and ready to eat! The power came back on right after dinner, just about the time I was starting to think about having to hand wash all of those dishes.

Happy Birthday Miss J!

Miss J turned two this week!

She had a fun birthday day and enjoyed many of her favorite things! Here two favorite toys are baby dolls and trains (especially Thomas), since she already has dolls and she kept trying to swipe Mr. S's Thomas she received a couple of Thomas engines to go with our train set. She also received a couple of Thomas DVD's, and fridge toy. We made her favorite foods all day too!

 

This week-end I made her cake for her. She LOVES candy (if you knew me at least 10 years ago, think of that sort of sweet tooth!) so I made her a "Candy Land" cake using the one I saw in a recent "Taste of Home" as my guide. Miss J enjoyed "helping" me with the cake, and I also had plenty of kids offering to help me decorate too! She loved the cake and spent the afternoon picking candy off of it. I don't think any of the kids had much cake, the candy itself was enough.

Doughnuts

I got up early this morning so I made doughnuts for breakfast.... whole wheat, raised/glazed doughnuts (its a recipe out of the "love in the kitchen" cookbook by the Jeubs that Rob got me for Christmas). They were good, all of the kids loved them! The doughnut holes were not as much of a hit, I think they cooked too long. I'll be making these again since they did not take too long and were a fun treat!

If you are thinking that I have way too much energy... I went to take nap at 8:30 when Miss C went down for hers!

A package from Germany!

A package arrived today from some very dear friends in Germany! What a fun package full of surprises for the kids! They were so excited, we have all been missing these dear friends since they moved last summer.

They all had fun putting together their little Playmobile gifts, and then playing with them.

 

Mrs. J said that they use these cute boards for their breakfast toast, and hoped we could find a use for them. Miss E thinks that they are just right for our lunches on most days, and I think she is right. We are looking forward to putting these to use and remembering our friends every time we use them.

As you can see in many of the pictures, Miss J was especially excited about the candy in the package, and wondering why she was not eating it yet!

We miss you "J family" and hope to see you this spring! Thank you so much!