Happy Birthday Honey :)

Didn't have time to post this blog yesterday.

It was KC's birthday and he surprised us by coming home early!

We weren't quite ready for him. The presents were wrapped but the cake was only half done. It was an extra special cake this year. I figured since I've been using my kitchen more, I'd try and duplicate his favorite, Ice cream cake from Dairy Queen.

I love the internet. If I don't know how to do something, I can almost always find it there.

After going through a many of recipes, all different, I decided to piece together what made the most sense to me :)

My ingredients, didn't use the Hershey Drops, that was going to be for decoration, but decided it was overkill.

If interested, I used about 10 of of the sandwich cookies. Scraped off the cream (which the girls ate) and crumbled them in a bag.

I lined a pan in tin foil. Let the Mint ice cream (KC's fave) soften and then scooped it all out and smashed it into the pan.

I poured half the jar of hot fudge over the top (next time I will use all of it).

Then melted 40 dipping chocolate chips in the microwave. Pour the crumbled cookies in the bowl and stirred it all together. Then spread them over the hot fudge.

Placed in the freezer to harden for a few hours.

Then pulled it out by the tinfoil, removed the tinfoil and place on plate.

Stir up the softened ice cream for the top. And then I spread it on like frosting. (This is the point KC walked in the door :)  )

Place back in the freezer.

Then we finished it off with a little Whipped Cream. (I tried to find "Whipping Cream Frosting", which was suggested but I wasn't able to find it)

It was super easy and everybody loved it.

I would suggest making it a day or two in advance if you want it harden like DQ's, but I don't typically do things in advance, I'm lucky to get things done on time :)

We'll be making it again. A little cheaper. And I can personally pick out the favorite flavors for whoever's birthday it is.

It was a fun and relaxing family night.

The twins hadn't seen daddy for a few days. He's home after bedtime and they've been sleeping in lately. They were very happy to have him home :)

The boys all watched SpongeBob together, happily in daddy's lap. Cuddle time.

Later they also made time for wrestling and hiding under blankets on the floor. Good night. Thank you for coming home early :)

Love you Honey. Happy Birthday!

I also want to add a big thanks to all you teachers out there. I thank you for teaching my kids the knowledge that I don't have. My kids are growing up into the people they are because of your help. I don't take that for granted and I will continue to educate them to the best of my ability from home, because I believe they have the chance to be anything their little hearts want to be and the knowledge to get them there is everywhere. THANK YOU!

Where Did My Tulips Go?

Confusion is a theme to the year I am having.

Spring is here. My plants are emerging, leaves are unfolding and the first of my flowers are beginning to bloom.

I was excited to see my tulips popping up. I have three groupings of white tulips that have purple tips. They are my second flower every year, only behind my bleeding heart bush.

I'm always amazed at how fast it grows, unfortunately it's life span ends in early August.

I was very disappointed to come out to this.

The rabbits got two of them.

The rabbits are horrible around here. We have to spray and spray often if we want to have any color in our gardens . . . the smell is horrible!

This is my confusion.

They are pink???

For the last 5 years they have been purple.

Could I have really changed my tulips without remembering? Has the last year been so crazy and stressful that I forgot doing something like that? I'm soooo confused.

Now, all I can do is laugh. Every time I look at them I giggle. My life :)

I am awaiting the opening of the other blooms. Will any of them still be purple?

I caused the rest of my confusion today.

I watch Extreme Couponing and did a little research, looked on the internet for some tips and was blessed with lots of coupons in Sundays paper.

I was able to find a few great deals. I am still working on it. There must be a better way. I gave myself a headache.

I like the thought of saving money. I don't know if I have enough patience to figure it out.

I'm going to give it a try this month. See what deals I can find :)

One of the highlights of our day was a trip to Aldi. I only had a couple of things to get. And they have the best carts to suit my needs.

They are made for twins :)

Couldn't get them to look at the camera because Cameron was crying behind them. He wanted a front seat. He got over it fast.

When we left, he was walking. He was obsessed with the quarter in the cart. I let him plug in the chain and pull out the quarter. He was amazed by the whole thing.

As I was buckling him into his seat, he asked, "Can I put my magic coin in my Scooby Doo bank when I get home?"

I love that boy!

Happy Easter :)

3 Days off. A clean house. 2 separate cars. Both sides of the family. 5 egg hunts. Lots and lots of rain. 2 babies with the beginning of a cold. At least 20 chocolate bunnies. Way too much food. 5 tired kids.

We stayed at Uncle John and Aunt Risa's house for the weekend. Thank you for letting us invade :)

Thanks to Grandma teaching Pre-K, the babies even got to color eggs. Her class colored eggs with an egg spinner and she ran out and got one for Emmitt and Castiel. They loved it and took turns :)

This is the closest we get to a nice family picture these days :) At least we are all together.

We visited Uncle Tony and Aunt Katie's house. The kids got to do an egg hunt with their Cousin Olivia :) I don't think this kid takes a bad picture, you are adorable Olivia!

All the cousins together. Yes, I took about 20 photos and this is the only shot with all their eyes open, to bad Emmitt has a juice glass in his face.

It's funny how fast the boys figured out their was candy in all the eggs. This is Castiel asking Audrey for a candy-filled egg :)

Emmitt got lots of loving. It's changing into many different colors. It really is awful but it's not bothering him  :(

Returned home to a yard full of toys :) And thankfully, beautiful weather to try them all out.

Giant croquet :)

Bubbles :)

Flower seeds :)

Sidewalk chalk :)

My Picasso :)  Within minutes he was covered with chalk and poured a jars of bubbles in his lap.

Last Easter egg hunt in the backyard :)

Cas learning to open the plastic eggs :)

Emmitt drooling over the candy :)

Big thanks to the whole family for loving and spoiling our children :) They are still recovering from all the extra attention. Early bedtimes and long naps for a couple days, which is fine by me.

They are still coming down from their sugar highs!

Productive Day turned ER Visit

So. I booted up my computer, getting ready to do my first major back up of 2010 photos. I was planning on having a productive day, going through a years worth of photos while the boys played . . . I start every day planning on being productive, but then reality happens.

Do you see anything missing from this picture?

What's missing is five hours of my day!

The culprit . . . Emmitt, it always seems to be Emmitt. He's just one of those kids that you look at and you can see their brain working, and I'm not talking about baby genius stuff, I talking about any kind of trouble.

So, he swallowed the red disk off the bottom of the stoplight sign, I think. I didn't actually see him do it. But the gagging, then the throw up and the toy in his hand, I'm guessing he did.

So my pediatrician wanted me to take them to the ER after talking to him. And I agree, it's better to be safe than sorry. So after tracking down a neighbor to watch the other two, off to the ER.

On the way to the hospital, I realized I have never been anywhere with just Emmitt. Every errand, outing and even doctors appointment, it had always been at least "the twins". It's amazing how a child loves to be the center of attention. I've never seen him quite like this before. He made sure that everyone at least looked at him, but he got most to smile, some to wave and even a few that stopped to "talk" with him. It's a funny thing watching a baby "work the room". This may have been his first moment of pure attention he's been able to enjoy. Something that is missing in a twins life.

And it would have been fun, if it weren't for the part were I had to restrain him on a hard table for x-rays or wait 20 minutes for someone to tell us that they couldn't see anything on the x-ray, but considering that what he swallowed wasn't metal, it can't be seen or waiting another 80 minutes for a "specialist" to tell me that it should pass in 72 hours and he may have a stomach ache.

I questioned the guy finally discharging us why the x-ray was done if they knew nothing would be seen. "Kids that swallow things that big could have swallowed more, a kid came in once because the parents saw him eat a screw, upon x-ray they saw the screw and an earring and a quarter and a charm bracelet". So, I guess if nothing else, I can feel good about the fact that my son hasn't swallowed anything metal . . . but who knows what else is in there  :)

Now, do I feel like getting something done . . . I'm going to try.

Here's to the Beginning of a Wonderful Year

So . . . welcome to my blog. I see you've found me :) I will enjoy making my entries and pretend that someone might care. I believe I'll have followers like my mom and mother-in-law, maybe some sisters. I figure, most of the stuff I put on Facebook is about the kids. And not everyone on Facebook cares what my adorable children are doing on a daily basis. So I've decided to put them here, with all the adventures of 2011. I plan on making this a productive, adventurous year . . . and I will catalog it all here. It may look boring at this point, no fun pictures. I am still figuring that all out. There will be plenty of pictures in the future, I promise.


So, this is the last day of the kids two-week break from school. It's been a long crazy one this year. We celebrated Christmas about four times, welcomed a new nephew into the world (who I've yet to see with my own eyes  :(  ), visited my sister-in-law's new house (totally jealous), said good-bye to my brother and sister-in-law that decided to put down roots in Virginia for a while (who we hope to visit soon) and brought in the New Year with three of our five children.


Now I'm home with the kids, looking at all the new piles of gifts that I have to figure out where to store, stash and use. Our house is for sale, so it can't stay like this for long. I've already taken down the Christmas tree and all the Santa's, reindeers and elves. I love them while they are up, but also relieved when they are all put away. I left the random snowflake and snowman, after all, snow will still be around for months. Except an unexpected thunderstorm that rolled through, and melted all our snow.


So today I've decided it's a major clean up day. The girls are working on their room, which needs a major overhaul. The usual three loads of daily laundry are waiting. I've already been in the garage in an attempt to make room for my van . . . almost. I also have to give the twins a bath which is always "fun". My eBay project has made our family room look like a shipping warehouse, but I figure I'm okay with that for now, because hopefully soon, it will all be gone and I'll have more money in my pockets. I figure if I get it all done, or I should say, most of it done today . . . I can start out fresh and new tomorrow, even though the laundry will be there again, it's always there. Not to mention, I have to be done by 3:15, because of the Packer/Bear Game which is a must see! Hopefully they'll do better then the Badgers :(


So, if you are interest, follow me. I might say something interesting from time to time. Or you can just laugh at my crazy life with five children. At least I know that the Grandmas will enjoy, once I have pictures of their grandchildren :)


Got to go, lots to do :)

Mission Statement :)

I have decided that it's time for me to have a mission. My mission is to rediscover my passion. As a mother of five wonderful children, I realize that most days I'm just in survival mode. Trying to make it through my day with happy children, happy husband, happy house . . . but since that takes up the majority of my day, I find myself not as happy as I would like.


So, I plan on living more, instead of just surviving. I feel like over the years I have lost a piece of me that makes me, me. I intend on getting it back. It's been a rough year for us as a family and we aren't fully out of the woods yet. But, we will and we'll be stronger for going through it.


I love my husband, my family, my life . . . and now, here's to the start of enjoying them all more! And in the process, finding out my special happiness that will make me a whole person again, in my mind and my heart.


Welcome to My Journey . . . I'm not planning on it being smooth but I am planning on making it.