I'm a Big Boy!

Look at me....sitting at the table like a big boy.... no more highchair for me....

using my fork like a big boy......

making funny faces at the camera.....

this fork thing is taking way too long.... using my hands now :D

Caitlyn Cooks Us Dinner

Friday night was quite the night at our house! Caitlyn (who will be turning nine in just a couple weeks - can't believe it) made us all dinner. From start to finish and including dessert, Caitlyn cooked us a fabulous meal. For Christmas, Grandma and Poppy gave her Paula Deen's My First Cookbook and she's been wanting to try out some more of the recipes. So Jeremy put her in charge of dinner on Friday night. She spent the week deciding what recipes to use and creating her list of ingredients she needed. When Friday night came, Caitlyn was all business and ordered us out of the kitchen!

She made cheese quesadillas with salsa and sour cream, lime sherbet punch to drink (very yummy!), and fruit turnovers with a fantastic pear filling and glaze for dessert. Her grandma would have been so proud! We had a brief catastrophe when she placed the hot baking sheet on our vinyl tablecloth, but other than that she was a pro. With the week I had, I welcomed the break from cooking and was so proud of my little chef.

We were always only a few steps away, but it really boosted her confidence in herself and her cooking. It was really funny to listen to her huff and hurry around the kitchen every time her timer beeped. No more silly chocolate chip cookies for her! She's got grander visions now!

Jeremy Builds a Wall

Last winter, Jeremy built a room onto our house using an already established screened-in porch that housed our hot tub. You can read all about that here and here and see pictures! Jeremy is the type of hubby that's always finding a project to do around the house. We recently finished painting the hallway and the living room, and now he's devised a plan for the living room. We have a very large living room that opens up into the kitchen and dining area as well as the school room. We love the wide open feeling of this part of the house but needed a way to separate our "office/blogging space from our actual living room space where the couches and TV are. Because we like the openness of our floor plan we didn't want to build any walls that would close off the space, and we were uncertain about doing anything too permanent that would come back to bite us if we decided to sell later.

Jeremy designed a half wall that comes out from the wall in our living room and forms a "T". This movable piece of wall serves it's purpose and can easily be removed. My husband is a genius!

First he framed the wall using 2"x6" boards.

Then he covered the frame using hardboard.

Next he primed the wall, then started adding the trim.

Finally he stained all the trim to match the dark woodwork in our living room, and painted the wall.

It now helps divide the room between the office/blogging area (I know it's messy!) and our family room. Thank you Jeremy!

Check It Out! We're An Expert for Sprout!

I was so excited to see this today! I was browing the Sprout online community for parents. I wrote an article for  www.sproutforparents.com and was just seeing if it had been posted yet. Anyway, I was so excited to see our name listed as an expert for Sprout! While I am no expert at parenting, I do know a few things after four kids! :)

Be sure and check out all the great articles and ideas at www.sproutforparents.com, and I'll be sure and let you know when my article posts. It's the first time I've ever written for anyone else. So fun!

Odds and Ends

Here's a few "Odds and Ends" that I wanted to update everyone on:

1. We started back to school last week. Caitlyn and John David are doing great getting back into the swing of things. Kylie is having a little trouble getting motivated, but I think if we can stay healthy (see #3) that she'll adjust back to our normal schedule. The holidays were so fun with no school and all play!
2. Caitlyn started dance (ballet/tap) this last Thursday. Her and Kylie both have classes on Thursday night but not at the same time. Thursday nights will be crazy till the end of May (we just camp out at the dance studio from 4:00 to 8:00), but the girls are doing fantastic, and Caitlyn was so excited! Her teacher even said that she couldn't believe how well Caitlyn picked up the steps and things. Recital is in May and then we'll take a break for the summer. Caitlyn is still playing violin as well, and has a recital coming up in the next few months.
3. Sunday night at church, Kylie got sick suddenly and we all had to head home. Within half an hour of being home, I was vomiting and before midnight Caitlyn and John David were too. We have a nasty stomach bug and all that entails... yuck!! Poor Jeremy was the only adult well, and he camped out on the couches with John David and Caitlyn all night, cleaning up vomit and doing laundry. What a man!! I kept Kylie in our bedroom with me and took care of her in between my own bouts of sickness. Jeremy was able to stay home yesterday from work and tend to the sickly. That was a huge help! Luckily Luke never got sick. Jeremy is back at work today, and though the vomiting has stopped, we are all pretty weak. Luke woke up in the night with a fever and a cough and has gone downhill since. At least it's not the stomach thing. :) We're taking it one day at a time... having great friends who leave you groceries at your door make it easier though. Thanks Pam!!!! We were surprised to find four bags of groceries at our front door last night from my friend, Pam. Milk, bread, saltines, ginger ale, chicken noodle soup and more!

GOD IS GOOD, ALL THE TIME!!

Christmas At Our House

I'm finally getting around to posting about our Christmas holiday. It was the first year we've celebrated here at our house with the kids. There was one Christmas my side of the family made the trek here to VA for Christmas, but other than that, the kids have never spent a Christmas at home. They were super excited, and it was great starting some of our own traditions, while at the same time passing along traditions that have been in my family for years. Christmas Eve was filled with homemade pizza, and a trip downtown to see the lights and decorations at the James Center. It was extremely cold, but the kids loved the lights outside, the humongous Christmas tree, and we even ran into some old friends we hadn't seen in years while we were there.

 

 

 

When we returned home, it was time for our traditional Christmas Eve present, and the matching Christmas jammies they got were too cute!

 

 

The next morning was surprising, as we had to wake up two of the kids! It was really quiet. We're used to being at my parents house where there's about 15 people, so it was definitely a little strange feeling. We opened our stockings, and then it was time to find the Baby Jesus. Kylie found him first this year, and was excited to get to open the first gift on Christmas morning!

 

 

 

 

It seemed like the presents were endless, and the kids were so busy playing with what they had already opened, that we actually had to make them finish opening gifts. We did good budget-wise this year, and even though not a ton of money was spent they had plenty to open. Kylie had lots of Littlest Pet Shop stuff and a Baby Alive. Caitlyn got a small sewing machine and a new fishing rod. John David was very happy with some Star Wars toys and Batman figurines. Jeremy got me a fabulous minky blanket that I love, and I got him a GPS. Luke really got into it, and was having a blast ripping the paper!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Breakfast was french toast made with homemade bread and blueberry pancakes made with fresh blueberries. Yummy! We had to have banana bread of course made from grandma's recipe. We made our first Christmas ham this year and it was so delicious! I have to admit that Jeremy did most of the work on that. :)