More glasses

Emma and Leah got their new glasses. Don't they look cute? Unfortunately Mahaley and Leah's glasses have already been broken. That's right, they barely lasted a week. Their backup glasses hadn't even been delivered yet. See, I am a smart Mama. I knew they would need an extra pair, just not this soon! The ladies at the optomitrist's office snickered at me when I brought the glasses back. I think they are making bets on how long they will last this time around.

                                                                 

                                                                                               

               

We're Baaaack

Ok we didn't actually go anywhere but a storm did knock out our internet for a few days. It was really a blessing in disguise because we got all new lines which totally improved our signal, Yay!
 Besides I really needed a few days with no contact from the outside world to recover from our weekend trip to Chuckie Cheese. I swear that place is like purgatory for parents. I know some people like it but there is obviously something WRONG with those people. I mean seriously, two hundred kids, loud music, flashing lights, lousy food, it's horrible. And don't even get me started on the "turn your hundred dollars worth of tickets into sixty cents worth of plastic crap" counter. If you've never been get down on your knees and thank the parenting gods. If you have then I know you would love to never go again so I've thought up a few ways to avoid it.

1) If your kids have never been then you can pretend like there's not one in your state. (eventually though  they will get invited to a birthday party and then you have to pretend like " they must have just built one here")

2) Tell them it's like the circus and "it's not in town yet"

3)Tell them that the people who own it are mean and only let in kids under age....(fill in the blank with your 
kid's age)

4) Tell them the police shut them down for having too many people inside

5) Call and report them for having too many people inside (I'm positive they go over legal capacity every Saturday and that can't be safe, right?)

6) If all else fails offer your kids something better (like a brand new Wii , you will probably save money)

If you're one of those  people who enjoys being tortured spending that kind of quality time with your kids then I apologize for any offense. After all I don't want to upset the crazy Chuckie worshippers.

Doctors, doctors, doctors

We've spent the past few days catching up on checkups and things. I'm trying to cram in everything I can on this year's insurance. Rosie went to have her ears checked. They're looking good so for now we are still postponing new ear tubes. I took all of the kids and myself to the eye doctor. They won't schedule us all in one day so it took several days. Mahaley and Leah needed reading glasses. Mahaley is THRILLED. She has wanted glasses for years, apparently they are the new "IN" thing. Emma was so disappointed not to need glasses that I finally had to promise to buy her frames with clear glass. Mahaley got hers already but mine and Leah's will take a few days, we have special eyes.




Mahaley's new look.


Sydney came over yesterday and stayed the night. She is so funny. She pretends to stab herself and die. I know that sounds more disturbing than cute but trust me it's hilarious:) I didn't get a picture of that because my camera totally sucks. (Santa, are you listening?) But here are some cute ones anyway.

Saving light?

I hate Daylight Savings Time.
One reason is that it's really hard to explain the concept to kids (especially since I'm not so sure I really get it myself). After a lengthy explanation touching on farmers hours, saving electricity and wartime concerns, Betsy finally says " I really just want to know where they keep the (saved) light!" Another reason I hate it is that you can't explain to a baby that they are now waking Mommy up at 7am instead of 8. The whole transition just really screws up my schedule and I'm a little ticked off by it. I think it's an outdated, no longer useful idea. Isn't there a petition to end it that I can sign?
Because the whole time thing made me so grumpy I stayed home all day today. I got almost nothing accomplished but laundry.  Most of the kids spent the morning at church. Thank you God for our church bus program( and I mean that sincerely from my heart).

Rosie and Beth helped with the laundry.

I am not exaggerating when I say that this is the first time I have seen the bottom of that laundry basket in 6 months.


I have been getting a lot of (not positive) feedback about the fact that there's NO CAKE on this site so I've decided to add some of our favorite recipes.

White Chocolate Cheesecake Mousse

3 oz. white chocolate - find some good eating chocolate, not those fake white chocolate chips
8 oz. cream cheese- softened to room temp.
3/4 cup powdered sugar - sifted
1 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Melt chocolate in microwave, try 15 to 30 seconds at a time until smooth.
Mix chocolate and cream cheese in a medium bowl.
In a separate bowl mix sugar and cream.
Whip cream until stiff peaks form.
Fold cream cheese mixture into whipped cream mixture.
Line a colander with a thin cloth, like cheesecloth or with coffee filters.
Put cream cheese mixture into colander and set colander into a slightly larger bowl, you want there to be space underneath for liquid to drain out.
Leave in fridge overnight.
Discard the liquid that drains out. You can put the finished mousse into a graham cracker or shortbread crust or you can do what we do and just stand around and eat it out of the bowl. It's really good topped with strawberries.

I forgot to mention that I always double this recipe and if people are coming over I triple it.
Happy Eating!

I took Jamie in for his yearly physical today. His thirteen year old  check up. How did my little boy get to be nearly 13 so soon? And he is now officially taller than me by half an inch. I don't know whether to feel sad because he's getting so old or because I'm getting so old. Then I took him to lunch at Moe's. I try to get time alone with the kids whenever I can and I really like hanging out with Jamie because he's so funny.
After I dropped Mahaley off at the high school football game I took the other kids to Emma and Leah's girl scout investiture ceremony. For anyone who's not familiar with the girl scout cult umm organization this is where current members ( some of them lifetime members) welcome in new girls and "pin" them with little gold star pins. There were a few glitches that resulted in our table getting our spaghetti dinner last out of around 200 people at 8 pm. But the girls did have fun. We did crafts and ate tons of dessert so of course that made it worth it in the end.
I tell you what though, sometimes I am that Mom who has it all together. I have healthy snacks ready in case our dinner is almost two hours late. I have baby wipes to save us from crafts that involve paint. I have extra clothes for a baby who dumps banana pudding in her lap. I have extra clothes  for a mom whose baby dumps chocolate cake in her lap. I have a sippy cup to contain dangerous red fruit punch. I have extra napkins nearby to mop up the spilled red fruit punch. I remember to bring a camera to capture my daughters "pinning". I get my daughters new vests in time for said pinning. I have an extra paci for a sleepy baby in case one gets lost on the ride home. Yes, sometimes I am THAT mom.... and sometimes I am NOT.

What's Up?

I haven't caught up in a few days because I've been busy, busy.
Leah had her last soccer game of the season and her team is the Championship team. They made more goals in some games than the other teams made in the entire season. Their team will be featured in our local paper.
Congratulations, Leah!
 Beth had a new dance class on Tuesday and Mahaley has one on Monday and Tuesday and I spent half of Tuesday searching for new dance shoes. I haven't found the "right" ones yet because we don't exactly live in a huge city with lots of shopping choices so they had to make do with the not so right ones from Payless.
 Rosie had speech yesterday. She frustrates me because she is a great imitator so she will try to copy almost any sound or word but she doesn't actually use the words that she can say. She said water and a couple of other words for Miss Andrea last session and hasn't said them since, but she has started to use hi, bye, more, yes and no. I kinda wish she had waited awhile to learn no:).
 I took Mahaley to her GI doctor today. It took over six hours, most of it driving and I HATE to drive and I REALLY HATE driving on the interstate. We have decided to move ahead with an endoscopy to try and find out what her stomach issues are all about. We will do it at Children's Hospital since she will need to be under anesthesia. Hopefully we will get some answers.




Leah and her friend "B" celebrate a great season



Rosie peeks under the door to watch the girls dance, I think we have a future ballerina here.