I'm Back

Once upon a time,in a galaxy far far away (or at least is seems that way) I had this little blog where I wrote about my simple little life raising 5 children under the age of 10.  It was a good way to preserve some of the stories that I hoped to be able to share later when my memory goes and maybe to instill a healthy amount of guilt in my children for when they time comes that they will possibly be picking out my nursing home.   A few friends and family members would  read and comment in person or occasionally, actually leave a comment on the blog.   Until one day, someone introduced me to Facebook.   Maybe not at first,  but eventually I realized that instead of taking the time to blog I could spend a minute, jot down something silly that happened that day and lots of people would respond rather quickly,  thus fulfilling my desires to be lazy and to get immediate feedback.  So,  unintentionally my Blog became abandoned on the interwebs like a  bug carcass after the spider has sucked it dry.

Apparently,  certain members of my family do not support my love of laziness and a quick attention fix, and have been hounding me to start blogging again  (one of those members may have a bit of an attention addiction herself).   Then,  a few months ago I decided to take a Facebook vacation and deactivated my account (if  you missed it, that was because it only lasted about 12 hours).  When I told my husband that I thought I needed a break his response was, "How will I know what happened while I was away?"   Despite what it may seem, we do actually talk to each other.  About this same time I came across a collection of  family histories my dad had put together.  I loved reading the stories my grandmother wrote about driving across the country with 19 siblings and cousins in a pick up truck or how my parents first met, but I really just loved reading things my dad had written and hearing his voice in my head.  Realizing how much that meant to me and how important it seems to be to my family, I've decided to try to resuscitate this old thing.

For those of you who are new or haven't followed my life on Facebook the past 5 years,  I'll give you a brief introduction.  I'm a stay at home mom (still looking for a better title, since I rarely stay anywhere) of 5 kids who are now 6, 8, 8, 11 & 13 years old.  We have 4 daughters, including a set of identical twins;  our youngest is our only boy.  He just finished kindergarten and our oldest starts high school in the fall, so next year I will have kids at 3 schools; high school,  middle, and elementary.   My husband is a self employed IT consultant, which means some days he's a work at home dad and other times he's traveling.  Today,  he's teaching a class out of our bedroom (it's online), but most the month he's been working  out of town.  Luckily, he's a work at home dad more often than a traveling one.  He's a technical nerd and I'm a drama geek and our offspring,,, well let's just say they're the product of their parents.   Because I can't seem to just drive 6 hours to the closest beach and take a relaxing vacation,  we're about to embark on a cross country road trip which includes a family reunion in Utah, visiting friends in Lake Tahoe, San Diego and Phoenix and hopefully hitting a few National Parks on the way.  I intended to blog about our adventures, if I can just overcome these lazy tendencies.  

Welcome back and thanks for reading.

Independence Day

The kids really wanted to go to the local parade this year for the 4th of July. But Matthew and I vetoed the idea since it's a steam engine parade and 4/5 of children scream when they hear loud noises. So I suggested we have a parade of our own. they weren't thrilled at the idea at first and then Kendall confessed that what they really wanted was to catch candy. Once I guaranteed them candy to throw they were all for it. They spent the day decorating their bikes. And then that evening our good friends the Hatches came for a cook out.




After the parade we headed over to one of the parks on Lake Lanier just down the street. As we got their Kendall lost another tooth. Rebecca joked that Kendall's tooth had declared it's independence from her mouth.



At the Lake we let the kids play in the sand and water until it was dark and then we had an excellent view of the Lake Lanier Islands' fireworks. And the nice thing was that we were far enough away that no one screamed when they went off.

The Cherries Did it Again

Dakotta was telling me the other day that the cherries painted her nails red. The next day she ran into the room and yelled. "Mom the cherries did it again." Those mischievous little cherries. No wonder Dakotta loves them so much.



Apparently they got her face too.

After 2 magic erasers we were finally able to find Dakotta under all that cherry juice. (Not really)

Soap Cheese

Some of my friends have been raving about this homemade laundry detergent so I thought I would give it a try. The ingredients are Borox, Washing Soda and a bar of washing soap (after I finally located the one that was recommended to me I found out a bar of Ivory would have work as well). I spent about $5 on ingredients and only used a small portion of that to make a 2 gallon batch of laundry detergent. So it probably comes to about 50 cents per batch compared to about $8 normally. And anyone who know me, knows I love a bargain. It's also environmentally friendly so I figured it was worth a try.

Here's some pictures of the kids helping me make the detergent.



Elliott helping to grate the soap.



Corinna helping. (Please don't call the fashion police. Didn't you know tights on top of leotards are all the rage with 4 year olds this summer? )


We got down to the last little sliver to grate so I took over. Unfortunately he was a little too eager to help and got this for it.


Grated soap. Corinna said she wanted to put the cheese in and I explained it wasn't cheese. She said, "But it looks like cheese." I agreed that it was shaped like cheese and the color of cheese but it was really soap. Not willing to admit she might be wrong she declared it "SOAP CHEESE"


Adding more ingredients.


Yum.

Other people have told me this recipe takes 10 minutes. I don't think they had as many helpers I did so it took me about 45. I have washed my first load of laundry in it and so far I'm pleased.

Kid's Answers

1. What is something mom always says to you?
Rebecca (9): Go. (go brush your teeth, go do your homework, go get your shoes and socks on)
Kendall: (6): "Kendall!"
Corinna (3): I don't know.
Dakotta (3): I don't know.
Elliott (23 months): Mama.

2. What makes mom happy?
R: A day off.
K: Hugs & kisses.
C: Saying, "Please."
D: Love on sumpfing.
E: Mama

3. What makes mom sad?
R: When Kids destroy things/
K: Hitting and kicking her.
C: Yelling.
D: When her eyes get red.
E: Mama

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
R: Her jokes.
K: Tickling.
C: Silly
D: Being silly.
E: Mama

5. What was your mom like as a child?
R: A ballerina/granola girl.
K: A ballerina.
C: family.
D: FAMILY!!!
E: Mama

6. How old is your mom?
R: 35
K: 34/35
D: 3
C: 6
D: No 8
E: Mama

7. How tall is your mom?
R: 5 or 6 feet
K: 8 feet
C: Big as a giant.
D: This tall (reaches her hands way over her head).
E: Mama

8. What is her favorite thing to watch on TV?
R: LOST
C: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
D: Princess and the Pauper
E: Mama

9: What does your mom do when you're not around?
R: Clean.
K: Be on the computer
C: Stuff up in your room.
D: I will get lost.
E: Mama

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
R: How many kids she can keep track of.
K: Ballerina
C: All the stuff.
E: Mama

11. What is your mom really good at?
R: Reading
K: Taking care of the family
C: Doing all the stuff.
D: Drawing pictures on doodle pads.
E: Mama

12. What is your mom not very good at?
R: Getting Kendall up in the mornings.
C: Not doing stuff.
E: Mama

13: What does your mom do for her job?
R: Take care of everybody.
K: Take care of the family.
C: Make Birthday cakes.
D: Getting everyone milk and stuff.
E: Mama

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
R: Pork and something else.
K: Pizza!
C: Ramen noodles
D: Chicken nuggets.
E: Mama

15: What makes you proud of your mom?
R: She doesn't embarrass me.
K: She takes care of me.
E: Mama

16: If your mom was a cartoon character, who would she be?
R: A MOM
K: hmmmmm
C: Melissa
D: Goofy
E: Mama

17. What do you and your mom do together?
R: Talk
K: Help each other
C: We do stuff we want to do.
D: Go to Disney World.
E: Mama

18: How are you and your mom the same?
R: We both did ballet/
K: We both have brown hair.
D: We're different
C: Dakotta is the same as me.
E: Mama

19: How are you and your mom different?
R: She's older than me.
K: I have brown eyes and she has blue.
E: Mama

20: How do you know your mom loves you?
R: Cuz she tells me all the time.
K: She takes care of me.
E: Mama

21. What does your mom like most about your dad?
R: He's nice.
K: He works.
C: He's handsome as a prince.
D: He's handsome as a Eeyore dad.
E: Mama

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
R: Utah.
K: Kari's house
C: Kari's house
D: Disney World
E: Mama

I asked Kendall and Rebecca separately but the 3 little ones I asked at the same time.

Merry Christmas

When I put my blog address on our Christmas cards 3 weeks ago I had every intention of updating my Blog with a very nice "Christmas Newsletter." However it's been quite a crazy month here at the Hive and not just your normal December crazy. We're in the process of refinancing our house, in the midst of that we found a leak in a pipe above the living room, we got a plumber to fix it but then Matthew had to repair the ceiling, he also discovered a hole in the dryer vent and had to repair that as well. And of course the part of the ceiling that had to be repaired required us taking down our ceiling fan and light fixture, which required the power to be shut down in the living room. And did I mention it was also right by the Christmas tree, the same tree that has a already toppled over more than once. So it's been a rather frustrating month and all the things originally on my to do list have been pushed further and further down the list. In the grand scheme of things really it's just life but with the fact that this year I volunteered to invite my entire family for Christmas day it's been a bit overwhelming, to say the least. We're grateful to friends and family who helped us out, Matthew's friend John and Papa Hardin came to help Matthew install the drywall and Lettitia and Justin were nice enough to let me sic my kids on them for the day so that they could get out of the way of the project.

So now it's 2 days before Christmas, tomorrow we'll be gone most the day, and the next day we're expecting close to 40 people here. So now I'm off to knock out my to do list with hopes that there are no more surprises. Wishing y'all a Joyful Christmas.

Shout Out to Awesome Teachers

As the Thanksgiving season is upon us I have a lot of things for which to be grateful, but one thing that keeps coming back to me is how blessed we have been by our children's teachers since we've moved here. For the girls sake, I don't want to go into too many specifics but they've both had their share of struggles academically. The teacher's have always been very open to communicate with us and to provide whatever resources they could for us.

I keep hearing from other's about "one size fits all" teaching and I can honestly say that has been the furthest from our experience these past 3 years. I know each of these teacher's has gone out of her way to adapt the classroom and teaching to my specific kid and her needs. All of them have communicated with me openly and freely and what I love most is that they always come to me with a solution already in mind. Eveen when they have felt stumped they've mentioned that they would talk to the other teacher's in the grade for helpful ideas. They've been willing to listen to any of my concerns and to act on the things we've discussed quickly.

I can't express enough what a blessing and a relief it is to send my kids to school and know that whatever struggles they have that day they have someone at school who I know is in their corner routing for them. It's made an amazing difference. It fills my heart when Kendall comes home telling me how she did and I know it's a direct result of her teacher showering her with positive reinforcement and encouragement. Or when Rebecca comes home telling me of something she learned or accomplished and I know it's because of a teacher that has repeatedly demonstrated that she knows Rebecca can do it even when she might not be sure of it herself. Not only has it made a world of difference academically but socially and emotionally as well.

So I just want to give a big but inadequate THANK YOU to Mrs. Morea, Mrs. Proctor, Mrs. Jensen, Ms. Buchwald, Ms. Keiffer, Ms. Heard, Ms. Hurst and all the teachers that support them. I couldn't have asked for better teachers for my children if I had hand picked them myself.