Quick Update

Sleep: 

Hit or miss! Either I'm hibernating or I'm tossing and turning all night long.. 

Emotions:

Roller coaster! I wasn't like this with either of the first two pregnancies. I'm much more short fused and don't have a whole lot of patience!

Milestones:

Hello 3rd Trimester!

We've also narrowed down our midwife selection and think we've found "the one"! So exciting! It's been quite a journey!! 

Energy:

I'm either deep cleaning the house and nesting OR can't get off the couch! 

Cravings:

Cinnamon Sugar!

On toast, Cinnamon Twists from Taco Bell, cinnamon rolls, cinnamon roll pancakes, snicker doodle cookies... ANYTHING!

Sunday

 Lunch

Leftover sliced steak on grilled flatbread w/ cheese and corn salsa!

Dinner

Chicken Florentine Bowtie Pasta from here

Monday

Steak Soup

(I'm not a huge fan of leftover soups and stews but I need to use the rest of this steak up!)

Steak, onions, potatoes, carrots, peas, corn... No recipe just taste as I go!

Bread Bowls from here

Tuesday

Copy Cat Chick Fil A nuggets from here 

Chick Fil A "special sauce" from here

I'll probably steam up some veggies like peas & carrots

Wednesday

Cilantro Lime Tacos from here

I may or may not make my own tortillas. They are SOOOO good but they are very time consuming! We'll see how much energy I have! 

  

Thursday

Crock Pot Honey Sesame Chicken from here

Steamed Rice

Steamed Veggies - broccoli, carrots & cauliflower

  

Friday

 Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps from here

Blue Corn Tortilla Chips 

Saturday

 Breakfast 

 Baked Oatmeal from here

Lunch 

Open Faced Croque Monsieurs from here

Dinner

 Marinara w/ Meatballs

Pasta 

Veggies

 

Oh, Tuesday!

We went to the gym and K had a blast! She has cooking class on Tuesdays at the gym so she's always quite excited. This month, they are focusing on Italy. Every craft, cooking class, activity, etc revolves around that country for the month.

 Today, they made pizzas in class. They used bagels and "spicy" sauce as K says. When we got home, she wanted to make a pizza for lunch. All I had was tortillas or English muffins but she chose bread.

 She made it ALL by herself!

 Finished product. Didn't look too appetizing to me but she ate every last bite.

 Caden had a rough morning. When I got done with Pilates, he was SCREAMING with tears rolling down his face. The sweet ladies working knew I was almost done with class so they tried to hold out so I could finish. He screamed the entire way home and cried on and off until nap time. He finally gave in and fell asleep in my arms :)

 After Caden's nap, the kids played pretty peacefully in the playroom. K was desperately trying to play school with him. She didn't understand why he couldn't count to 3 and say all of his colors. hehe

 K's craft from the gym. It's a pizza!

We also went up to the church to help wrap presents for ASC. I usually try to go without the kids. I help out at the "finishing station" and it's sheer chaos at times! Better done without kids running everywhere. Much less to think about the hazard that it is for my littles to be running around with scissors everywhere and tons of people that don't know them! 

Luckily, some of the high school and college girls were willing to watch the kids in one of the nurseries. We had 72 birthdays for the month of September. Roughly, there were about 100 large boxes! We were BUSY!

 We came home and we worked on K's speech therapy before bed. She always laughs when she makes the sentences. "Mail me a moose" was her favorite! She also laughed at "mail me a mouse".

She enjoys her speech therapy exercises which I find fun!

Well our city school kindergarten kiddos started school today so I thought it was a good day to start Kinsley as well. I learned a LOT today. Wait, isn't Kinsley supposed to be doing the learning? I'm pretty sure I learned more today than she did.

There are several moments of my "Motherhood Journey" that God shakes things up a bit and reminds me to let loose a bit. In theory, our day was perfectly planned. Everything was going to go smooth.. Caden was going to play quietly and read books while Kinsley was engaged in learning.. Everyone was going to have a restful  nights sleep... 

Ahhhhh... 

But, NO! 

Here's some wisdom I (painfully) learned today... 

1. It's not the best idea to start school during one of Caden's teething spells. (NO sleep = grumpy "teacher")
2. Caden was FAR more interested in school time than I ever imagined. 
3. The amount of work I had planned for Kinsley was a JOKE! She breezed through it and has been bugging me all day to do more "sasswork time" :)
4. School days will not start until Mommy has caffeine. 
5. There will only be washable crayons allowed in the classroom. Caden + crayons + walls = Mommy needs a magic eraser
6. When Mommy is reaching a breaking point, it's time for "recess" 
7. My lesson plans need to be suggestive and flexible. After all, that is the beauty of homeschooling, correct?
8. Thank goodness that glue sticks are non toxic. This needs NO explanation. Ahem, Caden!

Welcome to the first day of class at "Mommy School"

 This is when I first thought to myself - "This is going to be interesting!"

 Ohhhhh brother!

Someone was VERY interested in "school time".

Helping brother!

Why of course, there are purple apples (in Kinsley's world)!

Naturally, Caden wanted to draw as well.

Working on her dot - to - dot paper. She loved this part and breezed right through it. It maybe took her 60 seconds.

Great job! The only smear marks were from little brother. He wanted to taste it?!? I have to wonder sometimes!

Apple counting practice! She ACED this one! Made Momma proud!

Working on the chalkboard! She really wanted to work on the dry erase board so she had to complete this first before using her brand new purple dry erase marker!

Some of K's work from today!

This is a portrait of Daddy.  He has ears, eyes, a nose, a mount, two arms and two legs. She tried to draw a shirt on him but that frustrated her a bit.

While Kinsley was busy working, Caden discovered a new skill. He saw me place my Sharpie "out of reach" so he climbed right up and helped himself!

Kinley's First Day of K4 Interview

(here's to hoping I do this with ALL of the kids each and every school year)

 Today is Tuesday! We made it to the gym first thing this morning. Mommy endured Pilates while both littles enjoyed "big school" and "small school" as K says. K played in the tunnels and slides, played house with baby dolls and was "painting" with shaving cream on the table when I checked her out. C spent the entire class PLAYING and NOT crying! Consistency is key with him!!!

We came home and the kids were ready to play before lunch & nap time.

K worked on some school work ... She loves working on colors!

Painting words, numbers and letters with Q Tips and paint. 

Time to make graham crackers! Caden enjoyed sampling the dough. Thankfully it's an egg free recipe so the kiddos enjoyed the special treat of tasting as they went along. 

K got to work cutting out the graham cracker shapes and C needed something to do. K used to spend HOURS pretend cooking with pasta, bowls and measuring spoons. Ummmm, Caden just thought it was fun to throw them. MADE A HUGE MESS!

Finished product! It took about 2 hours of snacking before the plate was EMPTY!

This week will be pretty "normal" which is nice! The weather has been awesome so I'm planning on squeezing in plenty of grilling time. The past several weeks it's been WAAAAAAAAY too hot to even think about 1) being outside and 2) standing over a scalding hot grill

Sunday

Homemade Chick Fil A nuggets from here

Peas

Apple Sauce

Monday

Grilled Hawaiian Chicken Kabobs from here

(these are marinading right now and they smell so delicious it's not even funny!)

I'll lay them on a bed of steamed brown rice and drizzle it with some soy sauce! I have a feeling this is going to be a BIG hit!

Tuesday

Sesame Chicken Cutlets from here

Steamed Edamame 

Wednesday

Open Faced Croque Monsieurs from here

 Fruit Salad

Thursday

Grilled Mesquite Chicken Skewers 

Corn 

Happy Bread from here

Friday

Mini Corn Dogs (homemade) from here

Tater Tots 

Saturday

Chicken Skewers

Marinade from here

(this marinade is SOOOO good .. I've made this twice now and I've found that we prefer half yellow mustard and half dijon instead of it all being dijon)

Since we're grilling, we'll do some veggie skewers.. for some reason, when veggies are on a stick, they look more appetizing and disappear from the plate much quicker!

Cereal & Milk 

Any kind, any brand... it's usually my snack before bed. 

Since our lovely 3 bedroom house is full, this baby will be rooming with us... So I've been thinking about how to accommodate baby :) The other two were temporarily in our room but they each had their own rooms to store clothes, toys, nap in ... etc!

I like this bassinet. We have a pack n play but it takes up so much room in our bedroom. I think this will work better and it can roll into other rooms/next to the bed at night...etc.