I suck at Blogging

Admitting it is the first step...right?  Anyway, sometimes things are just too good to not put down and in order to remember things I figure this is as good as a way as any. So two things to take away from a couple weekends ago

1)  7 year olds should not be allowed to play tarzan using blankets and ceiling fans...one is stronger than the other.

2) 2 year olds need to be reminded that toothpaste is not food and you don't eat it the same way as a go-go squeeze.

New Years Resolution (a little late)

So I figure if I put my New Year's resolution on the internet, then maybe I'll be better at sticking to it than if I didn't. Yes, I realize that January is half gone. I have 4 kids. Don't judge. 

This year, I am choosing to eat less processed food. Not eliminate, just cut back. Especially on things that take almost no time and effort to make. For example, I've just discovered how easy it is to make granola bars. 

The store bought ones that I tend to buy quite often do not have the best ingredient list (but they sure are tasty) the #2 ingredient? High Maltose corn syrup. #3? Sugar. Later in the list...fructose. So basically a bar of sugar.

My granola bars? Oats, whole wheat flour, baking soda, butter, coconut oil, honey, sunflower seeds, dried apricots and cinnamon. That's it. A huge pan of them takes very little hands on time and they are really good. I've also been baking bread. I really hope I can stick with this!!

success!

Well I've picked 3 ripe tomatoes so far....I consider that a success since last year I only managed one. I've also picked a bunch of radishes, some snow peas, sugar snaps and enough lettuce for dinner tomorrow.  The spinach wilted in the heat wave...which is really too bad because there was a lot of it. Potatoes, cantaloupe and cucumbers are growing great. The beans don't like the heat, but are still alive and the carrots seem to have stalled as well.  The herbs are mostly dead too...I'm terrible at growing herbs.
I love gardening :)

alarm clock

Nothing wakes me up faster than the sound of a dog about to puke. That is all.

The Garden

Thank goodness for my MIL.  She comes to our house every Wednesday to help with the kids even when I'm on maternity leave. This allows me to get things done in a fraction of the time it would normally take...like shopping, or laundry. This week she watched the kids so I could work in the garden. I think (ok I know) I am being overly ambitious once again, but I am determined to become a green thumb.So far I've managed to plant cantaloupe, radish, lettuce, spinach, sugar snap peas, cucumbers and tomato plants. I still have to get potatoes, bush beans and carrots into the ground. I'm not sure how I am going to keep up with the weeds...but it should be fun. Hopefully I get more than 1 stinkin tomato this year...

Bad blogger

Ok, so obviously I'm terrible at this blogging thing.  But in my defense, I do have a newborn plus 3 others kids and a crazy schedule. If there was any doubt before that things are slightly chaotic round these parts, there is none now. this is what our typical week looks like as of late.  Mondays I am home with my 4, plus my nephew. A is at school during the day, and L for 1/2 a day, but I do have to pick them up. That means finding a way to get 3 car seats and 2 booster seats into my vehicle.  Note to anyone out there....5 car seats do NOT fit into a Saturn Outlook. You cannot fit 2 boosters and a car seat next to each other--at least not in any combination I have tried. Somehow though, I once managed to fit 2 car seats and a booster next to each other into a Jetta...so I don't know why it can't be done. Anyway, this means having to put 1 booster into the front seat (gasp!!) for the 1.5 mile ride home. The nephew leaves about 4:45 which means I really don't get to start dinner before then, because well cooking while trying to keep track of a 6yo, 5yo, 2yo, 1 yo and newborn is not a good idea. Usually this means dinner does not get started because we have both faith formation and tball on mondays. FF starts at 6 and is 10 minutes away. tball is at 6:15 and is 5 minutes away. The hubby walks in about 5:45 and walks out literally 5 minutes later with some combination of children to go to one of these places, and I go with the remaining kids to the other.  Everyone is home about 7:45...and that's when we have dinner, which lately has meant fast food, because starting dinner at 7:45 is a little late. We eat, then baths, brush teeth and bed. Usually the kids are at least in bed by 9.  I think I sit down for the first time all day about this time.  Hubby crashes in bed while trying to get the 2yo to sleep. I fall asleep on the couch and make it into bed about 1am.  And that's just Monday. The rest of the week is similar. Tuesday is horseback riding, which starts at 6, but is 25 minutes away, so the hubby isn't home before we have to leave, so me and the pack go to that. Wed is gymnastics and tball...but gymnastics is at 5:30, so again, hubby isn't home in time, so all the kids and I go to that until J gets there and then we do the same dance we did Monday.  Thursday is karate, but also Js day off, so at least no one has to take all 4 to that.. Friday is gymnastics, same deal as Thursday, Js day off.  So if anyone ever wonders why my house looks the way it does or why I haven't lost the baby weight or why I forget so much..there are the reasons right there...

1 ripe tomato

So I try to garden.  Sometimes it goes well (I have more pickles and cucumbers than I know what to do with) and sometimes not so much.  Take for example my tomatoes.  Now I know that this year has been rough on most gardens and lots of people had little or no success with tomatoes, but I am not most people and I do not like to fail.  I started a bunch of tomato plants from seed indoors in April (I think) anyway I nursed them into full grown enormous plants that are taller than I am (which isn't saying much, but they are big), unfortunatley they hadn't produced a single ripe tomato....until yesterday!!  The first frost was predicted last night and so I decided I better save what I could and wrap the rest up and hope for the best and when I went to check the plants---success!!  1 single, grape size, ripe cherry tomato.  And how did it taste you ask--I have no idea--I hate tomatoes--ask the 5 year old :)