Weekend before Christmas Weekend

Christmas, and the weeks leading up to it, have been moved to the back burner much too long--actually, blogging in general has been moved to the back burner for much too long. There's so much fun that happened, and I really want to get it all out there before I forget it all!

It was a week before Christmas that we bundled up the seven of us and headed out to look at Christmas lights.

I guess I was too concerned about packing a candy cane, cookies and a cup of (not too) hot chocolate for each of the four older girls to remember our camera. But we had so much fun going around town to all the neighborhood displays and a special light show our town does every year.

The Saturday a week before Christmas, my mom took the girls and me to see Little House Christmas! I know the girls were excited to see this, but I'm so glad I was able to see it as well! Our family has been reading the Little House books for a couple years now, so this was a fun Christmas present for us all!

The girls wore their new shirts I made for them (with matching bows of course)! Caroline taught our MOPS group how to make these prints--and they're totally adorable and fairly easy!

And right before the play, the girls went with grammy to pick up Auntie. She was able to spend the week leading up to Christmas with us. We were so happy to have her here! That first night she was in town, we celebrated Autnie's birthday. We ordered in Italian food and watched her open presents while lovin' on some sweet girls.

During all the celebration, we discovered a crying baby. Turns out she had a bite mark shortly after an interaction with our 2yr old. We've never had a biter, and I can't believe she did this. I did ask Boushka why she bit Scrunchie and she said "Well, I was trying to be nice because I only bit her a wittle bit!"

On Sunday we went to my friend, Lynette's house. She made several gingerbread houses --one per guest--from scratch. She used no kit! I was amazed at this! We each brought some candy and then we had some frosting from the hostess, as well. I took the three older girls and they had a blast. Of course, I had fun hanging out with my friends, too!

That night, I decided I better finalize all Christmas related gifts, party stuff, etc for the week. So I made some gifts--these are lemon hand scrubs. Yes, it came from pinterest!


I was a co-organizer for Peach's class party, and somehow I had also signed up to bring one of the three treats. So I got busy making Oreo Balls--per Peach's request. They were a hit!

And if you've been a reader of mine for a while, you'll probably remember that we don't do Elf on the Shelf (mainly because I didn't feel like spending the $30 when I discovered it a few years ago--cheap, I know), but instead we do Penguin Man. He is similar to EOTS because he's Santa's helper who watches over the girls, and now he also "interacts" with them. So Sunday night he left them this note.

And they found him in the fridge with green rice milk and red almond milk. He's quite the ornery guy--especially without arms!

This catches us up for the weekend before Christmas. There was so much going on this week before the big day, that I'm breaking the Christmas posts up into several posts. Better late than never!!!

Sweet Lady Baby is 10 months old!

My fluffy love is just two months shy of breaking my heart turning one year old! Quite frankly, it's really hard to believe these infant days are coming to a close-- too soon if you ask me. I've had a blast raising baby number five--soon to be toddler number five! She's totally the fifth child, in all regards!

She's ORNERY, SPOILED, OBNOXIOUS, and will totally capture your heart with her smile. Just see the pictures that follow (and the one above, of course) for proof.

At 10 moths old, she's starting to seem more like a big girl than a baby. In part, I know it's because I decided to dress her "big girl" style for these pics. But it's also because of what she is able to do.

For a few weeks, she has been pulling herself up on whatever she can get a hold of. The fireplace is her favorite, but she doesn't discriminate.

She likes to stand up and hold on to __________ (fill in the blank) and shake her booty. There doesn't need to be music playing--she'll boogy just to boogy. 

She loves to wave bye-bye. If you ask her to wave bye-bye, nine out of ten times she will. She's crawling all over the place, and occasionally she'll use her walker toy to take a couple steps.

Little miss is a lover of puffs (any of them), Daddy, food (anything she can get into her mouth), putting any and everything she can get her hands on in her mouth, toys that she can hold, the remote to our tv, screaming (for fun and for real), baths, her sisters' attention, going places, and being as active as we allow her to be. 

Fluffy is not a fan of being trapped anywhere (think playpen, crib, or somebody's arms while they're sitting), being slightly hungry, nursing, having her space invaded by sisters, being put down by Daddy, being ignored for even two seconds, or being alone.

As for the food she eats, if we give it to her she'll eat it. We're not very adventorous with her food yet--and I think this has a lot to do with the allergy cee-rap we went through with three of her big sisters. I tend to hesitate on giving anything dairy or grainy. In fact, she has only eaten chicken, mango, avocado, banana, and apple--this is in addition to some basic pureed veggies and a couple fruits she's eaten from a baby food container. But I'm not worried in the least--she's just right size wise, willing to eat, and still under one. So she really doesn't need much real food since that's still for practice. Of course, I wish she was getting her caloric needs met with nursing, but she just flat out refused several times in the last few weeks. So she's 100% on formula now (I really dislike this, but obviously I'd rather her have formula than starve)!

She's wearing mostly 12 month clothing, but a lot of it is rather snug. However, the 18m stuff is a little loose or long. She's right on target with her size, so I don't understand why shirts and pants fit her so weird. Do they make plus size in 12m clothing? HA!

She's worn a size three shoe once--so I guess that means she's a size three. But I don't believe in putting shoes on babies--they just peel them right off after having them on for mere seconds. At least, my babies do this! Oh, and the shoes she's worn once were for this photo shoot!

She still does the size three diapers as well--though you'll often find her in a her sister's size four. 

And one of my favorite things this little lady does is snort! Yep, she snorts and it's hilarious! I've studied her in her natural habitat, and it appears that she snorts for laughs. Whether she's trying to make others laugh or when she's enjoying a good toss in the air. Almost everytime you lift her in the air, she'll grin and snort. Yes, I make her snort for my entertainment!

I love you Scrunchie! And I'm so blessed to have you as my daughter!

Help in the Kitchen

I love being in the kitchen. I gradually fall more in love with it the older I get.

Though I think my mom would disagree, I can remember loving to be in the kitchen as a kid. In sixth grade, my class had a Japanese unit. We learned to cook one Japanese meal and I can remember recreating it for my family and loving the idea that they'd eat something I made, and better yet, they seemed to like it!

I can also remember being in my grandmother's 1950's style kitchen as a young girl, and my sister and I would throw a bunch of random ingredients into a bowl and feed it to the cats. I think it was mostly water, flour, sugar and food coloring, but the cats thought our concoction was divine! It didn't kill them! 

I've always loved the smells coming from kitchens. I love walking into a home and smelling food cooking--it creates a warm and cozy feeling for me. I immediately feel welcomed into a home that smells of soups, cookies, sizzling peppers and onions, or whatever happens to be stewing away! 

I have fond memories of sleeping at my grandma's house and waking to the smell of toast and coffee. To this day, the smell of toast and coffee takes me back to her house.

Since I've had a family of my own, I've gained a lot of insight into cooking (and maybe a few pounds thanks to my new love) and food. I've learned that chocolate and butter make a perfect pair. 

Cranberry and orange make a fantastic baked anything! Really, they do!

I've learned that salad is more than some lettuce and dressing. I still love trying a new salad. It's a highlight in my life! Don't judge!

I've even discovered new ways to cook some of my favorite dishes to make them healthier--BONUS!

And yes, I love these lessons. But something I love even more is sharing all these memories with my girls. I love, absolutely love, having them in the kitchen with me.

Because I love all four of my readers, let me tell you about this awesomeness--This ravioli and this pesto make a quick and delicious lunch for busy days--I do take short cuts sometimes. And I'm okay with that (SMILE!) I may or may not add a little heavy cream to this pesto and pasta.

(SIDE NOTE: yes, my baby is sitting in a bumbo on the kitchen counter. I know the warning behind this, but whenever I let her do this it's because I'm standing right next to her. I never just leave her on the counter like this. And I know it looks like she could stick her fingers right into that toaster, but she was not that close. Plus, I unplugged it and put it away right after I took this picture.) I get them in the kitchen as soon as I can. It's my way of spending time with them--well, not my only way. But one way that I hold near and dear!

Some moms craft with their kids (and I do this sometimes, but I usually rather craft alone). Some get down on the floor and play with them. So go shopping. I do all these things with my girls too, but one of my favorite ways to spend time with them is in the kitchen.

I find it so easy to teach them so many things while we're in there together. They've measured several ingredients over the years. Some of the girls even understand fractions because of this. 

We've discussed healthy eating habits and portion control. 

I like to talk to them about whatever veggie or fruit I happen to be cutting up. We talk about it's color, smell, whether it's crunchy/salty/sweet/etc, and of course this makes them want to taste it (95% of the time). 

Bug happens to be on a green pepper kick right now because of this teaching technique! And I love this!

I can easily praise the girls in the kitchen. When they help make something and then we eat it, I always make it a point to tell them what it is I enjoy about the dish they helped make. I want to instill confidence in their skills--cooking being one of them. But more simply, I want them to know that they can create something and other people will like it. After all, this is something I still remember from my childhood. 

And for some odd reason, there are never many squabbles in the kitchen. Once we figure out where everyone will stand while they're helping, we do so well with taking turns and helping each other. So really, I guess this is a pretty peaceful process for everyone involved. 

And we've reached a new point in our routine--the girls really help clean up the kitchen! I do love the help and not having to do it all by myself, but more importantly, I love the company in the kitchen. We've even started what we call family clean up after meals now. It makes the clean up time go so much faster when there are 6 sets of hands helping instead of just mine. Yes, one or two girls are usually off doing something else and then have to get called back in to the kitchen, but it's slowly getting better. 

And by the way, I do still love creating food that my family loves. I love the fact that there are so many dishes that my family consistently requests. I love being able to provide for them in this manner. And I love to have the house smell like food when they come home from work or school because I hope it instills that same sense of "welcomeness" that I always felt.