Day in the Life--HEB with 5!

Linking up with Kathryn at Team Whitaker to share a little day-to-day fun this week!  

I don't have a full day to share yet, but I've been wanting to share my Instagram play-by-play of a trip to the grocery store with all the kids last week!  For some reason, grocery shopping always seems like the true Olympic mama sport for me. I try to avoid taking all the kids myself, but since Steven was out of town all week last week, it was necessary.  I figured some photo documentation would help me survive. And it did!  We made it!

The morning started off in typical fashion. Homeschooling and loud boys playing with toys. Poor Katie was hurt by a rowdy boy soon after I took this photo!

My fridge was nearly bare. A grocery trip was definitely on the agenda for the day. But I had to wait until an online class was completed, and before a friend came over to play, so there was a small window of time in which I could make it to the store!

One child could only find two mismatched Crocs. Another was refusing to get in his carseat.  There was actually a stand-off during this photo here.  I wouldn't drive away until he got into his seat!

We drove through Market Street, which always makes me happy, and then I even got my favorite parking spot!  Actually it's my 2nd favorite parking spot.  My first favorite is the one for expectant mothers near LaMadeleine :)

Made it through the produce and then onto the meat section.  Katie is getting some reassurance from big sis here while the blondies run around in the background.  Just so you know, anytime I go someplace with all the kids, they run off and I lose them several times.  I kind of just hold my breath and trust that they will make their way back to me. Sometimes I have to start calling out for them, but that's kind of embarrassing.

Right here was a point where all the kids were off on their own trying to find band-aids (also used as stickers for some young male members of the family). Katie is a little concerned that her kids could be missing!  I actually spotted Thomas run by in a different direction, but just waited until another sibling located him instead of running after him. They all eventually made their way back.

The girls were peeking at the chocolates here, and the kind lady struck up a conversation. "What's her name?" Katie. "Oh Kailey?" Katie. "Casey?" Katie. "Oh hello Casey!" She went on to rave about Katie's "pony" (ponytail), and thoroughly confused Ellie who could not figure out what pony the baby had, and assumed the lady was referring to a nursery rhyme :)

It wouldn't be a trip to the store without a meltdown. Someone was not happy that mommy said "NO BUDDY BUCKS." This store gives paper money that the kids can use in a machine to get stickers that add up to win prizes. Sometimes they win Instant Winner and get a ruler or plastic plate or something. It's very exciting for the toddler and preschool set, but I was DONE and not willing to wait at a prize machine!

And we arrive at the car! The kids had found a Spanish church card with Our Lady of Guadalupe that someone put on the window. Our Lady was reassuring me that she knows what it's like to be a busy mom! She will help me through!

On the way home we spotted the ice skating rink under construction, as well as the Market Street tree. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

And we made it back home. Groceries were put away, and baby could finally go back to sleep after being awakened for the outing! I'm wearing a t-shirt here for the Run for the Little Flowers. I was supposed to do a virtual 5K in October, but I forgot to do it on the right date. This grocery trip was like my own kind of 5K, but hopefully I'll actually work back up to jogging that far again and will do my own run by the end of the year in honor of the Little Flower Projects. If you don't follow the Facebook page of this beautiful orphanage in China, you should! The mom who organizes the virtual fun run has just brought her little girl home from China. Praise God!

So I survived the outing, the day, and the week without Daddy. This week is going a little better. I got my new washing machine today, so that definitely helps! A full week of no washer with this many people adds up to a LOT of clothes that need washing! Off to check on another load...

Maybe more Day in the Life tomorrow...

Monday Motivation and Instagram pics

Top row: getting baby to nap (she grabs at my face), dancing time at Pickwick, Blue Knights boys making wooden medallions

2nd row: Tommy making his medallion, SJ running at the park, the floor after Katie's first breakfast buffet

3rd row: St. Kateri and baby Blessed Mother, the babies at All Saints party, and the kids at Nature club.

Tomorrow is Monday. It's November. The year is nearing its end.  Ahhh! Time is moving too fast. Soon it will be Thanksgiving and Advent and Christmas and New Years, and before I know it the baby will turn one! I'm not ready for that! The days continue to drag on and I feel like I'm still holding my breath, waiting to come to the surface for a good long breather.  Hopefully that will come at Christmas!

I'm still recovering from last week.  Steven was gone for about nine days on a big, long-awaited hunting excursion. Of course as it happens, while he was gone we had Halloween, a dental emergency, and a broken washing machine, plus the usual drama with homeschooling and discipline issues. But this weekend he got home and we were able to find a new washer, which will hopefully be delivered tomorrow if I can work out the schedule with the delivery time, schoolwork, homeschool consultant phone call, dentist appointment, and ballet class. 

I am trying to swim hard through the challenges this fall has brought on.  I'd hoped that once we moved things would settle down a little, but such is life! Our new curriculum has given an added measure of stress, but it's an important component of our homeschooling right now. My head hurts and I'm weary, but I will type up my goals for the week, so I can try to get myself on track.  I did my first jog in three weeks this morning, and am trying to start eating better starting today, so hopefully that will help to get my mind and body ready to take on the rest that 2015 has to throw at us!

Goals:

1. Cancel one dentist appointment, and go to two other dentist appointments.

2. Be home to get new washer and wash, wash, wash all week!

3. Prep for consultant phone call for MC, and make sure she completes her lessons for grading.

4. Clothing bins to attic (these are starting to cramp the house).

5. Sort through boys' fall clothing.

6. Phone calls about electric bill.

7. Pay other bills.

8. St. Martin Walk Tuesday night? Maybe?

9. Stay on top of schoolwork and grading!

10. Prayer every morning and noon and 3:00! Special St. Joseph prayers for our house to sell!

11. Jog every other day.

12. Meal ideas: Pork loin/mashed potatoes/broccoli, Creamy pasta/chicken/green beans, Chicken noodle soup, Chicken parmesan and salad.

13. Organization planning/needs: hang pictures and shelves in master bedroom, hang crosses, find storage for Katie's clothes and Ellie's crafts and collections! 

14. Continue search for a family dog, since we don't have enough going on! At least that's something fun :-)

top row: MC crocheting her bag, moldy pumpkins at Walmart, T at cemetery

2nd row: group on Halloween, Katie in her new dress, and Katie in the walker all the kids have used at my parents' house.

3rd row: Skype call with my brother and family, driving away with my crazy crew, and saying goodbye to my helpful parents as my dad gives that silly Longhorn hand sign!

House Tour November 2014

We're settling into our life back here in our old house.  It's been over three weeks now and I actually got the house almost fully unpacked about a week ago.  We were having some friends over to do some crafting projects last week, and Steven was about to go on a long trip, so I figured it would be best to get things in order quickly!

It definitely makes me feel more emotionally stable when the house isn't a disaster.  But now I've got a few more boxes out for the winter clothing changeover, so things are starting to get crazy again!  We had an increase in house showings for our other house last week, but nothing has come of any of them.  St. Joseph, pray for us!  It still kind of feels like we're visiting; I hope that once the other house sells I can finally take a deep breath and really, really feel like this has all come together and we're actually HOME.

But without further ado I bring to you our almost-unpacked house...

From the street

I love having a front porch, and especially love seeing our rockers there. Our backyard needs a lot of work and isn't pictured yet.  Right now it's just a blank patio with some lawn chairs and the grass with huge overgrown bushes along one side!

The entryway

Living room

and a few other angles

Just one view of the kitchen, because it kind of gives me hives. The vinyl flooring is so hard to clean, and the pantry, cabinets, and baseboards are grimy and in need of replacing.  I'm trying to not think too wistfully about our kitchen in the other house. And this one doesn't look so bad when it's not a close-up :)

Here in the front of the house, the formal living/dining are our schoolroom/playroom.  We likely won't use the dining table to dine on for awhile, since there's carpet underneath!  Eeek!  I'm still getting used to having all carpet again, but it's nice for an almost-mobile baby.

My friend and I are making special felt wall calendars which I'll probably hang under the bunting here in the playroom.

A few different views of the schoolroom. The lighting makes the wall colors in all the rooms different from every angle! This room is almost always a mess with books, paper, and crayons everywhere, but I'm glad it's well-used. 

Those maps have made lots of moves with us and are on their last legs, all beat up and torn in the corners.  I have a couple new ones in my Amazon cart to get sometime soon.

I still need to hang some things in the entryway, but I'm really happy with the way it looks painted white on the lower half!  I'm still not totally sold on my "Wheat Bread" color I chose for the main living areas, but it'll do for now.

Here are the bedrooms.  I've kind of let the kids take on their own rooms.  Ellie still doesn't have things up on the wall on this side.  We left the other twin bed in the garage because there's just not enough room for it when she wants to have the chalkboard wall open!

See how much space the chalkboard wall takes? I'm on the lookout for some kind of storage for her boxes of trinkets on the floor in the corner, maybe a small armoire or cabinet.

 And now the boys' room when it's not littered with Legos and Halloween candy!

I'm thinking of taking off the top bunk.  I think one of these days someone is going to fall off or knock their head on the ceiling fan.  They never sleep up there anyway.

 Mary Clare has chosen everything in her own room, from the furniture placement to the wall hangings, and the bedding from the guest room in the other house. I'm not crazy about her bed against the wall, but she's happy.  And I'm glad it still has the wall color from my old "mom cave."

Here's one angle of our room.  I still need to hang the pictures and shelves on the other walls.  Hopefully we will retrieve our curtains from the other house at some point.  I'll wait to share photos of the bathrooms.  They're a bit scary.  Ours needs a major overhaul ASAP due to some water damage and mold.  Gotta love the brothers there on the floor watching a show on my iPhone....

I'm anxious to make some changes in the areas I mentioned but am glad we have made some progress in the other rooms.  It feels so good to be back, and I'm very grateful we had this home to come back to! And we have some pretty awesome neighbors too.  Hope more of our friends and family will come and visit us back in our old digs!

Halloween 2014

It feels a little strange when we celebrate All Saints' Day before Halloween, and then our All Souls event took place on Halloween morning as we went to the cemetery to visit the grave of our dear friend Kelly who passed away on Halloween 5 years ago.  So we didn't quite celebrate these feasts of the Church in the right order, but at least we celebrated them!

Some images from our morning at the cemetery...

After the visit, we went out to lunch with some of our friends, and then we went home to rest up for the evening festivities!  We met at our friends' house for appetizers, dinner, and then trick-or-treating around their neighborhood.  When we moved to Corpus Christi, we didn't celebrate Halloween because our church there always had their All Saints party on the 31st.  So the kids were thrilled to celebrate this holiday again after three years!  Thomas doesn't remember Halloween, so he was probably the most excited, declaring "this is the best day ever!"

Thomas as the "red ninja" from Ninjago

Some of the adults at the table

The girls and their friend as Nancy Drew characters

The neighbors across the street from our friends had a TV placed in their front yard which was playing Halloween movies.  The kids loved it!

Katie bear who slept in the stroller throughout the trick-or-treating

Steven as Luke Skywalker

Luke and Leia :)

The whole scary gang!