Merry Christmas!

Did you know?

This morning:

Hank: Mommy, toilet paper melts in the sink! Come see mommy!

It was an effort to clean toothpaste out of the sink. I try to get them to clean up toothpaste every day.

I never know how the day will start, but I can guarantee, it will be LIVELY!

Opportunity cost

I come home from grocery shopping pretty proud of my savings and bargains.

Charlie finds the very long receipt.

Charlie: You got a lot of groceries. How much did they cost?

Me: $130

Charlie: You had $130? (Very sweet big innocent eyes)

Me: I don't any more. I bought groceries.

Charlie: We could've gone to Chuck E. Cheese

Me: What would we eat the rest of the week?

Charlie: We could just go out to eat.

Me: You have to have money to eat out.

Charlie: We could use coupons.

Me: Where would we get the coupons?

No answer.

He enjoyed homemade waffles and pancakes for supper.

Busy Babies!

I'll NEVER say I'm bored again!

I really hate the phrase, "I'm bored." Charlie and Hank have even started saying it. Today, I actually said it twice and texted it to my sister Laurel.  Honestly, I wasn't bored, but as Laurel put it, "You have stuff to do but not interested in doing it." That's exactly it. I didn't have the energy to take all four kids out and about. The laundry seemed like a hassle, and why clean up until the kids go to bed. My day is a cycle of feed four kids, clean up the kids and dishes, change diapers, naps (no one will nap at the same time,) and saving the house from being torn down.  Plus, I'm trying to be a good mommy and not let the television be the babysitter. BUT, it is a great babysitter especially if Netflix is working!

In an effort to not let the television act as the babysitter, we signed up for the summer reading program at the public library. Charlie and I have been reading a small chapter book called Beany and the Meany, by Susan Wojciechowski. We both loved it. It focused on science, bullying, and friends. After Charlie finished the book, he wanted to do an experiment. Well, after I said I was bored, he remembered he wanted to do an experiment. He had the idea to freeze a rock to see what would happen. I quickly got online with a baby in hand and Hank jumping around me to find a freezing rock experiment for kids. The scientists, Charlie and Hank, placed eggs in ziploc bags and froze them. This was the perfect experiment because in the book, the experiments centered around how heat made solids, liquids, and gasses expand. Which by the way I had to clarify gas in the air from gas that comes from your body. Gotta love little boys :) Charlie started a video journal checking the progress and documenting the steps.  It was all very cute. But, he still insisted on us all going to a park to get rocks. So, yes, we DID all get out of the house. He washed the rocks and put them in the freezer too. We did have to start the egg experiment over because during a progress check an egg got dropped.

In the midst of all of this, Hank has a favorite book series too. He like the Pigeon books, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog by Mo Willem. Hank dictated his own pigeon story to me which I quickly wrote down called The Pigeon Goes on Vacation. He then illustrated his story.

We also played computer games, played transformers, built block towers and knocked them down, sat in timeout a couple of times, made a number line and played a math game on the ipad, and made dinner. This does not include the babies, but they were here too making sure that I didn't get bored.

I'll NEVER say I'm BORED again.  I love bedtime!

What's for dinner? . . . BBQ Chicken Nachos

I love to cook, and I love food! Recipes and cooking shows never get dull to me. I liked to leave the FOOD Network on as background noise (when we still had cable.)  I enjoy meal planning and family dinners as a hobby. I even buy food magazines for a pleasure read. As much as I love food, I love bargain shopping even more. I prefer to bargain shop for clothes and shoes, but when the clothing and shoe budget run out, the food budget is still around. I love the challenge of buying groceries at a discount. 

I recently saw on the show The Chew that Chef Mario Batali and his family lived on the food stamps allocation for his family makeup for one week. While I understand, the point was to raise awareness for the need to increase food stamp allocations, I also realize that my family is spending entirely too much on groceries. As a result, we are eating too many prepackaged and convenience foods and not spending our money and calories where they count on fresh veggies, fruits, and whole grains. We are trying to spend less on groceries, waste less, and be healthier eaters. Marshall and I want to teach our children the advantages of a balanced diet and exercise while still indulging in treats.  

Since our twin girls were born in November, planning meals and having family dinners have been scarce. We ate take-out so much that the kids were asking for sandwiches.  There were nights that Marshall and I went to bed without supper just because we were too tired to open the refrigerator.  Getting to the grocery store with four kids is next to impossible. Marshall would offer to go on his way home from work, but I just needed him to come home. We needed "all hands on deck!"

Now, the babies are almost seven months old, we have conquered a whirlwind move in less than thirty days, and it is time to start eating as a family again. Although I love coupon shopping, I am not at that point right now. My main way of saving money is shopping the weekly ad and planning our meals from the sales. I like to go to Southern Savers to find deals and coupons all in one place. 

Because I love food so much, and it's hard to get out of the house with four kids, I'm going to start sharing dinner ideas and money saving tips. I get an incredible thrill from saving money. Like I said I prefer Marshall's and 75% off, but free toothpaste isn't bad either. Plus, the more I save at the store translates into a bigger clothing and shoes budget :)

Tonight we had BBQ chicken nachos.  Two of our favorite restaurants The Tavern and California Dreaming serve these chips. It a tower of chips topped in BBQ chicken, onions, and cheese. The spinach ones are delicious too . . . another dinner idea. 

ingredients

1/12 -2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts

favorite BBQ sauce

1/2 of a sweet onion

1 T. butter

1 bag of corn tortilla chips - we prefer organic

1 container Mexican melting cheese

sour cream

lettuce

tomatoes

Bake chicken at 350 for 45 minutes. Allow to cool and cut into bite sized pieces. Toss in BBQ sauce. Saute the sliced onion in butter until tender. Combine onion and chicken. Spread chips out on a rimmed cookie sheet, and spoon chicken and onions on top of the chips. Top with melted cheese. Place cookie sheet in oven on broil until chips and cheese start to brown. Serve hot with sour cream, lettuce, and tomatoes.  

Baby terminology according to big brothers

Parents have a lot to learn when a baby is born. The terminology is a world all its own. There are boppies, bumboes, mylicon, and much more.

Here are a few from Charlie and Hank.

Feeding the babies - Charlie has named milking the babies or the babies need milking

Breast pump - the milking machine

Bibb - Charlie calls an apron
Hank calls a "food eater"

Early readers

I want to hold a baby!

Charlie: Can I hold a baby?

Hank: No, Charlie! I want to hold a baby.

Together: (arguing) I said it first. Stop copying me. I'm going to hold a baby first. No, me! No, me!

Me: you both can hold a baby.

We could be a reality show!

I feel like every day of my life is an adventure worthy of a reality tv show or a novel. Sometimes, as everything is going on in our house or wherever we may be, I catch myself imagining us on television. Today, was no different.

Our house has been on the market for nearly four years. As soon as we have three month old twin girls, we sell the house. We have to be out of our house 24 hours after closing. As if things were not chaotic enough with two new babies and ACTIVE big brothers, we have to find a place to live and pack up our house in one month. CRAZY! Yet, it is exciting!

In the midst of the chaos of packing, life goes on and laundry has to be done, babies have to be fed, and well, life happens. For example, Charlie has learned a new word that does not need to be repeated, but if you're curious, you can fill in the blank, bull ****. We haven't been able to play it off and not make a big deal out of it because he said it loudly in a restaurant, to Marshall's mom, and to me. We told him that it wasn't nice and we didn't want to hear it again or he would have consequences. I discussed it with Charlie and told him it just wasn't a nice way to talk. Charlie's response was, "It's just a synonym for Oh No!" He is so smart that he tries to say, "I said Bull Shucks." While he was sitting in time out today discussing the problem with Marshall, one baby was eating, one was screaming, and Hank was sitting on the arm of the couch persistently saying to Charlie, "And no hitting Hank! No hitting Hank! No hitting Hank!" (He wasn't hitting Hank.) At that moment, it looked like we needed the intervention of Super Nanny.
Thankfully, we were able to bring it all back down a notch.

The parade marches on and on and on.

Daddy Day at School

Marshall got to have a special day with Charlie and Hank at school today. Everyone brought sack lunches and had a picnic. Marshall went grocery shopping for Charlie and Hank's favorites. He made brownies too. I tried to help, but he did it all. He's an amazing daddy. They even played with a giant parachute

Skaterz

Did you wear green like us?

LOVE