First Trip To Grandma's

Before we had so many kids, we used to spend a lot of time at Grandma Mim's house as a family. We would go over there pre-baby/real job days EVERY Sunday to watch the vikings and for all the birthdays and holidays. Once the kids started to outnumber the adults, Grandma Mim's house became fun time for daddy-kids-grandma while mom grocery shopped, re-collected sanity,cleaned, sewed etc. It was win win for everyone. When a new baby comes around, the rest of the family still goes to Grandma's house but the baby always stays back with me since we don't do a lot of bottles around here. On Brandon's last set of days off we managed to get everything done and make some time for the whole family to head to Grandma's house so she could spend some time with her youngest grandchild. A good time was had by all. Daddy was especially happy since he got yummy pizza and the kids got bathed( his usual task these days) 

 Ready to head to Grandma Mim's

 Hanging out on the patio on a perfect summer evening

The kids love to color on her sidewalk and fence, shovel rocks, sweep, ride bike you name it they do it!

Benjamin reading his animal book, making a piggy sound!

Passing Time

 Days without daddy are looonnngggg. I can't take the kids outside alone yet for several reasons (including but not limited to) no fenced in yard,Benjamin's love for running/being in the street/testing boundaries, my inability to run 2 weeks post birth and holding a newborn, my inability to hold a rebelling Benjamin and a newborn, summer heat to much for Sam some days etc. So, normally our summer days used to consist of pretty much just living outside but now on daddy's work days the kids only get outside after 6 or with a grandparent..it's rough on all of us,but this to shall pass. anyways, I have turned to pintrest for some fun ideas and came across this. fruit loop rainbows..yes please. this was a great time killer/fun activity for all and easy for me to do while tending to Samuel as well. Rainbow print out + fruit loop = 35 min of sorting,gluing eating fun!

 About 10 minuets into our project, Uncle Jordan came over and suggested we set up the sprinkler. I had to feed Samuel so after the kids were changed, Uncle Jordan was on his own...what a great Uncle he is! The kids had an absolute ball playing in the water, with each other and with Uncle Jordan. This took us pretty much up to dinner and daddy time! Another day is in the books.

-Update: I have been trying to finish up this post for a week now, man life with 4 kids is SO busy and we haven't even started up our fall activities/school  yet! Anyways, we have now come up with a outside solution and everyone is much happier to be able to get outside again, post coming soon.

Real Life

Well Monday was the day, the day real life began! Brandon was at work as was the rest of my usual "help" Grandma Mim was in Bemidji and it was just me and my babes...all day!
The morning was smooth as usual, Samuel waited until everyone was fed and dressed to wake up. After his breakfast( during which Benjamin colored ALL over the wall, I heard him, I knew the sound, I asked him to stop. Obviously a 18month old isn't going to stop giddly coloring to listen to his mother when he can't even see her, he was on the stairs I was on the couch feeding Samuel. A few years ago this might have been the end of the world for me. Now, I just grab a magic eraser and clean it up...actually I made him help, which wasn't a good idea because now he will probably just color all over the wall to get to clean up. ) Anyways, After the mess was cleaned up, I wrapped Samuel up and we began our cookie decorating experiment. The kids are always asking what happens when you mix color 1 and 2 . Kellie had a great idea to have them pick the colors they wanted to mix and see what they made. Shockingly, we had a lot of variations of green and brown. The kids LOVED it!
I cleaned up then it was time for independent play.
I should add that by this point Samuel has passed out and stayed that way until noon. Benjamin went to play with trains right before the mixing began and so I didn't have to worry about keeping his little hands out of icing.

 Look at how awesome our colors are...and the awesome decorating jobs...looks professional to me

 The big kids joined Benj in train time and by the time they got sick of each other Thomas,it was time for lunch and naps. I shut the door to
Benjamin's room (with him soundly sleeping) and Samuel made his hungry cry...no nap for me, but at least I was able to do lunch and nap with two hands!
We had plans to go to my parents at 5 to mooch eat chicken enchiladas, so after nap we did play doh, magnets and other fun activities to pass the time. Samuel was awake the whole time and his brothers and sister enjoyed playing with him too! 5 o'clock rolled around and I loaded up FOUR kids, and we headed out. success!!!!! :)

Here I Go Again On My Own

Cue Whitesnake: here I go again on my own walking down the only road I've ever know ...you know the rest. Ok so this is the song that was going through my head when I woke up Friday morning. Brandon, after having two glorious weeks off, was going back to work..boo. I went from doing very little to about to have to do EVERYTHING. All meals, diapers, naps, feedings, play, house work, etc etc...I got out of bed with much trepidation. Here we go, lets do this!

I have to say, As Brandon's days off narrowed down, I was eager to just have him go back to work, I was feeling good, Samuel was in a good routine and I just wanted to get on with our everyday lives, since, as wonderful as it is, having daddy home all the time is not real life. So, anyways, how did it go you ask?

EASY!

But then again, Friday wasn't real life. Mim has summers off and she has been taking the older three most mornings she is in town, or actually maybe its every morning she is in town. Either way, its been wonderful for Brandon and now for me! So I had the kids until 9:30 then they left with Grandma and Samuel and I cleaned and ran errands. After errands, I made the dinner and put it in the fridge and made some yummy homemade mac for lunch.  Kids got home it was lunch and nap. After nap, we went to my parents house where Kellie met us, ah more help! The kids swang, played and snacked...rough times for me I tell you. After play time, we came home and had dinner...then Daddy was home...a hour and a half late but I had Kelli so it wasn't stressful!

That evening after everyone was fed, daddy bathed the older kids and put them to bed while Samuel,Kellie and I went for a nice semi-exercisey walk. It was a wonderful and rather easy day as a stay at home mom of four! Sadly, our days will not be filled with this much help on a regular basis.

 My day started off bright and early thanks to Benj..6:15 to be exact, luckily the last two days he hasn't woken up until 7...much more managable!

 Older kids watched a little show while I fed Samuel

 Benjamin played with my breast friend

 and was SO happy when he got it clipped together and sat in it.

 Meanwhile Samuel and I did this......

 Then during nap we did this......

 After nap, it was sprinkler fun at my parents house

 Samuel and I sat in the warm breezy shade and did this....

 Papa was on kid duty....

 Annie aka Laura Kroft tomb raider!

 So nice of you to wake up Samuel!

 Kellie took over for papa on baby duty, they love Kellie

 The day's events were just too much for Elias, he passed out while waiting for dinner

Day 2- Started off great! Grandma mim had the kids and Samuel and I got to head downtown to the farmers market and met up with Graf, Emalee, Auntie Melissa and even Daddy!!! After lunch and nap, things got a bit rough. I had decided to take the kids to the park, Kellie had come over at this point and decided to come along. THANK GOODNESS! Benjamin was being a little bugger and kellie had to chase him all over, I would have never been able to do this with a 2 week old wrapped on me. Then when it was time to leave, he kicked and screamed the whole way home while Kellie carried him..uffda! Like I thought, going to the park will be a 2 person job for a while( at least with all 4 kids). We had snacks, then I made a huge rookie mistake. I chose to make a rather involved dinner that I had never made before, that I knew the kids wouldn't be huge fans of...while I was alone, except I wasn't alone, Kellie was over and boy was she helpful. It was one melt down after another, fighting screaming whining...it just went on and on. Samuel was in the midst of cluster feeding every hour for 20 min each time, this went on for 5 hours in a row..UFFDA! Daddy got home, sanity was restored. He cleaned, the kids cleaned, Kellie and I got drunk..just kidding, we went for a walk with Samuel. I am glad day 2 happened, it taught be a couple of really important lessons:

1. Don't make stupid rookie mistakes! I am a seasoned mom, I should have known better! Stick to pre made meals that can just be popped in the oven/crockpot/stove or quick meals the kids like( hello homemade pizza, that would have been way easier!) 2. No more TV. It's easy to fall into a habit of letting the older ones watch a show while I feed Samuel, but then the TV isn't novelty anymore, the kids get squirly and all heck breaks loose. So far today(Day 3) no TV, no meltdowns yet. 3. Always have a Kellie or Grandparent on hand....this isn't possible, but wouldn't it be nice if it was! 

 Hanging out during nap

 I had heeping plies of laundry in my room that needed to be put away, Samuel got a ride in the wrap and ALL of the 7 loads of laundry got folded and put away phew!

Relaxing on Uncle Jordan after a long day!

So, in summary, so far this mom of 4 stuff isn't bad but we have yet to have a day where it is me and the babes all day alone..I'll let you know how it goes when we do. I can tell you that Samuel is taking after Benjamin and waiting his turn, He seems to need to eat at the most convenient times(naps, snack time etc) and waits until after the big kids are up,fed and dressed to wake up for the day. Waiting his turn like a good boy! Hopefully this will make life easier once we really are on our own. I have a list of things to do that I can pull out of my pocket if we start to get bored AND I have meal planned chaos friendly dinners for the rest of Brandon's days on!

PS I am SO happy that Kellie's boyfriend is on the same days on and off as Brandon, AND that she was willing to stay home from the lake this weekend to help out, I seriously would have lost my sanity Saturday evening if she wasn't around!