Scott goes cute!

After numerous requests for Daddy to get a "punch bug" for his company car we have come to a compromise.  Scott has been searching for a used car that gets good gas mileage for his new job since he is driving a lot more.  His F-150 gets about 14-17 mpg on the highway and his new Audi convertible should get 26-30mpg.  Oh, and it looks cool :)

Here he is with the kids on Saturday.  We went and test drove it on Friday night and he went Saturday morning to pick it up.  The kids are so excited.  They love it and I don't even know why I am blogging about it because they tell everyone they see, "My dad got a new red convertible!"  We are pretty excited.  Being the owners of very practical vehicles like a truck and a van, it feels good to have a fun car.  The one drawback is that it does only have 4 seat belts so it is technically illegal to take our entire family anywhere together.  However, we will take our chances for an occasional trip to Maggie Moos!    
Scott and I took it out on Saturday night and I have to admit it was so fun!  I do NOT have good convertible hair.  I need to talk to my hairdresser.  This might involve a new product or a good hat, not sure yet.  I really pushed for a fun car.  My dad had a convertible when I was growing up and I have to admit I will never forget Friday nights at Hunt's (the local drive-in) getting ice cream with a friend or two.  I remember my friend losing her tooth in the back seat of my dad's convertible.  I did not grow up with everything my friends had, but it was one thing I remember feeling lucky we had. I think my kids are also feeling very lucky to have the experience of a ride with the top down.  They are full of giggles!  And it also helps that St. Louis is in the middle of perfect convertible weather!  We have named the car "Cherry Twizzler".  All good cars must have a name! 

I have bonded with my freezer

I have lots of random thoughts in my head about food, kids, time, management of my time, things I enjoy, things I do not enjoy and the such.  Food:  a necessity.  Sometimes it is good and sometimes not, but we eat it either way out of need.  Kids:  the little picky people that I must feed.  They need food for energy to play soccer and fuel all of the things their little bodies can do and their brains...let's not forget their brains!  Time:  The thing I can never get enough of.  The one thing that I can sense wasting away throughout my days that I can never get back.  Where does it go?  This is also the one thing that I know I have more of right now than I will have after September 14th when my Fall schedule really kicks into gear.  The thing we all try to manage.  I wonder how much time that takes?!  really.   Things I enjoy:  blogging at night, coffee with friends, running, tennis, chatting on the phone with distant friends, shopping, watching movies with Scott, the list goes on and on.  Things I do not enjoy:  packing lunches day after day, trying to cook dinner at 5:30 with hungry kids who are trying to do homework that obviously needs constant supervision and assistance as I am trying to wipe my "allergic to ragweed" nose, all while waiting for my husband to come home, or not.  That is all stuff that sends me over the edge.  

I am hoping that my work over the past week will pay off.  I have 2 lasagnas, 3 meals of chicken enchiladas, 3 London Broils, 4 meals of honey pork chops, 15 twice baked potatoes, 4 loaves of garlic bread and 2 peach cobblers in my freezer.  That should help me to avoid the mac n' cheese and Dino bites rut that I can tend to get into when Scott is not home.  This will be healthier for my kids and for me and it wasn't that bad. It was sort of fun!  We have already tried the pork chops and the enchiladas and they were both pretty good.  Scott said, "These pork chops are really good!"  and I followed with, "Good, I am glad you like them because I just froze 18 of those!" Scott and I enjoyed the enchiladas last night after putting the kids to bed.  The sauce was HOT, but really good.  We will save these for at home date nights when we eat late and get a movie!  Feeding the kids mac n' cheese and Dino bites.  I am seeing a pattern here!

And here is my tip of the century:  because I hate making lunches and my sweet, sweet, super helpful husband is not always here to help me anymore, I have attacked the sandwich making.  Two of my kids love PBJ.  So I took an entire loaf of bread, my natural PB, jam of choice and CUTCO spreader and I went to work making the entire loaf into PBJ sandwiches and then into ziplocs and then into my freezer.  The key is to put a thin layer of PB on each piece of bread and then put the jam in the middle, this prevents the jam from soaking through the bread because of the PB acts as a barrier.  I read this somewhere so I cannot take all the credit, but it does work.  In the a.m. you just take it out of the freezer and pop it in the lunch bag and it defrosts itself in time for lunch.  Genius!  And you can do the same with salami, my other child's favorite of the week.  Just salami and bread. Freeze it.  voila!  Lunch is made.  Then I don't have to make sandwiches again for several days!   And, no complaints from the kiddos!

bits of the day

Today was the second day of our new school routine.  It had it's ups and downs.  Here are some highlights.

I drove in the am!  Last year I never, ever had to drive in the am and this year I am driving 2 mornings a week.  We were on time and I was even dressed and had everything I needed for my day in the car.  I am still shocked, but very proud of me.

I began a new Bible study at church today.  I am really excited about it.  After a fairly unstructured summer it also feels great to get back in to a routine of studying God's word with other women.  

After the Bible study I got a pedicure.  I have not gotten a pedicure since my last post about pedicures in March before the auction.  I am not trying to justify it.  I wanted it and after Scott told me I have a wart on my little toe last night, I figured I needed it.  It was not a wart.  The lady confirmed that it is just dry skin and tonight it is no longer present.  Psuedowart gone!

A friend was having a baby today and asked me to pick up her son from school today at 12:20.  I told her no problem and to make sure she sends a note to school.  At. 12:20 they bring Sam to my car and we head to Schnuck's for a couple things.  I have been cooking for an army the past couple of days!  When we get all buckled in the car I begin to ask Sam about what we are going to do today and just then I realize I did not pick up his friend.  Oh, no.  Where is he?  It is 12:50.  I call the school and he is in the office.  I tell them I am on my way.  I am so embarrassed.  I told him I am so glad it is his mommy having her 4th baby today and not me because obviously I cannot handle the schedule of 3!  

When we got home Sam played legos at the kitchen table for over an hour while I continued the cooking frenzy.  I got 2 more meals in the freezer today as well as some garlic bread to pull out when we need it.  And after a long quest I finally found chipotle peppers in adobe sauce for my enchilada recipe.  They are so hot.  Almost intolerable.  Scott will love these enchiladas and the kids will not be able to eat them.  The sad part is that I tripled the recipe!  I should have listened to the guy at Trader Joe's.  When I asked him if they had them he said "no, but I'd stay away from anything with adobe sauce.  I had it once in a bloody mary and I was crying out for a glass of milk!"  Lesson of the day is to listen to the Trader Joe's guy.  And if you want to find out about adobe sauce, I found them at Dierbergs!

After school we played on the CCS playground for a while.  Claire asked if she could do her homework?  I almost fell over thinking, it is Friday.  You have all weekend.  Go ahead if you want to.  She and Olivia worked on some of it on the playground-wild.  She is really excited about school this year.  Her first homework is about Charlotte's Web and they are going to read it and do a play on it this first quarter.

We dropped Olivia off, came home and something truly magical or odd happened in my house.  My kids were angelic.  I wanted to make sure I posted about this because it was truly wonderful.  From 4:30 until almost 6 pm no one came to ask me for a snack, no one whined, no one tattled.  Claire read books to them and they sat and listened.  No one even fought over what book she was going to read.  It was beautiful and I told them so.  I am guessing that this must have occurred because quite possibly they actually miss each other now that they have had 2 days apart while they have been in school.  I will see what the weekend holds.  

We had pizza for dinner and take the cake ice cream.  Emma's favorite.  We played Hullabaloo, watched an episode of Ruff Ruffman, talked to daddy on the phone and I tucked them in.  I returned to cooking.  With a sink full of dirty dishes I am done.  I will clean it up in the morning.  The recipe says to wait one hour for the adobe sauce to cool...it is never really going to cool, but it is in the fridge!  I don't have an hour,  however I am hoping to go to sleep for at least 8.  

Happy Weekend everyone!

School's On!

Yesterday was a relaxing morning.  We slept in, sort of and then headed to First Watch for an end of summer breakfast.  We didn't eat until about 9:30.  Today on the other hand was a mad rush to get up and out the door with something nourishing in their bodies, clothes and shoes on and feeling just right, brushing teeth, snacks, backpacks, lunch, L handed scissors, and a paint shirt!  We still forgot Claire's markers but something had to go wrong!

Here are our 3rd grader, 1st grader and Kindergartner on the way to school in the back of Daddy's truck.

The best and worst thing about our school is it's location.  We had to park about 3 blocks away and walk to school today.  The parking lot was full and due to the above tasks of the morning we are never, never early enough to snag a spot.  Exercise is good before you have to sit all day anyway.  CCS is so blessed to be growing and we love to be part of the buzz of the first day at such an exciting place.

STOP growing up you guys!!!!  I remember Claire's first day of school in JK and now she is in 3rd grade and my baby is heading to Kindergarten.  He was a bit nervous this morning and said, "I don't think I am quite ready for kindergarten."  I said, "Buddy, you know your letter and your numbers.  What do you mean you aren't ready?"  He replied, "You know mom when you have something new and you just feel ______."  I said "nervous" and he said, "Yeah, nervous."  He did have some jitters so Scott agreed to take him and Emma to their classes first because I would probably have prolonged things.  Anyway, Claire had already asked me to walk her up.  Her morning consisted of putting away and sorting her school supplies, sharpening pencils and finding her desk.

Here she is at her desk.  She has a nice, larger classroom and is sitting next to her friend Raphaella.  She was also a bit nervous I think.  The school build up is huge.  I have to admit I was even sick to my stomach this morning.  It is just such an emotional day.  We have had lots of emotional days here lately so maybe our senses are heightened, but either way it is a lot to take in.

After I got Claire settled I went down and found Scott in the hallway.  I told him I was going to go give Sam and Emma a kiss and he told me that their teachers had shut the doors and officially kicked all the parents out. I felt cheated.  I felt robbed.  Would they know my intention was to kiss them?  

I headed to Sam's club.  My goal over the next 2-3 days is to create a freezer full of meals for my family to use when we are on the go or when Scott is working so I don't feed my kids dino bites and mac n' cheese every night.  I got all the shopping done today and 3 meals assembled.  More cooking to be done tomorrow!

At 12:20 I picked up Sam and he was beaming.  I gave him kisses then.  He told me it was a fun day and he had 2 recesses!  He told me everything was fun but circle time.  He has never liked circle time.  We went to Trader Joe's and he found the elephant.  He told me he was tired. Tonight when I tucked him in he asked me if he was going to try full day tomorrow?  Funny, last night he told me he was glad to be a 1/2 day friend.  I guess that is a sign that today went well! 

At 3:20 I picked up Claire, Emma, Olivia and Lucy.  Lucy is finally getting to do carpool and she is so excited!  Everyone had really good reports of their day.  I am no longer feeling sick to my stomach tonight as I take it all in.  One day down.  One peg in the many holes of our schedule.  We will see what tomorrow holds.

Girls and Dolls

On Claire's birthday, August 10th, she awoke ready to go.  Dolls and clothes packed. Check.  What else would we need we would be gone less than 48 hours?!  She knew that we were going with Olivia and Lucy, but they did not know that she was going with them.  Anyway, we dropped off brother with the Beachy's for a fun day and we drove to Olivia's house to pick them up for the big Chicago trip.  Audra videoed when we pulled up in the driveway.  Olivia was really surprised.  Her birthday was on the 4th so this was a special treat for both of them.  Audra and I wanted to take the little ones too.  We figured we got more bang for our buck this way.  Lucy's birthday is in August too and well, Emma's is in October, but early presents are good!

We started the 4.5 hour trip.  We hit lots of construction. We did not get into Chicago until 3:30 pm but the drive went well.  I love my navigation system.  It gives me lots of confidence when I need it.  Overall, I am not afraid of big cities as long as I know where I am going.  Once I parked at the hotel we never drove again until it was time to go home.  I did sort of fall in love with Chicago.  I love that you can walk everywhere.  It is buzzing with young and old and has something for everyone.

After we checked in the girls suited up for the pool.  They needed to burn off their hyper energy.  An hour in this pool was plenty because it was very small, but good enough for what we needed.

Lucy, Olivia and Emma on the pool deck.

In addition to arguing every time we were in the elevator about who would push the button, they also got to argue about who would pair off with each other in the revolving door.  As you can see all 4 of them can manage to get themselves in together.  Even the Walgreen's there had a revolving door! Very big city!

We walked to dinner at Ed Debevic's diner.  This is a really fun place.  They are known for insulting you and being down right rude, yet they are so funny people just keep coming back.  This was  my 3rd time eating there.  The burgers aren't good, but the atmosphere and malts are the best!  Above picture is of Claire and Olivia just after we walked in when they saw this:
The waiters and waitresses dancing on the counter!  They knew mom was really cool just about then!  We got seated and had a very fun time with our waiter calling us "affluent girls with creepy dolls!"  He even sang us a song in the front of the restaurant called "St. Louis Girls" of course to the tune of California girls.  The waiter knew all sorts of fact about AG dolls stating his sister used to be in to them.  We did get one insult back without really meaning to.  He told us he had a theatre degree and Audra asked him what his day job is?  He promptly answered, "This is my day job!"  He brought them all little ice cream sundaes for dessert with candles and sang Happy Birthday to them.  They got to bring home the little AG sized glasses as souvenirs.
Along with the AG package at the hotel your doll got her very own bed as a keepsake.  Very, very cute.  Emma did not get one since it was not her real birthday, but she has been promised a bed from Target.

Ready to go in.  Tuesday morning 9:30 am!

After having to make lots of decisions.  Emma decided to spend her money on a new Chrissa doll, earrings, the get better set with "crunches" as she likes to say and a new hair style for Elizabeth.  Elizabeth's appt. was at 11:15 and Emma chose 2 half ponytails with ribbons for her hair.  It was well worth it for the hair education.  Behind Emma is Elizabeth at the style station!
Emma was quick in making her decisions, but Claire took longer.  She wanted to see everything before deciding.  I like this about her, but I was getting more and more overwhelmed the longer we stayed in the store and the more times we went up and down the escalator.  The marketing is genius.  You have to go up the escalator and to the very back to even use the potty in this store.  Everyone will leave with something!
And leave with something, we did!  By 11:30 ish all of our decisions were made and purchases done.  Claire decided on a Felicity doll, girl and doll matching PJ's and the Chrissa movie.  We headed back to our hotel to check out.  Everyone was very happy and lots of "thank yous" were being thrown around.  Every mom's dream!  We could not forget the little guy though.  Chicago also has a Lego store! After check out, we walked the opposite direction to the Lego store.  
Darth bought Sam a really awesome Lego organizer, R2-D2 key chain, big new building mat and a little something for Christmas.  After the Lego store we walked back to AG place for our 2:30 lunch reservation.  What a lunch.  We did not have to stop for dinner.  It was cute.  Each of the girl's brought their doll and they have chairs for the dolls that hook to the tables.
Here is Emma giving her thirsty Chrissa a drink.
Roxy(not pictured), Lucy, Audra, Felicity, Olivia, Me, Felicity, Claire, Emma and Chrissa.  The lunch was a great ending to our trip.  Then we had to head home.  We had fun in Chicago!

Claire is 9!

So I have been away from the blogging for a while.  I am behind.  Not as behind as I am on Sam's baby book, but behind.  I am still trying to figure out how to backdate.  If anyone knows how would you please share this knowledge with me?

Sunday, August 9th we had a small family party for Claire at our "country apartment".  It is a shorter drive for my family and Scott was there anyway so we did a small party.  We brought cupcakes and ordered Fortel's pizza.  I did make a salad after a trip to the super Wal-mart.  It is super nice.  It beats any WM in St. Louis.  It is like the "stuff mart" man.  It is so tempting to buy all sorts of things you don't even need.  Okay, enough about the Wal-mart this is supposed to be about Claire.  I have missed the blog!

Claire got money, sporty shorts, a few shirts, an ipod nano, and a cool color changing speaker for her ipod.  She had been asking us for a few weeks what sort of party she was going to have this year and I kept pushing her off saying we were going to do things small this year because of Daddy's job and him being gone so much, etc.  I had talked her in to a pedicure and lunch with 2 friends.  I was basically lying because we had already decided this would be her year to go to Chicago to the American Girl Place.  So, on Sunday I gave her a card with a poem to read aloud.  I wish I could get the video clip to download.  It is sooooo cute.  Inside the card was fake money to resemble how much $ she would get to spend there.  Emma was getting to come with us but the boys had to stay home.  She was really excited!

Claire reading her poem aloud.  Too bad the photographer isn't better.

Mom, Dad and the birthday girl on our futon!

She blew and she blew as hard as she could!

I love this last picture mostly because the lighting is so much better than the first one!  No really, I love it because she is wearing her new sporty shorts and she looks so grown up.  She had to put the shorts on as soon as she could.  I love how this photo captures what a great big sister she is.  She and Sam have a really neat relationship.  Oh, and he has big feet!

Wheeee!

I have finally been able to come up with an analogy for how I have been feeling over the past 6 mos.  I think it took going to Seabreeze to come up with this one.  See last post.  I feel like Scott and I have been together in the front cart of a roller coaster, climbing the big hill to the top, just waiting for it to drop.  Today was the day it dropped.  We are riding.  We are prepared for the hills, bumps, jerks and JERKS, upside down loops and all of it.  We are in, until God pulls us into the station.  Whenever that may be.  I do not take it for granted.  It is an opportunity for us, but God is operating the ride, not us.  

Today is August 1st.  The day Acuity Anesthesiology is born.  Scott, George "the Greek" and Kirk are in this together.  George lets us call him the Greek because we love that he is Greek.  And he loves Greece and Duke.  Sort of like we love St. Louis and Presbyterianism!  I am hoping he can teach Scott to cook in their apartment.  Yes, they have an apartment--don't start any crazy stories about Scott and his "partner"!  We are in business with friends.  Considering we have never been in any type of business, I guess it is good to start with friends.  I do hope that we always remain to be friends.  Last night we had dinner with our all of our business friends.   It was fun.  We laughed together and shared our hopes and fears for Acuity.  It was also fun because we were eating at the Crossing and it was my birthday.  Scott made the comment that we are usually mixing my birthday with some other monumental occasion.  I knew he was referring to my 25th birthday in which we purchased a mini van and I cried.  I did not cry this birthday.  I did however return home alone so that Scott could go down to be there at midnight when they officially took over the Jefferson Regional Medical Center Anesthesia services.  So now the coaster is rolling and my stomach is dropping.