Well, Hello there!

Miss me?

I know, I know… this summer was a TERRIBLE attempt at trying to keep up with my site. I posted very few times.  I’m too ashamed to even go back and count the number of posts.  Let’s just say… it wasn’t many.

But we’ve made it through.  It was a fun, but crazy and full summer. I didn’t have much time to myself.  Actually, I didn’t have any time to myself.  There was always a kid around, which is a fun change of pace… for a while.  I found myself feeling a bit suffocated by kids by the time August rolled around.  Luckily we had my Family’s renuion to break that month up and then we got back and prepared for school to start.  So, August whizzed by.

And now, it’s September 20th.  The kids have been in school officially 2 weeks today.  Last week I was still stressed out trying to get everything I was supposed to have done over the summer done (which I did NOT get done, by the way) and then start teaching and start having the nannies come and keep the house in order and remember to make suppers again earlier in the day.

But we’re finally starting to get into a groove.  This week I’ve actually had a few minutes to myself to practice some piano and even get my BSF done.  Say Wha!?  I know!   I’ve started walking again with a friend on M,W,F mornings right after the kids get on the bus and I’m finding that really improved my day–it’s so nice to get some fresh air, move my body and have some gal-talk time.

So.  My plan is now to try and get back into the groove of writing a little every weekday.  I’ve given up hope of writing on the weekends long ago.  That just doesn’t work here.  I have a bunch of pictures I want to post, so maybe I’ll just start unloading those day by day.

Before I go… how about a picture?  The other day I started cooking and noticed a Bible verse in my egg carton!  It made me smile.

Ok, one more.  This time it will actually have a person in the picture…  Here is Maddie enjoying sitting by the fire, er… well, sitting by the remains of a burned up Christmas tree… She was so amazed to watch it go up in flames.  A friend of ours had us over for a “Christmas Tree burning” since they had 4 or 5 to burn.  It was quite impressive!

Yup.  She finally was brave enough to get her ears pierced!

It was her Birthday present, but she REALLY wanted to get it done sooner so she could start wearing fun earring in the school year, so we went in this week.

She was very anxious about it, but there were no tears (yay!).  She chose purple studs and is thrilled with how different she looks.  😉

Today = pictures!

Tomorrow = more details…

I was getting the kids into the car the other day and I hear Maddie say, Look at me!  I’m adorable!

This is what I turned around to see…

I’ve lost track of which pictures I’ve posted from earlier this summer and which I haven’t… so I apologize if this is a duplicate.  But it’s cute enough to share again.

Chloe left yesterday to her annual trip to Big Sandy Camp with her cousins.  She was anxious this year, but I know she’ll have a wonderful time.  I can’t wait to hear all about her stories and adventures.

Josiah is already lonely without her… 🙂

And let’s face it, I miss her too.  She is super helpful.

Something has happened in Chloe over this summer–she has gone from being a big sister to being a responsible big sister.  I mean she was always pretty responsible, but now she can play with Levi and Maddie and take care of them if they need help.  They’ll often come to her when they are in need and she is (usually) more patient to oblige these days.  It’s fun to watch her mature.  She’s really taking ownership of being the oldest.

Just after breakfast every morning we take a walk.  The big kids ride their bikes and I push the little kids in the double stroller (with the new awesome tray that I created!).  It’s good for everyone.  The kids love being outside and I need the exercise, so it’s truly a win-win.

Levi, in particular, ADORES being outside.  So, if I’m not moving fast enough in the morning he will take his shoes and stand by the door yelling for me.  Yes.  Seriously.

That boy.  Just making sure he’s not forgotten in the chaos around here.

Josiah turned 7 last week.  Crazy, eh?

He decided he would like a super hero theme so we did our tradionial “Pinterest Scouring and Dreaming” (the kids LOVE this part of the process) beforehand and then here is what we came up with:

And then the other stuff!  I forgot to take a picture of the sign on the front door, but it read, “Welcome all superheroes.”  Then the boys got to make their own Captain America shield out of a Frisbee and we shot silly string at the giant car slide (pretending to be Spiderman shooting webs.  Thanks Nana and Bumpa for the target!  🙂  )      

And as a special bonus, Josiah’s Kindergarten teacher even stopped by to have cake with us.  Josiah was thrilled!

I’m new to the Instant Pot community, so I thought it would be fun to keep track of the first 10 recipes I tried and let you know how they turned out.

1.  Boiling water.  You may laugh at this, but I was a little freaked out by some of the reviews of people saying they got really hurt while using their steam release valve, so I wanted to just try it out with no food in it first.  And it worked great.  My first attempt at using the IP worked GREAT!
2. Mac & Cheese. This was my first real attempt at a meal.  And we all LOVED it.  Very simple–and had ingredients we mostly just have on hand.
3. Chicken & Rice Teyriaki bowls.  This worked quite well, considering it was only my third thing I tried.  You combine all the ingredients (rice, frozen chicken, raw broccoli and raw carrots) and then just turn it on.  The only catch is making sure all the rice is going to get covered with the liquid, and knowing that the broccoli will pretty much disintegrate, but I was ok with that. Super easy.  At the end you scoop it out and top it with Teyriaki sauce.  Nom.
4. Pasta.  I’ve actually tried a few different kinds now, and each one is a tiny bit different.  My favorite to make in there is elbow macaroni, because it’s a little more tough.
5. Ribs.  This was seriously fun and easy.  Only two ingredients: apple juice and ribs.  Well, I guess three if you count the BBQ sauce at the end…
6. Eggs.  This one will need a little tweaking because I apparently like my hard boiled eggs a little more on the dry side, so site I was reading like them a little more “gooey” and I was not thrilled with that.  So, I need to test some more.  I think it will be 7 min. but I have yet to try that number.  I have done 5 and 6 min. so far.
7. Chicken Breast.  I just needed some shredded chicken for our taquitoes the other day, and this worked like a charm! Simply put in the frozen chicken breast and a little bit of water, set to 15 minutes, and done!  It does take a little longer to come up to temperature because they are frozen, but I can walk away and do other things while that’s cooking.  I call that a win!
8. Broccoli & Cheese Soup.  This was amazing–and very healthy!  I even got to try out the “sautee” setting on my pot. It’s close to the amazing soup they serve at Panara Bread, but with waaaaaaaay, less calories.
9. Knock off Hamburger Helper. Ok, it’s actually called: Creamy Shells and Beef.  This was easy and delicious.  I definitely prefer this to the box hamburger helper.  And as a bonus it makes a lot more too!
10. Parmesan Garlic Artichokes.  This was the first thing that actually didn’t work.  I guess I need to do some more research on Artichokes, and how to cook them.  I have another ready to go, so I plan to try again this weekend.  I’ll keep you posted.