Ahhh, hello beach ... we definitely need to get together more often

We are here. Our house is great. We are just a few houses away from the beach and the tail end of the boardwalk which in my opinion is the best location. You don't get the noise, but you are within walking distance of the fun of the boardwalk.

We have a house sitter. So far my newest dog Molly is not taking to her. She is earning her money this week. Poor girl.

Elijah and I were up at 4 on Saturday morning, not the best start to our week. I realized he had only eaten a banana on Friday night for dinner. With all the kids and family it's easy to overlook these things I guess. I know I don't win a mother of the year award with that one. Let's move on.

We were thrilled when the realtor had food available for us so we had lunch there before getting to our house to unpack. So yummy too!

We hit the beach after unpacking. I actually fell asleep on the beach. I NEVER do that, but I had been up since 4. I even missed the excitement of our umbrella blowing away down the beach into the ocean. Oh, and did I mention it was wall to wall people? The crowds were nuts on the beach and boardwalk. We saw the fireworks on the beach. That's the best. So relaxing.

Sunday came and my stomach was sick so I spent the morning in the bathroom. Ugh. There should be some kind of law against getting sick while at the ocean. The good news is that I got to take a 3 hour nap. We also got to see Dottie's (my stepsister) mansion at the beach. Okay, it's not a mansion, but it is HUGE.

Last night we went out for ice cream. Elijah can't eat ice cream, but we thought he should be able to do sherbet right? Wrong. He threw up this morning. Hence still being at the house and not at the beach at 10 a.m. Poor little guy. I knew something was up when he was still sleeping at 8:30. Then he just could not wake up. He still feels a little funky. It's so sad because he's my morning person, full of energy right away and to see him all sad and icky feeling is awful. This is partly how I knew he had issues with milk as a baby. Any time I gave him dairy he would end up throwing up. His body just rejects any kind of milk product. It's definitely an allergy though and not just an intolerance. It's crazy, and makes feeding him super hard.

So, here we are. I think I need to live at a beach one day. Dan and I both feel this way. Knowing the big vast ocean is just minutes away brings peace to my soul. There's just nothing like it.

Hayes is super cute with his little 21 mos ways about him. He doesn't talk. He makes noises, but he gets so excited and words pop out like Elijah and ribs. He was running through the house looking for Elijah and was saying his name. He wanted more ribs last night and yelled, "Rib!" But, when you ask him later on to say words he just mumbles, grunts, etc. He is such a little show off. He is so adorable. Addie and Madelyn are "like sisters" they keep saying. They are cute. They have a couple matching pairs of pjs and outfits and they love it. Elijah goes between the girls and Hayes. He got confused at first and asked for his matching night gown as well. He also wanted pony tails. I think he gets it now though that he's not a girl.

Cousins are the best.

I think that's all for now. Stay tuned for more stomach issue stories ...

Blog? What? I have a blog?

It has been SO LONG since I have posted. How sad. We have had a whole lot going on.

So, this will be a quick get caught up post ...

We have another dog and oh me oh my am I in love with her. She is 8 lbs, smaller than my cats, and is so funny and cute. I can't believe how quickly I fell in love with her. Madelyn too. Molly (the chihuahua) LOVES the kids. She is so sweet. I found her on craigslist.com. Her family was moving and couldn't take her with them. Daisy and the cats have been fine with her. She's so little it's like they don't really care.

Elijah continues to crack us up. He has decided to call Molly "Ayeechop." I'm not too sure on the spelling, but it's pretty funny and has stuck with him.

We were in the car yesterday and Elijah said, "When I drink water from a water bottle and stick my tongue in that's my tongue exercise."

Madelyn really has a fun sense of humor now. She totally gets jokes, or funny things which is fun to see.

We are going to the beach with Shannon and her family and my mom. It should be crazy, but fun. Man do I love the beach. The doctor said this morning that the salty air should really help clear out Elijah's nose congestion. He gets sinus infections pretty regularly. Hearing her say that though I think is enough confirmation that we need to move to the beach. I'll keep you posted on that.

Friends are the best. I have 2 friends who just had babies. I love to see good families multiplying their numbers. Dan seems to be getting a bit of baby fever lately. I, on the other hand, am not.

Nick's nephew just died from a burst brain aneurysm. I can't even begin to describe how sad it is. He was such a great kid. The funeral home said about 1,000 people showed up for the viewing. As a mother it tears my heart apart to think about losing one of my children. They buried him on the day they were to have his graduation party.

Dan is doing well and is continuing to wean off his meds. While this makes me a little nervous I am glad for him. He looks healthier and not as bloated, especially in his face. Many people have commented lately. I think that makes him feel better as well.

Right now I should be cleaning out my car, packing, making beds and washing sheets, but instead I am online. Go figure.

Why is it that lately I have thought of all these things to post about and when I finally do I can't remember half the things?

Oh well. I guess this will do for now.

Elijahisms

So, Elijah pulled ligaments in his shoulder. We made a water slide in our back yard and he fell off the ladder climbing up to the slide. I think his shoulder hit the base of the slide and that's how he hurt it as badly as he ddid. We spent Friday night at the ER, 5 hours total. Good times. Actually, the kids were super cute sitting next to each other on the bed watching Scooby Doo on the DVD player. Thankfully this wasn't a rush out the door to the ER kind of thing so I was able to go prepared for the long haul.

Well, after we settled into the waiting room at the ER I said to Elijah, "I'm so sorry Elijah. I didn't realize you hurt your arm so badly. I thought you were just being a crab apple." He said, "No. I was a sad apple."

He didn't really complain about his arm after he hurt it. He cried like normal when he falls, and it was dinner time so I thought he was just tired and hungry. It wasn't until he was going to bed that I realized it was really hurt. He complained about it after climbing into his bed. He was crying because he put pressure on it and it hurt. Poor thing.

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He has also been telling me that he doesn't want to grow up lately. He wants to stay little so I can hold him forever.

This morning he told me that growing up was not "working out for him." But, after talking about it for a bit he said, "If I grow up and my legs get long I can reach the pedals and drive a car right?" He was better after that realization.

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He has been super polite lately. He and Madelyn will be playing and he'll say, "Will you excuse me for a minute please Madelyn?" He needs a bathroom break. It's so sweet when I hear him say it!

Who Am I?

I never enjoyed cooking. It was a chore. I didn't like it. Once I was home with my babies I had to figure out how to cook since I really had no excuse at that point. So, I did what I had to do. I was just proud of myself for evolving from the processed chicken and biscuit dinner you can buy that are pretty much already made for you.

I just get so sick of making and eating the same foods. Well, recently it seems that aliens have come to earth and replaced my hate-to-cook-self with a wow-I-can't-wait-to-try-that-recipe-self. It's weird. I just saw a recipe for homemade noodles and thought, "Oh, I can't wait to try that!"

Wait, what? I turned around to look for who else may have thought that that I just heard their thoughts.

No one is here. It's just me.

I even bake now too which baking used to be such a boring waste of time for me. Ugh.

Mostly, I was just thrilled to have people cook and bake for me. Now it's all different. I used to just pick up whatever food to eat while I was out. Now I think things like, "Oh no. I can make something else that will be even better at home." Wait, what? (You know the drill.)

So, why am I like this now? I have explored this and this is what I have found.

I discovered www.PioneerWoman.com. How can you not want to try her recipes. She takes the best pictures of the food and it is SO step by step it is hard to mess it up.

Also, I inherited some kitchen pans and supplies from Dan's grandmother. They are selling her house and we were able to pick some things we might need. Having more than one potand mixing bowl makes a difference when you want to try different recipes, and yes I did only have one pot and one mixing bowl. No wait. I did have 2 bowls, but one I kept in the laundry room for dirty rags from wiping up my babies.

I have been trying to make healthier things for my family too using more natural ingredients and trying to avoid high fructose corn syrup. Can you believe it's even in a can of kidney beans!? Crazy.

And lastly, my kids are older. I can focus a little more on cooking. This makes a huge difference. Before it would be squeezing in dinner during whatever happy occupied moments the kids had.

So, come over and enjoy some home cookin' while it lasts! I don't know when the aliens might come back and replace the new me with the old me.

I should also mention that Dan has been loving life.

Bad Guys

I offered Elijah his spiderman laptop to play with tonight to help him settle before going to sleep. He had a 2.5 hour nap which is highly unusual. He is sick right now though so he definitely needed it. Anyway, I offered it to him and he said, "No thanks. I've had enough of fighting and trapping bad guys for now."

Even super heroes need breaks at times.