Surviving Dinner Time

Dinner time can often be a chore that everyone needs to benefit from, but sometimes the motivation is just not there. 

This specific Sunday evening after a long day at church, we realized we would soon have a few children asking for food the minute we walked in the door so we thought of something quick, easy and painless. 

Smoothies( for the nutrition)

Popcorn ( for the easy and painless)

Yep. I said it!

We fed our family popcorn and smoothies for dinner. 

How a kitchen gets to looking like this after being gone all day is beyond me. I am most certain that creatures walk in after we leave and mess up our home as much as possible.

A table like this is absolutely ridiculous and hoping my kids do not remember the mess.

Or maybe they will remember the mess and realize that it wasn't all that bad to have a little bit of messy chaos during childhood.

Telling the kids we were having popcorn and smoothies was like us saying they could pick out candy for dinner.

It is always a hit without any complaints.

This girl is picking up on how to be a goofball for the camera. She was purposely making faces at me so I could take her picture. So I did! (smirk)

These nice quiet looking pictures doesn't show the many questions, requests and hustling to make sure every person had just the same amount of drink, popcorn, cheese, napkins, spoons...etc. (wink) This process is mostly a race against time trying to get to everything before all four children ask for the same exact things.

Our family of six is not always mess free and easy but it's our life and stage right now and I actually love embracing the chaos and taking pictures of these moments so that I can remember how God brought us through and hopefully will make us a pretty close family because of it.

And soon enough it will be bedtime and a bit of rest before planning tomorrow's dinner. (sigh)

A 24 Hour Getaway!!!

Last Sunday morning, as Rog, Luke and Liv were walking out the door to church, I threw out the idea of heading off to a hotel for the night, letting the kids swim and just getting out of the house. 

The idea passed with flying colors and when Rog and the kids got home, we booked the room, packed up the van and left faster than we have ever left for anywhere before!

I believe when Livy found out she said, "OH YOU ARE THE BEST MOM and DAD EVER!!!"

It wasn't anything magical or big but it was not the normal routine and they all loved every minute! 

I LOVED EVERY MINUTE!

Daddy had a great idea to make a whirl pool in the small, square shaped pool.

After a few rounds ( and a few kids hanging onto him) it was very difficult to be on a wall, in the pool, without being pulled by the water. The current was strong!

I am guessing we need to work on Liv's trust issues...

These four little kids had so much fun together!

However, their father helped a ton with keeping them entertained in the water!

(These two are so much alike with their humor! They didn't even realize they were both making the same look with their eyes at this exact moment)

And this one below was just too precious not to keep!

Again, this was such a fun 24 hours. 

We went swimming (of course), stayed up late, woke up in time to grab breakfast before it was put away, headed back to the pool for an hour and before heading home, we stopped at Albanese candy store for gummy bears and chocolate!

Hopefully this trip gives us enough gas to get to SPRING BREAK!

SNOW DAYS!

This was the winter for snow days and our kids loved every single one of them. 

(So did Mommy and Daddy)

We bundled them up and sent them out to play hard and get tired. 

I just had to take a few pics of Liv like this. She had oversized pants on that made her look like she was 3 all over again. I miss this girl not being so little anymore. 

Eva was dressed and ready to see what all the hype was with coats, gloves, and snow!

She was pretty cute in all of her gear, even if it lasted about ten short minutes.

Daddy enjoyed the snow with the kids too. It's so nice when the kids want us to play. 

It's like re-living our childhood memories.

And now a good idea...

that started out great...

but wasn't loved by all...

Even if digging out all the snow clothes, shoving each piece onto each child, re-doing each glove about three times cause it "doesn't feel right," shoving on their boots over crazy thick socks and so on and so forth, takes longer than it does for them to get soaked and too cold, it's all worth the joy on their faces when they touch, taste and fall in the snow.

Priceless!

As much as I love summer and the warm weather, there is something great about bundling up and playing in frozen rain. 

Or watching your kids play in it at least. 

Winter.

Love ya, but so glad when we say our farewell's. 

Until next year. (wink)