Back to school

So as much as I try to pretend its not happening, school is starting! I have really really enjoyed having my kids home this summer. Now I'm not saying that there weren't {MANY} moments that they were bickering incessantly and I wanted to lock myself in the bathroom or put them all in a basket on the fire station steps and go back home to sit in peace and quiet. But they're a little big for that, and I would miss them after a few hours... And seriously, we had a fun summer. We didn't take any big vacations or have something "to do" every day, it was just a really good mix of swimming and fishing and walking and parks and Popsicles and movie marathons. The smell of chlorine and sunscreen and sunshine and shampoo and stinky Crocs. Bodies littering the family room floor because it's like a frat house here in the summer, and that's ok because we didn't have any buses to catch. Now I can feel reality sneaking up on us, like when "they" start telling you how many shopping days til Christmas and I begin to panic. I feel this almost crushing sense of sadness win I think that the next time they're all home with me for the summer - they'll all be another year older. A little bit more independent, a little bit closer to "Mom, I just want to play with my friends today..." {{SIGH...}}

I went back and forth with "Should I start making them be in their own beds by 8 pm and practice getting up and dressed early?" and I decided that come August 21, they'll have to get up and I don't think we really need to practice it. So over the last couple weeks, we've been soaking up every last little drop of summer and that doesn't mean I'm out of touch with reality, it just means I'm ordering one more drink at last call, baby! It'll be closing time soon enough :(  But for now, we're letting the bodies fall where they may, we're sleeping in (sometimes, past 7 am - GASP!) and we let the day take its own direction. Soon enough, we'll have to conform. Soon enough . . .

One thing I did vow to get a handle on this year was the overwhelming influx of "school papers." With four kiddos in school full time plus one preschooler this year, it's gonna be a doozy!!! I started by asking other moms if they had any suggestions or systems that totally worked for them, took bits and pieces and here's what I came up with. I used mostly what I already had, and turned an otherwise unused wall in our dining room into our "family command center."
Each student has an inbox (clear wall pocket) for papers that need to be seen, signed or sent back. Anything that needs to go back to school goes on their clipboards, made by Melissa Frances scrapbooking. I bought the clipboards YEARS ago at Archiver's and have been just waiting for the perfect use... I used mod podge to adhere some scrapbook paper to each board. The clips are embellished with acrylic letters + coordinating card stock I punched with a circle punch and glued to a chipboard hang tags I had saved from the kids' Life is Good T-shirts and painted with Martha Stewart chalkboard paint.
The framed cork board was a steal for $9.99, and is the perfect spot to tack up school newsletters, lunch menus, district calendars or Book It sheets.  I found the clock and wall decal dry erase calendar at Target in the back to school department. The whiteboard weekly calendar and dry-erase to-do list are from the Board Dudes.

I'm pretty darn pleased with how it turned out....

Biscuits

Hi my name is Ruby, and I love biscuits . . .

I love biscuits so much that I am fully convinced I should've been born in the South. Add hot black coffee, grits and some country music and I'm a happy gal.
I love to cook and bake, but the perfect biscuit has always eluded me . . . until now. Thanks to my ever-growing obsession with Pinterest, I can now make a killer biscuit. I have made them weekly since I found the recipe at Plain Chicken - which is another new obsession of mine. If you're looking for quick and yummy recipes - look no further.
Anyhow, seeing as the fam & I are currently soaking up some sunshine in the Florida Keys and I don't plan on hanging out on the computer for long, I'll leave you with this foolproof biscuit recipe just in time for Thanksgiving.
I will also include a picture of the biscuits before they were baked. I never got to take a pic after, as they were inhaled by my family. My husband actually said he ate so many that he wanted to curl up and take a nap using one of the fluffy biscuits as a pillow. That's a pretty good rating in my book.
Happy Thanksgiving all!!!





7-Up Biscuits

2 cups Bisquick
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup 7-up (I use Sierra Mist Natural)
1/4 cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 450.
Cut sour cream into biscuit mix, add 7-Up. Makes a very soft dough.
Sprinkle additional biscuit mix on board or table and pat dough out. Melt 1/4 cup butter in a 9 inch square pan. Place cut biscuits in pan and bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Its scary to be a kid

For the last 10 years, I have been stuck in a vacuum of diapers and bottles and preschool programs, first steps and first teeth and big girl beds, etc. These all-consuming tasks that seem to take up every waking minute I have (and often those I don't have) render me guilty of sometimes overlooking those grade school troubles that often fly under the radar. Often, especially when a child is so self-sufficient at an early age, its easy for them to be pushed to the back of the pack when there's a stream of little siblings vying for your attention. After all, she can take her own shower, brush her teeth and fold her laundry. He can tie his shoes, get dressed and make his own breakfast. They assert their independence in many little (and sometimes big) ways. "MOOOOOOM! You're embarrassing me!!" Tim and I were in for a real treat when we realized that we became "lame" before they were even 10.... Seriously??

I never feel at any point like I "have it all together." On the contrary, I usually feel like our daily life is a teeter-totter. Its never prefectly balanced. If I've taken the kids to the park, hosted their friends for lunch and swimming or met up with friends or family for the afternoon - you can tell. The laundry's 5 loads (or 15) deep, the dishwasher needs to be emptied and you could easily wipe "DUST ME" on my console table. I like to think (or desperately hope) that its akin to a balanced diet as in

Its what you eat in a week versus a day that really counts. Just as there are those moments that stop you on a dime, slapping you in the face and telling you "Wake Up!! Pay attention to what's important here!!" there are also those moments that tell you , "Settle down, you're doing a good job. They get it." Finley had an especially rough night a couple nights ago - apparently she decided her bangs were in immediate need of an emergency trim right at the moment Tim was trying to get the baby in bed and I was ironing her patches on her new Daisy smock. (Let me just say I have NEVER had a child cut their own hair before. Never.) Thank the Lord she went with a smallish patch and not too hideously short. There was hope. I fixed them and she looked in the mirror. . . Only to promptly burst into tears (and when I say tears, I mean a high pitched shrieking reminiscent of Darryl Hannah in Splash.) at which point she began gasping, crying harder and screeching over and over "I look so weird! I look so weird!" Now at this point I did what any good mother would do - I called in reinforcements. After a stern talk telling the other kids verbatim what I expected them to say and reminding them not to smile or laugh, I brought in her brothers and sister. They gushed and told her how beautiful she looked and all seemed to be okay.
I continued to put the Daisy patches on the vest and a few minutes later Carter came in to see Finley again. My almost 7 year old presented his little sister with a container of playdough, his favorite pencil and his $2 from the tooth fairy to make her feel better. His most prized possessions.... and a card . . .


which reads: "You have 100 friends. You are the best out of all of them and you are the best in the whole world."




Apparently the front was softening the blow for the back of the card, which reads: "Your fish died. I'm really sorry."

And there you have it. They get it. It was funny, but so sweet and innocent in a 7 year old boy way. He used what he had to show his sister he cared and tried to make her feel better. Of course, it caused a whole new wave of tears (aka shrieking) and a "burial at sea" for Red Billy (I feel ashamed I never knew his name until his passing...)

Good bugs, bad bugs, bugs everywhere!!

So lets face it - if there's one thing you can count on as a mom, its that things rarely go according to plan. My life over the last month is proof of this - a comedy of errors of sorts. It started with a yoga class my sister-in-law taught on Fat Tuesday. I was so excited to go spend time with my sisters-in-law and nieces, all while getting some exercise to boot. I did it, I loved it, I signed up for the long haul. C'mon, a mom of five needs a shot at some zen. I unfortunately have not been back to said yoga class since then. To make a long story short, ear infections, my husband flying standby home from Vegas during March Madness, dislocated jaws, school projects, five kids all outgrowing their shoes at the same time, and a death in the family have all prevented me from finding my zen.
But please, read on . . . there's a rainbow in my story . . . zen can be found in many places . . .
My point is that with so many things out of your control as a mom, you want to be able to have a say in your kids health. They're going to get sick from time to time, but why not arm them as best you can?
I (along with my kiddos) was lucky enough to be able to sample some great products that the fine folks at Vidazorb provided. Can I just say, this has been a good thing for us!! When they contacted me about trying them out and telling people what I thought, I figured a probiotic is a probiotic is a probiotic (do not attempt to say that ten times fast.) My kids have fairly consistently taken some sort of chewable probiotic with their slew of other daily vitamins. As a dye-free, all natural family, my kids enjoy their vitamins like other kids might enjoy Skittles or M&M's. We know about the benefits of putting the "good bugs" in your belly to help fight off the "bad bugs." But what we found with the Vidazorb was much more than we expected. We thought we'd fight off a few colds or flus, resist more germs from the dreaded doorknob or shared preschool toy. We think these things may have happened, but so did much, much more . . .


My seven-year-old has always had a very sensitive stomach, complaining at nearly every meal that his tummy hurts or that the food was giving him "icky burps." He has seen a pediatric gastro doc since age two. He's been scoped and medicated. We've done two different proton-pump inhibitor drugs, and prescription histamine blockers. We've taken them and gone off them and watched his symptoms flare up again. I am not a fan of medication. Not. A. Fan!!! Enter Vidazorb. We had just visited the doc again, been prescribed another med, and discontinued use of the med after no improvement. Our package of Vidazorb came and I thought, what the heck, lets give it a try. He started taking one Vidazorb Belly Boost Probiotic supplement with breakfast, one right after school and one with dinner. The first thing we noticed was that he actually asked for them because he loves the wild berry flavor. After a few days we noticed he was not complaining of "icky burps," his term for reflux. He was actually eating what we served for dinner, and eating snacks other than cinnamon toast (his go-to food with an upset tummy.) We asked him how his stomach was feeling and he stopped, thought about it and said "Good," as if he were surprised! This is more than I could have asked for and enough to make me a loyal Vidazorb momma!! Watching your child not want to eat because they don't want their food come back up is awful! Having found something that is naturally helping him is so awesome!
So, this blog is my equivalent of "shouting it from the rooftops!"

Why you should take a probiotic - and they're not just for kids:

• They help your body absorb more nutrients
• They support your body's immune system - fight off more bad "bugs"
• Reports indicate they're an effective treatment for a number of allergies
• There are studies showing that probiotics may play a significant role in helping the body manage its metabolism

Why Vidazorb??

• No refrigeration required
• All natural colors and flavors
• Great tasting wild berry for kids and vanilla for you! (Though I have one stubborn 5 yo who much prefers my vanilla)
• The Belly Boost for kids contain the best strains for kids - and have been extensively researched!
• They provide what they claim - all the bacteria alive and viable in the bottle on the shelf for two years!

So, have I mentioned that we've become a Vidazorb family? Okay, now here's the good part . . . so can you!! Vidazorb will be kind enough to give a free, yes I said FREE bottle of their Belly Boost to the first 5 people to follow them on Twitter (@bellytweet), "tweet" them, saying you came from my blog and telling them why you'd like to try Vidazorb. If you're not on Twitter yet, do you need a better reason than this??

If you're not on Twitter, are opposed to Twitter, have no idea what Twitter is, or aren't one of the first five to follow and "tweet," don't worry!! You can still get a whopping 40% off of the entire Vidazorb line on their website through April 14th, using the code CCC40.

Bye Bye Baby

Yesterday, we celebrated a milsetone in our house - the first birthday of our baby, Scout. You'd think that because I have already done this four times, it would be easier. NOT SO . . . I am still not accustomed to the way a year passes so quickly.

Piper and I were having a discussion the other day about time passing. She wanted to know why when you were testing at school, waiting in the doctors office, or looking forward to an upcoming vacation, it seems soooooo slow. But on the other hand, weekends pass in the blink of an eye, vacations are lightning fast and birthday parties seem to last mere minutes.

We talked about perception, and the fact that time passes at an equal rate in all those situations. My logical adult brain knows that to be true, but I feel like Piper in saying, it sure doesn't seem that way!!

For instance - we planned a family trip for Disney World over Trace's and my birthdays. We planned this trip only about 5 weeks ago, but according to Carter, it's been 900 years. The boy's got something here!!

In the same way, it feels like I was just awaiting the arrival of Miss Scoutie (never mind that I felt pregnant with her for 900 years.)
I feel like I can close my eyes and smell her, yes we still use the oh-so-delicious pink J & J baby lotion, but this is a different smell. Its like new car - but SOOOOOOO much better. That newness that is so very fleeting, so amazing, that you are afraid to risk missing it by not holding that tightly wrapped baby burrito for every second of those first days.

Believe me, I don't particularly enjoy sleepness nights, post-partum weight, sibling rivalry or projectile vomiting. . . but I LOVE newborns. Sleepy smiles, froggy legs, tinier than tiny diapers, the way this little bundle fits perfectly into the crook of my arm and the curve of my hip, as if God perfectly matched us (which for the record, I believe HE DID!)

How that newborn transforms so quickly is always a miracle to me. Scout has become the funniest little roly-poly sweetheart!! She may go to bed with sore cheeks some nights from all the nibbling, kissing and smooshing she endures - and its not just me. She has captured the hearts of four kiddos and two parents, and we are all smitten with her! One look at her "scrunchy face" and her chubby little hand waving at you, and you're a goner!

Though the newborn days passed much too quickly, they have been replaced with days full of laughter and smiles brought on by the little character she has become! Now, talk to me six months from now and I'm sure I'll have something to say about the trials of toddlerhood. But for now...she is nothing but sweet!!

Soaring Spirits

We have all felt the warmth of the sunshine on our backs, warming our hair, lifting our spirits.



We have dusted off the scooters, bikes and rollerblades.




We've played baseball. We've learned that searching for a baseball in a snowdrift brings a new degree of difficulty to the game.



We've discovered that pails and shovels are great for building snowcastles too.



We have played outside until our cheeks are rosy, our noses are runny, and our legs are wobbly.



Life is good.

Apple of My Eye

Its fall and I find myself humming a little tune as I make my way through the day. I LOVE Fall! I love the colors outside, the cooler temperatures, the smell of leaves burning, the fact that there's no chance of it being so hot that the back of my legs stick to a lawn chair as I try to stand up. These are valid reasons, okay? With fall comes my insatiable need to create in the kitchen! I think no matter how technologically advanced we become we still have a little Flinstone in us! I'm stocking up for the winter here (Tim is a happy man when I go into this mode!) I love all foods fall - soup, chili, pumpkins, apples, cranberries, you name it! We spent a lovely 39 degree day on Saturday at our favorite orchard in Malta. After making three bottles for Scout, spilling an entire one on the floor, cleaning it up, forgetting the other two in the fridge, and making a bathroom stop halfway, we finally arrived at the orchard. We watched the temperature on the rearview mirror in the burbie drop degree by degree as we got closer. We were so unprepared for how cold it was, we put on every remotely warm article clothing we had brought along, it was reminiscent of Clark Griswold locked in the attic in Christmas Vacation, minus the turban! Our comedy of errors continued as we waited in line for tractor to take us to the pumpkin patch, got too cold, went into the "Country Store" to warm up, saw the tractor coming, ran back out (as fast as we could with five stay-puff marshmallow children, 4 pecks of apples, a gallon of apple cider, a diaper bag, a camera bag and two strollers.) You know where this is going, don't you? The tractor was filled up by the time we got back out there. So, as Finley's running nose actually began to freeze on her face, we decided to call it a day. After packing up, driving 10 miles down the road, realizing Tim forgot one of the strollers, turning around to retrieve it, and finally getting home, we just bought some pumpkins and gourds from a nice farmer in Monee. But, I did have an amazing variety of apples and a hankering to do something with them. So here is my creation . . .

Crockpot Apple Butter

Start with about 18 apples

(I used a mix of Jonathan, Ida Red and Stabrite, I like mine more on the tart side)

Core, and slice apples (Leave peel on)



Add 1/2 cup apple cider and 2 tablespoons mulling spices to crockpot. Cook on high 3 hours and you will end up with this:



Here's where you need the best kitchen tool ever - the food mill. Mine was purchased from a hardware store for under $20 dollars. Nothing fancy, but it does the job!



Working in batches, run apple mixture through food mill, you will end up with an applesauce like mixture. All the seeds, peels and whole spices remain in the food mill.



Return apple mixture to crockpot, add 1/4 sugar, 1 tablespoon good cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1/8 teaspoon each of mace and cloves. Cook two more hours on high.



Now if you're a fan of apple butter, you know what makes it different from applesauce is its richness and velvety texture. If you have an immersion blender (got mine for $9.99 at Jewel,) here's where you use it. Put that bad boy right in the crockpot and make some apple butter!! This makes all the difference in texture, believe me!! Now taste your creation. If you like more sugar, now's the time to add it. Then finish cooking another hour or so, stirring occasionally.





Your house will smell so incredible when you make this (if you had a scratch-n-sniff computer screen, you'd understand!)

Crockpot Apple Butter
18 apples
1/2 cup apple cider
2 tablespoons mulling spices
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon mace
1/8 teaspoon cloves

Enjoy!!

The pecking order

I think one of the most difficult things about having a big family, or should I say being part of a big family, is finding your place. The oldest gets the most privileges and can do the most for themselves. The youngest gets the most of mom and dad's attention because they need the most care. The toddlers get the most praise because they are constantly achieving new things. But what about that age where nothing new is really happening? What happens then? This is when the "pecking order" becomes very obvious. The other day Finley started sobbing in the car. I hadn't heard what Carter said to her, but by the intensity of her wailing, you'd think it was the most horrible, unimaginable thing ever. When she finally calmed down enough to get the words out, here's what she said . . . "Am I'm the boss of Scout? Carter said I'm not the boss of Scout!" This was what had shook her little almost 3-year-old self to the core. The fear that she was not in fact in charge of someone. To think she might be the lowest of the low men on the totem pole. Horror of horrors!! So I of course explained, as any mother of many children would do that Daddy and I were the big bosses, Piper was the boss of Trace, Trace was the boss of Carter and so on. So yes, she was the boss of Scout. Obviously I say this tongue in cheek, because I want each child to respect to his/her siblings and them all to exist in harmony as equally important and contributing members of this family. (I'm still waiting for the harmony part!) But I do think that there's nothing wrong with a pecking order - that is life. My mom tells the kids all the time that they have to listen because mom is the boss, and that will never change. They of course get a real kick out of it when Nana tells them that she is still the boss of me. And her mom is still the boss of her, etc. Let's face it, there's always someone we answer to, whether its God, our parents, our employer, our children or the authorities. I don't think its a bad thing, it makes us more conscientious of how we behave and often motivates us to be better at what we do. I tell Piper all the time, if you wouldn't be proud to have me hear about something you say or do, that's probably an indication that you shouldn't be doing or saying it. Hey, I'm 32 years old and I still appreciate my Mom's approval. No, I don't need it, but I still like to know that my mom is proud of me. I don't think that will ever change. I know my kids seek that same approval from Tim and I. We have witnessed a good deal of looking for attention from the other kids since Scout's arrival, and we try to reiterate that negative attention is not better than no attention at all. However, I try to be sympathetic to the fact that sometimes being part of a big family means it's easier to get lost in the shuffle when life gets hectic. I know when Finley starts telling me stories about her teacher and the kids in her class that she might need a little extra attention from me, considering she doesn't actually have a teacher or even go to school yet. So I play along, and aske her if she had a good day at school. And for now I'll let her be the boss of Scout . . .