Baking Skillz

I love when Jed feels inspired to bake! 

It usually only happens when he's bored and considering right now he's taking care of me, the boys, our house and still working part time from home, he doesn't have time to be bored! Yet, somehow he found time to make this beauty.

 The cookie cake. 

 From the bottom to the top: layer 1, oreo cookie crumbs, layer 2, chocolate chip cookie dough, layer 3, oreo cookie  crumbs, layer 4, white cake, layer 5, oreo cookie crumbs.   

Ah-mazing! 

Also for mother's day he made me chocolate chip cookies with oreos in the middle.  They were divine!  

Thank you babe!  

Paint, Paint and More Paint, Plus a Table

We bought our house from a real estate company.  All the "improvements" done around here were done for the short term goal of flipping it.  It isn't all bad, we got decent tile and carpet out of the deal however to cover up the imperfections in the drywall work they used flat paint through out the entire house.  Its horrible!  

Flat paint not only seems to absorb everything that touches it, its next to impossible to clean, as it comes off the walls when wiped.  This does not work in a house filled with little boys!  

So we're slowly but surely repainting.  We started in our half bath (which I don't have any pictures of right now) with a semi gloss grey.  Its so nice to be able to wipe little finger prints off the walls in there!  

Next we tackled our dining room. Originally this wasn't high on our painting priority list, however our short family had grown weary of climbing our bar height dining room table so we began looking for something less vertically challenging.  We were browsing when we found something that we not only love but is very practical for our expanding family (we can fit all four little boys on one bench with plenty of wiggle room).  We hadn't planned to buy so soon but right after we found our new table it went on sale for 50% off!  We couldn't even find a better deal on craigslist so we jumped on it!  

This purchase inspired Jed to paint an accent wall behind it.  The color makes me happy!

Jed was on a painting roll so he went ahead and painted the kitchen which desperately needed it!  The walls behind the oven and sink were spattered with grease.  Oh how I love glossy paint!    

This weekend Jed tackled the living room accent wall with a lovely green.  I didn't think we'd get to this project quite yet, as I assumed that we'd have a newborn, at this point. This is now, my longest pregnancy and unlike her big brothers, Isla doesn't seem at all anxious to leave her cozy home!  At least while we're waiting on her we're getting stuff done!  
Eventually, we plan to do all the non accent walls in a neutral color we've chosen but with our high ceilings and open floor plan that is going to be quite the extended project!  Eventually.  

A Super Easter!

For Thor and Wolverine!  

10 Years Ago

On my twentieth birthday a certain boy called me to wish me a happy birthday. 

Here are 7 reasons this is worth blogging about;

1. I had had a crush on said boy for months.

2. We had just started "talking" at school a couple weeks earlier.

3. It was spring break and he was on a guys camping trip in South Dakota, in the pre-everyone has a cell phone era, where he had to purchase a calling card, find a phone and discreetly slip away from his friends to avoid being mocked. 

4. Five days later he was home from his trip and we went on our first date.

5.  We became inseparable and were crazy about each other. 

6. Less than a year after that phone call we got married!  I know, I know, I lived it and its hard for me to wrap my head around how fast we did this but hey, 10 years later and not only are we still together we love each other more than ever!

7. Although this memory is a very good one, it reminds me of my 20 year old self and how thankful I am to have put some distance and hopefully maturity between her and me.  And this, my friends, may well be the only comfort I have as I grapple with turning the big 3-0 today!

Now I'm going to go curl up in bed with a couple boxes of Cadbury creme eggs, let my children watch as many hours of Netflix as they want and try to forget this day has arrived.

I'm kidding, I think.   

Camping Update

Jed's been texting me pictures of their trip.  They're having a blast with the highlight being that daddy bought them fishing pole!  Our kids don't latch onto things very often but apparently that's because they hadn't been fishing yet.  They haven't caught a thing but they're content to cast and reel for hours!

Ford and I have been having fun too.  I think he must be going through a growth spurt because on Friday he fell asleep in our bathroom at 10:30am and slept until 2pm.  Later he took another short nap on our way to the store.   Today he almost fell asleep when I was changing his diaper at 9:30am, he took a long morning nap and a short afternoon nap today. 
On top of the wonky sleep schedule, my usually reserved and quiet son has been cracking me up with silly antics and chatting up a storm.  It was awesome to hear him use at least 5 new words today!  
I'm loving this one on one time with him but am also missing my other four boys! 

Smokin'

This weekend Home Depot had their smokers on sale so Jed bought himself his anniversary present a week early.  I was more than happy to let him do this as it seems like I've been buying the man presents non stop since December!  The gift idea well is dry folks.  

He couldn't have been happier though evidenced by the smoker being put together and running in record time! 

For the maiden voyage we did another pork shoulder, since we had one on hand.  

It was hard waiting, it took over 12 hours to cook! 

Well worth it though!  Smokey deliciousness!    
This weekend we'll be trying our hand at chicken thighs!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Cuteness!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Valentine's Day (after 9 years, with 4 kids and a pregnant wife)

For Valentine's Day this year Jed spoiled me with a new shower head, a bath mat and pillow for our bath tub and a new light for our living room.  It was perfect!  

For him I chose a BBQ theme since he's recently been watching a reality series on Netflix about BBQ competition which has lead to some (out loud) day dreaming about quitting his job to become a BBQ judge. Inspired by not wanting to crush his dream but knowing that a family of 7 would struggle immensely trying to live off a judge's salary (I think their only compensation is the food they taste btw) I ran with my idea.

I found a flavor injector, a fancy electric thermometer and a good sized "pork butt".  I threw together my first ever concoction to inject (its not quite as gross as it sounds) and my first ever dry rub, both loosely based on the show Jed's been watching and some of the Pioneer Woman's recipes.  Once I was done experimenting, my masterpiece spent all day in the oven.  

I spent the rest of the day running around doing the normal stuff I have to do on any given weekday plus all the Valentine's activities with the boys.   

Kane and I made homemade cards for daddy and his big brothers.  He proudly gave his brother's their cards when they got home from school.  Evan and Seth didn't have anything to give to Kane so they  dug through the stash of candy they got from school and each picked out something for him.  They went up to his room, put it up on his bed and then lead him upstairs to find his "Valentine's surprise".  So sweet and Kane couldn't have been happier! 

We had the pork for dinner, it was good but I'm already planning a few tweaks to my recipes.  Jed got to play with his new thermometer when we pulled it out of the oven, its quite elaborate.  

Later Joy came over and watched the boys so we could go out for dessert. Thank you Joy!  We're not big on fighting the crowds so we went to Dairy Queen.  Then we went to Lowe's to look at smokers before my body or more accurately my ligaments started screaming at me to call it a day.  

Super Bowl

I'm not a huge fan of football and I'm especially uninterested in pro football so the Super Bowl is a non-event for me.  However I live in a house filled with males who are into all things football so while they watch I worked on Jed's birthday cake (later I'll be settling into bed to read the final book of the Hunger Games!).  

My very old, old, husband turned 33 earlier this week.  I surprised him by having a babysitter lined up for the night and taking him to Outback, also for record sake, since someone has accused me of not getting him anything last year (neither of us can remember his birthday last year which I can blame on being pregnant but  whats your excuse Jed? :)), he received a UofM tshirt and a camping chair.  Anyway, back to Outback, dinner was fantastic, Jed loves their steaks and I love their cheese fries, yum!  After dinner I assumed we'd order cheesecake b/c that happens to be his second favorite item on their menu but we were both so full we couldn't imagine eating dessert. 

My poor husband didn't get a cake for his birthday and I felt bad so I decided to remedy that tonight with his most favorite cake in the whole world, German Chocolate.  

Better late than never right babe?! 

Love you, Jed!  I had so much fun celebrating another birthday with you!  Thanks for being the best husband and father!  

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Weird

My husband is a twin.

One of Tracy's very good friends from high school, had twins.

One of Becky's closest childhood/high school friends had twins.

Jed's twin sister's best friend from high school just gave birth to twin boys yesterday!

(Katie I think you're next! :))

My neighbor's sister is pregnant with twins and due on the same day as me.  

Oh and my older brother and sister are twins.  

Ok so I just thought this was kind of crazy and had to share!  And although it would be kinda cool, but mostly just terrifying, I'm fairly sure I'm not having twins. :)

Cold Cuts For Everyone

Seth: "I know that God is three persons!"

Jed: "You're right, what are their names?"

Seth: "Um...."

Evan: "I know!"

Jed: "Ok, go ahead."

Evan: "Ok, the deli father... the spirits.. and I forget the last one."

Me and Jed: (tried to hold it in but laughing to the point of tears.)

(The boys are laughing too.)

Evan: "What are you guys laughing at?"

Jed: "You meant to say the Heavenly Father, the Holy Spirit and Jesus."

Evan: "Oh yeah.  That is really funny!"

Later while cleaning up dinner.

Jed: (whispering) "I tried not to laugh but I couldn't help it."

Me: (whispering also) "I knew there wasn't any hope so I gave in."

Jed: "I know.  I was just thinking, who wouldn't want to worship the deli god? (shouting now) Cold cuts for everyone!"

Evan: "Yeah, I want cold cuts!  What are cold cuts?"

Handy Husband

This weekend Jed not only took us to the beach which is no easy task with four wee boys but he also, added memory to my laptop, fixed the fans on two of our other computers, set up the new tv/computer for the boys in the Florida room and began working on a project in the kitchen (he's redoing the lights, which would have been done but at the last minute we changed our minds on what we wanted. Hopefully it'll be finished sometime this week).

 The new media center!

Anyway, I just wanted to let him know that I really appreciate all the hard work he does around here!  Thanks babe!  Love you!

(Btw, I'm trying to round up the rest of the pictures from our trip this summer so I can post them here for my mom to see.  Sorry its taking so long mom!)

Jed bought a Nerf machine gun this weekend, it was on sale at Target, how could he pass up an opportunity like that...   Anyway after bring it home, he set it up in the hallway.  I kept Evan, Seth and Kane distracted in their bedroom.  When he was ready I had the boys walk out where they were ambushed by their father launching round after round of darts at them.  The boys squealed with delight, then they gathered up all the darts so their dad could shoot them again.  Hours of fun were had before the gun was carefully stashed away so little hands couldn't destroy it before my husband, I mean the boys, had another chance to play with it.  

 Yesterday the boys and I were out later than usual running errands and Jed beat us home.  We were all excited when we saw daddy's car in the driveway.  After unlocking the front door I was quickly pushed passed.  As I finally made it inside I noticed the house was pitch black with sheets over the windows and lights that wouldn't switch on.  As my eyes began to adjust, fireworks went off in the dining room and  darts began flying by.  

It's official, I live in a man cave.

Sense Of Humor

Last weekend:

Jed: "Do you want the good news or the bad news first?"

Me: "The bad news."

Jed: "Well, my bike has a flat tire."

Me: "That stinks ." (Slightly stressed about putting more money into the bike.)

Jed:"And the computer crashed again. I can't even get it to boot up...

Me: "Oh no!" (Annoyed about spending more money and knowing from previous experience that our computer will be dismantled and parts strewn about our living room until he can fix it.)

Jed: "... and we may have lost our most recent pictures, that weren't backed up."

Me: "No way!" (This is devastating to me, precious memories, lost.)

Jed: "Yeah and the real kicker is the a/c in the van stopped working again."

Me: "Unbelievable!" (We just paid an astronomical amount to have it fixed earlier this summer, I felt sick to my stomach.)

Jed: "You want your good news now?"

Me: "Ugh, I guess but nothing could make up for all that."

Jed: "None of that is actually true."

Me: "What?!"

Jed: (Grinning from ear to ear.)

Me: (Punched him in the shoulder and walked away.)

This weekend:

Seth: "Mom, Ford took off his diaper!"

Me: "Oh geez!" (He's been doing that a lot lately)

Seth: "He pooped and poop is everywhere!"

Me: "No! No one touch him or the poop! Get away from...." (Running into the florida room, not seeing feces anywhere.)

Seth: (Grinning from ear to ear)

Me: (Giving Seth a suspicious and irritated look while grabbing Ford because he had pulled the tab on one side of his diaper)

Seth: "He didn't really poop." (Giggling to himself)

After thinking for a little bit about the last week, I realize that Seth has been lying to me quite a bit about really silly stuff. I pull him aside,

Me: "Seth, you've been lying to me a lot lately, why?

Seth: (thinks briefly then shrugs) "I dont know, I guess I like to joke a lot."

Me: (Light bulb goes off. Trying not to grin from ear to ear.) "Ok, we'll talk about this more later." (Find Jed to inform him of his spectacular, example setting skills.)

Weekend In Tennessee

Our weekend in Oneida, TN was good for the most part.   We stayed with Tom and Eve Z, good friends of the Cusi Family.  They build log cabins all over the US with, Barna Log Homes.  They built they're own home and all the other buildings on their property including the bunkhouse we stayed in this weekend. 

 This is the Z house, we spent a lot of time sitting on their front porch enjoying the cool weather, it was in the 60s and 70s all weekend. 

 My sister in law, Becky, and I took a ride on the four wheeler together, arent we cute :)

 Evan went on his first fourwheeler this weekend, he loved it.  Daddy took him around nice and slow.  

 This is the whole group of us in Tennessee this weekend.  We had a blast. 

 Evan making friends with Mr. Zdanio.

Jed, Gwen and Evan all hangout on the big porch.  Jed attempted to whittle but he didnt make much progress with Evan constantly begging to get back on the fourwheeler.  

We had a great time this weekend.  We were able to spend time with family and good friends, we got to explore some of Tennessee and we were able to relax.  This the best vacation we've had since our honeymoon, more than three years ago.  We're hoping to do it again next Labor day. 

THE SAD ENDING

Unfortunately our weekend didnt end on a good note.  The last day we were there Gwen must have been wandering around in the woods and she was shot by someone.  We didnt realize it until we were on our way home at a rest stop in Georgia.  We noticed some bleeding and took a close look and found that she had a round deep hole in her left leg.  We rushed her to the vet as soon as we got home and they confirmed that it was a gun shot wound.  The vet said that it looked like the shooter was aiming for her heart because it was only four inches below her chest.  It horrifies me to think that someone purposely tried to kill our Gwen.   Right now gwen has an infection and she's on antibiotics, we have to clean her wound twice a day and drain all the puss.  Its pretty gross and I would imagine painful for Gwen.  We're hoping for the best but she may need surgery to remove some dead tissue.  We're really praying that it heals on it own because the surgery would be very expensive and it would prolong the healing process.  Other than that Gwen is doing really well, she's walking around, eating and half heartedly playing with Evan.   We love our Gwenny and I'm so thankful that she's still alive.

Harley

This weekend, Jed, Jay and their friend Sam, rented Harley's.  They were out all day, Saturday, riding around, unfortunately Sam's bike broke down and they had to wait 2 hours for Sam to get a replacement bike.  Jed finally got home around 10:30pm, he was covered in disgusting road grime, I sent him right to the shower.  Sunday after church Joy babysat the boys while Jay, Jamie, Jed and I went for a ride.  We were out for about 4 hours and at the end of the ride I was in so much pain I could barely walk.  I was sitting on a peice of foam about 1 inch think on a metal fender, I felt every bump!  I'm still sore today.  It was fun though, Jed had a little street bike when we were dating and this weekend reminded me of those days.   

 These two pictures were before our ride on Sunday.  Evan is a little too young to go on a ride but he thought daddy was so cool on the Harley. 

 Daddy and Seth bonding.

Seth and I did a little photo shoot this weekend. 

Ewww!

Seth woke up this morning with a very bad cough.  I was holding him while he was coughing and he started gagging and then choking, he turned bright red so I patted him on the back and he threw up all over me.   It wasnt like regular spit up because I can handle that, this was thick, gross smelling, chunky throw up.   I had to strip our bed, change my clothes, and change seth.  Once that was all cleaned up I went to get Evan out of bed.  Evan has eczema all over his body which is very itchy so we have to put him to bed as clothed as possible, onsie, pants and socks.  Well he got his socks off last night and scratched the tops of his feet until they bled.  Also he must of had too much juice yesterday because his diaper had leaked so his sheets were soaked.  I got Evan out of bed, stripped him and his crib down and threw him in the bath tub.  Then on top of that our internet and our home phone werent working.  We dont get cell phone service inside our house so I have to go out by the pool to make phone calls.  I called Jed and told him that the internet wasnt working and he came home on his lunch break and got it running again.  Thanks babe! 

Hurricane Season

So today is the first day of hurricane season. I cant believe how many hurricanes we've been through since we moved here a little over 2 years ago.  We are so thankful that we havent had any major damage from any of them.  We hope that this season is more peaceful.  

Here are some photos from last years season.

 After hurricane Wilma past we opened up the windows and Evan enjoyed the breeze. 

Jed took these while he was in Mississippi last October.  He said that the destruction and mess hurricane Katrina left behind was amazing.