Tag and catch up

I was tagged by my friend Angie to take a self portrait. The rules are that once you're tagged, you must take your picture right then and there. No editing. No changing clothes. No adding makeup. Sorry, we wanna see the real you. I was tagged a few days ago and took the picture then and there. Bobby will tell you. I had just gotten home from work and I was super tired so I look gorgeous. :P I never wear make-up anymore so at least that was a non-issue. So here that is. (wow my face is really crooked)
I tag Brooke, Kate and Marcie.

I never did take a picture of Brooklyn in her Easter dress. Last night the choir from her school was invited to perform at a board meeting. She wore her Easter dress and I finally took a picture.
She also made the honor roll on her last report card. We are very proud of her for keeping her grades up!
Caleb and Seth have both worked very hard to bring their grades up too, and they did. Caleb even got an award just for that - the B.U.G. award (Bringing Up Grades) Good job boys! Now we're going to work on organization and listening to directions.

Five months

I can't believe Dillon is five months old already! He is outgrowing his 6-9 month footie pajamas. He's long but not too chubby, as seen below. He truly is a delightful baby and so easy going. I will admit, he does drool like a maniac! (if you click on the five month photo you'll see it - eww). He loves the jumperoo and the bumbo. He's content in his swing. The only trick with Dillon is that he likes to be moved every 15 minutes or so. In the evening, during dinner, he sits like a king in his court, in his bumbo on the table while we eat and talk around him. He always has a smile for us and a giggle for daddy. Dillon sleeps about nine hours a night, usually, but woke up at 3:30 am talking away last night. It took me an hour and a very warm bottle to get him back to sleep. We can't be upset with him though because he's so happy and just grins and giggles even in the wee hours of the morning. Dillon is a finger sucker. He prefers the middle two fingers but will take whichever finger makes it to his mouth. I'm ok with that. It means he can comfort himself at night and he often does. I'll wake up to him grumbling but before I know it, he's right back to sleep, sucking on his fingers.

Dillon and the hat at 5 months:
Dillon fell asleep on my lap, check out the chub and the fingers:
I took a few pictures of the boys playing outside. Caleb and Seth love to go out on their scooters. Ayden always wants to come too. The boys are good sports and don't usually complain (too much) about watching him outside. I like to park the van at the end of the drive way so they can have the entire stretch to roam free on. Here they are riding, doing tricks and posing for the camera.

Easter rush

I realize it's been almost a week since Easter. Everyone else has long since posted the cute pictures they took of their kids in their new Sunday best. This week I had to go back to work after Spring Break and I felt swamped! It doesn't help that Bobby has been working 86 miles away every day. He hasn't been getting home until well after 7:00 each night and didn't get home until after midnight last night. Finally, though, I am taking the time to get caught up.

We had a very quiet, very low-key Easter. We gave the kids their Easter candy the Friday before and did not dye any eggs this year. I am not sure why. I suppose the older kids have outgrown it somewhat and the younger two do not yet expect it. So we took a little break this year. We did go to church, of course, on Sunday. I enjoy the years that conference does not fall on Easter Sunday. There was a nice piano solo that was played as the intermediate hymn. Other than that there really was no program. The speakers talked about Christ and the atonement and delivered beautiful messages. In relief society there was a very spiritual, wonderful lesson about Christ but Dillon was way too vocal. I had to take him out. The children dressed up in their new clothes. Bobby, thankfully, took some cute shots of Ayden. By the time I took pictures of the other kids, Ayden wanted nothing to do with it. The pictures aren't so great. We were in a hurry so we wouldn't be late to church and I didn't even get a cute shot of Brooklyn in her dress. I could not get Dillon to look at me either. So, the boys look cute. Caleb is sans tie because he had not put his on yet. I still think they cleaned up pretty well.

To Eat or Not to Eat...

I had an epiphany today. To most of you it's going to seem like, 'D'uh we all knew that', but it's the extent of the idea that struck me today. There is no way to feed a family of seven for cheap. Just no way. Now, of course, I realized that it would be expensive to have a large family; however, being raised in a home with only one sibling, I never grasped just how much food my five children would go through. For instance, if we all eat sandwiches, a loaf of bread is finished off in two days. Easy. That's the giant loaf.

Bobby is starting his first day back at Game Crazy today. Since there was about a 3 week lapse between his Best Buy job and this one, money is a bit tight. It's going to be tight until the end of the month. I can't believe it's only the beginning of April. So... I rounded up all the children this morning, made a simple list, and headed to the grocery store. I think I did fairly well. There were some good sales, for instance I bought 3lbs of ground beef for 3.89. Not shabby. I bought two of those because of the great price. I have explained to the kids that we are going to use our food sparingly. One glass of milk a day, once glass of juice and then water for the rest of the day. One small snack around 10am and another around 3pm and that is it. They have agreed - for now. I have a new found love for Ramen, hot dogs and dollar frozen pizza. I hate giving them junk but they'll live eating this stuff for a month. I did find healty stuff but it was more money so I didn't buy as much. Isn't that sad? Our country complains about the obesity problem and yet, if one is on a very tight budget, they can not afford healthy food. Our country will always have the weight problem until it becomes affordable to eat whole grains, organic fruits and veggies and so on...Okay off my soapbox now.

So, we're excited about Bobby's new job. We feel very blessed that with the economy like it is he found a job so quickly and for a bit more than he asked. The kids and I are on Spring Break this week. I have no big plans but, if the weather clears up, there is a free park here with a petting zoo that I want to visit. Ayden can speak well enough to communicate just about anything he needs or wants to us, which is a plus. He was in his toddler bed for one week and promptly returned to his crib. He loves his crib. I suppose that means Dillon will be in his pack and play for a while longer. Dillon is doing great. He's still rolling all over and has begun reaching for a grabbing his toys and playing with them. This means he is also grabbing and holding onto my hair, which needs a cut badly. I would report on the kid's progress with school but will wait for report cards at the end of the week. That is it, very boring and mundane but it's nice to have a peaceful life and I won't complain.