Riley's 6th Birthday Party

    Wow this amazing little girl is going to turn 6 soon! Riley's birthday is not until May 3 but we had the party early so everyone could attend.  This year she wanted to have tacos, and I planned the rest of the menu with her help. She decided on chocolate cupcakes with strawberry frosting. They turned out great! She helped to decorate the house in preparation for party day. This girl loves to fancy things up!

     She has been loving school so far, it is almost over. She has exceeded expectations in math and reading so far, which is great.  Her favorite thing to do at school is to create art and check out a library book each week. She is making friends and is very softhearted. I love that she is kind and observant of other peoples feelings. She is full of energy and wants to be a faster runner, so she keeps practicing.  She has been drawing pictures and I have been sewing little beds and accessories for her dolls.

   I had structured the week leading up to the party so that on Friday I could just do a few things in the morning and have the rest of the day to relax with the kids and do a quick vacuum Sat morning.  That is pretend world though, the one that I can control. In the real world on Friday morning I noticed that Nora has some hard gunk in her ear and I make some quick mom calculations. She didn't sleep well Thursday night and has been fussy for the last 2 evenings while I am busy making dinner(not too out of the norm on its own until coupled with the other symptoms). I made an appointment, they were behind so it took a while. That's okay, I understand. Its a Friday and everyone comes in before the weekend. Turns out Nora did have an ear infection and it ruptured and that is what I found. She looked at August's ears too and both were very infected. Yikes, no fever or complaining about ear pain. Okay. Next, on to the pharmacy. Check. Now to get the sick kids a quick nap before picking up Riley from school. I am exhausted and have burnt through all my energy but I still need to bake and frost the cupcakes. This is just how life goes sometimes and that is okay. I didn't get the relaxing evening off that I dreamed of but if I hadn't planned to have most things done than I would have had to cut back or just had a lot more work to do. Keenan helped me out by taking care of a mountain of dishes for me. Today Nora and August are both healing up well. They are on antibiotics and Nora also has some drops for her ear.

Riley had a great time at her party! She loved playing with her cousins and has been enjoying all of her gifts. Thank you so much for coming for her special day.

Spring and Everything Else

I am going to have to play catch up in this post so there are going to be pictures of Riley and I building a snowman, valentines, Easter and other pictures that I just liked. Sorry if that is confusing. I have been using my nap time breaks for other things and haven't done any work on the blog. 

I have been doing a whole house de-clutter over the course of the last year and just kicked it up a notch to get it done faster. No closet, room, shelf or dark corner has been able to hide from me! I have sold things on facebook, something I never thought I would do. I have been donating, throwing things away and using the good old standby of placing it on the curb and seeing how long it takes to disappear(I am sure the neighbors have been enjoying the view). I am getting really close to where I feel like I have the things that I need and love but not in such excess that I am being controlled by them. I was spending a lot of time organizing because I like a tidy home.  Now there will be less to label, categorize and to store in a tote. Keenan has helped out too by going through his clothing and sorting out our tools. On to more important things, now I will have more time for the people I love. Here are some pictures of said people!

They are so cute sometimes it is too much! I love these kids, I want them to take care of each other and give something positive to the world.  I want to be a good example for them and to know that they are loved. Parenting is challenging and rewarding. I feel like I am always growing as a person in this job and I love it.

    I was actually taking pictures of things to sell here on the bed and Riley wanted her picture taken too, turned out pretty cute. Punky really just wanted to nap and to sit on whatever I am taking a picture of.

  

 Valentines 2018
 
Riley took valentines to school and they had a little party. She came home with this robot bag and I guess the robots name was Riley too. What a coincidence, and its best friend is her! It also likes dancing and candy, Haha!

Our tradition at home every year is to make heart shaped pizza and a giant heart shaped cookie (the cookie pan survived me cleaning out the house). This year I formed three little hearts so the kids could each decorate their own little pizzas. I typically just make 2 big ones, this was fun though.

Playing at Home!

 It is so fun when Riley makes pictures like this. I took a picture of her too because it is the same outfit.

Building a snowman

    Its name was also Riley and then she built a smaller version so it wouldn't be lonely when she went inside later.

I made little pots out of newspaper to plants seed in(in February) as a way to look forward to spring. The newspaper grew mold and the seeds didn't sprout so I tossed it but they had fun doing it.

 Easter

 Art Gallery

 I am not sure if you can tell but I think this one was a cat

 She made a picture frame here

 These pictures of the people in many colors just make me happy

 This one is the kids in, "The Cat In The Hat", book telling the Mom about their day.

 The next 2 are drawings of, "The Three Billy Goats Gruff". Riley really likes that story right now.

That was a lot of pictures. Thanks, if you made it to the end!

We have been sick a lot this winter and are ready to start a new season. It was beautiful out yesterday and we spent a lot of time outside. It was nice to feel the sun and see the kids enjoying the yard.  I think August has another cold today though,.... so we will see how he progresses. Hopefully it will just be a short one and not one that makes us pull some all nighters.