Weekend recap - world's most original title for a blog post on a Tuesday

Another weekend in the books.

Everyone seemed to be enjoying 70+ degrees wherever they were. Minnesota is still firmly planted in winter territory though. Our mud yard has since frozen over and been snowed on. So that's nice. Preferable to mud, in my opinion. And the kids were overjoyed by the sight of fresh snow. Even though sitting out on the back deck grilling sounds really nice, I have to admit that the untouched snow in the morning light was really pretty on the way to church.

On Saturday evening, we were going to let the kids make their own personal pizzas and then camp out in the living room and watch a movie. When I finally got the dough all ready for them though, they had skedaddled across the street to play with the super cool second grader who likes to play basketball is basically Michael Jordan. So I made their pizzas for them and I think Will enjoyed it the most.

OMG all this food for meeeee????

After baths, they decided to watch a show about animals instead of a movie. Will crawled around and did his best to throw himself on top of anyone who looked too still.

He was put to bed at 7 and the big kids were allowed to stay up a little longer to watch their show. Steve and I got ready for bed and after the kids probably assumed we forgot about them (we did not- just enjoying the blissful silence!!). Sam popped in. "So how's it goin in here, guys?" I almost felt an ab form I laughed so hard. Even though nothing like that was going on, I couldn't help but picture the mom from Mean Girls.

Molly was not too thrilled about sleeping in the living room without us (despite sleeping in her bed without us every night), and then Sam crawled into our bed at some point to sleep with us and then Will woke up screaming for his banana and then everyone was awake and THIS IS WHY WE DON'T DO FUN THINGS WHERE IS THE COFFEE.

We rallied (aka made coffee) and went to church. Last Sunday before Lent! I can't believe it.

That afternoon we headed over to Rick and Monica's house, as per our usual Sunday afternoon activities. We walk around outside and hang out, cook dinner, watch the kids play, etc. Nothing photo-worthy apparently as I never take any pictures, outside of the dinner picture.

Poor Mav (front right) had just fallen off the bench (and took his plate down to the floor with him) so he was less than thrilled about cheesing for a photo.

On our way home, close to 7!!!

NOT PITCH BLACK!!! WINTER MIGHT BE ENDING SOMEDAY SOON!!!

I don't mind the temps so much, but all of the darkness really gives me the SADs (Seasonal Affective Disorder, which is basically me being sad about the lack of sunlight).

Apparently this is Dr Seuss Week at school so there is a different theme everyday for them to dress. Nothing too crazy. Monday was Pajama Day.

Today was Color Day and each grade had to wear a certain color. Sam's class had purple. Wtf. Luckily he had a Vikings hoodie I bought at the thrift store so I feel like that satisfied the purple.

Molly and I made bagels this morning since Casey sent us a bagel seasoning that I have been dying to try. I almost bought some store-made bagels but then decided against it. Molly loves making bagels so much.

Ugly as sin but delicious as all get out.

I just cannot stress how good this seasoning is. Perfectly salty and garlicky and just everything a bagel should taste like. Mmmmmmm....

Molly scattered her Valentine's flowers in the backyard for the deer. (To eat or to look at as they eat the berries off our trees, I'm not sure exactly which, but it's a nice thought.) Sam scattered some lettuce out there last night for them but it doesn't appear to have been touched.


Ash Wednesday is tomorrow and I think in place of giving something up, Steve and I are going to say a rosary together every night. I am already giving up wine thanks to pregnancy (the greatest "give up" of all in my boozy opinion) and since Steve has been eating clean, we don't have any sweets or anything like that in the house to give up. So I think doing instead of giving up will be a better solution to Lent this year. I have clearly not put enough brain power into thinking of what to do to make Lent more meaningful for the kids but maybe I can pull something out later this afternoon/evening. If you have any ideas, please feel free to let me know!

Molly, Myer, Molls, M

A brief snapshot of Molly, age 4 ("almost 5")

1. What is your favorite color? purple
I had to specify that she only choose one favorite. Otherwise she'd name just about every color.

2. What is your favorite toy? puzzle
She loves this Lisa Frank unicorn puzzle she got from the Dollar Tree!

3. What is your favorite food? pizza
Do not come between her and her pizza. The other day when we were at Costco together (eating pizza), she told me, "I wish I could just watch tv all day and eat my favorite foods." I said, "What foods would you eat?" "Hmm. Pizza and macaroni... and pizza... mostly just pizza." Sign me up for that day!

4. What is your favorite game? Chutes and Ladders
Close second is probably Candyland or Uno.

5. What is your favorite animal? wolves
Runners up: horses, puppies, deer, ponies

6. What is your favorite song? Brush your teeth
A Raffi song. She also loves Christmas songs.

7. Who is your best friend? Sam
True story. Built in best friend.

8. What is your favorite thing to do outside? ice skating
Our entire yard is an ice skating rink in her mind because it is one solid sheet of ice. They go outside and just "skate" around.

9. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? books
She is SUCH a hoarder when it comes to bedtime! Always takes at least six books in bed with her and when we remove sheets and covers, we usually find more hidden in there.

10. What is love? Mommy and Daddy and the whole family and the baby in the belly
I really like this answer.

11. What do you want to be when you grow up? a grandma
Sounds nice.

12. What does Mommy always say to you? sit on the stairs
Her latest time out spot. Mommy would love to say this less.

13. What are you really good at? puzzles
She is. Also good at entertaining Will and telling everyone the status of everything at all times, whether you asked for it or not.

14. Where is your favorite place to go? Target
She is her mother's daughter.

15. Where do you live? in Minnesota
Correct!

16. What do you want for your birthday this year? a horse carrier with horses and people can ride on them
She already has both of these things (a horse carrier with horses, and a doll that rides on a horse). Not sure what else she is asking for...

17. What makes you laugh? crazy books
Or anyone farting, Sam cracking jokes, wearing silly clothes, etc.

18. What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy? make bagels
Yummmm bagels

19. What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy? play with him
Jump on him, climb on him, go anywhere on earth with him

20. What makes you happy? playing with Sam and his Army guys
They generally play so nicely together. We are definitely working on tattling and people assuming the role of Mommy and Daddy when it comes to rule-making though.

I love this girl!! I realized that the reason we butt heads so often is because we are so. dang. similar. Can't wait to see the person she grows up to be.
 

Weekend recap

Pre-long weekend, we helped Monica take care of some farm animals at her in-laws' farm while they were out of town. We didn't so much help as tag along and ask stupid questions about everything. Molly is really very extremely concerned that those cows have not been milked! How much longer can they last?! (They are boy cows.)

We collected eggs and found one that was so massive, I thought surely we'd find a chicken with broken hips lying somewhere, ready to be made into nuggets. But the kids ran about and caught a few chickens and everyone appeared to be walking normally. God bless 'em! Makes me appreciate an XL egg even more.

I was so busy trying to convince Molly that a chicken wouldn't bite her (one of the boys was trying to hand her one) that I didn't even notice Sam standing right behind me, carrying a chicken of his own around! Like he does this everyday or something. Farmer Sam is such a cutie!

Will was extra sweet in the tub that night.

On Friday we went out to Monica's house to play. Mav and Molly aren't in school on Fridays and get awfully bored without each other. Luckily for all of us, it was closing in on 40* and things were thawing out! We spent a lot of time outside soaking up the sun and pretending we might sunbathe our white, wintry skin. (LOLZ)

We ended up doing our gender reveal photos that afternoon/evening and then everyone convened for dinner at their massive farm table. We almost let the kids have a sleepover that night but grandma snagged the boys first, so we headed home and let the kids watch a movie. (This is A Very Big Deal, as I enforce A Very Strict Bedtime and there is usually no time for tv of any sort, but they were allowed to stay up til 8 and watch their movie.)

And popcorn! Sometimes I am a cool mom.

Saturday came and we headed to Fargo for errands. But first, a selfie.

I was given approximately 30 seconds to prepare for this selfie, so changing into something besides pajamas won out over applying any makeup. Thus, the sunglasses. Also, that snow can be really bright.

On Sunday, we all overslept for church since Will was up screeching like a howler monkey at 4am for a banana and then finally went back to sleep. We ended up spending most of the day out at Rick and Monica's house. The kids played, we hung out outside (it was quite a bit chillier, but still sunny and we can't turn down sun!), and had dinner. Then the kids stayed the night! Will apparently sleeps fine when in a room alone! Huh! Go figure! TIME TO UPGRADE OUR HOUSING SITUATION.

Come Monday morning, it was rainy and everything completely melted overnight. Molly had dug down through the snow a while back to find a sidewalk in front of our house, so we were anxious to see what else laid under the frozen layer that we called our yard.

Well.

Turns out, it is mostly JUST MUD. NO GRASS. All these folks posting photos of beautiful greenery and flowers popping up through the snow and this is what I've got going on over here. The front yard is actually much worse than this and we don't even park in the driveway anymore for fear of getting stuck in the mud. In our own driveway. Gonna have to remedy that somehow.

The rainy weather called for muffins, and I thought it might be nice to exchange muffins for children when we picked them up from their sleepover. I made these cinnamon coffee cake muffins and thought they were just kinda meh. Not sweet or moist enough. Monica disagreed so I guess the jury is out on whether these are worth making or not. The kids ended up just bringing the party over here so Monica could study. Talk about a full house!

We had grilled cheese for lunch (and many many clementines) and I decided that since my muffins were such a fail(ish), that I would make some monster cookies for the kids.

I used this recipe and was once again, unimpressed. They were breaking apart before I could even get them off the cookie sheet. No way was I stacking them as shown in the Pinterest-perfect photo. Fortunately/unfortunately, they tasted amazing. A few of them survived the transfer from cookie sheet to wire rack and those were stackable. But overall, PITA to make (you can only bake three cookies at a time!) and they were very fussy (bake 12 minutes, return to smush with a fork, bake another 6 minutes, let cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes, transfer broken pieces to wire rack, keep track of the next batch on the 12 minute cycle in the oven, etc.). Too much work for glorified oatmeal cookies. They were crazy delicious though, so proceed with caution there.

FUGLY

We slapped together some sort of hodge podge dinner that Will combed his hair with (jelly was involved), baths, blocks, bed.

Lipless Molly and her beautiful stable/garage

Squatty Sam and his car crash setup

Will started out the morning strong at 4:15, screaming for a banana. I want him to have his own room so badly. (SO BADLY) I'd kindly inform him that no, bananas are not served before the hour of 6:30am, go back to sleep, sir, and exit the room. Unfortunately, if I did that now, it would only result in him screaming louder, which would wake up the bigger two he shares a room with, and three kids awake at 4:15 is not my idea of a good time. So he gets his damn banana, and usually goes back to sleep. Except this morning he did not. More screeching.

He was so pleased with himself. Kept turning around a flashing me the biggest grin. YES. LOVE THIS. Mommy AND Baby Einstein! Jackpot! Gonna repeat this every morning!

Yes, you are cute. No, I still do not want to see you until sometime after 6.

He's already up from his nap so I guess I better get a move on and relieve my babysitter up there (Molly, performing her latest song and dance for his entertainment). Maybe I'll make a mud pie today? Can't turn out any worse than my weekend baking adventures.

Gender reveal for the kids

I completely forgot to add the photos of us telling the kids about Baby #4! We did it a few weeks ago when we initially found out and decided that they'd probably like the cupcake idea the best. (Seemed the other kid-friendly idea was popping blue or pink confetti from a balloon and that idea makes me twitch so cupcakes won!)

Unfortunately, I can't just make four cupcakes, so Monica and family had their own gender reveal party later that night. Ha!

So stinkin' delicious, but I almost keeled over from the sugar rush. Frosting inside of cake topped with frosting. Oof and yum.

I filmed them when they initially bit into the cupcake and can't upload it for some reason. Molly was extremely confused and thought the baby was inside the cupcake. Even though we explained in detail that blue frosting inside meant boy and pink meant girl. She wouldn't eat it because she truly thought she'd eat the baby. Ha! After we got that straightened out, we asked her what she thought about having another brother. She said, "well I wanted a sister." Then she farted. Loudly. Tell us what you really think, Molly!

I found these cute BOY balloons on Amazon and thought I'd do a cute gender reveal photo. The hardware store in town sells helium and with my prime membership, I could get this photo knocked out in a couple of days!

Well.

The balloons finally came in and the weather was supposed to be nice one day before dipping back into the 20s, so Steve took the balloons to the hardware store while Will napped. I was ready to get the kids dressed and ready to go as soon as Will woke up from his nap and we'd head out to Rick and Monica's land to do the photo. Steve called me five minutes later.

"Uh. I've got some bad news."
What? What happened?
"The first balloon she filled up- the O- it popped."
You are KIDDING ME. THIS IS NOT FUNNY.
"I wish I was kidding. But it popped."
*boiling* Okayyyyyyyyy I guess I will just reorder another set. *curse words*

Poor Steve. The girl blowing it up didn't seem to know what she was doing and didn't seem to really care that she just blew out a freaking $4 balloon. But the weather was turning and that just delayed everything even more and it made me so mad. (Stupid, I know, considering it's a freaking balloon.)

Anyways, the replacement balloons came in and Steve had an appointment in Fargo, so he took them down to Party City and got them filled there. Success! I had him take the extra "B" and "Y" just in case but all went well. It was supposed to get into the upper 40s one day so we waited two or three days to do the photo with these massive balloons hanging out around the house. About 12 hours after the balloons were filled though, the "B" was sagging significantly. I couldn't hear a leak, but it was really obvious that it was not holding air as well as the other two. GAHHHHHHH

LUCKILY! I had an extra "B" but no time to go all the way back to Party City. Monica and I went up to the hardware store together with the B. I needed moral support. She really prepped the guy with how important this balloon was and DO NOT POP IT and really just made him very nervous in general. Which I appreciated because the former gal seemed to feel zero remorse in popping my very special balloon. Anyway, TWO guys filled it up and we all held our breath and I almost screamed when I saw the sides pinching outwards as it was getting too full but *EXHALE* he didn't pop it!!!

With the filled balloons and 45* weather outside, we gathered the kids' clothes and headed out to Monica's house. The bus dropped all the boys off there and we did the photos. With the big kids holding Will, I know I have about five seconds to get a decent shot where Will is not screaming or looking like "someone please save me" so I did a few test shots to get my settings right. Once everything was ready to go, Steve plopped him in between Sam and Molly (we tied the O balloon to his back belt loop), and I snapped away while everyone stood behind me and made a huge commotion, while also screaming at Sam to hold the B towards us! Watch for the wind! Molly! Smile! With your lips! Will! Over here! Don't drop him in the snow! Frick! Everyone smile! SMILE FOR GOD'S SAKE PRETEND YOU'RE SUPER HAPPY AND NOT BEING FORCED INTO THIS.

Ultimately, it came down to picking between the photos of where the balloons cooperated most. There were honestly maybe three or four photos total where the wind was not blowing all the balloons sideways. And the rest of them looked like this.

I am honestly so happy that's over with and will never attempt another balloon picture like this with children. Especially children who cannot stand on their own. I'm glad we did it, but man was it stressful!!

This post contains affiliate link(s) and might earn me enough pennies to one day justify a tiny fraction of my Amazon purchases.

Baby #4 is a...

For once, I guessed correctly! Steve is always right and I never have any "mother's intuition" about these things, but I consulted the Chinese gender predictor and went with the Chinese. People who were intuitive enough to come up with fried rice have my vote on telling me who my baby is. (If you haven't done it, you can plug in your own info and check its accuracy- crazy accurate!! Let me know if it's not because I've only heard one person tell me it hasn't been right for them.)

Sam initially wanted a sister because he likes even numbers and wanted there to be three girls and three boys. Then he swapped teams at the last minute and decided a brother might be more fun. Plus they could outnumber us girls. Ha. Molly was on Team Sister the whole way and was slightly disappointed when we told her she was getting another brother, but then she told us that it was fine, the next baby can be a sister. Oof! Willie obviously has no clue what's going on. He does not like being dropped in the snow though, that is for sure.

Pictures with him will be 8 zillion times easier once he learns how to stand on his own.

I really thought the ultrasound would drive it home for me that this baby is real and coming at some point but I'm still kinda in complete and total denial. Even though we are officially on the downward slope. I have pulled out a few maternity things but for the most part am wearing my usual (stretchy) mom clothes.

First time I've ever had a 4D ultrasound and it was amazing! I know that seems kinda standard nowadays, but the entire idea of ultrasound and being able to see inside the body like this just blows me away. What genius came up with this?! And can you imagine the first time they ever did one?

This pregnancy has been much like the others, and for that I am thankful. No nausea. No real cravings or aversions. I am starting to feel him kick around in there at night when I'm lying still in bed. The kids are excited and come up with names for him like Water Bottle or Valentine or whatever else we happen to be talking about that day. I keep hoping they'll throw out some semi decent suggestion, as we are still kinda unsure as to what he should be named.

It's weird to think that Sam was the same age as Will is when this same scenario was playing out with Molly. He seems so tiny still! I can't imagine another baby in addition to Will at this point. I guess I need to stretch my brain and imagine that, maybe realize I'm pregnant and not just on a wine strike, maybe remain in denial and pretend June isn't coming despite the fact that things are beginning to thaw....

Blood is red, violets are blue, Valentine's Day is stressful, give me chocolate

A visit from the lip-less wonder, I mean, Wonder Woman. For some reason now when she smiles, she curls her top lip up and it just disappears. If you ask her to smile with her lips, she just puckers them out. No winning with this one. She is awfully cute though.

Another Sunday spent walking Will around the church. Bless his heart, there isn't much to keep him occupied during mass, and we are at yet another church that doesn't have a cry room. (Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy)

We ended up over at Rick and Monica's house to go sledding and brought some hot dogs along because nothing makes these kids happier than hot dogs. Except maybe pizza. And macaroni. The usual little kid favorite food groups. The grown ups had some venison that Rick bagged this past November. A-OK stuff, although the texture takes some getting used to. The boys got haircuts before heading home and doing a quick clean before school in the morning.

Will has learned early that he will get some snuggle time and extra attention if he sits still for books.

Took advantage of the big kids being in school on Monday and ran errands in Fargo. That included a stop at Dollar Tree for some Valentines balloons. The kids go nuts over helium balloons so I got a few and hid them so that it would be a surprise the next morning. Since we have no real closets, it was tricky finding a spot to hide them. Three got smushed into our closet behind my dresses and the others ended up in a linen closet in the bathroom. Risky since they are into everything, but luckily no one found them!

Molly made out the best with flowers and a candy heart (filled with gummies). I got the candy heart at Dollar Tree and dumped the chocolates (because she doesn't like chocolates) and filled it with some butterfly gummies instead. She was thrilled by this and the gummies are already gone.

Sam got a monkey balloon and a Star Wars tin of suckers. Despite having never seen Star Wars or knowing anything about it, he is mildly obsessed with it, which I think is pretty funny.

Out of a four pack of conversation hearts (from the Dollar Tree), I had enough "winners" to set out for three people. I'm not sure if that's because conversation hearts are just terribly printed or if it's the Dollar Tree ones, but either way, I'm not sure anyone actually read the ones I picked for them. These were for Steve and I also got him a few Reeses hearts. Reeses are my love language so I assume that must be true for everyone else as well, barring a peanut allergy.

I absolutely HATE how dark it is in the mornings still- makes the whole house feel like a cave. I need natural light!! Anyways, aren't these cuties a bright spot? Will is wearing a shirt that tiny baby Sam used to wear. Wahhhhhhhhh

Molly saw that you can add stickers to instagram stories and while seemingly restrained at first...

semi normal

...girlfriend got carried away real quick.

On a scale of 1 to zoo, how obvious is it that she likes animals?

The afternoon seemed to go downhill quickly as Will's nap schedule was off and Molly had a question or comment about everyfrigginthing and then I made cupcakes and forgot to spray the liners, which, in reality, is no big deal, but at the time it just felt like ONE MORE THING snowballing on that downward slope and I was over it. Can't even make cupcakes! Worthless! The cupcakes actually peeled off quite easily, so all was not lost and we continued on with the day. There was a brief moment of silence.

Very brief. Will took another horribly timed nap, confining us to the house for the rest of the day. We had big plans to drop off cupcakes to some friends and gather eggs with them, but it quickly turned into "what crap can I scrape together to make up a passable dinner?" The cupcake disaster avoided, I had a slight boost and decided to try and make it seem Valentine-y.

Steve's mom would cut their sandwiches into shapes for them, and in an effort to not have the request thrown at me all the time, I told them that was her special talent and only Mom moms can do that. Kids are gullible so when this was presented to them at dinner, you'd think I just presented them with a fine surf and turf meal. Just to keep the illusion going, I told them how long I slaved over these shapes and that Mom mom taught me a few of her secrets, but I'm no pro. Aka this won't be the usual!

Best news of the day is that Will is not allergic to peanuts!!! He tried peanut butter for the first time and had absolutely no reaction, so I am breathing a huge sigh of relief for him. He was none too impressed with my sandwich though and threw the last bits on the floor (peanut butter side down, of course).

I've also been lugging around these paper heart straws for YEARS now, so Steve made pink smoothies for us so we could use them. And in a wine glass! Everyone was feeling fancy. Steve and I had salmon, garlic quinoa with brown rice, and roasted carrots. PB&J seemed perfectly acceptable and romantic to me though.

After dinner, things went downhill quickly. (You- I thought we were already at the bottom of the hill, how much longer can we roll downhill???) Will was playing with the big kids in the living room when I heard a crash and a cry. I ran in there from the kitchen (all of 3 feet away) and Sam and Molly said Will tried to stand up but fell and bumped his head. He tends to cry a bit when he goes from standing to sitting unexpectedly so I wasn't too concerned at first. Then after getting him to calm down, I noticed he had some blood in his mouth. Then, A TON OF BLOOD in his mouth. Which he sweetly shared with me.

This pictures doesn't do it justice- I looked like Jackie Kennedy post-assassination, minus the good hair and pretty clothes. I figured he just bit his lip when he fell and once he wiped his blood on me, I passed him off to Steve for a quick bath. Right as his bath was ending, his mouth started bleeding again. Looks like he bit his frenulum (little piece of skin between lip and gums on the top of the mouth) and it was just going crazy.

my poor bloody baby

His lip swelled a bit and after a few minutes, he didn't seem bothered by it at all. This did not stop me from freaking out though. Monica (former trauma nurse) informed me (after being bombarded with multiple blurry, bloody photos) that this had happened to her sons multiple times and while it is a free-bleeding area, it would stop soon and he'd be fine. Nothing an ER doc could do for it besides give a little ibuprofen and ice. He went to bed nicely and slept through the night, luckily. Woke up this morning and his lip isn't even swollen! I was prepared for the worst.

So anyways, not the greatest Valentine's Day, but not the worst either. Looking forward to some WINE next year though. Days like these really call for it!!