What a Week... and it's not even over yet!

I'll just run through it day by day so I don't forget anything...

Monday was Jerry's birthday! Justus said he wasn't feeling well (sore throat, he said) as soon as he got up. I let him lay with me in the bed for awhile and he fell back asleep. I asked him if he wanted to try to eat and he said he did then proceeded to eat everything on his plate. After breakfast he laid back down on the couch and promptly threw up, missing the bucket by a mere six inches, leaving me to clean up the equivalent of strawberry jam from my cream colored carpet. (He had eaten peanut butter toast and strawberries for breakfast.)

By Monday afternoon, he was feeling much better. [Note to self: do not allow Wesley to lean towards any job in the medical profession. He is completely grossed out by vomit.] We managed to make a cake, but before dinner was really under way I had to call Jerry home from work so I could go to urgent care.

My right ear was bothering me. It had been bothering me for a few days, but I finally couldn't take it anymore. It ended up I have an external ear infection (otitis externa) otherwise know as swimmer's ear even though I haven't been swimming in over a year. I guess it's common in people with skin issues (me!) and those who use cotton swabs (me again!). Thankfully, I had a freezer meal tucked away that Jer tossed in the oven while I was gone. Unfortunately, not the grandest of birthday meals.

So I got a prescription for ear drops and I have to mention... I really hate ear drops. But they are working and my ear is feeling much better. Thankfully, the rest of Jerry's birthday included cake and a quiet evening at home. Two of his favorite things.

I knew Tuesday was going to be a bummer because there was no new episode of LOST to look forward to. The boys were sad because it's the second to last night of AWANA. I'm sure Jer wasn't too happy about staying home to scrub the kitchen floor which is the job of whoever stays home on Tuesday evening. I have been doing it the last few weeks since I've stayed home to watch LOST (we have no way to record it--yes, I know you can watch online but it's not the same--yes, I know it's just a TV show but it's the only one I watch and it's ending in just a few weeks).

Wednesday was blissfully uneventful. Wednesday evening found me across town at a friend's house planning our very first coupon class! It's going to be a lot of fun and I just know all of our "graduates" are going to save so much money! We're going to run one trial class and if it goes well we will be doing it again so let me know if you are interested.

That brings us to today, Thursday. As if I didn't have enough medical issues this week I also had to head to the oral surgeon this afternoon. Over a month ago I developed a bump on my gums (pyogenic granuloma). It just happened that I had a cleaning scheduled so I asked the dentist about it. She said she was sure it was just a bit of extra tissue but suggested I have it removed and referred me to the oral surgeon. There is no treatment except surgical removal.

The oral surgeon is a nice guy (the one who removed Roz's wisdom teeth) and got me in and out quickly. Just to be on the safe side they sent it for biopsy and I have to go back for a follow up next Friday to get the results. I really do hate having dental work especially the numb feeling. It is finally wearing off. I'll take the pain of the incision over the numbness any day! The good news is the bump is now gone. The bad news is that it is not entirely uncommon for them to reappear. It wasn't really bothering me but if it wasn't removed it could have continued to grow and affected my ability to keep my teeth clean. Nothing to do but wait and see what happens now.

On a side note, when I went online trying to figure out what that bump was I read about pyogenic granulomas. They have a nickname... the "pregnancy tumor"... it's always a possibility, so I took a test and was a bit disappointed to see it was negative. :)

Well, that brings you up to date, for now anyway!

Lil Sibs Weekend (Wesley's View)

While we were off enjoying Bitty City at the Children's Museum, Wesley was hanging out with Roz. Little Sibs Weekend was technically for siblings ages five to twelve, but I'm guessing most college freshmen don't have three siblings in that age range! So we decided to give Roz a break and only leave her with one sibling.

They hung out in Roz's dorm room...

They went bowling at the rec center, where Wesley bowled a 24!!

Wesley got to walk down and then up the infamous UWEC hill!

After dinner in the cafeteria, they went to the Dive-In movie at the pool...

And, apparently, took pictures of themselves being silly! (Are those flip flops on his hands?) I'm sure there were several more like this but (thankfully?) Roz only sent me one. :)

Wesley stayed up until 9:30pm, which is probably a late night record for him. He had hoped to stay up late like all the college kids he knows, but didn't quite make it. Wesley was impressed with the cafeteria (which is funny because that is one of Roz's least favorite parts about college life), but I guess he doesn't have to eat there every day.  For dinner he chose: pizza, cottage cheese, applesauce, jello, and grape juice... followed by ice cream for dessert.

We intended to let them sleep in, but Wesley got Roz up early anyway. So we picked them up and took everyone to Culver's for lunch before driving home. We are always sad to leave Roz (or have her leave us) but in less than a month she'll be off for the summer!!

If you have an extra minute and a stamp send Roz a quick note congratulating her surviving a visit from her whole family on finishing up her first year, very successfully, at UWEC!

Lil Sibs Weekend!!

Lil Sibs Weekend was a lot of fun! We left here bright and early Saturday morning and walked up to Roz's dorm door before 11am. We all went out to lunch, Roz's choice, at Fazoli's. JD decided to ruin the meal by throwing a little, but thankfully rare, fit.

For some reason he is going through a stage where he doesn't want his food cut but it's too big for him to eat if you don't. Well, we cut up his HUGE piece of pizza and he never recovered. Dad had to take him outside. Thankfully, despite the fact he missed his nap, he was very well behaved the rest of the afternoon.

The boys had never seen Roz's dorm room or been to Eau Claire at all for that matter! Everyone was excited to go, but Wesley was especially so (as you can see from his little note above). We had pages and pages of colored artwork to bring Roz!

After lunch we dropped Roz and Wesley off then headed out to seek our own adventure. We ended up at the Eau Claire Children's Museum. It is small but a lot of fun. They boys had a blast! We played there all afternoon. We couldn't check into the hotel so naps had to be skipped, but it worked out just fine. The boys were too busy to get tired!

We spent most of the time in Bitty City...

... delivering mail and serving up food in the diner ...

... working the news desk and playing in the sound booth ...

... Eli took his job in the grocery store very seriously ...

... exploring the human digestive system...

... and playing in the basement water works!

After the museum we took a short walk by the Chippewa River. It was windy with a capital W! If I would have let go of the stroller JD could have blown to Minneapolis. Despite the sunny skies the wind was a bit chilly so we turned around and headed back to the van.

We checked in and unloaded at the hotel before heading to dinner. We decided to "eat light" and just went to Taco Bell. We had the place all to ourselves and the cashier thought the boys were so cute that she gave them all a free kids meal toy even though we didn't order any kid's meals.

After dinner we got on our swimsuits and set out for the hotel pool. We were sad to see the hot tub wasn't just out of order... it was filled in with cement! The older boys clung to the pool edge and fearless JD jumped from the edge to my arms about 100 times. When everyone's teeth were chattering we dried off and made our way back to the room.

If you think we don't get as many stares and looks when we are out and about with "only" four... you are mistaken! Jaws still drop and heads still nod and people still stare. Some even asked or commented and were pretty surprised to hear we were missing, not one, but two!

I'll post a few pictures of Roz and Wesley's fun later... this post is long enough!!

My Other Blog

If you live in the GB area are looking to save a little money... head over to my other blog GB Savers. I don't post my money saving coupon deals here much anymore, I post them over there instead. A few friends and I work together to list the best deals at area stores. For example, this week you can get over 17 pounds of chicken (worth $25) for $11.50 with printable coupons!

Even if you don't live in our area there are posts worth reading if you are interested in saving money! If things seem quiet over here once in awhile it's probably because I'm blogging over there!

Lil Sibs Weekend

We are heading over to Eau Claire this weekend to visit Roz. It's the official Lil Sibs Weekend. All the boys are excited to see Roz and her "college". The weekend is geared a bit towards older kids so I think Wesley will get the most out of it. Roz is hoping to get a few non-cafeteria meals out of it as well.

We're driving over early Saturday morning with a van full of kids and snacks for our favorite college freshmen. There are all sorts of fun activities on campus and then Wesley will get to have a sleepover in Roz's dorm room. The rest of the gang will be sleeping at a hotel with Mom and Dad. Everyone is looking forward to swimming in the hotel pool. Although Mom and Dad are disappointed because we were already informed that the hot tub will be down for maintenance. Bummer.

Guess I'll dust off the ol' portable DVD player for the ride. I started packing a bit today but kept thinking it's only one night I don't need to pack all that much. But just the shear number of us requires a good bit of packing even if it's only for one night!

If anyone knows of anything fun we can do in Eau Claire with the little boys while Wesley is with Roz let me know. The weather is supposed to be nice so we are hoping to find something fun to do outside like a zoo or park.

I'll be sure to give a full report upon our return!

Shown Family First

Friday night Justus lost his first tooth! While that is exciting enough he proceeded to lose his second a few minutes later! Two teeth in one night... a Shown family first.

Justus' two front, bottom teeth have been loose for some time. The boys were in the basement wrestling around with Dad when Justus got bumped and one tooth came out. He came upstairs crying because it was bleeding a bit.

When I looked in his mouth the second one was just barely hanging by a thread so I gently use the paper towel I had given him for the bleeding to help it along while he was crying "don't pull it, don't pull it!".

We finally got him calmed down and insisted no more teeth would fall out while he slept (which he was concerned about). Once he was settled down then Eli and Hayden started crying because they wanted to lose teeth too. Eli felt a bit better when we reminded he already lost one tooth. But he still spent a few minutes trying to wiggle one out. His two bottom, front teeth are loose too but not anywhere near ready to fall out just yet.

Justus wouldn't let me take a picture Friday night but was happy to pose for the camera this afternoon!

Silly Speaks

Every once in awhile I like to write down a few funny things the kids have said. Here are a few new JD entries to my "silly speaks" category:

When I am in the laundry room switching loads or folding laundry (which is quite often in a large family), JD likes to come in and keep me company. Sometimes he just sits there and chats with me while I work. Other times he asks me, "Can I play laundry? Please, Mom?". Sure JD, you can play laundry whenever you want!


The twins like to play on Starfall. (If you have preschoolers or younger kids it is a great phonics website.) One of the activities on the site shows a little gingerbread man running off singing the usual:

Run, run, as fast as you can!
You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!

JD some has his own way of saying it that cracks me up every time:

Run, run, as fast as you can!
You can't catch me, I'm in kindergarten!

April (Snow) Showers

We all woke up to another fine Wisconsin spring morning:

out my front door

Yes, it's April. Yes, that's about 4 inches of snow. One never knows what we'll get for weather this time of year. Last week at this time we had the windows open and the boys played outside with no jackets. Today not so much:

out my back door

Don't worry, the high is supposed to be 65 on Saturday and all of this will be a memory!

April Menu

Here is the April menu. Better late than never. Don't worry we've still be eating even though the menu wasn't posted! Having a home-cooking deprived college student kind of wrecked the last week of March's menu.

As a reminder we have two week rotating lunch menu, one planned big weekend breakfast, and usually something in the crockpot for lunch after church on Sunday. I don't really plan veggies and side dishes ahead. We usually have a nightly salad and then some kind of frozen veggies. Side dishes are usually whatever sounds good and what I have on hand (potatoes, rice, breads, etc.). If you want any recipes let me know.

(click to enlarge)

Olive Cheese Bread

I have made this bread several times and it's always a BIG hit. I love it. My mom loves it. My sister loves it. Roz loves it. When I made it for my twins club meeting last Thursday it was requested that I post the recipe as soon as possible. I could have done it right away but we were having too much fun and several of the mom's were in my basement chatting until almost midnight so I headed straight to bed! I forgot until just this very minute and now that I remembered here is is the recipe!

Olive Cheese Bread (via Pioneer Woman)

1 jar green olives
1 can black olives
2 green onions
1 stick butter, softened
½ cup mayonnaise
¾ lb. grated Monterey Jack cheese
1 loaf French bread, slice lengthwise

Roughly chop black and green olives. Slice green onions into thin pieces.
Mix until thoroughly combined. Spread mixture onto French bread.
Bake at 325ºF for 25 to 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.
Mixture can also be refrigerated (up to 2 days) or used as a spread with crackers.

Easter Weekend

We had a lovely Easter. The boys started the morning by finding their hidden $1 bills courtesy of Grandma Linda and Pa. We then headed to church early to have a pancake breakfast. My boys LOVE breakfast food! We sang a few worship songs with the rest of the congregation before sneaking out to teach Children's Church.

We did haircuts yesterday so everyone looked extra handsome for church...
JD got his first big boy buzz. He looks so cute and, boy, is his hair blond!

We had a small lunch and then started working on dinner. After the ham was in the oven, I frosted the (in)famous lamb cake.

One of these years I'm going to make THE BEST lamb cake ever. This years was definitely better than last years, but I am going to keep trying. I made the cake from scratch again. It held up wonderfully, no broken lamb neck. And while it tasted great just out of the oven yesterday (I used the extra batter for cupcakes), today it was a bit dry. Still edible but not awesome. The search for the perfect cake recipe will continue.

I headed over to Grandma's for a quick visit before coming back to finish up the rest of the dinner (scalloped potatoes and peas). Roz had to leave to head back to UWEC about 4:30pm, so we ate early and said our good-byes. It's been a nice, quiet evening and everyone is just about ready to head to bed after playing outside all afternoon.

Hope you had a wonderful Easter Sunday! Christ is RISEN!

Foolish Food

Last year I made a few April Fools Day recipes. I didn't mean for it to become a tradition, but Wesley wasn't about to let April 1st pass without making something fun to eat.

I get a freebie subscription to Family Fun magazine and they have had several cute "trick" food recipes that work perfect for April Fools. If you don't get Family Fun you can still get plenty of ideas here, on their website.
We started off with a hearty breakfast of eggs and bacon. Reactions varied.
Justus: "That's all we get?"
Everyone else: "Oooh! Candy!"

Of course, that wasn't their real breakfast, but it was a special treat to get candy that early in the morning. Unfortunately, it was only one M&M in a bit of white chocolate and a third of Tootsie Roll.

We didn't do anything crazy for lunch, but we went all out for dinner!! For the main dish cupcakes:
That would be meatloaf cooked in muffin liners topped with mashed potatoes dyed blue. Hayden insisted they were real cupcakes until he tasted one! Justus likes to follow rules so this whole idea of tricking people with food didn't go over well with him. Everyone else seemed to really get a kick out of it, even Roz requested we save her a "cupcake" to eat after she got home from work.

Let me tell you... it is quite weird to take a bite of blue mashed potatoes and have them taste... normal. It really does mess with your mind!
Cupcakes for dinner and pizza for dessert? Craziness! Wesley requested that we make the same thing we did last year. So, while the twins were playing outside and the little ones napping, he helped me make jello "drinks" and "pizza" cake. Wesley loves to cook and as an added bonus we did this instead of his regularly scheduled math lesson.
The big boys weren't fooled at all by the jello this year. They have great memories. JD, on the other hand, was a prime target. He tried and tried to suck that jello through the straw. We don't use straws very often and when we do it usually means there is something very tasty in the cup (shake or smoothie). He wanted to make sure he wasn't missing anything good! And, FYI, it is possible to suck jello through a straw if one sucks hard enough!

I have one year to come up with some new April Fools recipe tricks so if you see any send them my way!