Suggestions?

Jer and I made a quick run to the thrift store on Saturday morning. (We had to take advantage of Roz being home to watch the boys!) We got a of couple things, but my favorite purchase was this:
An old half gallon blue Ball canning jar... any creative suggestions on what I can do with it? Besides just fill it with something?

Sisterly Love

Roz arrived Friday evening about 7pm for her weekend visit. She requested we have something "good" to eat for dinner so she could re-heat it when she got here. Apparently, the only two things she doesn't absolutely love about UWEC is the constant cafeteria food and the hill. So I made crockpot lasagna and yummy bread with pumpkin bars for dessert.

We had a nice visit. Roz visited a bit with us and a few friends, got in some shopping, slept in her own bed (which felt bigger), and got to shower without flip flops on! When they were awake and she was around, she pretty much had a brother next to her the whole time. Wesley especially just wanted to sit by her on Saturday afternoon. The boys are coming down with a cold or something so they weren't as rambunctious.

I tried to snap a shot of Wesley sitting by Roz on the couch. This is what I ended up with. If you think Wesley looks silly in this one you should have seen him in the other two. At least in this one his eyes were open! (We went to the Fire Station Open House on Saturday... but that will be another post.)Roz didn't bring any laundry home (there wasn't room), although she did bring one pair of pants that needed adjusting. Mostly she just tried to cram down as much homemade food as she could, but time ran out and she had to head back. Don't worry Roz, I finished that last pumpkin bar for you! It was sure great to have her home! Now we'll have to start counting down until Thanksgiving!

Odd N Ends

Here are a few bits of family news...

• Roz is coming home for a short visit tomorrow! We are all looking forward to it. The boys are super excited. They haven't seen her since the end of August!!

• Wesley had a dermatologist appointment this morning. His regular derm. was all booked up so we saw a new (to us) doctor. She asked if we were pleased with his progress. The answer: yes and no. The warts are improving, but barely... definitely not at the rate we had hoped (especially for the cost and suffering). She suggested we try a new method. We are going to give cantharidin (aka blister beetle juice) a try. This too will cause a blister but supposedly ONLY on the wart and not the surrounding areas, which was the problem we faced with the other treatment. I'll keep you posted on how it goes. We are also increasing his Tagamet dosage. I can't remember now if I mentioned this on the blog, but there is some research that suggests Tagamet (the antacid med) can help the warts from the inside out.

• AWANA started mid-September. Poor J.D. is the lone brother left home with Daddy. The twins have moved up to Sparks with Wesley. Hayden was happy to join the big boys and finally become a Cubbie:

• On a chilly morning this week, J.D. had is first sip of a beloved family beverage:

I think he liked it!!

October Menu

Whew! I did it. No promises that I'll stick to it but at least I have a goal to aim towards! I'm so happy it's soup weather again. In the summer we have salad once a week and in the winter we have soup. I like a good salad but I LOVE soup... especially with some kind of homemade bread!

Click the menu to enlarge or click on the menu tab above. Remember I list a special weekend breakfast on Saturdays and a crockpot lunch for after church on Sunday.

We've tried several new (and delicious) recipes recently and I'm on the hunt for more. Any suggestions?

The Barracks

We did a little rearranging in the boys room this weekend and Jerry is now calling their room "the barracks". Hayden was ready to move up to a twin size bed from the toddler bed and my sister had a set of bunk beds she wasn't using anymore so that worked out nicely!The switch actually ended up giving the boys more floor space since there are only two beds instead of three! Wesley is on the top of the red bunk with Eli below. Justus is on top of the grey one with Hayden below. All the boys were pretty excited about the new arrangement.
I do think that J.D. wishes he wasn't off in a room all alone but for now it works out well. When he's ready for a toddler bed next year we'll do some more rearranging. Or maybe we'll just move J.D. in with his brothers and turn his room into an office or something! Then again maybe not. We're not paying the mortgage on a four bedroom house so we can all sleep in two rooms!

Coupon Fun

If you are interested in reading the details about how I paid $20 for $60 worth of stuff at Walmart on Friday click here.