September

Cinammon Rolls are a tradition for Birthday breakfast's. And of course they must be home-made. Generally I make them the evening before, but for some reason we needed to make Zachary's the morning before. He must be involved in every little aspect, of everything I do every waking minute of the day. Here he is trying to roll out the dough AFTER all the butter and cinammon have been put on. I really like my cinammon rolls to look perfect...but these ones were all over the place. And he was a sugary butter mess to top it off. Patience and deep breathing. I seem to do that a lot these days. Another little lesson to Steph: Presentation is not everything. They still tasted delicious- and once the frosting went on- no one really noticed.


Have you ever had the privilege of getting meat stickers from the butcher? If you haven't , let me tell you, you are missing out! You only get them if your child throws a massive tantrum in the grocery store, and everyone is trying to get your child to stop, as you CALMLY try to make your way unnoticed to the exit. This was the butchers peace offering. Sorry to say the butchers stickers didn't make the cut. But it made for a funny dinner story.



Content and Focused for twenty minutes. Yes, I know it isn't the traditional place to let your child play. But the key words here are content and focused. The ability to get something done for twenty minutes uninterrupted is worth the waterfall and ensuing lake that appeared on the floor. The phone is just to the left of the sink- so I happily made phone calls and he happily played. The two minute clean up was worth it- and I even got a clean floor out of it. Even better.

We had fondue for Dawn's birthday. It's easy, everyone loves it- chocolate is everywhere and you can't help but lick the plate clean!

The scouts have to arm wrestle the Bear (their dad) in order to get their Bear Badge. Brian gave it a good try, but Brandon's ten year old strength was no match for him, and Brandon emerged victorious. Love those feel good moments for kids. It's all the rest of the kids could talk about- did you see Brandon beat dad.....

The times I get to talk to my mom are few and far between because the kids just HAVE to tell Grandma this and that.... One morning we did have the opportunity to talk and when I walked downstairs after finishing the conversation, Andrew says, " Aren't you glad I kept Zachary occupied while you talked to Grandma??" I really couldn't say anything. So I didn't. I just took a deep breath, and another. And another.