Reconnecting

The weekend goes by way too fast in my opinion. I don't always feel this way, but when I do it is a good indicator that I have enjoyed it. And I honestly have.

Jonny had a wonderful time at school Friday so much that he got a warning to not play in the bathroom with his friend. To me, this is a great sign that he is finally feeling more comfortable at school at least in the friend department, and so it was hard for me to get mad at him. He did however tell me this evening without any prompting from me that he will try to get no warnings tomorrow----- what a good boy.
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John is such an amazing father. When I see him with one of our kids I often times am in awe of how wonderful he is with our children. I am thankful that he is so involved and truly a partner in parenting our kids. I don't know what I'd do without him.

Dennis adores his Daddy and you can probably see why in this picture. He shares everything with the kids and is a great example of what a selfless person looks like. As I watch him, he often times reminds me of how I could be a little less selfless like when he brought me this Carmel Macchiato from Starbucks.

I really didn't want to share this special treat my hubby brought just for me. I reluctantly let all of my girls try it--- my reasoning being that they didn't need the caffeine. Hmmmm, probably only partially the truth.
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I unpacked three boxes on Friday! In the process, I found a tin of card games and out came the Old Maid--- a favorite with my kids.

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When John got back from dropping off five of our boys in Reedley for the weekend, Sveta and I made Bread Pudding.


It was really good------- and I didn't even use a recipe. I find myself cooking like that more and more, and it really brings out the creative side in me. If I ever went back to school, I think I might like to become a chef for my own restaurant. Big dreams, huh?
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Dennis is just a joy! He brings so much delight to our family. His smile is absolutely one of the best rewards, and all of us enjoy being on the receiving end of one of them. He can now climb onto this tractor himself and rocks it back and forth. Just one of many milestones that Dennis has hit in the short time that he has been with us. Can you say------A-M-A-Z-I-N-G?
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Chore time. I unpacked all of our crayon/marker/pencil boxes and had the girls sort through them and consolidate three bins into one bigger tub. Who would have thought that this would would be so much fun for the girls? Anna and Annalyn especially, who found all kinds of treasures.
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Dennis thinks my kitchen is his giant toy box! It drives me nuts, but it is just so darn cute!
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Saturday was a good day. Not only did John do tons of honey dos while I went out grocery shopping but we spent a lot of time talking and catching up on each others lives. Even the smallest things like my Aunt Tanya coming to visit next month and John needing to get his oil changed in his car was discussed and while it didn't need to be said in order for our marriage to stay strong, it just felt good talking to my best friend. There really isn't one thing that I don't share with him and him likewise. That is just how we are.

We even cooked dinner together Saturday night--- homemade pizza--- yum!!!

It was fun just having the girls around (and Dennis). They were the ones that decided we would make pizza.

Even though the picture may not show it, just moments earlier, I had thrown a fit over my floor being all sticky. John said he had spilled a Pepsi and cleaned it up. I begged to argue that he hadn't cleaned it up very well, and quickly got more upset than I should have. After I cleaned it up and my hot flash subsided, I felt myself return to normal. Not that my lack of hormone replacement therapy should serve as a good excuse for my attitude, but I can't help but think it may be a factor now that it has been three weeks since I stopped taking them.

Later, both John and Julia came to me separately to tell me that it had been Julia who had dropped an unopened can of Pepsi as she was putting them into the refridge and it exploded. He just didn't want her to feel worse than she already did and so he took the blame. Apparently, Pepsi had been on my carpet, cupboards, ceiling, walls, etc. and the little bit that I had seen was nothing compared to what the mess had been.

At that moment, I was very thankful that despite my behavior, my daughter trusted me enough to come and tell me something that she could've easily kept to herself. I realized that if I am not more careful in how I react to things, I may not get this privilege much more. I apologized and thanked her for telling me, and we went on to have a very nice evening.


Hmmmm, pizza fresh from the oven!

Anna made this pizza. Don't the let shape fool you---- it was delicious!

Pizza, Cheetah Girls One World, Ice-Cream bars, and swimming. What better way to spend a Saturday night?
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Sveta has watched her sisters very closely for quite some time, because she so wanted to be able to feed Dennis on her own. Here she is getting his high chair ready so that she could feed him.

Too bad for her though, Dennis hit another milestone this weekend------ he can now feed himself animal crackers. Isn't that just awesome! However, Sveta still got to feed him his bowl of food later.
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One of the things that John did this weekend was he planted two new trees and two shrubs. It was too dark to take pictures on Saturday night so I took them today so that you can see we planted a pine tree and two privets. We also panted another Chinese Elm in the front yard.

Hopefully, this time next year we will have a much greener yard. Oh, how I love the color green.



Tonight, I experienced a lot of pain in my abdomen, the same pain I have had each time I needed to be admitted to the hospital to have an ERCP for Post-cholecystectomy syndrome so that they could stint my bile duct. I was in a lot of pain and as a result, I had just snapped at my daughters for how they had hung up John's pants. Right after, the pain got worse and I was doubled over on my bed waiting for the pain reliever to kick in. Within seconds of the girls learning that I was in pain, Rachel in particular came and sat down next to me and started rubbing my back. I truly didn't deserve this, but I am continually amazed at how much my children teach me.