Normalcy

The VanEvera's January 15 - 21

Hallelujah!! This week was much better than last week! We all seem to be back to "normal" if that is even possible! If you call whiny kids, lots of noise, lots of messes, running, jumping, playing, music, art, and chaos normal, then yep we are back! Schedules are back in place this week and everything just clicked right along. My or most of my kids started coming back this week and they all seemed to adjust well to getting back into the groove :) The girls and Ian were happy to have their playmates again and I was happy to be really busy again. On Thursday I had three sweet little baby girls under the age of one, but they were SOOOO good!

The girls are really loving their new leap pads that Santa brought them! I downloaded some new stuff for them this week and also learned that I can track their progress and to my amazement there were things they can do that showed up they were not doing well at! Imagine a kid not doing their best? Anyway, I showed them that Mommy and Daddy can check anytime to see how they are doing and wouldn't you know with in hours, they were trying harder and doing it! They are so silly.

I also managed to run my fastest mile....11:15!! I know that may seem slow to some of you but for this fat girl who started out at a 15 minute mile, I am pretty proud of myself :) I can beat Paul and all the "older" people at the track. I am blessed that even with all of life's responsibilities I can still get some time to myself, just me, God, an open road/track, and my Ipod!

The kids and I loaded up and headed to school on Friday to surprise Paul and my mom for lunch a little visit. The kids always have a good time. This time they decided we all or at least the girls needed to wear our skirts and boots and Ian could wear his boots with jeans. Ally decked out in pink and Audrey in blue, those are my girls! I also stopped off and got Ian a much needed haircut from Mrs. Lindsey. To quote my girls "If Mrs. Lindsey doesn't cut your hair....its ugly."

Saturday I tried a new Pioneer Woman recipe: Spicy Pop Pulled Pork with Perfect Au Gratin Potatoes! Yummy and Easy! Since Ally does not really like really spicy food, I didn't use all of the peppers and added just a bit more brown sugar, kind of like my own little twist! I did make apple turnovers, however I did not make them home made this time but they were still delicious. We were all pretty pleased with our meal, especially Paul and can't wait to make it for company sometime, so if you wanna try it call me up and we will set up a dinner date :) I am always looking for new ideas to make but the criteria....healthy(or at least not too unhealthy), easy, budget friendly, and kid approved