School Daze

Today was a big day here in the Chaplin home!  There were butterflies in the stomach, there has been pencil-shopping, and books purchased.  Ok, I don’t really know about the butterflies, but there was a “come on Linda, I have meetings this morning!” as I made him take this picture. 

Mike officially became a student again today!  Kohl’s has teamed up with UWMadison to offer their employees an MBA program.  We decided that now is the time and went for it.  Next thing you know, Mike got into the program and I was buying books.  Now we are both wondering what we got ourselves into.  The next 3 months will be very busy with school and seminary and baby and all, but hopefully we’ll come out better on the other end (is there really ever an end to the busy-ness though?).  I’m super proud of Mike and grateful for how hard he works to take care of our family.  We’ll have to take another picture when he’s done and see how grey he goes and/or how much hair he loses over the next 2 years . 

Dang Genetics…

It looks like Carter and Ben got my dancing genes.

 

 

And Carter got Mike’s singing abilities.   That would be Safety Dance that he’s singing. 

 

 

Poor kid didn’t have a chance. 

20 Questions

Another fun idea I got off Pinterest is asking your child the same 20 questions each year for their birthday and seeing how the answers change.  We started this last year with Carter and hope to do it with all the kids. Here are his answers:

How old are you?  7

Who is your best friend?  I don’t have one  (I think it’s Julan – not that he doesn’t have any friends, I just don’t know that he has one best friend right now)

What is your favorite color?  Blue

What is your favorite food?  Cornbread

What do you like to do with your family?  Go to fun places

What is your favorite toy?  iPod

What do you want to be when you grow up?  A policeman or in the Army

What makes you happy?  Mommy (awwww)

What makes you sad?  Getting hurt

What is your favorite show to watch?  Bey Blades

What is your favorite book?  Harry Potter

What do you love to learn about?  Science

What was the best part of your birthday?   The Original Pancake House, presents

Where do you like to go?  Fun places – Chuck E. Cheese’s

Who is your teacher?  Frau Buchert

What is your favorite treat?  Pop Rocks

What do you think about before you fall asleep?  Whatever book I’ve just been reading

If you could meet someone famous who would it be?  Thomas Edison (???)

What was your favorite birthday present?  iPod

 

I think it’s funny how a lot of his answers had to do with what he did that day and what was fresh on his mind.  It will be fun to see where these go over the years!

He’s 7!!!

Where has my baby gone?!?  I say this every year, but I seriously can’t believe how the time has flown by.  It seems so recent that we just had this little one.  And now I’m pregnant with our last.  Where did the time go?  Carter has become such a little man. He keeps us on our toes and challenges me every day to be a better mom.  Without him, I might have been ok settling for mediocrity.  He definitely pushes me to be the best that I can be and to figure out how I can be better.  Here are some of my favorite things about him right now:

He goes to a German immersion school and he has picked up the language so well.  He doesn’t speak it much at home, but when I see him talking to his teacher at school, it kind of blows me away.  That little brain really is a sponge. 

He is very observant – sometimes too observant for his own good.  He often comes home telling us about things he saw or overheard that day.  I think he “overhears” a lot when he is pretending to be ignoring everyone. 

He thinks he is hilarious.  He is always making up jokes and laughing hysterically at them. 

He wants to grow up way too fast.  He feels that he should be treated as an adult and loves it when he is. 

He is pretty nerdy – still loves his Star Wars and Harry Potter.  He knows all the characters from both and all the spells from HP.  When he gets mad at Ben and Samantha he’ll bust out a spell on him.  We’ve had to make the  unforgivable ones off limits. 

These days, this is how he spends most of his time. I love that he loves to read, but getting him to do anything else is a challenge sometimes.  Who knew I would have to ground him from books?  He is almost done with the 7th Harry Potter book, hence the spells.  Mike is a little jealous of Carter’s speed reading skills .  Who knew the Harry Potter glasses would be so prophetic?  For his birthday I let Carter and Samantha skip school and we went out to the Original Pancake House for breakfast.  Denny’s had been his favorite up until this moment.  The blueberry pancakes knocked his socks off.  Blueberry and regular syrups?  Heaven.  The rest of us were pretty pleased with our French Toast.  Ben was just happy to have food in front of him.  Afterwards, Carter had the choice to go wherever he wanted.  Of course we ended up at Chuck E. Cheese’s.  In his defense, we went bowling the past 2 birthdays, so he has mixed it up a little.  I still feel like we spend way too much time and money there.  But… is was his day and his choice.  So Chuck E. Cheese’s it was.  And we all had a great time.  Present time!  More Star Wars, because that’s what we need in this house. What the heck?  Why would I need an iTunes gift card?  Weird.  Unless…It is!  Carter got his own iPod this year.   A very generous friend gave us her old one at a fabulous price.  Now Carter can leave ours alone!  And it didn’t take long… Like father, like son I guess. 

We’re so glad you picked our family Carter!  We love you and can’t imagine life without you!

Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

That seems to be what we are made of around here.  For those who don’t know (I haven’t been great about announcing it), I’m 22 weeks pregnant with a little boy.  I have to admit, the idea of another boy has taken some getting used to.  I felt like I was sicker with this pregnancy than the other boys and I was so sure it was a girl.  I’ve been right with the other 3, so I thought it was a done deal.  Samantha wants a sister really badly and I want her to have a sister.   Some of my best friends are my sisters and I want Samantha to have that for herself.  But alas, the ultrasound tech was as close to 100% sure as you can be that it is indeed a boy.  I told her to be sure, because I would be getting rid of all my little girl clothes (sniff, sniff).  She told me to bring it back in if it’s a girl, because she would like to see that for herself.  Samantha cried when she found out, she was pretty devastated.  Mike and I are happy that everything seems to be going well and he looks healthy.  Samantha is getting used to the idea of always having her own room (at least once the baby is old enough to share with Carter and Ben).  The pink crib bedding has been returned and we are on to picking out boy names.  Right now it’s looking like Adam, but we’ll see if that lasts.  

We are excited and a little bit overwhelmed for this next stage in life.  Since I’ve been feeling better I’ve been getting a lot done around the house.  It has happened with the last 2 pregnancies too.  I ‘m not sure if it’s nesting, the impending year of getting nothing done, or just the fact that the youngest is finally old enough to entertain themselves for longer than 5 minutes, but I tend to get a lot done during the last four or five months of pregnancy.  When I told Mike I was pregnant with this last one, one of the first things he said was “You’re going to nest, right?” So far, I have grouted and painted the second kitchen upstairs that we have been meaning to get to for the last 3 years.  I’ve also been doing some serious organizing, which I really love.  I have a few building projects up my sleeve once we get some nicer weather – some bookshelves, a storage bench, things like that. Time is flying and before I know it he will be here and things will never be the same!

Pinterest Achievements

I’m hoping that everyone reading this has heard of Pinterest.  If you haven’t, you are missing out on a colossal time eating hobby.  One of the jokes about Pinterest is that we all sit around pinning things and never making them/following through.  In order to dispel this myth, I would like to share some of my favorite Pinterest finds. 

I made this dessert for Thanksgiving and it was sooo good (and pretty easy).  But the chocolate on the toffee bits looked kind of gross.  Next time, I’ll stick with just plain toffee bits. 

 

 

 

We had this knock-off of the Melting Pot’s Spinach Artichoke fondue for New Year’s Eve.  I couldn’t stop eating it. 

 

This punch also made it’s debut on New Year’s Eve.

 

These Krispy Kreme donuts were to die for.  Although they were more like cake donuts than Krispy Kremes, but whatever.  Definitely will be making these again. 

 

While it may come as no surprise to those who know me best that most of my Pinterest accomplishments are food related, my proudest and favorite ones are not. 

I used this tip to clean the burners on my stove and they have never looked better.  Ok, maybe when we first bought the stove they did.  But not since then.  Seriously amazing. 

 

And the one that I am most proud of?  I finished this one last night:

I already had folders in a few spots of things that I wanted to keep that the kids had made, along with report cards and school pictures, but now I have one spot to put everything and I love it!  I made 4 boxes (Office Max has them on sale right now) and so I am set for all of the kids’ stuff that needs saving!

I guess what I am trying to say is that while Pinterest can be a giant waste of time, when used responsibly, it can really lead to some great discoveries! And if you aren’t currently on Pinterest, you probably should be. 

Short and Sweet

Once upon a time there was a bear named Winnie the Pooh.  He sang a song when you pushed his tummy.  He had a ferocious friend named Tigger.  They were BFF’s. When they needed protecting, they called on their friend, the knight. Who tended to be a little dramatic at times. But was brave and ferocious in his own right. This past Halloween, they all got together and robbed the neighborhood of all their treats. “Hey guys,  wait for me!”

The end. 

…And we’re back

And alive.  I know that it may not seem like it after my 4 month hiatus.  But in my defense, it’s been an eventful 4 months.  Due to this little boy in my belly,  3 of those months I spent nauseous and exhausted and so instead of blogging I just went to bed at 8.  Then when I started feeling better around Christmas time, I got sick – some mammoth cold that I couldn’t get over.  Once I finally beat that, I felt that it was time to finally get around to cleaning my house and getting some much needed projects out of the way.  On top of all that, waking up early for seminary is killing me.  I love my class, and I am learning sooooo much, but I am not a morning person and never will be.  So here I am, still tired, but getting back on the blogging wagon.  I’ve had some posts floating around in my brain for a while, so it will be nice to get those out.  And unfortunately, since this is my family journal/scrapbook, there will be much catching up.  I’ve got some serious motivation going on right now, so hopefully I’ll stick with it.  I’m not sure if it’s nesting, or just knowing that with 4 kids it is highly unlikely that I will accomplish anything else around the house for a very long time. But I have been getting a lot done, so here we go!