Parenting & Birthdays

Oh yeah, forgot to tell you about Destiny's birthday. Melanie decided not to do a slumber party theme. Our van broke down so we brought her to our house for a small party so we didnt have to find a way to get all the kids out and then took her back for her real birthday party with Melanie at the park and we didnt attend that one. My van broke down a couple weeks ago and the engine is shot and there is an electrical problem. The Dodge dealer has it and they are supposed to be fixing it but cant figure out the electrical problem yet and until that is fixed they cant put in the claim to the warranty people for the engine because they need pictures of the odometer etc.

Parenting & Going Back To School

Well, today has not been very eventful. I am having a very difficult time lately. I have quit my job because I was on an extended leave from work and I decided that I was going to "take charge" of my life because I was miserable at Blue Cross. I decided I was going to go back to school so I just went to Lincoln Land today to sign up for classes. I had already spoken with them several times and signed up for financial aid thru the FAFSA. Then, I go in today and the major I want to take (construction) is booked up within the last 4 days I might add and so I was going to take filler classes until January when I can take the course work and the financial aid dept. said that my last years taxes were not filled our correctly by the accountant and until it is fixed I cant get student loans or grants. I am so upset. I have a call into the accountant now but I dont know what I am going to do. I have applied for sooooo many jobs around here and either they are not hiring or they get scared off by what I used to make so I cant even get hired for a minimum wage job! I am a good, hard worker. Can't someone just give me a break? Now we are trying to live our my husbands min. wage job at a gas station, which don't get me wrong, it is a God sent right now, it is just not enough when we were over extended on my income before and now we make a lot less. I feel terrible that I am not contributing financially right now and I can't even go back to school. What to do what to do.....

Parenting & Dogs

Well I have a funny story tonight. We went to the park with the kids tonight and they were playing around and getting kinda tired. Noah decided he wanted to walk over to the road so he could get in the van. His dad started playing with him like he was a puppy and was waiving a stick and saying "Come here Noah, come get the stick" He automatically started laughing and running toward his dad. Then Brittany started playing too. I have a pic on my phone of her trying to put a twig in her mouth like a dog to bring back to her dad. Although I freaked at the thought of a dirty branch in her mouth I had to giggle and take a pic before I had her spit it out. Before long, all the kids were involved and laughing. What a fun way to get their minds off of being cranky and back on being fun and imaginative! And, best of all, the park was free and the time was priceless to me.

Parenting & Birthdays

Destiny, my neice, will be turning 5 on August 9th. Her mom, Melanie, has decided that she is going to throw her a "slumber party" themed birthday where the kids can spend the night. She is getting some ideas about what games to have etc.

I looked online to find some ideas for the cake and I found a pic of some cupcakes of little kids in sleeping bags. I think I am going to venture out and try to make something like this for my neice. I got this pic off Dragonfly and thought it was good inspiration. You can find a TON of ideas on the net for birthday ideas. I didnt know so much existed!

I found this image on Yahoo of an invitation for a slumber party that I thought was really cute. I will probably try to copy something like this for her. I dont know though, I should probably let my sister make some decisions; I mean, it is her daughter right LOL!

We have a special bond and I would like to do something great for her. Her and her mom used to live with us and she was born on my wedding anniversary. I remember taking care of her as a newborn at night with the diaper changes and bottle feedings; in some ways she was like one of my own. My sister battled post partum so bad that I wasn't sure if she would ever come out of it. Now, my neice is almost five and she is beautiful! I call her my little Pocahontas she has long, curly black hair and the nicest complexion.

She wants makeup, Hannah Montana posters for her room, and more bras! And, you know, as her bestest aunt in the whole wide world I am going to do my best to fulfill her birthday dreams. I will post a pic of my try at the cake after her birthday comes. Happy Birthday Destiny!!!

Parenting & Losing Your Marbles Cont.

Well, I have to say the marble reward system is working well. The little ones have already turned in marbles for a sweet treat and the older kids are saving up theirs to have a family fun day. I would recommend this reward system.

On another note, I am about to go crazy over the amount of mosquitoes this year! The kids keep getting bites all over their body at night and its making it hard for them to sleep and, I have to say, I am too and it makes me irritable to have warmer weather and bites all over you because you don't want to cover up with a blanket because its too warm but you have to because of the bugs! If anyone has suggestions, please let me know. I visited a website that gave several suggestions and one was to mix garlic powder and water in a spray bottle and spray the perimeter but this hasn't worked for us.

On a happier note though, Brittany is learning how to use the potty SO well. She went #2 in it about 3 days ago for the first time and I am so excited that she is picking this up so well and kinda nostalgic because this will be our last child and she is not a baby anymore. How time flies!

Parenting & Losing Your Marbles!

OK Folks, I just started the marble reward system for parents from the website I talked about previously. The kids seemed VERY excited so I am anxious to see if this works. I have a big jar of marbles and a list of things that they can do for a range of 1-3 marbles. This includes cleaning their room, studying their spelling, sharing etc. Then I made another list of rewards that they can cash in their marbles for such as movie night, sweet treats all the way up to going out to eat and personal one-on-one time with mom or dad. I will keep you posted on if this works; so far we are into the first night and it is working.

Parenting & Food

Had to post this - today I was trying to whip up something fast for all my kids. Grandpa had already made cheeseburgers but I needed a side dish. This was the first time I threw this together but all the kids LOVED it. It took literally 5 min to make and it is cheap! This might have cost $2 to make and it fed 6 kids and 2 adults. Take a look at the recipe below:

3 Cans of sliced potatoes (drain 2 cans and leave the 3rd w/the juice) - way cheap!
1 Can of cream of chicken soup
4 Slices of Velveeta cheese cut into small cubes
1 Splash of milk
pinch of salt and pepper to taste

1. In a large skillet, combine the potatoes, cream of chicken soup, salt, pepper and milk
2. Heat mixture for 5 minutes to let potatoes soften and heat through
3. Fold in the cheese cubes and let melt throughout
4. Let sit for about 5 min to cool off and thicken

ENJOY!

Parenting & Grandparents

Crystal & Bobby -

Grandma & Paw Paw

I wanted to post a couple pics of the kids

grandparents. This one is a pic of their grandma Crystal with Noah. This was taken at christmas time when they were wrestling around on the floor. She loves them sooo much. I don't know what I would do without her. It's funny because she is a friend of mine that I used to work with at Blue Cross but I am pretty estranged from my real family and she has always called me her daughter from even the first couple times we met. I have 3 sisters and I always remember having Sunday dinners with family and holidays etc. Now that our family is spread out and we've had our differences over the years, I thought all I would ever have would be the memories of these times until my children got older. And, as I have gotten older, I felt more and more sad about not having family and the kids not getting to experience a relationship with their grandparents etc. But, God has put this lady in my life to help fill that void for me and my children. She works hard to create a fun atmosphere for them and she shows me what to appreciate in life.

These pics are of Grandpa Bobby, Crystal's husband (its small, my phone didnt take to clear of a pic). Or, as Brittany so dearly calls him "Paw Paw". This picture was taken today. Grandpa was watching the race and Brittany brought her little baby doll over to him. She had been playing with the doll outside on the deck today so the poor thing had been through some dirt and grandpa immediately got up, went to the kitchen and wet down some paper towel so that they could work on giving the baby a "bath". The kids love their grandpa. He drives them around in his truck and buys them candy at the gas station.


My oldest, Zach, loves to work outside with him and he makes sure to point out when he is going to "work" with grandpa. Bobby is a very hard worker, he puts in so many hours a week working that we hardly see him sometimes. I admire his dedication and his willingness to take care of his family. He loves racing and the kids are trying to get him to fix up his old micro-midget so he can get into racing again. (Below are pics are him when he used to race)

Parenting & Frogs

I had to post these cute photos of my oldest two - Zach & Amber with their newest friend Mr. Frog. Grandma's deck has become their favorite place to play. We have a swing and firepit that we use at night but during the day they have a play kitchen n doll house they like to play with. Well, the other day, we were cleaning up the yard and lole n behold they found a very small frog and that ignited their hunt for more. Then they found this big and had to play with him for awhile and get his picture taken.

Their grandma Crystal made a good observation. She said "Ya know, with everything we worry about everyday - do they have enough of this, should I buy them that, don't kids just put it in perspective when all they need to make them happy is a place to play and a frog."

- They sure can remind us of the most important things in life -

Recently I have been going through a lot in my life with trying to change jobs and not having any luck and feeling like I can't provide the best life for my family. My kids really bring perspective back to my life; they have no clue how much money I make or what I do for a living, they just care that I play with them and spend time with them and most of all love them. I am so thankful for them.

Parenting Tips

I wanted to share a great website that I found that has A LOT of information for families. The website is Family Zip http://www.familyzip.com/ It has printable worksheets for the kids while they are out of school to help them retain what they learned last year or help them get ready for the coming year, also has fun activities, links to coupons and articles on just about anything. I just read a great article on this site about using marbles as a way to reward good behavior and how kids trade these in for things they want to they have more control over the situation. I am going to try this out and I will let you know how it goes.

www.familyzip.com

I use a similar technique that seems to work really well. I have a jar and a bag of pebbles (like the ones you use for home decorating, I got mine at a dollar store for $1). Anyway, at the end of the day we gather as a family and each child gets to pick out a pebble and name something good that they did during that day and I let them keep going through the day, even little things like putting their shoes away etc. This helps builds their self confidence and I have noticed that they really enjoy going over all the good things they did. Then I make up a silly song to sing to them about how well they did and they get to shake the jar. Once it is filled to the line I have set on the jar then they get a prize like a day at the park or a movie night etc. It really has worked for us.

Parenting & The Economy

Today my kids went to my sisters house for a visit for a few hours. Aunt Melanie just got a new puppy. A Yorkie-Poo or something. She said it was a mix of Yorkie, Shitzu and Poodle. It looked cute in the picture she text messaged me and it came with a price tag of $100 which she said was very reasonable. It was a nice break for me. I cleaned the house, did some laundry and watched the 2-hour movie - 300. Then I got to thinking, man, $100 for a dog just isn't in my budget right now and, even though I like dogs and would love to have one for the kids, I could think of a lot of others ways to spend that hundred right now. In this day and age with nothing on the news but the economic situation etc, I find myself looking into my own financial situation to find ways that I can make my buck stretch further.

A helpful website that I found in a magazine is a great website called Freecycle http://www.freecycle.org/ you can sign up to be a member within your area for free. This website allows you to offer unwanted items to others via the web and allows you view items others are giving away for free - YES, I said GIVING AWAY for FREE. If you see something you like, you can email the person who posted it and it is at their discretion who receives the item. There are also postings called "Free for alls" where the person has a lot of free stuff to give away and has a free yard sale at their home where you are able to browse the items they are giving away and take whatever you'd like. I would recommend this site to anyone. I have used it several times and it gives you a great sense of worth to help out others by giving items you no longer want or need to someone else and when you get a good bargain or something you are in desperate need of, it's something to be truly thankful for. It also helps the environment because these items are being recycled to someone else instead of going into landfills. I have seen everything from clothes & furniture to books, toys and all the way down to paperclips. Just wanted to post this in hopes someone else can get use of the website and help you stretch your buck a little further too.

www.freecycle.org

Parenting & Birthdays

I had to post this pic so the kids will know how much I LOVED my birthday cake that they made me. My birthday was June 14th, Flag Day. Thanks kids for the beautiful cake and flowers all in one gift! Love You - Mom

Parenting & Carnivals

I also wanted to share some pics of the kids at the carnival in Virginia, IL. They had a great time. Carnivals are sooo expensive. It was $2 a ticket and with 5 kids those tickets don't stretch very far. We let them all ride a few rides though and play a couple games and we finished the night off with corndogs and lemonade shakeups. Why do carnival corndogs taste so much better than the ones you get at a store?

Parenting & Potty Training

I wanted to share a pic of my youngest, Brittany, during one of her first sessions of potty training. She LOVES her pink potty and she decided that she would like to take the comfy seat for awhile and read a book. LOL! I bought the pink potty at Walmart for $17, the cheapest one they had. Doesn't have any fancy bells or whistles but let me tell you it does the trick, its durable, easy to clean and has a nice padded seat and will convert to be placed on the regular sized toilet when she is ready to tackle that project. One of my friends bought a more expensive type that plays music and sings when you tinkle in it. It was fun for awhile but then the thing started playing music and singing at 3AM when no one was even in the bathroom and her little girl liked it so much she would find very clever ways to get water into the thing so the music went off - including taking water out of the regular toilet. I'm old fashioned I guess, I want to keep the entertainment out of the bathroom - no butts about it. LOL!

Give me your feedback though - did the fancier potties work for your kids? My boys didn't even use a little potty, they were climbers from the start so they loved hoisting themselves up to the regular toilet from the get go. Now they are 3 & 4 yrs old and I caught them both in the bathroom one day standing side-by-side doing a #1 and they were racing, I heard Noah say "Ok, 1-2-3, Ready, Set, Go!" How fun it would be to remember those times as you grow up to give yourself a giggle - I know I busted a gut when I heard them in there!

Getting to Know the Family

Hello! My name is Tiffanie, I am 30 yrs. old and I am the proud parent of five children. I decided to create a blog about my kids to keep track of some great memories, share pics of the kids with family and to share my parenting world with whoever might listen.

Let me introduce you to my team:

Zachary - Age 9

Loves anything with the word "star" in it; Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica...you name it and he knows it. Wants to be a massage therapist when he gets older. This is a pic of him in his grandpa Bobby's racing helmet.

Amber - Age 8

Loves all things "girly" including makeup, Hannah Montana and being a total drama queen. She likes to rule the roost and is brutally honest as long as she ends the sentence with "no offence".

Isaiah - Age 4

Is a mischevious, bright-eyed boy who is destined for the stars. Loves the moon and anything having to do with outer space. Loves cars and dreams of driving an airplane.

Noah - Age 3

Is the lover of the family. Acts shy until he gets to know you and is in touch with his feminine side; he loves to dress up in his older sister's shoes and loves purses and headbands.

Brittany - Age 2

Loves baby dolls and in this picture she is taking care of her younger cousin Lily. She is "girly" like her older sister and had to wear her "bra" when sissy got one.

That's right folks - stair steps!

In future entries I will give my tricks of the trade in raising such a large fam. and hope you will share your tips from your family experiences.

Family Portrait

Christmas 2008