Playing Catch-up Again. . .

I feel like everyday I'm playing catch-up from the day before and the one before that.  I forgot how having to feed a little one every two hours really takes a toll on your schedule.  But that's OK with me.  I know he won't be this small and needy forever so I'm really trying to enjoy it.  And I am DEFINITELY not complaining about it.  I'd take this over being pregnant ANYTIME!  :)

We've been doing lots of things over the last two months (has it really been that long?) that I haven't blogged about.  I'm still trying to keep up with my Project 365 but I've missed more days.  It'll probably end up being a Project 250-300 by the time my year's up!  Oh well, at least I'm taking more pictures. 

So, settle in and get ready for another epic post of some of the things we've been doing.

Homeschool with lots of science experiments.  The kids LOVE, LOVE, LOVE doing science experiments!

This one was called "The Penny Spill."  You fill a bowl with water to the top and then start adding pennies until the water starts spilling over.  We ran out of pennies and ended up using every coin we could find in the house and still couldn't get anyone's bowl to spill over.  Why you ask?  Cohesion.  Ask my kids about it!  Here was another experiment we did relating to cohesion.  "The Water Maze"-

You put a piece of wax paper over the top of the maze and one little drop of water on it and you can pull the water drop along the maze with a toothpick.  The kids were absolutely amazed!!  They played with this stuff for the longest time and then begged to do it again after school was over.  Again, all because of cohesion.  Learning something, aren't ya?

   

This one was our "Eggs-periment" - hahahaha.  Threw that in for my cheesy husband.  :)  We had to try to break an egg by squeezing it with our bare hands.  None of us could do it, even all of us squeezing at the same time couldn't do it, but the kids were absolutely sure that Daddy would be able to so we had him try it when he got home.  Nope!  Eggshells are amazing things!  Another thing you can ask my kids about.  :)

We've done quite a few experiments this year including a couple that did not work out the way the book said they would!  Oh well.  It's still been fun!

Cash is constantly talking about some invention he wants to make or a robot or a restaurant or a house he's going to build or things he's going to sell - ugh, that kid wears me out!  He has so many ideas in that little noggin of his.  The other day he asked me if he could have his very own blender so he could start a smoothie business!  Where does he get these things? 

I guess Josh finally got tired of hearing him beg to build a robot so Josh finally looked up some little robots that kids could build on the internet.  He found these BristleBots.  You cut off the head of a toothbrush and attach some little mechanical things and wires (I have no idea what actually goes into the making of these) and then you have a BristleBot!  It has a switch that turns on and makes the toothbrush head vibrate so quickly it just brushes all over the place.  It is pretty hilarious to watch it scoot around.  And it's so tiny and cute!

They've also built some solar powered machines and a few other things. 

I've also been doing A LOT more cooking.  Like every stinkin' night A LOT.  I know that's not any big deal for most people but that is freakin' huge for me.  I HATE COOKING and I have never cooked this much in my whole life. 

It's kind of been a combination of things that made me start cooking more.  First, the entire family except me and the baby got the flu.  It was HELL.  (Sorry, I take it back, as my Granny would say.)  I think my boys picked up the bug at IHOP and then spread it to the rest of the family.  I spent two weeks so stressed and absolutely terrified that I and/or the baby would get it that I turned into a complete germophobe!  The thought of how many germs and viruses are all over a restaurant table or just the ketchup bottle on the table made me absolutely nauseous and that pretty much nixed my desire to eat out.  Then, I got a new calling as Compassionate Service Leader and my RS President wanted me to start an Enrichment Group where we could get together and make freezer meals and start a freezer meal food bank for our ward.  I ended up having to do a lot of research for it and try out recipes to see if they would be any good for it.  I found out that I can actually cook!  Wow.  I really had it in my head that I sucked at it and that led to me not really wanting to do it.  Plus, it always seemed like a HUGE fight to get the kids to eat anything I made.  Ironically because we haven't been going out they eat whatever I put in front of them.  There are still some complaints but they're almost all from the pickiest kid on the planet - Mr. Cash.  I just make Josh sit by him and try really hard to ignore all the whining coming from that end of the table.  :)  All the kids have been helping me cook more too. 

Cash desperately wanted to make a fruit salad one day.  Who knows why?  He's just weird like that.  So I set him up chopping apples and he was happy as a clam for a few minutes.  He probably still didn't eat it.  Stinker.

Maddie, as usual, is my number one helper.  Here she's helping me make some No-Bake cookies.  Yum!

So I've never liked cooking but I have always liked baking - breads, cookies, rolls, etc.  I've had a little KitchenAid mixer for several years but it's just not big enough or powerful enough to make what I want to make anymore.  I think I just about killed it trying to make my last batch of rolls!  So, back in April I told Josh I wanted a Bosch mixer for Mother's Day.  Then I went and bought myself one at the church bookstore about a week later because I couldn't wait any longer!  Ha!  He's happy though.  He gets home-cooked meals every night.  And then he got me a wheat grinder for Mother's Day. 

 
I love this thing!  The first time I used it (and I have used it almost everyday since I got it!!) I was amazed at how fast it mixes everything.  It probably took me twice as long to do everything with that KitchenAid.  No wonder I never made anything!  By the way, know anyone looking for a KitchenAid mixer?  I'm looking for a home for mine. 

We've been lovin' on this little guy more than anything else!

He is such a happy baby and is almost always smiling.  His little face changes completely when he smiles!

The kids laughed hysterically at him wearing the bunny ears.  He is pretty stinkin' cute.

His hands are constantly in his mouth and he's reaching for everything in sight.  Watch out dinner plates!

 

He's also recently discovered his toes are quite tasty as well.

  

Daddy loves to nap, sometimes even with the kids.  :)

Look how small little Sawyer is compared to the other giants!  I love my kids!

We've been running around like crazy trying to get kids to all their different activities too.  Both boys were in soccer and Josh was the coach for both teams, Maddie was in basketball, singing group, and Activity Days.  Ryley also has Scouts.  I dreaded Tuesdays and Saturdays the most, but no longer.  Everything except the church activities is finally over and we have our lives back!  Hooray!!!  Here are a couple of activity pictures:

Maddie in the "Annie" portion of her singing group performance.  So cute!

   

She also had a 50's themed portion of the performance.  Here they're singing "Lollipop."

Then there was Easter. . .

The kids got to hunt at my parents' house and Josh's parents' house. 

I tried to get some of Ryley hunting but he was just too darned focused on finding eggs to stop for a second and let me snap a picture.   Here's one with him in it in my parents' backyard.  Check out MattMo!  That kid is too funny!

Somehow we missed Sawyer in that picture so here's one with him in it too, although he doesn't look too thrilled about  it.

In other news, we've found out which child is going to send us to the ER the most often.  Cash.  He's not overly adventurous or anything.  In fact, I would say he's quite the opposite and very timid.  But he has more scrapes and cuts and bruises (amazingly no broken bones yet!) than any of the other kids combined.  He's always the first one to catch a cold and has definitely been the sickliest of the kids, especially when he was a baby.   He recently scared me to death as he came running down the stairs with the other two kids in tow screaming and dripping blood all over.  He and Ryley had been playing with some little metal piece that had come off of a flashlight and slit Cash's finger right open.  It was wide and deep and I thought for sure it needed stitches since I couldn't even get the edges to stay together or stop the bleeding.  Of course, all of this happened about 20 minutes before I needed to head out to my first freezer meal enrichment meeting!  Josh was able to rush home and take him to the Dr. where he got superglued back together again and, thankfully, didn't have to have stitches. 

 

Other changes in the Hopewell household: 

 

Daddy shaved off his goatee AND decided it was time to start dressing like a grown up at church - all in the same weekend!  Seriously - this is the first suit he's had since his mission!  He left all his suits, horribly worn out as they were, in Japan.  He hasn't had a suit to wear our entire marriage - almost 15 years!!!  I've tried to talk him into buying one but he's always been too cheap. 

I must admit, he looks pretty hot in that suit - even without the goatee (which I prefer.)  Like I said before, this all happened the same weekend so there were many questions directed his way at church that Sunday.  ;)  No new callings have been issued though.

Hopefully I won't get so behind on the blogging and be able to keep up with it a little more.  But no promises, as Sawyer doesn't nap well (10-15 minute spurts = NOT COOL!) and he always seems to know right when I've turned on my computer.  Grrrrr.  Cash's birthday is this week (how'd he get to be 5 already?) and Josh and the kids just finished planting a garden in the backyard so I'd like to post some pictures of that.  Have a great Memorial Day weekend!  I hope we do absolutely nothing!!