Teenager?

So this evening we were sitting around the dinner table, and it was mentioned that my sister-in-law is having a baby shower.  Cinderella asked what a baby shower is, so we tried to explain that it is when someone has a new baby, sometimes there is a party for them, where people come and "shower" you them with presents for the baby.
At this Aurora piped up, "ba?" (her word for bath) "Baby... shower?  Daddy shower, mama shower.  Baby shower?"  I could tell she was trying to make sense out of this conversation, and that she thought we were talking about giving Spike a shower, so then she asked for a bath.

Cinderella then replied, "but your not a baby anymore, your a little girl."  And then a light seemed to come on in her head, and she said, "I'm the teenager in this family now!  'Cause I'm six now, and that's older."

Spike

So this evening, before his bath, I gave Guy a haircut.  After the bath, when his daddy was helping him get in his pajamas, his dad called him spike.  Guy commented that his name isn't spike, and then a little later, the kids noticed that Buddy's hair also stood up, and someone suggested that we could call him spike.
After this Aurora, turned to the baby and said, "Hi pike! Hi pike"  So we decided that from here on out Buddy shall now be called Spike, at least on the blog.

Any suggestions for getting mud off a microfiber couch?

So today, Cinderella, decided to go outside and play, and then came in, and without removing her muddy boots, she climbed all over my couch.  So now I've got mud all over the couch, and I'm not sure how to go about cleaning it off.  I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions.

Healthy, Easy, Quick meals to make. Is there such a thing?

So I'll admit it, I like to cook, but especially when I have a baby, I don't want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen.  Because I don't have a lot of time to spend there.
Lately one of my biggest frustrations with food has been lunch time.  Because Cinderella is in half day kindergarten, we go pick her up, and then have lunch.  But because Buddy is only a month old he still eats every 2-3 hours during the day, which means he often wants his lunch at the same time the other kids get their lunch.  So I try to get lunch ready before we pick up Cinderella, but that isn't always possible.  Then we pick up Cinderella, come home, I get the older kids eating, feed Buddy, and then clean up their lunch, and then I feel like I can eat.  But unfortunately lately that hasn't been until 1:30 or 2 which is later than I want to be eating.

My normal tendency for lunches is to make Peanut Butter and Jelly, because it is quick and easy.  But 1.  Cinderella doesn't like peanut butter.  2.  Really that isn't the healthiest alternative and 3.  It gets old rather quickly.

So I've been working with things that I can make ahead of time, but they are time consuming, and I feel like I never get out of the kitchen.  Or I don't have a chance to make them before and then I have Buddy have to wait while I make their lunch.

So I'm asking for suggestions of things that aren't too hard or time consuming to make, that kids like, and that are healthy.  Let me know if you have any.

Aurora's Room

So do you remember almost 2 years ago when we had just moved into this house, I posted some before pictures, fully intending to do some fixing up and post some after pictures too?  Well, I finally have some after pictures to post.  At least of Aurora's room, and hopefully some other rooms coming soon.  So to refresh your memory, this is what her room looked like before.

I had thought about leaving the clouds on the ceiling, and changing the color of the walls.  However, over time the yellow kind of grew on me.  But the walls definitely needed to be touched up, and so we picked a lighter yellow, that was a semi-gloss finish, instead of the egg shell finish that was on the walls before.
With the help of some of my family we painted on Labor Day.

Then I made some curtains for the room, and a quilt and some throw pillows for Aurora's bed.  Then my husband and I went to a second hand store and found a dresser for the room.  We bought a night light from Ikea when we had moved in, and it had been in Cinderella and Aurora's room before.  We used the color of the night light, and the colors in the fabrics for the quilt, curtains and pillows to select some vinyl wall decor, which Aurora got for Christmas.

Here are the end results.

The Shirt

So I bought my husband a long sleeve white button up shirt for Christmas.  However, I was unsure of what sleeve length he needed, so I just guessed.  After I got home, I checked his other shirts and realized I had bought one with sleeves too long.  However I didn't take the time to exchange it for one that was the right size, and just gave it to him as is, figuring we could return it after Christmas, and he could pick out one on his own, and then we would know it was the right size.
So after he opened his presents, the shirt sat on a box in our bedroom waiting to be returned to the store.  Well one day Cinderella came along, and not knowing that we needed to return the shirt proceeded to remove the tags, and stickers from the shirt.  When I realized what she was doing I explained to her that the shirt was too big for Daddy and that is why the shirt had been sitting there, and told her, "Now we can't return it to the store."
"That's OK, she replied.  "We can just put it into a box for him, until he grows into it."

Out of the mouth of a six year old

So the other day, I was having a bit of a day.  I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, and then had spent my morning working, while Buddy was sleeping.  I had worn myself out.  I got Aurora down for a nap, fed Buddy,  then planned to take a nap.  However, as sometimes happens with babies, because he had slept all morning, he was no longer tired, and didn't want to sleep.  By the time he was ready to sleep again, Aurora was awake, and she and Guy were wanting my attention.  I had gotten Buddy to sleep in the swing, and didn't want to leave the living room to go lay down, so I decided to see if I could take a nap on the couch.  However Aurora and Buddy, kept coming and trying to either get my attention, or interact with Buddy.  And being tired, I wasn't in the mood to handle it.

This happened on a day when Daddy was still home from work on his paternity leave, and so I went to the garage, where he was working.  He asked if I needed something, and I told him I did.  He then came inside, and I broke down, and started complaining about my sleep deprivation and being tired.  At this point Cinderella piped up with, "Maybe we shouldn't have 5 babies.  Maybe 4 is all you can handle."  I guess she had told Daddy earlier that week that we should have 5 babies.  I guess she changed her mind.

"How am I supposed to sleep with a crying child?"

So Cinderella and Guy share a bedroom.  They have bunk beds.  Cinderella is on the top, Guy is on the bottom.  Cinderella knows that because she has school in the morning, that she needs sleep, and most nights wants to sleep.  Guy, however has an aversion to sleep.  Every night, it is a battle to get him to go to bed.  He will play with toys, he will read books, he will follow you around the house, he will keep getting out of bed and turning on the light, etc.  As you may imagine, this makes it difficult for Cinderella to sleep, and as an end result causes conflict.

The other night, after my husband put them to bed, I heard Guy crying.  I asked my husband if he knew what the matter was, and he told me it was that Guy didn't want to go to bed.  No surprise there.  Shortly there after, Cinderella came and found us, and asked Daddy if he could keep Guy up for a while so she could get to sleep.  Daddy then responded that he had tried.  Guy had asked for his horse, Daddy had given it to him, and then Guy went back down stairs crying.   I told Cinderella to just ignore him and try to go to sleep.  She then turned to us and simply asked, "How am I supposed to sleep with a crying child?"