Summer Recap or The Posts That Were Meant To Be....

I am a horrible blogger. It is true that I check in everyday to visit everyone else but I am terrible at writing. It seems that once I get my daily bit of sanity from all your blogs...time runs out...I am back on call.... five children beckon. So I am taking some time to catch you all up through a picture recap. I hope you all had a wonderful summer and an easy transition for back to school!

Trip to the Aquarium

The County FairA Pink Flamingo Birthday PartyPatriotic HolidaysField Trip to Princeton Children's LibrarySistersCupcake Sale for Charity (Go Cancer Sucks!)VacationSpending Time with the Cousins

Yes, we had a very busy summer. We are settling into our house yet we are still under a bit of construction. (New floors and countertops get installed in a few weeks). I am documenting our journey and hope to post all of the before and afters. School starts for us in two weeks. The older two and the middle two all start the same day! Little one stays home for yet another year!

Now, I have to go...the little ones are playing {sledding} on the mulch we just had delivered....did I say we had two weeks until school ?

Happy Memorial Day! Thank you to all who protect and serve our country! Have a safe and great day!

An "Almost" End of an Era.....

Today, as we were busy cleaning around the house, I came across our changing table. We purchased this table from Pottery Barn Kids more than 8 years ago. I remember the day we purchased our little man's nursery set and how excited I was on delivery day. Time really has gone by so quickly. Our oldest has just turned 8 and our youngest is 18 months. We have used this table for all of our children, more so than the cribs. Because the children are so close in age, we have had more than one crib set up at any given time! But the baby has been sharing a room since we have moved and we have not had room for the table.

Today, I moved our table into the garage to convert into a gardening station. I can not believe it will never hold another baby. And this is bitter sweet. We are potty training our fourth and I can see the end of diapers in the near future. Believe me, I am more than ready not to change another diaper yet it is a another reminder that that they are growing up. And soon we will be a house without babies, which will be different for us.

I know, I know..an 18 month old is technically still a "baby". But with four older siblings, she is growing in leaps and bounds. When your "baby" tells you "no" to some kisses so that she can run with the others, it really sinks in how fast time slips by.

For now, I will look to the future and hold on to the past. And relish in every moment that they are young.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter Everyone! Tomorrow starts my little ones spring break and we are headed to Hilton Head to visit with family.

With three boxes of dye, 36 eggs and some embellishments, we are done our eggs. We have strayed from our usual tradition of dyeing our eggs the night before Easter to dyeing the eggs the weekend before Easter. Since we would be away I decided to make the change and now we can bring our eggs with us so the Easter Bunny can hide them. I also wanted to make this change because I am a little tired of taking my children to church Easter Sunday dressed in their Easter best only to have their hands and arms dyed purplish brown from the night before festivities.

This year has also marked a change for us as the older children's eggs actually looked like Easter eggs. For the last several years, my minis have taken great joy in sticking all of their eggs in every color on the table resulting in said purplish-brown eggs. Now they are very interested in keeping their eggs one color, etc. We finally have bright Easter eggs.

My fourth little one is still grasping the egg concept. She dyed the eggs well for being two and half years old. As soon as she retrieved the egg from the cup, however, she saw it fit to peel the shell off of ever single one of her eggs. She was addicted. Then as I was cleaning up she started to carry around this little Easter tin as a suitcase. Too cute. Fast forward to bedtime when she requests me to remove her Easter eggs from the tin. I opened the tin to remove two very brown de-shelled eggs. Oh..she is a bugger. Thank goodness she asked! I certainly did not want to find this little treasure after we returned from our trip. Yikes!

Lilly Pulitzer Basket Giveaway!

My friend, Cancer Sucks, is hosting her first giveaway! Please visit her, here, and enter for a chance to win a super cute new Lilly Pulitzer basket. She introduced me to the blogging world and I am forever grateful to her. My daily reads help keep me sane with five little ones in the house. I have met wonderful and inspiring women in the blog world. Thank you Cancer Sucks..you are wonderful and amazing! Please go visit her before March 13 and enter! Good Luck!

Homemade Electrolyte Solution

We have been hit by the stomache bug. All of the children have had the usual symptoms. And it worries me when I can't get them to drink..ANYTHING. They do not drink Pedialyte or gatorade, etc. So some years ago I stumbled upon this homemade recipe for an electrolyte solution that I have used. It tastes like salty water but not too salty. I give them this alittle at a time and it seems to really help with the stomache bug symptoms.

5 cups of water boiled
8 level tsp sugar
1 level tsp salt

Stir together until sugar/salt is dissolved. Wait until cooled to serve.

It is really simple and I think there are other ways to make this.... I am just relaying what my family uses in hopes to help anyone else that may be in the same situation.

In like a lion....

I am so ready for spring as I watch snow falling outside. We are expected to get more snow today. I hope this is winter's last hooray. I am so ready for spring.