Running out of time . . .

So friends I'm 26 weeks today.  It's getting close to the third-trimester line.  And have I filled the freezer?  Not really. 

I have the usual staples that can be found in there:  turkey, a few bread kits, popsicles, frozen veggies, prepared beans, rice, and loads of pepperoni that was on sale for 50 cents a pack.

bread kit

But the plan starting this week, as we also start school, is to add more bread kits, dinner rolls and dinner roll kits, Grandma Kahn's Perfect Pie crusts, pumpkin walnut muffins, peanut butter & jam sandwiches, banana nut bread, breakfast burritos, stuffed potato skins, chocolate chip cookies, Frozen Apple Coffee Cake and at least 30 dinner entrees including:

Bun's first cream cheese chicken

Cream Cheese Chicken
Cheesy Broccoli n' Bacon Soup
Lasagna

Chicken Tortilla Casserole

Chicken Soup

Taco Soup

Bacon Cheeseburger Rice

Sausage Casserole

Oven Stew

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

Grandma's Corn Chowder

Cowboy Sandwiches

Kid-friendly Chicken Bites

Super Easy Chicken Fajitas

Who got the camera and took Akhmad's picture??

So you might not see me for a while.  Or maybe you will if I get overwhelmed and need to procrastinate some more. 

One week ago these little critters turned one.

Ooh!  Rainbow party chip cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and Halloween sprinkles. 

Tater can't believe he's allowed to have such a treat.

Gotta stuff it in my mouth before it gets taken away!

Squdge seems satisfied with his birthday cupcake and is ready for more.

It amazes me that even though they are fraternal twins, how many similarities they share. 

Of the six kids, these are the youngest to start walking.  (The older four walked after 14 months old.)

They were both tongue-tied.  They both had a posterior tongue-tie, to be precise.

When they cried as newborns, they bleated like sheep.

They are both SO BALD. 

They cut most of their teeth on the same days.

I love these babies so much.  I am thankful to have survived the nightmarish c-section and the crazy first week.  And most of all to make it to the year.  Everyone always said, "The first year is the hardest."  It was my goal to ENJOY, not just survive, the first year.  I definitely did. 

Homemade Gatorade

Just before our vacation, I read someone else's Works for Me Wednesday post about making your own Gatorade.  I actually read a couple different recipes.  But this particular one they got from Children's Memorial Hospital.  I figured, since I have the ingredients for that recipe AND it comes from a reputable source, I'd try it. 

Since you all know that we've been flying through baby wipes and toilet paper the last two weeks, this recipe has certainly come in handy. 

We have tried Cherry, Grape, Pink Lemonade, and Tropical Punch Kool-aid flavors to make homemade Gatorade.  They all taste like "The real thing."  I don't care for the Pink Lemonade one as much as the others.  But then again, I never liked the lemon-lime Gatorade either.

The weather has also been quite warm and this has been keeping the little people hydrated sans high fructose corn syrup.

Try it yourself!  It works for us!  It's Frugal!  Toss it in the Tip Jar!

To make a 2-quart pitcher for about 25 cents:


1 packet of Kool-aid (unsweetened)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 quarts of water


Mix.  Chill.  Serve.

One of the many reasons I love my laundry room.

This is the sink in the laundry room.  Squdge and Tater are demonstrating how roomy it is.  I love this sink.  It comes in really handy when twins have discovered how to take off their own diapers. 

Happy 12th Anniversary Danny!

Here's just a dozen reasons I'm glad I married you:

12.  You are more addicted to chocolate than I am.

11.  You read my blog-- sometimes without prompting.  And sometimes you even contribute to it.

10.  You scoop ice cream for me so I don't get sticky knuckles.

9.  You cleaned out my pants once and promised NEVER to tell.

8.  Even after you sneezed scrambled eggs all over the carpet at Dennys when we were engaged and you hate how much they charge for something as cheap as breakfast, you're still willing to take me there at least yearly (maybe because I give you the bacon from my Grand Slam).

7.  You stood by and held my hand as the homeless person in Burger King verbally acosted me when we were in San Francisco for a job prospect.

6.  When I bring home raw chicken from the commissary and you're unloading the groceries and putting them away, you ALWAYS say, "Ah, chicken.  This is where chicken comes to die."

5.  And when it's zucchini I bring home, you say, "What's the plan for the zucchini?  Are we just going to torture it like the last bunch?"

4.  You held my hand and didn't leave my side even though I threatened to crack you like an emesis basin during the birth of our fourth child.

3.  You stood by my side less than a week after the twins were born, the day I lost all touch with reality, assuring me everything would be okay.

2.  You gave me five boys and one girl.  And one girl on the way.

1.  You even love me all riddled with stretchmarks.

I love you my eternal companion.  Forever and ever and ever and ever . . .

Pic of twins opening one of their birthday presents-- unrelated to the post, but cute anyway.

Tater on left, Squdge on right

Has she updated yet??

Tired of reading this?  Yeah, me too.  Things are calming down a bit.  I'll be back Monday when Pookieville should be out of the toilet. 

And since it's still Friday, for a few hours more, you can revisit this post on homemade baby wipes.  It's never too late to start living a little more frugal.  And what could be more appropriate after a full week of um... previously mentioned activity? 

No need to "wipe out" your bank account with costly store bought wipes.  har har  These wipes work out to a fraction of the cost of even the cheapest warehouse company store-bought wipes.

Baby Wipes Tutorial

My kids lick shiny things -- still.

So, y'all know we recently came back from vacation.  Just before the vacation I switched the babies from their infant car seats into convertible carseats (still rear-facing of course).  This made it possible to squeeze Hammy and the twins into the first bench together in the van. 

The down side to switching from their infant seats is we couldn't use our double stroller that infant seats pop into.  We also couldn't just set their infant seats directly into shopping carts.  And we basically told them in church, "You are no longer strapped and trapped.  Feel free to seek and destroy while we try to listen reverently in Sunday School."

In case you were wondering, or haven't been with me for at least the last two years, these babies, like their four older siblings, ALSO love to lick shiny things.  It's one of those pesky little habits they picked up in line while waiting to be born.  "Ahh you are going to Nikki and Danny.  Here's a freebie."

So now, we are experiencing a virulent case of Rotavirus here in Pookieville.

All this to prep you for the latest Kiddie Kwip, brought to you by Bun, the recently turned five year old.  You can send your thanks in the form of Quilted Northern.

Bun 5 years:  "Daddy, I have good news for you!  This time when I had a lot of poop you don't have to plunge the toilet.  I did enough flushes to get ALL the toilet paper down."

Dear Self,

Next time you're on your way home from a family reunion/vacation in the blazing heat,

and you haven't showered in two days and one or more babies has pooped on your clothes,

and your Gremlin touched the backside of your skirt with his cherry pie gone awry hands that in his words "turned into a gooey geyser", 

and the salsa your dad gave you as a parting gift also decorates your two days unwashed denim skirt because you ate it at midnight in the van while Danny hit every pothole in Arizona but you couldn't stop (eating that is) because it was so darn yummy, 

do not decide you'll run into the Target that is only 30 minutes from home for a potty-break and maybe to pick up some pants for the 6 year old (because they are most likely on sale due to school starting). 

You will run into one of the sweetest, happiest, always dressed to perfection mother of twins plus one that you know. 

And you will shrink down into your stink trying to hide. 

You will thank me later. 

Here I am wearing the shirt and skirt before we started the drive home.

Sisters (left to right):  Rachel, Erin, me, Leslie

Toothpaste, a handy thing to own.

This blob needs no introduction.

I do it myself!

I loathe handing over the tube of toothpaste to my children.  But eventually they will learn how to use it properly.  And by properly I mean not squeeze it from the middle and accidently (or was it an accident) get it on the wall.  "Properly" also means not filling it with water and intentionally squirting it all over the bathroom.  So, as of now, they are grounded from kid toothpaste.  The only kid toothpaste they will come into possession of is from the dentist. 

Now I buy them AIM toothpaste for 80¢ at the commissary.  It's too minty for them to want to eat.  And if they're going to paste everything in the bathroom, it's not going to cost me a fortune.  Did you know, toothpaste can help clean up scuffs and scrapes?  Of course, I won't tell my kids that I'm going to use the wasted toothpaste to buff and shine the bathroom. I DO make them clean up the majority of it themselves.

Toothpaste is also fabulous for shining up the gold and diamonds on my wedding ring.  That's especially handy since I can't get it off my finger to save my life.  Toothpaste works for me! 

By the way, the pictures are from the master bathroom in our old house.  I've been meaning to post it for a while. 

No Gremlins were harmed in the making of this post.