Breaking the Bank

I wasn't prepared to have to up the grocery budget so much with a 3 1/2 year old and a 16 month old. Nor was a prepared to have to order them each their own kids meal when we go somewhere... like Jason's Deli where Riley will down a whole grilled cheese sandwich and fruit and then I have to start making trips to the salad bar for him, or in some cases a grown up meal, like Chick-fil-a where they eat EIGHT chicken nuggets a piece. I am thankful they are fruit eaters. I am thankful that our food does not go to waste, but woah.... we are eating a lot of food over here and mainly because of that little guy pictured up there. I went to the grocery store last Saturday afternoon...exactly one week ago. In one week we consumed 15 pears, 14 bananas, 3 containers of blueberries, and 2 one pound containers of strawberries....and that's just the fruit department. Little man eats more than I do. He yells at me all day long for food. I have to keep the tray on his highchair or he crawls up in it and calls out for food. He cries and stands on my feet while I cut up his food. He always thinks he's starving. Sometimes I will still buy the little containers of baby food for him and he always wants two and I just open the thing and put a straw in it and he literally inhales it in 30 seconds and then we move on to the next one. Same thing with the squeeze yogurt. It's embarrassing. Here is a menu for him on a typical day. Sometimes I just have to cut him off. I'm not sure how we will afford him as a teenager, but oh how I love my hungry little man. :)

Breakfast:

Whole Banana (I have to peel it and hold it in the peel at the very bottom and let him take it out or he refuses to eat it and it can't break or he won't eat it)
bowl of oatmeal
plateful (were talking salad plate size completely full) of stawberries and blueberries
sometimes dry cereal if he's not full

Lunch:
Whole grilled cheese (whole thing even the crust)
more blueberries
squeeze yogurt (sometimes 2)
whole pear (which he will not accept if I cut up, has to be whole, just peeled, and he eats it down to the seeds and then i have to snatch it)

snack:
dry cereal or sometimes crackers
banana

dinner
two chicken tenders
beans
fruit

Plus he drinks whole milk

My Cuties

TV Free

We have been tv free in the Roberts Household since March 5th. I remember the date because I am starting to miss it. We decided not to get the tv turned on in our new house for lots of reasons. None of which we think should be imposed on every family. It was just the right decision for us at this time. I have always felt guilty when the kids watched any amount of tv for my own reasons...not that I ever let them watch tv all day or anything. It was just a personal thing for me. Chris and I often found ourselves flipping channels at 11pm wondering why the heck we hadn't gone to bed. He was a tv junkie for sure and he won't mind me saying so and I like to be by him so I would sit and watch too.

When we moved into the new house we decided not to put a tv in the living room because it just wouldn't look right. The fireplace is in the center of the biggest wall and we like symmetry so the tv was out. We have a tv in our bedroom and right now we just use it for watching movies. We have plenty to work on with the new house and so the no tv thing hasn't been that much of an issue.

until now

We are missing The Hills and MTV's Road Rules Challenge...whatever it is called this season. We love to watch those shows together.

We said we would make it until football season and we will, but not without a little remorse. :)

I do however, love playing with the kids in our new playroom and letting them have movie time as a special treat. I think it's a great thing for them and it makes me happy. They are really starting to play together and enjoy each other and I love that.

The Doctor's Office is No Place to Make Friends

Post Disclaimer: I love children and not just my own. Of course I love my own the most, but I love other people's children too and I'm genuinely interested in them. I think other babies are cute at the store and I like to smile at them. I love my friend's kids and I think they are cute and funny and I enjoy being around them.

At the doctor's office............ not so much. Do not enter my bubble. Keep your kids germs away from mine and I will reciprocate.

I have never understood why they have toys or playground things at the doctor's office. So, all the sick kids and well kids can congregate together and make the well kids sick and the sick kids sicker. That's really kind of crazy if you ask me. You know you are going to the doctor so bring your own kid something to do. Each parent should be responsible for their own child's entertainment. Just sayin'

Moving on

I was at the doctor with Riley this week. He had given me all the signals of an ear infection....correction, all Mckenzee's signals of an ear infection. Third time I've taken him to the doctor with a Mommy diagnosed ear infection and been wrong. That hurts. I never missed with her.

Anyway, we are sitting there waiting...near the tv that has a movie playing....not touching other kids or playground equipment.

I have to fill out a new information form because we've had a change of address. It was difficult to say the least because I had to do it while wrangling Riley in my lap because he runs off if I put him down.

I finally finished and I started reading a book to Riley and these other kids flocked to me. Get your kids away from me at the doctor's office! One of the parents got their kid, but the other one did not.

This little girl crawled up on the table next to my chair and was hanging over my shoulder. So, I look over at her mom who is totally watching and not oblivious and I give her a look like get your kid off me and she does nothing. Then finally the little girl reaches out and touches Riley in the face and I quickly moved him away. The mom at that point told her not to bother him, but did not say come over here. So, I said, "Is she sick?" and the mom says "no." and I say, "Well, he is and you might not want her around him because I don't know what he has." So she calls her girl over then and puts her in a chair and sits on the floor in front of her the rest of the time and wouldn't look at me.

I think I'll make my kids some doctor's office t-shirts that read 'GERM INFESTED KEEP AWAY'

Photoshoot by Jessica Sims

All photos by Jessica Sims. You can check her out at http://www.chasethelightwithme.com/ She was so great! She has been doing photography for years. She is a recent graduate from Texas A&M University. She will be leaving for an 11 month mission trip in June and traveling to 11 countries to share God's love. She did photography sessions to raise money for her trip. She had us meet her at the old Grapevine train station and it was the perfect site. We thought Riley boy might mess up the whole session for us when we got started, but somehow Jessica got some good ones anyway. Jessica, we will always treasure these family pictures and we will be praying for you! Thank you again!

"The Incident"

Sorry, I forgot about this.

So, it was the second night in our new house. I had made my rounds of checking and double checking the kids, looking in all the closets and under the beds, checking the doors, putting furniture in front of the doors.... Can we say obsessive? I think so. It's exhausting to be me. Anyway, I had just laid down in bed. It was around 11:00 pm.

Chris and I heard a crash.

A loud crash.

We both described it later as someone standing in the middle of the kitchen and dropping a glass dish that busted into a million pieces all over the floor.

We both jumped out of bed.

We checked the kids.

They were fine.

I grabbed a three hole punch for Chris to carry as a weapon. That was all I could find.

Chris checked all the windows.

They were secure. None busted.

We looked in the kitchen for something broken.

Found nothing.

I began to open boxes labeled glass to see if something broke in a box.

Found nothing, plus it was all in paper and couldn't have made that sound.

We finally went back to bed and I stayed up, just sitting there, for as long as my eyes would allow.

I can't explain what it was and I'm not making any assumptions about it, but the next night I did leave my Bible open on the island in the kitchen.

New House

We ended up moving in March 13th. The move was SO much harder than I expected. So much harder.

We had three big moving days. The third moving day was just Chris and I on Sunday evening getting what we thought would be the last of it. Just a few boxes. It ended up being a whole trailer load. We just kept pulling more and more boxes out of our attic and boxing up more and more "little things".

It turns out I'm a hoarder after all, it's just that all my things were packed neatly away in boxes. And when I say all my things I mean ALL my things. Literally everything I've ever had from childhood until now. I'm talking keychain collection, button collection, pin collection, popples, glo-worms, old cameras, coloring books, all of my stuffed animals, all of my school papers, a tiny little bracket from my braces in a plastic bag. Seriously, poke my eye out. Ridiculous.

We were exhausted when we finally called it a night on Sunday and so was my Dad who was taking care of the kids while Mom unpacked our kitchen...Praise the Lord! Mom had had them by herself the two days before including overnight while Dad helped us move.

The next week was mostly spent going back to the old house cleaning it up and getting the rest of our crap. I think it was Thursday night and we were driving over there again and I told Mckenzee "This is the last time we are going to drag y'all back over here." and she said, "Me and Ri-wee just stay in the car."

We closed on that property on the 19th and we were done, done, done!

I made good progress unpacking boxes and getting things put away for a couple of weeks and then I just reached my limit. We kind of hit a lull and we got so sick, but things are coming back together again and we painted the living room and got solar screens put on the windows and bought gutters and we seem to be on track.

I have to say it has been an adjustment for me. The kids did fine. Chris did fine. But I have had a hard time. I don't think it's any secret that I deal with anxiety issues. It is of course worse in times of stress. The new house is bigger and the bedrooms are split. Which means when we go to bed at night, my hardest time of day, the kids are as far from me as they can be. The first month we were here we couldn't get our security system set up because our phone line wasn't working. Thankfully, my Grandpa was able to get that working without us having to pay AT&T $200+ an hr. Then there was "The Incident" that happened the second night we were here. Read on to find out about it. Needless to say, I had a hard time sleeping.

Plus, I think I went through a little bit of grieving over selling the other house. It was our first house. It was painted and fixed up just like we wanted and we worked so hard to get it that way. The kids rooms were custom done by Daddy and that's the house I brought my babies home to. It was sad for me to leave it even though I always knew it wasn't where I wanted to be forever and it was the right time and we needed more space.

On to happier things. I LOVE the new house. It has space for all of our things. We have a play room! Amen to playrooms! It has changed our life! Chris and I love to talk about paint colors and decorating ideas. It is starting to feel like our house and not a vacation rental. There are so many things I want to do to it and I wish I could just snap my fingers and make it happen. I know you are wanting to see pictures and I have a few, but they were all taken before we moved in so it looks very blank. I'll post those and then later do a post of afters so you can see what it looks like with our things and with paint.

I am anxious to get back to blogging and reading all of your blogs as well!

view from entryway

living room from formal dining

From back of living room. To the left is the formal dining. We plan to enclose it with french doors as a study. To the right is the playroom.

Kitchen. Wow. Might be my favorite room in the house. Gas range. Didn't know I would love it so much, but I do.

Master bath

It's hard to tell much about the rest of the rooms from the pictures without furniture. They kind of all look the same. More pics soon!