Sundays as a "Single mom"

I'm certainly eating my words today!  I made the mistake of telling Brother Cayton that I had no problems last Sunday without Scott.  Ha!  Karma came back to bite me!  My family took Emma again and it turns out that Leah wanted to fill Emma's Hash-baz shoes.  The stinker!  Scott left before seven and I had three girls in bed with me!  No wonder I was exhausted when I woke up!  Whenever I have a kid in bed with me (and I'm not exhausted) I sleep super light.  Which makes me really tired and very grouchy.  I got up, fed Cecilia some and got the baths started.  Kira put water in for Ben, because she refused to be first.  I helped Leah next and we were running out of time quickly.  I got Leah dressed and she didn't like her dress, that I just got this week.  It was silky, so I was surprised that she was so uncomfortable with it.  So we went to her room to see if there was one she was willing to wear.  Being lazy, I only showed her the ones that matched her black tights.   No go on all of them, so I picked the next one and just put it on her.  She started screaming like I had hurt her, which woke Cecilia up.  So, I went to help her and went ahead and got her dressed (she had a bath yesterday).  As I fed her, Leah got in the bath with Kira.  So, I had to completely change her and chose a nice comfortable play dress.  No complaints.  Phew!  Kira, on the other hand was taking forever, because there were too many bubbles.  There wasn't when I took Leah out.  Then she wouldn't listen to me about washimg her hair.  Ugh, that six-year-old had better figure things out fast, mom and dad are in charge!  When we finally left, church had already started.  Since Leah likes to get in the driver's seat while I put Cecilia in.  We made it during the sacrament song.  Hurray!  Good talks, especially the one about coming early.  Why is it so hard for me?  I can be thirty minutes early and can get everyone ready by eight, but can't get to church by ten.  I'll keep working on it!  I left Cecilia with Scott and headed to the Nursery where Leah was the problem child today.  They gave us chocolate animal crackers to give these little children.  Leah was MAD that I didn't give her any (since we don't eat chocolate) and threw her plain animal crackers and water on the floor.  As we were cleaning up, she snuck a couple from one of the other kids.  Grumble, grumble.  Then I finally got a key to the cabinet, but it wasn't the toy cabinet, so I had the opportunity to swap items in cabinets.  I did some cleaning while in there.  Luckily, Ashli did a fantastic job with the kids as I was figuring things out!  We managed to all get out to the car and inside the house safely and Leah had fallen asleep!  Hurray!  I made lunch for all of us and managed to eat before feeding the baby.  I got about ten minutes of a nap before the phone rang.  It was my husband with a question that I could answer.  Yay me!  Not too long later he was home to eat something.  I got a phone call from my mamaw, which was exciting!  I LOVE my mamaw!  I named Leah after her!  Scott made a few phone calls and paced holding Cecilia until his home teaching partner showed up at about 4 (about 20 minutes after he got home) and he was gone until 6:30.  In the meantime I had "made" gingerbread cookies, rose some rolls, talked to my family and Emma and cooked beef stew.  I really need to start making things from scratch again.  We'll see when I build up to that!  I feel like a milk cow right now. the price I pay for a three or four hour "break."  Scott ate dinner, gave the kids their vitamins and headed to bed, at about eight.  I made him take Leah.  My little stripper.  I have a feeling it's going to get worse.  Luckily, she's not even 2 yet!  So, she's not very coordinated or strong and I have a chance!  I got all the kids in bed for Cecilia to wake up.  I've changed at least 5 poopy diapers and I think I smell another one.  What a day!  I need another ibruprofen!

Such a nice day

I mean, really, 60 degrees in January!  Awesome!  Not that I felt motivated at all today, but still a very nice day!  I managed to do some dishes, a little laundry, and get the place straightened up a tiny bit before my parents and Kim and Sam came.  I had a serious headache hit and actually had to take some ibruprofen.  Crazy!  Kira had started blowing a really shrill whistle and that made it worse.  Oh well, the med worked!  I really wanted to take a nap, and got to sleep maybe ten minutes, before I had one (or more) of my children bugging me and Cecilia.  Oh well, it was worth a try!  My family came!  We met them at Village Inn and had an early dinner, which is great, because I'm still working on cooking real food again.  Like making milk for a baby takes up so much effort that I don't feel like cooking food too.  I don't know what's going on!  Either way, good food.  Obviously considering how much Ben ate!  Wow!  He was finishing off everyone's food.  We need to find more money in our budget to feed him there I'm thinking!  After that my family did an errand while we did and met at the fairgrounds to do some family pictures.  I thought they turned out pretty well!  Especially after I played with them a little!  Poor Ben had a headache hit and was crying, so pictures over.  When we got home we gave him some Advil and he was out for the rest of the night (so far).  I hope he's okay!  My dad worked with Scott to replace the laptop screen.  We had gotten an estimate of $600 to fix the screen, but got a new one on ebay for $75, and they put it in.  Works great!  My mom took Emma with her again for the weekend.  It's a nice break for all of us.  Poor Emma, being the middle kid, deserves some attention.  Especially the good kind, and when she's there she's better potty trained when she gets back, so I'm all for it!  I wish I could giver her all the attention she needs, but I can't seem to do it with everything else going on!  Either way, Cecilia is waking up, so I should finish fast!  Here's some more pics!

Smokescreen by Traci Hunter Abramson

As evidence of the fact that I enjoy her books, I finished another one today.  I have to ask:  When is the next one coming out?  I don't have much hope, since this one just came out this month!  They're great!  So, this one is about Quinn and Taylor.  I love all of the art references, since I am big on art!  (I actually did a sketch of my baby girl in between reading books today.)  I was a little disappointed that I was right.  Either I am getting good at solving mysteries, or this one was an easy one to solve.  I don't get a lot of sleep and am kinda out of it a lot, so I doubt it's because I'm smart!  Either way, it's another book that'll keep you on the edge of your seat.  Even if you do know who did it, you probably don't know why or how!  So, still a great read!

Backlash by Traci Hunter Abramson

Another series that I love!  The Saint Squad is awesome!  I hope there's a real one out there.  This one is centered on Kel and his wife.  You hear mention of them before, when everyone was single, and wonder how they got together.  I was very excited to find out!  At the point of the book, they have been married five years and are having a few troubles, because Marilyn really doesn't like Kel being a Navy SEAL.  After hearing her backstory, it's easy to see why!  Her mom doesn't help matters.  She writes in her spare time to help think through things and keeps it a secret, due to her lack of self-esteem.  Her husband getting shot in the leg on a mission makes it so that they have the opportunity to spend a lot more time together and really get to know each other (which they obviously skipped).  I found this book very realistic, except for the part where he only got broth and jello at the hospital.  He wasn't going in for surgery and only had a bullet in his leg, does that really call for a lack of food?  Either way, it was a fantastic book and I'm very glad I bought the next one at the same time, so I can get started on it.  The only problem is that once you start her books, it's hard to put them down and move away.  Sorry kids, mom's reading today!

Holding children

It seems like I spend a lot of time holding children, usually my littlest three.  I was talking to my husband about how weird I feel being able to put the baby down away from me, but she's been out almost a month!  And then I have my almost two-year-old who lived in my lap, so I really shouldn't be surprised that she still expects it!  Of course, my three-year-old has been through this baby thing before, so she wants/needs all of my attention.  It's jsut not possible!  Luckily I can type while holding a kiddo or two and the internet is so interesting!  I'm also very grateful for the Kindle on my pc, I just read another book.  It was fantastic!

Good times

I took my first test of the semester today (well, other than the basic music test out) and I think I did well.  If nothing else, it didn't take me long!  So, I had an hour until my next class and was able to get something done that is due later this semsester.  It was completely fun though!  I talked to Scott while I was doing it.  In that class our group is performing an experiment to see what kills bacteria best.  I'll try to remember to put it on here when I find out!  I might be changing my career goal, because after talking to one of the Professors in the Special Ed department, I found out that School counselors are getting laid off due to budget cuts.  And school psychologists are still needed, because they're doing their work and the counselors!  So, now it looks like I'll start my Special Ed masters while I'm finishing up my undergrad and then after I finish that, I'll start on my School Psychologist degree.  A lot of school, but that's fine with me!  We cleaned up the main floor of our house in preparation for the babysitters' arrival.  Woohoo!  Bring on the date!  Scott and I need a break from demanding children, who try to boss us around! 

The few Engagement Pics I got

My brother and his fiancee, Melissa came down on Monday.  Great times!  Melissa cut my hair (and I love it), and I took a few Engagement pics at the school.  They aren't fantastic, but they're better than the only other pictures we have of them together!  Chris was sick in those.  Either way, we had fun together!  We even got to play Settlers!  Woohoo!  Great times at the Westhoffs'!  Schoolwise, I have my first test tomorrow.  Eek!  I should probably be considering that instead of being lazy and reading books.  What can I say?  I get distracted really easy.  I completely love my Art Appreciation class!  I get to sketch!  I HAD to buy a sketchbook!  Woohoo!  I may not be any good, but I love to do it and hope to take calsses at some point.  Not at this school obviously, since they only have one drawing class.  Gggrrr.  Don't let me get started on this school! 
I need to check on my laundry, so we don't drown in it!  I'm also going to sell some stuff on ebay, since my kids have way too many clothes!  I'd rather wash clothes more often (though if everything worked well, it would make it easier.  I have to spin the washer drum to get it going and the dryer timer/heating element isn't working well.  So, it takes a LONG time to dry clothes.  It does work eventually, so I am NOT complaining!  I don't want to have to afford all new appliances, so we are very happy with what we have!  My kids are doing well.  Emma has only managed to make a couple of small messes and pour water into the Epsom salt bag.  Um, yeah.  She is very adept at doing things in that little amount of time I'm not paying attention.  I can't keep an eye on everyone all of the time!  Not that I don't try!   
Now if you didn't know before, you know now, I'm completely random!  On to the pictures!

                            With my hair cut and styled

                                 Chris and Melissa

Key Lime Pie review

So, I gave in and dornloaded the Kindle for PC so I can read books that much faster and I just finished Keey Lime Pie.  I love Josi Kilpack's books in general, so I wasn't surprised to sit down and read this one in less than 2 hours (I had to feed my baby and children in there).  That Sadie...  If you haven't read the first three I strongly urge you to do so.  Great books and awesome recipes!  This book I have been looking forward to for awhile since I LOVE Key lime pie.  Anyway...back to the review.  I really enjoyed the fact that Sadie is so nosy.  How else would she get herself into such huge messes that we can read about?  It was a little awkward with the whole random Eric like thing.  But, that could just be because I'm not a bad boy kind of person.  I didn't like Eric as a character at all, but I do like Pete, so I'm glad he still had a part in this book!  I'm certainly glad that Sadie safely made it through another adventure and am looking forward to Blackberry Crumble coming soon.  When is Spring anyway?

This Side of Forever by Juliann Farnsworth

I just read this on my Kindle on my PC.  It was a very interesting book.  I was very confused at the beginning, because so many of the main characters seem to be in loveless relationships.  Why?  So, they can find the real one for them, of course.  Really?  Now, I'm not a guy, so I couldn't tell you for sure, but every guy I've talked to has known when he was in love, whether it was the first time, or not!  And why on earth would you be willing to propose to your man if you weren't even sure if he liked you?  Yikes!  I prefer knowing and it's usually pretty easy to tell!  I'm glad that things turned out alright in the end, but the conflicts were rather ugly.  You've got the twin sister whom is handicapped and feels like she will never find love that mothers her brother and wants him back at church.  The twin brother who marries a girl and brings her home to treat her and everyone else like trash, because it turns out, she was pregnant!  Then you have the spoiled and conceited sister who is engaged to a guy who doesn't love her and  models.  The ugly conflicts I don't want to spoil for you, so you'll have to read it on your own to decided what you think!  I read it in a day.

Forgetting

Obviously I have forgotten how early babies start doing things!  My little three week old is already staying awake more!  I even pulled out the tummy time play mat and she played with one of the hanging toys for a couple of minutes!  She started to cry, so I flipped her over and she played on her tummy for at least five minutes without crying!  All of my other kiddos abhored tummy time!  Hurray for every kiddo being different!  Now to remember how to entertain a baby.  It's not easy!  Especially since our swing doesn't work and I'm not willing to pay $60 for a new motor or $100 for a new swing.  Oh well, we'll figure it out!
In other news, Ben did so great yesterday!  He gave himself a bath, which is just plain awesome!  He was screaming about it the whole time, but I didn't have to do anything!  He's come a long way from the little boy that  refused to even get in the bathtub!  That was quite the chore!  I think, all in all, that he's doing really well, even though he's not on meds!  Backstory on that was that he wasn't growing at all on the meds and actually lost 3 pounds, so we took him off last summer and put up with the mad craziness that is med withdrawal for the WHOLE summer!  Every once in awhile a very "caring" person will ask if Ben had his meds that day.  Nope, he hasn't, for months!  He has good and bad days, just like his typical peers.  As he says, "Sheesh!"  It's so easy to forget how lucky we are that he functions so well with his Autism!  What a great kid! 
I've also forgotten how much easier life is when short a kid.  I love Emma so much!  But, I have really appreciated this weekend break from her.  I'll be glad to have her back home soon, since I have gotten that extra breath that I needed to deal with her three-year-old ness.  Wow!  Three years old is a hard age.  you want to pour everything out, smell everything, taste only things that look delicious (which is a big difference from Leah who will eat anything, including soap), touch everything, try everything, and are shocked when someone gets upset with you for doing any or all of the above!  Poor kiddo!  I hope she had a good break from me too!  It was nice to talk to her last night!  Gotta love VZO!  We sang her the bedtime songs and as soona s we were done, she got off the computer and (I assume) went to bed.  Very nice!  Kira was especially missing her Emma.  Probably because she can boss Emma around, and Emma usually loves it!
Either way, things are good here.  I'm really hoping to get my hair cut today.  If I do, I will post pics!

Baby Shower

I had a miserable morning, but my day went great once I went to my baby shower!  Of course I can't complain about my morning, because it was poor Scott that had to deal with his foot being sliced open.  Poor guy!  I'm glad it stopped bleeding!  On to the better part of the day...  My mom and dad came early, which was fantastic, because mom helped me remember hydrogen peroxide!  And I got a break!  Mom and I went to the baby shower.  A lot of people came, so I felt really loved!  It's always so nice of people to give presents and help celebrate a new life!  Sister East is so awesome for thinking of it!  So, now I have had a shower for all of my "odd" kids.  My mom threw a family one for me with Ben.  Julia McCauley and Marie Johnson threw one for me with Emma and now Julie East threw one for me for Cecilia.  How sweet!  We got a LOT of diapers and wipes (which is AWESOME!), some really cute clothes, baby wash, lotion, wash cloths, burp rags (that are super cute), a purse bank (adorable), 2 cds, and a bath and changing caddy.  Thanks to all that came, it was VERY appreciated!  And even better, my family took Emma with them to Olathe for the weekend!  Score!  I am a whole lot tired of her wasting everything.  She destroyed the last of my deoderant, poured out the rest of my shower gel in the sink (I wondered what the smell was when I walked into the house and discovered what it was after she left, lucky for her), and poured out all of the hand soap upstairs.  So, I have a day and a half free of everything being wasted!  Woohoo!  And Melissa and Chris are coming on Monday and Melissa is going to cut my hair, so I'm very excited!  And now, more pictures (because I love pictures)! 

                         Some of the presents!

                             More of the presents!

                                                     I love it!

                                          My baby giraffe

                                         With her daddy.

                                       Sleeping angel

                          I was so excited to get the wings in!

Chaos

This afternoon was absolutely not my finest moments as a mom.  The good news is that I have never said I was a perfect (or even a good) mother!  My little girls and I were having so much fun together.  Emma and I "made" Christmas cookies (y'know the ones that you just stick in the oven).  She was so excited and even had us both wear aprons to do it.  Very nice.  It even came with frosting!  So, yeah, good times.  Then I put Cecilia in a giraffe costume to take a few pictures to kill time before having to pick the kids up from school.  Since Scott was still in school, I had to bring all three girls to the school.  This is where everything went downhill!  We were running late, since I had to get all three into the car along with the stroller, because it is just safer to travel across any streets that way!  Since it's snowing, it's a little slick out, so I had to drive slower.  We park by the school and I got the stroller out.  Emma tried to get in and I had to tell her no, since Cecilia needed to go in.  So, she was crying and didn't want to move from the tree.  Leah then refused to sit in the stroller.  It's freezing cold and snowing, we're running late and I have 2 girls throwing a fit.  I convince Emma to walk, but she rebels by walking SLOW!  I held onto Leah telling her every couple seconds that she was going to fall out if she didn't sit down.  Which of course happened.  I tried to catch her, so she wasn't as hurt.  Then she sat down, but was crying.  Emma was still walking slowly behind me and I told her that I was getting very frustrated, because I really don't like being late.  Then she falls down (like I said, it was slick)!  The guy walking behind me helped her up and asked if there was anything he could do.  Nope.  Though it was really nice of him to ask!  I comforted her and had her walk next to me.  Kira was waiting for me with a Think Sheet (meaning she was so bad at school that I had to sign a form saying she was going to have to give up some of her recess to make up for whatever she did).  Sheesh!  I asked her if she was trying to ruin my day.  Nope, just needed me to sign the form.  It was just because she colored when the teacher asked her not to.  Phew!  She wasn't cheating!  Then we waited for Ben.  He finally came and we got out of there! 
Because I had to pick up Scott in less than an hour I decided to be nutty and go to the grocery store.  With all five kids!  What on earth was I thinking?   And Poor Leah had fallen asleep, so I had to wake her up to get her out of the car.  The good news is that no one fell out of the grocery cart and I didn't have any surprises when I checked out!  The lady that bagged our groceries even brought our groceries out to the car (she felt sorry for me obviously).  We get the groceries in, get Emma buckled in, and I had to grab Leah to get her buckled in.  I closed the door (thinking my keys were in my pocket) and Leah locked all the doors.  Really?  I talked to the kids through the window and told them to open the door.  It took a couple minutes before Kira finally opened my door.  I grabbed Leah to bonk my head on the door.  Fantastic.  I got her buckled in and left to get Scott.  We parked and a couple minutes later Scott came out with all of my school supplies.  Hurray!  Then the day got better again.  Hurray for Scott!  He even changed my little giraffe's really poopy diaper.  I didn't know a newborn could poop that much!  What an afternoon!  But, we made it and have eaten dinner.  As long as no one sees my house right now, we're all good!

Sunday update

So, to start off with, great news!  Friday night I gave in and tried on my pre-pregnancy jeans.  And they FIT!  So, I got to wear a normal pair of jeans yesterday!  Since I could wear normal clothes, I wanted to celebrate and go off for awhile by myself.  Scott wanted me to go to the pet store and pick up some fish for our empty tank.  So, I did.  The only problem was that I locked the keys in the car.  It turned out okay, because I went into a store I had never been in and found a present for my girls for Valentine's Day plus I found boxes of Russell Stover's white chocolates.  Woohoo!  They aren't cheap, but it'll give Scott something to get me for Valentine's Day!  When Scott came to rescue me, I gave him the fish and got Kira and Emma.  I thought that it would be fun, some girl time.  Yeah, no.  They spent the whole time: "Can I have this?  How about this?..."  Ggrrr!  I really needed the early bedtime and the yummy white chocolates after they went to bed!  Ben got up afterwards and helped himself to one.  He was pretty excited about them too!  Can't say I blame him.  He was so funny last night!  He found something broken in his room and immediately went to Emma to blame her.  He told her, "You have a history of breaking things!"  He's right!  And she's also really good at wasting things to "save" them.  For instance the new toothpaste I got yesterday.  She poured out two huge globs of toothpaste onto a bath toy.  Beautiful.  I'm glad I got the one with more in it! 
Now, onto today.  I really wanted to go to church, because my husband got a new calling and it's a big one:  Executive Secretary.  I wanted to be there to sustain him and be there for his setting apart.  It was very nice!  I also got to give back the dishes to the people that were so kind as to bring us food!  And we got two blankets for her!  They are beautiful!  How sweet!  Cecilia did really well at church!  I did got to my Nursery class.  I have four little girls and a little boy in my class, so the little girls were loving Cecilia!  They wanted to hold the "pink baby!"  We made it through church!  Phew!  And Scott got home pretty fast.  I got a nap with Cecilia and Leah!  Another WOOHOO!  Naps are precious!  Anyway. On to pictures.  Since I love taking pictures of my cute baby!  And there's one of me.

                                                                               Emma

                                       I have ALWAYS wanted one of these cute bow pictures!

                          She's smiling.  I love these little smiles!  They make everything worth it!

                                                                          Pretty cute!

                     I love my Leah!  This would have been even better is she hadn't just ate spaghetti!

       Emma love love loves her baby sister.  I am all the time telling her to back up and give her a break!

                                                                          It's true!

                                                       See how much smaller my belly is!

School is back in session!

So, yesterday I started back at school, less than a week and a half after having my baby!  Craziness, I know!  Cecilia is doing great though!  Yesterday i only had the one class, so no problem!  It was a good start!  But, today, that's a different story!  I went to class at 8 and then got done early at about 9:30, so I called Scott and begged him to get me, so I could feed Cecilia before my next class (a 2 hour class).  He came and we parked at a nearby park, so I could try to wake her up well enough to feed her.  Then I had to go to class.  It's fun seeing how many people are in the same classes as me!  So, after class Scott picked me back up to go home for me to make lunch, feed Cecilia and then go to Ashli's house, because Scott had an appointment and I had class before he would get done.  This was a lot harder because Emma had to go potty when I wanted to leave, so she took off her pants and shoes.  And there was a mess in the bathroom, so I had to clean up the mess, and get Emma dressed.  Then I had to put the car seat base in the other van, and move seats around.  I also had to clean the van off, since it hasn't moved since the big snowstorm.  It was great to sit with Ashli for a few minutes and talk!  I went to my next class and we got out early, so I went to Braum's and got some milk and some food for dinner (lasagna and cheesy garlic bread with a salad).  I came home, put the food away, to go get Ben and Kira from school.  I came back with them and fed Cecilia and then studied for my Basic Music Test Out.  I went and took that test.  I doubt I passed, but I did better than the last time I took it!  I just can't memorize major and minor key signatures.  Oh well!  I came home to Scott cooking dinner!  How sweet!  I helped him with that, and he helped Ben vacuum so our Living Room isn't as much of a wreck!  Then we watched Wipeout!  The kids went to bed pretty easy.  I only had to sing 2 songs and give hugs and kisses!  Nice!  Now, I need Cecilia to wake up so I can stock her up, so i can sleep for a little while tonight!  The great news is that I don't have school until Tuesday!  Woohoo!

Short

Messy house.  Little Sleep.  Dirty Diapers (especially right after I just changed one).  Needy children.  Constant feeding (you know what that means, PAIN).  Exhaustion.  Cute little baby makes it all worth it!

Top Ten of 2010

Since I feel like I slept enough and my ibruprofen is working I'd like to go over my top thirteen favorite things of last year!

                           Being pregnant again, during a move.  But, everything went well!

 Doing new things, like having a house (rental) and having a small bonfire so the kids could cook hot dogs and roast marshmallows

                  Being in the newspaper, for starting a group to improve the neighborhood park

 Ben getting baptized!  Anyone that knows us, knows Ben has Autism and is terribly afraid of water!

 Having a family in the ward add us in as family, so we still had Christmas Eve festivities, even though we couldn't travel to Olathe!

                          Having the whole family together!  Chris is back from his mission!

                                                           Having great in-laws!

                                          Learning how to make lots of fun things!

                                 Having 2 kids in school all day, and being able to walk!

                      Being in a Parade and being a Wolf Den Leader (now Ben is my den too)

                                                    Spending time with my girls

 Going back to school and getting great grades!  The girls were shuttled back and forth between Scott and I on three days of the week!

And of course the many Concerts I have had the opportunity to go to!  I usually bring Kira and it's our One-on-one time together.  I think her favorite part is the treats at the end!
Maybe not amazing or awe-inspiring, but my very favorite thing about 2010 is that it's over!  Bring on the new year!

We're home!

After having less than 5 hours of sleep for days, we're home!  I have 5 wonderful kiddos and it's nice to be home with them (though I LOVED my "break").  Scott brought Emma and Leah over this morning and proceeded to fall asleep!  So, I had 3 of my girls to take care of.  Luckily Nick Jr was on!  Leah and Emma just couldn't seem to get enough of touching their new little sister!  Scott left and took Kira to her Physical appointment, while I got to keep the little girls.  We got all packed up and ready to go when they came back.  We took pictures, loaded me up and got out of the hospital!  We were all starving, so food was the first order at home.  I was so tired I was "fuzzy," so I went upstairs to feed the baby and take a nap.  Scott so kindly brought me up food, which Leah ate most of.  She must have missed eating my food!  I got a nap and came downstairs.  Soon after the Elders randomly show up to use the bathroom!  So, they got to meet our baby girl.  Chanda brought food!  Woohoo!  Spaghetti, green beans, breadsticks, applesauce, and cupcakes in ice cream cones.  Ben said he wanted the recipe, but I told him I already knew how!  Now the kids are in bed and I'm trying to build up enough energy to do the dishwasher.  We'll see!  Here's some pictures though!