World map wall paper

Grandma spent the morning applying World Map wall paper to Will's room. I think it looks great and am excited that our 4 year-old can start learning about world geography. Beats staring at a blank wall during time out :-)
John grew up with a similar map in his room and is quite the geography buff if I do say so myself.

Happy 29th Birthday, John

We love you so much. And I promise that your dinner will look better than the cake that the kids and I made for you today. We can't wait to see you--the kids are nice and snotty and ready to plant some juicy ones on you :-)

I've been a little busy trying to get the laundry done...has anyone seen Joy?

Sweetest thing I heard all day:

Jane: "Mommy, I want to be a doctor so I can fix Baby Joy"
Our kids are so sweet to their little sister!

Joy has had a rough week...nasty diaper rash/infection, possible UTI and then hives last night after I tried giving her some yogurt. I was trying to give her some natural probiotics to help with the infection, but it was obviously a bad idea as her system wasn't ready to handle the dairy yet. She is one sensitive girl. In an attempt to try and help avoid more diaper rashes, the doctor suggested switching to cloth diapers. I have always been a fan of the convenience of disposables, but I'm going to have to get over this if it means helping Joy. Hope it works!
Here is Joy in her new cloth diapers:

It seemed like a good idea at the time

I had to make a same-day doctors appointment for Joy yesterday afternoon. Poor thing has a diaper rash that just won't quit. It got so bad that she couldn't sleep, so the doctor took a look and prescribed us something that will hopefully heal the poor baby's hiney quickly. Will and Jane were such helpful and compliant siblings that I decided to let them pick out a treat while we were waiting at the pharmacy for Joy's prescription to be filled.
Will chose Reeses Peanut Butter cups and Jane chose a cheerleading baton. Seemed like reasonable choices at the time but when we got home I quickly realized that the baton would not work well as an indoor toy. The thing weighs a lot and HURTS when it is thrown into the air and comes down on ones head. Thankfully, we avoided too much damage to the house or ourselves, but from now on the baton throwing will occur outside or in a vacant/padded room.
I had to snap a few pictures of Jane with the baton, because she was soooo excited and enthusiastic. Future Husky Cheerleader perhaps?? I can't look at these pictures without laughing out loud to myself.

Meal Swap

I joined a friend's meal swap about a year ago and then recently decided to start my own closer to home. What is a meal swap you might ask? In our case, it's a group of ladies who prepare a single meal in bulk, divide it into 4-person servings sizes and then get together to swap these meals, ending up with several ready-to-go freezer meals for the month.
Last month, I made Peanut Chicken and came home with White Bean Chili, Orzo Soup, Lasagna, and Beef Lentil Stew. Yummy!

This month, I made a huge batch of Beef Stew and can't wait to see what I end up with tomorrow at our swap. I'm hoping to compile the groups' favorite recipes later in the year for a little recipe book of sorts.

Even with some recent dietary restrictions in our family (long story) I like having the meals available for lunches, company and dinners when John is travelling for work.

If you're on the Eastside and want to join or swap or start you own, let me know!

The Migrant Sleeper

Jane is a decent napper/sleeper but she is notorious for wandering around the house looking for a good place to sleep (other than her room). William would never dream of sleeping anywhere other than on his bed with his Pooh Bear, T-Rex and two "snuggle bug" blankets. Jane, on the other hand loves searching the house for the perfect spot whether it be the bath tub, the linen closet or the trampoline in our bonus room. I draw the line at her crawling into bed with Baby Joy as I'm not a happy camper when the baby gets woken up.
At night, we make her stay in her own room, but sometimes for naps I'll let her get creative. Here's where she wandered to last Sunday for a little afternoon snooze: