What's New With Who

What is new with the Stanley's...

Ryan just finished up a 6 week stint at MoBap college. He was blessed to get a freelance job redesigning their campus magazine. It was a good fit for him, good pay and he made good lasting connections for future work. Now he is back to regular freelance work and working from home.

I have been on a decorating kick and was able to make some simple changes to our family room and also painted our dinning room. My friend Becky drew an amazing tree on the wall that I am going to paint over the next week or so.

Skyler is super busy and excited about preschool! He loves his teacher, is making friends and learning so much. It is so great to see things we have been working on for the last year finally clicking with the encouragement of his teacher. Four is such a fun age, he is still so little and learning and but old enough to know so much! I love having conversations with him about God, Heaven, bugs, spelling ect. You can just see the wheels turning and clicking all day long.

Nevin is doing good with his Speech therapy. He is such a little clown and makes everyone laugh. Some therapy sessions go by so fast because he is cracking us up so much. He is also very into being a two-year-old and trying to make his own way. Stubborn does not begin to describe Nev. I feel like all kids are a puzzle you are trying to work out and he is a really hard one! I worry about him being so smart and silly at the same time.

Gavyn just started Physical therapy with his Occupational therapy. I love both of the ladies who come to work with him. They are good at what they do, good with him and so encouraging to me. His one therapist has a child with hydro as well, it has been a great bonding experience for me to have someone to talk to about things that she knows all about. I am his mom and I have my bad days of worry but in my gut I believe he will be fine.

We are busy but trying to have fun.

Shopping

I remember when we were getting ready to be married and the one thing I was most nervous about was grocery shopping and cooking! Of all the things in marriage and those were the 2 things I was most nervous about. Over the last 5 years I have gotten much better with a buck and planning meals out. I still hate the actual process of going to the store and buying things (which is why I plan for a week and only set foot in the store 1 time all week!) but, I do love planning the meals and the time spent in the kitchen. Lately, I have taken to baking at night when the kids go to bed so that it gets done. When you are a mom of 3, you have to use every single minute as wisely as you can!

Tonight was shopping night, I spent $85 and here is what is on the menu...

Gavyn got Peas and Peaches this week. I buy fresh or sometimes frozen, cook it if I need to then, puree put in trays and freeze for the week. I also bought avocados just in case he doesn't like the peas!

.Fish Sticks (homemade not from a box!) with Mac & Cheese and Salad

.Oven Roasted Chicken with Potatoes, Carrots and homemade muffins

.Turkey Casserole with Broccoli

.Ranch Chicken (it is a Mexican dish with tomatoes, peppers, cheese...) and Chips

.Thai Chicken Salad and Rice

.Potato Kielbasa Skillet and Carrots

.Colorful Chicken Pizza and Salad

.Cherry Cheese Coffee Cake for Saturday morning

.New York Cheese Cake for Ryan's birthday

I don't normally do two big pastry items like that but with Ryan's birthday and being in a mood, that is what we get! It did make me spend a little more at the store than I normally would though. Most weeks I get out with spending around $70. I am sure coupon shoppers do better than that but with my crazy schedule I have not figured out how to sit down and incorporate that into my life yet. If it is a good week, maybe I will take pictures of our meals and post them with recipes.

What a weekend

This weekend was extra busy but wonderful! So many great things happened within two days.

For the last couple months, I have been going behind my husbands back planning a Surprise 30th Birthday Party. Like I did not have enough on my plate! But I love him and he does so much for us, plus he has not been looking forward to this birthday. I had lots of help from my wonderful parents and that made it possible to pull off. He was completely shocked, surprised, happy and grateful for the party. It was a great mix of friends, family, good food and lots of donuts. What more could you want?

Saturday during the party prep my little chunky monkey finally decided to roll from tummy to back and back to tummy! We have been getting very anxious about his lack of rolling seeing how he is now 7 months and had not rolled yet. We are hoping he keeps it up! He did it once more Saturday night and has been moving around a lot more when he is on his tummy.

This morning we woke up and got the boys ready for Pirate Fest. We made the drive to Saint Charles, stopped in to see my Aunt and Uncle for a short visit. Stopped for lunch at Cracker Barrel then on to Pirates! It was cool and muddy but well worth the drive. The boys had a great time going on a treasure hunt all over the Festival, getting treasures from the pirates to put into their treasure chests. Grandma bought them both wooden swords, Nevin was super excited! He was the one who asked for them and is going to cause lots of trouble with it. My hubby did the axe throw and hit the dummy in the middle of the chest and the middle of the head! It was kind of scary, not going to lie, don't mess with my husband! It was fun to watch though. The boys got to see the cannons get fired, lots of people walking around in crazy pirate outfits and Nevin even petted a rat. What a crazy day! How many times do you get to say things like that in a blog?

Tomorrow back to reality... Preschool, Cardinal Glennon, therapy..... Gratefully for a short break over the weekend.

Granola Bars

We love granola bars around here but they can get expensive if you want the really good ones. I decided to do some searching for recipes and found a decent "base" for them and have made the recipe my own with tweaks. Today was my third time making them and each time I tried a new flavor and we have loved them all. Here is the recipe with my 3 alternatives that I have tried. Let me know if you make any changes yourself!

2c. Quick Oats
1c. Flour
1/2c. Wheat germ
3/4c. Brown sugar
3/4tsp. Salt
3/4tsp. Cinnamon
1/2c. Vegetable oil
1/2c. Honey
1 Egg
2tsp. Vanilla
1/2c. Applesauce or Peanut butter
1c. Raisins or Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9x13 pan.
Mix together dry ingredients in large bowl.
Add wet ingredients (use 1/2c of veg. oil first, use the same cup for the honey and it will slip right out) mix until moistened.
Pat into pan and bake for 30 minutes.
I have done:
Raisins and Applesauce.
Chocolate Chips and Applesauce
Chocolate Chips and Peanut Butter.

Outings

Yay for the end of Summer! I say that with a bit of sarcasm. It seems this Summer was come and gone without me even noticing. Last Monday or so I woke up and realized it was not really Summer anymore (all the kids are going back to school) and we had not done our normal Summer activities. With Docs, therapies, sickness and getting used to 3 kids, plus Nevin's broken leg we had not done much. So, this past week I have managed to cram in every activity we would have normally done throughout the Summer. :)

One morning my wonderful friend Melissa called me and said she and Baby Vi suddenly had an open day and why not go to the Botanical Gardens? Of course! We scurried around the house and managed to get over to the Gardens within 30 minutes. (I am still not sure how I did that.) We had a lovely time enjoying nature, cooler weather and 4 wonderful kiddos.

Ryan had to work over the weekend and we snagged Grandma and Grandpa for a trip to the Zoo. We had not seen the new entrance and it was beautiful! The Sea Lion Show was so much fun and Skyler was brave enough to go down by the Sea Lions after the show for pictures. The Stingrays are always a big hit and Nevin really enjoyed watching them splash and stick their fins out of the water.

Today our friend Becky called and invited us to the Transportation Museum. That was another run around and get everyone ready in 45 minutes, crazy morning! Well worth it though. Skyler had a blast with his friends, Nevin got to ring the bell on the train and everyone had a great time in the playroom.

Uncle Matt came and took Skyler for a day. He was one lucky boy to go to the Science Center, McDonald's, visit his other Uncle at work and just hang out. I have managed one trip with all 3 by myself to the Discovery Room a couple weeks ago and it went good.

Preschool starts next week, yay! Nevin gets his cast off next week, yay! We have two hearing tests, 1 NeuroSurg appt., 1 Neurology appt., and a shots day as well all this month. I also realized that Nev and Gav's OT will most likely become my best friend shortly since I will be seeing her 1 or 2 a week for the next 3 years. :) Life is crazy.

What we have been up to

I have no idea where this Summer has gone! Every morning for the last month and half Skyler wakes up and asks if I am taking him to school yet. This morning I realized that we only have two more weeks and I will be taking him to his first day of school!! Where did the last 4 years go by the way?

I knew this Summer was going to be a big adjustment when I was still pregnant with Gavyn. Getting used to 3 boys was going to take time. Everything just naturally takes more time, getting dressed, breakfast, naps... We are getting into a routine but things change so quickly with a new baby that it seems once we get used to it being one way it changes to something new. I would have never imagined all the other new things in our routine I would need to adjust to. Gavyn sees a Occupational Therapist once a week, Nevin sees the same OT once a week and Speech Therapy once a week. More doctor appointments than I would have ever thought imaginable! Between 3 boys going for shots, regular wellness check ups, NeuroSurg, Neurology...

I am not trying to complain, it is overwhelming when I think of everything we do in a week. I am not sure how people with more than 3 do it, at least if they are this close in age.

We are all really excited for Skyler to start preschool. He is so ready and it will be so great for him. It is time for him to have someone other than mom telling him how to do things. It will be nice to have at least one of those 3 days to be with just Nevin and Gavyn. It won't be much time but it will be nice.

Nevin's leg is healing! We went back last week, they took the cast off and x-rayed his leg again. They could see the fracture and it was healing but he still had a limp. They put a shorter cast on him so he is able to move his knee. We have been working on standing and stretching with it on. He is doing better and better, such a trooper.

Mr.Gav has started to sit up! A couple weeks ago he was trying and could sit unassisted for about 2 seconds. Now he can sit up in his crib for more than a minute at a time. He loves to look at himself in his mirror and watch his music toy. We are working on reaching, grabbing and rolling. He is not much of a tummy kid and does not want to roll around. I keep reminding myself that he will get there and is doing so good. He turned 6 months on the 19th and is over 16 pounds, 24 1/2 inches long. :) We started the rice cereal and he is doing OK. The first time he really did not like it but, each time he does a little better than the last.

Crazy busy and growing Stanley family is still here and kicking.

A First

Nevin Lucas fell down 1 step on Friday morning. He would not walk on it all day. Of course we ended up in the ER at Cardinal Glennon. Even Baby George got a bandage.

George got a snack too.


We are all laughing because Nevin got into the bandages, unrolled one, blew his nose, and of course George had to blow his nose as well!

Such a good sport, still smiling after 9 hours in the ER, no dinner, no juice, no walking and it is almost midnight.