November 30th

Chris wanted to finish his power pole on the boat so we hung out.  Caleb and Dayne played Wii.  Caleb has gotten into legos again and Felicia won't stay inside, loves her outdoor kitchen.  Eagan and Dayne go in and out depending on who can get the NEW swing.  What a fight.

Lights

We have started back into the construction efforts in our home.  This long weekend Chris and I took on lighting in the kitchen.  Yes since the house has been completed I have used the dinning room light and light on the stairs for the kitchen, it hasn't been easy but it is what you do to get stuff done.  My kitchen looks great and now shows all the dirt so much more with beautiful recessed lighting.

The kids have been great playing outside and hanging out with us for the last 2 days.  I would take combinations of then to Lowe's with me. Thanks to Denny for helping me with my list on friday.  As a reward last night I hiked up to Moe's for dinner, Chris' favorite and the boys too.

Saturday during my in and out to Lowe's for different things Chris called me for my camera because Felicia collapsed in the highchair briefly, very briefly.

The only minor snag was that Chris' drill bit fell off hit his foot and bounced into the stove so now we have to replace the glass in the front oven door, oops.  Nothing comes easy as we have learned over the years but I forgot how messy it all was until this weekend.

Thanksgiving 08

I made most of my desserts yesterday, as posted, but had to finish the truffle today.  We played at home until about 1:30 then headed to the Stypinski house for dinner.  A strange thing happened over there, the men, yes Chris and Denny cooked for us.  The mom's sat on the deck and watched the children, wow it was nice.

Dinner was excellent and we feed the kids then ate ourselves.  We are all thankful for our loving families and blessed for all that we have this year.  After dinner was cleaned and dessert eaten it was time for the Wii competition.  We had a bowl off Styipinski vs Sprague vs Baldwins.  Yes we brought home the "trophy", yeah!!!

The day was great and all the kids were so tired from playing outside all day long.  For that I am thankful everyday.  I hope everyone else had a wonderful day also.

Wednesday Fun

Getting ready for Thanksgiving is hard work but I had many helpers this morning.  We baked a wowie cake, prepared dough for cookies all before 10 a m.  Then I cut apples and made Chris' apple crisp.  Lunch for Dayne and I was next, pancakes and sausage, all before noon.  Caleb and Eagan went with Monica and kids to a park to play.  Dayne has been very helpful wiping a huge dry erase board for the kids to play on and Felicia was kind enough to take a nap, she skipped it yesterday.

When lunch was over the boys headed to the garage for man time, shelf building and painting.  They really enjoyed using the power tools and painting with Chris.  It doesn't take much to make them happy.  A few hours and that is it.

Felicia and I stayed inside and did house stuff.  She likes to dance around and carry  bags about the house, we call her the bag lady sometimes.

Day With The Kids

Today we put all of the laundry away, Caleb and Dayne reorganized their clothes and got rid of small stuff.  Later we went to Albert Whitford Airport playground, it is at the end of the run way across from the Pier and next to a boat dock.  They all had fun until the sprinkles started, we stayed as long as we could then headed home.  We were trying to play until we had to get Chris at the office, he came home for NYC.  Instead we went home and cleaned the pit of a playroom.  Everyone pitched in and Dayne used the swiffer mop to clean it.  Eagan used it for the kitchen and bathroom, it was a novel thing to do so I enjoyed watching.

Off to Tampa to get Chris, we saw his new office and each one got a pencil and notebook.  We had lunch at the International Plaza then went home.  After I went to get stuff to make desserts for Thanksgiving dinner at the Stypinski house I played baseball with the boys.  And we finished the day at Chick-Fil-A kids night were the fire department had their truck and Sparky the fire dog.  A fireman even read a story to the kids eating dinner.

A Day With the Kids

After breakfast I ran to take a shower and found Dayne and Felicia reading books together.  He told me that he had read Go, Dogs, Go already to her.  Later that morning the little one went to kids fun day at 9 am and then I was off with the big boys to fish.  We got Caleb's friend Aaron and went to Coffee Pot park.  It started off nice they fished and I read a book, then they wanted to keep going.  By 11:30 we had fished all the way to the bridge that leads to Snell Isle and back again.  Aaron got a mullet and some small bait fish for the boys poles.  I took them to lunch at Mc D's where Dayne had a friend he knew from kindergarten.

After we got the other 2 it was nap time at the Baldwin house.  Just after 2 pm Caleb and Dayne headed outside in the yard.  Felicia joined them shortly followed later by Eagan.  I watched and read for about 10 minutes then it was baseball time.  I pitched and the boys hit.  Felicia was our cheering section when she wasn't in the field.

By 5:35 pm dinner of pancakes and sausages was done along with bath time.  Now they are eating popcorn and watching Tom and Jerry while I finish clean up.  What a day it has been.  I hope Chris enjoyed NYC and all the christmas decorations.

Conversations With Eagan

A few weeks ago I was sitting on one couch and Chris was cuddled under a blanket with Eagan and I sneezed.  He told me, "Mommy you should take some medicine for your cold."

Friday night I was taking the kids to KNO and we were discussing cold blooded vs. warm blooded animals when Dayne stumped me.  I told him, "I didn't have a the answers" and Eagan chimed in, "I do mommy."  So I asked he how he got them and I quote, "I took them from you, mommy."  We all laughed at that one.

He has a flair for the obvious and the extraordinary.

Felicia

Miss Felicia went to mom's morning out while I was a the teach-in and look at her as she left the house that morning.

I finally got her in pig-tails, it is with barretts because her hair is so thin.  She still is lacking bangs, thanks Dad for the hairline, haha.  She looks so cute.

Fall Soccer Ends

The fall season is over and the boys loved it.  Dayne won today against a very evenly matched team and Caleb tied.  They both improved their skill greatly over the 8 weeks and Caleb really got aggressive with the ball this season.  The day was a very cold one with 20 mph winds so you can see how we are all dressed. 

The best part was Chris and I got to enjoy the games without chasing Eagan and Felicia because they were in the kiddie corner.  I am so thankful for that this season especially with the very cold weather we have had this year.

Husband?

I think my husband got lost and a new one was sent to our house.  Monday he can home after work and I was making dinner late because of soccer practice.  It is usually meat sauce monday, well to my surprise he finished dinner and I got to feed Felicia and put her down before we ate. Wow it was nice not to handle all of it myself.

And yesterday the boys had game and I put in a pork roast to be done when we got home but the surprise was that Chris got home.  He set the table and started the potatoes after he had taken Boomer for a walk.  Can you believe we had dinner with him 2 nights this week.  It has been months since he has sat at the table with us and never on pork night.  He laughed it was the first time he had that meal out of the oven and not as left overs later in the evening.

Thanks to a great husband and dad.

The Weekend

Soccer was canceled due slight showers, so we went to Walmart and shopped, the whole family.  They were very good.  After we had Chick-fil-A and put the groceries away.  We rested at home and the boys played with trucks in a large tub with water in it who know a tub of water was so fun.

We walked Boomer down to the dog park at Cresent Lake and then played on the kiddie play area.  Boomer didn't know what to do but he really like playing and drinking from the big bowl of water.  One dog took a liking to him and came out of the closet today.

The walk was fun and the big guys threw the football around and I had E and F at the playground until he left for football.

Dinner was taco bowls and then Eagan helped me make cookies, half without chips for the boys.  Chris decided to put door knobs on the new part of the house and even put on the window knobs, yeah!!!

Sunday he had me go to Home Depot and buy paint, we finally painted the wall along the stairs.   Eagan helped paint he is always the best helper.  The tape is off the ceiling after I don't know how long.  The big boys went to play with the Plexico girls and then came here to play after that they had fun.

Sorry no photos, I know Chris was surprised I didn't have the camera out at any point in the weekend.  I think he was shocked because I am always taking photos of the kids.

Report Cards

Caleb first term grades for 3rd grade:

Math:B

Reading:D but working hard

Writing:C

Science:A

Social Studies:A

Dayne first term grades for 1st grade:

Math:Excellent

Science:Very Good

Social Studies:Excellent

Reading:Satisfactory and working hard

Writing:Satisfactory and working hard

She did it again

While I was doing dishes this morning Ms. Thing as we love to call her decided it was fun rock standing up backwards on the rocking chair.  I thought ok this may end badly but keep on going.  Yes she went to hard and landed on her face and now there is a new cut on her lip.  It is more on the lip and to the left of the last one.  She is one tough little girl.

M & M's

Felicia is definitely my girl.  She may have blond hair but we are the same.  If you really know me then this photo of Felicia shows how similar we are, coveting our favorite candies.

Orange Submarine

We have had toilet problems all week and couldn't figure out what the problem was until today.  Chris took the toilet off and flushed and flushed but couldn't get it unclogged. Finally he saw the problem and retrieved an orange submarine that was stuck inside the elbow of the toilet.  It never made it out to sea.  Eagan was very sure that Caleb did it.

Caleb's Tooth

Caleb lost another tooth tonight. Watch out tooth fairy we need you to visit.  Well she missed us the first night to close to the deadline for making the nightly list.  She arrived the next night and gave and extra $1 for the lateness.

Dayne's Concert

The first grade concert, United We Stand.  The whole 1st grade class came together to sing songs of hope and of love of music.  They really rocked it out on one number.  Dayne isn't as much of a ham on stage as you would think.

Weekend Fun

This weekend Chris was in charge of the soccer games on saturday morning since I was hosting a Tastefully Simple party at noon.  He got everyone there and even took them to lunch at Coffee Park.  He said the people were looking at him with four kids and wondering if one they were all him and two was it his weekend.  Later that day Eagan and Felicia went to kids night out so we took the big boys to dinner at Pizza Hut, Dayne got a free pizza for perfect attendance and bowling.  Caleb won the first string and I won the second that ended with 2 strikes and a spare, go mom!!

Sunday I took Dayne to mass and CCD, Caleb stayed home in his room for refusal to go with me.  After I came home to Chris sawing parts of the oak tree and we cleaned the yard.  We got rid of all the broken and unused trucks, even the big truck is gone.  It looks nice and Chris started a game of ball.  Eagan can throw great with both hands, wow.