Random Happenings

I'm awful at coming up with decent titles for my blogs. Oh well, it's the content that counts, right? Currently my munchkins are playing together in their room. Although "playing together" has recently turned into a lot of fighting over toys and stealing things from each other. *Sigh* I thought that didn't happen until much later. They're only 2 and almost 1 for goodness' sake!

Since Avery will be stuck working nights for at least another two months (we're praying he can transfer back to afternoons at least by the time the baby comes), we've been trying to get into somwhat of a routine. He's been going to bed between 8 and 10 in the mornings so he can be up with us for dinner in the evenings. Since he's home for dinner now, I've been getting into a routine of actually cooking again. :-) (We'd previously been living on freezer meals that I cooked in early-November.) Unfortunately, actually put decent effort into cooking expends a lot of energy on my part, so other things are getting neglected (laundry, primarily). We also got a new dishwasher last week (!!!) so for the first time in over a year, washing dishes isn't so bad! (We got it Scratch 'n' Dent at Lowe's for just under $200 after taxes. It was originally $379 plus tax or something. It was a floor model and was missing a door spring that Avery easily fixed.) I can't tell you how happy having a dishwasher has made me!

Mornings are where we are still really struggling as far as finding a groove. I would love to get up and make breakfast for the family, but the kids don't wake up until about the same time Avery goes to bed and so everything kind of gets blurred in the mornings. Which stinks because I really love having family breakfasts. I could be proactive about it and wake the kids up earlier, but I'm way too addicted to sleep. Plus I've been waking up with nasty sinus headaches every morning, which makes dragging myself out of bed that much harder. Oh well, we'll figure it out.

Shiphrah has been in a toddler bed for a little while now and last night was our first real experience with her playing instead of sleeping. In fact, when I went in to check on Kirk (who randomly started crying around 11), this is where I found her:

(I didn't turn the light on...this was just the camera flash.) Silly girl.

Well, I need to go. Kirk is laying his head down on the floor and whining, which is his way of telling me it's naptime. Then I need to pop a short movie in for Shiph so I can take a shower.

Dinner tonight: Italian chicken and potatoes in the crock pot.