Thursday, July 7, 2011

Settling In...Our "Family" of Eight {Try New Adventures Thursday!}

We're here!! Officially settled in to our new home for the month of July...and staying super busy. I have sat down multiple multiple times and tried to write a blog post, to no avail. Meshing our little family of 3 (almost 4) with their family of 5 makes for a bunch of activity in the house, day and night.

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We celebrated the 4th with lots of pomp (read: good food and fireworks!). Squishy is officially freaked out by fireworks--for this year, anyway.

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The three older kiddos are having a sweet time playing and learning together. Mostly sweet....Squishy picked up the word "mine!" almost right away, so we've been working on sharing. One of the huge pluses of being here! He's also learned the girl's names and calls for them when they aren't around...he is going to miss them SO MUCH when we have to leave. *sad*

The main reason things have been so hectic around here during the week is because Christina's two oldest girls have both come down with a nasty case of stomatitis. What a yucky bug! The sores in their mouth make it hard for them to eat anything that's not super soft, so they've been eating smoothies, applesauce, and yogurt.

Mealtimes have been the other big event around here. Feeding eight people day in and day out requires copious amounts of food and so far, huge chunks of time. Christina and I put together a meal plan at the beginning of the week, mainly based off of the box of organic produce that they receive weekly.

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Part of this week's produce box
Our menu plan this week looked roughly like this:

Monday: July 4th Celebrations
Tuesday: Sticky chicken (x2) with red chard (2 lbs) and rice
Wednesday: Zucchini Parmesan x 2 with pasta
Thursday: Tacos
Friday: 2 Quiches with sweet potatoes
Saturday: Leftovers or Pizza night
Sunday: Dinner at church

We also have mangos in abundance because they are in season here. These were picked off a nearby tree (they're HUGE!!!). 

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This entire week has been a learning adventure. We're still figuring out how to work together best...juggling sick kids, two working husbands, and four kids three years old and under.

I did make chard for the 1st time this week--scrumptious (recipe later...my computer time is up)!

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I've had many an interruption during the writing of this post, including technical difficulties. I'm working on finding a time to blog that works for me in this new living situation. :) Bear with me!

Link up your new adventures below. Link back to Alicia's Homemaking, and then visit around and leave some encouraging comments on the other participant's posts! :)




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7 comments:

  1. Whew! I am sure the month will just fly by with all the activity that you will have!! Praying for extra grace and love for both families.

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  2. What an adventure so far! I think it's going to fly by too, and you all are going to have too much fun. Hope the bug goes away. We are dealing with major allergies-->bacterial infections of here. =( Hope you all find a schedule/routine that works. Oh, and no fireworks for the girls yet (only through YouTube =p hehe)...I am positive they will not like it. I don't know too many young kids who like them so far.

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  3. Learning "mine!" - and then how to deal with that - is huge. My daughter has a hard time sharing, even though we try to teach her, because as an only child so far, she's not around other kids every single day. What a great lesson to learn early! :)

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  4. My kids have enjoyed fireworks more as they've gotten older. Each year there's a little less panic!

    Wow. Those are some amazing looking mangoes! Love your fruit pictures.

    God's grace to you as you adapt to co-housing this month. It probably is a lot different from your growing up years, with two moms and dads, even though the number of people is about the same, right?

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  5. Wow! And I thought sharing our bathroom with our friend/renter was a challenge. Glad there are so many learning and growing opportunities for you here. As usual--beautiful pictures!

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  6. Whew what a month! The menu planning/cooking intrigues me, can't wait to hear more.

    What a great lesson for Squishy before his sibling arrives.

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  7. So glad that everyone is getting settled in. The menu sounds great and the children really look like they are enjoying each other!

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