OMG things have been so busy around my house.  Between 4 kids, the activities, appts, house work, time for myself, time to go to the gym, time to spend with Tony and time to try and get my business up and running there is just no time left in the day. 

Speaking of business, I really do need to get it up and running and make some money.  I need to get it advertised.  Being that it is an online store I feel I am relying on my ability to get it out there in the search engines.  Since I am really not THAT computer savvy I worry I am doing something wrong.  The other option I am thinking is advertise on my clothes and such, Nicki said she would wear shirts to school that had my business info on it.  So  I could get some t-shirts and maybe some promotional mugs to send out to people when they buy stuff from me. 

All I do know is I have storage totes filled with products and more on the way.  I need to start making my money back and some profit.  I know growing a business can take time I am just getting worried I don’t have what it takes (time) to get it going.

I am loving this weather, yesterday it got up to 68 degrees.  To bad I didn’t realize it was so nice until the day was almost over and I was going to the gym.  Today I am going to try and get out and go for a walk with the kids.  We will see how well that goes, I have a double stroller but 3 kids.  LOL!  I will put Lil Tony and Isabel in the stroller and carry Max in one of those shoulder baby carriers.  I won’t need to go to the gym today.  HAHA!

So the other day, Tuesday, Tony had the day off and we decided to rototill the garden.  Our landlord dug up our old garden but we wanted to make it bigger and the landlord only had a small rototiller, it wasn’t good for digging ground that had not been broken yet. 

Tony is super excited about the garden, with a family of 6 we eat at home all the time and being able to grow our own fruits and veggies is a big help on the grocery bill.  Plus is it great fun to grown our own food. 

So here is a before pic of the “garden”:

It is a decent size but we want to plant more this year. And this is the “garden” after we had a go with the rototiller:

It may not look that much bigger in the pics but I can assure you it is, and will take a good deal of time to get everything planted and keeping up with it. It will however, be great fun and wonderful to do as a family.

We also dug up the flower beds in the front of the house.  I didn’t take before pics but as soon as I get everything planted I will take pics.  I bought sunflower seeds to plant and a bunch of flower bulbs.  So we won’t see flowers for a little bit but I think it will look really pretty when we do. 

I did take pics of the mini rose bushes that Tony bought for me the other day.  It was such a nice and sweet surprise.  He bought one pink and one red.

I can’t wait for all the flowers to grow.   Oh we also bought a raspberry bush and blueberry bush.  We can have blueberry pancakes and I can use our food dehydrator we just got and dehydrate the raspberries and put it in granola.  Yummy!

Anywho, off to get dressed and take the kids outside.  Oh.. and do more laundry!  LOL!

I am so totally excited that everything seems to be going as planned so I can go home to Illinois this summer and see my family.  I am really torn about when to go though because my friend that I have known for 23 yrs is going to be visiting from Texas in the beginning of June but Nicki doesn’t even get out of school until the 15th.  That would mean we would have to leave right away and then only get to see her maybe one day because she is leaving around the 17th.  The other time we planned on going is the middle of July.  It will be around the kids birthdays so we would be able to celebrate with family. 

I think we are just going to go the middle of July.  My brother is also trying to plan a trip up at the same time with his daughter.  I think that will be wonderful for my grandma to spend time with all of us. 

We have also been torn about whether to rent a car or take ours.  The prices for rental cars may be out of our price range though unless we were to get a Toyota Corolla or something but then the kids will be cramped in the back seat.  The best about rental cars is that if something does go wrong we would probably be able to stop in a Chicago auto repair shop and get it fixed, as long as we get the rental coverage. 

We will probably just take out Ford, maybe get an oil change and tune up before we go.  Things like that Tony can do but if something like the water pump needs to be replaced we would probably need to take that in.  He says some vehicles are easy to replace them and some are hard, for the Ford he said it would probably just be easier to have someone else do it. 

I have so many people I want to spend time with while we are there and unfortunately we only get to stay about 6-7 days.  I am just so totally excited, I haven’t seen my family in 7 yrs.  There is family I haven’t even met yet, my cousins children and cousins husbands and wives.  I just can’t express how excited I am.  I hope to lose a decent amount of weight before I go.  I will just have to keep working hard over the next couple months.

Still trying to get every thing up and running on my Artfuldelight site.  Trying to get the layout just right and find the time to upload all the items I have for sale.  With my family all getting sick this week it has been a little hectic.  I have been doing nothing but cleaning up puke and doing laundry, and comforting my sick kids.  I can’t wait for it to all get better. 

I am really hoping to make a serious online business with this, I want to be able to make money from home doing the things I love.  Plus I don’t really want to have to submit resumes and look for a job.  I LOVE being home with my kids. 

So if any of you know anyone interested in scrapbooking or paper crafts have them check out my site.  My site is, Artfuldelight.com.  I am still in the process of uploading products so if the store isn’t very stocked, check back again.

Tony and I spend a lot of time in the kitchen cooking and over the years we have come to realize there are kitchen items we just can’t live without.  It makes cooking and baking so much more convenient. 

We started off several yrs ago with a griddle, the Presto Tilt n’Drain griddle.  It is a decent sized griddle.  With a family of 6 it will make 6 grilled sandwiches or 6-8 pancakes at a time.  Now there is a slightly bigger griddle we considered getting but it just took up too much counter space.  So we will stick with the one we have.

The other items we have all gotten within the last couple months. For Christmas Tony’s dad got us a crock pot.  Nothing fancy but it is such a wonderful addition.  With 3 lil ones sometimes just throwing some food in  there and letting it cook all day is great and easy.  We make spaghetti sauce in there, chili and a bunch of other foods.

Then Tony and I bought the next 2 items, I guess as presents to each other, LOL!  It is an espresso maker and a kitchen aid mixer.  Both we got from Walmart and they were on sale.  The espresso maker was originally $130 (I think) and we got it for $30 and the kitchen aid mixer was like $40 cheaper than usual.  We make a lot of homemade bread and cookies and well all sorts of foods.  We hardly ever eat out and make most of our food from scratch.  The kitchen aid mixer is such a wonderful product.  I think for Tony’s birthday I am going to get him the pasta roller attachments.  We really want to make homemade pasta and it is a pain to roll it out by hand.

And the espresso machine is a nice and easy way to make a latte or a single cup of coffee.  I can’t wait until it gets a bit warmer out so we can make frappucinos.

All of these items have made cooking and baking so much more pleasant.  Unfortunately with all these items we have run out of space in our kitchen, which wasn’t very big to begin with.  LOL!

I really haven’t been posting lately because 4 kids sure are keeping me busier than I thought I expected.  I am trying some new ventures in my life, plus not being pregnant anymore is allowing me to be way more active.  Just after the 1st of the year we got rid of our cable so I don’t sit on the couch watching TV anymore.  I am more active around the house and I am trying to get in to my hobby, crafting.  I am trying to make a business out of it.  In addition I am trying to find the time to craft for fun. 

I also look at my children and realize they are just growing so fast and I am so thankful EVERYDAY that I am able to be home with them to see them grow.  Not miss their first steps and first words.  Isabel is starting to talk and it is so wonderful.  Max is such a happy baby it is so wonderful.  I am able to volunteer with Nicki at her school and hopefully Lil Tony will get to go to a speech therapist at the elementary school so we can get him talking. 

Speaking of Lil Tony going to school, last week we had an appt at the elementary school to see if he would qualify to go and get speech therapy since he refuses to talk.  It was an interesting meeting.  I was able to bring the kids which was great.  I sat at a large oval table with 6 other ladies.  All had notepads and one had a laptop.  They asked a variety of questions about Lil Tony and his development.  At one point one of the ladies took him to another room to give him a hearing test.  The lady asked him to go with her and he held her hand as they walked out of the room.  I teared up, my little boy is growing up.  As much as I would love for him to go to school to have fun and interact with other kids, really I am not ready for it.  I do want him to talk and get help with that but I am not sure I really want him to go to school.  LOL! 

Isabel is starting to talk and she has a wonderful personality.  Such a jokester!  LOL!  Max-e-poo is growing so fast, he giggles and laughs all the time.  I can’t believe he is almost 4 months old, where has the time gone. 

Nicki is just growing up so fast, she will be 13 next month.  She has braces now and going to school dances and in to her looks and fashion.  In a few short years she will be driving and in high school and going through sat prep.  

I feel so torn because I want my kids just old enough that I trust them to be left with someone so Tony and I can have some time out together but I don’t want them to grow up.  We don’t have family close and I just haven’t found someone I trust enough to leave my kids with. 

I just hope I can continue to stay home with them, find ways to make money from home.  I really hope my new venture, selling crafts and craft supplies online will help me make some money and allow me to stay home even after my kids go off to school.

What an interesting week and a so-so weigh in.  My lil ones have been sick since Wednesday which has made it difficult to get all my calories in as well as make it to the gym. 

Then in addition to all that I started to get sick last night.  I didn’t throw up or anything but I certainly lost my appetite.  Then this morning it hit me big, still haven’t hurled just out the other end, TMI I know.  LOL!  I certainly did not stay hydrated today and I have only eaten a grilled ham and cheese sandwich so my numbers are a little whacked this week. 

Here are the results:

weight down 3.2 pounds
lean pounds down 1.43
h2o pounds down 0.28
fat pounds down 1.77

So the fat pounds went down which is good and the actual weight did too but I do believe all that will change a bit at the start of next week.  Not only is it 2 high calorie days in a row but I will be feeding my unfed body from the sickness. 

I will have to rearrange my workout schedule too, I usually go in the morning before Tony goes to work and then on his days off but this upcoming week I think he is work a lot of morning shifts.  I HATE going at night, it is way busier and I don’t feel as motivated.