I thought we were finally over the hump of sickness in our house, but our big kids caught the sniffles from Dakota. Our week included some fevers, a hemangioma checkup for Dakota, plenty of baking, and lots of playtime.
This photo was taken at 6:14 am 😴
Challah Buns and Cupcake Crumbs 🧁
With the kids being sick, we spent a lot of time at home—which meant extra opportunities to bake. The kids love helping in the kitchen (or should I say licking the bowl?!), and it’s a great way to pass the time while we’re cooped up.
The first order of business was challah buns. I make my classic challah bread dough, but divide it into buns and tie them in a knot.
I brush them with an egg wash and a sprinkle of salt and then bake them for about 15 minutes. I made these alongside a big crock pot of pulled pork. There’s something so satisfying about making homemade food!
I think my favorite part of baking bread is how excited the kids get to help me measure, pour, knead, and shape the dough. They love to taste test anything I bake, but I think challah might be their favorite dough 😂
Mordecai and I worked on baking a batch of biscotti for our library’s Election Day bake sale. I used my cinnamon vanilla biscotti recipe.
I also whipped up a batch of cupcakes. They were chocolate with chocolate peppermint buttercream and topped with Andes Candy. There’s nothing like the combo of chocolate and peppermint 😍
Sickness and Snap Circuits ⚡️
After Dakota recovered from hand, foot, and mouth disease, all the kids came down with the sniffles. Poor Sadie and Mordecai had fevers, and Mordecai’s voice was adorably scratchy. Dakota didn’t get a fever (yay!) but started tugging on her ear. I knew it was time to make a trip to the pediatrician.
Our poor girl has another ear infection. We had to move on to a stronger antibiotic since it has been less than a month since her last ear infection. She’s smiling through it (buuuut not sleeping as well lol)!
With the kids feeling a bit blah, we spent lots of time playing inside. Sadie has discovered a love of Snap Circuits. It’s a kit where kids can create real working electrical projects like alarms, lights, and radios with snap connections. Basically, electrical engineering for kids!
Sadie was so excited when she put together her first project and made a fan! She lifted it up to show me… and her hair got so tangled in the fan that we had to cut a small piece out to extract the fan 🤣
Her impromptu haircut didn’t deter her from playing with Snap Circuits all week. She made a doorbell, songs, lights, and more.
If you’re looking for a gift idea for a boy or girl around ages 5-10, I’d definitely recommend Snap Circuits! They’re screen free and really rewarding for the kids when they figure out the project they want to complete. They’re educational without the kids knowing it, too 😉
The other toys the kids played with while we hunkered down at home were Hot Wheels (Jimmy and Mordecai take their Hot Wheels tracks very seriously!) and magnetic tiles. Even KoKo is into magnetic tiles! She likes to knock down the big kids’ towers 😆
The wonderful thing about kids getting sick is that they generally bounce back faster than us adults do. Within a couple of days, they were mostly back to their normal, crazy selves!
From Checkups to Crawling 👶🏼
Dakota had a checkup with her ophthalmologist to measure her eyelid hemangioma and test her vision. She did great and her hemangioma hasn’t grown—answered prayers! She will go back for another check around her first birthday and is a candidate for surgery in the future if it doesn’t fade.
Dakota has really shown so much growth lately. She is currently in the baby phase of:
-Crawling fast and getting into everything she shouldn’t—like Niva’s dog food!
-Taking baths in the “big” tub with her siblings instead of the sink.
-Eating soft foods in a booster seat and needing a bath afterwards because she’s so messy.
-Having “stranger danger” with people she is unfamiliar with.
-Having her crib lowered so she doesn’t fall out when she stands up!
It was like one day she was just sitting up and then the very next day she was crawling at 72 miles per hour! She also likes to eat with one leg up on the table?!
Ready to hear the latest craziness in the Zottola Zoo? Don’t read any further if you’re easily grossed out 😉
Mordecai is currently potty training and has a little potty seat that he uses. He used it to pee the other day and I walked away with him afterwards to get him cleaned up. Dakota crawled to his potty and splashed the pee all over herself and the floor. It happened again a couple of days later, except that time, after it was on the floor poor Sadie slipped in it 🥴
Basically, I’m mopping the floors daily and potty training mixed with a crawling baby is not for the faint of heart!
Life Between the Flour and Fevers 🫶
Between the baking, the sickness, and the checkups, a lot of life has been happening around here!
As always, we’ve been getting in daily school lessons. I picked out some sticker storybooks for the kids’ Bible lessons and they really enjoyed working on those together. Who doesn’t love a good sticker!
We took a walk and were cracking up at Dakota’s hair blowing in the wind 😂
Sadie made some extensive signage over her door because she didn’t want her siblings in her bedroom… even though she shares that very bedroom with one of them, lol!
Dakota and I went to Target on Halloween night. Jimmy brought our big kids to our church for a fun activity night and I put Dakota to bed. Divide and conquer! Someday Dakota will be able to stay awake later 😴
Last but not least, Jimmy has been chugging away at his retaining wall project! He had a forklift, steel plates, and his welding machine out on Saturday. I don’t know how he does what he does, but he loves it! And Mordecai really loves to watch Dad in action 😊
Other Notes and Thoughts 📝
- It’s November: are you all-in for the holiday season or pumping the breaks to focus on Thanksgiving? 🦃
- I’d put up our Christmas tree at midnight on October 31st, but Jimmy is team decorate after Thanksgiving so I settled by doing a Christmas-themed color by sticker book with the kids on November 1st. 🎄
- How did Daylight Savings treat you? Our kids all woke up before 6:00 am (Dakota won the prize for being up the earliest at 4:30 am 😮💨). I’m in for a week of weird sleep with these kiddos! 💤
- Recipes I’ve been making lately: peanut butter banana granola, stuffed peppers, and biscotti.
That has been our life lately! This week, I have two baking projects to do (one for our library and one for our church), Jimmy will be working on our retaining wall, and then of course the usual—homeschool, housekeeping, and kid wrangling!
Living My Full Life 
such a cool post – minus the sickness and potty episode🤣
I tend to procrastinate BIG TIME when it comes to decorating for Christmas. I have definitely scaled back with inside decor, but slightly amped up the outdoor lights.
I love Thanksgiving, and can’t wait to celebrate and give thanks with you all!
Hahah right, if my kids never get doused in pee again, I’d be very happy 😉
So funny you procrastinate decorating indoors! I do have to say—your lights outside always look so good! And I’ll always remember the “candle” in each of our windows from when I was growing up!
Can’t wait to eat some turkey at your house with everyone this year!! 🦃
Love you so much!
Love the header for this write up! So creative! The baked goods look so good! Thanks for sharing, love all the notes and pics!
Dad
🙂
Thank you for always reading and commenting! It means the world to me!
Love you so much!