springrose journals

Just wanted to see......

2012-01-13T08:46:00.000-08:00

I have actually had a few people wonder why I haven't posted in a while, I just wanted to see if anyone would notice. JK! Life has been busy! With Thanksgiving then finishing Christmas presents and then #1 Daughters birthday and Doodles birthday all the same week of Christmas is sometimes a little crazy! It wears me out!!!!
Our kids had such a long Christmas break that I almost didn't want them to go back to school. They went back on January 9th, and we used every minute of the break to have fun and be together. We went bowling several times. I can't believe how much fun that was and how much they improved from the first time we went several months ago. We will definitely be doing that at spring break and over the summer!
I have had many projects that I have accomplished but I have yet to download the pictures to the computer to post about it. I will aim for next week. This week has been one of transitioning back into the routine of school and the last two days I have had severe migraines. So much fun. So I won't be putting pressure on myself to get that done today.
I just had my medication changed for my fibromyalgia and I am not certain that it is the right one or the right dose. Still having some of the symptoms, so we need to tweak some things.
We are looking forward to summer! Warmth and flowers and green trees and grass. Kids playing outside and bike rids, swimming lessons and family trips. We are trying to plan a special family trip for this summer. Hopefully all works out and we can do it this year. It will be a huge surprise for our kids!! So excited about that!
I made some very fun crochet hats for our kids this last Christmas. Owls, and monster hats and a frog hat. So fun. I made Thing one and Thing two hats for Michelle's boys. They all turned out cute. I even learned a few new crochet stitches for gifts this last year.
#1 Daughter had to have a IQ test done for the GT program. (Gifted and Talented) She scored 2 points to low on a yearly math test to "qualify" with out a IQ test. As far as we were concerned it was a waste of tax dollars! Her IQ is so high it was barley still on the chart. On our way out Hubby turned to me and said "duh!" that sums it up nicely. So she obviously still qualifies for the GT program! We could have told them that!!!!
Anyway I will try to be better about keeping up with updates and posts. Things should calm down a little now that basket ball, puppy training class and the Holidays are over.
Thanks for checking in!

Halloween costumes and Dining Table redo!

2011-11-03T09:59:00.000-07:00

Group shot of our kids this year for Halloween. From left to right we have:
Doodles as a blue Lego, Lil Pumpkin as a Hot Air Balloon, Handsome Boy as a Rhino, #1 Daughter as a Cupcake, Little Guy as a Frog and our neighbors P-as a Old Lady and C-as a John Deer Tractor.....

They had so much fun!

My latest Home project has been to repaint my kitchen table. This is what it looked like before. Light wood color. My friend Michelle and I sanded and sanded and sanded this baby. Then we did a coat of primer, then sprayed red stripes on it in crucial places (the edges around the table and some in the middle), then Painted it a creamy color then glazed it with a brown stain mixed with the glazing medium. THEN sanded and distressed it and then sealed it with 4 coats of Lacquer clear spray.

This is a close up of the distressing we did. I actually took a fork and stabbed the table a few times in different areas, then I would wipe more glaze onto those spots. I love how it turned out! Hubby does as well...

Full view of the table.

End view, you can see a little of the red showing through. I love the cream, red and brown combo on the table, the red and brown are very subtle. Love it!

My Happy Little Pilgrims sitting on my Table. Love how it has changed the table and the whole room. Now I am thinking of doing my kitchen cabinets the same way. Hmmmmmm.......

Have a great rest of your week and Thanks for stopping by and seeing what we have been up to!

Family Pictures 2011

2011-10-11T08:39:00.001-07:00

We took our kids on Saturday to a local wildlife park to take family fall pictures. Here is a sampling of what we got with my new camera. I still need to work on my lighting and some posing but it was so much fun to shoot as much as you wanted and not worry about how much film you have!

My Hubby loves the bridge shots. I will probably try to retake this one so it isn't so bright and dark. But I love that Little Guy is looking back!

Little Guy loved posing on this fence. I had a hard time getting a good shot of him close up because he wouldn't turn around. Oh well, you win some you lose some...

Little Guy was difficult this time around. He was having too much fun posing for me. (Read kept moving around!) He still looks adorable, and I love that I can dress him anyway I want and he doesn't argue!!!!

Handsome Boy has the ability to lift up his lift eyebrow at will. So here is one of those. Hubby asked him to do it so I could take a picture of him like that. He thought we were funny asking him to do that. I think it makes him look mischievous.

He has always been one of the easy ones to photograph. He is a natural just like his oldest sister. Other than mom forgetting to pull his pant leg down to cover the white sock this one's a keeper!

#1 Daughter is becoming such a beautiful young woman! I love taking pictures of her now. It is so easy to get a good shot. She has started to out grow the smile grind. If you have kids you know exactly what I mean by that!

Lil Pumpkin was a harder shot. She is still doing the smile grind. And thinks for some reason
that you must smile with your bottom teeth! She is beautiful anyway she smiles. And I am so glad she isn't embarrassed of her braces!

Doodles is at the very hard stage of picture taking. He has lost his front teeth so he thinks all his smiles need to show that he can make Dracula teeth. This is the best I got of him. Once again sun and shadows. I will eventually get the hang of it all!! Watch out 1st grade girls, this green/blue eyed boy will steal your heart away!

Hubby insisted I have my picture taken. I still have about 40lbs to lose before I will feel fully comfortable with having my picture taken. But I know how important it is for my kids to have pictures of me. So here you have it. Plus Hubby wanted to document how long my hair is getting. You can't really tell here. But it is much longer in the front than our last family picture in April.

Since Hubby insisted on a picture of me I insisted on a picture of HIM! He is so handsome to me!

My Silly Kids. By this time it was hard getting the lighting just right. But I love how Little Guy is standing in this one!!!

Our Family! Doodles (6), Lil Pumpkin (8), Hubby with Lil Guy on his lap (3), Me, #1 Daughter (10), and Handsome Boy (5).

Us together! We don't take enough pictures of just the two of us!! #1 Daughter took this one. I think she did great!

All in all it was a fun day out. After picture taking we took the kids to Big Judd's for lunch. We ordered two of their 1lb burgers. They are plate sized. We cut them up for everyone to share. We also got two baskets of tots. I was really surprised by how much some of our kids put away. #1 Daughter said she never needs to go back, it grossed her out how much some people ate. I agree, one kid tried to eat the Big Judd 1lb burger plus the basket of fries and the drink in 30 minutes. He made him self sick! It is a little disturbing what people call entertainment. But I think we did good sharing two burgers with 7 people!

Exercise

2011-09-20T07:37:00.000-07:00

Why is it that we always dread the word exercise yet when we do it we feel better? I have made a deal with Hubby, 30 minutes of exercise, 6 days a week. Last night we did it and I felt so good. Hubby didn't feel so good, he felt sore. But it generally takes him a month of consistent exercise to start feeling better for it. I am determined to get past the 190's. So today it will be 15 minutes in the AM then 30 in the PM with Hubby. 189 here I come!

blog password???

2011-09-18T18:57:00.000-07:00

You know it's been a while since you posted if you can't remember your password. I finally figured it out after 5 tries.
So as I have posted before I am on this weight loss journey, like so many others. I was on fire there for a while. Then all the weird symptoms happened at the beginning of the year. My weight loss in pounds started slowing to a trickle, and is now at a stop. I was hoping by now I would be at my goal weight. I mean I don't think 80lbs in a year is that hard, or maybe it is. Because I still have about 40 to go to reach my goal. So frustrating to lose the same 5lbs over and over and over again. So this week I am going to be dedicated to getting more consistent exercise. Even if I really don't want to do it I have to. I need to break this cycle I have been in for so long. ( one month) I am aiming for 6 lbs in the next two weeks. That will put me in the 180's and out of my 190 cycle.
Other than the weight loss frustration I have been busy with finishing last minute Super Saturday stuff. Finally got it all done and Super Saturday was yesterday. It was a little disappointing to not have all the people who signed up come. It is usually a fun time to sit and visit with others you don't get much of a chance to talk to. But those that came made it worth while. It was a fun day. Hubby even stayed home with all 5 kids plus the neighbors 3 and did almost all the laundry and made dinner for us and the missionaries (who didn't show up, don't expect me to feed them anytime soon!) It was so good! Shepard's Pie with roast beef and gravy. YUMMY! I am spoiled by a good man!
This week I have preschool for two days and no church projects to do. I guess I can get to some of my own. As well as my flower beds that desperately need attention before bulb planting time.
Hope it's a great week for all!!!

Just wanted to let you all know I survived the surgery!

2011-09-02T07:34:00.000-07:00

I just re read my post and realized people may have thought I died or something since I never posted after surgery. I am still alive and finally feeling like my normal self with energy and all that. It was much harder to recover this time. I kept having so much pain where my gallbladder was. Plus I think they popped my ribs out with all that gas they use. It hurt to breath and move or laugh, anything. It all hurt! But now I am doing much better. I feel like I can actually get all the things I want to get done in one day instead of 4, with help! I still need to weed my back flowerbed, but I think all in all that's OK.
So much has happened since my last post.

Lil' Pumpkins Birthday cake. She wanted a Candy Land Cake. Very fun to make, not so much fun to cut, and oh so much sugar!!

Doesn't she look beautiful!
Lil Pumpkin turned 8 in July and got baptized. She looked so beautiful! We were so proud of her decision to be baptized. She loved wearing her CTR ring, and going to Girls Activity day.

HANDSOME BOY'S BIRTHDAY CAKE. It's a volcano (his request!)
Handsome boy turned 5 in August. He is getting so tall. And I had only a minor panic attack about him going off and leaving the nest for a few hours every other day for school. I made #1 Daughter promise to look out for him. She promised so all is well.
My Grandmother passed away, she was 91. She was my last living Grandparent. It is always sad and hard to see them go, but she was in so much pain. So I know she is now with her love, My Grandfather. I will see her again, not in pain, and for that I am so thankful for that knowledge! We went to Lewiston for the funeral. I forget how smelly it is there. I thought my boys were having major intestinal issues when we first pulled into town. Then I remembered the pulp mill. Ugh, smells like over cooked broccoli. Like 5 days over cooked!
Then we got back on Saturday evening, my kids started school that Monday and we didn't want to be traveling back the day before school started. I was good for them to spend time with my parents. The kids don't get to see them very often. They took us to the park and bought ice cream for them. They even watched all the kids tricks on the playground. At one point my Dad tried to cross the monkey bars. He had been teasing my husband about going across. Then he waited until Hubby took Little Guy to the bathroom to try. Then he said he thought he popped his back out and could only do two bars. It was so funny. Then Hubby came out and went across. I told him if he bent the bars we were out of there! He didn't thank goodness.

Handsome Boy (in orange shirt) getting on the bus for the first time. Sniff, sniff! Fred the Bus driver.

#1 Daughter first day of school. Lil' Pumpkin first day of school.

Doodles first day of school. / Handsome Boy first day of school (do you think they can teach him how to eat cereal with out spilling on himself? look at shirt)

All of them lined up with this years back packs.

The first day of school was great. My kids were so excited! I took Handsome boy to his Kindergarten orientation. That is code for a waste of my time. It is mostly for those parents who really aren't involved with their kids and learning. But you have to take them because they will be marked absent if you don't show. What ever! Handsome boy showed that he is a master of scissors, cutting out a perfect circle, and writing his name and coloring in the lines. I was a proud mama!!! (i just noticed how many ! I am using. Apparently I feel very !!! this morning!)

We had to get new tired on our car and our Big Red Van. I kept telling Hubby we needed new ones on the van but he didn't realize how bad they really were until we got the new ones on. Then he calculated that we probably went 13,000 miles to many on the old ones. Um, YES we said prayers with every trip we made this last year that we would be safe, and then prayers of thanks that we were kept safe.
I got some money from my Grandmother so Hubby MADE ME get a digital SLR camera. I am still trying to read through all the manuals. But I am SO EXCITED TO USE IT!!! I have taken a few pictures but hope to take a lot this weekend. Now I no longer need to buy film and then take it to be developed and hope there are at least a few good shots I can use of my kids! (None of the pictures in this post were done with the new camera. Next time they will!!!)

Happy Anniversary Sweet Man of mine!!!

Today is Hubby's and My 16th anniversary. It is fun to look back on that day and remember all that we did and didn't do. Like me showing up over 30 minutes late to the temple. (It was my dad's fault, not kidding. I threatened him that I was going to climb on his lap and push the gas pedal down if he didn't step on it!) Taking to many pictures so our lunch was Subway before our open house. Me being scared to leave because I knew what was going to happen, so we stayed and opened presents until 10pm. What a loving and understanding Husband I have, then and now!! He is so gentle and loving. He can tell if I don't feel well or have a migraine and sends me to bed to rest. He helps cook dinner, or gets out of my way if he can tell I need time to my self. He reads stories to our children each night. With voices. No wonder they don't want me to read to them. He gives me a kiss on the lips then a cheek hug each day before work. (A cheek hug is just pressing cheeks together. Don't know why or when we started it, but now a kiss just doesn't feel right if he is leaving home with out it!) He is my rock, my best friend, someone who can tease me but knows when to stop. He is my lover, the father of my children. The leader of our family, the provider, the spiritual strength. I would never want to be with out him!!! Thank you sweet heart for 16 wonderful years. I am looking forward to the rest of eternity with you. I wouldn't want to be there with anyone but you!!!!

just thought I would add a picture of my hair from the other day. Loved it, pretty but cool. My hair is half way down my back and hot!

Front, I still look a little pale from surgery but here is the front.

I couldn't leave my Little Guy out of the pictures. So here it the cute little guy, enjoy!
Hope you all enjoyed my condensed version of the summer. We did lots of swimming and trips to Utah twice for weddings. It kind of felt like a movie. Two weddings, a surgery and a funeral. Weird combo for a summer!

Horrible at posting lately...life happens

2011-07-19T20:37:00.000-07:00

I haven't been posting much lately. Not because there isn't much to post. But because I have been busy with the kids. We go swimming as much as we can, we have been to Utah 2 times in 4 weeks. Both times for weddings. We have all had a nasty cold. Me twice. Lil Pumpkin turned 8. I will post pictures soon! Promise!!! Been to the ER twice in one week. Once for Hubby, chest pain. All checked out fine. And Me on Sunday. Kidney infection and Gall stones. The Gall of those stones! Now I have to have surgery tomorrow. Hopefully they can fix my hernia as well. Fingers crossed. So even though I haven't been posting doesn't mean I haven't been reading your blogs. Pray my recovery is quick! I am on a weight loss roll and don't want to stop it! 3 lbs in 1 week. I want to keep that going. So pray I can. I need to. See you all on the other side of surgery!

Oh what do YOU do in the summer time?

2011-06-09T09:28:00.000-07:00

My kids are already ready for school to start! It doesn't bode well for us. We still have approximately 10 weeks of summer left!!!!!!!!!!! I have been making them help me weed the yard and clean the house, read for at least 20 minutes a day, go on my jock (I will explain in a few lines) each morning, and ride bikes in the afternoons. They keep begging me to take them swimming. Um, hello it was only 65 degrees for a high yesterday. NO way am I getting into a semi warm pool with freezing cold air out side! I know it isn't really freezing, but it feels like it when you are in the pool. I told them it has to be at least 85* to go swimming. And I am sticking to that temperature!
I am trying to come up with something fun to do each afternoon after they get all the other stuff out of the way, like piano practice etc. Today we are going to have a movie afternoon with popcorn. I need to check the dates for the .50 cent movies at the dollar theater and take them to that a few times this summer.
My front yard is finally starting to look good. The last few years I haven't been able to do a whole lot outside, but this year I can! I am so excited. My husband says I am becoming yard crazy. Then he realized in the last 10 years I have either been pregnant or breastfeeding every summer so I get to be yard crazy this year! Now I just need to whip my back flower bed into shape. But I think until our good old dog breaths his last breath there is only the hope of getting the morning glory under control. I have hope since I got almost all the dandelions to die and never come back in the grass. But the morning glory is everywhere in the flowerbed, growing under the weed stop and snaking its way to the overlap and up into the sunshine. UGH I hate that stuff! I think they should have called it devil's glory!!!

I have started a "new" exercise routine for myself. I try to run/walk around our subdivision on our walking path. Well it has been so long since I ran consistently that I get tired fast so that is why I have to walk. So for short I started calling it my Jock. I know you all get it, Jog/walk. I have been taking my old dog with me, he pulls me along and keeps me going. I don't know what I will do when he dies! I told the neighbor I would have to borrow her dog! But I don't want to keep it!!! I also rotate what child I take with me. I can't take Little Guy since he is only 3. He could never keep up, but the others do great! As long as I can convince Doodles and Handsome Boy that they don't need to ask 500 questions while we are running! I have a hard time concentrating on running and feel more tired when I have to talk at the same time. I lose my running focus! But I know they are enjoying the time outside with just me. I have lost 4 lbs so far in 1 week. So hopefully this is what I needed to get things going again in the right direction.

I am off to read my mandatory 20 minutes in my library book. I know I feel sorry for me to! Wink Wink!!

Dandelions, Bow Ties and Medication

2011-05-16T07:42:00.001-07:00

Can I just start by saying how much I detest DANDELIONS! Morning glory and dandelions are the bane of my existence!! I sprayed all the horrid things a few weeks ago and all they did was go to seed and stop growing yellow flowers and go strait to seed. So I started popping them. That means I crawl around on my hands and knees and use a weed digger and pop them up from the root. So far those that I have popped haven't come back. But I think spending 4 hours in a week and a half popping dandelions is a bit much! I still have probably a hour just in the front yard to finish with it. But there is no way I am going out in the rain to do it. So now all those seedlings will take root again. Argh! Dandelions!!!!!
I made Little Guy the cutest little "real" bow tie on Saturday night. I just got a wild hair.I even tied it! My kiddos were in bed and ready for a full nights sleep and it only took a few minutes to whip out. Now my older boys want one. So this week I will be making them each one or two. I think they are so adorable, and really boys don't have many ways to change what they wear to church. So I think new ties or bow ties are it. And with cotton fabric, so CHEAP! It's a good thing if I do say so myself.
So I have been taking my medication for a few months now and I just had my recheck with the neurologist and I was having a few of the symptoms return. It appears that when Wal-mart pharmacy refilled my prescription they filled it for the smaller dose than I was supposed to be on. So I was only taking half of what I was. So that was the reason why for the last month I have had the pain, dizziness, and headaches again. But now that I am on the higher dose I am doing better, still a few headaches but not like I was getting! The combination of it and the Vitamin D at night is like a sleeping pill. I take it and with in 5 minutes I can hardly stay awake!!! But I can't take them in the morning because I would be sleepy all day. So I now take it about 20 minutes before bed. I was taking it 1 hour before bed and falling asleep reading in the family room. The 20 minutes before bed is working better!
Since it is a lovely rainy day I am off to do more laundry and a little clean up from the weekend.
Have a great day! And try to enjoy the rain, the flowers are!!

Easter Pictures!

2011-04-25T08:38:00.001-07:00

Easter Sunday with our Sunny Yellow attire!

Here is Hubby and Me. He didn't want me to post but I liked it the best. (OK, I'll be honest, it is the one of myself I liked the best. Hubby thinks he looks weird. But this is my blog and I need to look good!) ((LOve you HUNNY bun!))

#1 Daughter. She is getting so tall!

Lil Pumpkin, Her hair was so beautiful yesterday, especially after it relaxed more, in the afternoon.

Doodles, what a HAM!

Handsome boy, I must say he does look so very Handsome here!

Here is my Little Guy, he isn't quite so little anymore! But he does look so very cute here!!! Even if he can be such a turkey at times.

My family and I came up with a game, we call it Eggs A

Lot! It was fun, I am sure we will be playing it again, they think we should market it and sell it. I am sure most families have already played this game, we just added different things to it. Have fun watching. And disregard the negative and whiny comments coming from kids. Of course they whine when they know the camera is on. I believe this is the only time during our 45 minutes of playing that there was any whining!!!

36th Birthday and a Bladder infection don't mix!

2011-04-05T08:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my 36th Birthday. I woke up in Sunday morning (the 3rd) and felt a little twinge in my bladder. So I drank 135oz of water and took 2 cranberry pills. Then yesterday (my birthday) still felt that little twinge. So I drank 100oz of water and 2 cranberry pills. I feel much better today. And as usual when I drink that much water, I lost 2 lbs!!! I think I will continue on the lots of water drinking and see how I do in the weight loss. Yesterday was a great day! The sky was beautiful for part of the day, and my sweet Hubby took the day off and pampered me. He made breakfast (cereal ;) ), and then we went to Wally World to get a few necessities I needed (some medicine for said bladder) then while perusing the bikes to see what size we will need to upgrade to for #1 daughter and Doodles, I pulled out a bike and tried it on for size. Then I tried another one on. It fit well. Except the seats always hurt my but!! After hubby brought the brood home and we made them lunch he loaded them all up and went and bought my present. Yep, the bike. He has been wanting to get me one for several years. Since he stole my wheel off of my bike to put on his since he bent his frame and I haven't been able to use my bike in years since it has no rear wheel. He even upgraded the seat for me to one that doesn't have the part that goes between your legs. And he also kept safety in mind and bought me a helmet. Then after picking up the bike trailer from my sisters house, and fixing it's flat tire and cleaning it up, we loaded all the kids on bikes or in the trailer. Then we went for a lovely bike ride as a family for the first time! It was so much fun. Today it is raining and I am hoping it will stop so I can load up my boys and we can go again for a nice bike ride! I love the fresh air in the spring time. I even love the rain in the spring. I know it is turning the grass a beautiful green. My daffodils are blooming and my tulips are growing. All is right in my little world of spring yard! Then yesterday while helping my Sweet Hubby make dinner the microwave died! It just goes to show, you can have a perfect day then have something go wrong (microwave), but Hubby just laughed about it. It took me a minute to laugh. I mean come on we just bought that last year. But I did eventually laugh. It is just a microwave after all. Now I need to start pricing again! I'll post my bike pictures later. I'm off to start my water drinking, it's amazing, the more water you drink the more you want to drink!!! Hubby just doesn't want me to drown myself with to much water. I promise to be careful and wear my floaters!!!

Test Results

2011-03-09T12:01:00.000-08:00

I got my MRI results back. Every thing looked normal. No MS, tumor or stroke. My Vitamin D levels are low so I am taking a vitamin D supplement. And they are classifying the rest as Brain Chemistry. It seems, depression and stress can cause dizziness, nausea and a metallic taste. And since my brain was out of whack my spinal cord decided to jump on board. So I am on medication I take every day and in a few months we will see if I need to still be on it or if I can stop. If I stop and all the weird symptoms are gone I am good to go. if they are still there I will need to continue taking it until there are no symptoms when I stop. It seem that I some predisposition to have this happen since I have suffered from Post partum before.
I am relieved to hear this! And even more glad to know it isn't going to be a life long medicine. I really don't like taking medication if I don't have to! So there you have it! Prayers and blessings work! And I am so thankful for that.

Apparently I'm Claustraphobic!

2011-03-07T12:25:00.000-08:00

I thought it was funny trying to find pictures to go with this post. And under MRI pictures on Google there was also a pic of a coffin! Amen to that!

So I wanted to start with this picture. See how much room there is between that white ring thing and the top of the inner part of the machine. The smaller ring your head goes in. There are at least 6 inches there. Yeah, I didn't get that machine!

This one is hard to see, but see how there is only about 1-2 inches yep, that was how my machine was!

Plus see that "cage" your head goes in there, with headphones on so you can protect your ears, and hear music and hear the technician. All that at once in a small space! Panic. I can feel it now!!!

I had to have a MRI done this morning. I have had one before on my back. But that was about 20 years ago. Just typing that makes me feel so old. For me to be able to put that something happened 20 years ago that I remember. Anyway the MRI then was huge. I remember laying there counting all the rivets to keep my mind occupied. I was in there for a long time. So today I had a MRI on my head and I thought, NO big deal, I've had one of these before. But I didn't realize how much smaller the machines have gotten! At least the one I was in! I actually had a panic attack and the lady had to take me back out. I had to take a few (OK a lot) of deep breaths to calm myself down. I was crying. I felt so stupid. The lady offered to reschedule and have me get a zanex from my Dr. Maybe i should have. I remember one of my sisters taking one of those and she was funny! But I don't know if I could have held still if I was acting all wonky!! So I took one more deep breath and told the lady that I needed the blanket off, and I was going to close my eyes while she pushed me in. I didn't open my eyes until about 10 minutes before we were done. I kept breathing deep. Luckily there was a fan blowing on my face as well. Otherwise I think I would have felt like I couldn't breath! It was not fun. Plus my heart burn started in and I kept praying she would be done soon so I could sit up before I threw up! I made it, but by the time I got out to where Hubby was waiting for me I looked bad. I can always tell by his reaction. He jumped up and came over to help me out of the office. I go back into the Neurologist tomorrow to find out what they found out. They are trying to rule out MS, tumor, strokes, and seizures. We will go from there tomorrow. All I know is I NEVER want to have a MRI done on my head again! Plus I was thinking, I have to PAY FOR THIS! Awesome, anyone want to have a fundraiser for my medical bills, oh and throw my SIS in Law's in there too. She has had to have 2 of these! She is a saint!!!

Potty Training Little Guy....some of his comments

2011-03-03T08:07:00.000-08:00

So I finally bit the bullet and decided enough with changing the diapers of a 2 1/2 year old was no longer for me! So On February 21st I decided it was the day to begin for real this time. No stopping or going back. We were going to see this through to the END! One way or another Little Guy was going to go pee pee on the potty not just once a day but every time he needed to go. Now I almost regret that decision. He now won't let me even help hold up his shirt. You see he quickly went from sitting on the potty to standing. And now he tells me to step back he can do it his self! Oh, I'm so sad my baby is starting to clip those apron strings!!!! Let us all have a moment of silence and shed a tear for my and my baby!

Now on to a lighter note, here are some of the funny things he has said and done during this last week and a half while we are seeing it to the End!

*While sitting and going pee he started to go and said "Ta da!"

*One day he got a little to far back and his cute little bottom ended up all the way in the toilet. All that was left were feet and hands and a head.

*While standing and peeing he said this to me.."Mom, it's like a shooting star!" Meaning the pee coming out.

* He now likes to stand, start to pee and then start to sway his hips back and forth so the pee stream looks like a slow sprinkler spraying inside the bowl. I told him he had to stop, I already have one wild pee'er and I don't need two!

*Last but not least and not last a I am certain of! One of the first times he went pee standing up I was pushing him up close to the potty with my knees. I didn't hear any pee so I peeked over his head to a pee stream coming up toward my face like a fountain. He was holding himself and had turned it upward. Yep, I almost got it in the eye!

He is doing so well. I think we have the pee thing down. Now we just need to get better at the #2 on the potty. He has even gotten up in the middle of the night needing to go to the bathroom! So much for that $25 I just spent almost 2 weeks ago on diapers. Hubby and I both said today we had a feeling we should have bought the smallest bag but we bought the box instead! Oh well. Once again we need to listen to that prompting, and ACT on it!

Tomorrow I go to the neurologist. Hopefully will get some answers.

Still no answers

2011-02-28T13:47:00.000-08:00

I went to the Elks on Wednesday last week and still have no answers. I feel like it was a waste of time and money! I was told they think I have a food allergy. They just focused on the migraines I have had since I was 4. Um, the dizziness and all the other symptoms are new. Lets focus on them! All they could say was something is going on, but they don't know what. I think I should be able to get a refund if they have no ideas! My next appointment is on Friday with a neurologist. Hopefully we will get some answers.
On a happier note. Little guy is almost potty trained. I figured since I can't drive very far, I'm to dizzy to do so. That I might as well use my "at home" time wisely. He actually will tell me when he needs to go. At church yesterday I almost put a diaper on him. I didn't want to deal with a big mess. But he had no accidents all day! And today I was able to go to Costco for bread and milk and no accident there. But when we got home I didn't listen to myself and run him in and he peed about 5 minutes after we got home. But we were gone for 1 1/2 hours with no accident. And he did tell me he was starting to go, so we ran to the bathroom. I am so proud of him. He is my youngest of the boys. #1 Daughter and Lil Pumpkin were 18 months. Girls are just so much easier, especially if you do it when they are younger. After a certain age they seem to fight you on it more. Of course all this potty training right after I paid $25.oo for a box of diapers. Oh well. I know it will be a while before he is night time potty trained as well.

Where have I been?

2011-02-21T12:50:00.000-08:00

What have I been up to you ask? Not a whole lot unless you consider laying on the sofa trying to get the world to stop spinning and the nausea to go away as well as the hot spot feeling in my arms, hands, legs and feet to go away. I have never realized how long it takes to get into a DR. When you need to get in you can't, or it takes 2, 3, or 4 weeks to get in with the Dr that MIGHT know what is going on with you. It is so frustrating! I am not one to sit around. But I have had to or fall over. I go to the Hearing a Balance office for a vestibular evaluation on Wednesday, unless our insurance won't cover it. Then on March 4th I go to a neurologist. If we find out it is something with my inner ear (I hope) then I will cancel the neurologist appointment. Here's to hoping to cancel!!!

What I've been up to...

2011-01-27T08:29:00.000-08:00

I have been quite busy they last two weeks. With the usual and a few fun things. The usual being laundry and dishes, keeping the boys from killing each other, taking kids to well child checks so Hubby can brag what a amazon #1 Daughter is. She is 10 and 58". She has loooonnnggg legs! All went well but we have to get her eyes checked. She may need glasses. Then I got home from that to find a message from Lil Pumpkins teacher telling me she was having a hard time seeing the chalk board. SO a double eye exam it is on Saturday. At least there are cute frames out there now. Although what I think is cute and what Hubby thinks is cute are two very DIFFERENT THINGS! I'll keep ya posted.

This is one of the fun things I have been doing. I read this and half way through I got the other book put on hold at our library. I finished the book and had to wait two weeks to get the second book because I was so far down on the waiting list. Hubby is now reading this one.

I just finished this one and now can't wait for the third to come out. I told Hubby he better get a move on and finish the first book so he can read this one before I have to return it. Then he will have to wait to get it again.

This is the last book and it doesn't come out until this summer some time. Can't wait. Wish there was a waiting list at the library already. Hmmm maybe there is. I will have to get on that!

These are my girls Valentine's day shirts for this year. I decided to not go totally obvious with the whole Valentine love theme so they can wear it when ever.

This one is Lil Pumpkins...

This one is #1 Daughters...

This is my other project I did over this last week and some the week before. I got this table years ago from my Gram's up north. I looked just like this when I got it from her. Lots of water marks, cracked, some paint on it. So I sanded it down and gave it a coat of a nice off white paint. It took several coats to cover up all that dark stain and other spots. Then I let it dry for 4 days....

You can see on the left hand side that I distressed it. Then on the right hand side I put a glaze mixed with brown paint on and then wiped it off. I discovered during this step that you DO NOT want to leave the glaze on for longer than 30 seconds. It drys so fast! Maybe it was just because my house was warm. I don't know. But I first thought I ruined it because the glaze wasn't wiping off like it did on the blog I read about how to do this. So I figured out if you put more glaze on the spot that wont wipe off it will come off if you wipe it right away.

This is the final product. I love it!!! Now I just need to convince Hubby that doing this to our kitchen cabinets would be a great idea! Only less distressing on the kitchen cabinets!

Well I am off to do preschool and keep the boys from killing each other while they clean their room! Wish me luck! I will need it.

Video of Little Guy Rockin out at the mall...

2011-01-23T20:10:00.000-08:00

Crazy Week....

2011-01-17T15:22:00.001-08:00

So at the beginning of last week I had such great intentions. Then it changed. I was going to post about it today, but now I have to wait until next week. You will understand when I post next week.
But today has been quite eventful, as was Saturday. I decided I had had enough with my girls room. SO after 2 hours of going through every article of clothing and getting rid of some I thought the room would look clean. NOT EVEN CLOSE! So I was tired at that point so I told them to clean it or face the clean out from MOM! It looked pretty good on Saturday night. Now I just have to crack the whip every day for them to keep it looking that way. I didn't have the energy to even attempt the boys room. Maybe next weekend. I also did about 5 loads of laundry, beginning to end! I was so proud of my self, plus we had the missionaries over for dinner and I made homemade white chicken chili in the crock pot. I was so good!

Today I cut 5 of my nieces hair. It was quite fun to do the "makeover" thing. We even cut 10" off of one of them! I always love a new haircut!!! Then Michelle and I went and looked and dreamed about home projects we would want to do. We drug our 8 kids with us to the home improvement stores in our area. It was FUN, we even snagged free hot dogs for our kids out of the deal.

Now back to reality. School is back in tomorrow. NO sleeping in for me. I need to go start dinner. Then maybe I can finish my BOOK! I love a good book!

14* are you KIDDING ME!

2011-01-11T07:40:00.000-08:00

It is so cold outside! It is only 14* right now and I can still feel it in my toes from my walk to the bus stop. It is so COLD!
Today my boys decided they needed to have eggs for breakfast, then Handsome Boy decided this must be a restaurant since he then decided to amend his "order" to a ham and cheese wrap and a hard boiled egg. Um, does he not know our rule? This is not a restaurant and no you can not have it your way, and mom is NOT a short order cook!!!! But I felt like being nice and made it for him anyway, after I complained about it. Maybe I will get half points for being nice. Also we will see if I am right about what makes my boys stinky. They haven't had eggs for some time and sometimes they have a very unpleasant odor, it is BAD! I mean, open the windows before we all die bad! The pediatrician actually said some people depending on what they eat the bacteria in their stomach will mix with what they eat and make extreme gas that smells very bad and sometimes like rotten eggs. There is a powder I can put in a drink for them but the powder is $30.00 for a one month supply for one boy, I have two stinky boys. I don't want to pay $60.00 a month if just not giving them eggs will do the trick for free! So today we start our test. I'll let you know the stink of it tomorrow.
I did get quite a bit of laundry done yesterday, and I played games with my two boys at home during the day. So I did accomplish some of my goals for the week. The dishes didn't quite get finished. My lack of sleep over the last 6 nights caught up with me. Little Guy thinks he needs to sleep touching me at all times, even if the touching is hitting me in the face. Needless to say by 8pm I was ready for bed. And with piano lessons at 5:30pm then dinner at 6:15pm and FHE at 7pm then treat at 8pm, dishes got cleared but not all were washed and put away! I will have to work better at that. Plus I didn't start dinner at 4:30, Michelle came over and we had a makeover day. I dyed her hair, and she dyed mine. Then I cut her hair, I normally cut her hair so not to different there. Then she assisted me cutting mine. I can do the sides, but I have difficulty cutting he back. I really need to go to a professional but I just couldn't stand it anymore, and I love the new cut softness of the ends of my hair to much to wait any longer. So my goal is to try harder to get dinner started at 4:30 and then the dishes have a greater chance of being done after dinner! Plus #1 Daughter is hoping I will make mini tacos for dinner so I need to start cooking the meat earlier in the afternoon so it will be done and marinated and yummy in time to eat.
I must go now and figure out a costume for my husband to play Lehi for Young Women tomorrow night. Love those last minute changes and details that are withheld until almost d-day!!!!
I will take a pic of my hair and put on here later today. It went a little to red for me, but hopefully it will tone down a little by the weekend!

My Goals this week...

2011-01-10T08:37:00.000-08:00

We had a speaker in Sacrament Meeting yesterday that talked about goals. I was kind of bad, tuning in and out. But hey, at least I wasn't asleep like at least two others in the congregation. Apparently it is going to take some time for us all to adjust to 9am church.
So I have decided each Monday to make a goal for the week and report on Friday or Monday how I did. So these are my goals for this week:
To finish organizing the family room.
To drink 80 ounces of water each day.
Play 3 games this week with my kids.
Get all the laundry done before Saturday.
Have all the Sunday stuff (shoes, socks, shirts, pants etc.) all gathered up and set out together on Saturday night before going to bed, for easy access Sunday morning.
Start dinner each night by 4:30 pm so we will be done early with dinner rather than just before kids bedtime!

Today I have already unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, (last night I was bad and didn't finish the dishes after dinner, then we had popcorn) oh well, they kept until today!
Started laundry and now am ready to shower (I did talk to a friend on the phone, otherwise I would already be showered!) Just so ya know!

Cute comment today goes to Doodles. This morning at breakfast he turned to Handsome Boy and told him that when you get little bumps on your skin because you are cold they are called small chicken pox. Um, OK just don't tell your teacher you have chicken pox please, I don't want to have to come to the school to pick you up because you have Goosebumps!

Headbands and more...Warning! This post has a TON of pictures!!!

2011-01-07T07:28:00.000-08:00

We got back on Sunday from the warm land of Arizona! We came home to temps in the teens. It is so COLD here! But it was worth the shock of coming home to freeeeeezzzziiiinnnnggg cold weather to have spent time with Bonnie and Rich and their kids.

Making silly faces together. #1 Daughter and her cousin just 1 1/2 years older than her.

I love this picture! Shaelene you make me laugh! Those eyes!!!!! Love you bunches! Little Guy just saw this pic and got excited to see himself with you!!!

Doodles with Shaielene, they love the tongue shots.

In Utah, before Provo (on the way from the south to the north.) This is what we came home to, at least in Utah. We have no snow outside right now.

We got to see Grandpa and Grandma Bev. I love Little Guys face, not sure who he is smiling for. But Handsome Boy looks like he is in some punishment.

We went for Christmas as well as this. The WEDDING! The very first Grandchild to get married. It was so fun. And they make such a Beautiful couple.

The bouquet. Calla Lillie's with hydrangea. For those of you at the wedding, you all know Blue is not my favorite wedding color. It is just hard to match all the blues you need to use on everything. I do agree the bouquet turned out beautiful but I will be holding all your girls to their written in blood pact that they will NOT use blue for their main wedding color!!!!!!

Wrapped stems of the bouquet.

Well at least one of the three has their eyes open! It was hard to get good pictures, the photographer was doing her job and we had to sneak in when we could. Wish she would have done more candid moments instead of all posed! (Tip for future weddings, sometimes the non posed pictures mean the most!)

The fabulous 8, with Dad. All 8 siblings were able to be together for this special occasion. Some from West Virginia, some from Oregon, Idaho, Utah and New Mexico, and of course Arizona. It's fun to see how we all change, or not, over the years.

Lynn and I putting the finishing touches on the cake. The Cala Lillie's we got from Costco were HUGE! As in long, not large around. And the stems were so thick. We also found out, luckily that they are lethal. So we had to seal the ends of the flowers with clear nail polish so no one accidentally ingested any of the sap running out. Thank you Google for your vast knowledge!

My kids hanging out in the Relief Society room during the reception.

Outside the temple. It was cold! OK it was probably 40 to 45 degrees, but with out a coat or jacket it was cold. So here is Doodles and Little Guy wrapped up in Daddy's coat staying warm together.

Shopping with the girls. Little Guy got extra attention, of course he loves it! He soaks it all in!!! Trying on HUGE sunglasses. What is this the 80's again? I told my niece I could show her how to rock the banana clip. And leg warmers were a must!

Now for the headbands. I made these before our trip. I love the owls. They are so cute and each one turns out differently. Lil Pumpkin with the green and yellow one.

#1 Daughter with the purple and blue one. (Ignore the red and white headband she has on under it. She posed for me this morning after her hair was already done for school. So I just slipped it on over the top of the other one.)

This headband I made last night while watch Shreck forever After with the Hubby. I need something for my hands to be doing when I am sitting. And once again, ignore the other headband under this one. It should only have three bands red, black, and then red. The red and white one is hers she is wearing today. I think it is cute. I need to adjust the flowers and hearts a little and then tack them down better, but I was trying to get it done last night before going to bed. #1 Daughter saw it this morning and is already picking out her outfit to wear with it on V day...

This is as far as my de junking and organization got yesterday. I put my ribbon on this super cute ribbon drawer box Michelle made me for Christmas. Sad to say, I need to now make mine I have sitting in the garage, since all my ribbon wouldn't fit on here. But it is so nice to see what I have and how it matches or doesn't.

Well I better go and shower and dress since I am in my pj's - I know shocker!- but #1 daughters piano teacher just came and I have on striped flannel and a sweater with no bra, OH THE HORROR! SO I am off to get ready for the day. But I have already started for today to clean stuff out!!! I am so proud of myself. Watch out garbage man. It's a good thing you have that mechanical arm on your truck to pick up the garbage can. Or you may hurt yourself on Monday!

Needing Inspiration to get dejunking.....

2011-01-06T08:36:00.000-08:00

I am in a bit of a frump today. I am STILL in my pj's and it is 9:30 am. It could be due to the fact I HAD to stay up to finish the book my SIL gave me for Christmas. And can I just say it just isn't right to give the first book of a series and leave me hanging like that! Now I have to go find the other books!!!!! I mean really, it's all I can think about. And I have a to do list a mile long.... I just need to get my de-junking focus back.
It doesn't help that my Doodles is in a funk of a mood today. One minute happy and helpful, the next angry and moping. Ah, I think some freezing cold outside time is in order for today. Bundle up boys it's going to be cold. And don't make me lock you outside may come out of my mouth today. Don't hold it against me.
I need to make a realistic To DO list for myself. De-junk the whole house just isn't focused enough for me. Especially when I sit in one room for to long trying to figure out what exactly I want to de-junk and then my mind wanders to... Wow it's been a while since I painted this room. Maybe we should change the color, what color should I change it to. But then I might have to change curtains, or mat colors in pictures. Or my frames wouldn't go as well. So I would have to get new ones, but that wouldn't be so bad since all the backs are torn off or broken so the pictures are barley hanging on as it is....Yeah I think I need some ADD medicine. My brain has been in hyper drive or wandering drive ever since we got back from the land of the Sun. I almost put that maybe I should do Lamaze then realized that is for pregnancy and labor, I meant to put Yoga. But then of course last time I did Yoga I ended up at the chiropractor with half my body out of whack.
I guess I better come up with a plan since my boys are still in pj's and now are bringing down their pillows thinking it is going to be a lounge fest, NOT!~ Better run and figure something out!!!! Have a happy day.

Things my children say....

2011-01-05T09:29:00.000-08:00

On our way back from Arizona we stopped for the night in St George, at a little scary motel...very cold and we went to Denny's for dinner. Because it was right there across the parking lot from the motel. As we were sitting there waiting for our food to come the order up bell rang and Little Guy turns to the door and says (in sing song voice full volume) Whooo is it?
Oh our "continental breakfast" at the motel (online I actually thought it was a hotel) right inside the door where you check in there were two kinds of cereal to choose from set up on a card table with some OJ. I should have snapped a picture with my phone. I don't recommend Knights Inn to stay in, clean, but cold!~

While still in St George we went to Walmart, because we have to go to Walmart where ever we go or it is not a complete trip!...As we were leaving Little Guy was sitting in the cart and sticks his pointer finger up at me and says "I pick your nose?" Ummmmm NO! I told him no but thanks for being such a giver. Then he proceeded to beg me "Pllleeeeaaaassse, I pick your nose. But I said please." I was beginning to wonder if I had a huge boogie hanging out of my nose and didn't know it!

We came home to 11* weather. So very cold! Hubby announced on Monday, Call John's dad, tell him to put a sign in the front yard. I'll email my boss were moving to Mesa! This cold is crazy. Now that it has been a few days, the kids have braved the outdoors and played in the backyard, and Hubby has taken his blue fuzzy blanket the kids bought him for work to stay warm back with him I think he has settled down again. Although it is VERY cold here! I have two pairs of flannel jammie bottoms on right now sitting by the heat vent. I think this is a great spot to spend the day..... ummm warmth. Probably cheaper than refilling a hot tub to stay in all day!

I better get up and moving, the post Mesa, warmth, family 24/7 depression is setting in. So I better get moving so it can't settle to deeply!! Have a good day, de-junk and drink some water everyone!

Some Pictures...

2010-12-13T08:44:00.001-08:00

I should have taken a picture of my girls yesterday with their Christmas outfits on, but I forgot! I'll just have to take a pic with out them in it. Sorry. But here are the hats for 2010 and one of the many Christmas Presents I made....

I love the snowman face. Little Guy thought it was spooky until he saw it was a "Frosty".

I saw how to do this on someone's blog. I found it at this blog. I get a lot of fun ideas from her blog!! You will need to just scroll down until you see the same saying as I used. It is under her Christmas label. It was fun to watch the fabric come out of my printer printed on!!!
Well I am off to finish laundry and begin packing clothes for our trip. Pray for no snow for us while we travel on Friday!!!!

Question from Doodles and have I been BUSY!!!!

2010-12-08T08:20:00.000-08:00

Doodles birthday is this month. A long with #1 Daughter. #1 is on the 19th, Doodles is on the 21st. I remember #1 Daughters birthday that year. Praying that Doodles wouldn't come on HER birthday. He didn't, thankfully! So every year when it is December 1st he thinks it is his birthday that day. This year this is the question he asked me. "Mom, how do you KNOW I was born on the 21st?"
Me: "Because I was there. I had to push you out of me. So ya, I am certain you were born on the 21st of December!"
Doodles: looks at me sceptically, "OH."

I have been so busy trying to get all my gifts finished up. We will be going to warm SUNNY Arizona. I know, I feel sorry for you to. I normally start Christmas presents in July. But I didn't this year. I was a little busy. So I waited until November. That was very DUMB! I will never, EVER do that again. I will try to post a few pictures of what I have been busy making. Then you can all wish I had your name for Christmas. JK!!!
Hope you all have a great day!

Comments from Handsome Boy

2010-12-02T19:00:00.000-08:00

Conversation at lunch the other day with Handsome Boy.
HB: Mom why do you ALWAYS wear your hair curly?
Me: Uh, because I have naturally curly hair?!
HB: Oh......

On Sunday on of the kids asked me AFTER church if it was fast Sunday. I told them no that it was next Sunday. Handsome Boy's response: So since it wasn't fast Sunday it must have been slow Sunday.

It took me a minute to figure out what he meant.

He also loves to say apparently. As in "Mom apparently I am still hungry." Like 5 minutes after lunch is over.

That is about it. He has made us laugh this week.

Trunk or Treat

2010-10-31T16:52:00.000-07:00

Here is the gang all dressed up for Trunk or Treat. We went with the Alice in Wonderland theme. The sad thing is there were so many people at the Trunk or Treat no one really saw the costumes. I had people at church asking if my girls were hippies or something. If you actually look at the costumes I think yo can figure out what they are. At least I can! We had two wards at our building. It was so packed we ended up eating out on the grass. Apparently they had doughnuts and dessert rolls at the end but we missed them since it was so packed. If it is like that in the future we won't go. Well go somewhere else for Trunk or Treat. I think my kids got more and better candy last year when we went into my hubby's cousins house to trick or treat. Maybe we will do that again next year.

Lil Pumpkin as Alice, #1 Daughter as Queen of Hearts, Handsome Boy didn't want to go with the theme so he is a Knight from last year, Little Guy as Card soldier, and Doodles as Mad Hatter.

If she wasn't smiling you could tell she has a heart on her lips.

This is how I did her hair, it has two hearts in her hair out of the braids.

Little Pumpkin. I think she made a perfect Alice.

My crazy idea of stuffing for hair. It kept falling off all night. I was just to cheap to pay $20 for a wig!

Our Knight in Shining Armour!

I think I got the most compliments on Little Guys costume. It cost a total of $2.59 and it took me about 30 minutes or less to make! WOW. Just goes to show it isn't the most elaborate or most expensive that makes them cute.

And how much candy did my kids eat at the end of the night? Little Guy and Handsome Boy each ate one piece before we left the church. The rest of the kids were more interested in the other kids and the costumes. They ended up not eating any until today! I offered to not make them costumes this year and buy them each their own bag of all chocolate candy bars. THEY TURNED ME DOWN!!!! I couldn't believe they turned me down. It was all about the candy for me. Not for them. They want to dress up. I'm glad they had fun and that I can make them costumes they enjoy.

Tantrums, pleading and bribing....

2010-10-28T08:40:00.000-07:00

Thing have been a bit crazy around here lately. It's like all my kids except #1 daughter have turned into a bunch of monsters! Temper tantrums abound, fighting, screaming, hitting. I don't know where it is coming from. Maybe it is the trunk or treat coming up. I am beginning to hate Halloween! I have most of the costumes done, but now I don't know that 4 of 5 of our kids will be using them. They have been that bad the last few days and possibly weeks! Hubby thinks we should call up his cousin and let them trick or treat there and no where else and not let them go to trunk or treat. I say we let them go to trunk or treat but don't let them have any of the candy and take it to the Salvation Army or something. Is that to mean of a punishment? Lil Pumpkin has been having melt downs in the morning before school. Then bossy to every one including me when she is home. She actually missed the bus on Wednesday morning. So Hubby drove her to school. Then this morning she was well on her way to missing the bus again. So I told her if she missed it again she would stay home and do chores all day long!!!!!!!!! The boys have started fighting as soon as they get up. 7am is to early for yelling and screaming. And it doesn't help that I have had strep. So I am still tired and trying to recover, and my voice is not as strong as normal. My normal voice can't be heard over my boys yelling, that is how loud they can get, even my yelling voice can't be heard over their yelling voices. So imaging me trying to get their attention with 1/2 voice capacity. It's not working so well.
Lil Pumpkin gave Hubby and me a letter last night she wrote. It went like this:

To Mom and Dad:
Dear Mom and Dad
sorry I was fiting with you
I'll try to make it up
some how even if I
have to be grounded
but I really want to go
to the trunk or treat
from your loving daughter
Lil Pumpkin
Smiley face heart and candy pictures.....

It took all I had to not laugh. It was cute. But we want to do what we should do as parents with this whole behaviour thing with our kids. Especially since Hubby will be going out of town with work for a week then home a week then gone a week again! Ugh, heaven help me!

My Fall - Halloween Decor.....

2010-10-05T07:21:00.001-07:00

These are my orange mum's this year. I decided to prune the one in the bottom of the picture, they always get so big that they start falling over. Unfortunately I pruned to late and ended up cutting off the blooms. Sad. Oh, well, I learned my lesson, prune early!

Here is my large one I didn't prune. Much prettier!

My Jar Monsters from last year.

My front door. I don't know why this picture turned out so dark. The sign actually says Spooky. And my little green spider friend is hanging by the S.

My fun pumpkins I made several years ago.

Hubby's Sister and her family came into town on Friday. So on Saturday I made this cute little bed time treat for them. I saw it online somewhere. They loved it!

Megan loved hers so much she needed a picture with it.

Isaac showing off his owl.

Here is a blurry close up.

Now for the inside Decorations. I change out the swag on top of this shelf over the sliding glass door. It is now candy corn and berry's. I love this one!

My Sweet Hubby thinks I am so funny. I have places I put certain things each year. So here is the top of the microwave. I know it isn't Thanksgiving yet. But I decided to just put out the Thanksgiving stuff as well. Then after Halloween I will just take down the Halloween stuff and leave the rest.

Pilgrims behind the kitchen sink. With my Lovely pumpkins that are "carved". They say Give Thanks, and Happy Harvest.

My kitchen counter with the cornucopia. Love it!! And my Be Thankful sign I believe I got at Ti Pan a few years ago when we happened to be in Utah. Must go there again!

Top of the piano. My Fall Village. I don't put the lights in. They have far to many fire and health warnings on those for my liking. So here is my never lit up village. I have had this for about 14 years. Some of these figurines have been glues way to many times! Little fingers break things you know.

Top of my antique dresser in the living room. Come, Ye thankful people come.... stitchery. So fun and fast.

Autumn sign I made a few years ago. Love the pumpkin for the U.

Little table in dining room. It's hard to see my Boo letters. The two oo's were MIA for a few days. Little guy found them on Sunday night. Love my little turkey hanging near the top of the picture.

I absolutely LOVE my entertainment center this year. It reminds me of how Ann over at Old Fashioned Girl would do her hutch in her kitchen! I hope you approve Ann! Sorry for the creepy face on the TV. The kids were watching Emily of New Moon.

My Boo pillow I made this year, with black cat from last year and I love the Chinese orange paper pod things in the urn with sunflowers and rocks. I also used Ann's candy jar idea. Unfortunately Hubby ate the jar of almond M&M's before I could get the picture. Now the jar has candy from Winco. Eyeballs and such.

Here is a picture of the Mini Magic Quilt little Riley in my ward got. For more on the Magic quilt go here.

I am off to do preschool and laundry and maybe sneak in some reading. Lil' Pumpkin is supposed to read 400 minutes a month and apparently has caught the reading bug hubby and I have, she read for over 1200 minutes last month. Her teacher adds up the minutes and who ever has the most minutes each month gets to pick a little prize out of the prize box. The closest anyone came to her was 700 minutes. One girl after August told her with an attitude in her voice that she was going to win the prize for September, she got 600 minutes. I know I shouldn't be all Bragity Ann but 1200+ minutes people!!!! You go Lil' Pumpkin!!! You smarty pants you!!! The guy at the library was quite impressed. We go about twice a week and get a large canvas bag full of picture and chapter books. I told him about Lil' Pumpkin. He was impressed. I believe I have read about 10 books in the last 4 weeks. So yeah I would say it is bug going around our house!

Have a great Tuesday everyone!

Pictures of my Busyness, and opinion needed

2010-09-22T07:30:00.000-07:00

I just had to share this picture with you all. This "baby corn" was inside a big ear of corn. I always assumed that the baby corn you get in the store in cans was just a special variety, buy maybe they just harvest it sooner!? Anyone know?

I need all of your opinion on if this green in this sweater I am making for one of the boys is girly. Hubby thinks it is. I don't understand why anyone would ever thing green is girly but whatever. What do you all think? Girly or NO?

We made homemade doughnuts the other day. The kids had so much fun cutting and then frosting with maple glaze, then adding sprinkles. They were yummy, but definitely better on the day they were made!

I have been doing laundry, dishes, crocheting, sewing or had my nose in a book. I have read around 10 books this last month. It has been nice to get lost in another time!

I have been making this for my kids. When it is completed I will post the finished product. It takes time since I am doing the lettering by hand. I can only do a few lines before my hand starts to hurt and shake.

Last but not least my girls on picture day. I made these cute pants for them and they just had to wear them. Not like the picture would show the pants but you know. I don't order school pictures anyway. They charge much more than my beloved Target portrait studio! And the pictures always look flat, I mean the people in the pictures have not dimension to them. So I only put pictures on my wall I love so Target or my own pictures I take it is! NO school photos!!! They got a lot of compliments all day on their pants!

I am off to exercise, since I feel better after another bout with the flu yesterday, and then the usual of cleaning then you know I will be either reading or crocheting!!!

To busey to blog?!

2010-09-20T12:26:00.000-07:00

Yep, I have been so busy with sewing (Halloween costumes for 5 kids take time, Christmas never to early to start with that!), crocheting gifts for kids for Christmas and others, and just general stuff trying to keep the house running. There are days it literally take 2 hours to get Lil Pumpkin to get her 30 minutes of home work done. Some times that is because she is reading for 90 minutes but as long as she gets her paper work done first I don't mind how long she reads for.
This week she will be reading a lot. She is grounded from TV and Movies for the week. She hasn't been willing to help clean hers and her sisters bedroom lately and then she borrowed #1 Daughters black Sunday shoes and then didn't put them away, meaning that they were lost in their sty of a room. So today after homework she has to clean. Then starting tomorrow I will be doing surprise inspections while they are at school and what ever isn't put away gets thrown away. I told them that if it means so much to them then they will make sure every thing is put away each and every day. I'll have to post each week how much gets thrown away!
My dear Hubby got a different job working for the same company he has for 12 years. This job is based out of Wisconsin but for now we don't have to move. It may be a different story in 6 months. SO for now we are praying that we get to stay here and not move, but still prepping the house for possible sale and de junking and repairing things. I worked on a flowerbed in the front yard on Saturday planing bulbs and transplanting some peony bush starts. I think it will be so beautiful in the spring, I can't wait!!!
I took my two youngsters to the library with me today. We got a big bag full of books and a few movies. I think that will last for a few days maybe weeks, I hope! They were really good. They usually are at the library. They help choose books and movies and are always quiet in there. I wish they thought our home was the library!!!!
Well I better go and finish some more projects. This afternoon it's a chore chart. When it is done I will post my pictures of it as well as other things I have been working on the last few weeks.
Happy Day all!!

Our Labor Day weekend and some conversations....

2010-09-07T07:26:00.000-07:00

Hubby always tries to remind me that Labor Day does NOT mean we have to Labor all Day! Oh, is that the way this is supposed to work? Normally Labor Day at our house is indeed a day of labor, in the yard, in the house. Where ever it is needed. And this year was no different. But I think Hubby is finally getting used to my idea of Labor Day. There wasn't as much complaining. In fact, he got up early and went to the church orchard and picked peaches for about 2 hours before coming home to help with the yard. He even cut down our ugly mini pine trees. Our kids call them the Christmas trees. They were upset because our Christmas trees were cut down. I called them the spiders nest. They were full of them! So glad they are gone, now maybe I won't have so many spiders and spider webs by the front door. I will be planting bulbs where they were so we can have a beautiful flower bed full of spring flowers right outside the door! Exciting!!! With Hubby's help and the forced help of the kids we got all but one of the flower beds cleaned out in the front. Then Hubby helped my friend Michelle mow her back lawn since it was so long it was going to take her 2 hours or more. He heard her start up her mower and quickly got his out and they had it done in 15 minutes! Seriously! He is a fast walker and can move quicker than he thinks. So she came over to visit and saw I was down to my last flowerbed and my help had all abandoned me. So between the two of us we got that flower bed done in about 30 minutes. Maybe longer, time always flies when you are working with a friend.
Now I just have to tackle the backyard beds. That may take me the rest of the month! All the morning glory, ugh, I think that is the weed the Lord meant when he cast Adam and Eve out of the garden of Eden! They are the most miserable!!! After all of our labor, we came inside and I made cookies for the week and all the kids got baths, all sweaty and sticky and such. Then right before we needed to go to the Smith's for dinner we got de stinkified. It is always nice to feel clean after weeding!! We enjoyed dinner with the Smith's and our kids always love playing with their kids.

So I just have to write down a conversation my Hubby and I had on Saturday. We were sitting out in the yard watching the kids play and talking with them. I warned them to stay away from a flowering bush. It was full of bee's. They are very leery because several of the family members have been stung recently by wasps. Those suckers are nasty. They just have to walk by one and they dive bomb them and sting. #1 Daughter got it in the neck on day walking in from the bus. She looked like she had a hickey on her neck. But it bruised instantly from the sting. So anyway, back to the bee's. I told the kids they wouldn't just come and sting them. They they only time they have to worry about that is if they are swarming. Otherwise unless they do something to make a bee mad it will leave them alone. They asked why and I told them because they die once they sting. And wasps don't, they can just sting you over and over again. Then they asked why the bee's die once they sting. I told them I think it is because the stinger comes out. Then Hubby had to add that once the stinger comes out their guts fall out and they bee dies. Thinking back on it I am not sure if he was joking, since he has been in one of those moods this weekend, but I told him that that didn't happen. He wanted to know what made me the bee expert. I told him growing up around 16 hives of bees is what!
Have any of you ever seen a bees guts fall out! I haven't unless you squish it! Um Hello! I am really hoping he was joking........
Off to do preschool with Handsome Boy and dishes and laundry and what ever else needs my attention, plus reading with my boys!

Conversations overheard between my kids....

2010-09-02T07:03:00.000-07:00

Let me fist say Happy Anniversary to my sweet Hubby!!! We have been married for 15 years! It doesn't seem possible. I remember growing up and when my parents had their 20th wedding anniversary I thought they were soooo old. And I was two years older than my mom when I got married and my Hubby was 5 years older than my dad when we got married. So I guess that makes us extra old in our kids eyes, right? It has been a happy, challenging, growing, grieving, exciting 15 years. And here's to 70 more plus eternity! Love you Hubby with all my heart!

Last night my kids were watching the movie The Kid. You know the Bruce Willis movie about how his younger self comes to him to change him and make him a better person. Well they were at the part where the kid asks Bruce Willis all the when question's. (When will I get my drivers licence, when will I get my first car). So all of a sudden I hear: "When will I get my first hickey?" "When your 17." WHAT!!!!!! So then all the questions start rolling in from my kids, "What's a hickey, Do I have to get one?" Then Lil Pumpkin looks at me with worry in her eyes and asks..."Do all adults have to have one?" I tried so hard not to start laughing. I told her no and then told them I didn't want to talk about it right then, but they persisted and worried so I finally told them that a hickey is when you suck on your skin and make a ugly purple bruise. It isn't nice and you shouldn't do that. So now they all think Bruce Willis's character went around giving himself hickeys!!!! So not ready for them to know that it is someone else that gives it to you!!!!

This morning while I was in finishing breakfast clean up I could hear a little of the conversation between Doodles and Handsome Boy.
Doodles: "Hey Handsome Boy (you know he called him by his real name right?) do you know what my Principal at my school is called? He's called the King of heoiuoankljdioju."
I couldn't understand what he said. Then he said it again only this time it sounded like this to my ears in the other room. "He's called the King of the Jews." My mouth dropped open and I came running in the room demanding to know what he is called. To my relief he is called the King of Virtues. Since they highlight a different virtue each month. I thought I was going to have to go down to the school and put a but whoop'in on the Principal who just so happens to be a Bishop in our little town!!! I was thinking what on earth is he teaching those kids? Whew, he just narrowly escaped it that time!!!!

I had the lovely pleasure to talk with Ann from Old Fashioned Girl yesterday. It is always so fun talking to friends from the blog world. Thanks for talking yesterday Ann and for doing my favor!!! LY!
I get to watch her niece and nephew today. I actually knew them before her. My kids are do excited that Gracie and Harper are coming over for the day. So with them here to entertain my kids maybe I can get to cleaning my family room a little better than I have been able to lately! We'll see!!!

Crazy Busey!!! with pictures

2010-09-01T07:54:00.000-07:00

Fabric for the Idaho Magic Quilt is starting to come in. So far I have a Hawaiian shirt with an amazing story from Don in Texas.

And fabric from Stan and Lila. Stan is the recipient of the very first Magic Quilt. You can read about them and the quilt over here.

Other than waiting for more fabric to roll in I have been in a crafting mood. This is what I have made recently~

Hubby wanted to know who this was for. Thinking it was a Christmas present. Shows you how much I make for myself. Yep, that's right this one's for ME!

I still need to spray paint the knob red and then attach it. I can't wait to hang a cute little wreath on here!

This one I made for our Neighbors who moved yesterday. They have lived across the street for about 4 years. It was sad watching them drive away. Doodles even cried when he hugged Craig good bye. It was sad! So we hope this sign helps them remember us.

I even painted the scallops on the sides. I think it turned out cute.

This is what happens when I sit down. I was reading the scriptures to the family for nightly scripture reading and Little Guy found a paint brush and gave me a "pedicure". It tickled quite a bit!

I forgot to take pictures of my very first attempt at cream puffs. They were so good they didn't last long. I will have to try to remember to take pictures of the new dough nut recipe I am going to try soon. I'll let ya know how easy or not they were to make.

Today I am of course doing laundry and cleaning up the house a bit. I have neglected it a bit this week with paint projects and such. Then this afternoon I will be heading out to Silk Warehouse to find real looking Calla Lillie's for my nieces wedding in December. Wish me luck, I hate nothing more than fake looking flowers!

My glutious maximus!!!!

2010-08-26T08:09:00.000-07:00

So since it has been to hot for me to be outside much this last few months my yard is looking sad. There are weeds that are being over run by other weeds. It has finally cooled off in the mornings so the last few I have come home from the bus stop and gone strait to weeding in the flower beds. I seem to start with the same ones each time. Probably because they will be easier. But I noticed that after Monday my gluitious maximus was sore. Then after Tuesdays weed fest I was so sore I could hardly move after sitting for a few minutes. Then AFTER yesterday, It was downright painful!!! Maybe if I keep this up for a few weeks (probably months to get it all done properly) I will have a much smaller glutious maximus. Would that be called a glutious minimus???!!!! (Just so you know not sure if I spelled glutious correct, it bugs Hubby if I miss spell. Sorry!!)

First day of school Pictures......

2010-08-24T08:14:00.000-07:00

It has taken me almost a week to download the first day of school pictures. Since I waited so long I also got to download the first official day of Kindergarten for Doodles. So we'll just pretend I did that all on purpose!
Here is the girls first day, and Doodles orientation day.

Here is Doodles on his official first full day of Kindergarten. See what I mean about the smile?!

Getting on the bus.......Didn't think I would be upset at seeing him go off to school, but I was a little choked up!

Sitting on the bus for the first time. Again, with that huge grin! Our bus driver has all the boys sit on one side and the girls sit on the other, then the Kindergartners sit right behind him so he can keep an eye on him and no problems arise. Love that I could get this great shot of him!

We went to Logan for the weekend. Our nephew Tyler was reporting after his mission and we had promised Lil Pumpkin that we would be there since we missed going for his farewell. I took the kids to Casper's. It was good ice cream and the $1.89 size was almost to much for my kids! You get a lot of ice cream. Hubby didn't listen to me, he went back with our nieces and ordered something different. He almost felt sick! Yep should have listened when I told him how large our kids cones were!!

I have decided that I want my future kitchen to look like this! Well except I don't want an ice cream bar right in the middle, maybe off to the side or something. And I don't want a picture of the founder or a bunch of pictures of ice cream. I just want the counters and the way the cabinets look, with the tin tile ceiling and the pedestal tables, and the drop lights and the flooring! Loved it all!!!!

Here are all the kids lined up in a booth. (I also loved the glass tile look!) {Hubby asked if I gave the kids a Interior Design lesson while I was in there since Doodles informed him I loved the ceiling!!, At least I know he was listening to me!}

#1 Daughter pretending I am not taking a picture of her eating ice cream!!

Lil Pumpkin enjoying the fact that I AM taking a picture of her eating ice cream!

Doodles posing as well....

As you can see Handsome Boy really enjoyed his ice cream!

Little Guy being cute as always!

It was one of the highlights of the weekend for me to just sit and enjoy my kids for 45 minutes and talk to them.

After the ice cream we drove around Logan and then went to the Distribution Center, I forgot they had one. I had just ordered some Cd's and had them mailed to me. Oh well, at least I didn't have to pay for shipping. Then we went next door to Deseret Book, one of my favorite book stores. I am proud to say I spent no $!!! But I did take a picture of this super cute photo board. It was $79.99! I am going to try and make one for my home, I'll try to remember to post a tutorial of it when I do. I always get so excited that I forget until half way through a project and then it is to late to start taking pictures then!!

This is where my kids were most of the day on Saturday. Where Tyler was there they were right by him. He was so patient. Little Guy even got in on the act!

They "helped" him was and buff his motor cycle. Then he let them sit on it with a helmet on while he was close by doing other things. He even made sure they knew not to rock to far.

He also gave them 4 wheeler rides, making sure they had a helmet on. He knew I didn't want them riding the motorcycle for real so he put them on and put it in neutral and then pushed them around on it. What a work out!!

This made Lil Pumpkins week, month and year! Tyler picked her up after church and gave her a hug and asked if she was his girl friend. He has several girls chasing him already and I think it is a bit overwhelming for him. So to have his little cousin as his "girl friend" I am sure is much easier then dealing with these other girls!

We had a great weekend, but it is always good to be back in our own bed!!!

Today I was pulling weeds, so lovely this morning, 55* outside, just perfect weed pulling temp!!! I get to hot when it is 65*+ so 55* was heaven to me!!!!!

I am off to read to the boys and do a few chores. Then maybe I can get a craft in this afternoon!!

First Day of School 2010!! Request for Magic Quilt materials!!!!

2010-08-18T08:40:00.001-07:00

It is so quiet here today! The girls are off to school and Doodles just has a one hour orientation but will then be starting his official first day of school on Monday. He will be gone all day for 3 days a week. I am so sad!!! It is to quiet with just two kidos here. And next year will be even worse. Handsome Boy starts kindergarten next August. Then it will just be me and Little Guy for 2 years. What will we do?
I am trying to come up with something fun we can do one day a week that will entertain myself as well as two little boys, but free is the word I am looking for. I have a lot of yard work to catch up on and a lot of dejunking I can do in each room but that doesn't really involve the boys. They could help with the yard work for all of 5 minutes if I am lucky, so we will see how often we go for walks and bike rides until it gets to cold.
I was planning on doing Preschool this year but I haven't heard back from any of the parents. I will probably be making calls next week to find out about that. Otherwise it will just be Handsome Boy and Little Guy. Might actaully be kind of nice.
Well I am off to look over a pattern that I never finished sewing for Lil Pumpkin for her birthday.

I am also sending out the call and reminder to send fabric with stories my way. I need to and want to get started on the Idaho Magic Quilt. If you have no idea what I am talking about go here: http://themagicquilt.blogspot.com
You will find all the details on fabric sizes and about the stories that Debbie (crash) is looking for for the book. Please, Please help us with this!
Have a great Day!

Migraines, Birthday's and Stair rides, that's what weve been up to...

2010-08-09T08:02:00.001-07:00

I have once again been suffering from Migraines that I can't completely get rid of. Yesterday Hubby made the comment that it is no wonder that I can't completely get rid of my migraine. I can't get time with no noise to get rest. The kids are being kids and that means making noise and a lot of it. Handsome Boy has no idea how to control the level of his voice, he has one volume...LOUD! Not sure how to teach a 4 year old how to lower his voice! Hopefully since I didn't have to take medication first thing this morning it will mean that the migraine cycle is at least diminishing!!

Handsome Boy had his 4th birthday last week. He was excited/a bit demanding...He was informing me of what he would eat for all 3 meals. We have a tradition that whose ever birthday it is gets to choose dinner. Not all 3 meals. Plus he wanted a motorcycle and a lap top. SO Sorry to disappoint. (By the way, the motorcycle was a real one he could ride, um I don't think so, even if I had the $!)

He was pleased he got the giraffe that I made. Now I just need to come up with 2 more animals I can make for two more birthday's this year.

He got several Toy Story items. He likes the car the most. I don't think he has figured out how to use this toy in the picture yet. But Doodles likes it!

This is the car he likes. The more you shake it the faster and farther it goes. Little did I know that it would make noise as well. At least it isn't louder then Handsome Boy is. Then we would have a problem!!

Here is his cake. I am so glad I took this picture when I did. Little Guy figured out the cake was on the stove and he pulled a chair over to "take a look" well let's just say the candles ended up pushed down half way, and the cars looked like they were driving in a mud bog. But it still tasted yummy!

My kids figured out on Friday morning that they could pull the mattress off the floor in the girls room and slide on it down the stairs. It took about 15 minutes for them to figure out that if they had all 4 of them on it they would go faster. They also moved some furniture out of the way at the bottom of the stairs so they wouldn't run into it. I let them play with it until lunch time. I am such a nice mom, especially since my head was exploding. But they weren't fighting and that was at least saying something!

So I had two movie recommendations last week. Luck for me they were both available from the public library. So glad one of them I didn't pay to see! One was Lost in Austen. I am a huge Jane Austen fan, especially the Pride and Prejudice made by the BBC and A&E my favorite movie of all time. All 6 hours of it!!! So I was excited to watch this movie. I ended up being very disappointed! The beginning wasn't bad. But when the girl in the movie from the 21st century shows Lydia her "pubes" I was completely turned off! Then she continues to hit on and kiss both leading men in movie and then telling Mr. Bingly she is interested in women to get him to stop liking her. The ending was completely wrong, she ends up with Mr Darcy! Completely WRONG!!! Very much not impressed with this movie, don't waste your time!

The second movie I loved, in fact if I were to find it at a cheap price I would actually buy it! It is North and South. At first when my niece told me the title I thought OH that really long made for TV movie from the 80's or early 90's. About the civil war in America. But no that is not what this movie is. This movie is about a family in England that move from the South of England to the North. It like Pride and Prejudice is a period movie. I loved it!!! I was telling Hubby about it and he was all, so it is basically another one of those he and she don't get along and then discover they are actually in love and it takes the rest of the movie to get them together? UMMM Yep pretty much!! Love those movies!

So there you have it. If you are bored and looking for some movie reviews of movies not in theaters, here are two for you. But if it were me I would just go with North and South!!!

I am off to do laundry and clean, oh the joy!!!

Been Busey with pictures

2010-07-30T07:56:00.000-07:00

Crash sent me the Magic Quilt so I could feel the magic before I sent it on to Washington D.C.. I have to admit when I opened it up and saw all the fabric with names on it, tears came to my eyes. It is a beautiful quilt. And Yes it holds much magic, even if the only magic that others can feel from it is love, it is definitely there!!

We were privy to some information that we were going to get a letter from the HOA about our dead tree in our front flower bed. So we decided that instead of waiting to get the letter we would just take care of it. We were planning on taking it out anyway. The news of getting a letter just pushed the timing up a bit. So here is Hubby getting ready to cut it down.

He started by cutting the lower branches off then it took quite a while to cut through the trunk to finally fall the tree. It was actually quite amusing to me since I grew up going wood cutting with my family and others joined in. The chain saw my father used was about 3 times bigger than the one Hubby borrowed from our Brother in law. With that big ol' chain saw my dad used it would have gone through that tree in a couple of seconds. It was so big I remember him carrying it slightly resting on his leg and walking with it. If that makes any sense.

Hubby trying to get all the way through, he had to change sides several times to make it all the way through. Then we were worried about how far it would fall into the street and if it would hit a car. But not to worry, it only landed on the sidewalk.

It is finally down. Hubby and the kids spent the next 2 hours cutting off the branches and then cutting the tree up into 24" pieces to take over to Skinny Sis for her to burn when the wood dries out. Now that spot looks so empty. But we know other Aspens will fill it in eventually. Unfortunately with the warm then freezing cold we had this last spring had leaf buds out on the tree then it froze hard and killed the tree, all except three branches on the lower part of the trunk. When I went out to see what was going on with it I went to bend a branch and it just snapped off and then it looked like it was all crumbly and dry inside.

This was the other night, we have been so busy, like I said that Little Guy just fell asleep with in seconds of leaning on my arm.

So I started a bad tradition, I made the Owl for Lil Pumpkin for her birthday. Handsome Boy's birthday is next week so he is getting a Giraffe. I think it is so cute. Little Guy keeps trying to take it over for his own, sorry no such doing!!!

Here is it's face, you can only see one antler/horn, not sure what they are called.....

Here he is laying on the ground. I love the spots, the tail and especially the feet. I just wish I had made my pattern larger so I wouldn't have had such a hard time turning in stuffing. But it came together fairly quickly.

I also found this fun blog (I can't remember the name but you can get there from twin stitchers site) The lady taught how to make these rolled flowers and the lollipop flowers. I must say I love watching the fabric melt when it is time to start using the lighter to melt the edges so they curl up. I think I am a closet pyro!!! I wore this cute green and grey headband to church, the girls each wore something as well. Lil Pumpkin, just a red lollipop flower as a clipie, and #1 Daughter wore a headband as well, but after church she was playing with it and snapped it so I have to put the flowers on a different headband. I got all the headbands at the Dollar Store. I love not paying much for beautiful things. Plus I needed some silky synthetic fabric to use on the lollipop flowers. I went to Jo Ann's and since that is all I was getting (1/8 of a yard) they gave it to me as a sample!!!! Love IT!!! I am going to make some more for Christmas gifts, but I think I am going to get some more of the thick headbands like this one, it turned out so cute I just love it!!!

I think that about catches everyone up. We are just so busy I don't have time right now for much blogging, hopefully I can get in a post next week!

Lil' Pumpkin's Birthday....

2010-07-19T07:21:00.001-07:00

I finally got the Birthday girl chair cover done. Michelle suggested I add the ribbon around the edges. I love how that makes it look so fun and festive!

Here is a close up of the birthday girl stitchery. I absolutely love the stitcheries from Twin stitchers. They are so cute and creative.

Here is our sad looking birthday topiary. I need to buy some balloons to and re fluff it a bit. My kids over the years have plucked it of it's balloons. If you look closely you can see the bald spots.

Birthday presents......

Lil' Pumpkin really wanted a Mermaid cake, not to be confused with a Little Mermaid cake! But I couldn't find one online to suit her demands. Plus the heat has been getting to me and to be quite honest I was to tired to spend 2 days making her cake. I sat her down and talked to her about it. She then suggested she get some of her Littlest Pet Shop animals and I could just put those on top of her cake. I am so glad she came to a solution that we could both live with. Now that gives me a whole year to figure out a "awesome" cake for her like Tiernan's. (I like it better when they can't tell me what kind of cake they want and I try to do one according to their personality or likes, I have no idea where a Mermaid cake came from.)

She had a list of what she wanted, I wish I had taken a picture of her ever evolving list. Her first list had laptop, cell phone, Ipod, high top shoes, watch, wallet, baby doll with clothes. We finally got it down to things she could actually have. I do realize some people give their 7 year olds cell phones and probably lap tops as well, but unfortunately for her we are not those people!! So here she is with her high top shoes! I had to get her a size 3 so that she wold have room to grow into them. Yet on the weird side, she could get a size 12 on with out pain, her toes were at the very end, but I am amazed she could actually get the size 12 on!

The owl, she was convinced it was for her, I guess I need to have more stealth when it comes to presents I am making. Or possibly I just need to make them for summer birthdays before summer comes!

I got both of the girls watches for Christmas this last year. But unfortunately they were to big for them, and Lil' Pumpkin messed with hers enough that the clasp won't stay shut so when she is big enough for it she can't use it. I searched all over and finally found this cute Hello Kitty watch. She loves it so much she has only taken it off for baths and swimming. It is getting a little old to have a constant update of time every 5-10 minutes or sometimes 1-2 minutes!

Blowing out the candles.......

Overall I think she had a very happy birthday! She even got to got swimming! We are so glad to have this little girl in our family, and to look back over the years and see how she has grown both physically and mentally and emotionally is amazing to watch and remember. We love you Lil' Pumpkin. This next birthday will be an important one, hope we as parents can help you grow and be ready for it!

pictures

2010-07-07T08:38:00.001-07:00

This is my 4th of July front porch. I told No Botox I would post pictures of my front porch since she posted pics of hers.

Right by my front door I have planters. I normally have real flowers there this time of year. I just haven't taken the time to plant some this year. So for now my fake flowers will have to do.

I love this cute patriotic bell door hanging. Love it!!!

Here is my strawberry jam. The 4 on the left are the strawberry pineapple mix. Yummy. I think I may make some homemade bread today to try out the jam. Nothing tastes better then homemade bread with homemade jam!

So I thought I would be so cleaver and do this cute tutorial for you all. Then after I took these pictures I got started sewing and between the kids interruptions and my excitement of sewing this I forgot to take step by step pictures. So for those that live near by, and YOU know how to sew you can come and borrow my pattern and make a copy and make yourself some cute owls!!!

So here are the main parts, eyes, thighs, feet, legs, and wings.

Here is the top of the owl and the patterned part is the bottom half of the owl.

So here is the finished product. I only forgot a few things while sewing that I would try to remember to do in the process of assembling it. But not bad for making up the pattern off of pictures I had seen online right?! My kids all love it and are dying to know who it is for. Little Guy even just came in hugging it and kissing it and told me he loves it. Well now, we may have more little owls around the house, but they may have to wait for Christmas to show up! I love the dangley legs!!!

I am off to shower, get my kids going on their chores and possibly to make some bread! Yummmm!!! Have a great day everyone!

4th of July

2010-07-06T07:41:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed sacrament meeting on Sunday so much. At least the parts I could hear.... Our choir did a musical number. The choir director told the back ground of the Star Spangled Banner. I knew part of the story but not the part about the reason why the flag pole was still standing. Because of all the men who sacrificed their lives to keep it upright so we could have freedom. They were piled around it holding it up, at an angle. It was very moving to hear that, then to sing the words of the song. Very touching. I thought a lot about my Grandfather who passed away last year. His quiet personality, and all the things he must have seen during WWII. My other Grandfather, and Grandmother. All they did and those around them to serve and help keep us free. And I though of those now. How blessed I feel to live in a free country.

Some good friend of our are moving at the end of the week. We are so sad but glad to know that this will take some pressure off and that they aren't moving very far so we can still get together with them. We got together at our house to do fireworks. We never buy fireworks. I just am not really into doing them and staying up late! I would rather sleep. So I relented and said OK. They got to our house at 9pm. Our kids normally go to bed at 8pm. We chatted had rootbeer floats and cupcakes and then at about 10 or 10::30 we decided to go out and start the fireworks. The kids had already been sitting on the front lawn watching the fireworks from across the neighborhood. I was pleasantly surprised to see them stay on the blankets and hear the Ohhh and Aaaaahhh with each firework. So we go outside and to our friends dismay they had bought a box of poppers, no fireworks. I actually thought it was kind of funny. Just as I was hoping to go inside to bed, our neighbors came out to do their fireworks. So we stayed up watching those. I was being eaten alive my mosquito's so I went inside for a few minutes. Well apparently our neighbors took a break from the fireworks and so our kids came inside and our friends went home. It was 11:30pm. I was so tired and praying our kids would sleep in. They aren't very good at sleeping in when they have stayed up late! They slept until 8am! That was it!!!! I am thankful for freedom, and the freedom to next year say NO we will not be staying up late! I am such a old person!
Last night for our FHE activity we made strawberry freezer jam and strawberry pineapple freezer jam. The kids had so much fun helping mash the strawberries, then amazed at how much sugar goes into jam, then to watch us stir it up and put it in containers. We ended up making 8 pints and two smaller containers that probably equal one pint. I love making freezer jam, it is so fast compared to cooked jam and uses so much less sugar in comparison! My kids wanted to eat some right away then they had plans for giving it all away. So nice, but sorry for those who are reading this in hopes of getting some jam. We made it for our own use! I ended up using 1 1/2 of the large clamshells of strawberries from Costco. So it ended up costing about $11 for 9 generous pints of jam. Not bad considering I priced it at the store and it was about $2-$3 for a jar that is much less then a pint. Now I am trying to figure out what other kinds of freezer jam I can make that we will like. All our kids love Apple butter. But I won't make that until I can get the apples for super cheap. It takes quite a few and you have to actually cook that kind of jam/ butter.

Well I am off to work on birthday gifts for Lil Pumpkin. Tomorrow hopefully I will have pictures to show. Maybe I will even take pictures of the jam and my patriotic front porch!!
Have a great day everyone!!

Feeling really guilty!

2010-07-02T12:05:00.000-07:00

I was having such a bad morning this morning with Doodles. He was fighting me at every turn. Then #1 Daughter told me there was someone at the door. So I go in and answer it. It ended up being a salesman from Living Scriptures. I was shaking from being so mad at Doodles. I told him I didn't have time right now to listen to his spiel, that I had a child I was needing to deal with right now. He was all like Sister (my last name), I have been talking to other members of the ward in your subdivision. (Um hello, most of the people in my subdivision that are in my ward work or are not home during this time of the day. So how is it he knew my name and exactly who gave him my address and name so I can talk to them and let them know I don't want salesmen sent my way!) He finally realizes what I said and goes, "I understand, but we get points just for showing our stuff." Um HEllow, I am trying to be patient. I have a screaming child in the background and one playing the piano! SO I tell him again that I didn't have time. SO he asks when would a more convenient time be. I tell him never, as I slam the front door.
Do you think I will rot in you know where for slamming the door on the Living Scriptures guy? I feel really guilty right now, but to be honest he was being a little um, well a sales man! And he wasn't listening to or noticing my body language of frustration!!!

So what do you think, am I doomed to the heat, had I better get an industrial size container of sun screen from the flaming heat?

Sweetness...

2010-07-02T08:46:00.000-07:00

Waking up this morning to my Little Guy singing the song from My Turn on Earth that we sing to our children, Angels lullaby. What a sweet way to wake up. Even if he only knows a few words. Then he broke into Veggie tales.

I owe my kids an appology....

2010-06-28T09:14:00.000-07:00

So I blamed my kids for hiding the camera and taking pictures of their rooms and their mouths open and such. After I had searched the house over and then some hubby finally suggested I look in the coats hanging in the coat closet. I actually pondered this for several days. I mean why would the camera be in a coat?! So on Saturday while Hubby was at the airport with our sweet niece I decided to look in the coats. The first one I tried, my winter coat, there what did I find? THE CAMERA!!!! I had spent hours trying to find that stupid camera! Then all of a sudden I remembered, I had used the camera last at Lil Pumpkins last soccer game of the year, it was freezing cold, like 40* and raining and felt like 30*! So there you have it! I am sorry my little crazy devil children for accusing you of stealing the camera. I mean what would make me think you would do such a thing? (since you have done this in the past!!!) Love you! Glad I have my camera back, although now I have no excuse to get the $800.00 camera I really want! Maybe the tax return Gods will smile on me next year.

Pictures

2010-06-24T08:58:00.001-07:00

I decided to try to take pictures of some of my kiddos that are having or have had birthdays recently and see how I do. SO here are a few of them.

This one I just liked because Little Guy is laughing.

This is one I had made into a 11x14 for my wall. Don't her eyes stand out?!

Little Guy loved the tractor! I love the colors of this picture!

This is our sweet niece that has been here visiting with us. She goes back on Saturday. We will miss her and all the help she has been and the kids will miss her terribly! She has played games, pushed them on the swings, taken pictures of them and played the piano so they can sing all the primary songs they want. It has been such a joy to have her in our home. She has even rekindled #1 Daughters desire to play the piano. Thank you Maelin for all you have done for us! We love you!!

Missing in action

2010-06-21T08:20:00.000-07:00

My digital camera is missing in action. I secretly think one of the kids has taken off with it and has been taking pictures to their hearts content. I have searched everywhere I can think of to find it. Except under the sofa. That will be today. I even cleaned out the coat closest in hopes it was in there! But no reward! So I can not show you what I made my sweet Hubby for Fathers Day. Nor can I take pictures of my Lil Pumpkin running in the sprinklers wearing a swimming suit that is to big, therefor the bum part of the suit is flapping as she runs. It has been quite frustrating for me!

I have been fighting migraines again. Plus allergies like I haven't experienced since we moved here from Utah. I think the cooler weather has had something to do with it.

I found this great story from President Holland on Nie Nie's blog today. I felt inspired to post it here. It brings me and many others comfort. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nczw6xHJ0I

I am off to take Lil Pumpkin to have a mold taken of her teeth so a retainer can be made for her to wear. She is so excited. My children are so strange. They want braces and glasses!!!

I thought this was hillarious...

2010-06-02T12:40:00.000-07:00

Sorry if this is a bit risque for those faint of heart! I found this email while blog surfing. I thought it was so funny! Had to share:

If you have raised kids (or been one), and gone through the pet syndrome, including toilet flush burials for dead goldfish, the story below will have you laughing out LOUD!
Overview: I had to take my son's lizard to the vet.
Here's what happened:
Just after dinner one night, my son came up to tell me there was "something wrong" with one of the two lizards he hold prisoner in his room.
"He's just lying there looking sick," he told me. "I'm serious, Dad. Can you help?"
I put my best lizard healer expression on my face and followed him into his bedroom. One of the two lizards was indeed lying on his back, looking stressed. I immediately knew what to do.
"Honey," I called, "come look at the lizard!"
"Oh, my gosh!" my wife exclaimed. "She's having babies."
"What?" my son demanded. "But their names are Bert and Ernie, Mom!"
I was equally outraged.
"Hey, how can that be? I thought we said we didn't want them to reproduce," I said accusingly to my wife.
"Well, what do you want me to do, post a sign in their cage?" she inquired (I think she actually said this sarcastically!)
"No, but you were supposed to get two boys!"
"Yeah, Bert and Ernie!" my son agreed.
"Well, it's just a little hard to tell on some guys, you know." she informed me (again with the sarcasm!)
By now the rest of the family had gathered to see what was going on. shrugged, deciding to make the best of it.
"Kids, this is going to be a wondrous experience," I announced. "We're about to witness the miracle of birth."
"Oh, gross!" they shrieked
We peered at the patient. After much struggling, what looked like a tiny foot would appear briefly, vanishing a scant second later.
"We don't appear to be making much progress." I noted.
"It's breech," my wife whispered, horrified.
"Do something, Dad!" my son urged.
"Okay, okay." Squeamishly, I reached in and grabbed the foot when it next appeared, giving it a gentle tug. It disappeared. I tried several more times with the same results.
"Should I call 911?" my eldest daughter wanted to know.
"Maybe they could talk us through the trauma." (You see a pattern here with the females in my house?"
"Let's get Ernie to the vet,"I said grimly. We drove to the vet with my son holding the cage in his lap.
"Breathe, Ernie, breathe," he urged.
The vet took Ernie back to the examining room and peered at the little animal through a magnifying glass.
"What do you think, Doc, a C-section?" I suggested scientifically.
"Oh, very interesting." he murmured. "Mr and Mrs Cameron, may I speak with you privately for a moment?"
I gulped, nodding for my son to step outside.
"Is Ernie going to be okay?" my wife asked.
"Oh, perfectly," the vet assured us. "This lizard is not in labor. In fact, that isn't EVER going to happen.....Ernie is a boy. You see, Ernie is a young male. And occasionally, as they come into maturity, they um...um..."m". Just the way he did lying on his back." He blushed, glancing at my wife.
We were silent, absorbing this.
"So, Ernie's just...just...excited," my wife offered.
"Exactly," the vet replied, relieved that we understood.
More silence. Then my vicious, cruel wife started to giggle. And giggle. And then even laugh loudly.
Tears were now running down her face, "It's just...that.... I'm picturing you pulling on its....its... teeny little...." She gasped for more air to bellow laughter once more.
"That's enough," I warned. We thanked the vet and hurriedly bundled the lizard and our son back into the car...he was glad everything was going to be okay.
"I know Ernie's really thankful for what you did, Dad." he told me.
"Oh, you have NO idea," my wife agreed, collapsing with laughter.
Two lizards: $140
One cage: $50
Trip to the vet: $30
Memory of your husband pulling on a lizard's winkie: PRICELESS!
Moral of the story: Pay attention in biology class.
LIZARDS LAY EGGS!

Hope you got as good a laugh at this as I did! Now off to get my Little Guy down for a nap!

The What if Game

2010-06-01T14:57:00.000-07:00

My kids like to sit around playing the what if game. They usually play this at dinner time. Sometimes it is annoying, sometimes quite entertaining. This was one of the what if's from the other night.
Lil Pumpkin: "What if the boys never cut their hair?"
Doodles: "Then we would be ROCK STARS!."

Oh the logic!

Today my girls got home from school. Lil Pumpkin took her shoes off first thing. She wears the same shoes everyday. They made the room smell like dirty feet, so I told her to take them out of the room. Only to realize that I think it is #1 Daughters foot in the cast! Ugh!!! Stink-a-roni!!! We have been trying to wash it, but you can only do so much when you can't get it wet. I think we may have to soak it on Monday when they are supposed to take the cast off. Soak it in baking soda and then lots of good smelling stuff! For a VERY LONG TIME!!!

Sinus Infection, Go AWAY already!

2010-05-25T09:17:00.000-07:00

So it appears I am no longer able to take Z packs. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is an antibiotic. You only have to take it for 5 days. It normally works great. My bronchitis is gone but I started having weird symptoms. Super dizzy, bad headaches, and I kept getting clammy and hot like I was going to pass out. So now I am on Sudafed, or at least I should be. But I keep forgetting to take it!
If I could get warm that might help. But I went to Lil Pumpkins last soccer game on Saturday. It was only 42 degrees outside and that didn't include the wind chill factor or the rain that once you got soaking wet made it feel like 30 degrees outside. I don't think I have been warm since Saturday morning before the game! Their team was supposed to play one more game at 4pm. But all the parents decided they had had enough. In fact at least 3 girls were on the side lines crying from being so cold and wet. I am glad soccer is over, and Hubby is even more glad!
I better go and get my boys calmed down, they are tearing the family room apart acting like they are trowing grenades into "holes". I have no idea where they got this idea! Seriously!!!

Pictures of the cast...Finally!

2010-05-21T07:53:00.001-07:00

Here is #1 Daughters leg in the splint. It was a hard piece of cotton type stuff that when they got it wet it dried fast and became hard like a cast on the back and bottom. Then they put two long ace bandages on it to hold it all together.

This is what her cast looks like now. She has to wear it until June 7th, then we go back in and the Dr thinks all will be well by then and she can then get it taken off. Paige gets her hard cast put on today, after they pull the pins out! Ouch!! Michelle said it will take all she has to not throw up when they do that!

I drew a rectangle on the cast and told #1 that no one was to write or draw in that area, I wanted to draw a picture on that part!!! So here is my art work. It has Paige and #1 daughter together with casts and crutches and says BFF!! I should have put Best Cast Friends Forever!

This whole cast thing hasn't effected her much! She gets around really well. And she started getting to the bathroom on her own at night on the the first night of the splint! I thought she had fallen down the stairs since she was so loud, but she did do it on her own! We hopefully will have busing arranged for Monday morning so I don't have to keep driving her and picking her up. She is a little disappointed in not being able to go on her last field trip next week, they are going hiking and fishing. But I think since it is fishing and she is not a worm and slime kind of girl she is OK with missing it.

I'm feeling a little guilty. Tonight is the school carnival. Last year I made these.......Horse cupcakes.

A whole lot of horse cupcakes!!! Plus a regular cake!!! (Two layer)

This year I am making cookies. It feels like a little bit of a cop out! But I still just don't feel 100%. Last year I also made a cut bag for the auction with hair stuff and scrap booking supplies in it. This year? Nada!!! I don't even feel like doing anything! So I guess they should be happy they are getting my famous peanut butter with chocolate chip and peanut butter chip cookies right?! I may also make some cowboy cookies, just depends on the fighting between my three boys this morning.

On the way home from dropping #1 off at school Handsome Boy and Doodles were fighting over if Barney was a boy or a girl. I mean really, does it matter? Then Handsome boy informed Doodles that he didn't care because he only liked Carrie Underwood and his song. Meaning the Temporary Home song. We played it so much that he has parts memorised. So now he calls it his song. He even informed us he likes "girl music" Apparently if it is sung by a girl it is girl music.

I think poor Little Guy has gotten my sinus infection. But I know if I take him in they will say he doesn't have sinuses. Well I beg to differ, he has the same symptoms I do!!!! Poor guy.

Well I am off to destinkify and then get baking. Maybe I can get some laundry done in between batches of laundry.

I taught my boys a new word....no not a swear word!!!

2010-05-19T09:24:00.000-07:00

Today I had to run all over the "city" to find #1 Daughter a cast shoe. Skinny Sis made a few phone calls while I was driving and found one in Caldwell. So off we were. When we got to our destination, all the parking spaces for the building we were headed for were full. So we had to park in the hospital parking and walk. On our way to the building there were several puddles of mucky water. Handsome Boy almost stepped in to it. I called out.."Watch out! That's grody." I have no idea where that came from. I haven't used Grody since high school! Well they thought the water was actually called grody in stead of me meaning the murky water was disgusting. So for the rest of our little walk they kept calling out... "Mom Handsome Boy tired to push me into the grody!" or "Oh I almost fell in the grody." Then on the way home they kept trying to get Little Guy to say grody. It was quite entertaining. Even when Little Guy yelled out..."Mom, stop duh van!" over and over again. He discovered this statement yesterday and now thinks it is quite funny. When I finally come to a stop at a stop light/sign, he does remember to be polite and says "Tank You!" It is so cute, I have to enjoy it now, soon he won't be saying these cute things!
I have a sinus infection and bronchitis so forgive me for forgetting AGAIN to take pictures of #1 Daughter in her cast! Hopefully I will remember tonight!
Now that it is 10:30am I guess I better get dishes done and laundry going. Then I better email my other Sis, Meadow Mountain Momma, the cheesecake recipe's I told her I would two days ago! Oops!!! I blame it on the sinus pressure, my brain feels like it is floating in the clouds today, and yesterday as well. Have a good one!

Was going to have pictures but life got in the way!

2010-05-18T08:27:00.000-07:00

So I took the camera with me to the Dr's office yesterday with every intention of taking pictures of the cast being put on. But then I completely forgot to take the pictures!!!! Um, hello, anyone in there? Possibly not! I have a sinus infection and now I think I have bronchitis so my brain feels like it is floating in mucus right now and it is hard to think! So my forgetting to take pictures in not a big thing right now, just disappointing! So #1 Daughter had a hard cast put on. She has to wear it for 3 weeks then we go back and they will take another x-ray and then probably take the cast off then. She can start putting a little weight on it on Wednesday then by the end of the 3 weeks she should be able to walk on it with the cast on. The Dr. said it looks like a clean break of her tibia growth plate. There should be not side effects (ie: not growing) in the future. It is such a clean break the the ER Dr. couldn't tell if it was broken or just considered a fracture from where it was and the swelling. I will try to remember to take pictures this afternoon when I go and get her from school. Right now she can't ride the regular bus and busing hasn't been set up for her to ride the "handicap" bus with Paige. It is a little frustrating that the bus comes to the house right be hind us and I can't just go and put her on it! I have to load all my other kids up and drive the 3 miles or 4 to the school and then go get her after school as well. Well I am off to lay down for as long as my boys will let me! Have a dry, warm day everyone!

New take on blood sisters....

2010-05-17T07:02:00.000-07:00

Well, I already told you all about how Paige, #1 Daughters BFF broke her ankle in several places and had to have surgery. So I guess feeling sorry for her just wasn't enough for #1 Daughter. She had to go and break her ankle as well! She was on a field trip with school. They were at a park by the YMCA and were about ready to go over there to swim. So all the 3rd graders were running around and playing on a playground. #1 was running around the playground and at the exact time she came around a boy twice her size jumped off the playground landing on her and breaking her ankle. It is even the same leg as Paige's, and the same spot! We see the Orthopedic Surgeon today to see how bad it is. We don't think it is nearly as bad as Paige's. But we think (per the ER) that she will be getting a hard cast on today. She has a hard splint on right now and she is on crutches. She wishes she had a wheelchair like Paige. Her pits are killing her! But she is already doing so good on the crutches! She still struggles a little with step ups and downs. But she will get better. She has been a good patient. The only thing she has complained about is the crutches. She gets up and goes to the bathroom by herself. In fact yesterday she even got dressed for church by herself. I have not idea how, but she did. I'll post pictures tomorrow. Maybe I can even get a picture of her and Paige in their ankle sisterhood!
Today I am off to shower then get everyone ready to leave the house so we can get to the Dr's office by 10:30am. Have a great one and don't break a leg!!!

So far I only have 1!....

2010-05-14T07:51:00.000-07:00

So this Magic Quilt is going to be huge! I have one person committed to sending fabric. Um......Maybe we can find a mouse that needs a miracle! So with that said, cheer cheer sis boom bah! Come on team sign up and send me some fabric. My machine and I are sitting here waiting! I forgot to mention that the piece of fabric needs to be at least a 4x4 inch piece. If you want to send more feel free to. Maybe we could get two out of it as well.
Mother Nature has finally decided to warm up a little. Only to get us used to the warmth and then she will turn cold again next week. Ugh. With allergies I don't think I can handle a cold on top of cold type allergy symptoms!
I let my kids watch the Hulk the other day. They had so many questions that I had a hard time keeping up with the plot of the show. It was the old one on retro TV. They wanted to know why he was green. Why did his eyes look like that. I heard "creepy" about 5000 times. They wanted to know if the Hulk was bad or good, because they thought he looked like a bad guy. When that was over the A team came on. I didn't think I could handle another hour of explanations. I mean HOW do you explain Mr T? All that jewelry, that mohawk, the one word sentences!~ Just didn't have that much patience left in me!
Well I am off to shower and try not to allow myself to crawl back into bed! After Little Guy was in our room about 5 times last night. And then Doodles was up about 2 or three times with growing pains. I am already in need of a nap and it is only 9am! It will be a long day! Maybe we will all take a nap after lunch!!!

Magic Quilt for Idaho!

2010-05-13T07:11:00.000-07:00

You heard it hear first! Crash from over at Crash Test Dummies asked for sewers. I steped up to the machine and then Crash collaborated with moi. So now I will be in charge of the sewing portion of the Idaho Magic Quilt. If you don't know what a magic quilt is go to my side bar and click on the Magic Quilt button. There you will find stories and pictures of fabric donated by people and Kritta put the fabric into a beautiful quilt. The finished beautiful quilt will then be passed around to different people who need a little magic and extra love. They will also get the notebook with all the stories to read while they are wrapped in the Magic Quilt. So since Utah has one we need one to right? I mean Idaho is just above Utah, so that means we need a quilt and it needs to be better! OK, I guess this isn't a competition but if you need it to be to get motivated to send me some fabric and stories then by all means make it a competition!
Since I can't start sewing and making the "magic" happen until I start getting fabric, I am here asking, begging and guilting you into sending me some fabric for our Idaho Magic Quilt. Also if you live in the Nampa/Boise area and know of someone who could use a little magic when the quilt is finished please send those names and addresses and phone #'s as well to me. I would love stories about your fabric. Why you chose it. As an example the fabric I chose for the Utah Magic Quilt reminded me of my Grammie. I told stories about her and how she made each of her Granddaughters feel special and so loved. She was a wonderful woman. If you have absolutely no story to send and you just loved the fabric and so you simply had to buy it to send so it would be sewn with love into the Idaho Magic Quilt then that is fine as well. But the stories are half the magic. Now that I have written one of the longest sentences in history I will give you my email, so you can get my address, to send items to me, so we can get going on this Magic! Please make sure you put Idaho Magic Quilt in the subject line or it may be deleted as spam by me. Sorry! lioneljay@yahoo.com Now get going through that fabric stash, or if you have none get to the nearest fabric store and find something that inspires you to write a memory or story and then type it up in an email and send it off to me! Then when you get an email back from me ship that fabric off ASAP and I will get my sewing machine humming! (I feel a bit like a cheer leader, even though I never was one!) Now go team go!!! Here's to Magic, and Crash for thinking of it in the first place!

New project.....

2010-05-12T07:23:00.000-07:00

I have been getting just a little burnt out on all the stitchery's I have been doing. I finished three more I haven't posted yet. Technically they aren't finished. Since I haven't done the edging and made them into anything. But the stitching part is finished. So I decided to make a granny square quilt. Attica inspired me. I love the colors she uses. These Granny square quilts don't look any thing like what a Granny would make! So I was busily crocheting last night. Lil Pumpkin was being a problem as far as going to bed was concerned. So I finally gave up and went up to bed to crochet there. Hubby got home from a youth Temple trip and asked what I was making all the pot holders for.........UUUMMMm They are NOT pot holders. They will one day be a blanket, and a very bright and cute blanket at that! What do you think?

I think they are so cute. I love the colors.

This is a hexagon granny and I think it is cute, but I am just not so sure about he verigated yarn on the edge.

These are my favorite ones. I especially love the one on the far right.

This is the stitchery I made for my girls teachers. It says: A Teacher is someone who Touches Tomorrow. I did the edging with a rag quilt type thing. I figured they can use it as a pot holder or a cup coaster on their desk.

Oh and here is a random picture of my boys with Skinny Sis's girls. They turned the dog house up and climbed in, then couldn't get out. I forgot to mention to Skinny Sis that I had found a dog tick in our bathroom a few days before. She was itching like she had a tick after I told her that. I haven't found any ticks on our dog, maybe they came from the horses next to our subdivision. Lets hope! The thought of ticks in my house makes me sick! I think it is time for a cleaning spree!!!

I am off to shower and then spend some time reading with my kids.

Tired of the Freezing COLD!

2010-05-11T07:47:00.000-07:00

Um, tap tap, is this thing on? Hello Mother Nature. Do you realize that it is May 11th and it should be nice and somewhat warm today. NOT FREEZING COLD outside? You do realize that it is not March. But May. May I say that again? It is MAY 11th! I should be outside playing with my kids, weeding, checking on my garden, enjoying the sunshine on my face. Not wishing I had thermals on and wearing gloves so I can still feel my fingers in 5 minutes! Summer will be here in a few short weeks, it was 80 degrees a few weeks ago. Why can't it be now!? Are you experiencing Menopause? Instead of hot flashes you are experiencing cold flashes? Is there some medication we could put you on to regulate your temperature? Cause I am kind of tired of wearing a jacket indoors! Let me know what I can do to help you out OK? All my best wishes for a speedy recovery and warmth!!!!

Mother's Day, and I believe I am the Plunger Queen!!!

2010-05-10T07:04:00.000-07:00

I have no pictures today. I was the honoree not the photographer yesterday. But it was a great day. I got to "sleep in", (while trying to ignore the fact that Hubby was trying to keep the kids quiet so I could). Hubby made pancakes and sausage links. (Little Guy thought they were poo poo. The other kids thought it was funny.) He even made sure I had a hot hot cake. With butter and syrup on it. I ate while he dished up the kids plates, and then he would eat about one bite and some one would want seconds! Poor Guy!!! Then he did the dishes, helped get the boys out of trouble and then stated: "If your Sundays are always like this I am so sorry!" Yep, they pretty much are! Then he headed off to church for a 10 am meeting. I still had to shower, but all the kids were dressed and looking fine. Then after church I made lunch for the kids and I. I never know what time Hubby will be home from church. Then because I usually have a screaming headache after church, yesterday was no exception, I layed down for a quick nap. Apparently Hubby got home while I was napping and ran interference with the kids. I got to sleep for 2 hours! WOW! Then Hubby made steak, mashed potatoes and gravy with corn for dinner. It was great. Then I helped him with the dishes, even though I could have gotten away with not helping at all and he would have been fine with it.
Hubby told me if he didn't get me anything for Mother's Day because I said it was fine not to and then I got him something then we would be in the Bishop's office for counseling. So I told him what I wanted, a Willow tree statue. It's what I always want. I even went on line and made a list for him to chose from, including price and name of the statue. He chose one with a mother holding a little boy who looks to be about 2. All the kids decided it was me holding Little Guy. He even placed it up on top of the cabinet where I have all my Willow Tree statues. The kids gave me just what I wanted, home made cards from them, from the heart. I love them all! They mean a lot to me, I know they put a lot of effort and thought into them! It was a perfect day. Then Little Guy put Handsome Boys new toothbrush in the toilet, before he flushed it. It had floaties in it. So the toothbrush had to go to a new home called the dump! Apparently he also put something else in there that we didn't know about because Hubby informed me the toilet was flushing and draining slowly. It was probably his poop the size of a pop can. (Little Guys not Hubby's!) He has constipation issues, no matter how much juice or veggies or ruffage we can get him to eat he still has rather large and hard stools!!!! So today, I forgot about the slow toilet issue. I went in and did my business, then flushed and it all came rushing back to me. I screamed!!! OH NO! I thought the toilet was going to over flow. So I ran out to the garage to get the plunger. By the time I came back with it the toilet had finished flushing with no overflowage. So I went to work with the plunger. I plunged like a expert plunger, then flushed. Better but still not back to normal. So I plunged again. Then flushed, now perfect. Until the next time Little Guy flushes a pencil, or hot wheel, or poops!!!
So I believe it is official, I am the Queen of the Plunger. Hubby is so proud, at least he doesn't have to take the toilet apart AGAIN!!!
I am off to tackle laundry and enjoy the beautiful day with my boys! I also apparently need to get them breakfast, since Little Guy just swaggered in holding the Apple Jacks box. It is half his size. Have a great day!

Skinny Sis to the rescue!!!!!

2010-05-06T07:10:00.000-07:00

I just realized I should have taken pictures yesterday! What kind of blogger am I? Skinny Sis came over yesterday for our Wednesday swap. I didn't have a ton of to do's, well at least that I felt like tackling! So she helped me finish cleaning out our vegetable garden area. We filled two garbage cans with the help of Doodles. He picked up grass that Hubby had pulled a few weeks ago and piled up.
Then we gathered some rocks to put in the bottom of a washtub I got from my Grammy years ago. I am going to use it to grow my herbs in this year.
Then she helped or rather installed my new printer for me. I am computer illiterate. I always laugh when my sisters want me to help them with their blogs. They know so much more about computers and how they work then I do!!!! I told Skinny Sis that I never could have done it on my own. And I learned how to print a picture that didn't want to print plus make it bigger! All from Skinny Sis yesterday!!!! She told me I made her feel smart. Glad I can help out! We tried printing a few sample pages to see how things looked. I am excited to try printing an actual picture from my camera onto photo paper! I'll let ya know how it looks!
Well I am off to shower and get all the laundry put away that I folded this morning before the girls left for school. Then I have to use my NEW printer to print preschool pages! Only Y and Z left and we are done for the year! Can't believe it!!! Have a great day everyone. And I hope you all have a Skinny Sis in your life to come to the rescue!!!! If you do tell them you love them, if not you better get yourself one! They come in handy!!!!

Go watch this incredible video!

2010-05-05T07:27:00.000-07:00

I have posted before about reading Nie Nie and cjane. They are inspiring to me. Their stories the way they write, brings the spirit and re testifies to me who I am, that the Lord is aware of us no matter who or where we are! Stephanie (nie nie) posted this short video on her blog today. It is 8 minutes. Your life will be better for watching it. Go watch. Ponder and then Pray. The video will make you want to! I love this great family! I love how they are bringing the gospel to many people and many nations. Bless them!!
Here is the blog link. The post is for today, May 5th 2010. Let me know what you think! Have a beautiful spiritual day!
www.nieniedialogues.blogspot.com

LIttle Guy turned 2 yesterday!!!

2010-05-03T07:52:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Little Guy turned 2! I can't believe he is already 2! He looked so handsome yesterday going to church. Last week my boys needed hair cuts again so I decided to take the plunge and give Little Guy a big boy hair cut. That basically means I used the clippers on the back and sides of his hair instead of just clipping with scissors. He was also VERY excited about going to nursery because he got to take cupcakes in celebration of his day. He was literally dragging me to nursery! All the adults that saw the cupcakes thought it wasn't very nice to bring such a thing to church on Fast Sunday! Oops, sorry! I even used homemade frosting, then dyed it blue.

Little Guy love, I mean LOVES Mickey Mouse club house. We don't have dish or cable or any of the other things used to see it on TV. But Michelle does and he loves going to her house and watching it. We also have two movies. He also LOVE Thomas the tank engine. So his birthday cake was a toss up. But I decided on Mickey Mouse. I am so glad I did! On Saturday I made the cake, the frosting and the fondant. Then while Hubby took Lil Pumpkin to her soccer game (it was a 3pm game right during Little Guys nap time) I put the cake together. It was quite fun to make. And I think it turned out great considering this was my first time using fondant. I made a club house on the cake and then used toys we had to put on the cake. So here it is...what do you think?
Oh and ignore the name, pretend you don't know Little Guys name! OK?! Thanks!!

Here is one side with the hand balloon....

Here is the other side.....

When Little Guy got up from his nap I was almost finished. He gasped when he saw it. Literally, he gasped!!!!! It was so cute. I asked him what it was and he said Mickey Mouse!!!!

Here he is so proud of the cake. I was a little worried that he wouldn't want me to cut it on his birthday. But he was OK with it.

Here he is sitting in the birthday boy chair getting ready to open presents.....

Some of his favorite characters on Mickey Mouse are of course Micky, Goofy and Donald. He thinks Donald is so funny! He is always saying "Oh Donald!" The other day he did something he didn't like then said "Oh nuts!" He is developing quite the personality!

He also loves Frogs. I found such a cute frog at Wally World. And it is made of recycled material. We have been practicing and he can now say Frog instead of a different F word. If you know what I mean!!!!

Apparently this present was being difficult. He was grrrring at it while he tried to open it. It was funny! And he knows we thought he was funny!!!!!

My friend Michelle that lives behind us, her son's birthday is May 2nd as well. They are one year apart. When Cameron saw Little Guys cake we asked him what it was and he said.."My birthday cake!" I felt kind of bad! He loves Mickey Mouse club house as well! This is the gift that they gave Little Guy, he loved it! I am not quite done with Cameron's present. They are celebrating his birthday on Tuesday since his daddy had to work on Sunday and Monday. So I have until tomorrow afternoon to get it done! I guess I know what I will be doing today!!!!

This was Little Guys final present. (I didn't think anyone would care to see the clothes or the sandals he got, you know most boys could care less about those kind of presents. It's like getting underwear or socks for Christmas!)

He got a new Mickey Mouse movie and the Jetsons movie. My kids love the old type cartoons that we watched growing up. In fact they just had a add in the Costco magazine for cartoons from the 60's, 70's and 80's my kids are begging for them. Humm, I may know what they will be getting for Christmas or birthdays!!! I would prefer they watch those over some of the things on TV now!

Can you tell by his face that he was excited about that present? We let him watch it then at dinner he promptly fell asleep. The other kids were freaking out, what about the cake! Can we just have some then he can have some when he wakes up. We said NO!

Here he is blowing out his candles, he blew them out one at a time. Actually I'm not sure if he did it or if one of the other kids did it! But they got blown out one way or the other.

Can you see all the times we kept putting the Mickey, Minnie and Goofy on the cake, you can see the indention's from their feet. They kept falling over. I think if he could express himself more he would tell us what a great day he had! He even got to talk to Big Sis on the phone. They share a birthday! It was a great day. Now I need to find ways to make a Mermaid Birthday cake, a Spiderman cake, a Iron man cake and a Cupcake cake in the shape of a Dog. Oh Boy! What did I start?!

Have a great day everyone. My kids are off school today, Teacher Collaboration Day, what ever that is! So enjoy your day with or with out kids!

Another picture of my latest craft.....

2010-04-29T09:52:00.000-07:00

Little Guy turns 2 on Sunday. I made this cute chair cover for the boy's birthday's with fabric from my stash. It was quite fast and fun to put together. Now I need to put one together for the girls birthday's. Little guy thinks the boy looks like our neighbors boy and each time he sees it he says his name. Don't know why he thinks it looks like him, he doesn't wear hats very often!

Here is the close up....

Here it is on a kitchen chair. ...

I think I might make one or two of these for our school carnival for the auction. I think people would like them. I think they are so cute!
I am off to the dentist this afternoon. With 5 kids it seems like we are always at the dentist or the orthodontist and two of my kids haven't even ever gone to the dentist yet. Can't imagine what that will be like when they all are going!
Paige is doing a little better. Her leg was broken worse then they thought. Her tibia was broken and bent, her fibula was bent and her growth plate in her ankle was broken completely across as well as another piece was broken and sticking out weird. They had to put one screw in one one side and two pins in the other side. They don't know if her leg will continue to grow or not. She has to be in a wheel chair for the next 6 weeks maybe more. She can't put any weight on it at all!!! Not a very fun way to spend the last 5 weeks of school. Let alone summer. All this because of a bike ride?! It is so crazy! Now we are almost scared to let our kids ride bikes, OK maybe I am scared to let my kids ride bikes! We continue to pray she heals completely!

Have a great, hopefully warmer then here day!

pictures again...

2010-04-27T07:52:00.001-07:00

Michelle came over yesterday afternoon so we could work on getting our stitchery's finished. We made great progress. I got all the edging done on the three I wanted to hang up in my family room. Then I framed the one for my girls room. Here is the final product of each. I love them, especially the Fathers one!!

4th of July...

Easter....I love how I did the ribbon across the top!

President Monson quote for girls room....

Fathers day hanging. Love the dogs at the bottom and the trees at the top!!! I think this is one of my favorites! Hubby wanted to know who this was for. I told him us, as in our house. And he said it looks like it should be for a father. AS in him! I told him, OK it can be for you but it is hanging in our family room! I guess I will have to see if he wants his own to hang at work or something! Funny!!

So our kids, Michelle's and mine, were out riding bikes yesterday afternoon. We were outside talking while they were riding. It was a beautiful day. Then all of a sudden our kids - minus Paige- came riding up saying Paige was hurt around the corner. She couldn't walk. We thought she was just being dramatic, our girls have a tendency to be that way. So after about 5 minutes of not seeing her and the kids coming back telling us she was really hurt Michelle went to go and check it out. Then #1 Daughter brought her bike back and said she couldn't walk. Hubby got home around then to take Lil Pumpkin to soccer so I used the car and drove around the block to pick her up. Michelle was helping her stand. So I got out of the car and walked over and looked at her ankle. The inside was scraped but the outside was swollen all weird. So Michelle and I lifted her in the way that we were taught at girls camp to carry a person who is injured and put her into the car. I drove her to her house then took the car home to Hubby so he could leave. Then I went back to look and the ankle with Michelle. Apparently a lady over on the other side of the block looked at it and said she thought it was just sprained. But I told Michelle that the swelling on the outside looked funny to me and that if it was my child I would take them to the ER. So she decided to do that. It was a good thing she did! She had broken her growth plate in her foot from the side to the back, I guess that is a really bad break of the growth plate, then her tibia is broken as well. They casted her foot last night and sent her home, then this afternoon she has to have surgery to have two screws put in her growth plate. I felt so bad for her. She has never missed a day of school this year, so she was going to get a new bike from the school for perfect attendance and getting a certain score on her IRI or higher which she got. She is more devastated about missing school then all the other stuff!

I have been very nonchalant about my kids wearing helmets when riding in the subdivision. But that could have been her head! They were riding very fast and turned a corner. She lost her balance and put her foot down to steady herself and she ended up putting in on the curb and it snapped! I will be getting all my kids helmets that fit and they will now be wearing them from now on! We are praying she will be OK during surgery and heal fast. Poor Girl!

I am off to shower and get ready for preschool on this blustery day!

Pictures and such....

2010-04-26T08:55:00.000-07:00

I have decided that I need to get stitchery's done for several months ahead if I am actually going to be able to use them this year. So this is my line up for the next few months. ( I still haven't done my Mothers day one but it is a fast one so hopefully I can get it done in the next week!)

Patriotic stitchery for the month of July.

Fathers Day quote. I love this one with the tree's looking like they are reaching out to each other.

I finally finished Lil Pumpkins quilt. I had put it up in my room and kept forgetting about it. So on Friday I decide it needed to be finished. Lil Pumpkin came home from school and was so excited to see it finished and put it on her bed right away! It was well worth it just to see her so happy!

I decided to start exercising again today. My goal is 20 lbs in 10 weeks. I figure I can either lose weight during this 10 weeks or I can stay the same as I am. So I am trying to get my boys involved by having them time me while I do certain things. Apparently I have found Doodles calling in life! If I slowed down or stopped to catch my breath he would inform me that the timer hadn't stopped so I needed to keep going. Um hello future BOB and JILLIAN! Tomorrow it will Handsome Boys turn to run the timer. Doodles wants to exercise with me. We will see if he is more of a drill Sargent tomorrow then today.
Have a great day what ever you do!

Finished another book last night...

2010-04-23T07:56:00.001-07:00

So Amy over at Wixom Zoo let me borrow this book called House Rules. It was a little intense reading a book about a kid with Aspergers on trial for murder. Having a daughter with Aspergers some of the main characters behaviours hit a little close to home! But it was a good book, especially since she blacked out the swear words before I read it!
Today it is chilly outside and that makes me just want to crawl back into bed or take a long hot bath! But with three boys at home neither are possible! Plus I would feel guilty later for not getting things done and spending time with my kids. Today I need to finish grocery shopping and do a few loads of laundry and then I need to clean the bathrooms. I am hoping the boys will have fun helping me! Then it is story time and cuddle time with the best cuddelers around! Have a warm day everyone!!!

The demise of the ants....

2010-04-22T07:40:00.001-07:00

My children are forever putting food type trash in the half bathroom garbage can and we are forever having ants in the bathroom, by the hundreds! I have tried asking, yelling and down right getting mad and dumping the garbage every day and still we have ants. I have tried ant spray etc. Nothing worked. Skinny Sis about had a heart attack on Tuesday when she took Baby Bug in to use the bathroom and saw all the ants. She yelled and told me to come quick. I thought the toilet was overflowing or the sink. I think she was disappointed by my reaction. "Oh, yeah, we have ants..." She then suggested using Bleach in a spray bottle. So yesterday I decided to give it a try. Can I just tell you how fast that worked?! Like minutes! I went in after about 5 minutes and there were dead ants everywhere, and others crawling up the walls to get away from the death liquid. I waited about 10 more minutes and went in to clean it up. All the ants that had been on the walls were dead as well, or they are very fast climbers and walkers and rather ingenious since I sprayed the entire perimeter of the room! Plus the bleach didn't smell like nasty poison that I sprayed into my house. We will have to wait to see how long it takes for them to come back, but I am ready and waiting, with my spray bottle!

Doodles and Little Guy came with me to the bus stop yesterday morning. Little Guy was quite set on getting on the bus with the other kids in his pj's. He was trying to line up. It was quite a sight. Him being not yet 2 and all the other kids from K-5 grade lined up. When I finally grabbed him and told him he couldn't get on he started to cry. It was so sad. Fred the bus driver waved at him and Doodles. Then I was able to distract him by having him wave good by to the girls.

Lil Pumpkins soccer practice was canceled again yesterday. But this time I think it was more because the Coach didn't want to do it. It was sunny and blue sky's by the time practice was. But it was supposed to rain. I just think he isn't really interested in doing this. Hubby and I feel like it isn't fair to the kids or the parents that spent the money for soccer for the kids to have the coach cancel practice once a week. He canceled last week and it didn't rain then either, then the practice before that he called to see if Hubby could manage by him self at practice because he was stuck at a flee market. It's not like the practice times change, and he is the one that set the time! A few parents told hubby that he was more like the coach anyway since he was doing more with the team as far as actual coaching goes! I told Hubby, why do you think that the team from last year all went with the assistant coach and started a new team? I can see exactly why!!! I am not very impressed with this guy.

Yesterday when I took the boys to the library we had filled our book bag with fun books and had just made our selection of movies to check out when an announcement was made that the system had a virus and so we could only check out 3 items per card. Um....How to tell 3 boys that all those books they spent time looking for to choose just the right one would not be going home with us. I did how ever let them check out the movies. I know, I have my priorities in the right place, right?! I figured we have books at home, but they get bored during quiet time and that is when they get to watch library movies, so it was an easy choice for me. I promised them I would call today and see it the system is back up and then this afternoon if it is we will go and get books. If it isn't I may just go to an adjoining town and check out books from their library!

Well I better be off to go de stinikify myself so I will be ready fro preschool! Have a great day, enjoy the rain or sunshine what ever you may get today!

Poor Doodles....and pictures.....

2010-04-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

Poor Doodles apparently has my allergies! His eyes swelled up last night and he rubbed enough because they were itchie that he caused blisters on his eye balls. They looked more painful then mine ever feel probably because I could actually see them! I gave him some children's allergy medication, then we gave him a shower to wash off any pollen that may have been on him then put on his Jammie's then put a cool cloth on his eyes. He fell asleep like that. I was thinking this morning that his eyes would look better. They are still swollen but no longer have blisters on them. I watched to new to see what the pollen count was and it was above 700. No wonder his eyes looked like they did. It rained really hard last night and the wind blew, I was thinking this would calm down the pollen. But my allergies are still in full force today. I hope with the rain we should get today that will help even more.

Doesn't he look so sad? He wasn't happy I was taking his picture with swollen eyes. It is actually hard to tell from the picture how swollen they really are. But they are so puffy, he looks like he has been in a fight!

Here is a side view. You can see the dark line under his eye. That is all swelling.

Little Pumpkin had her soccer pictures last week. So I made her some cute bows to match her uniform. Hubby informed me that it is not an outfit it is a uniform and with the bows I am trying to make it into an outfit. Apparently at the photos one of the other mom's commented on the cute bows. Hubby told her, "Yeah, my wife doesn't know this is supposed to be a uniform not an outfit!" I told him I was disappointed he didn't give her our number and tell her I would make her daughter some to for $5.00, I mean come on he just waisted a money making opportunity! I could have sold bows to each team in their colors!!!! Imagine the money I could have made! He won't let me use them on game days. He says he is drawing the line and that they would just fall out anyway. So instead I just tied a little bow in her bangs that I pulled back into a pony tail. He takes all the fun out of coordinating her "uniform"!!!

I was inside the other day doing laundry and this is what I saw when I looked outside.

Handsome Boy (4days after surgery) pushing Little Guy in the swing. They had fun for quite a while doing this. Until Handsome Boy stepped in dogie doo doo. Then it was an emergency for me to come out and spray off his shoe. He doesn't like getting dirty, especially his hands! It was such a beautiful day that day that I had already spent about 2 hours outside with the boys, weeding and pushing them in the swings. Then it started getting to warm for me so I had to find shelter out of the sun.

I have become a little worried that Handsome Boy has become addicted to his codeine pain medication. At first he hated taking it and would cry. Then act like he was going to spit it out. Then he seemed to start tolerating it. Then he started telling me he needed his medicine, only one hour after getting a dose. He takes it every four hours. Then when I would tell him he had to wait for 3 more hours he would get mad and whiny. So yesterday to his dismay and anger, I switched him over to children's Tylenol. No more codeine for him! Hubby noticed his behaviour as well. He has been more restless when he sleeps at night then he normally was and it has gotten worse the last 3 days. He is up crying every 1-2 hours all night long. Asking for medicine. It has become quite disturbing that my 3 year old seems to have become addicted to pain medication in 5 days. From now on, he will never get this kind of medicine again even as he gets older!

Yesterday before preschool I took Doodles to the school to enroll him in Kindergarten. Then have indeed changed the way they will be doing Kindergarten to 2 full days one week, 3 days the next. So I signed him up for Monday, Wednesdays and every other Friday. I am not very happy with this. But I understand they need to come up with ways to cut spending. But I feel like it is to the detriment of the students. It is harder to learn the rules as well as progress at a steady pace if you aren't going everyday. So I will continue to work with him on sight words and numbers. Then if he get bumped up to First grade great if not then I will continue to work with him at home.

Today I am off to drop stuff off at the library ( I have been a bit of a reading crazy lady this month! I have read 4 books from the 39 clues series, 4 books from the New start for Fairhaven series, A Monk the TV series mystery, A LDS fiction book and I am now reading House Rules. I think I have read all of these in the last month!) So I need to get more books for the kids to watch, and I let the boys check out 1 movie each to watch during the week. Wednesdays seem to be our day for the library. Then we are off to Skinny Sis's house for the morning. We are back to doing our Wednesday swaps. We take turns at each others house and help with projects or just visit on that day. Sometimes it is all day, sometimes just morning, or afternoon. Since it is supposed to rain most of the day we will see what she has planned.

Plans for today...

2010-04-19T07:48:00.000-07:00

Today is Monday. I actually love Monday's! I love to get so much done and especially when I don't HAVE TO GO ANYWHERE! Handsome Boy had a hard day yesterday. They told us day 3 would be hard. But he still wasn't bad. Just more tired and didn't want to eat much. But today he seems to be feeling a little better. Little Guy on the other hand is attached to me! He doesn't want to be put down. So right now as I type he is laying chest to chest watching PBS. All cozy and snuggled in. I love that he is still small enough to cuddle so much and that he loves to cuddle. And give mmmmm kisses!
Today I am thinking of trying to make refrigerator cinnamon rolls. I have never tried it before, so I thought I would give it a try.
Plus a load of laundry.
Then because it is supposed to be a beautiful day I am going to drag the boys outside to play or sit for Handsome Boy while I do a little bit more weeding.
I would also love to get the rest of the garden area ready for planting on Saturday. Now that it will hopefully not freeze anymore at night!
I have school registration for Doodles tomorrow. We get to find out if they will have Kindergarten as usual or if they are going to change it to 2 days one week 3 days the next. I still haven't convinced him that he doesn't get to start school until August. But hopefully after tomorrow he will understand better. Hopefully! He already has a backpack for the fall. But no supplies yet. We get those at the back to school sales. I normally wait for the back pack as well. But the How to train a Dragon movie had backpacks as a promo and he fell in love with one. So that is the one we got.
I found out this morning at the bus stop that #1 Daughter has two holes in her tennis shoes. So much for being able to wear those shoes until the end of school! I hate having to buy new shoes a month and a half before school gets out! But her toe is also at the very end so new shoes it will be this weekend!
I better be off. Handsome Boy has decided to run from room to room and he isn't supposed to be running and getting his heart rate up! Have a great sunny day everyone!!

Handsome Boy no longer has tonsils!

2010-04-16T11:53:00.000-07:00

Well Handsome Boy did great with the whole surgery thing. I was stressed out! In fact my shoulders and neck hurt as well as my head. I asked Hubby how he could be so relaxed. He said it was from all the practice waiting for me to come out of surgeries! I was watching the clock. About every 2-5 minutes I would check to see what time it was! The Dr informed us before surgery that because he was "excited" for the surgery he would probably be MAD when he came out from being under. But he wasn't. He just was saying "ouchie, ouchie." I asked him what hurt and he said his IV that was in his foot. When they finally took that out so we could go home he didn't complain again. Now he is starving! We got home just after 11am and he has had a pudding cup, a go gurt, a banana milk shake, apple juice, water, and finally I called to see if he could have mac n cheese. Yep my Handsome Boy had mac n cheese the day he had his tonsils out. I expected him to crash, but he has been up since we left the surgery center. Now he is watching Lightning Mc Queen. He was mad at us because we wouldn't let him stay at the surgery center to play with the fire truck. You would never know he just had surgery! He will either crash big time in a few hours or will continue like nothing has happened! I am hoping we just don't have any pain issues later on today!
I sent Hubby on an errand to mail a package. With in one hour of being home he was starting to look cagey! So he took Doodles with him. I think he needed a little one on one time. He has been in tears off and on several times today. Hopefully tomorrow he will feel better and not like he got gypped by not getting to have surgery! You just never know! Well I better go put Little Guy down for a nap before he crashes on the sofa, like I would like to! Have a beautiful day, since it is outside!!

Again!?! Another Migraine....

2010-04-15T10:14:00.000-07:00

This morning I woke up with a bad headache. Then Lil Pumpkin decided to throw a hissy about her hair. I put it in a pony on one side then did a twisty and pulled it over to the other side of her head in a pony and did another twisty leaving it down. She threw quite a fit. But I was determined not to reward her efforts of the fit throwing. So my reward? A migraine! I had preschool this morning, and I am determined not to stop living because of this. So I have been wearing sunglasses all morning. I have taken Tylenol twice, hopefully this second dose will kick in!
Yesterday I got the whole back yard mowed. It felt nice to do something for my hunny. Then attempted a bike ride with the boys. But my BUT is still bruised from the last bike ride a few weeks ago. I looked online today for what is called a beach cruiser bike. I think one with a wide seat would be a little nicer to my but bones! Now I just need to find one for CHEAP! I also took the boys to the library. They love picking books and coming home and reading them. I also let them each pick one movie with better supervision then I gave them last time. Last time we came home with Nick Jr. and I am not a Sponge Bob fan!!! So this time we came home with Dora, Thomas the train, and Bearenstein Bears. Then I let the two older boys ride bikes in the front while I read my book and Little Guy took a nap. It was a little chilly and started to look like rain so I made them come inside. I should have weeded in the front flower bed before the dandelions take up permanent residence! But I wanted to finish my book! Maybe I can work out there for 30 minutes today, depending on how well my head cooperates!
I found a booklet on line about tension in neck and shoulders and how they cause migraines. I know this is what this migraine and the ones last week are from. The booklet is supposed to tell me how to relax and prevent this from happening. It is supposed to be emailed to me once every other day starting tomorrow. So we will see if it helps. I'm willing to try anything at this point!
I am off to relax my neck for a few minutes before I have to make lunch. Go enjoy the sunshine if you have it!

Trying to decide what I want to get done today....

2010-04-14T07:54:00.000-07:00

Today is a beautiful day. But I have several things I want and need to get done. So I am trying to decide if I should help out my sweet husband and mow the backyard for him, since he won't have time today and it needs to be fertilized. Or if I should just stick to cleaning the bathrooms and going for a bike ride. I want to get it all done I just don't know how long my energy will hold up. I guess I could try starting with the lawn then stop at half way and see how it goes. I desperately need to get the boys outside. It is to beautiful to not spend some time out there.
So for today on the "menu" is mow lawn, bathrooms, bike ride with boys, library. What do you have planned for today?

some pics of my latest projects and what I was told at Massage Envy....

2010-04-13T07:53:00.001-07:00

Hubby came home from work yesterday to find me still cooking the cookies I started at 3:30. I made a double batch. I still had a migraine. I was trying to work through it. He finally told me to call Massage Envy, since I had a gift certificate from last year I still hadn't used. So I called and got in for a 7pm appointment. I told them I wanted them to focus on my neck, shoulders and back. I think she worked on my neck and shoulders for 45 of the 55 minuets! I am very sore today. As the lady was walking me out she informed me I needed to consider coming in on a regular basis since the knots in my neck and back were so bad. Then she said it is like eating a salad once a year and expecting it to work. Well I would love to go in once a month or more like once a week, but I would have to get a job that actually pays so I could do that! I think I will make a few phone calls and see how much my old college roommate charges for massages! Do you think she will give me a discount?
So here are a few pictures of some of the things I have been working on this last month. The stitchery's aren't finished with fabric yet but I wanted to show them off anyway. When they are officially done I will then post with pictures of the final project.

Here is a photo block I made for a family member. It has a whole quote that I also did in a stitchery that you can see at the end of the pictures. I just didn't have a large enough piece of wood to do the whole thing. But I think it would be cute to use coordinating paper and make several blocks to stand up by each other with photos. What do you think?

I also made some necklaces for my nieces and Sis in law. I think these necklaces are so fun to make and fun to wear!

Here is my Easter stitchery. I never finished the fabric on it but the stitching was done in plenty of time. I just had to much other stuff to do to get it done. I love the little fluffy chicks!

Here is the President Monson quote. I am thinking of making one of these for my boys room as well. This is in my girls colors. I will also make one for our family room to frame or hang during times I don't have other holiday stitchery hangings up. I love the quote.

Today is another preschool day. We will see who isn't sick. Both families that have girls come have had some kind of illness I hope they don't share with us. Handsome Boy is having surgery on Friday and can't get sick. Let alone get the stomach flu. Can you imagine getting tonsils out then getting the flu? Ouch!

I am off to shower and then have preschool. I have to go to Costco today. I don't like shopping with the boys, but we took out the last gallon of milk from the freezer today so it can't be helped! Hopefully it will be a quick trip! Have a great day everyone!

Easter Pictures and going on day 5

2010-04-12T09:02:00.000-07:00

The other day at lunch Hubby helped the boys build a balloon car. They had so much fun. Not one of the boys noticed I was snapping pictures! That's a first for them!!

Lil Pumpkin's first soccer game. They played against a team of girls that had already played for 1 year together. This was the first game for all but one girl on Pumpkins team. I think she thought it would be easy but it was very obvious that our team hadn't played before. It was so cold outside that Little Guys hands were turning purple. So after listening to all I could handle from my other 3 kids I decided at half time to pack them up and wait in the van for Hubby and Little Pumpkin. I stopped counting at 8-1 in the other teams favor. I don't know how much longer I could have sat and listened to the opposing team go on and on about how they couldn't believe that their team was up 8-1! Um Hello these are 6 and 7 year olds. Maybe I shouldn't have any of my children in sports!!! The parents are so competitive! I hope they will get better soon! I will be missing next weeks game, Handsome Boys surgery is on Friday so I don't think he will feel well enough to go sit at a soccer game, shucky darns! I guess Hubby and Lil Pumpkin will have to brave the cold alone! ;)

So I got the Easter Dresses done on Saturday, in time for the girls and boys to wear their Easter finery to Stake Conference on Sunday. They looked so handsome and beautiful.

Each year it amazes me to look at the years previous photos and see the difference in how much they have grown! They boys almost had a knock down drag out fight over who got to wear the orange vest with the orange and blue tie. After all the local foot ball team is BSU and it's colors are orange and blue. Not that we are huge foot ball fans but many people we are friends with are. So they had a coin toss and Handsome Boy got to wear the vest with tie on Sunday and Destructo Boy gets to wear it this Sunday. I am so glad they wear the same size. It mean more outfits for them to wear!!! Unfortunately it also means fighting over what they get to wear. Oh well, so goes life!

So I started getting a migraine on Thursday just after Pre school was over. Then I woke up on Friday with my head buzzing. That usually means I will be getting another one. Yep, sure did! Then on Saturday I woke up with the start of one and tried to push through it. Then on Sunday I started getting another on during Stake Conference. When we got home we had a quick lunch and I went and laid down to see if a nap would help get rid of it once and for all. After sleeping for 4 hours I woke up still with a migraine. Hubby gave me a blessing then kindly rubbed my neck, head and shoulders. It took another 4 hours before I felt like it was gone. Then I woke this morning with the start again. I guess between allergies and stress ( I think I am worried about Handsome Boys surgery on Friday) I am going to have to just wait this out. Since I generally start to feel worse in the afternoon I decided to get going on things first thing this morning. So I have already done the dishes, cleaned the kitchen including windows and sinks. Vacuumed the living room and family room. Cleaned up and de junked a little in the family room. I have washed and am now drying load number 1 and washing load number two of the laundry for today. It is only 10 am and I feel like I have gotten so much done already. I just need to put away the loads of laundry when they are done and clean the downstairs bathroom and make cookies and my day of things to do will be done! Hopefully my head will not explode during the day and the massage from yesterday will continue to have an effect! Well I am off to fold and put away. Have a great day no matter if it is sunny or rainy. Just think of all the flowers that will be blooming because of the nice drink they are getting today!

My head is Buzzing and how weird is this?...

2010-04-09T07:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon I had one of the worst migraines I have had in a long time. I even thought I was going to throw up! It was that bad. My head is buzzing from it today. To me that is a sign I better take it easy or my migraine will be back today. I hate it when I get migraines, I get nothing done, and not because I am having fun playing but because I quite literally can't get off the sofa with out feeling dizzy and like vomiting!
Yesterday I had finally had it, our microwave that we have only had for about 18 months died last week. Our first microwave that we bought as a married couple lasted for about 1o years! So not being able to reheat leftovers and heat up frozen muffins had finally gotten to me. So after lunch I loaded the boys up into the van and took them to Target. The microwave we bought last time was from Wally world and it was an Emerson. SO I wanted to stay clear of both of those things! The boys were so excited to help me choose one. They wanted to get the "blue" one. Until I showed them that it was actually just a plastic coating you peel off when you get home. I am happy to say I made it home before I almost passed out!
When we got home I looked outside and noticed that our irrigation faucet was flowing with full force. It had done the same thing a few days ago, I think when it was let loose, we forgot to turn the faucet off when we had the lines blown out last fall. So I had #1 Daughter turn it off a few days ago. So to come home after being at the store and none of the kids had been outside yesterday morning was weird! Some one had to have turned it on. The boys think our dog did it! They even demonstrated how he could have done it. I explained that only on cartoons can dogs do such things. So it freaks me out a little to think someone was in our back yard, and that our old dog didn't bite the back of said persons pants off! I mean come on you know I need evidence to prove they were back there!!! I told Michelle what had happened, so I may just leave my house today and have her watch to see if anyone goes into my back yard, then call me if they do. Or if it happens again we may have to do a stake out!
It reminds me of something that happened recently when my kids were on spring break. I had to run into the eye Dr. to see about getting a trial pack of contacts. I left #1 daughter in charge and left everyone in the van for 5 minutes. When I got back Doodles was all excited and wanted me to call the police. He informed me he had seen someone steel a car. I was confused so I asked him what had happened. He told me this guy had pulled up in a white excursion (he just showed me the car) and then left right away in a different silver car. I told him that since the guy had keys he didn't steel it. He didn't believe me so I promised to watch the news and see if a report was on about a stolen car from the parking lot. (I don't know if they even do that anymore they have more important stories to tell on the news). SO I was telling Michelle about it later in the week. I said something about what would I have told the police, I didn't even know what the guy looked like. Doodles heard me and came over and told me that he knew exactly what he looked like. He was bald on top and a baldy, and he was wearing brown pants with a long sleeved white shirt with buttons, and brown shoes. I thought that was pretty good for a 5 year old and several days after the fact. I guess he really was watching. I told him maybe one day he could be a detective like Monk only with out all the OCD things he does like touching lights and posts! It truly made me pause and think about how observant our children can be!
Today I am hoping for warm enough weather for a bike ride with the boys. Then I have more sewing and a little bit of cleaning to do since I didn't get any done yesterday. I am also hoping I can go and use one of my gift cards from my birthday today. We will have to see how well my head cooperates! Have a great and beautiful flower and spring filled day everyone!

Little Guy is addicted the the Monk series

2010-04-08T07:30:00.000-07:00

Well it appears I have started a very bad thing. We would get all the 4 older kids in bed then let Little Guy stay up a little longer and then rock him until he fell asleep in our arms while watching TV. Well I love watching Monk the TV series. Skinny Sis had the first 4 seasons so I borrowed them from her and I would watch one a night. Well Little Guy now can sing half the song. On Tuesday night I didn't have a episode to watch. I hadn't gotten the DVD's from the library for season 6 and 7. Well he wouldn't go to sleep! It was 10pm and no sleep in sight! Then we finally got him to sleep only to have him end up in our bed a few hours later. This is why I posted yesterday that I was so tired! That and the fact that he had to be touching me at all times during the night! SO last night I broke down and opened the last season box, I jumped from season 6 to season 8! I needed sleep! It worked like a charm, until 3am. Hubby took that one. Luckily he took him back to his own bed and layed with him until he fell back to sleep! But yea I think I have created a Monk fanatic! I just pray he doesn't start showing the ticks that Monk has! Unfortunately I can't just bring up the song on YouTube and have him fall asleep, he likes to sing and dance to it! Oh well!
Today I have preschool again. Last time they did awesome on the sight words, it is amazing what just a little bit of practice can do! I felt really good when Skinny Sis said Handy Girl is reading better at this age then any of her other kids have, Her kids are all really smart so it made me feel good about the stuff I am doing with the kids in preschool! Well I am off to decide on the craft for today. I am having a hard time deciding between two. Have a great day, hopefully warmer then mine is right now!

Posting a little late today...

2010-04-07T16:29:00.000-07:00

I have been so tired today. Little Guy was in our bed at 2 am freaking out. He wouldn't calm down unless he was touching me. I was going to try to put him back into his bead several times but each time I moved he would whimper and then move until he could touch me again. So the tiredness finally hit me like a semi truck at about 3:27pm. I almost collapsed onto the sofa. But then the girls got home about 3 minutes later. I still tried to get a little nap, but that never works for me. It just makes me more tired. So here I sit, soooooo tired I just want to go to bed and it is only 5:35pm! UGH!
I don't know if any of you remember the story of last year when the guys from back east came to sell that cleaning solution and I let them into the house, AND fed them lunch. I thought Lionel would have a heart attack. It actually turned out to be a great experience. Well the same company had guys going door to door today. Well I still have most of my bottle from last year. I always forget I have it. Well those guys are some great salesmen! I was determined I would not buy any this year. And next thing I know I am writing out a check. This guy was so funny. He had me laughing the whole time. He was extremely polite. My boys were hypnotised by him. He made some comment about needing to go or my neighbors would think I was working him like a black man and paying him like a Mexican. I am sure he niced up the saying for my boys sakes. Thank goodness. I told him we would never do that. We love people of all color. In fact my boys are fighting over who gets to marry Gracie from down the street. He high fived them. Little do they know that Gracie is the kind of girl that will decide for herself who she will marry! NO if's and's or buts about it!!!
So over all it was a good, but tiring day today. We went to the library. (my boys are watching Rocky and Bullwinkle right now) we got more kids books and my books I had on hold came in. Then we had lunch and I got most of Lil' Pumpkins dress sewn. Now I just have to do the zipper and jacket. The dresses have come together fairly quickly. Probably because I am using a cotton fabric instead of a silky type. What a difference that makes!
I better go and start dinner and get things cleaned up. I get to start dinner a little later on Wednesdays now since Lil Pumpkin has soccer practice from 5-6pm on Wednesdays.
Hope you all had a great day!

It was a good but rainy day yesterday, but today THE SUN is SHINING!!

2010-04-06T07:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I feel like I got so much done! The boys and I got their two loads of laundry done, washed and dried, ( I still need to help them put it all away, but I am taking a page out of my sister in laws book and air drying things like new shirts and all jeans, they are already dry today so they will be put away this morning. Mine dry really fast since I have them in the laundry room/half bathroom door way and it is very warm in there.) Then I read 6 books to the boys and Doodles and I worked on his sight words. All three boys got baths so they smell good, like all good boys should! We had lunch at home with Daddy and then in the afternoon I got most of #1 daughters Easter dress done. ( I know Easter is past, but with General conference it gave me an additional week, plus we have Stake Conference this weekend so technically I don't have to have them done until the 18th! (and yes we go to stake conference, but if I need the extra time I have it). Then I supervised #1 daughter make cookies for the first time by herself. She did a great job, she even cracked the eggs. They taste just like mine!! hehe! Then after a smallish water balloon problem with the middle 3 children that resulted in no FHE treat for them and the aftermath of a meltdown times 3 the kids were all in bed by 8:15pm. It was a good day.
Today the sun is shining. Yesterday when I got home from the bus I was soaked. Today I am happy, sunny outside makes me happy! I have preschool today, we get to see how many sight words the 3 older kids can pass off. Then we will be working on the letter U. I am glad to be back into a normal routine for at least a few more weeks (9) until the end of school. I think I have come up with a fairly good plan at a routine for the summer. I need to have organization, so mornings will be the usual of breakfast, dress, clean up rooms, make beds, do chores for 30-60 minutes, reading for 30 then after lunch will be free time and play/activity time with a different activity each day. With a daughter with aspergers you need to have a little bit of a routine.
I better go for today so I can shower and get 3 boys dressed and ready for the day today. Enjoy the sunshine if you have some where you are. If no sun, enjoy a good book cuddled under a blanket! I would!!

My Birthday, Easter and the kids back to school...

2010-04-05T06:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my Birthday. I am now half way to 70! I feel old!!! My Sweet Hubby spoiled me. He made bacon and pancakes for breakfast, and cleaned it up. Then he made lunch and I helped him clean it up. Then I made the roast for dinner but he did the rest, including cleaning up after, even the dishes. After that kind of spoiling I don't know that I needed presents! The kids and him got me a gift certificate to get some clothes just for me. A new hair clipper set that I picked out. Now all the kids want a hair cut even though I just cut their hair 1 week ago! Then he got a new printer for our computer. It even has a fax machine, you know for all those Fax's I send! :) Plus it prints photo lab quality pictures! I am very excited about that!!! I have so many pictures I have wanted to print off of our camera but haven done it. I am to cheap to go to the store and pay to have them printed off my camera's memory card!! Now we just need to set it up, and get some photo paper.
So my boys this morning actually slept in until 8am! Shocking I know!!! Now they are rummaging in the Easter baskets for candy. Yes, I will feed them a healthy breakfast, at least the cereal kind as opposed to the chocolate kind. I almost felt like I could have gotten away with not doing the whole Easter bunny thing. They were more focused on my Birthday instead of the Bunny coming. I don't know if they would have even noticed if he hadn't come! Makes me ponder a bit on that. We enjoyed the parts of conference we were able to actually hear. I am, as always, looking foreward to reading the talks next month and getting a lot more out of them. When you have 5 kids under the age of 10 it can be a bit of a challenge to keep them quiet for 4 hours two days in a row. But they did much better this year then last year, and so it will continue. I hope!
So #1 Daughter came home from school just before Spring break with a hand written paper telling them about the next GT (gifted and talented) project. That if they came into the library quietly he might let them work in pairs...blah blah blah....They were making a balloon or mouse trap car. Or they could make a rubber band vehicle. Well I wanted to find plans on line for the rubber band one but daughter wanted to do the balloon one. So on Wednesday last week (during spring break) we put together three different cars. All were so so on the scale of fastness and distance. I asked her several times while we did this when the materials had to go to school. Her reply..."I don't know." Then I asked her several times if she had to put it together at school or home. Her reply..."At school." So I tried to show her different things she would need to do to put it together. Did she pay attention? Not really! So this morning Hubby asked me if she was supposed to bring her stuff for the car to school today. I told him I didn't know since #1 didn't know last week. SO I thought to myself, Daycare girl is here, and she is in the GT program, she will probably know, she is a year older. So I asked #1 again and guess what she said..."Today!"...are you kidding me!!!!! Then I asked her if she had to put the whole thing together at school or if she could do some at home..."We can do it either way."...again ARE YOU KIDDING ME! I asked Michelle, my neighbor who was here on Wednesday when we did the whole car/science day thing, if she remembered what #1 said. She remembers it the way I do with the whole I don't know's and the at school story. SO Lucky for #1 her Dad only works 3 minutes away from home, he helped her put a new car together before school, while I made lunches, got breakfast on the table and did the girls hair. I told them they needed to try it out before she went...it goes in circles! Oh well, this is why she needed to let us know that it was due TODAY so we could help her work out the kinks last week! At least there will be no grade for it, just who's goes the farthest wins. I would have put washers on the inside of the wheels so they would keep them going straight. But oh well, live and learn for both #1 and me as the mom!
Today I hope to get some sewing done, laundry (I am making the kids help with theirs now. They separate, wash, dry and fold and I help the younger ones with it so they learn how. It has actually be quite nice. It seems like the laundry goes quite fast. And I think the kids enjoy helping. At least for now! ;) Then I will be reading to the boys and working with Doodles on his sight words. He is doing quite well. He even made me my birthday card from him. With minimal help on words. Well I am off to find a "healthy breakfast" for the boy and me! Have a great day! Oh and if you haven't seen this you need to go and watch it. Your life, as far as chicken nuggets go, will never be the same again! OK, I have no Idea how to do a link to the Jamie Oliver food revolution show. But you need to go to www.abc.com and bring up the Jamie Oliver food revolution show (He is the one in the pea pod costume in a class room), then click on the episode with him in a kitchen with a whole bunch of kids. He shows them how they make chicken nuggets! If you have a queasy stomach you may need a garbage can to watch this, but I still think you should watch! I will never buy these again! Then after you watch, come and tell me what YOU think!

pictures of the week

2010-04-02T08:35:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of Handsome Boys mouth. Sorry if it a little yucky! You can see the redness in the back. And you can see a little of how big his tonsils are all the time, he isn't even sick right now. Poor boy. Only 2 weeks until surgery.

This is what we were surprised with on Tuesday. Isn't it lovely?

Here it is in the front yard. My pictures can't do the storm justice. Maybe if I had a Cannon rebel digital camera it would be able to pick up just how fast and hard the snow was coming down. (Do you think my hint at a perfect present for my birthday will get to the correct source?) -To bad they are so expensive...I will have to wait for another year to get one ;(

This is a video of our Mentos experiment. Hubby got it to work. I misunderstood the amount of pop we needed to make it work. Oh well. Here he is coming to the rescue again! We also made a cornstarch mixture and the kids had fun playing in it. If you punch it it is very hard. But if you move slowly it will run through your fingers like thick water. We even tried making balloon cars. We haven't worked out the kinks yet. We can't get ours to go as fast or as far as the ones we saw online. I think we need to use some thing else for the wheels. Maybe tomorrow between sessions of conference we can work on that.

This video is of Little Guy dancing to the Backyardegens CD. He loves music right now. In fact he knows the theme song to Monk. Sad I know! But it is so cute to watch him sing and dance to all the songs he likes. We also found out he is deathly afraid of rocket balloons! I mean trembling and screaming in fear. All he has to do is see one and he starts to shake! I felt so bad for him, I was the one that bought them for the kids. He has never seen one before. So we now have them safely hidden away for a time when he will no longer be terrified of them.

Today we are going to do nails and go for a bike ride. We may have to bundle up, but come snow or wind or sleet or hail, we will go for a bike ride today! Plus I need to go to the library and to Skinny Sis's house to check all the livestock. Have a safe and WARM day today!

Guess who has to have surgery?...

2010-04-01T12:03:00.000-07:00

For once it is not me! Not that I am happy about who has to have surgery, but I am happy that for once it isn't me!! Handsome Boy has had issues lately with his tonsils. They are HUGE all the time. He has a hard time breathing at night because of them, he sometimes sounds like he has a mouth full of food when he is talking but there is no food, just tonsils. In fact the Dr. said they are starting to grow forward into his mouth. Yuck!!! NO wonder when the poor little guy gets sick he literally wakes up about every 5 minutes whimpering because he can't breath. They are already swollen normally then add strep or a sore throat and then you have no air way left! So he got to ride in the "captains chair" at the Dr's office. Then they tried to explain to him what they would do to him. Um, he is only 3. All he knows is he got to ride in a cool chair, oh and he got an Easter egg! So since I have been gone all morning, 8:45 ortho appointment then a 10 am ENT appointment in another town I finally got home after 12pm so I will up load pictures and video tomorrow of our science day. Some of our experiments worked, others not so much!!! I will post about it tomorrow. Now I need to get Little Guy down for a nap, he is about to fall over he is so tired. Do you think I can sneak into his room and take a nap with him? Do you think I would be missed much? Probably about the time I actually drift off I will be noticed missing.

You want to see the most awesome house ever??!!!

2010-03-31T12:24:00.000-07:00

Do you think I could find one of these in my little town I live in???? Seriously!!! Look how many levels it has! Three with a possible basement to be used as storage, and it has a usable attic!!!! I love, LOVE THIS HOUSE! I found the picture over at craft rookies blog today. I fell in love! I better go get a towel to dry my keyboard then make the balloon cars with the kids to get my mind off this house! Sigh.....

Been thinking

2010-03-29T07:09:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking a lot this past weekend about two posts from two of my favorite blog reads. One is from www.blog.cjanerun.com the post from last Thursday, Manifesto Female: What I have learned. This is a follow up to "the post". The other is www.crashtestdummydiaries.blogspot.com the post from Friday titled Blowing in the wind.
Both of these posts make you think, and Think and THINK! I am still thinking about them both and what they said. Yesterday in RS I came close to sharing about Crashes post about her father. But it just didn't seem right. But I thought a lot about it. About following the promptings of the spirit, how to teach my children to know that that is what that feeling is. And how to help them through the rough patches of growing up and life when they didn't recognize that prompting for what it was until after it was to late. How do I help others who have gone through similar things, not listening and now are living with the decision they wish they had never made. Oh how I wish I had a time machine some times. But I do know that all things are for our learning and growth. Sometimes the things we go through are not just for us but for others we meet along the way, so we can comfort, council and love with out judging.
Then I think of cjanes Manifesto. WOW! I am thinking of printing it off and framing it and giving it out as presents to all my girlfriends. It is that powerful. And yet there will always be the nay Sayer's. This was such a powerful post about what truly makes us women. Not in a "feminist" way. I think that is what rubbed some the wrong way. But I wonder why does it always have to be a competition about who is the winner, men or women? Why can't we just be what we were meant to be from the creation. What Father in Heaven created us to be, wants us to be and we are trying to be? I am quite certain over the next few months I will be thinking more and more about these two posts. Like when I read several posts cjane wrote about her sister nienie after the plane crash and then seeing her on Oprah and what she struggles with everyday. Yet she is happy and this is why she chose to live, to be with her family. I know I would choose the same thing. Just some days it is hard to remember that.
This week, of spring break, I will strive to remember the blessings that each day brings. The giggles I hear first thing in the morning, as opposed to fighting (that I hear quite often). The cuddles with each of my children, I know soon they will no longer want to cuddle with mom, what a sad day that will be. I will "enjoy" the embarrassment of Little Guy in sacrament meeting saying "Aaaaammmeeeennn" after the sacrament prayer, like he was from the deep south! Him sitting on my lap watching the choir go up to the stand and wanting to sit with Daddy on the stand. Realizing Daddy was walking up to be with the choir. Then once they started singing I had to cover his mouth, he started yelling "Hush up daddy!" Knowing these days will not last forever. Hoping, not just hoping but praying, pleading with the Lord that all that we do will be enough and that he will do the rest for our children. That they will KNOW WHO THEY ARE. And that that knowledge will be the "equalizer" in all things. That they will be strong and listen, truly LISTEN to the whisperings, so they will have no regrets to last a lifetime.
Today I am off to pray that it will warm up enough so our plans to go to the park this afternoon will not be spoiled! Praying for cooperation from my kiddos with chores and getting a few things started that need to be finished in a few weeks (Easter dresses, and boys name blocks, plus get binding done on Lil Pumpkins quilt.) I am also willing to work harder this week to make good memories for my children. Each day we will be doing something fun after lunch. So no matter if it be science day, play at the park or ride bikes (pray for my behind those seats kill me!) it will be fun and memorable. They each got to choose an activity that didn't cost any money and these are the things they came up with: play at park, ride bikes, ride horses (I need to call our friends and set that up or come up with something different), paint a picture, and I came up with science day. I will try to take pictures and share with you each day! Have a great week everyone!

I have a confession to make.....

2010-03-25T10:31:00.000-07:00

Hubby decided to go into work super early, we was going to go golfing this afternoon, but now probably not because of 80% chance of rain. If it rains like it is now He would be wet when he got home. So he basically went in at 6am for nothing! I am off my story so here I am coming back to it. So since Hubby went into work early I had to get up to let the daycare girls in and get them settled down. They come at 6:30am and since there was no school they could go back to sleep and so could I! So just as I was settling down to sleep again Buddha our mutt of a dog started barking, and barking and barking! It was aggravating! SO I finally climbed back out of bed and whistled, normally he will come when we do that. But he just kept barking and growling at something behind the motor home that is still parked in our back yard. He was barking at something behind it. Now I know this will shock you all, but in spite of my parents forcing my sisters and I to play "no bears are out tonight" and walking around the house in the DARK WITHOUT A flashlight or taking the garbage down to the road (we lived on a acre and a quarter with a long dirt driveway) with out a flashlight to "cure" us of being afraid of the dark. I think they actually succeeded in making us all permanently afraid of the dark. Well I cant say that for my oldest sister. I'm not certain if she is scared of the dark or not. So being as I am afraid of the dark I was in no way going to go out and see what dorkus with the brain the size of a pea was growling at. I mean it could have been a shadow, or a bird, or a skunk, or heaven forbid a badger (not sure if they even live around here, but that is where my mind was headed) Then my mind went so far as to think what if there was a man back there and he was trying to throw raw meat at the dog to distract him so he could make his way to the house!!!! (can you tell I watched way to many movies in the 80's or I have read to many mysteries!) But little does this man know that Buddha's nose doesn't work that well anymore. He would have to literally hit him on the nose so he would know that there was a treat being offered! Then he would have to have the meat fall right in front of him or he may never find it! So I did what any woman would have done at this point...I called my Husband and asked him to come home and see what was back there! Pronto!!

He is such a patient husband! He came home, my white knight, he pulled up right outside the fence to look and make sure it wasn't a skunk and he wouldn't get sprayed. It wasn't, and he didn't. Then he pulled around to the house and came in and I handed him the flashlight and he went patiently around to the end of the motor home and Buddha the pea brained dog took him right to what he was barking at......it was a croquet board that Doodles had hung on the fence last night. Yep, that was it. The barking the growling and all was for a wooden frog! Thank you White Knight for rescuing me from the wooden frog! I'll pay ya later!!
This afternoon we have parent teacher conferences. I am looking forward to seeing how well my girls are doing. It is always a fun time going with them to meet with the teachers. I just wish #1 Daughters teacher would decide to move up again with her to 4th grade. Maybe today I can convince her to!!!! Have a great and dry day everyone!

I think I am experiencing post visitor depression!

2010-03-24T07:49:00.000-07:00

You know kind of like when Christmas is over, the tree is still up but it looks so sad with no presents under it. All the months of baking, and cleaning and shopping all for one day? Well not that I did months of baking or shopping. But the idea is still the same for me. The company is gone and now it is back to the same old same old! Sad! I need to find something to do to give me motivation to get out of my funk.....Hopefully Skinny Sis has her dentist appointment this afternoon so I can come over this morning to help her sew. Then this afternoon maybe I will start my girls Easter skirts. Then I will have a "project". I know I sound so weird to most of you, but I need to be doing something all the time. It is just the way I am, either that or I am reading. I now have two books to read and one more to pick up from the library. I tried yesterday but apparently the have closed the library on Tuesdays to save Money! I was not happy, I was looking foreword to reading that book yesterday.....Glad to know they will be open today so I can stop by there on my way to Skinny Sis's house and get the book! Hope you all have a fun day!

How many loads of laundry do you think I did yesterday?

2010-03-23T07:33:00.000-07:00

To be quite honest, I lost count at 10! Keep in mind I had 4 large blankets to wash that I didn't get to on Saturday after our guests left. I still have about 4 loads to do. I swear I did laundry last week, just not enough apparently. Hubby didn't want me to do laundry all day, but if I don't who will, that's my question?! So laundry and keeping the boys out of things they shouldn't be in was all I got done, oh and 2 loads of dishes.
The boys were caught trying to make a "bridge" out of the extra mattresses in their room. They had one mattress stretched from one top bunk to the other top. Luckily I caught them Before they tried it out! Later I found them with that same mattress propped up against the bunk bed then another mattress, much heavier, in the girls room. I have no idea how they got it in there. I can barely move it myself. Apparently they had the intention of jumping off #1 Daughters top bunk and landing on the mattress. At least they were going to use the thicker mattress. And once again thank Heavens I was going up to put laundry away!!! I called Hubby and told him the top bunk was coming down that night!!! He obliged me and it came down last night. Then after not a whole lot of interest on Craig's list for the mattresses I called one of our friends to see if they wanted two mattresses and a box spring. They did. It felt nice to be able to give them something. They have done a ton for us in the past. SO it was nice to be on the giving end with them for once!!! Now I just have one more mattress (if you can call it that) to get rid of. It is very thin and HARD!!! Any one want a mattress?????
Today I have preschool. I gave the kids sight word sheets last time we met and told them to practice. Today for every word they get correct they will get an M&M! Then they will get then next set of sight words to add to their practice. Doodles (formerly Destructo Boy) is doing quite will. He still struggles with Ate. It is the hard A sound instead of the ah sound that is getting him. But he still trys so hard and seems to enjoy it. Not sure if it is the learning or the time with mom. But either way I am enjoying it as well!
Little Guy has been quite surprising lately! He has decided he wants to go pee and poopoo on the potty. He even comes to tell me when he needs to go. Then when he goes pee he usually stops for a second then yells "PEEEEE" in a loud voice. Not sure what he was expecting. But it is apparently quite exciting for him. Then he usually wants to try to go poo as well. I'd say bout 90% of the time when he tried to go poo he does!!! Then he flushes the toilet and says "Bye bye poo poo!" I have never had a 22 month old boy show interest in going on the potty! I figure as long as he shows interest I will be supportive. Maybe he will be potty trained by the time he is 2 1/2! That would be awesome!
Well I better go get clean and get ready for preschool fun today! Have a great day everyone!!!

So many pictures to share of our Fun and Fast Week!!

2010-03-22T07:28:00.000-07:00

I don't know how many of you have noticed my absence this last week. We have had super fun visitors for the last 7 days! Well technically they left on Saturday. My Sis In-Law from Mesa came with her wonderful family! We were a little concerned having 14 people in a 1300 square foot home but they are always so awesome and we never once felt like we were cramped! (I don't know about them but that is how we felt!) I got kind of spoiled while they were here! Each of the older kids were paired up with one of my little ones (#1 Daughter excluded) So each morning they would help them choose clothes, brush teeth and make beds! It was AWESOME!! Then every night they did the same thing only in reverse, get pj's on, brush teeth and get the family room picked up! It was so AWESOME!!! Did I already say that? Hubby had to work on Monday and Tuesday and so the fun officially began on Wednesday (according to him) I woke up in the middle of the night with the stomach flu!!! Yuck, especially when you have company. So I was quarantined to my room for most of the day. Luckily no one else got it, and I pray they still don't!

We have some friends in our ward that have horses and they let the kids go over with Hubby to ride the horses. Some of them had never been on a horse!

The Boys on the horses....

Two of the girls on the horses....

Oh there is the other one on the horse!.....

This is where our Little Guy wanted to be most of the time! He was happy watching You tube videos of motor bikes and the such! And cousin Berkley was kind enough to oblige him. At our Easter lunch on Saturday after the family had left on the way back to warm Arizona Little Guy turned to me and said "Berkey where r you?" It was so cute! Then last night amid his protest of going to bed he started calling for Aunt Bonnie to help him.

Some shots of the cousins together.....

Some more.......

Ignore the pile of towels I had to wash when they left.....

Poor Berkley was always in demand. Lift me here, build blocks with me there, watch you tube here.... Poor Guy, but he was so patient!

And Yes we even crafted! I know can you imagine? This group of girls it is almost like a punishment to make them craft. But they pulled through!

You can't see it but this is the "Beauty and the Beast" Rose. It says some thing about Beauty being with in. I can't remember the whole quote. The girls each choose their own craft.

Lexi wanted a weekly schedule board. There are magnet boards under the paper. We even added the paper to the backs of the glass pebbles. She was a trooper, it was a little iffy at times but she pulled through!

I love how each craft that was chosen reflected the personalities of each girl! This is a glass block with a quote about dancing in the rain. We thought that the block looked like rain on a window. When she gets home she will put white lights int he block and it will light up. Thanks for crafting with me girls. And especially for our Girls night out!! Are your dials still pupulated?

Aunt Bonnie was aiming for favorite Aunt status. She brought building blocks. Mostly for the boys to see if we could occupy their minds and keep them out of trouble, at least for some part of the day! She also brought high heel shoes for the girls. They will have to grow into them, but grow they do everyday, so it won't be to long before they can wear them!

#1 with her tree house she built...

Destructo Boy (will be renamed Doodles) with his robot. We still have him put together on the fridge. So today he will be deconstructed so more things can be made from the blocks.... I asked him if he could smile any bigger!

Another tall tower. The goal each time was to see how tall you could get it. Unfortunately they were so tall but they would fall over each time they let go. Oh well, it gave them a chance to build some more!

It was such a fun week, that went way to fast! I already miss the helpers getting kids dressed, the clean up crew, the kitchen help and the laughs. I haven't laughed that hard since my Sister was here last year!!! It was so much fun. I just wish we lived closer together!!

Handsome Boy wanted to know this morning if the Bigs were coming over today..... It took me a minute to figure out he meant Long not big. They obviously love their cousins and Aunt and Uncle. Thanks for driving all this way to spend a few days with us! Hopefully I can get some pictures of the tubing hill we went to and I will post them this week! Until then it is back to the same old same old of laundry!!!

Have a great day everyone!

To do today, Are you tired just reading that? I am!

2010-03-12T08:15:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I got most of my to do list done.
I worked on my Sunday lesson, mostly out of guilt. The new counselor over the RS teachers called to see if I needed any help. So I decided I better get down to business. I just have a few more things to read and I will be all ready!
I fixed the quilt frame I borrowed from the Hanks, just for the record, it was broken when I borrowed it, I just broke it more on accident.
Dishes and Laundry are never ending but I got two loads of dishes and 3 loads of laundry done.
I caulked the bathroom tile.
Hubby vacuumed out the sofa's in the LR, I think he felt sorry for me and the fact that he was gone on Wednesday night and left last night to play basket ball and was gone from 6:30 until 10pm!~
I started tying Lil Pumpkins quilt and just decided to finish it! So it is all tyed. I just need to do the binding on it now.
I deep cleaned the master bathroom while giving the two younger boys a bath. I finished up just in time. Little Guy was starting to make tidal waves in the tub so it was time for him to get OUT!
Today no one is sick! YEAH! Unless you count Handsome Boy and his asthma that is acting up. But that is a day by day thing we deal with. At least I know it wasn't the new Soft Scrub cleaner that I tried for the first time last night. He was wheezing before I started using it. Has anyone else tried this. It is the Soft Scrub tub and bowl. It smells like men's cologne! YUCK! I like citrus smelling products when I clean, not the used car salesman smell....It did work well though.
So for today my to do's are:
Wash windows in kitchen -done
clean kitchen -done
mop kitchen floor -done
clean out pantry
clean two other bathrooms -done
pick up backyard
make cookies (?)
make girls daughter of god sign (?)
Laundry -done
Dishes (done)
work on quilt binding
If I get all this done I will start on the boys name blocks.......
Are you all tired yet? I am!!!
Have a great Friday everyone! I am praying that my Hubby doesn't break anything today. His Supervisor decided that the team needed to have a team building activity so they are going roller skating today. This after his ribs were nearly cracked last night during the BB game! Pray for my Hubby, I need him whole!

Busey busey busey....

2010-03-11T07:13:00.000-08:00

Remember the other day when I said I felt like I had ADHD? Well these are just a few of the things I got done that day~

I cleaned out the freezer. Threw stuff away and then washed the whole thing out.

I threw away a few things from the fridge then I washed and scrubbed until it was all sparkly clean! I even had a Monk moment and had to line up all the jars and other items so all the labels were facing foreward!!

But first thing in the morning this is what I found upstairs.... Little Guy rolling around on very large boxes....

The boxes came from this "little" baby. It looked much smaller in the store then in our boys bedroom! Can you see the height difference from the other bunk beds that were in here? It is the lighter wood in the right side of the picture.

Ignore the mess, it doesn't look like that anymore, this was just after the delivery guys put the beds up for us. I now get claustrophobic in this room. We do plan on taking the top off the old bunk in a week but for now it stays. Hopefully when we do it will seem not so crowded!

Then Skinny Sis came over to help me with some tile. It actually didn't take to long to install. This is the before. Hubby had the builders install our shower head at 7 feet high since he is 6'4" he has always had to duck down to get in the water. Unfortunately the splash of the water gets on the wall. Therefore causing mildew. So it was time to correct the problem! So we installed tile above the tub insert to protect the wall from the water.

Here is the tile with out the grout or caulking done. I grouted last night. This was a relatively quick project. Compared to doing the tile on the floor!

Remember the huge strawberry I told you about? Well here it is.... It took up most of the package! The one in the upper left corner is a normal sized strawberry. And they were sweet as well!

Yep, I also made bread that day as well! I used the "dutch oven" method that Biz uses. I didn't want to dig my dutch oven out of the garage so I used my roasting pan and lined it with aluminum foil. It worked perfectly!

The inside was nice and soft, not to heavy! It smelled and tasted so good! This one is Parmesan cracked pepper bread.

Today I have a huge to do list as well as having a #1 daughter home sick. I am hoping no one else will get her sickie bug!!! I am off to:

clean bathrooms

fix a quilting frame!!!

Dishes

Laundry

wash sliding glass door

make cookies

work on my Sunday lesson

Hopefully I can get most of it done! Have a great day!

Wanted to post pictures but....

2010-03-09T08:31:00.000-08:00

I have a great picture of a HUGE strawberry that I got a Wally World yesterday, plus pictures of new beds etc. But Little Guy was playing near the computer yesterday and unbeknownst to me put fake money in the door that I have to open to download pictures to my computer. Hopefully when Skinny Sis comes over today she can help me get the "money" out!
I didn't accomplish all I wanted to yesterday. But I think I did pretty good!
I even shampooed the carpets upstairs. It took 45 minutes in the boys room. I think they must have dumped a hand soap bottle on the floor. It kept foaming up. I finally just started pouring water on the floor in that spot to try to get the soap out. After rinsing and changing the water/suds out 7+ times I decided it was clean enough for the day!
Today my to do is almost the same except no shampooing the rugs and I have preschool today.
I wanted to make some bread yesterday, so maybe I can get to that today. Biz over at Biggest Diabetic Loser always makes the best bread! It is mouthwatering to look at. So yesterday I told her I wanted to make some bread but I didn't get to, so today no matter what else I get done, I WILL MAKE SOME BREAD!; and get my sewing done and laundry and the dishes and clean out my refrigerator and pantry and freezer and and and Whew I better go get started! Have a great day.
PS I am feeling a LITTLE ADHD right now!

If you run out of deodorant NEVER USE YOUR HUSBANDS!

2010-03-08T07:29:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I realized I was out of my wonderful Clinical Strength Deodorant. I had just shaved, you know getting ready for Sunday and all. So I thought to myself, I could use Hubby's deodorant for just today. No problem..... BIG BURNING PROBLEM!!! It stung so bad! Not only that but every time I started to sweat I smelled like men's cologne. So word to the wise, take my advice, NEVER USE YOUR HUSBANDS DEODORANT!!! Do you all think I am a weirdy now? (my grandma calls people weirdy's, just had to use that)

Here is an update on my boys room. I finished their magnet boards. I used hotwheel cars for the magnets. They love them! I also found a cute crate and Skinny Sis helped me find the studs in the wall and we screwed the crate right into the studs. I found the red fire truck at Ross. I had to put it up high enough that my boys couldn't reach it! I think the old lunch box makes the shelf! It reminds me of the one my Grampie used to take to work!! I am still working on finding airplanes to suspend from the ceiling. But the ones I have found are a fortune! So I will keep looking!

Here is a close up of the magnets. I think they are so cute!!

Little Guys quilt is all done and on his bed. He loves it. Now we just have to wait for the delivery truck to pull up outside on Tuesday with his new mattress and pray he sleeps better with it!

Today I will try to finish the rest of the things for their room, like the shade and valance, the coat rack. We will see how much I can get done since my boys are already fighting and yelling....

Here is the shelf I made and put in the girls room. It is above the closet. Skinny Sis helped me put it up. Unfortunately we hung it about 1/2 inch to low and now the door to the room hits the edge of it. I may have to break down and ask Hubby to help me rehang it. But then he will see our boo boo's on the wall!!

Today my to do list will shock you all!! Not for the faint of heart!
Dishes - done
Laundry - done
Finish name blocks for girls and hang them - done
cut wood for boys name blocks - done
sew boys shade fabric
clean boys carpet and master bedroom carpet - done
finish sewing Lil Pumpkins quilt top
Work on Sunday lesson
Make dinner and take to the Hanks - done
make treats for FHE - done
FHE - done
OK, I need to go back to bed, I am already tired!!! And to top it all off, it is freezing outside! So I can't send the boys out to play. Mother Nature I could use your cooperation!!! It needs to warm up a smidgen and stay warm, none of this spring weather one day arctic cold the next!! I'm not living in Ice Burg after all!!! I'm on the other side of the state!

Yesterday's disaster!

2010-03-02T07:33:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was movin along on my to do list. Quite happy with the day, wonderful weather, I opened all the windows upstairs to let the fresh air in! It was awesome. Then I decided to paint my girls shelf so I could hopefully put it up today (no such luck, I need another coat of paint then sealer). I looked at the clock, 1:10pm. I started out, the boys wanted to follow. I told them they could watch from the window. Handsome Boy has asthma and paint fumes make them act up. I came back inside at exactly 1:23pm. Thirteen minutes! That is all it takes to soak the kitchen down from ceiling to floor, walls, pictures, lights, flowers, toaster, radio and library book over due! How long does it take to clean up 1/4 inch of water in a kitchen? One hour! How long does it take for mom to cool down? I let you know! Needless to say I didn't get all of my To DO's done. In fact my sweet neighbor made Hubby's birthday cake, I ran out of time! Destructo Boy had to come with me to #1 Daughters ortho appointment. I'm not sure that was much of a punishment. He did have to help clean up the water and stood in time out for 30 minutes. But he still bragged about the mess he made to his sister when we picked her up. I am still thinking of a punishment for him.
So today I am off to do preschool and finish up some of my to do's from yesterday. Skinny Sis said she would come and help me with my stuff today. So hopefully between the two of us we can get a lot done, we usually do!!! Thanks SIS!!! LOVE YA!

Pictures

2010-03-01T07:36:00.001-08:00

So these name boards are put together yet, but I thought I would show them in this stage. They are going to stack on each other and be three dimensional. I am not sure where I will put them in the girls room but when I do I will put pictures on here.

I guess the cats out of the bag so to speak of my girls names. Oh well.

I put this cute vinyl on my girls bedroom door. I love it, it did have two birds on the end but Handsome Boy took care of the other one in less then 10 minutes! I am trying to decide if I should put one back on it. I thought it evened the other side out well.

The boys wanted me to put vinyl on their door. I decided I needed a reminder that they are children of God. So that is what I put on the door. Not 100% loving the way it looks. So I may change it in the near future, but for now it stays.

Well I am off to get a hair cut and do tons around the house making everything nice for Hubby's birthday today. Then #1 Daughter has a orthodontist appointment this afternoon. So I better run and shower! Have a great day!

I need some uniterupted sleep!

2010-02-26T07:25:00.000-08:00

I have three boys that are sick with fevers and coughs. I have now contracted a scratchy throat and stuffy sinuses. I had a fever last night of 100.00 but it is gone for now. Little Guy was in bed with me all night, therefore not very good sleep. I never sleep well when a little one is in bed with me, especially when they are sick. Hubby slept in Little Guys bed, thinking I could get plenty of rest in a Cali King bed with just Little Guy and me. NOT! He tossed and turned all night, ending up with his head where his feet should have been. Needless to say, all my boys were up at 6:50 ready to go for the day and I just want to go back to sleep so maybe my eyes will stop burning!

Fun Pictures:

2010-02-25T07:23:00.000-08:00

This is my Hubby's plant at work. He has to get rid of it because it is to tall and the new rule is if it is taller then the cubicle then it has to go. He has had that plant at work for 10 years. So he is a little miffed he has to get rid of it. We can't bring it home because our temperature fluctuates to much and it will kill it. So he is going to hack it up and make a bunch of starts to give to people at work.

This is the quilt top almost done. I just need to put one more strip on the top and I can then cut the back to size and then the batting. Then I only have one more quilt top to make!!! Not like this one though!

Here are the pillow cases I made for the boys. This is Little Guys.

These are all of them lined up. They each have a different picture on the front. I made these picture strips for bumper pads. My boys ripped them to pieces with their teeth when they were in the crib. So I saved them to use for something. Well this is the something I came up with.

Here are my girls pillow cases. I will probably make them one more for summer time. This one is made of flannel. Summer and flannel just don't mix at our house!

SO that is it for my pictures. I am off to take a shower and go get some medication for all the sickos at my house today. Plus I am in desperate need of groceries! Have a great day!

I guess this is what I get....

2010-02-24T07:33:00.000-08:00

I emailed Big Sis yesterday bragging that my crocus's are blooming and then I woke up to two inches of snow! UGH!!! Will the warmth of spring never come? My Sis In Law and her family are coming in just over 2 weeks from PHOENIX!!! Can you believe they are coming here, in the coldness, instead of us going there, for the warmth? I know, neither can I. I have more to get done before they come. They have never been to our house. I know they don't care but I do!
I was asking Hubby's advice on how to put #1 Daughters quilt top together. With small squares in each strip or no, and he says..."Why does it matter it's not like anyone is going to see it." Um HELLO! It matters to me. I am making this with love for our daughter, that to me is enough to matter! Any way I better go, Hopefully more pictures tomorrow of quilt top all put together and pillowcases for all the kids! Laundry and shower are calling my name.

projects completed, and some almost done....

2010-02-23T07:43:00.000-08:00

I made these cute pillows to go on my girls beds. I didn't have enough of the fleece to make all the circles I needed so I made them different. I think they are both so cute. And soft! So here is the rosette one:

And here is the ruffle one. I think this is my favorite!

I also finished my latest stitchery project. I saw this quote on line and so I just typed it up on the computer and printed it off then added the heart and vine. I framed it and will hang it in mine and Hubby's bedroom next to the temple picture.

I am almost done sewing the top of #1 Daughters quilt. when the top is done I will post the pictures before I tie it. It is so cute, I am so excited! Well I better go, poopie diaper awaits!! Joy!

So Much for Bribery!!! (and some fun pictures)

2010-02-19T07:34:00.000-08:00

So when I say I was upstairs for 20 minutes, only 20 minutes I exaggerate NOT! This is what I came down to. Keep in mind Destructo knew if he was good he could go and play with Tanner, the neighbor boy. And this is what he chose to do instead.... Notice the white powder? It's laundry detergent, one of the large boxes, never opened until yesterday morning, by my 5 year old. He tried to blame it on my 21 month old!

This is what my 21 month old (Little Guy) looked like.....

Do you know how hard it is to get laundry detergent rinsed off of your body and hair! It takes quite a long time!

This is the new box, now 1/3 less. He used what we affectionately call the scalpel knife to CUT IT OPEN! Then he kindly put the knife back in the butcher block behind the sink where I thought they couldn't reach it!

Here is the carpet to the laundry room.

The rug by the computer desk....

Are you ready for the mother of all messes?! It took me about 35 minutes to clean this up. because when you mix soap with water it makes more soap!!!! AND MORE SOAP, AND EVEN MORE SOAP!
I called Hubby at work, Luckily we live about 2 minutes from his work, and told him I needed him to come home NOW! It was 9am and preschool kids would be here in 1 hour! It took us, two adults 1 hour to clean up this mess that was made in less then 20 minutes! SO vacuuming for about 20 minutes, moping for 35 and giving Little Guy a quick, or not so quick, bath and the washing of 4 soaped feet. Plus a scolding and a lot of holding my tongue and making them clean off the stick vacuum they tried to use to clean up the wet laundry detergent, we were ready for preschool with 2 minutes to spare. (with a still angry mom!) They are officially grounded from life! Now instead of doing fun one on one time with Mommy and Daddy they will be doing nasty chores at home. Still spending time with us, but not going and doing fun things! They will now be locked in their room or sitting on my bed while I do things up stairs, and I will try to refrain myself from going and buying hand cuffs to cuff them tho their beds while I shower!

Now on to more fun pictures....
I picked up this little baby off of Craig's list. It was a full size table. But with Michelle's help last night we cut down the legs and screwed them onto half of the table top and it is now my new craft station. (Sorry for the mess, I had to just throw all the stuff back on until I had time to organize it, It was bed time after all!) Isn't it so cute?! I love the legs!!!

Side view of the legs! Love the detail!!! And with my red chair?! To die for!!! It is so much deeper then my other table! I love it! I am giddy about it!!!! Now on to the shower, pray for me!

PS When I went upstairs the day before with the bedroom mess they hadn't done anything! At 10 minutes, nothing, at 5 minutes I put the mattress back on and the ladder back on the bunk beds. It still took them about 2 hours to finish cleaning up their room! Up, I need to sign them up for military school. Does anyone know if they take 5 and 3 year old's?

bribery

2010-02-18T07:13:00.000-08:00

That's right I have resorted to bribery! Michelle kindly offered to let Destructo come to her house this afternoon, but on the condition that he was on his best behavior yesterday afternoon and all morning today! He has been an angel!!!! I have also decided that I am going to try and get him to read by Kindergarten's first day of school this August! Come you know what or high water!!!! I think he is bored. He already can read at and the. So how many more sight words to go? I can't remember. Today I am going to print off a Kindergarten sight word list and see how far we can get. Here's to hoping.
Yesterday I got some sewing done on #1 Daughters quilt. I now have 10 squares done and about 15 more in various levels of being finished. I need to sit down today and figure out how many I need to make my twin size quilt. I will be figuring out quite a bit this afternoon! How to get DB to read, how many squares to make, how to get my laundry under control!!!

Poor Hubby has a stye! It is painful and we found out last night after he tried to pop it that you should never do that! Hopefully putting the warm compress on it will help. He has to do that 4 times a day for 10 minutes each time! Then if after a week it isn't getting better he has to go see a Dr. I'm not sure if that mean the eye Dr. or our regular Dr. I guess we will find out when we need to. Hopefully I will have more pictures tomorrow to share, of fun things and not messes!!!