not much going on

Well, not much is going on here. Things with the kids are fairly normal and crazy. They enjoy playing on the computer, watching Netflix cartoons, playing in the pool, and in general running around the house.

Peanut insists on being held most of the time and when I don't hold her, she screams. I enrolled my 8 year old back into school last week. I really was hoping to homeschool him again (I loved it more than he did, I think) but he wants to go back to school. So, I'm letting him go back. I'll work on getting Princess through some kind of homeschool Pre-K. We'll set up a schedule and work on school every day. I'll tell you though, I'll miss having my son at home. He is really a good, sweet, helpful kid. He has a natural understanding of empathy and/or sympathy. He sees a need and helps. Of course, being a big brother, he did torment Princess a lot last year, but to be totally fair, she brought some of it on herself. This summer, this son has been a super help to me. Whenever we go somewhere, he'll buckle Toddler into his carseat for me. He'll get Princess or Toddler a drink of water if I can't because I'm caring for Peanut. He has a magic touch with Peanut and if she is crying, he'll pick her up, hold her and she'll often go to sleep. If she doesn't go to sleep, she'll just sit contentedly in his arms.

He is a kid and I have to ask him to do some things, but he is really pretty good at helping without asking. Better than the other kids, that is. Yeah, I'm going to miss him when school starts in 5 weeks.

I got tagged with "The Five"

I got tagged by Real.

The Five

Ten years ago…
1. I had one son, he was one month old.
2. I was living in a one bedroom basement.
3. My husband was still in college.
4. I had quit my job with the school district to stay home with my new baby.
5. I was living in Provo

Five things on today’s “to do” list…
1. Laundry
2. Get to Harris Teeter for the triple coupon weekend.
3. Get boys to clean their room
4. Try and get anything done with screaming baby
5. Not go insane with a screaming baby
(problem is I had visitors from 10 am until 6:20 pm and didn’t get much of anything done.)

Five snacks I enjoy
1. anything with chocolate
2. potato chips
3. no bake cookies
4. cream cheese bacon dip with Ritz crackers
5. chocolate

Five things I would do if I was a millionaire…
1. Build my subterranean (Hobbit) house with pool and greenhouse attached
2. Get completely out of debt and pay off vehicles.
3. Travel! Scotland, France and other countries of my ancestors
4. Travel to visit family more than once every other year
5. Food storage

Five places I have lived…
1. Texas – Howdy ya’ll
2. A trailer home in the desert
3. Hawaii – in military housing
4. Idaho
5. Near the Arizona/Mexico boarder

Monday's Wash Day

There is a kid song I learned as a kid :) that goes:
Today is Monday
Today is Monday
Monday's wash day
Are you hungry brothers?
We wish the same to you.

Then it goes through the whole week with different chores for each day. Well, today is Monday. Monday's wash day. I must have done 8 loads of laundry. That's what I get for letting two days go by without doing any... Do you think I've learned my lesson? No, although I'll try, this will happen again, someday in the future.

The weekend was a busy one. I saw Mamma Mia! on Saturday. It was lots of fun and I really enjoyed it. I love a good musical.

We bought a car! Hubby now has a small, fuel efficient car and I have transportation! I didn't use my SUV today, I had no need to, but how great it is to have it available to me. Hubby says he bought the car because I was pressuring him to do so and not because we really needed to. I'm not sure whether to be proud of myself or not. I'd go into detail, but it is a long ddduuulllllll story that spans three years.

Yesterday we had an open house at our home for a family moving from our ward. They have been here over 12 years. That is a long time for this mostly military ward. They are Navy and his job is finally moving him away from the huge naval base here. They will be greatly missed. The party was suppose to last for three hours. It ended up lasting almost 5 hours. It was great fun and I would do it all over again. It ended up being a crazy pool party when a member of the Bishopric threw one of the teens from the moving family into our pool. Once one kid gets wet, it is a matter of moments before the others get thrown in. Eventually, the teens got the bishopric member thrown into the pool too. All the kids were soaked, but they had a blast.

The above mentioned pool is a new development in our backyard. This moving family was clearing out stuff from their house and they had an above ground pool. Not a huge nice one like our old pool, but one of those 14 foot pools that you fill with water and the sides take shape. The kids have loved having a pool again and I'm so glad they do. Unfortunately, they got a sunburn the first day, despite the sunblock we put on. My oldest got the worst of the sunburns. I'm sad for him, but perhaps now he'll remember and be more diligent in using sunblock because sunburns hurt!

What else? Hubby is still on a crazy schedule at work. It's ok. Good overtime pay and after buying a car, we need a little extra money.

It being summer time, it is Monkee Mania time in our home. The Monkee DVD's play most of the day here. I love having them on while I clean, fold laundry or just sit and hold a sleeping Peanut. My kids love to turn it on too. The Monkees are the best.

Peanut is giving me a bit of a rough time. She screams when I set her down and she often screams when I'm holding her, especially if I'm sitting while holding her. She has an incredible scream. It is one of those high, ear-piercing, nerve-grating screams. Oh how I can't stand it. Thank goodness for my 8 year old. He is my biggest help when it comes to Peanut. He has the magic sleeping touch and can usually get her to fall asleep in his arms.

Toddler has a cold. At least, I guess that is what it is. All it is is a green gunky runny nose. It is pretty gross to look at, but it doesn't slow him down one bit. I gave him a bit of medicine tonight hoping it would relieve some of that runny nose and make him tired. No such luck. Oh well...

I guess that is enough of a book today. Oh, my four year old daughter said something funny to me yesterday. Well, I'm not sure if it is funny, but I was definitely amused by her comments. She asked me if girls can go on missions. I said yes. Then she announces to me that she is not going on a mission because she is going to be a singer and a dancer. OK, I said. It's a good thing we have many years before those kinds of decisions need to be made.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Waffles

Mmmmm!
These were tasty and a big hit with the kids. I decided to try them tonight since Hubby is working nights this week. He doesn't like peanut butter so this was a good night for these tasty waffles. The waffles are topped with Cool Whip and sprinkles.

I did mine a little different than her recipe. Hers calls for peanut butter chips and chocolate chips. I didn't have these. I just took a big spoonful of peanut butter and plopped it into the mixture. It worked great. I'm sure the two types of chips would only make it better, but this worked and was a big hit with the kids!

I got the recipe from a site I love to visit: More Than Rubies
http://mrsbrooke.blogspot.com/2008/06/chocolate-peanut-butter-waffles.html
(sorry, I couldn't figure out the link thing tonight) :)

carrot harvest

I pulled about 1/3 of our carrot crop today. I was so excited to see what came up. Some of the carrots were tiny where there were too many growing in the same spot. Some have funny shapes for the same reason, but the really great unique carrot(s) was the twisted carrot!

Don't you think "Twisted Carrot" is the perfect name for a rock band?

thoughts

I've been wanting to post more, but Peanut keeps me from doing it as often as I like. Right now she is fussing at me, but her older sister is working hard to keep her happy. I've also been depressed lately. I have a hard time keeping positive thoughts, so I don't write. I don't want my post to reflect my not so happy attitude.

I'm trying to work out in my mind what I can do to make myself happier, more grateful for my situations, more loving and more accepting. I want to talk it out, as women are prone to do, but I don't feel I have anyone I really can talk to, or who would really want to listen to me rattle on. My hubby is frustrating me and my kids are driving me crazy with their lack of compassion towards each other. I have about 5 great projects and ideas that I'm wanting so much to work on, but with zero opportunity to do it. The thing is I can't change my hubby, I can teach my kids compassion, but it is up to them to follow it, and I should know, after having 5 kids, that I can't do personal projects while the babies are in their first year of life. I need to change me, but I'm not sure how.

I'm always stumped as to what the first step to take is. Hmmm, if the kids can give me a few minutes of alone time, maybe I can think of something. Sorry for the post, but I'm honestly having a hard time thinking of funny, positive things to write.

I guess some nice things are Peanut is just adorable! Anything that comes into contact with her hand is immediately shoved into her mouth. She charms everyone at church. When I get up in RS to lead the music, I never have a hard time passing her off to someone. She is strong, she is smart and I can see in her eyes the desire to be a big kid and play with her brothers and sister. I want her to grow until she can sit up on her own, then she has to stop. I forbid her to grow more. I want her to stay sweet, cute and unable to tell me "NO".

Ambitions

I mentioned in the last post how much my sons were enjoying their journal, well, it has been six days since they got their journals, and already my oldest son has written 24 pages! He has never worked this long on any project. I'm happy for his enthusiasm.

My oldest son is 10 years old now and hates to work. He hates anything he has to put time and effort into. He wanted to play a sport, until he realized the number of practices he would have to attend. He talked about an instrument until he realized that he would have to practice a lot, like everyday, to be able to really learn how to play it. He doesn't like scouts because he has to put forth energy, time and work into earning his awards. He says he wants to be a scientist one day, but he hates that he would have to learn math and math requires work and memorization of basic tables. He has never worked for anything, never really achieved anything on his own. He has no passion for anything. He needs to be proud of something and really work to get it. I don't have any ideas for him yet, but it is good to have identified what it is he needs.

I would love to type more, but Peanut is in my lap. She has discovered she has control of her hands and arms. She hits at things and grabs for things. So, I'm here typing, she is sitting in my lap, grabbing at my fingers and getting frustrated that they keep moving. I've made so many typos thanks to her. Well, she is getting tired and fussy and I'm tired of typing with her "help". She is growing too fast.

Journals

For my son's 10th birthday, he received the book "Diary of a Wimpy Kid". I read it. It is really good! It got me thinking about my journal I kept when I was a kid. I wrote in mine a few times when I was 7, 8, 9, and 10 years old. Once I hit 11, I started writing in my journal more often.

Last Monday for FHE, we talked about the importance of keeping journals. I read several entries from my journal and the older boys really enjoyed hearing what I had to say. So on Friday, we bought the two older boys their own journals. They have loved them. They have written 5 times a day since Friday. I would love to read their entries, but I won't. I gave them some stickers for the 4th of July entry.

For 10 year old's Bear Scout achievements, he is required to keep a journal for 2 weeks. He is well on his way. He is three days into it so far and has written about 6 pages, at least. I'm glad they are starting this and I hope it develops into a lifetime habbit.

Happy Independece Day!

A most wonderful 4th of July to you all.

God Bless America!

Hands are full

I've been wanting to write lately, but my hands are always holding Peanut. I'm not complaining about that, I love to hold her. Still, it makes it hard to type with a squirmy 2 month old in my arms.

Last night was book club. We were trying to find a few good books for the summer. We were there for about 5 1/2 hours (7:30 - midnight). We never did decide definatly on some books, but we had lots of fun talking, eating watermelon, and playing bowling on their Wii. I got the lowest score, but I've only bowled a few times in my life and I had never played a Wii before. It was lots of fun.

Well, there is much to do and I'm still in yesterday's clothes. Maybe I had better shower first...