Peanut Bragging

My little Peanut isn't so little anymore. She is big, getting bigger and thinking she is a lot older than she really is. She'll be six months old at the end of this week. Hard to believe almost half a year has passed since she was born.
- Her hair is brown, light brown, but most definitely brown.
- She pulled herself into a standing position yesterday (Sunday) - twice.
- She likes to sit in the kitchen sink while I cook and clean in there.
- She can get from her tummy into a sitting position.
- She is trying so hard to crawl, she has officially crawled, but she hasn't really made it anywhere yet and she gets so frustrated that she can't move. There is a world to be explored and she can't do it. She realizes that and so she screams in frustration.
- She would prefer to be walking. We'll hold her by the hands and "walk" with her. She giggles and squeals as she walks where she wants to go.
- She is taking 2 good naps most days. Not so much on the weekends because having the two older brothers and dad around on the weekends messes with her schedule. Mom is very happy 5 days a week.
- When she is really hungry and I ask her if she wants a bottle, she giggles.
- Her brothers and sister are the funniest things in the world to her. They can make her laugh so hard.
- She likes to eat bananas, apples, pears, and sweet potatoes. She doesn't like peas (I don't blame her).
- She once got a hold of a ham sandwich that her brother left out (we were having a picnic) and she did her best to eat it. It was pretty funny. I took out the ham and cheese and let her go at the bread. She mostly tore it apart with her excited little hands.
- She has three teeth. Watch out, they're sharp.
- She makes Mom and Dad smile. We think she is just adorable.

Had to brag a bit. She is growing so fast, a little too fast. Before long, she's going to be quite mobile and then look out! Nothing will be safe.

misc thoughts

Well, fall has arrived here, sort of. The last week has been cool, with an almost cold wind blowing for 3 days. I've loved having the windows open to keep the house cool and not use the A/C. The living room window open to our little pond with a small water fall. I love the sound it makes and having that window open is so pleasant. The only problem is the F-18 jets that fly everyday of the week, all day long and late into the night. It wouldn't be so bad if they just flew over us, but our house in right in their turning area, so we get the back burners pointed at us while they make their turns to go back to the base. They fly very low in this area too. This is incredibly loud and can make holding conversations or getting babies to sleep a real challenge.

Still, I love fall.

Yesterday in this area of the country, the New Family Search site was opened to us.
I re-registered (I tried earlier in the year, but it wouldn't let me) and got onto the site. I'm so excited about it all! I looked up some family and couldn't find much new, and some where I found some problems, but one line of the family, I found a line that went back a few generations more than what I had, and this line lead into "royalty" in Wales. I say royalty, but they were dukes and earls and knights of that sort. Once you get into those areas, the lineage was very well documented and so, a great number of names are new to me. I'm a direct descedant of the 1st Earl of Warwick. However, considering the 1st Earl lived during the Norman Conquest in 1066, it is a great many generations back in direct descendant and there are probably thousands who can trace their line back to him. It isn't the royalty I'm interested in, it is just the incredible number of years and generations this is taking me back that I'm loving so much. Can you imagine, I know the names of ancestors who lived in 1066! They were the French speaking Normans who conquered the Old English speakers of England. (I'm not interested in the conquering either, just the fact that I know the names of ancestors who spoke Old French and Old English!) I'm loving the new family search!

So my mom introduced my kids to High School Musical. Not having TV for the last 3 years, I haven't kept up with what is hot in today's youth. For whatever reason, my mom is up on the latest trends and she got my kids the HSM movie. Can I tell you my kids love it? They LOVE it. They have watched it everyday and now I've got all these songs stuck in my head! I like it too, I must admit. My hubby is so embarrassed that his sons should like a musical. He hates all forms of musicals and is tolerant that I like them, but I don't watch them when he is home. Still, I need to get these song out of my head, or as my daughter once put it, music is coming out of my ears!

Blue Angels

I love the air show. The Blue Angels get up close and personal with our neighborhood. We get to enjoy them for about 5 days each year. Here are some pictures I managed to get while they flew over the house.
The two pictures with the blue sky were taken on Thursday, the two with the gray sky are from today. We get to watch them once more tomorrow!





Aren't they awesome?! And loud!

Air show weekend

This is the weekend of the annual air show. The local F-18's have been out a lot more lately, in formation, doing cool things. Today, though, what I wait for each year - the Blue Angels! They are so fun to watch. This evening they were just flying two around, but the fly right over the house! It is so awesome. We believe we heard a sonic boom once this evening as they broke the sound barrier. I've never heard that before, and have always wanted too. However, I was inside when I heard the loud noise and it sent me running outside to watch. They will probably practice tomorrow, the entire group and I'll be out watching. Then on Saturday will be the show. We'll be out on the lawn for that too. It's a fun weekend!

what's up?

Well, I was hoping for a bit of time because I got Peanut to sleep and laid her quietly in her crib. That often works for letting me get an hour or two, but I didn't even get 10 minutes this time. Oh well. We had a nice weekend. My mom came for a two day visit. We had lots of fun and the kids loved showing her all their latest projects and interest. My oldest son signed up for 5th grade string class. He is so excited because he is going to learn to play the violin. I'm going to go pick up his instrument today. I'm excited too. The sting section is the one instrument section I never learned to play anything in. I've played woodwind, brass, and percussion. When he is at school on his days that don't have string class, I'm going to be testing it out. Yeah! I wish he had picked the cello:)

Otherwise, things are going along about the same. I'm going to attempt to do some other projects. I've always wanted to be a writer and while I've had a hundred ideas for various books, I've never had or taken the time to really work those ideas. I want to try now. It might not work, but who knows, it just might. We'll see. However, if Peanut is only going to nap for 10 minutes, like she did today, I might not get any writing done at all.

Fondue Day!

It's my birthday and tonight we'll do the traditional fondue. I love to fondue. This tradition started about 10 years ago, my birthday after my first son was born.
Tonight there will be a cheese fondue with Havari and Gouda and then there will be a chocolate fondue for desert. Mmmm... I can't wait.

I got three of my birthday presents already. One, yesterday, was from my visiting teacher. She gave me a lovely smelling bath set. Now, for the time for the bath.... Today I got my gifts from the kids. (Hubby picked them out for me). I got Silicone oven mitts and a rolling pin. The oven mitts that I have been using are thin and one has a burn almost all the way through. The rolling pin I use has quit rolling on it's axle or whatever it spins on. It just stopped. I make tortillas often and rolling them the last few months has been tough. I look forward to making them next and trying out my super smooth rolling pin.

My sister-in-law posed an interesting question lately. What makes her happy? It got me thinking, what makes me happy? It is a question that needs great pondering because there are several levels of happiness and there is also what makes me happy and what do I think will make me happy. It is something I'm going to be thinking about and sorting my ideas. It is an interesting thought. I read that men should never give their wives kitchen stuff for Mother's Day or their birthday, but I'm so glad when I do get kitchen things. I love to cook. Baking and cooking tasty foods makes me happy and my family happy too. Getting these oven mitts so I don't burn my hands make me VERY happy.

Fudge

Every year at Christmas time, I want to just bake and bake and bake. I want to make fudge and other candies. Every year at Christmas time, what really happens is I don't do much baking. Maybe I'll make a couple of batches of cookies, but I never get to do what I really want to do.

There are two reasons for this:
#1 - The kids make baking and cooking so hard. They want to help and I try to let them, but they end up fighting over whose turn it is to add or mix.
#2 - I really don't like the dish mess that comes with cooking

Now, it is September and my husband decides he wants fudge. He looks up a fancy recipe and reads off the ingredients to me. "Do we have all of this?" he asks. I let him know that we do. "I'll leave up this website for you, should you feel like making fudge."

Last night was busy and I ended up having four tired kids last night while he was off at a meeting. He came home and asked, "Did you make the fudge?" No. So this morning he pulls up the website again. "I've got the site up again in case you have time to make fudge." Because, you know, I've got nothing better to do.

The truth is, I love fudge, I've never made it and I decided to give it a try. It is halfway done now. It is very time consuming. I'll have to finish it soon, provided Peanut permits me. I hope it works. If not, he can make it next time.

PS, it is 10:45 and I'm still in my PJ's. Taking care of kids and making fudge hasn't let me have the time to go shower and change. Well, as long as no one comes to the door and I have changed by the time the older boys get off the bus at 2:45, it will be alright. :)

Update! It is now 12:53. Right after posting the above blog, I went and finished the fudge and decided I had better go shower. I start to go up stairs and I hear Peanut screaming. By the looks of her, she had been awake and screaming for a long time. (I guess it is time to finally break down and get a baby monitor) So, I hold Peanut, feed her, love her, reassure her she is not forgotten and when she is happy enough, I gave her her toys, and put her in the living room with her sister. I go shower. After the shower, I came down to rotate laundry and as I'm loading the washer, the door bell rings. It is my visiting teacher! She showed up about 40 minutes after I wrote that little PS at the top there. I'm so glad I got showered and dressed. The house was a total disaster, but I was clean, fresh and wearing clothes! Whew...

Weather

"As they say in Texas, "It shure looks lack we're fixen to have some weather." Now that sounds ominous. Actually, having weather is traditional in most states. In fact it would be quite unnerving to learn that tomorrow there would be no weather. Texas does have weather, and it will try to kill you."
a quote from Coping with Texas and Other Staggering Feets, by Lowell Christensen

Now, I'm not living in Texas, but I grew up there. I'm in an eastern state now and funnily (to me) we are in the middle east. Maine is the north east, South Carolina is the south east and Virginia is the middle east. Ha Ha! So anyway in Virginia, over the weekend, we had Tropical Storm Hanna. It was the most pathetic tropical storm I've ever seen. It rained off and on, and there were some wind gusts that took out some limbs and power lines, but nothing spectacular. Thanks to Hanna, our lawn was nicely watered, but that was it.

Growing up in Texas, I endured Texas weather. If you've spent any amount of time in Texas, you will understand. In the summer, the heat and humidity will try to kill you. Winters in Texas are cold, and Texans will bundle up for a 45 degree day like a Alaskan will for a -30 degree day. However, in the winter, you might get some ice on the road once in a while. Texans have no idea how to drive on ice, so it is safer to stay indoors. In the spring you get the most amazing North Cold Fronts. They will bring rain, thunder, lightning and once in a while, a tornado. Now, if you are lucky, you get to see the tornado and it's awesomeness before it hits your street. I was unlucky growing up that our couple of tornadoes that hit the area were at night and I never got to see it. Fall is probably the safest season in Texas, but don't get to comfortable in October, because Texas weather has a way of changing it's mind.

"Texas does have weather, and it will try to kill you." I'm proud to be a Texan!

What am I doing here?

It's 3:55 am. Why am I at the computer? The 5 month old sitting in my lap, banging on the keyboard, is why. She woke up and won't go back to sleep. She is trying to bite my fingers too. She has two small, sharp teeth now and is attempting to use them on my hands.

I was hoping for more answers by now on this upcoming change, but I don't have any more yet. I wish we could get some answers so that I could begin making plans one way or the other. I hate waiting.

One change coming is I have been asked to accept a new calling at church. I did accept it, but after this week, I might not be able to do it. Apparently, the Bishop approved me with one condition, that my children not accompany to the various meetings. This was all ok because Hubby said he would watch kids and support me, but now....

We might be moving. That is what I'm waiting on finding out. If we are, Hubby won't be around to watch kids so I can take on the new calling. So, I'm going to have to talk to Bishop tomorrow (or later today since it is now 4:01 in the morning) and see if he wants me to do this or not. If things go like they are most likely to, Hubby will leave for new job by the end of this month and I will stay behind to sell the house.

(Sarcasm) On the lighter side, (end sarcasm) we are expecting Tropical Storm Hannah to hit tonight and all day tomorrow. We are ready, but it is messing with my weekend plans.

It is now 4:05, Peanut is sitting on the floor with her toys. Why oh why is she SO wide awake?

BTW, I do eat carrots. They are the only veggie I like... And as for the Star Wars and Lord of the Rings stuff, I'm working on selling that too, but can you believe it, no one wants to buy it! (Sarcasm font again) I can't imagine why.

Changes in the works

Changes are headed our way. I won't say yet what, because nothing at all is set in stone, but there are some changes coming.

These changes are constantly in my thoughts, but I'm trying not to let them stress me out. There is nothing to stress over - yet. Hubby stresses all the time, whether he needs to or not.

Hubby fixed the toilet tonight. He has been working on it for 3 days. It has taken several trips to Lowes, some DW-40, some power tools, and lots of laying on the floor under the toilet. Some parts of the job required two people and I was happy to help when I could. We haven't been able to use that toilet since Sunday morning and Toddler has been quite disturbed by it. He had several accidents Sunday and Monday because he wouldn't go upstairs to use the potty. Well, it is usable again, thanks to a lot of dirty work from Hubby!

The jets are flying over the house this evening. The windows are rattling because they are using their burners a lot. Our house sits in the turning area they make in this direction. It is noisy and makes getting Peanut to sleep difficult. Well, the good thing is, the air show is in a couple of weeks! I can't wait. It is so much fun to sit out on the lawn and watch the F-18's, the F-20's and the Blue Angels flying over the house.

pumpkin time

We planted a pumpkin in our garden. Well, we actually planted 5 pumpkins, but only one germinated. We picked it a few weeks ago and it has been sitting pretty in our dining room, but it was time to do something with it. After much reading on the Internet I learned how to make pumpkin puree.

First, we start with our lovely pumpkin:


Next, I cut the pumpkin and took out the seeds and stringy innards. I saved about 20 seeds. We'll use these next year. As you can see, this pumpkin's insides weren't very orange, they were more white.


I placed the pumpkin half on a cookie sheet with some water and baked it for about an hour or more. This is the pumpkin after I took it out of the oven. It was very, very hot! It sat there for a while until I could pick it up to move it.


Next, I used a spoon to scoop out all the meat from the pumpkin into a strainer. I was really amazed at the amount of water in the pumpkin. After it drained for a while, I used a hand held blender and pureed it.


Today I took the puree and made a pie out of it. I got about 6-8 cups of puree from this pumpkin. I'm not exactly sure how much, but there is a lot. Half is in the freezer and half in the fridge. I'll be making pumpkin recipes for a while! I love pumpkin. And this one is my own pumpkin. I'm very happy and excited about the fruits of my garden!

mix up

The other day I asked my two year old to bring me the broom. He happily hops away and returns a few moments later with the toilet plunger.

Ewwwww

Guess we need to work on that vocabulary.

not such a rough day

Today hasn't been as tough as yesterday, thank goodness, but I haven't tried to do as much either. No laundry, no cooking, no much needed sweeping, nothing that really needed to get done.

I was chatting with my sister on the phone today and my home line phone completely died. I'm going to buy a new battery for it tomorrow. If it works with the new battery, great. If not, I guess I'll have to buy a new phone. It is amazing at all that this phone has lasted as long as it has. It went through the washing machine about a year and a half ago.

Peanut has been into eating foods lately. She grabs at the cup when I get a drink. She loves to drink from a cup. Over the weekend, Hubby gave her root beer. She loved it, but I couldn't believe he had done it. He also gave her ice cream. She loved that too. Still, no-fun-Mama is insisting that she eat baby foods like a baby should. I've given her sweet potatoes, which she really liked. Yesterday I gave her apple baby food. She didn't like that as much. Every spoonful I put into her mouth, she spit it out. Sometimes she would start spitting while the spoon was still in her mouth. I tried it again today. She is still spitting it out. I guess we'll try it again sometime this week and then move on to bananas next week. If she doesn't like those, I've got more sweet potatoes.

having a rough day

I'm having a rough day today. I need a hug. Hubby is out of town this week. That's ok with me. I'm quite independent and not afraid to be alone, if you can call being in a house with 5 kids alone. What has been hard is that my sweet baby is no longer sweet. When she turned 4 months old, she turned into something of a terror. She screams when I'm not holding her and sometimes gets so worked up that she screams when I do hold her. She doesn't like to be held while I'm sitting, either. That means when I sit down at the computer while holding her, she screams. When I sit down to watch a movie or read a book while I hold her, she screams. When I sit down to write in my journal or write the grocery list while I hold her she screams. And of course, if I put her down, she screams.

I do nothing for work or pleasure without hearing her scream. I'm frustrated at what I can't accomplish and frustrated that what I do accomplish is with a screaming soundtrack.

This evening, I got her to sleep and I was hoping to get a few things done to get the house and kids ready for bed. I had to run outside to get something that had been left. My two younger kids HAD to come with me. Because they were so slow, they let in a lot of bugs. When I got back in the house I was horrified to see my kitchen wall covered with bugs. I grabbed the fly swatter and started whacking away at the bugs. This woke up Peanut. After I finished with the bugs, I grabbed Peanut, 2 diapers and headed upstairs. My two younger kids peed in their beds last night. I had the sheets clean, but not back on the beds yet. I had to put Peanut down. She screamed non stop while I put on two sets of sheets and put some laundry away. I put diapers on the older two and as soon as I had, they both announced they needed to go potty. I took off the diapers and waited for them to pee. I got diapers back on them and headed to my room to change into PJs. Peanut screamed. All of this took about 20 minutes. I finally got Peanut to sleep and the phone rings. I go get it and it is my MIL asking what year I was born because they were inputting genealogy info into their computer. It is 9:50 at night and it woke up Peanut. That's all they wanted, my birth year and birth place. I've been married to this family for almost 12 years. You would think they would know those two things.

I got Peanut back to sleep after the phone call. I can't blame her entirely for her actions. She is teething and it hurts. She can never get in a good nap during the day. Instead of two good naps lasting several hours (like a 4 month old should have) she gets 10-15 cat naps a day, never lasting more than 15 minutes. This is thanks to loud siblings who show no respect for her or me when I ask them to please be quite. She also wakes up the moment I lay her down. It is all very frustrating to me.

Don't get me wrong, I love all my children, but I didn't plan on a fifth kid. My fourth was such a screaming terror that I knew I couldn't handle anymore. Well, Peanut decided to come along and we had a sweet first three months, but now she is following in her brother's foot steps and I'm tearing my hair out. I can't get work done around the house, I can't spend much time playing with the other kids, and I defiantly get no personal time. A friend of mine is trying desperately to get pregnant. Part of me hopes she can and a part of me that I feel really guilty about is thinking "why?" Why do you want to do this? Why do you want to be screamed at? Why do you want to never sleep? Why do you want to never have personal accomplishments again? Isn't that terrible? I'm such a horrible person for thinking that.

I know that eventually, the screaming will end. I know there is light at the end of the tunnel, because the other 4 kids reached it, but to endure this now and for the next year is so hard. I don't want to be screamed at anymore. How do I get though this next year? How can I get nothing done and feel good about it?

It is night and I'm so tired. My Peanut is sleeping in my arms while I type. Things always seem so hopeless at night. Tomorrow won't be much of a better day. I know Peanut is going to scream all day, but when the sun is out, I can handle it much better. I'm hoping the night goes smoothly and tomorrow morning comes quickly.

Poetic Thoughts

Three years ago this week, I was in Pisa, Italy. I was there for the ICOS conference (International Council for Onomasitc Studies). Onomastics is the study of names. I went alone to this conference, except for my seven month pregnant belly with kid #4. It was my second trip to Europe and there are some ways of life in Europe that I absolutely love. For one thing, you walk everywhere. I wished while I was there that I had my pedometer. I would have loved to know how many miles I walked while I was in Pisa. So, I walked back and forth to the conference several time everyday as well as all the sight seeing I did.

So, all this walking gave me much time for thought. I discovered that I had extremely poetic thoughts. My thoughts are very eloquent. I carried a journal everywhere I went. There was a lovely little park next to the building where the conference was held. It was a plaza with benches, trees, and a water fountain. On the hours they rang the bells, I could hear three to five different sets of bells ringing. It was a lovely place. So, during breaks in the conference, I would head out to the plaza, set myself on a bench under a tree and start writing. I discovered I couldn't write as poetically as I could think. I was disappointed.

I'm still that way. I think all day of great blog ideas and I think out the thought in a very elegant way. However, when I sit down to write, my time is limited by the kids. My oldest son was just in here telling me he would like a blog but doesn't know what he would put on it, but he kept talking about what he would say or wouldn't say. I finally told him to not talk to me at this moment. I can't listen and type at the same time. Then, I'm always holding Peanut (as I am now), she was asleep until this moment because Toddler decided to start throwing a loud tantrum. Well, just now all five were in here defending themselves as to why Toddler is crying. Guess what, Peanut is wide awake now and I'll never get to finish my thoughts now. I got really mad and yelled at them all to get out of this room and leave me alone.

Well, that's the end of this un-poetic thought. Ugg, I'm mad now.

laundry

You ask any stay at home mom and I'm guessing just about most any woman what is the number one thing to do on her TO DO list and the answer would be - Laundry.
Incredible isn't it?

As we are a family of seven, there is always plenty of laundry to be done. But what really amazes me is when I do mine and my husband's laundry. Hubby wears two sets of clothes a day, a suit and tie to work and then short or pants and t-shirts at home. I wear one set of clothes each day.

So, why in the world when I do our laundry is my pile twice as big as his? I don't get it.

My 4 year old always has the biggest pile. She loves to wear and change clothes and she dumps all the clothes she wears all over her floor. When I go to collect laundry from her room, I'm never sure if I'm getting dirty or clean clothes. In the end, it all gets washed and she has a pile that is bigger than anyone elses.

I'm not even going to into what odd little things I find in the laundry, like toys and rocks. And the missing socks.... well, I have a basket where I collect them and then after a while I'll go though the basket and match socks, but there are always a few with no match. Where did they go?

I think aliens are the cause of the laundry oddness.

1st tooth

Yesterday Peanut spent the day very upset. Now, she has the most wonderful personality and I know that when she acts that way, something is bothering her. With my 2 year old, he just cried all the time and I never knew why. So, this morning, she got me up very early (sigh) and she was chewing on my hand and she has a tooth! It has only just come in, but it is there. Her first tooth. I'm sure the one next to it is on it's way as well. She has been in a better mood today, but not her usual happy self so I believe the other tooth is making it's way in. I love toothless grins and I'm sad to see it end so soon, but I also love toothy grins.

Kilts and skirts

Back to some random thoughts!

Several weeks ago, I was out running an errand for Hubby and I was coming up to a red light. In the lane to my right, just in front of me we two men on motorcycles. One of them was wearing a kilt. It was black and I was very amused. Well, to tell the truth, my first thought was, how does he keep his kilt from flying up while he rides his motorcycle? But as I passed him, I saw he was sitting on it in the middle, holding it down. Smart. I'm not sure if kilts are becoming a fashionable thing to wear or not, but I could understand their appeal.

I prefer to wear a skirt. I wear them more days than not. I wear them with my T-shirt and tennis shoes. I mow in my skirts, I take walks in my skirts, I just prefer skirts right now. The ones I have a long, black, stretchy and comfy. I just am more comfortable in my skirts than pants right now. I could see why some me are wearing kilts more.

I read an article recently and I'm afraid I don't remember where it was from, but a man who works for the Postal Service is asking that a regulation kilt be added to the dress code. I have no preference to this. I wouldn't mind my postman wearing a kilt. But then, I am of Scottish heritage and the idea of kilts appeals to my Scottish side.

There is no point to this. I like skirts and I could see why men would be attracted to kilts. I wish my hubby liked them, but he is the last person in the world I could see in a kilt. Military men just aren't the kind who would wear kilts. True be told, I wish the style of clothes like the men wear in the Lord of the Rings movies were culturally acceptable. I really like the way men look in tunics. :)

the neglected blog

I have had lots of thoughts and no chance to write. Peanut doesn't let me do much. She is sleeping right now and as long as her siblings are respectful and don't wake her up, I am trying to do some things I've put off because they require two hands. If I try to type while holding her, she whacks my hands, or tries to squirm off my lap, requiring me to catch her with both hands. Typing with her is almost impossible.

Peanut is a sweet baby. I can't believe how good she is. The other four were never this good. She is ready to crawl. You can see it in her eyes. She wants so much to just crawl away. She'll lay on her tummy with her arms and legs just going, like she is swimming. Someday she'll figure it out. She is trying solid foods now, officially. (I won't go into what that means) She hates the rice cereal. Can you blame her? It tastes like cardboard. She loves the sweet potatoes.

Well, Princess just made Toddler scream like a banshee (she took a toy of his) and has now woken up Peanut. UGGG! I can never get a break.

The summer is going along nicely. Only two weeks left before school starts. We couldn't go anywhere for a summer vacation, but having a vehicle to just run errands or go to the park in has been great. I'm thinking of taking the kids to the beach next week. I really don't like going to the beach. I hate the sandy mess and I hate trying to keep an eye out for two great swimmers in the water, an eye on a four year old who is incredibly independent and just wants to do her own thing where ever she wants to do it, and keep an eye on a two year old who is doing his own thing. All this while trying my hardest to keep the sun off the 4 month old with no umbrella of any kind. It is way to stressful a trip for me, but the kids love it and we live just 5 miles away from the coast. It will be a much more fun trip to make when they are all a bit older.

I've had all sorts of random thoughts to write about, but Peanut is crying now and I can't write. Well, my time bomb has gone off and I must go.

Kids

As always, things here are busy. Summer is flying by quickly. We have 4 weeks left before school starts again. I wish I could have done more with the kids this summer, like swim lessons or something, but not having a vehicle made it impossible for me to do that when summer began. Now I do have a van to drive around in, but to conserve gas, we don't go anywhere unless we need to. So, home we stay and find plenty to do here.

The oldest two love to swim each day in our pool. Unfortunately, my 8 year old son developed an ear infection. I figured it was just swimmers ear. Well, I was surprised to find out that he has inner ear infections in both ears. Those don't seem to be bothering him, though, thank goodness. So, he has some meds. Mostly, he is just upset that he can't get his head underwater while swimming.

I'm trying to get my oldest son to write a couple of thank you letters and to write them in cursive. He is refusing to do them. He hardly knows how to write in cursive (and he is going into 5th grade) but his printing is SO sloppy, it is unreadable. I'm still amazed at what he was allowed to get away with last year. He is waiting for his class assignment for next year. He is really hoping to be in the same class as his two best friends, but I don't think he will be. His best friends are in the gifted class and getting all A's while he is in a regular class and barely pulling B's and C's. He could easily get A's in the gifted class if he would apply himself, but he hates to work and so he accepts his low grades. I have much to say on this, but Peanut is screaming in my arms and I will have to cut it short.

Peanut had her 4 month check up yesterday. She is 15 lbs, 1 oz now! She is 27 inches long. She is a big, healthy, little girl. She screams way to much, but she isn't as bad as Toddler was at her age. She sleeps through the night most nights too. She is my first to sleep through the night before they are two. Well, it is near impossible to write now because of her.

Later....

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...

Peanut's progress

Well, Peanut is almost 3 months old. I think she has officially reached 12 weeks old, but she isn't 3 months old until next week. It is hard to believe how fast the time has gone. It is like she has been a part of my life forever, not just three months.

Peanut has two favorite things - her fingers and ceiling fans. She loves to munch on her fingers. They are in her mouth all the time. She doesn't suck on them, she munches and gums them. She also LOVES to watch ceiling fans go round and round. How great life is when munching on your fingers and watching a rotating fan makes you happy.

Peanut has been in the terrible twos (months that is). No, it isn't really terrible, but she can and does throw tantrums. This morning, I had her laying on the couch and I was sitting right there next to her. I was folding laundry and chatting with Peanut when she started to fuss. She had had enough of laying down. Of course, it doesn't matter to her that I have been holding her non-stop for 2 hours, and I set her down so I could do some much needed folding. Well, as I was saying, she was done and wanted to be picked up. I didn't and she got madder and madder until I had finished and stood up to put away dish towels. That was it for her. She was furious I had left her and she screamed. What was really funny is that she had just stuck her fist in her mouth. She is screaming at me now, even though I'm holding her. She is throwing a 1st class tantrum.

How fast they grow.

Regrets

We all have things we regret. I certainly have my share. There are many from my life BC (Before Children)that I have regrets over and many more since. Most of the time my regrets are over big things like I regret not going for a Masters degree before having kids. Today, however, I regret something on a much smaller scale. I regret taking a shower.

All I wanted was a few kid free minutes to shower, clean, think clearly and enjoy some needed peace. When I came out of the shower and in the process of dressing, I get a knock at the bedroom door. "Mom, Toddler pooped on the floor!" I groan, "I'll be right there!" I come out of my room to see poop on the floor just at the top of the stairs, I look in his room and poop is on the bed, the floor, a blanket. I gather up the dirty things and start cleaning the floors. I go down stairs and I see huge smears of poop on the floor. Peanut is laying within 2 feet of the stinky stuff. I move her, and look at the damage. Someone had taken a dry dish towel to the poo and had tried to clean it. It didn't work and poo got all over the towel and smeared into the carpet more. I look at Toddler. My mind is in a fury. I yell, "Go upstairs now and get in the tub!" He covers his ears and runs off into the family room. "NO!!!" I run and grab him, his shirt is covered in poo as well as his hands. I grab him and carry him up the stairs. I throw him into the tub, turn on the water and leave to gather more cleaning supplies. After turning off the water I told him not to get out of the tub and I ran back down stairs to clean up the floor.

Ug, I hate the smell, I hate the sight. It is gross. After getting the floor cleaned, I washed my hands and started a load of poo laundry. I wash my hands again and run back upstairs to clean Toddler who is sitting patiently in the tub. By the time he is clean and I'm back downstairs, Peanut was screaming. She had been ignored quite long enough. I cuddled her and smelled her sweetness and sat down to feed her. I sat there wishing I had never gone upstairs to shower. How dare I think I could have a few minutes of peace. I should know better than that by now. I should know that whenever I try to do something for myself the kids make me regret it.

A view of the world from a 4 year old's eyes

My daughter loves to take pictures with my cell phone camera. Luckily it holds a lot of pictures. Most of the pictures are very fuzzy and most are close up of things that are silly, like a close up of the play button on the DVD player or a doorknob. Some of her pictures are interesting and I get to see the world through her eyes. I wanted to share some of her pictures, my budding photographer.
Eye level with the trampoline

Eye level with the kitchen counter

An interesting picture of her foot and teddy bear on the stairs. Is this abstract art?

Out on our walk, she was taking pictures. I like this one, even though it is sideways, it shows these signs from an interesting perspective.

The Yelling Printer

We have a printer. It yells at me. For whatever strange reason, the people who developed the printer decided a voice should tell me when the printer is beginning, when the printer is finished and when the printer needs more paper. The printer's manly voice comes out of the speakers. This is a problem when I'm listening to music on the computer and then need to print something. Because the speakers are on and turned up for the music's sake, I hear the printer yell at me, "PRINTING STARTED!" If I don't turn down the speakers while the printer is printing so I can continue to listen to music, when it is all done, I hear it yell, "PRINTING COMPLETE!"

The worst is when I don't have any music on, I'm holding a sleeping baby, I need to print something, and the speakers are on and turned up and I'm not aware of the speakers being on. When the printer yells at me to tell me that it is getting ready to print, it makes me jump and wakes the baby. Then, if the printer is out of paper and I haven't turned the speakers down yet it yells, "PLEASE LOAD PAPER IN AUTO SHEET FEEDER!"

My kids and I laugh a lot about the yelling printer and they get a kick out of me imitating the printer when it yells. I make it sound like a Drill Sergent. Still, who ever decided that the printer needs to talk to me was obviously some absent minded computer nerd with no children.

our outing

This morning I wanted to run a few errands. The problem is, I don't have a car. There is a Lowes, Farm Fresh and Big Lots with in easy (relatively) walking distance. The walk isn't far and I enjoy long walks, but it is on a very busy, noisy street with cars going 45 mph along the road. It makes me a bit nervous to walk, but the walk itself is pleasant and easy. Anyway... I had a few things at Lowes to look at and I'm out of dish washing detergent. I put Toddler in the front of the double stroller, Princess in the back part of the stroller and wrapped Peanut to me with our wrap. With a bag of water bottles hanging from the stroller and my cell phone with an ear piece so I could listen to music, we headed out.

The day is warm and sunny, in the low 80s. My ear piece keeps falling out of my ear. My ear is just way to tiny for normal sized ear pieces. We make it to Lowes just fine, but Peanut started to slip down in the wrap. Instead of being wrapped around my chest, she slid down to my stomach. Once inside Lowes, I readjusted the wrap and made it tighter. That worked. We did our errands and came back home. It was pleasant. I should do that more often, but I hate the traffic noise and I have to cross two busy streets to get there. Complain, complain....

The dentist office called me today and told me my kids and myself are really over due for cleanings. I explained I can't set up appointments because I have no transportation at all. I don't think they believe me. I mean really, who is a one car family these days? Us. I had to cancel a follow up appointment for Peanut for the same reason. It is really a pain, but you know at the same time, I don't mind. Dentist and doctors don't really need us to come in as often as they want us too. They just want our money. So not having a car is a great excuse to not go.

We are still doing the cloth diapers with Peanut. I stopped doing them for a while, not because I didn't want to do the CD, but because we were given so many size 1 diapers for gifts after Peanut was born, I wanted to use them. They are suppose to go up to 12 lbs and Peanut is over 12 lbs now. I've used most of them now. I just have one package left and I use them at night or at church or on these long outings. The rest of the time I use cloth and that is going very well. I love using the Snappi instead of pins. A couple of times Peanut will fall asleep and take a long, long nap in her cloth diaper and wake up with wet clothes because she finally leaked, but that's alright. I just change her and put the wet clothes in the washing machine. It is going well.

I'm potty training Toddler. He is young at 2 1/2, but he is doing quite well. He has his good days and his not so good days. When he makes it to the potty, he gets 4 M&Ms and he loves getting those treats. When he wears his underwear, he is more likely to have an accident because he seems to think it is like a diaper. So, I let him run naked most of the time in the house and he is more likely to make it to the potty. It's not a pretty sight, but it works.

OK, I think that's all for now. Hubby wants me to pickle the green beans that we have harvested from our garden. I was planning on doing that today, but I don't have enough vinegar. I'll have to run out tonight I guess and pick some up, then I can pickle stuff tomorrow.

Conversation:

8 Year old: Mom, what's this word? (He is working on his summer math sheets)
Me: Survey
8 Year old: What's a survey?
Me: It is when you ask lots of people a question and find out their answer, like asking everyone what their favorite cookie is.

8 Year old walks away, 10 year old having hear the conversation from the kitchen comes in.

10 Year old son: I've experienced lots of surveys, at least 2.
Me: (suppress giggle) Really? Two?

Smokey Air

We've had some icky air lately. Thanks to a brush fire in the Great Dismal Swamp located in the state south of us, we have had smokey air for about a week. It is stinky! The air is just smokey, you can see the haze in the air that is smoke floating north. Saturday was really bad, and we spent a good part of the day outside. The boys went fishing. Every time the doors were opened and closed, a wave of smoke smell came into the house. Saturday night or early Sunday morning, we had rain. It washed away the smoke and Sunday was pleasant. Monday morning was good too. The air was clear and I was hanging laundry out. A little after lunch, I hung out some laundry and was sweaty from the hot, humid, summer air. I ran upstairs to shower. When I came back down, the air was hazy again. I thought it must be just humidity hanging thick in the air. My hubby called me from work and asked if it was as smokey here as it was at his work. I opened the door and was knocked over by the smokey smell. I ran out to the back yard and quickly pulled the laundry off the line. Luckily, it didn't smell too bad as the smoke had only just rolled in.

Last night I woke up around midnight to a most magnificent storm. The wind was blowing so hard that the trees were all bending to the side. Rain pounded at our doors and window and the lightning storm was fantastic. I opened the window curtains so I could watch the storm. I thought how great the air will be in the morning after the storm passes. This wind and air are just going to blow that smoke away.

The sun lights the sky at 5:30. I woke up and held Peanut as the sun rose. Looking out at the window I realized the smoke was still hanging in the air. I can smell the smoke in my kitchen. Ug. I had hoped the storm would take care of it, but it didn't. More smoke blew in with the storm.

I'm trying to keep the kids in the house, especially Peanut. I don't need her developing asthma or some other respiratory illness due to all this smokey air. She has a cough and congested chest already. Poor baby, only two months old and she has had several colds and now this flemmy cough. Also, it isn't easy keeping the 5 kids happy in the house all day. There is school work to do in the morning and chores, but after lunch, they feel the cabin fever and my nerves start to twitch as they run through the house in the afternoon, chasing each other with dart guns. I sure hope (they) get this fire taken care of so we can have clean air again and I can send the older kids out to play - for my sanity....

Watch out, I've added music!

I added a music play list to my blog. Don't worry, it starts with a quiet song. I can't stand when I'm surfing blogs at night or when I'm holding my sleeping baby and suddenly rock music blasts out at me. So, I'm warning you now, there is music, but it is peaceful and quiet. Nothing I added has words either, just instrumental music. Well, enjoy and if it is really annoying, I'll get rid of it.

our growing garden

I just wrote this great post about our garden and I accidentally lost it. AHHHH!

OK, so, our garden is growing. First is the dill. I had no idea how tall dill can grow. It is as tall as my toddler!

Next are some beans we are growing. Some of them are ready to be harvested, so I went out today and picked the first "fruits" of our veggie garden. Aren't they pretty?


What are they and what do I do with them now? Do I just eat them as is? Am I suppose to open them and get the little seeds out?

We also have carrots. They aren't suppose to be picked for another month or two, but I had to see one, so I picked one of the smaller plants and pulled out a carrot! It is tiny, but it is really a real carrot!


We are also growing cucumbers (to combine with the dill and make pickles), tomatoes, onions and pumpkins. I'm so excited to see it all grow. Now only if I liked to eat vegetables....

to blog or not to blog...

I've been debating lately whether to keep this blog or not. I sure enjoy writing in it and that should be reason enough, but when no one reads it, is it worth the time taken to write?

Nothing really has been going on. School is still in session for three more days and then the kids are finally out for the summer break. I look forward to it. It has been hard to get the kids to go to bed when it is still light out and twilight is streaming through the windows. It is nice for me. I like to get up when the sun rises and the days being so long, I can stay out later in the evenings if I wish. I'm not comfortable getting out alone or with kids once it is dark. That is tough in the winter time when it is dark by 4:30pm. We don't live in the greatest of neighborhoods and I don't like going out once the sun is down.

Last week on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, it was warm to hot, in the high 80's, low 90's, then on Thursday summer hit and hit hard! It is in the low 100s until about 5 in the evening now. I want to line dry my clothes, but I don't like going out in the super high temps and humidity. When I was a teen, our girls camp was in July - one of the hottest months in Texas. Yet, I camped all week, slept in a hot, muggy tent and was just fine. I guess I'm a wimp now.

Well, for not being sure if I want to continue doing this blog, I sure did type a lot didn't I?

Boy forks and Girl forks

In our house, we have boy forks and girl forks, according to my 4 year old daughter. She really doesn't like to eat with a boy fork.

What is a boy fork and a girl fork? I'll show you:

Do you see the difference? The fork on the left is a girl fork - it has decorations on the handle. The fork on the right is a boy fork - it is plain.

This goes for other silverware and dishes. Some of my Correll dishes have purple flowers on them and some are plain white. My daughter prefers to eat on the purple flowered plates or bowls - the girl dishes. So, now for her, we have to coordinate her place setting. Girl plate, girl fork, girl bowl, girl spoon.

Luckily for me, the boys in the house don't care what kind of place setting they get, as long as they get to eat!

chatter box

My daughter has been talking non stop to me for probably 45 minutes. She is still going. It doesn't matter what I'm doing, she has just been by my side chatting. She requires very little response, which makes it nice. It's a lot like Anne in Anne of Green Gables, but my four year old isn't quite so creative.

Although, in a creative moment,she was telling me "my heart is thinking of beauty" while she was beading a bracelet.

CrockPot experiment

After seeing the blog about the one year of using the crock pot, I got inspired. Maybe I should try something new. My great idea? Bread! Whole wheat bread, at that.

First, I looked at the recipe and dumped all the stuff into the crock pot. Then I continued reading the recipe and realized I was suppose to do the mixing in a bowl and put the dough into a bread pan and put the bread pan in the crock pot. Huh? OK, so I emptied the crock pot into a bowl, finished mixing it, cleaned out the crock pot, greased a bread pan, put the dough into the pan and carefully placed the pan inside the crock pot. I was amused and curious.

Here is the bread in the crock pot.


Two and a half hours later, my timer went off and I opened the crock pot. I was amused and horrified at what I saw.


It didn't bake all the way through, as you can easily see from the sink hole that formed in the bread. I'll stick it in a normal oven and see if I can't get it to bake the rest of the way. The bread overflowed into the crock pot and now I've got to clean it again.

Oh well, it was worth a try. Am I discouraged from using the crock pot in unusual ways? Not at all. Next time I try a new crock pot recipe, it will be apple honey oatmeal for breakfast. The problem I'm seeing though, is it is suppose to cook for five hours. That means to have breakfast by 7 a.m., the crock pot needs to be started at 2 in the morning. Maybe 10 hours on low is the same as 5 on high? I'll let you know when I make the oatmeal. Until then, we'll eat our um... bread.

Use your CrockPot

Check out this website:

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

This lady is using her CrockPot every day this year. She has some fun looking recipes - breakfasts, dinners, desserts, soups, and more!

new do and bird update

Today I got a hair cut. The first hair cut in I think two years. I've trimmed it once in a while, but it was long, long, long and heavy. It was always tangled and I kept it in a bun or braided down the back to keep it out of my way. Today, I had had enough. I donated 10 inches to Locks of Love! I'm so happy about that. I hope it can be used for someone. My hair now rest on my shoulders. It looks better and it feels light and looks good again. I'm excited about my new do.

So, I took off over 10 inches of hair and then I was thinking it is time to start taking inches off my body. To bad taking inches off my body isn't as easy as a haircut.

Our attack bird has nothing to protect anymore. The three baby birds have flown the nest. The mockingbird is still hanging out in the tree, but it is not there quite as much and do not attack quite as often, although it swooped at my head today when I was taking out the trash. I'm glad that those birds are grown and gone. I was getting really sick of the attack mockingbird.

Well, off to fix dinner...

Nice weekend

We had a very nice weekend here. It was a special one. Hubby's mother came to spend 9 days with us and it was a nice visit. Then on Friday was my son's 8th birthday. He had a fun day and for dinner we had BBQ steak and ribs. For the last two years he has had a cheesecake instead of a cake. We all like this better. This year was a white chocolate cheesecake with white chocolate sauce. Mmmmmm!

On Saturday, my parents and grandmother came from Texas. That evening was my son's baptism! It was such a nice event. My father gave a talk, my mother gave a prayer and my m-i-l played the piano. I conducted music, Hubby baptised and confirmed our son and our entire family sang a song for a musical number. After the baptism, we went to Red Robin for dinner and some tasty hamburgers.

On Sunday, Peanut was blessed during Sacrament Meeting. Her blessing was given by Hubby and it was very, very nice. Such a sweet baby girl and a blessing to match. My m-i-l left right after church. My family left yesterday morning to head back to Texas.

It was a whirlwind weekend of family and special events. Such a great weekend, but I'm glad it's all done now. I'm happy to start getting us back into a routine. Three weeks until school is out. My boys are so excited! Little do they know what I've got planned for them this summer...

See the attack bird

Beware of this bird:

Don't mess with it's nest or go anywhere in a hundred yard radius, you will be attacked. This evening, as we were headed out, my two brave sons, armed with sticks, stood in the yard and protected me and Peanut as we made our way to the SUV. My heroes!

When Mockingbirds Attack!

Our not-so-friendly mockingbird is still attacking and with more agression than ever. It has actually hit my hubby in the back several times and it got my mother-in-law on the head. Of course, she was trying to look in the nest at the time. I do what I can to avoid the nest, but the bird still comes after me. Now there are two of them watching over the nest and attacking. I've started carrying a broom when I go outside. It still flies at me, but a swing of the broom forces the bird to quickly change it's course or be smacked. I found that just holding the broom in the air usually keeps it from coming at me at all, but not always. I can't wait for those baby birds to grow up!

I took a picture of our bird, but I can't find the camera at the moment, maybe later I'll post a mug shot of the attack bird.

What else? My mother-in-law is in town for 9 days. It is a pleasent visit. Tomorrow we'll go to the Botanical Gardens.

My seven year old will be seven for only a few more days. His 8th birthday is on Friday and we are all very excited. I haven't shopped for him at all yet. I really couldn't think of anything to get him. When he plays, he plays with a toy sword and jumps on the trampoline. He wants a watch. Since we've been learning about time here at homeschool, getting him a watch will be fun. Speaking of this kiddo, about a week and a half ago, he lost a tooth. This morning he told me the tooth fairy still hasn't come. (OOOPS!) What kind of a mother, I mean, a tooth fairy am I? I was so good about my oldest when he lost his teeth. I haven't done very well with the second kid. What is it going to be like when Peanut looses her teeth? I think tooth fairy might just have to write her a check for all the teeth she will loose in her lifetime and put the check under the pillow. Then the tooth fairy won't have to feel bad about falling behind again.

This Saturday is my son's baptism. We are excited for this special time in his life. On Sunday, we'll bless Peanut. My parents and grandmother are coming in on Saturday for the two special occasions. How neat it will be for my son and Peanut to have two grandmothers, one grandfather and a great-grandmother here for their special days. You can be sure there will be many photos being taken those two days.

Hubby and I went and saw Prince Caspian. It was great. I can't wait to see it again. That is definatly a DVD I'll buy. I don't go to the movies often, about once to twice a year. This year, though, I'm planning on three movies at the theater. I already saw Prince Caspian. In July I want to see Mama Mia (provided the rating is acceptable) and I want to see Harry Potter. I think that comes out at the end of this year, but I'm not entirly sure. So, those are my big movie plans for the year.

Beware of attack bird

Vicious attack Mockingbird - that's what we have in our yard. Last week, I was out in the front yard with my daughters. I was holding Peanut and talking with Princess. There was a mockingbird in the tree in our yard. It was squawking and fanning it's tail at us. I thought, how strange, I thought mockingbirds made pretty sounds. I went over to the Azalea bush in the yard and started pulling off the dead flowers from it. Suddenly, I was swooped at by the mockingbird. It came at me twice. I ran to the front door and called for Princess to come too. I assumed the bird had a nest in the bush and was protecting it. I told hubby about it. He laughed.

Several days later, I pointed out the bird to my hubby. Later that day, hubby was taking out some trash to the large trash cans. They are in the drive way on the other side of the bush. The mockingbird dove at him, twice. I looked up mockingbirds on Wikipedia, it had this to say:

"The Northern Mockingbird builds a twig nest in a dense shrub or tree. It aggressively defends this nest and the surrounding area against other birds and animals, including humans."

We leave the bush alone, but it is the the surrounding area that is a problem. It is our front door and driveway where we part the van. Also, to walk out to the mailbox, you enter the domain of the bird. The bird is extremely aggressive. It has come after me a number of times, hubby and several of the children. Anytime we open the front door, the mocking bird is there, in the tree watching us and squawking. It chased me down to the mailbox this morning and watched me like a hawk as I went back to the house. I went way out of the way into the yard to avoid the attack area.

So, if you come to visit my house, beware of the attack bird. I hope those eggs hatch soon. Going out to the van and buckling my kids in their car seats is getting dangerous with the attack bird coming after you. I think the next time I go out, I'm taking a broom. This is my house, My Nest and from now on, I'm going to aggressively protect my nest and my hatchling's!


photo from Wikipedia

Double the dessert, double the fun

Last night we had some friends over for FHE and dessert. I planned on making brownies. I pulled out my cook book, opened it to the brownie page and I started getting things ready. Once I had the bowl in place, I started in on the recipe. It wasn't until I got to the last ingredient, chocolate chips, that I realized something was wrong. I didn't think this brownie recipe had chocolate chips and I never put any cocoa powder in the bowl to make the brownies. I reread the recipe several times. There was no call for cocoa powder. Finally, I looked at the name of the recipe and there I discovered I had made chocolate chip cookies, the recipe on the opposite page of the brownies! Oh well. So, I finished mixing the cookies, pulled out a new bowl and started the brownies. It all worked out just fine. The guest had a choice of dessert and I had enough leftover cookies that I was able to bag them up for my son and hubby to take to school and work in their lunches.

At least I didn't get the recipes mixed up. That would have been messy.

A true series of randomness

I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day. My day was very nice. Hubby did dishes for all the meals! I love it when he does dishes. I hate that chore. Hubby is arranging for a house cleaner to come in a few times. I have mixed emotions on that. I am embarrassed because I'm home all day, I should be able to clean everything. Second, when she does come, I have this feeling that I should clean before she arrives. However, if she does bathrooms, I would be so happy. I hate cleaning bathrooms, especially the kids. Also if she dusts, that would be fantastic. Most of the house isn't that dusty and it is nothing that I can't keep up with, but my hubby's computer room is a different story. He collects Lord of the Rings and Star Wars nic-nacs and toys and they are all displayed in the computer room. They are always covered in dust and I don't want to mess with them. They are his toys and collections and I think he should take care of them. So, I might have clean bathrooms and a dust free computer room. That will be so nice.

On Friday, I attended a girls night out at the church. We were about 25 women there from about 6 pm until midnight. It was lots of fun. One thing I did there was paint my nails bright red. I came home and my hubby saw them. He called them devil's claws. I really like the red, but it startles me each time I see my hands. It is so strange. I've never been one to paint my nails much, but to go bright red? It is shocking.

Have you ever seen older ladies who are what you might call eccentric? I'm sure you've seen them, they have a pony tail on the top of their head, wear 50 gold bracelets on each arm and drive a red convertable? Or the lady at the restaurant with leopard print clothes and enough bangles to make a gypsy jealous? When I get old and eccentric, I want to wear big hats and red lipstick. Wouldn't that be great?

I saw a blog where they talked about being a one car family. It said there are more cars than drivers in the US. I would believe it. The family across the street from me has at least 5 cars. We are a one car family, but it is not because we wish to be "green". I would love a second car. We are a family of 7, so we need to have a big vehicle to get our family around. Big vehicles = big gas prices. I would love a second car for several reasons. One, so hubby can drive his 60 miles of commute each day and save money in the gas prices. Second, so I can have a way to get out of the house. I don't need to go somewhere everyday and I wouldn't spend just a lot of time out and about, but it would be so nice to get out if I needed to, or to take the kids to the gardens once in a while (they get cabin fever too), or if there was an emergency, I could get out and take care of it. As it is, I'm stuck at home, while hubby drives our huge family SUV, puts a ton of miles and a ton of gas and money on the thing. I think we would be more "green" if we had a 2nd vehicle than we currently are as a single car family.

Peanut had a rough evening last night. She screamed and cried for hours. This is very unusual for her. Something must have hurt. I don't know what, but something had to have hurt. Poor baby. At least this morning she is sleeping and acting normal. Hopefully, whatever it was that hurt is gone.

It is mid May, almost. Last week we had temps in the 80s. Now it is in the 50's. I don't mind, although it does feel more like an October day outside rather than a May day. Anyway, I looked at the temp on the weather.com site. It says it is 52 degrees and it feels like it is 52 degrees, but the wind is blowing 17 miles an hour. I'm sorry weather station, but when it is 52 degrees and the wind is blowing almost 20 miles an hour, it doesn't feel like it is 52 degrees outside - it feels much, much colder.

Well, I think I've taken care of most of the random thoughts floating about my mind. If not, I'll be back.

diapering

I've started using cloth diapers on Peanut. I'm not very good about remembering to change her as often as I should, which means I end up changing her outfits as well as her diapers when it starts to leak. Still, I've been happy using the cloth. While searching the Internet for the plastic pants that go over the cloth, I found a neat little invention that is called Snappi. It takes away the use of pins in the cloth diapers. I ordered one, to test it out. It arrived a week ago and I'm loving it. It is such a handy little device.
See the little pink Snappi?


I still use regular diapers at nights and for church.

Gosh, I've had so many ideas lately and I can't remember them by the time I finally get to sit down and write. Today has been a tough day. It is one of those days when I'm ready to throw in the diapers and say "I'm done!" Really, the day has been a normal day with a few of the normal kid "crisis" thrown in. It is just I'm in a not so happy mood today and I'm not coping well with the normal stuff, much less the crisis going on.

Why does a day like this have to happen so close to Mother's Day? On a day that I should feel happy for the choices I've made to be a mother and a stay-at-home mother at that, I am instead feeling very inadequate and like a failure. Like I said, I'm just having a cloudy kind of day. I would love to go sit in my room, alone, for about an hour (or two). No kids, no one allowed to bang at the door, and I want to write. I just want a little bit of peace to rejuvenate and feel creative.

Well, Peanut has woken up, thanks to Princess. Right now, Princess yells everything she says, often waking Peanut and often making my ears ache with her volume. OK, time for Peanut.

Smiles

My sweet baby is now 5 weeks old. She has left behind the newborn and turned into a baby. She smiled today, a lot. She has been giving us random smiles off and on for a few weeks. Today, though, she smiled at daddy when he talked to her. She smiled at me when I came into view. She smiled at the angles that seem to live over my shoulder and right behind me. Peanut if often looking very intently just over my shoulder and talking. I'm guessing she is still seeing her gaurdian angles. I love her sweet smiles and I can't wait to see more of them.

Well, I was ready to do a month of limited grocery spending. I had most of the foods necessary to make it through the entire month without buying much more and it would cost us around $250. Well, hubby decided on Saturday last that we were going to have our first BBQ party of the year. He invited 3 or 4 families from church. Then, last night he went shopping. He had my short list of things we needed. Instead he came home with 20 bags and I'm sure the budget I had planned for the month was probably more than doubled. Well, it should be a great BBQ and pot luck!

I hate car seats!

I've got three kids in car seats now. Princess is in a booster, Toddler is in a regular car seat and Peanut is in an infant. Our family vehicle at the moment is a large SUV. Because it is so tall, I half to climb into it to buckle anyone in. Princess is getting better at being able to buckle herself in, but about half of the time, she still needs help. To help her, I have to go to the other side of the SUV from where Toddler and Peanut are and climb into the vehicle. Peanut's car seat is an old infant carrier. I won't say how old, I might get in trouble. The SUV is too high and she is in on the drivers side which means I have to use my left hand to pull out the car seat. Because of the height of the SUV, I can't lift the car seat out. That means, when I'm alone out with the kids, I just have to take her out of the car seat and leave the car seat in the van. Not easy when you are going grocery shopping.

To get everyone in their seats and everyone out of their seats takes quite a bit of time. Everytime I'm dealing with this all I can do is grumble, I hate car seats.



Can you imagine sleeping like that? At least she is legally buckled in.

garden, budget and other ramblings

I've sat down many times in the last week to write, but I never get to do it. I've usually got Peanut in my arms, like now, and it makes it so hard to type.

Peanut is growing fast. She is leaving that newborn stage and is becoming a true baby. She sleeps less and fusses more. Her face is very round and her eyes are still brown. I love her. I've had lots of thoughts about her and babies in general lately, but now that I sit here to type, I can't remember any of it. Oh well.

The garden we planted is growing. I want to start a few more rows of things. It is funny, I hate veggies, but I'm so excited about this garden. Hubby and I keep talking about our longing for a "homestead" where we can raise chickens and have a much bigger garden. I would like some fruit trees as well. If there is enough room, I would like to have a dairy cow. We go through so many eggs and so much milk. We will continue to dream for now.

Through some good friends, I'm finding various food programs in the area that provide food for good prices. There is a bread thing here where every Saturday morning at 8 am sharp, you can go get free bread. I love that! I go once a month and get enough to last all month long. I just stick a lot into the freezer. Another friend just introduced me to the SHARE program. For $19 I'll chicken thighs, chicken nuggets, beef steaks, Italian sausage, frozen waffles, 3 lbs of potatoes, and 3-4 various fruits and veggies. I'm excited to get the package in two weeks. I'm working hard to stretch our food budget. I'm hoping to spend no more than $200-250 on food for our family this month. Hubby wants to do a big BBQ party with lots of friends. That wasn't included into the budget. As long as he doesn't have the idea that we are providing meat for everyone. That would kill our budget. Still, I'm hoping to keep our personal budget down. Two hundred and fifty doesn't get much for a family of 7. We'll see, we'll see.....

OK, Peanut has had enough of me typing. Time to rotate laundry and check on the kids.