I Hate You!

Music to my ears. Daniel is the genuis composer. The melody is ringing through the house and yard. What a lovely sound. It goes along so well with the screaming that all his siblings (well, not Joseph) do when he's near. It's the accompaniment to the destruction he creates as he swaggers around the house. It's the fire that heats up my anger and causes my blood pressure to rise. It's the overture to his time out and finale of his freedom. It's true head banging music!

Holy Cow!

Let me just say that Tuesday was a nasty day. I had invited a woman and her 4-year-old daughter over to play so that we could get to know them better. When she gets here to play, Leah says she doesn't want to play! Great. I'm already embarrassed. (This is the same moment that Chad and his partner are outside with a .22. Read the next post for that info.)

We went downstairs and visited for the next 2 hours.

Daniel was BEASTLY. He was naughty with a grin. I wanted to strangle him. He tried to steal my seat when I got up. He grabbed a chunk of my cheek and shook my face. When I sent him to his room, he sat on the stairs and made me count to three. (Oddly enough, that worked. I can't understand why it does. It's not like I'm going to think of anything new when I get to three!)

He next came downstairs with a set of blinds that had come down earlier that day. I sent him BACK to his room and he came down about 10 minutes later with several of the slats from the blinds CUT OFF!!!! Why is he doing this to me? I'm sure this woman thought I was a very ineffective parent to have such horrid child. OH, the things I could have done to that child if there wasn't a witness nearby!

So as our visitors are leaving, the kids say, "Mommy, there's cows in the front yard!" By this time I've really run out of patience and don't want to deal with any more cheeky children. But sure enough, there were two young calves in the front corner of our yard! So I called Chad to brainstorm with him what to do. Meanwhile, two teenagers are driving around the area already working on that task and do locate the owner. He's had it with these two troublesome calves and offers to sell them. Right about that time, Chad pulls up. So we bought two calves! As far as I can tell, they are both female. They are still skittish and hard get real close to. The guy that sold them to us didn't ever bother to check.

Here are the 2 runaways. They've been named (unofficially) Rose and Peony...in honor of the flowers they crushed when they rested in my front yard.















So now our farm consists of cows, lambs, chicks (growing so quickly), rabbits, cats and a dog. We have other unwelcome pests. (Read on.)


















We are seeing some growth in our garden. We're mostly seeing weeds growing, but we're out there nearly every morning to work on it, so it shouldn't get too bad.















My dad came for a visit on Thursday. He came to Daniel's PeeWee Family Night. The kids love it when Grandpa Peterson visits!















I even participated in the game. Chad got a picture of me in all my glory. If you're truly interested, you can see a page I scrapbooked with it here.

One More "Kitten" or is it two?

This is a little song by Janeen Brady. It's called "I Thought It Was a Kitten." I didn't get copyright permission to share it, so I hope she won't mind a bizarre form of appreciation.

"Well I thought it was a kitten with a stripe down it's back.
And it looked so pretty sittin', shiny white, shiny black.
Thought that it might like to play, so I grabbed it by the tail.
I think that I've been skunked. Can you tell?"

I learned this song as a kid and every once in a while it pops into my head. It's been running on a constant cycle lately. Here's why:




Yep! This little fellow has been letting us share a yard with it. We've been grateful that it's been so kind. It first showed up on Tuesday afternoon last week. It was still here when we got back from Sun Valley last Saturday. We saw it daily. After reading this on the Colorado State University's Extension website, I hardly wanted to let the kids outside!
Skunks are nocturnal and reclusive. Use extra caution if you encounter a skunk during the day or one that is extremely aggressive. This abnormal behavior may indicate that the animal is rabid. The occurrence of rabid skunks appears highest from February to May, when they breed and give birth to their young.

On Tuesday, Chad's business partner lent him a .22 rifle. They came in the morning when I told them I saw it out front, but gave up after about 10 minutes of searching. I called Chad around 4:30 that afternoon and told him I could currently see it. I stood outside in the hot sun and kept my eyes trained on the tall weeds where the skunk foraged. We flushed it out and Chad got 2 practice shots at it before we lost it in the pasture. We tried to get Chocolate in on the fun. (See how we're willing to sacrifice the dog?) We gave up after 20 minutes of skunk huntin'. We saw it in the backyard that evening but by the time Chad got the rifle ready, it had given us the slip again! Close to 20 minutes later, I saw it in the front yard. (By now it's 9:30 PM.) Chad took several more practice shots, convinced the skunk to fill the air with a nice perfume and eventually hit it. He buried it in the pasture.

I was so relieved! And then I was disappointed the next morning when I saw a skunk leaving the garden area and head into the tall grass. I even called Chad to confirm that he actually buried the pest! So we have more than one skunk.

I had just bought a BB/Pellet gun at Wal-Mart that day, but by the time I opened it up, got the lock off and figured the whole thing out, the stinker was gone (pun intended). Then Nathan saw it again just as we were finishing up dinner. I grabbed the gun and loaded the pellets. I, too, took some practice shots. It seemed that my last pellet hit the creature, but it was in tall grass and I wasn't sure. It kept getting up and down. Then it really decided to get up. But I was out of pellets and by the time Chad could bring me more, it was under the lilac bush. I was in the sprinklers trying to see it! And that is where the story ends.

We had to load up into the van to get to Pack Meeting (Daniel's first cub scout meeting). We haven't seen the skunk since. I wonder if I really did hit it? I keep trying to get Chad to get under the lilac bush and see, but he's not very obedient!

It's just another exciting adventure in country living!

Totally switching gears with no segue at all...I did finish those long ago mentioned curtains for the dining room. I hung them the night before Daniel's baptism (two weeks ago). Here they are. I have plans to paint the walls there a coordinating/light green. It hasn't happened yet, as you can see. They look mostly how I planned. This is an afternoon shot, so everything is really bright.

Pictures from Sun Valley

I promised you pictures from our mini-vacation to Sun Valley. I'm about as slow as my kids to keep my promise!

This picture was taken as we set out on a walk. The condo we stayed in is barely visible in the upper left corner.















We stopped for a rest in the shopping area of the resort. It was a good time for pictures! My camera battery was dieing so I had to keep turning it back on to get the next picture. I got some cute pictures though that should be good for a scrapbook page.

Here are the kids on the way back from our walk. Everything was so pretty and the weather was very comfortable.

This was the bathroom in the main Lodge at the resort. There's no peeking under these doors to see if the stall is occupied! Here is a little of what I was referring to when I was talking about money a few posts ago. Nothing in my whole house looks this nice...especially the place where you do your dirty work!



I snapped some pictures of us in the condo. Here are Daniel and Joseph on the couch (watching TV of course).














Here are the kids sleeping. The bunk bed was HUGE, but it didn't have a safety rail on the top and was therefore BANNED!














I got to enjoy a nice bubble bath on Friday morning. It was so relaxing that I nearly fell asleep!













On Friday afternoon I took the kids into Ketchum to walk around. I resorted to letting one person lead the way and another push Joseph's stroller in order to keep the competition down. I got more stares and some comments while we strolled about. Chad walked down from the resort to meet us. That's when we got this picture. The kids were very eager to sit in this huge chair!



















Chad took the 3 oldest camping. Isn't it pretty? (Don't mind those 3 monkeys!)














We did change the seats around for the trip. Here is the new seating arrangement. It was nice to have Leah and Nathan separated as well as Daniel by himself. Rebekah is still asking why she's in the back! :)

Overheard

I finished telling Leah the list of errands we are about to run out and do. Then I heard this conversation between her and Rebekah out in the kitchen.

L: We're going to put the check in the bank.
R: Chicks don't go in the bank!
L: I said CHECK!
R: I said, "CHICKS DON'T GO IN THE BANK!"
L: Never mind. You don't know.

Don't mess with a farm girl. She knows that chicks belong in the chicken coop!

Lessons in the Garden

Does that sound like the title of a weekly column? Maybe I could get syndication. I'm sure I would have to have more than one story...which I don't have yet. Anyway...

I was in the garden with the kids this morning and we were pulling weeds. I mentioned to the kids that we have weeds because of Adam and Eve. They were interested in that connection! So we recalled the story of the Garden of Eden, Satan convincing Eve to eat the fruit, Adam's transgression (and it's relation to the 2nd Article of Faith), Adam and Eve's expulsion from the garden, their travails with weeds and thorns and the fact that they are really our umpteeth great-grandparents.

It must have been a good story because I had very attentive listeners. About half way through the story Leah exclaimed, "I didn't know THAT!"

Once the story was over, Leah remarked that Jesus is nice to lots of people but he wasn't nice to Adam and Eve "because he kicked them." Then I had to explain that he kicked them out of the garden, but he didn't really KICK them!

Bee Hunter

Rebekah just (10 minutes ago) came to me with a fly swatter and said, "This kills bees. When a bee lands on here I will kill it!" She then raised the fly swatter into the air and her voice 2 octaves and started calling, "Here bees. Come here bees." Is she confusing bees with kitty cats? About 30 seconds later she admitted defeat and hung the fly swatter back on the wall.

Living the High Life

Aack!!! Summer ATTACK! I have not adjusted to summer well, as my poor blogging record will show. Why are there so many kids here and what are they fighting about now? I have so much I've thought to share, but used my beloved computer time in different pursuits.

I have been scrapbooking for challenges at Sunshine Studios and that takes a bit of time. I'm enjoying the challenge and what I can make of it. I have one other challenge at another website that I've been thinking on for a bit. Here are some pages I've done over the month. They are different sizes depending on how they were saved. (I am much too lazy to go and make them uniform for the blog.)
Click each image for a link to the credits. The 2nd baseball LO is not linked, but the credits are the same.




We were in Sun Valley this past week (pictures to follow at a later date). Chad had an "Engineers Gone Wild" seminar (That's really what they called it. When I think of structural engineers, that's the LAST thing I think of, but maybe they were doing a little play acting.) on Thursday and Friday. He went back and forth to his seminars and I hung around Sun Valley/Ketchum/the condo. It was beautiful weather and we had a good time. I got a little taste of life outside the Mormon world when I went to public places with my 5 kids.

Everyone that made a comment was nice, if not in a bit of shock. Only one person asked if they were all mine, but also complimented the kids on their good behavior. One man in a grocery store mentioned that I had my own sports team. My reply: "But they have to get along before they can be a team!" or something like that

I was in shock myself when I got a peek of the cost of living there in beautiful Sun Valley, ID. Gas was 30 cents more a gallon and milk was a dollar more than I'm straining to pay here. I saw a real estate posting in a window for a 3 bed, 2 bath, 1425 sq. ft. home for $225. We bought our 2600+ sq ft home on 4 acres for $213 and sold our 5 bed, 3 bath, 2800 sq ft home on 1/3 acre for under $170. The streets were narrow and many of them one way. Everything was touristy and it was hard to feel completely at ease. So it was beautiful, but with a cost.

As we headed home and drove past the Sun Valley Airport (which is actually in Hailey) I thought of all the money that flies into the valley in its private jets, private entrances and private accommodations. We had been bowed to and fawned over by doormen and hostesses. I thought it was a waste of their energy, but some people expect that kind of treatment. As nice as it is to have pockets full of money and shiny cars, expensive wardrobes and luxury accommodations, there is something about it that doesn't feel right. This isn't sour grapes here, people. I'm quite sure that there are some people in this world living the high life on less money than we're making. We just don't have any debt (excluding our mortgage on 4 acres).

I'm trying to say that such waste and extravagance seems worldly and is not at all in line with gospel standards. Lifting one's self above another and using such fleeting possessions as a standard is shallow and limiting. On the other hand, finding joy in family relationships, sacrificing for others and using moderation in living is the foundation for lasting happiness.

Now before you set fire to my soapbox, I should confess that I have dreams of a new van. One with a CD player (yes, I'm still popping in tapes), a radio display that works, a rear window wiper that doesn't hang down the back like a sullen puppy dog's tail and 8 seats. There are many things wrong with our van (although the worst thing would be that it doesn't run, which is not a current problem). I would really like one that's only 2 or 3 years old. I also want a new computer (without Vista) so I don't have to spend half my time waiting for things to update, load or open.

I'm not sure I've truly expressed my feelings on the subject of wealth. Let me just say that I was glad to get home to my homemade bread, homemade couch pillows and curtains, Western Family soup, scratched kitchen table, open skies, $3.99/gallon gas, friendly neighbors and friends with more than 2.3 children. I just feel happier.

Birthdays, Circus, Weather, blah, blah, blah

I have only just begun this post and already feel overwhelmed. I have a lot to cover and I don't know how long I get to sit here undetected!

I'm typing without my glasses on. I've worn glasses (or contacts) since the end of my 1st year of college. That's 15 years! I only take them off to sleep or shower and sometimes to swim. So I went in for a check up today and mentioned that I get headaches. My 4-year-old glasses are still a strong prescription for me. Since my dominate eye is near-sighted (the other is 20/20), the doctor recommended taking my glasses off for computer use and reading. Well, that is something I never even thought of! So I'm giving it a try. We'll see if I get fewer headaches. Now I have to wear them on my head like a granny so I don't lose them or have them stolen by some little gremlin!

I know you've all been dieing to hear about Daniel's birthday. How is it that he's 8 years old already? He was supposed to have his party on his birthday, but we all became infected with the plague, so it got postponed until the next week. So we celebrated the official day with an ice cream cake from the grocery store. It's heavy on sugar but light on love. Sorry, Daniel! I just was feeling too rotten to be a fun Mom. And as you know, ice cream cakes are kept in the freezer, so if you try to cut them after only a couple of minutes to thaw you get this. It's an exercise cake! Isometric exercises for every 8 year old. Join me in my campaign.

This Monday we were able to hold the birthday party and did so in grand style. The boys each got to pick some antennae, we played games and had cake. Daniel got several very nice gifts and has been busy with them for the past two days.

This was the UFO cake I made and here was how we decorated the living room.


Here they are playing a balloon game. I made them get on their knees so no one would suffer a nasty (lack of) space injury. We played other games outside in the wind, but the balloon game had to be indoors.







It was Chad's birthday on Friday. We surprised him with some balloons and candy at work. Doesn't he look surprised? (Wow. Everyone looks so happy...it's painful!)







Daniel has started a month of baseball. They only play on Tuesday and Thursday nights. It started June 3rd. There have been 3 nights of games so far, but two of those were cancelled for bad weather. Not a great record!



Rebekah recently spilled her milk. She's never heard the common expression regarding crying over it. Rebekah was upset, Shadow and Trouble were delighted!

We went to the Shrine Circus again yesterday afternoon. It was our 3rd annual visit. You can revisit our first and second visits on these posts. We got there a little late because Leah had to continue her 2 hour tantrum on the living room floor and then Nathan said he had to go potty. Since Nathan's having his turn with diarrhea, we didn't tell him to hold it. Then we had to leave early to get to a cancelled baseball game. It was very cold and WINDY. Folks in the east are cancelling school because it's so hot, folks in the midwest are trading in their homes for boats and in Idaho, we're going to the circus in coats and blankets...on June 10th!

I snapped some secret shots of the performers in the wind. I even got a short video of them fighting the wind and cancelling a performance. It's a bad angle because it was "undercover." The kids still enjoyed themselves and complained that we were leaving before it was over. We gobbled up some high-end nachos in a vain attempt to warm up (the only time I'm willing to pay $3 for one tiny serving of nachos).



And what did I wake up to this morning? Before I tell you, I want you to know that I spent over $70 on vegetable plants for the garden which we planted on Monday night ("The prophet said to plant a garden..."). We worked out there for a good part of the evening then set the water to it. For treats we roasted marshmallows and made s'mores on the fire pit I got Chad for his birthday. We had an informal discussion on baptism (since Daniel's big day is this Saturday). And then I saw this at 8 AM.

What are the chances the 5 tomato, 3 peppers, watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumbers, squash, pumpkins and 18 corn plants survived? I haven't even been able to go out and look. Thanks a lot IDAHO!!! Nine days until SUMMER!

Chad is in Las Vegas today. To compensate, I took the kids (yes, all 5 of them...and I even brought the same 5 home) shopping. Our biggest trip was to Wal-Mart. That's where I got my eye exam. I held Joseph on my lap and the other 4 played out in the waiting area. From there we went to a restaurant for lunch. It was me and 5 kids and the worst thing that happened was I had to order an extra bowl of jello to keep Rebekah in the "fair" zone. We had 3 people express surprise at how well behaved the kids were. Truthfully, I wouldn't have even attempted it if I didn't think they would behave, but it was nice (and a relief) that they did.

I'm sure there are other things I wanted to share, but the post has gotten rather long and the time has gotten away from me. I think it's taken over 2 hours to finish this because of kids and phone calls. I was hoping to make it to the library tonight, but I doubt we'll get dinner done in time. Now we have something to do tomorrow!

I apologize for the crazy paragraphs. Blogger does that to me sometimes and I'm not up for the fight tonight!

Medicating Joseph

You've heard me describe how hard it is to feed the boy. It's surely no easier to give him medicine, except for that it's in a little pointy tube that I can slide into the corners of his chubby cheeks.

Joseph has been on antibiotics since Monday night (thanks to a very angry ear drum). He's also getting cough medicine. The cough medicine dosage is tiny and I can sneak up on him with that one. The antibiotic is 1/2 teaspoon twice a day. There is no sneaking with that! Tonight as I gave it to him, he of course had his lips sealed. He wasn't upset though. He even smiled at me as I tried to coax what seemed like a cup of medicine into his mouth. He smiled with his lips together. What a Stinker!!!!

And to add to our grief, there are some teeth so close to breaking through! His first teeth! (He has had a miserable week.) As a nursing mother, teeth do not seem like good news. But they are also hard on me because a baby's look changes so much when he gets his teeth. No more cute gummy smiles!

Here are some scrapbook pages I've done lately. They were for challenges at http://www.sunshinestudioscraps.com/.

Credits:

Paper - Sack'o'Burlap pack by Rachel's Scraps

Flowers and Stitches - Tracy Drane

Fonts - Minion and Scriptina

Credits:

Kit - SO SUNny Collab

Fonts - Goudy, Goudy Stout and Girls Are Weird

Happy Birthday, CHAD!!

Did you think I forgot? Not even close! I just have to work around some extra obstacles...like sick kids, rain and your early departure time.

Thank you for EVERYTHING you do. You make so many dads and husbands look bad by the simple things to do without even stopping to think if they're things you should do. Thank you for changing diapers, doing dishes, folding laundry (and putting it away), making dinner, putting kids to bed, picking up clutter, giving baths, getting kids up and going in the morning, taking out the garbage, catching spiders, turning out the lights, disposing of dead animals, staying home with the family (instead of hanging out with friends...which you certainly deserve and should do), taking the kids camping (even if it is only to the backyard), giving me a back rub every night until you fall asleep (it was an enjoyable 10 seconds last night!), letting me drive on road trips, letting me get away to visit Kristi, reading the kids stories, honoring your priesthood and setting a good example for the kids!

I'm sure there's more, but the whole world is reading this and I don't want to embarrass you (too much)!

So Happy Birthday! Thirty-five! I can remember when you were only 30! ;)

I love you!

Mary Poppins, where are you?

I am sick but have 5 children to care for. I need an awesome nanny like Mary Poppins to come care for the darlings while I sleep the day away. And if you have to give them a teaspoon of sugar to get them to clean up around here, I won't bat an eye.

Please come soon. I am not being a very good mother. I hadn't even seen my boys until I called them for lunch at a quarter to noon! Now that they've gone downstairs to the great square babysitter, I'll probably not see them again before 3.

Don't bother ringing the doorbell. I'm still in my pajamas and don't want to be answering the door. (The mail lady will already need therapy today.)

I only need you until a little after 5 when my very capable, over-worked and under-thanked husband comes home.

Hangin' with Kristi

So I've mentioned that I flew out with Joseph to visit my friend Kristi. I get to go almost once a year. This was my 3rd time since we moved away 4 years ago. Chad is so good to give me that chance while he stays with the kids.


Kristi is one of those rare people who can boost you up and make you laugh and help you put things into perspective. She laughs at my sarcastic jokes and takes my teasing good naturedly. Kristi is the person at parades that yells until she loses her voice. I would never do that, but why should I if Kristi will do it for me? Her husband is fun to talk to and joke around with, too. Her oldest son is nearly perfect and makes my kids look like heathens. It's no wonder I like to go out and visit!

So the first night I get there is late - especially after the planes were delayed. What's the first thing we do? We headed straight for Burgerville and a fresh strawberry shake with about a pound of whip cream on top. (I never said Kristi was good for weight loss.) We went back to her house and visited far into the night.

I'd like to say I slept like I was on vacation, but I had Joseph. Chad got the vacation sleep. I got a baby who woke up at least every two hours because he wasn't in his own bed. So I was kind of tired the next morning, but it didn't stop us. We went shopping, drove by my old house (they're letting the yard go to weeds!), and talked, talked, talked. That night we had Thai food for dinner and ate until we just about popped. Kristi even ventured out of her comfort zone and tried some spicy food! gasp! She liked it! I don't expect her to get some again before I make my next visit, but at least she knows it's good. (To be fair, I wouldn't be trying it either if I hadn't had to eat on my mission.)

The next night was another restless night (thanks, Joseph). Kristi made waffles for breakfast. We made a run to Wal-Mart (good old Wal-Mart), checked out a new store where I bought shoes for Chad (he discovered that the shoes he was wearing had been peed in by one of the cats) and t-shirts for the kids, and stopped by Burgerville one last time before she dropped me off at the airport (sniff, sniff).


As I was flying away, I realized that I hadn't taken any pictures of the two of us! What a pea-brain. At least I got one of the babies.


It was a great visit. Too bad it had to end!

We're in a sorry state

No, I don't mean Idaho...so you Utahns quit thinking it!

I have slept in an upright position for the past 2 nights. Well, "slept" is subjective since I can actually recall most of the hours each night. I dozed a couple of times. It was more fun last night since Joseph has fallen ill right along with the rest of us. He slept upright next to me at one point. Between my coughing and his, we didn't sleep much at all.

He started the night (midnight) with a temp of 104. That was after he threw up all over himself and me. He had already thrown up earlier in the evening, so this time it was mostly stomach bile. Such a pretty yellow color it is...almost like dandelions! I gave him some Tylenol and put him in the swing. (Thank you to Chad for bringing it into the bedroom.) He slept for bit amid coughing fits. I was having my own fits so I went to the living room to curl up in a chair by an open window, hoping the cooler air would calm the coughing. I had to keep getting up and walking back to the bedroom when Joseph would cry. Eventually, I gave in and climbed into bed with him. Around 5 am or so, his fever was down to 101.

He hasn't really eaten much since yesterday afternoon. I had to pump this morning. Chad forced some applesauce into him. I've got a call into the doctor to ask about medicine, but I don't have much hope since he's only 6 months old. I'll appreciate the day when all the kids are old enough to care for themselves when they're sick!

I'm glad I postponed the birthday party. It would have been a disaster to try to celebrate with a bunch of little boys! I wasn't able to contact one of them (he didn't RSVP and we mailed it to a PO box) so I'm watching the clock right now...hoping, hoping, hoping that he doesn't show up. (Another little boy JUST showed up. I guess they don't check their messages!)

Post-poned due to illness

We have post-poned Daniel's birthday party due to the fact that ALL 7 of us are sick. Yes. The timing is great. My throat is raw from coughing, but my stomach is getting a good workout. Even little Joseph started coughing during the night. I slept sitting up. The girls were coughing so badly in their sleep that it sounded like someone was really choking them. (It was the worst sound.) Rebekah has had diarrhea for 6 days. If she still has it today, we're up to 7.

We were at a family reunion last weekend when Rebekah became the first victim to these germs. I wonder if anyone else ended up sick?

I haven't been really sick (if you exclude morning sickness which is a form of torture in it's own category) in years. I hope this one will do me for a long time.

We're taking a "sick day" from church today.

Pictures from SLC

Here are the pictures of feeding the birds at Tracy Aviary and our cousin's birthday party in SLC 2 weekend ago. I forgot that I had promised them! (My kids get after me all the time about "forgetting" my promises!)

Thank goodness for cameras with timers. I actually got into this shot!

Rebekah with a sun conure eating from her apple stick. (This was as close as she was willing to get.)

Chad and Joseph...just watching, not feeding

Nathan had a good time feeding the birds.

Here is one on Leah's stick, just moments before it bit her. You may notice there is no more apple on the end of her stick.

Daniel stayed fixed in this one spot and catered to all the birds he could!

I couldn't resist this shot of Daniel holding Rebekah's hand. They really do like each other!

And of course, you have to actually stop and look at some birds!








After the aviary we went to the birthday party. It was a cowboy theme.

Here is Leah shooting her horse in the head. I'm pretty sure that's bad horesmanship.

Chad and Nathan in a gun fight.

Daniel in his cowboy hat.

? There are so many captions for this photo. I didn't take this one.









And that is our Saturday two weeks ago. See? We brought you right along with us!