Three Months!

Our baby turned 3 months on Friday! She's growing into quite a chubby little body. And I love it. There are not many things that are better fat...paychecks and babies are exceptions.

This video was taken this morning. She's turned into quite the little talker and I was trying to capture it. Unfortunately, she was more interested in looking at me. I did get her talking a tiny bit, but nothing like she can when she's trying to keep herself from the pits of boredom.

I know I'm a little (OK...enormously) biased, but don't you think she's got an adorable smile? You may notice the bib. We've been drooling a little while now, but she's started soaking her clothes and it doesn't seem like a good thing when the weather is so cold.

I snapped this picture one afternoon when I saw Leah sitting on Joseph's bed with him on her lap. She was slowly rocking him and he was sitting very still. She's definitely got the Mommy gene! You'll notice how much of her lap he takes up. A true family bond...I love it!

OK...some of you still haven't seen my new hair. It's kind of hard to show. And I'm gritting my teeth to put a picture of myself on here. I just would rather have the image of myself that I keep in my head; it's a little kinder. This was right before bed, too. (I have a whole list of excuses for this photo.) I was trying to keep my 2nd chin out of the picture. I think I almost succeeded.

Misguided Priorities

I just heard the "John Tesh" minute on the radio.

Apparently, people don't like to respond to emails right away because it gives the impression that they have nothing else to do. (In contrast, they reply to texts right away because it would be rude not to.)

Huh. I guess I can't hide it any longer. It's not that I don't have anything else to do, but rather that I just find checking my email more appealing. Which is really a puzzle, since I rarely get anything that needs responding to. So if you send me an email, expecting a response, it's not that I don't have anything else to do, it's just that I'm addicted to the computer screen. (Did that seem like a lot of commas for one sentence to anyone else?)

And now I'm back to putting my laundry away...in case you wondered if I ever do anything that I'm supposed to.

Surprised myself!

The scale was very kind to me this morning...even after I was not kind to my body. I really thought 3 donuts and a few brownies over the weekend, plus the snacking here and there during the Thanksgiving trip would have done more harm. And maybe it's still coming. I'm glad things are looking so good so far though.

This really isn't a good lesson for me. It's supposed to be a bad thing to eat the good stuff. Where is my depression-inducing consequence?

Christmas conundrum

We have a lot of family, between Chad and I. There are 9 families with cousins. I usually like to find a gift that I can duplicate 9 times and will fit all the age groups. (I think our oldest cousin is 14.)

The hard part is, with so many different families, come different likes and dislikes. So I think this family might like this, but that family will snarl and toss it aside. So then I think I could do this, but that family might wonder what I was thinking. And then I think, I could do this, but then realize that I'm not spending that much on my own kids.

So, what do I do to show all the families that we're thinking of them, without our time or effort going to waste because they either didn't like it and tossed it, or don't have a use for it, or ... you get my point.

Does anyone have any suggestions for good gifts? I know we could draw pictures and send warm greetings. I get that. I'm trying to actually think of tangible gifts that can be used/enjoyed for at least a small while. I don't have a lot of time to make things (6 kids of my own to create for with not so much time to do that), and my budget is a little smaller than other years.

Maybe there is a good family gift that everyone could enjoy? What are some things that your family has received that you liked? Games? Treats? What?

SEND ME YOUR IDEAS!

Alarm Clock

I've heard of alarm clocks that you plug in to the wall, clocks that run on batteries, clocks that wind up, clocks powered by potatoes, lemon juice and even water. What they don't sell in stores or catalogs are alarm clocks powered by mother's milk.

I have one of those. You could even set your watch by her. The first snatch of sleep a night can last up to four hours, but it's every two hours after that. Try waking her up to get her to eat more and lengthen the time between alarms. You really only waste more time that you could spend sleeping. (I suppose I'm thankful that it only takes 15 minutes to get her back to bed?)

We went to bed a bit earlier last night than normal. For most people, this means more sleep. For me, it means more feedings. I melted blissfully into the sheets at 6 AM, haunted by the knowledge that I didn't have much time left. I am tired! I think I need to find a way to adjust my alarm clock. Anyone know a good clock tinker?

Shaken Baby

Before my nap I had the house phone and my cell phone on the bed with me. I also had Sarah on the bed.

Eventually, Sarah woke up and wanted a snack before she'd go back to sleep. I finally got her to sleep again, including positioning her just right on Chad's pillow, tucking in the bedding around her and even putting my pillow on her (not her face!).

Then I started looking for my cell phone because I wanted to make a long-distance phone call. I could find the house phone, but no cell phone. I knew it was there somewhere! I kept patting the covers, feeling around and under and even peeking in the spaces by Sarah. I finally gave up the blind searching and decided to use my ears, too. I called the cell phone with the house phone. I could hear it vibrate, then I heard it ring. It appeared that Sarah could hear it, too, because she started to wiggle. Oh no! I don't want that! So I hung up and renewed my search efforts.

I concentrated my search closer to Sarah since it was obviously close to her. The more invasive I got, the more worried I was that she'd wake up. Off came the pillow, back came one blanket, then the next, then the sheet. Well no wonder she'd started wiggling as soon as the phone started to vibrate; she was on top of it! There's nothing like a soothing massage in the small of a baby's back to ensure a restful afternoon nap.

Finally getting published!

I ordered my blog books today. There are a combined total of 356 pages, spanning 3.25 years of blogging. It cost me $91 for the two books. That's the discount price as they have a coupon for the next 4 days.

So, regardless of my fame as a writer, I can always say I was published. It just came out of my own pocket.

It reminds me of some books I recently checked out of the library. They were based on LDS converts in England - the writer's ancestors. The writing was so bad (immature and unpolished) that I couldn't even get through the first 10 chapters of the first book. (And now I sound like a book snob.) I wondered how the writer even found a publisher for his work. Then I read the book flap and publisher info. The guy is a publisher! He publishes several magazines. He must have figured he'd break into the book world since he had the right "connections." We can't all be so fortunate.

So, I may or may not be a gifted writer (if this guy can get away with that level of writing, we should all try to write), but I am published - or will be. The difference is one copy compared to 100's or 1000's.

I am curious to know what the photos will look like. Many of them were flagged for quality in printing. Since I was focused on my blogging and not necessarily the pictures that were included, I let them all slide. They may be really grainy, but should support the text well enough. We'll see in about 3 weeks.

Youth is dead

Rebekah had a burning question this afternoon. She asked me if I died when I was a kid. I said of course I didn't die or I wouldn't be alive now, would I? She could see the logic in that (I think) but after the conversation went on a little further, I realized what she had really been asking.

She wanted to know if the KID died. She isn't able to make a connection between childhood and adulthood. After all, it's not like I'm a butterfly and went through a complete rebirth! I told her that I just changed slowly as I got older. I'm not sure she really understood. But then I started pondering her question.

I'm sure a part of me has died since I was a child. The innocence is gone. The wide-scale trust is gone. Much of the wonder is gone. Some of the naivete is gone (much still remains). In some ways I mourn the losses. The scriptures tell us to be more childlike. I have strayed far from that and would like to regain some of the purity and joy that comes with childhood.

But in other ways, I'm glad for the maturity that protects me from the incredible evil that thrives in the world and even my small community. I am often stunned at the hold Satan has got on people and the way he has of using these people to try to shame others into joining them. Truly, this can't go on much longer. Don't worry about unplugging your toaster to save energy and prevent the earth's resources from running out...it won't get that far before evil takes over or Christ returns to do a serious housecleaning!

So after thinking along these lines, I'm less worried about my youth being dead as I am about my children's youth being murdered. They are so young and inexperienced. I hope that our efforts as parents here at home will give them the protection they need to reach adulthood as healthy, happy people - physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

Wow. This post totally changed sentiment as I typed! I thought I was going to be witty and comical and ended up charging up my testimony. Go Freedom of Speech!

Rollercoaster!

It must be like wearing a warm, comfy blanket, because my body does not want to shed any layers of fat. And I've got plenty to shed!

I WAS at 177.8 on Wednesday. I guess I should be grateful I had any loss at all since I was over 181 on Saturday morning.

It's hard to not eat the yummy stuff. When I can see the food, I can't see my rear. And when I do see my rear, all I see is the food I ate when I didn't need to. WEAK! I am weak!

It really does help to have the b-day cake in the garage. Not only is it out of sight and harder to get to, but it's frozen! It's hard to sneak a slice of hard-to-cut cake.

Let's hope this week is more successful. There are no birthdays this week.

I. Must. Drink. More. Water.

Happy Birthday, Joseph!

Joseph turned 2 today! The kids have really been looking forward to his birthday. Leah even made him several cards/pictures.

We went to dinner tonight, as is our tradition for b-days. Joseph didn't actually pick the restaurant. He'll get to do that next year. Daddy picked it and we went to Texas Roadhouse. We'd once told the kids there was a restaurant that had peanuts and you could throw the shells on the ground. Now they've experienced it. It will probably be a while before we go back. It was VERY busy and we waited quite a while. We were there before 6 PM and thought we'd be beating most of the dinner rush. I think we were the dinner rush. Then the kids ate so many rolls and peanuts, plus the fried onion that we had a coupon for, that no one could finish their dinner (including the parents).

We waddled to the car and came home for presents and cake. When you're one of the youngest in a family, you have a lot of help opening your presents. And that's the easy part! Then you have to fight for the opportunity to play with the presents. We only gave Joseph 4 gifts and only one of them was a toy. Good thing it had 39 pieces; that's roughly 8 pieces a kid!

Then we had the cake. None of the kids knew what the cake looked like, though Nathan (for some reason) was sure it was a Curious George cake. This is what it really looked like. I was helping Joseph blow out his candle. I didn't want him to try to extinguish it with his hands, so I had my arms around him. When it came time to really help him blow out the flame, I failed miserably. I think I was just too far away. I can analyze what went wrong if I want since Chad was recording. We'll be able to laugh at Mommy for the next 30 years.

It was a big cake. We only cut pieces that didn't have ducks on them, so the cake was quite a show piece by the time we were done! We'll have dessert for the next week...it was two cake mixes in a 12" x 2" pan.

And now I fear for my weigh-in on Monday. I have been under 180 all week, but eating out tonight (it was the fried onion that I fear the most) and the cake may have been my undoing. I did stick to only one roll though and ate my salad with very little dressing and drank almost 2 huge glasses of water. I didn't have them "load" my baked potato and only ate half of the roasted chicken on my plate. And I ate less cake than I would normally eat. I guess we'll just have to see how it all works out.

Anyway, Joseph is a very cute 2-year-old. He's starting to repeat sounds and we can get him to say "things" when he's in an agreeable mood. (By "things" I mean, animals sounds; "ess" - that mean yes or this...interchangeably; ball - his first official word; and "lick-lick" - something that Leah felt she needed to teach him.) But this boy is very smart and understands WAY more than it looks like he should. And he's the best at throwing things in the garbage. Apparently, that's a skill you lose with age, so I don't know how long he'll keep it up. I'm just enjoying it while I can! He makes Chad help him "say prayers" at night, though all he's really doing is saying, "eh" when Chad pauses to have him repeat the words. He's got the CUTEST little face and his smile is killer.

Happy Birthday, Joseph! You're not a baby anymore!

Pay It Forward

My friend had this game on her blog (she got it from another friend, etc.). I signed up to play. Who else wants to join?

I'll make something for the first three people to comment on this post.

Those three people need to have a blog and post the PIF Game so the fun keeps going. I have till December 31, 2009 to send a goodie package to you.

Please leave a blog link or e-mail in your comment so I have a way to contact you for your snail mail address.

If you're local, I don't need your address...unless you've moved since I last visited! (Can't actually think who that might be...)

Oats

When I need to work in the kitchen and can't get Joseph to stop "helping" me, I put a little dry oats into a container or two and give him some measuring cups/spoons to play with.

He loves to play and leaves me alone long enough to finish what I'm doing. It does get all over of course, but it's not a wet or sticky mess and I can usually scoop most of it back into the container. The rest just gets swept up and thrown away, but that usually less than 1/4 cup.

Unfortunately for Joseph, he's not the only one that thinks it's fun to play in the oats!

Blogged! and Self Reflections

That's the title I've chosen for my books of blogged posts that I'm formatting ("Blogged!"...not the 2nd part). I recently discovered a website that uploads your blog (including the pictures) and lets you have it printed (for a price, of course). The website is Blurb and they have a lot of great ideas for books. I guess they are one way to get yourself published if you can't find anyone else interested in your work.

Anyway, I don't imagine that my book of blog posts is going to hit the market anytime this century. I'm only ordering one book of each. But if any of you ever wanted to create a memory book or similar, they have it set up that other people can order the book if they want it.

I am putting my posts into books by year. Since I started in October of '06, the first volume will have 2006 and 2007. It has 200 pages! 2008 is a bit shorter. As I was going through the first one, I came across several little things the kids had said or done that I'd forgotten all about. I look forward to the kids reading about themselves years down the road from now. We'll have our own family scrapbook!

I figure between the blog, my journal and the scrapbook pages I print, we'll have a fairly decent record of our family's adventures.

I've decided that it's also going to be a bit humbling as I look back at my writing over the years. I don't imagine there is anyone that reads my blog that doesn't understand I'm a bit opinionated. In some ways, my blogging has been a valuable outlet for my frustrations and angry feelings. Sometimes I haven't used it in the best way and lashed out at others under the protection of the computer screen.

I've been thinking of this for a while now. I've finally decided to let go of the grudges and attitudes that haven't been doing me any favors. It's going to be a little difficult to change life-long habits so abruptly, and I imagine I may struggle a bit, but I hope it will lighten the mood I often let myself brood in. There are a lot of things that have happened in my life that I might have the right to be upset about, but I've done a lot of things that aren't so great as well. So I'm trying to be a better and nicer (to be around) person.

I know many people won't believe I'm sincere or that I can do it. Those are probably the people I've offended the most. I don't blame them for being skeptical. And I can't do anything to make them change their opinion of me, other than try to be better. I hope that they will eventually forgive me and allow damaged relationships to heal.

All I really want right now is a lighter heart, a happier family and an increased testimony in spiritual things. Those things only come from me, though. So I'd better get to work!

How RUDE!!

My kids have a complaint that they use WAY too much: "________ is being rude!"

Usually, it's Daniel's name in there, but I think everyone has had the judgement against them. Even Leah's friends at school have been branded. Heck, Rebekah even says characters in her computer games are rude sometimes. It's something that's a little over used around here.

So last night, it wasn't much of a surprise when Rebekah appeared at the side of our bed claiming that Daniel was being rude. It wasn't real likely, unless Rebekah and Daniel were up together sometime between midnight and 4 AM, but there wasn't any point in telling her she'd been dreaming.

So, to keep the peace (and his warm place in bed), Chad moved over and Rebekah climbed in. I got up at 4 to take care of Sarah and noticed our revised sleeping arrangements. Rebekah had as much room as I did! Now who's being rude?

It was about that time we talked her back into her bed...before she got nudged out of the bed and onto the floor. It would have really been rude to have to listen to her scream when she landed on her head!

Well Done!

Not really. I spent some time baking today. I didn't have the greatest results. I was working on formatting pages to print my blog (more on that another time) and watching an ending eBay auction at the very time my 5 loaves of bread should have been coming out of the oven.

As it turned out, I lost the auction and now get to cut the crusts off my bread or pay to have the family's teeth capped. Those are some very dark brown loaves of bread.

But that experience wasn't enough for me.

It's Joseph's b-day on Friday and I was baking his cake. I started it too late, which is the real problem. It's a big cake pan and had two cake mixes in it. I needed to leave for a doctor's appointment and the cake was still very jiggly in the middle. So I turned the temp down to 300 degrees and left a note for Daniel to turn the oven off when he got home from school - 40 minutes from then.

I tried calling Daniel from the doctor's office. I was calling to him through the answering machine but had to hang up when he didn't pick up. He said he heard me but couldn't find me! When he checked the garage and saw that the van wasn't there, he figured he'd imagined it. I finally did get him to answer the phone a little after 4. I asked him if he'd turned off the oven. I should have taped the note to the front door or television, because he really had no chance of finding it otherwise. I told him how to turn off the oven and asked if anything smelled like it was burning. The very brown bread was still on the counter, so I'm sure things already smelled burnt anyway.

So the cake cooked for 45 minutes on 350 and 70 minutes on 300. It's not burned (I know...amazing), but it's a little dry on one side. Luckily, it's two cake mixes, so there will still be enough cake to eat.

Chad asked me tonight if I was going to do any baking tomorrow. I probably should have kicked him, but I just replied that I'd probably better not.

And the doctor appointment that we were rushing off to? Sarah and Rebekah had check-ups today. Sarah got 3 shots and an oral vaccine. Rebekah has been granted a stay until next year when she gets her Kindergarten shots. Sarah is 57% and 56% in her height and weight. Rebekah is 20% and 50%. That's better than their mother who's probably 20% and 95%. I'm trying, though. The scale was kind to me this morning. I hope I didn't ruin by eating too much crustless bread for lunch!

Sleep like a baby?

Don't you wish you could sleep in almost any position? Here is Sarah sleeping on Chad's lap the other night. She looks like she's comfortable. I wish I could sleep so well! Sarah is still waking every two hours if I put her in the bassinet. She sleeps double that, or more, if I put her in the swing. I'm hoping to switch her to the crib next month. So I'll just have a longer walk to get to her all through the night.

And here is Sarah this morning after Joseph took care of her. The purple and multi-colored blankets are his. Wasn't it a nice touch to give her the rabbit? She does seem appreciative as she's got her face tucked into it.

Luckily, Joseph hasn't tried to carry her like Rebekah did to him. That was a little heart attack that I don't wish to experience ever again. Good memories, though. :)

And that was where I was going to post a link to the story about Rebekah carrying Joseph, but I can't find it. Apparently, that was one of those times I blogged in my head, but not on the keyboard. So here is the story...just a couple of years late.

I was in the kitchen washing dishes or making dinner, or something that one normally does in the kitchen. Joseph, 2 weeks old, was back in my bedroom, sleeping in the bouncer. I asked 27-month-old Rebekah to go open my bedroom door so that I could hear the baby if he cried. She obediently ran down the hallway. About a minute later, I heard a tiny newborn whimper. I turned to see Rebekah holding Joseph, still in his blanket, around the shoulders and neck. I hurriedly half-dried my hands and grabbed Joseph. I moved swiftly, but calmly because I didn't want to startle her into dropping him. Then Rebekah said, "Heavy!"

This was the picture I got after that. I think I needed hard evidence that he'd lived through being carried all the way down the hall by a two-year-old. Up until that point, her only experience in carrying babies was carrying her dolls. And I'd seen what she did with those when she got tired of them!

Anyway, that's the story. I had a mild heart attack then, but now it's just a funny story. I still laugh to think of her saying, "Heavy!" He was heavy to a little girl like her!

FHE tonight

We just finished our Family Home Evening. Daniel had the lesson. I had been reminding him this afternoon that it was his turn for the lesson and he let me know that he already knew what he was going to do - it was going to be on service. So I left him alone (to focus on other matters that I couldn't ignore).

When it was time to for Daniel's lesson, he stood up in front of all of us and read from a paper he'd written on. This was his paper:
I hope you can read it. He did an AWESOME job and did it without help! I was so proud of him. Maybe you can see where we ripped the corner off - we wrote down and picked out names of a person to serve all week. I got Leah. :)

For the activity, we made these little turkeys.

Then we had the turkeys show off their turkeys.

And then Rebekah called Nathan "popcorn head" (the beginning of the end). Now, it's bedtime and everyone is running around the house screaming, crying and fighting. We've come down from our successful FHE victory and things have returned to "normal."

More medical fun

This was Joseph all this week...sick. He had a fever in this picture and Chad wrapped him up in his blanket. Joseph actually stayed where he was put! Do you like his little slippers poking out? :)

After a week of every-other-day fevers and non-stop coughing (no joke) last night, I made a trip to the nearest open medical clinic. Joseph's left ear and throat are nice and red. We got cough medicine and an antibiotic. And as I so rarely get to report, the cough medicine is working! He's sleeping now and he's quiet! This means we'll get more sleep tonight. Ahh...bliss. Oh yeah, I don't get more sleep, just less worry. Chad is the one that gets more sleep.

I skipped my nap today to take the kids (minus Joseph) shopping. I was buying groceries and doing some shopping for Joseph's b-day next week. (He's going to be 2! He weighs all of 21 pounds, and he's not talking, but he's going to be 2!) It was not a good idea for me to take 5 kids shopping (Chad had stayed home with Joseph so they could both get naps.) on a Saturday, after a week of mothering. I had no patience and I was not a nice person. But, too be fair, my kids weren't nice either. They can't talk to each other without fighting, and Leah only talks to people - her parents included - with an air of disgust and impatience. Still trying to figure out how to stop that little problem.

Anyway, we survived, though some of us lost weight through our tear ducts. (I wish that could really happen.) We got home, I fed Sarah and then put Joseph in the van and headed back out again. At least everyone got to go somewhere.

I gave Sarah a bath tonight. As I was looking at her little naked baby body, I was amazed at how chubby she's gotten. She's more than half of Joseph's weight and is only 10 weeks old. She takes after her mommy! But check out this picture...even I have ankles! So very cute.

And here she is two nights ago. She's supposed to be going to sleep. Can you tell?

Lastly, here is proof that I do spend time with my kids. Chad snuck a picture while I was reading them a book. There is Sarah - drooling all over my arm. (No wonder she doesn't fall asleep at bedtime!) You can see (kind of) my haircut and perm.

My hair is naturally straight and very resistant to perms. You're seeing the curly part. The straight part is pulled up out of the way. I'm not quite ready to give up on this new 'do', but I have to do something as the haircut wasn't meant to have some straight hairs falling across the curly ones. *sigh* Nothing is easy.

Down in the dumps

There are few things in the world of mothering that are more tiring than have sick kids. Having YOUNG sick kids is worse.

Joseph is not feeling well and his nose is constantly oozing. The only thing I can't do while wiping his nose is take a shower. I think I've done everything else. He comes up to me, pointing to his nose, saying, "uh, uh." And the coughing is getting Sarah sick. I can hear her nose start to fill up. Great. I just started getting her to sleep in the bassinet again. I expect we'll be back in the swing before the new week begins.

Normally, this would be challenging enough. But I'm running on reduced sleep rations and really only want to get a nice, uninterrupted nap. The night before last, I didn't see the clock during the 11 pm, 3 am and 5 am hours (Joseph came in crying at 6:00). I saw it every other time. Last night wasn't quite as bad...I only woke 3 times before I really had to get out of bed.

Such sporadic sleep opens the door for really interesting dreams. Two nights ago, I dreamt the entire plot for a mystery novel. I was sure I could remember it, and was recalling it during one feeding time. But once the sun came up, it was gone. A literary wonder the world will never know.

So now that I'm so tired (physically and emotionally), I have no desire to clean the house. This is unfortunate, because things are piling up around here. No one else seems to care, so things get worse and my guilt meter rises.

And getting my kids to care requires serious bribing/threatening. That's tiring, too! We didn't get to have prayer this morning because the boys couldn't move their incredibly lazy rear ends fast enough. Daniel ran onto the bus with his coat, backpack and scout shirt in his hands. Grr.. Sometimes I just want to squeeze that boy! More guilt.

Daniel has a TMJ check-up today. I'm taking everyone but Nathan with me (since he'll still be in school) for a 35 min drive on the freeway, each way, because I didn't know who to call to come sit in my house for two hours and didn't want to burden anyone with a sick and cranky Joseph. I guess we'll sit in the van and watch a movie or something while I send Daniel in. Maybe I can get the doctor to talk to me at the back door so I can stay in the parking lot with the kids? Are things supposed to get this tricky?

I got the bill for taking Rebekah to the Dr. to pull the cactus needles...$183. Wow. He's thinking he's a little more skilled with those tweezers than I observed! We'd better make sure to use the free ice cream coupons he gave us. I want to get my money's worth!

And so when the FOP called this morning (Fraternal Order of Police) I hung up on them. That was free.

Now, between feeling sorry for myself and just being in a sorry state, it's a regular fun-fest around here! Woo hoo!

Catching Up in 20

Wow. My days are busier than they used to be. Things have been happening in my tiny little world, but I haven't had time to share many of them. I do spend a lot of time at the computer, but it's usually while holding (and usually nursing) Sarah, so I only have one hand to use and that means slow typing. I'm taking a moment now to play catch up. I'll list 20 things that have happened, but leave out the details. If you want to hear an extended version of the story, just leave a comment and mention which numbers in the list you're interested in. That way, I won't bore everyone telling them how much fun I had cutting my toenails (that isn't and never was one of the twenty things).

1. I got a hair cut and perm.
2. Daniel doesn't complain of jaw pain anymore. The TMJ treatment seems to be working. We have a follow-up appointment on Thursday. Still need to figure out who's going to watch 3 of my kids!
3. We brought one of the kittens inside to be house cat and mouser. He only lasted about 4 days. Hope the mouse traps can do the job. Who knew a cat would forget he was litter box trained?
4. We went letterboxing for the first time in over 3 years. The kids had a blast.
5. Rebekah landed on a cactus plant while rushing towards a letterbox hiding spot and got a palm full of cactus needles. It took a trip to the doctor to get all the hairlike prickles out. She still talks about it.
6. Sarah now weighs 11 and 1/2 pounds! Way to grow!
7. We've avoided Swine Flu, but do like to get sick. Daniel and Nathan have had a "Saturday Night Fever" with cough, but on different Saturdays. Now Joseph has it. His is MonDAY Fever.
8. We went to a Straw Bale maze earlier in October. It was a lot of fun and Daniel threw a fit when we left.
9. I've started indexing records for the FamilySearch program. Some people have really bad handwriting. So far, I've done over 1400 names (thanks to nursing Sarah)...since 18 October.
10. We carved Halloween pumpkins. Two were Chernobyl pumpkins.
11. We got some great pictures of the kids in the leaves. These are just a few. Sadly, the leaves are still on the lawn - the piles are somewhat scattered.
12. The kids got to parade around the school in their Halloween costumes. I got to take 3 kids to the school twice that day and run around helping kids get costumes finalized. I miss Chad's flexible work schedule!
13. Choir practices have resumed. I really feel like an idiot in there sometimes. I can't get over feeling inadequate and therefore keep saying really dumb things. And of course, I keep telling myself that the choir would rather have someone else lead them. If you could even call it that. I have some issues to work through (obviously).
14. I've made so many squash recipes this last month that my kids will probably not eat squash the rest of their lives.
15. Our ward Halloween party was last week. The kids had a lot of fun dressing up for that (in addition to the school event) and for trick-or-treating the next night. I'm so glad Halloween is over.
16. My first week of weight loss ended in a gain. (There was a loss at first, but I found it again in the sugar cookies I made last Monday.)
17. Sarah does not like chocolate milk. Or should I say, she doesn't like chocolate in her milk?
18. The kids had a day off from school last week when the wind storm knocked out power to the middle school. The whole district was out for the day, though the power came back on.
19. I have been creating lots of digital scrapbook pages lately. Maybe I should update the slide show on the blog.
20. Two friends and I are singing in church next week. I don't get nervous in practices.

OK...that was a little difficult to think of so many things. And now you're probably glad I didn't go into too many details.


Here's a cute shot of Joseph on the afternoon we went letterboxing. He saw me taking his picture and stopped his climb down the steps to pose. He's so fun to take pictures of!