I had to run into town today to get Leah's glasses tightened (have I mentioned she got glasses?) and exchange something. On the way home, the boys got into it in the back seat.
I am SO SICK of those two and their misbehaving in the back seat. If it weren't for car seats and boosters, I would have them as far from each other as possible. I screamed at them on the way home from a store on Saturday and that had some effect for a short while. (Another reason why I'll never receive any parenting awards.)
So after listening to at least 5 minutes of laughing and screaming and watching arms flying, I turned the opposite way off our freeway exit and stopped on the side of the road. I opened the side door and told both of them to get out. Daniel was seriously distressed. I think he thought I was going to make them walk home. I admit to wishing it was possible, but we were still a good 5 miles from home.
What I DID do was make one of them stand off to the side and told the other to go around the van 10 times. When he was done, they switched places. It was cold and windy and neither one of them grabbed their jacket on the way out. I wouldn't have thrown it to them anyway. Even though they laughed and goofed off while they did their laps, they were silent the rest of the way home. And to me, that is a success. Even better, I didn't raise my voice or spank any rear ends. Maybe I do deserve a parenting award. But just a little one.
I will definitely do this again. *wink*
Showing posts with label van. Show all posts
Showing posts with label van. Show all posts
Monday, April 11, 2011
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Drive-In Movie
I'm trying to multi-task today and I'm working on folding laundry while I wait for pictures to upload. Sarah doesn't want me to fold laundry and she insists on helping me type. So I don't feel like I'm accomplishing much in either area. Additionally, Rebekah keeps following me around asking..."backwards, what does T-A-C spell?" or "frontwards, what does W-O-H spell?" I had to look at what she was reading and saw that the paper was upside-down. How do I tell her that my brain does not want to play that game?
Anyway, I finally uploaded the pictures of our drive-in movie. The last one we went to was "Cars." Yes, it's been a while. And now I can't even remember what movie we went to see this time!! This is going to be a great memory for us, years from now since it's hardly a memory now.
What the heck...we don't go to drive-in movies to see movies, do we? Not this family. We go for the experience. That includes...
...$5 nachos. Eat slowly and SHARE please! And try not to look so surprised that I'm taking your picture. You should expect it by now.
...putting down the back seats of the van. Leah's already established her area and is not about to get out of it. You'll have to come to her if you want some of those nachos.
...crawling all over Daddy. He definitely doesn't come for the movie...he hardly gets to watch any of it!
And that was the last picture I took with the camera before I smashed it while trying to put the seats back up for the ride home.
As you can see, it still took pictures, but the viewing screen was shattered and useless. Whoever imagined a camera would still NEED a viewfinder!
These last two pictures were literally point and shoot because I had no idea what kind of shot I was getting. It showcases what happens when we stay up WAY past bedtime. They were very difficult to get out of the van. This was one of those nights when we skipped scripture reading and family prayer. Maybe we should have gone ahead with it...they would have been very quiet!
Unrelated:
Sarah never cared much for her walker. Fortunately, she learned to walk without it. But it was nice to have her somewhat contained while I worked in the kitchen. I had to make sure she didn't back over my toes as she struggled to free herself from the thing.
This day she got very close to getting out...she ended up in a worse situation than she started. And I made sure I got a few pictures before I helped her out of it.
Anyway, I finally uploaded the pictures of our drive-in movie. The last one we went to was "Cars." Yes, it's been a while. And now I can't even remember what movie we went to see this time!! This is going to be a great memory for us, years from now since it's hardly a memory now.
What the heck...we don't go to drive-in movies to see movies, do we? Not this family. We go for the experience. That includes...
...$5 nachos. Eat slowly and SHARE please! And try not to look so surprised that I'm taking your picture. You should expect it by now.
...putting down the back seats of the van. Leah's already established her area and is not about to get out of it. You'll have to come to her if you want some of those nachos.
...crawling all over Daddy. He definitely doesn't come for the movie...he hardly gets to watch any of it!
And that was the last picture I took with the camera before I smashed it while trying to put the seats back up for the ride home.
As you can see, it still took pictures, but the viewing screen was shattered and useless. Whoever imagined a camera would still NEED a viewfinder!
These last two pictures were literally point and shoot because I had no idea what kind of shot I was getting. It showcases what happens when we stay up WAY past bedtime. They were very difficult to get out of the van. This was one of those nights when we skipped scripture reading and family prayer. Maybe we should have gone ahead with it...they would have been very quiet!
Unrelated:
Sarah never cared much for her walker. Fortunately, she learned to walk without it. But it was nice to have her somewhat contained while I worked in the kitchen. I had to make sure she didn't back over my toes as she struggled to free herself from the thing.
This day she got very close to getting out...she ended up in a worse situation than she started. And I made sure I got a few pictures before I helped her out of it.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Fast Food
This is an update on the mouse in our van.
It seems the mouse wasn't actually living in the van, but rather stopping by for the gourmet offering of crumbs and goodies we'd generously left for it. Did you know that cars/vans/trucks, etc. are not mouse proof? We didn't.
Considering the area we live in (ripe with field mice), it is no surprise that we'd been found out by the local vermin. Now I just wonder...how long have they been rating us in Zagat? We must have been like a 5 star restaurant for these guys! I am the type to need motivation to clean. I think I've found the ultimate motivator.
So now, the van is crumb-free (if you don't count the stuff embedded in Joseph's car seat) and we haven't eaten in it yet. I know that won't always be the case, so I'll have to be more vigilant with the vacuum. Darn it.
Ultimately, I'd like to catch the mouse that's on to us. We've set various traps. He's very good at getting what he wants and escaping the trap. What are those 7 cats good for, anyway?
It seems the mouse wasn't actually living in the van, but rather stopping by for the gourmet offering of crumbs and goodies we'd generously left for it. Did you know that cars/vans/trucks, etc. are not mouse proof? We didn't.
Considering the area we live in (ripe with field mice), it is no surprise that we'd been found out by the local vermin. Now I just wonder...how long have they been rating us in Zagat? We must have been like a 5 star restaurant for these guys! I am the type to need motivation to clean. I think I've found the ultimate motivator.
So now, the van is crumb-free (if you don't count the stuff embedded in Joseph's car seat) and we haven't eaten in it yet. I know that won't always be the case, so I'll have to be more vigilant with the vacuum. Darn it.
Ultimately, I'd like to catch the mouse that's on to us. We've set various traps. He's very good at getting what he wants and escaping the trap. What are those 7 cats good for, anyway?
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Hitchhiker and Anatomically Incorrect
This is two posts in one because my oatmeal is getting cold and I wanted to post before I forgot details.
First off, I noticed quite a bit of paper shreds in our van today as I climbed in to take Daniel to the TMJ specialist. (It went well and Daniel is hoping the pain will subside soon.) Things only get shredded in that fashion by one creature. The droppings confirmed it...there is a mouse somewhere in our van!
Eww! But I didn't have time to search, so it got a ride to and from the Dr's. Each way is 30 minutes on the freeway. And I know it went to the church with me last night. I don't know how long it's been in there. We drove 30+ minutes the other way for groceries yesterday morning. It was probably in there then, too.
Now, the van is sitting in the driveway with both side doors open. The kids are cleaning out garbage. We'll have to remove car seats and floor mats and get the vacuum out there (then change the vacuum bag)!
UPDATE: The van has been cleaned out. The garbage (bags of it - the kids kept kicking it under the seats) is out, the car seats have been removed and the entire van vacuumed. Leah is now vacuuming the last floor mats. Reuseable shopping bags, towels that are supposed to be under the car seats (but rarely are), a blanket and a hoodie are now in the washer.
That mouse had been there a while. There were little dropping and paper shreds throughout the van...including the glove box. Is nothing sacred? I even vacuumed little black poops out of the tracks for the sliding doors.
I vacuumed out Joseph's car seat and checked everyone else's. The van is as clean as I could get it without shampooing the carpet or washing hard surfaces (I can't do everything; I'm only one woman!). I even checked under the hood, but saw nothing suspect there. That would mean more if I was qualified to examine that type of thing.
Now, we're not neat freaks, but we're not that bad! I've never seen such a thing...and I've seen a lot. I never saw the actual offender, so I don't even know if it's gone. We'll have to put a 5 gal. bucket in there tonight with a little yummy in the bottom. We've learned that mice can't get out of buckets. The thought of the kids eating the banana chips after they got dumped on the floor of the van yesterday just makes me shudder. No wonder we're fighting nasty germs! We're probably all suffering from Hantavirus!
Second post: The kids were cracking and eating peanuts in the kitchen while I made my lunch. Nathan was having a hard time getting one cracked open, so he decided to sit on it. My first knowledge of this was upon hearing Daniel say, "Nathan's sitting on his peanut!" My mind skipped ahead of Daniel a little and I SO thought he was going to say something else!
First off, I noticed quite a bit of paper shreds in our van today as I climbed in to take Daniel to the TMJ specialist. (It went well and Daniel is hoping the pain will subside soon.) Things only get shredded in that fashion by one creature. The droppings confirmed it...there is a mouse somewhere in our van!
Eww! But I didn't have time to search, so it got a ride to and from the Dr's. Each way is 30 minutes on the freeway. And I know it went to the church with me last night. I don't know how long it's been in there. We drove 30+ minutes the other way for groceries yesterday morning. It was probably in there then, too.
Now, the van is sitting in the driveway with both side doors open. The kids are cleaning out garbage. We'll have to remove car seats and floor mats and get the vacuum out there (then change the vacuum bag)!
UPDATE: The van has been cleaned out. The garbage (bags of it - the kids kept kicking it under the seats) is out, the car seats have been removed and the entire van vacuumed. Leah is now vacuuming the last floor mats. Reuseable shopping bags, towels that are supposed to be under the car seats (but rarely are), a blanket and a hoodie are now in the washer.
That mouse had been there a while. There were little dropping and paper shreds throughout the van...including the glove box. Is nothing sacred? I even vacuumed little black poops out of the tracks for the sliding doors.
I vacuumed out Joseph's car seat and checked everyone else's. The van is as clean as I could get it without shampooing the carpet or washing hard surfaces (I can't do everything; I'm only one woman!). I even checked under the hood, but saw nothing suspect there. That would mean more if I was qualified to examine that type of thing.
Now, we're not neat freaks, but we're not that bad! I've never seen such a thing...and I've seen a lot. I never saw the actual offender, so I don't even know if it's gone. We'll have to put a 5 gal. bucket in there tonight with a little yummy in the bottom. We've learned that mice can't get out of buckets. The thought of the kids eating the banana chips after they got dumped on the floor of the van yesterday just makes me shudder. No wonder we're fighting nasty germs! We're probably all suffering from Hantavirus!
Second post: The kids were cracking and eating peanuts in the kitchen while I made my lunch. Nathan was having a hard time getting one cracked open, so he decided to sit on it. My first knowledge of this was upon hearing Daniel say, "Nathan's sitting on his peanut!" My mind skipped ahead of Daniel a little and I SO thought he was going to say something else!
Thursday, September 04, 2008
My life stinks!
Now before you refer me to your favorite therapist or sneak a sample from your cousin, Cynthia - the Pharmaceutical Rep., keep reading.
I smell dead things.
I also smell living things. I mostly smell stinky things. If there is a nasty odor, I usually know about it and am probably looking for the source if it's in my own house. (If it's in someone else's house, I suffer and feel slightly grossed out.) I've joked that it gets worse when I'm pregnant. I'm not sure about that. I think that I have been pregnant so much in the last 9 years that my nose no longer knows the difference.
The worst recurring smells in my house are the kitchen disposal (I try to peel all my oranges into the sink just to chop them up in the disposal. Did you know about the power of orange peels?), the garbage can -EWW!, and the diaper pail. Occasionally, I am assaulted by something yucky in the washer (a towel used to clean up milk spills or Rebekah's pants after she almost made it to the potty in time, etc).
I smell bad breath on others almost instantly. I've caught a hint of my own at times, but not too often. I don't know if that means that I don't have bad breath or if I just do recognize my own stink. I learned in High School to hold my breath when a person passed by my seat. That trick still comes in handy on airplanes.
So I've been enjoying a "new car" smell in our van since we got it about 6-7 weeks ago. And then about Monday I started smelling something bad. I thought it was a dirty diaper. I searched and searched, but couldn't find it. Every time I opened the doors, I'd smell it again and I was getting frustrated! Yesterday was do or die...I was going to find the source of the odor, even if I had to remove everything in the process. Luckily, I didn't have to go that far.
I had given all the kids an apple juice box after the fair on Saturday. We usually drink a third of Rebekah's drinks before we pass them to her. I should have given her even less. Rebekah had spilled?/poured? some apple juice into one of the cup holders by her seat. She may have poured some into the other one as well but I'm not sure. It had pretzel goldfish crackers in it and they were all puffed up and moist when I found them. They didn't smell like fermented apple juice, though. I think they were soaked in water. I also found both of Nathan's cup holders with about an inch water in them. So did a bit of cleaning and my new car smell is back. And so is my sanity!
Strange. I know.
I smell dead things.
I also smell living things. I mostly smell stinky things. If there is a nasty odor, I usually know about it and am probably looking for the source if it's in my own house. (If it's in someone else's house, I suffer and feel slightly grossed out.) I've joked that it gets worse when I'm pregnant. I'm not sure about that. I think that I have been pregnant so much in the last 9 years that my nose no longer knows the difference.
The worst recurring smells in my house are the kitchen disposal (I try to peel all my oranges into the sink just to chop them up in the disposal. Did you know about the power of orange peels?), the garbage can -EWW!, and the diaper pail. Occasionally, I am assaulted by something yucky in the washer (a towel used to clean up milk spills or Rebekah's pants after she almost made it to the potty in time, etc).
I smell bad breath on others almost instantly. I've caught a hint of my own at times, but not too often. I don't know if that means that I don't have bad breath or if I just do recognize my own stink. I learned in High School to hold my breath when a person passed by my seat. That trick still comes in handy on airplanes.
So I've been enjoying a "new car" smell in our van since we got it about 6-7 weeks ago. And then about Monday I started smelling something bad. I thought it was a dirty diaper. I searched and searched, but couldn't find it. Every time I opened the doors, I'd smell it again and I was getting frustrated! Yesterday was do or die...I was going to find the source of the odor, even if I had to remove everything in the process. Luckily, I didn't have to go that far.
I had given all the kids an apple juice box after the fair on Saturday. We usually drink a third of Rebekah's drinks before we pass them to her. I should have given her even less. Rebekah had spilled?/poured? some apple juice into one of the cup holders by her seat. She may have poured some into the other one as well but I'm not sure. It had pretzel goldfish crackers in it and they were all puffed up and moist when I found them. They didn't smell like fermented apple juice, though. I think they were soaked in water. I also found both of Nathan's cup holders with about an inch water in them. So did a bit of cleaning and my new car smell is back. And so is my sanity!
Strange. I know.
Monday, July 21, 2008
I should complain more often
Remember my post where I made remarks about extravagant spending and living high on the hog? Remember that I complained that I would like a new computer and a new van? Well, I don't know what's in the air here in Idaho, but within a month of that post, I have both. How does that happen?
I've already mentioned the new computer. I have been enjoying a faster machine and have had less time to wait for things to "process". The only negative thing I have to say is that this computer puts out A LOT of heat. With the weather that we've been having lately, I've been reducing the amount of time that I sit here just because I can feel the heat radiating out of the computer desk. I've even started turning my computer off at night. (All "green" enthusiasts are gasping at my utter disregard for the environment and cheering that something finally got to me.) So I guess it's a good thing. I just assume that the energy I'm saving at night is being used up during the day to keep my computer room at 85 degrees. I'm going to love this in January.
And this past weekend I passed on our old, hard-worked Pontiac TransSport to a well-deserving family, and adopted a 2007 Toyota Sienna! It has 8 seats and a DVD player as well as a 6-CD player. My kids still keep talking about the new baby that was supposed to be the catalyst for even getting a new van. I think we've confused them. NO NEW BABIES ARE BEING BORN HERE FOR AT LEAST 10 MONTHS! This is the newest car we've ever had and I'm suddenly very picky about what the kids can eat and how they can move about the vehicle (inside and out). It took me a few minutes to figure out how to work the wipers this morning. (It was actually raining today!) We had most of the money in our savings, so our loan was small and should be paid off in a short time. Just in time to start paying off medical bills on the new baby that is planned for, but not yet coming. (Just want to be sure everyone is clear on this point.)
So while I've found the lucky moment that I get the things I wish for on Blogger, I'd like to say that I'd like to have a healthy family, sufficient food and clothing and a large chunk of cold, tax-free cash!
Now I'll just sit back and wait for it to arrive...
I've already mentioned the new computer. I have been enjoying a faster machine and have had less time to wait for things to "process". The only negative thing I have to say is that this computer puts out A LOT of heat. With the weather that we've been having lately, I've been reducing the amount of time that I sit here just because I can feel the heat radiating out of the computer desk. I've even started turning my computer off at night. (All "green" enthusiasts are gasping at my utter disregard for the environment and cheering that something finally got to me.) So I guess it's a good thing. I just assume that the energy I'm saving at night is being used up during the day to keep my computer room at 85 degrees. I'm going to love this in January.
And this past weekend I passed on our old, hard-worked Pontiac TransSport to a well-deserving family, and adopted a 2007 Toyota Sienna! It has 8 seats and a DVD player as well as a 6-CD player. My kids still keep talking about the new baby that was supposed to be the catalyst for even getting a new van. I think we've confused them. NO NEW BABIES ARE BEING BORN HERE FOR AT LEAST 10 MONTHS! This is the newest car we've ever had and I'm suddenly very picky about what the kids can eat and how they can move about the vehicle (inside and out). It took me a few minutes to figure out how to work the wipers this morning. (It was actually raining today!) We had most of the money in our savings, so our loan was small and should be paid off in a short time. Just in time to start paying off medical bills on the new baby that is planned for, but not yet coming. (Just want to be sure everyone is clear on this point.)
So while I've found the lucky moment that I get the things I wish for on Blogger, I'd like to say that I'd like to have a healthy family, sufficient food and clothing and a large chunk of cold, tax-free cash!
Now I'll just sit back and wait for it to arrive...
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