'Tis the Season

Birthday season, that is. I've baked and decorate 2 cakes within the past 5 days. We barely finished the first cake before we presented the second. Normally, this would be fine with me. Not so good with the morning sickness still lingering.

Daniel turned 7 on Saturday. He had a basketball-themed day, including the cake, a ball and a hoop. This cake was a little fun to make. It was a little interesting when it tried to roll away during the decorating, but we salvaged it. (At least, Daniel never had a clue.)

Everyone enjoyed the cake, especially Rebekah!

And today was Chad's 34th birthday. His cake wasn't as whimsical, but it didn't take any less time to decorate. (After this week, I think that professional cake decorators must have very strong hands! Mine were killing me.) Just so you are a little impressed, this cake originally said "I love you" but I changed it to "We."

The kids were more than willing to help Chad remove all the candles from his cake. Yes, there were 34!

Rebekah also really enjoyed this cake. And we enjoyed watching her.

Chad got some church shirts and a new belt. (It may look like a whip or an extension cord, but those things don't work as well in his belt loops.)

We have a family tradition to go out to dinner at the honoree's restaurant of choice. I was really wishing the yuckies were gone so I could have enjoyed my dinner and the cake a little better.

When I'm feeling better, we're getting a sitter and going out to eat, just Chad and me!

We've got some cooler weather today. We got up to 49 degrees today. We've had a lot of rain though, so at least we don't have to worry about watering for the rest of the week. The rain is supposed to continue, though and I'm a little worried about the kids' swimming lessons that start on Monday - outdoor pool.

We still have our 2 kittens. They are getting a little bigger and like to explore the house. Jingle doesn't like either one of them. We're careful not to leave him alone with them. I'm hoping he'll adjust and accept them better when they aren't so kittenish.

Family History Story

I tried sharing this story during FHE with the Collett Cousins last night and was chagrined to have nearly no details.

The version I told was a little different than the one I actually found. I have a sneaky suspicion that Mom told the story to me with a few extras of her own (she can deny this, but I know how she tells stories!).

Anyway, here is the story, copied straight from the page. This story was told to Marcella (Graham) Allred by her grandfather, William Benona Graham in the spring of 1926 while helping him do his family research. William was a nephew to Margaret Graham, the star of the story.

I am not editing the mechanics or grammar. Just enjoy.

Margaret Graham, daughter of Robert and Catharine (Russell) Graham, a half sister to James Graham who is a son of Robert and his first wife Ann (??) Graham was waiting table in Carthage, Ill. when a group of men came, seated themselves around the table and began talking.

Margaret being a waitress overheard their conversation stepped into the other room, closing the door behind her, peaked thru the keyhole and knew who killed the Prophet and his brother Hyrum.

On telling her story to others, her life was threatened by the mob. Through quick thinking and action, she was disguised as a man, having her hair cut and dawning a stovepipe hat carrying a large cane she was rushed from the city.

The mob was so violent they stopped her carriage, seeking her life, but because of her disguise, her life was spared.

Pretty exciting, huh?

HOLY COW!!! Uh...I mean HOG!

I challenge you to find a picture more eye-popping! This 11-year-old boy shot this 9'4",1,051 pound wild pig while hunting with his father in Alabama. They are mounting the head (and can I just say...GROSS!), and plan to get 500-700 pounds of sausage from the rest of it.

I would never have believed that a wild pig could get so big. And just what did it eat in a day? That boy is lucky he killed it in time. He looks just the right size for lunch.

That beast must really smell bad.

Everyone should have friends like this!

Yesterday, an Elder returning from Mexico to his home in Providence, UT found this as a welcome home from his friends. It took them 3 hours to do and they left nothing bare! A little more than your average yellow ribbons! They volunteered to clean it up. (His parents were just as surprised, and at 1:30 AM, no less!)

Microphones and Kittens

Those two words don't seem to really go together, but pretend with me. It keeps me from having to post two separate times. (We really are lucky to be getting this one.)

I've had a request to blog about my stunning performance on stage Thursday night. And since one person said they were interested, I figured there had to be at least one other curious person out there. So for those two people, I will give you all the fascinating details.

First, I have to say that Daniel's TaVaci performance was very cute. Daniel did ham it up a bit, but not as obvious as the Christmas concert. All of the numbers performed were cute and well done with exception for a number did by some older boys. They didn't have enough volume to project the words they were singing. (That's probably the only time those boys are too quiet!) I've ordered a DVD of the evening, so we can relive the show over and over.

One of the funnier parts of the evening was when Daniel stepped up to the microphone for a speaking part and ended up about two inches below it. He kind of stood there in a helpless/goofy sort of way until the teacher came up and lowered it for him.



After Daniel's show was over, we all (my mom & step-dad, my dad, and my little family) piled into two cars and drove about 5 blocks to another building where our stake and the community Methodist church were combing for a night of musical talents. I had been asked to perform a song with some other ladies from church. Notice I said "perform" and not "sing." It would have been much easier to simply sing as I am not a performer. I let these women know that I was going WAY out of my sizable comfort zone to do any actions. I have to admit that only singing would have been boring (but safe).

We sang "Sisters" in 3 parts. I was first soprano. The 2nd soprano and alto are much taller than I (who isn't, right?) so we started out the song only to stop after singing about 3 measures so I could go and get a stool to stand on. We got some good laughs off of that. We did different motions throughout the song and had a part in the middle that was about 25 measures of patting out a rhythm on our legs then clapping and snapping. We never could get it perfected, but it was good enough. After a refrain and a few more measures of patting/clapping/snapping, I jumped off my stool on the last note from the piano.

I was glad when it was all over! I had been thinking and worrying about that dumb song for 2 weeks. It didn't help that I had been feeling pretty sick the whole day.

Speaking of sick, take a look at this video of the kittens. This was the last time I let them eat at the same time. It was by special invitation only after this disgusting brawl.



I was having a hard time trying to figure out how they could go from this










to this (don't miss clicking on this picture!)










in such a short time. I cleaned the bathtub AND bathed all 5 kittens twice on Friday. Normally, I don't like smells in my house. Lately, I can't stand them. So while I was getting ready to clean the tub Saturday morning, I decided that if I could take care of the kittens, so could someone else! (I had been waiting until they were a little older before trying to find them homes.)

I bathed the 3 male kittens and boxed them up with a FREE KITTENS sign. The girls and I (Chad and the boys weren't back from the Father/Sons Campout) drove to the parking lot of the town's grocery store where they were having a community garage sale. A sunburn and two hours later, I returned home without the kittens. So now we only have to two females left and things don't get quite as messy. As soon as the two kittens get older and show their personalities, we'll keep one and find a home for the other. (The females are the gray and white kittens in the litter box.)

So now, there won't be any more of this! Sheesh! You can barely see the plate!



I have cleaned this tub more in the past week than in the whole 3 years we have lived here!

I will survive!

I have been feeling better. Still not all the way there, but I have been getting more done and sleeping less. Three more weeks of this?

We temporarily gained 5 kittens this week. They are in the bathtub. I have to clean the kittens and the bathtub on a daily basis. (That goes so nicely with how I feel.) When they stop using their litterbox as a playground, things should be much nicer. I'm guessing they are 5-6 weeks old. I'll have to post pictures later. Anyone want to adopt a kitten or two?

Leah has entered a new phase in her language skills. She likes to abbreviate words. She wants a banan for a snack, a drink of wad when she's thirsty, and wants to be covered up with her blank at bedtime. If it's this hard to understand her when she's 3, what ever will we do when she's 13?

Tonight is Daniel's big TaVaci Spring concert. He's got 3 grandparents driving up to see him. Then, I have to run over to a different building and sing a song with some ladies in a community music thing. I haven't been looking forward to this night for a couple of weeks now. I'll be glad to wake up tomorrow morning and have it all behind me. It will be fun and stressful at the same time.

In honor of Daniel's TaVaci day, here are some pictures and a movie from the end of April when he sang at the zoo for Arbor Day. The movie is kind of long, but I didn't feel like editing. The group he's in is pre-K to 1st grade. Notice how he's about the shortest? (He's the boy at the far end.) Please excuse the unsteady camera. I was trying to control Leah and Rebekah.

Dare I even hope????

I think things are starting to get better. I don't feel as hopeless as I used to. The yuckies are getting a little less yucky, too. Unfortunately, they are still bad in the evening which still leaves the burden of dinner and bedtime on Chad. I feel guilty that he's doing all the work, but yucky enough not to help. And I usually don't feel like being grateful is enough. Does anyone want to take a Friday afternoon off sometime next month and come up here to go fishing with Chad for a couple of days? I think he should get away and do something he never gets to do anymore.

Speaking of getting away (and more reason for me to feel guilty), I'm going to Time Out For Women the second weekend in June. It's only 45 minutes away from here, so I don't have to be gone overnight. There are a few of us from the ward/neighborhood that are going. It will be fun to get to know these ladies a little better. Being in Primary has kind of sucked me into a social black hole.

Next week is going to be a little crazy for us. Daniel's singing group is having their Spring concert on Thursday and some of Daniel's grandparents are driving up for it. (Anyone else that wants to come is certainly invited! It's FREE.) The same night, I'm singing with 2 other ladies in a community music/talent night. Daniel's thing is at 6, ours is at 7 ish. The day before, Daniel has like a 5 hour practice and sometime in there, I'm having a practice, too. I'm counting on this morning sickness really getting better because usually by 7PM, I want to crawl under a rock. Instead I will be singing the soprano part and doing goofy actions (how do I get into these things so far out of my comfort zone?). Oh yeah, and I get to stand on a stool the whole time - part of the act because I'm so much shorter than the other 2 women.

Rebekah is still not talking, but is making some progress. She's started nodding. You can tell it's tricky because she has to pause before she gets started. It's pretty cute, though. She does it with a little grin on her face. Maybe she knows she's so cute.

Now you see me, now you don't.

Yes, I am here. It's hard to believe, even for me! I just thought I'd check in and let you know that nothing has changed. I have about 4 weeks left of this misery.


I am truthfully doing nothing around the house. Sometimes I change a diaper, sometimes I make lunch for the kids. I wash the clothes on Saturday and sometimes I fold them. Apparently, I don't sweep the floor. It is quite gross. From the amount of junk under the table and in the surrounding areas, you'd think I don't even own a broom.


The last time I swept (and mopped, even), Daniel celebrated by systematically flicking tiny pieces of tortilla chips onto the floor durring dinner. I wanted to kill him. I yelled instead (not much better). When Leah clears her spot at the table after lunch, she picks up her paper plate and holds it down by her side on the way to the garbage can. By the time she throws it out, the plate is clean enough to use again! I won't even bother describing what Rebekah can do with food.

We do have some good news to share. We were able to use our Tax Refund to get rid of all our credit card balances. Our only debt now is the house (which we just refinanced). So now we can actually create a respectable savings account and pay for this baby (I feel like I've already paid enough though).


I finally have some pictures to share. It's so cool that I can upload the pictures from the main computer downstairs while I working on the laptop upstairs. The downside is that I can't see what the picture is until it loads.




These first pictures are my lastest project in the house. Everybody gets their own frame and the sentence on top is from the scriptures; "Thou deliveredst unto me...talents" We still need to put something in the girls' frames.


The next pictures are from the combined family project to clean out Grandma's stagnant pond. We were hoping to find out the pump worked. We were disappointed. But there was some awesome teamwork for an hour or two. (P.S. VERY STINKY WATER!)

Later, was an Easter Egg hunt for all the cousins.

Hmmmm.....I don't seem to actually have any pictures of the cousins. But here are the kids!

The next morning was our Easter Sunday and the kids hunted for eggs again, in their Easter clothes. We had eggs in the fridge for a long time. Nathan started out liking egg salad sandwiches, but has since changed his mind.

Sing with me..."As time goes by."

Don't feel bad. I don't really feel like singing, either. And I don't really feel like time is going by.

I've only been sick about 4 weeks. I still have six more to go. That is a really depressing thought. Truly, this is the worst part of having a baby. The c-section and recovery are better than this! When I was pregnant with Rebekah, I starting bleeding a lot at 13 weeks. I really thought I was miscarrying. While I was sad to think that was happening, I was more disappointed to think that I had been sick for so long for nothing! Obviously, I didn't miscarry and all the suffering did result in a beautiful baby who now says "uh-uh" to 95% of the things she's told to do. The suffering is cyclical, obviously.

Today has been such a fabulous day...to put it mildly. I got up for family prayer this morning, put some breakfast in my stomach and went back to bed. So I finally stumbled into the shower at 10 AM, made lunch at 11, then went back to bed for naptime. Now, after all this sleeping, I wasn't really tired, but I just can't seem to favor an upright position. The doorbell forced me out of bed at 1:30. If I can stay up until bedtime, I should be able to fall asleep ok tonight.

I am constantly eating, just to fight the watery taste that's always in my mouth. So at least I don't have hunger pangs on top of everything! I've already gone through a prescription of Phenergan (w/codine) and two refills in 3 weeks. That's what's probably saved me from throwing up so far. I normally start the day feeling "passable" and go down hill from there. By the time I lie down at night, I'm hoping to loose consciousness quickly and wake as little as possible before 3 or 4 AM.

I've got a lot of reading done. I got 4 books from the library last Wed. I'm halfway through the last one. I've read about 1,000 pages this week.

And yet life has gone on around me. Chad was called to be Exec. Sec. a few weeks ago. He gets to wear a tie a lot more now. I'm still in Primary. I get to yell at Daniel all week and then a bonus 2 hours on Sunday. He doesn't listen to me as well as the other 4 or 5 kids in the class. I wonder why?

Daniel has reading homework every day. So right after school I sit next to him on the couch, trying not to smell him (or anything else around me for that matter) and listen to the same story 2-4 times. Speaking of smells, I've changed a lot fewer diapers lately. THANK YOU, CHAD!

The other night Leah came into our room (I think we need to duct tape her into bed) with some "important" thing to tell us, and I noticed that she had some short hair on one side of her head. But it's not what you think. Nathan was the one that cut it. WHATTTT???? We woke him out of a sound sleep and ruined his night. It's hard to remember that they aren't "accountable" yet. I sure hold him accountable. And he won't be holding any scissors for a long time.

Rebekah is 20 months old next week and still not talking. Nathan didn't talk until he was 3, so I'm not worried about her development (yet). She understands us just fine. We just don't understand her. The shrieking and moaning sounds she's using are nigh to drive me insane.

I have no patience with my kids lately. I feel so yucky that I just yell at them or ignore them completely. I am truly amazed that this planet isn't one big barren rock. The fact that this is my fifth time putting myself through this has convinced me that I am indeed out of my mind. I used to be such an intelligent girl. *sigh*

Oh Boy (or Girl)

Well, most of you now know that the hidden message was that we are expecting another baby. I tried to leave it as long as I could to give everyone the chance to figure it out. Some of you needed more help than others.

So now I am back to incredibly long days as I feel yucky and exhausted. Today has not been the best. If you don't hear from me much, it's because I don't feel like blogging. I figure I only have 8 weeks to go of this!

We went to Utah on Friday (returned home Sat. evening) for a family Easter BBQ. Surprisingly, I didn't feel too bad until about the time for the BBQ on Sat. I gained 2 lbs. trying to keep enough food in my stomach to keep the queasies away. I have some pictures of our mini-trip that I'll post later...someday...maybe.

This baby is due in November. The strict 40 weeks, typical calculated due date is 22 November. We won't make it that long. (Thank goodness!)

Chad is getting released from Scouts. He was sustained as the Exec. Sec. today. I'm already planning on how to get myself and the kids ready for church each week while Chad is in meetings for 2 1/2 hours. I've decided to get them all dressed the night before. I credit myself with cunning and foresight for coming up with such an ingenious plan. (You can already see how well my mind functions under such less than perfect emotions and conditions.)

A different kind of mystery...not a picture

Ok. There is a hidden message on this blog page. NOT this post, but this WEB page. Can you find it?

Here is a clue. I won't be adding any more posts until the mystery is revealed because it will change the message.

The message is hidden within the regular text. I have edited it a bit to make it stand out more.

Any additional clues or information will be edited into this post. Leave your guesses in the comments. Don't we all love a game?

F inished and unfinished projects

Here are some things I've been working on. Some are done. Most are not.


The finished first.


I got the girls' Easter dresses made during General Conference. It's amazing how much better I listened while I had my hands busy than when I just sit in front of the TV and watch. Leah's is pink, Rebekah's is yellow.



Here is the quilt square that I was creating for my Enrichment Quilt Group. I didn't like the way it turned out, so I went for 'plan B' and ended up with this. The next pattern is paper-pieced sailboats for June.

Leah got her hair cut this morning. Her FIRST haircut (if you don't count the snip she took herself during the summer last year)! Here are before and after shots. It's still long, but seems so short to me. I'm just hoping that it will be 100% easier to comb through now.

Here is Leah's "name blanket." This is a reward that she's earning. Every day that she wakes up from a nap without crying, screaming, or being grumpy in any way (she has to "wake up happy"), she gets to put a sticker on a chart. After 30 stickers, she gets her blanket. So far she has 16 stickers. (She didn't earn one today.) I just have to put the top and bottom and batting together.

And this is my "in-over-my-head" "eternally-unfinished" project. I'm quilting the quilt from last year's quilt group. This is only half of it. I'm not even 1/4 through it. But won't it be nice when it's done?

I t's Spring Break!

It was Spring Break this week. We finally got out to celebrate on Thursday. We felt a little restricted by this weekend's General Conference because we didn't want to be somewhere that would be hard to listen. So our plans to travel much distance were nixed. We ended up driving all the way to a small town, famous for it's church college, recently turned 4 year University.

Upon arrival, we stopped in Winger's for lunch, then drove down the road to DI for some treasure hunting.

Next, we drove to the building next door to do some bowling. We were bumper bowling because of the kids, but it really helped the grown-ups, too! The kids used a ramp to send their balls down the lane. We did fairly well. The kids all got into the 90's and Chad and I were one point different from each other, in the 120's. For the first 8 frames, I was dead last in the family. We had some really pretty shoes there. I know it's to deter you from stealing, but I have to think that some things get so bad that the temptation returns just for proof of the hideousness! The hardest workout of the game was making sure Rebekah didn't get herself killed as she wandered around us while we slung stone balls back and forth!

Here is some video of the kids launching their bowling balls. (Sorry it's a little grainy. I spliced 5 movies together and had to use a different format to get YouTube to record it all. Just stand back a few paces from the computer screen!)

By the time we were done bowling, it was late enough to check into our room. We had some time to get a short rest while the kids watched a couple of Magic School Bus shows. We then donned our swimming gear for 20 minutes in the pool. I REALLY look forward to the day when the kids can swim on their own and we won't have to have one or two hanging on us in self-preservation. Then we were back to the room in a quick scramble to get dressed, and up to the campus for a quick bite to eat on our way to see the planetarium show at 7. Rebekah and I wandered around the science building for 75 minutes while we waited for everyone to enjoy the show. Apparently, the kids were not really captivated by the show and were pretty wiggly in there.

So we were finally able to head back to the room for a bedtime treat and SLEEP! The three older kids slept in one bed together and fell asleep much faster than Rebekah. It was a risky arrangement, but despite elbows and knees, no one was seriously injured.



We slept in as long as we could. Sometime before 8 AM, we were up and getting dressed. Free breakfast at the motel and then we were headed out to an airplane museum. The museum people must have been able to sleep in longer than us because despite their posted hours saying they were open, they were not. No explanation.

So, we had a whole day and nothing planned. We decided to put some miles on the van. We drove to Arco and had lunch in a little restaurant called, "Pickle's Place." It was painted very green. From there we drove a little further to Craters of the Moon National Monument. It was cold! But we were tough and even hiked out to the caves. We went down inside an old lava tube now called Indian Tunnel. It was very rocky and Rebekah was carried most of the way. In another month, that's going to be a nice place to visit (not too hot, not too cold). In two months, there will be wildflowers blooming among the lava rock. We won't be back until much longer than a month or two from now.


We finally got home again around 5 yesterday. We were very tired. So we had cold cereal for dinner and watched an old movie, "How to Frame a Figg."

General Conference will now be starting in about 10 seconds. We are rotating our 72 hour kits today, so the kids have been looking forward to GC all week! Rebekah has already downed a package of fruit snacks!

F our Mystery Pictures

ANSWERS BELOW!






OK Here are four mystery pictures for you to play with. Let's get a few of you to leave your guesses in the comments. If Mary gets all these, I'm going to be suspicious!






























electric burner on high
bath towel
edge of book pages
toothpicks

those were some good guesses!

T oday while the sun shines

Here is Nathan hamming it up for the camera. A lot of people at church have never gotten close to seeing this side of Nathan. He is the most reverent a child can be and still be breathing. I wouldn't be surprised if he ever just tipped over because he fell asleep or his muscles gave out! Anyway, you can see for yourself if he gets out of his predicament.

We spent all day working on the garage, yard, house or laundry. Chad took advantage of warm, sunny, 63 degree weather and spent the entire day cleaning out the garage. I am very happy about that! We have a lot of garbage now. I took advantage of no kids in the house to go through the kids' clothes. I had to buy 4 new storage bins at Wal-Mart. I finally removed all size 3 clothing from Nathan's drawers and closet. He's only 5 now! I got the girls' clothes separated, too. Our kids have too many clothes.

Today was the first day this year that I hung out laundry to dry. Three loads. It's getting warmer!! Daniel was very helpful and begged to take the laundry down and then folded much of it himself before helping to put it away. This morning he marched right up to me at the sink, pushed up his sleeves and asked me where the bowls went in the dishwasher. !!!! Isn't he a nice boy?

I did a little weeding this afternoon. Our tulips and daffodils are just coming up. We think we planted the daffodils a little too deep. They should have blossomed by now, but have broken ground behind the tulips. We have large clumps of healthy, green grass in our flower beds. The lawn is still thin and yellow. Why is the (unwanted) grass in the flower beds doing so much better than the (wanted) grass in the lawn? Maybe I should plant some tulips around the lawn.

The neighbor kids played with our kids today. It all started when I offered them some freezer-burned ice cream from the freezer (only the best around here!!). After that they were braver and entered the yard. They are twin girls (six years old, I think) and have lived next door for over a year. Last year they cleaned me out of my tulips in the flower bed. They don't go to school in this town for some reason and they're always outside playing in their pj's (today it was thermals). My biggest hang-up is the lifestyle they're being raised in. Their mom and her girlfriend have attrocious language. Those are my two hang-ups. I'm ok with the kids playing with them until things start showing up in their playing. I'll probably restrict the playing to our house, though. I've seen enough of their lifestyle in their yard to not want the kids asking me questions. Let's cross those bridges when they're older!

H unting for gold (and the rest of our weekend)

Since Saturday was St. Patrick's Day, we had a hunt for leprechaun gold. It was a picture scavenger hunt and along the way, everyone got a little stuffed white/green bear. At the end of the rainbow was a clear green piggy bank and 3 gold foil-covered chocolate coins. There was money taped to the back of the coins for the bank.

The day had been beautiful so we walked 15 minutes to Subway for dinner. While we were there, we were talking about our hunt we were going to have when we got home. Daniel, ever skeptical, piped up, "Leprechauns aren't true!" We reminded him that it would be wise to believe, if only for a few hours.

Earlier that day the kids had enjoyed playing with their Laird cousins. Daniel seemed to slip right into "take charge" mode. He's lucky they were willing to play along since 2 of them tower over him. Leah enjoyed having an older girl to play with. She didn't even seem to notice that her cousin was 5 years older.

Chad got deep in rabbit gunk as he moved the cage out of the greenhouse. There was a lot of fertilizer in there! Chad and Daniel planted some berry bushes. Will we have berries for jam this Fall? It's always a gamble.

I spent the day working on my quilt block creation and doing laundry (when I wasn't napping). The laundry takes the whole day and I didn't get the last load into the dryer until after 11:30 PM. It goes without saying that it's still not folded.

In Primary yesterday, Daniel was yucking it up as usual. Gratefully, I only had 3 kids in class. The 3 hardest ones! One of the kids said, "Daniel is so funny!" And then the other one added, "Yeah! He's like a clown!" I think Daniel grew 1/2 an inch (or was it just his head?).

Rebekah started saying, "Bye-bye" yesterday. She was trying to repeat names, too, but they weren't very clear. She's very good at saying, "uh-uh." As you picture that, add a baby scowl.

So now the week has begun again. Ho hum. I do get to take the cat to the vet for booster shots today and Daniel's P/T conference is this afternoon. I teased him last night and said I had to go talk to the teacher to find out how bad he is. He looked at me for several seconds and then said, "I'm not bad!" Good! Let's keep it that way, Mr. Clown!

B locks for March and April

I really didn't like March's block (as I have mentioned before), so I redid it. I like these colors better than the first attempt. There are still some things about it I don't love, but not enough to do it for a 3rd time.
April's block is a flower (tulip?). The leaves and stem are paper-pieced. I'm still working to get the hang of that. And because I am so hard to please, I am making this block for May and substituting the given pattern for my own creation. You see, the scheduled May block is a bunch of tea cups. I don't drink tea or coffee and hardly get the motivation to make myself some hot chocolate. And that doesn't really seem like Mother's Day to me anyway. So in keeping with the saying, "April showers bring May flowers" I will be moving the flowers to May and unveiling my one-of-a-kind block next month. Aren't you so excited??

Sorry if the crooked pictures bother you. It is kind of annoying.

A Harder Mystery Picture

Now what are you looking at? Yes, it's right side up.

B ye-bye, Arlyn

I would like to announce to the world that I am within 4 lbs of my goal to get to my prepregnancy weight from 4 babies ago. I hit a new low on the scale today...without Fast Sunday to help! It has taken me since July, when I hit an all time non-pregnant high during a family vacation, to lose over 16 lbs. Half of that has come off since the new year. I finally figured out what to do. (Or better said, what NOT to do.) It has felt satisfying!

Y ikes! and DOUBLE Yikes!

Nathan had his five year well check yesterday. He also got his school shots. He had to get 3 and so one arm got two. He didn't have to be restrained...he was very good about that. But he did cry. A lot. Tears were pouring from his eyes and he kept saying, "It hurts!" The nurse really felt sorry for him. The Dr.'s office usually gives the kids a sticker after a visit, and Leah was even given a dum-dum sucker after her shots (she didn't cry). The Dr. himself gave Nathan a coupon for a free ice cream cone ( I think they forgot that with Leah). But the nurse really felt sorry for Nathan and so he walked out with a sticker, a dum-dum, his coupon, a bottle of bubbles and a little toy dinosaur. He could barely carry everything! The nurse said she was a Grandma now and didn't worry about spoiling anymore. I mentioned she might be out of control. She agreed.

He was so affected, he couldn't buckle his seat by himself. This morning, his arm with two shots is red, hot and a little swollen. We're giving him lots of acetaminophen.

Daniel has learned a new word. I heard him in his room last night and thought he said "suck." That is a banned word in our family. I started to explain this to him and he stopped to correct my misunderstanding. (What he said only rhymes with that word.) When I heard the "correction" come out of his mouth, I got much more serious than I had started out. This of course shocked him and I think he got embarrassed. I had to explain to him that I wasn't mad because he didn't know about that word yet and when he got older he would know what it means and understand why it's bad.

All this led into a discussion about being "clean" in our words, thoughts and things we do so the Holy Ghost can help us when we're older. Nathan even got included. So maybe I'm grateful that my six-year-old learned the 2nd worse swear word? (He already informed us that he "knows 'dog' spelled backwards" is the worst swear word.) I think I would prefer he didn't have to know about those things (at least for another 20 years)!

Rebekah has learned a new word, too: "Uh-uh." :)

Mystery Picture

What are your guesses for this one? Check the comments in 3 or 4 days for the answer.

My weekend

This is what I did this weekend. Actually, I started it on Thursday (or was it Wednesday?) and finished it this evening. It was a birthday present for a sister I visit teach. I delivered it tonight and she loved it (like she would have said that she didn't). Anyway, I knew that she would appreciate the gift. That's probably why I was willing to put the time into it.

There was a Primary activity today. I took Leah since she's more than ready to be a Sunbeam, but gets to enjoy Nursery for one more year. I was assigned to an activity that "spotlighted" each child. I got to ask them a list of questions about themselves. There are a lot of girls that like pink and a lot of boys that like lions. Interestingly, the "favorite part of Primary" that received the most votes, was singing time. Yeah. I'm in there and I don't hear a lot of singing coming from the kids! Daniel said his favorite part was classtime...he must REALLY love his teacher! (me)

Daniel was invited to a birthday party today. It was at a skating rink, clear on the opposite side of town. He had never been skating, so I watched him "hold to the rod" three times around and then said I'd see him later. I wandered around some stores while I waited. I feel it's a miracle that he didn't seriously injure himself. He had a lot of fun.

This past week was our RS Birthday celebration. It was a very nice evening of relaxing, eating and visiting. I was asked to sing, "Gentle" (Michael McLean) and worried the whole time that I was off key. It's about 2 octaves lower than what I normally sing, but someone admitted that the song made her cry, and I don't think it was my performance that caused it (whew!).

And now I look forward to a nice, relaxing Sunday. We've already set the clocks ahead. This may be the one day this year that the kids sleep all the way to 8 AM!

The Wrong Side of the bed

Last Sunday, early morning, we awoke to hear Leah crying. This is not an unusual occurance. This time, though, she sounded a little muffled. The more she cried, the more muffled she sounded. Since it was still dark outside, we were a little disoriented. We finally realized that Leah was UNDER our bed and getting more frantic the more she awoke and couldn't really move. I can't believe that she even got under there at all. I can't fit a large shoe box under there, but she can wiggle under in her sleep. Talk about waking up on the wrong side of the bed!

It hasn't been a good week for sleeping. Sometime mid-week, I was up all night hearing Leah and Rebekah in a coughing choir. They were doing solos, duets, refrains and it was all in forte. Rebekah was pausing one or two minutes before starting in again. I hate it when my kids are coughing, especially when they're young and can't really tell me how they feel. I kept cringing with the nasty coughing and imagined that their throats were getting sore. I gave them both prescription strength med., but I couldn't give the stuff with codine to Rebekah and it took her a LLLLong time to quiet down. Then Daniel came in sometime before dawn and said he didn't feel good. He clarifed and said he didn't feel safe. He'd started to have a bad dream. I gave him a sleepy hug and told him to get a drink and go to the bathroom before going back to bed. The next night, I was so tired that when Leah started coughing, I medicated her, cranked up the humidifier, and closed her door most of the way. I would have liked to close our door, but since we often have sleepy visitors, I didn't want to risk the collision of door to face and suffer the trauma that would follow that!

Mystery Picture

Here's a new mystery picture. Maybe this one will be a little harder. Now, I don't see many people guessing. Just log in anonymous when you leave a comment if you want. Some will be harder than others. Give it a shot!

y=2x+1

I spent my weekend boning up on my Algebra knowledge. A neighbor asked if I could tutor her 11-year-old in his studies since he's failing and was just moved up to this accelerated class. Do any of you remember much from your Algebra classes? I sure didn't. I've had a crash course on finding y-intercepts, slopes, and solving for m, x, y, etc. Does y=mx+b mean anything to you? Yeah, so I spent Friday, almost the whole of Saturday, and all morning today speeding through chapters of formulas and graphs. All for $12/hour. He's set up to come Mon. - Wed. - Fri. for the time being. Wow. This sure makes me sound like a nerd!

So anyway...that's what I've been up to most recently.

Remember to: Solve graphically and show your work algebraically!