Melinda Beth

Blog

This is a blogumentary of me and my family of 8. There's me, my husband, and our 6 kids. We plan to live together a long time (forever!) These are the ages of our kids: Emily (8 1/2), Bradley (7), Sarah (6), Wendy (4 1/2), Jason (3), Rachel (2).

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Disappointment

I'm disappointed with my ice cream/frozen yogurt choice. The ribbons of fudge are more of a nuissance than a pleasure. I was thinking it would be more like mint cookies and cream, but it's not. The cookie part is good. The fudge is not. Too bad. I'll just have to eat some brownies....

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Six Things

1. I'm officially waddling.
2. I went to the grocery store tonight and stood in front of the ice cream freezer for at least 10 minutes trying to decide what flavor to buy myself. I opted for the Mint Cookie Frozen Yogurt. I figured I could eat twice as much because it was lower in fat.
3. I think now I understand why Sarah thought my face didn't go with my pretty princess outfit on Sunday. Princesses aren't pigs.
4. I went to the doctor today and they totally forgot to give me my RhoGam shot. Now I have to go back on Friday with my kids. :(
5. I am grateful to have married someone who doesn't like brownies. More for me! However, my kids do love them and they think I should share them.
6. I am blogging because I'm procrastinating washing the dishes.

Monday, March 08, 2010

My Day

A 3 year old's masterpiece. (It's not Crayola Washable. It was a big fat permanent marker.)

A mother's elbow grease and sore arm tomorrow.

Mr. Clean saved Jason today. Thank you Magic Eraser. It's a good thing I pray for patience every morning.

Sunday, March 07, 2010

Always tell the truth?

This morning as I was helping the kids get ready for church I noticed a stain on Sarah's dress sleeve. I kind of scowled at it and made a comment about it being dirty. She fessed up to the fact that she was cleaning up the blood from her bloody nose she got last night and it got on her dress. Then the blood got wet and it spread more into an orangish stain. It wasn't that big or noticeable, so I didn't have her change because it was too much work and time to pick a new outfit. As I curled her hair, she made the comment that she felt good about being honest and telling me the truth. I reassured her it made me happy when she tells the truth. I didn't get mad about the stain, I was just frustrated that we were beginning the day with stained clothing. I was glad all those lessons in honesty were sinking in and working.

As we were finishing breakfast, I was standing at my computer checking my Facebook when Sarah commented how pretty my church outfit looked. As you can see in the picture below my shirt is quite pretty. It's a Pepto Bismol pink layered mesh Motherhood top I've had for a few of my pregnancies. It definitely accentuates the maternal curve and screams "Big Belly!", but it is quite princessy, which is why I'm sure Sarah liked it. My skirt also had some meshy lace on the bottom. I was so happy that my daughter made the effort to tell me she liked it. But then she said, "But your hair and face don't look so good with your outfit." OUCH! My self-esteem was immediately shot down by a six year old. But honestly I wasn't that offended, because I thought I looked pretty good that morning. My hair dried nicely. No zits. My maternity facial fat is helping to fill out my crows feet and other wrinkles. Perky big boobs. What more could a woman ask for? Apparently I'm just not natural princess material and Sarah just doesn't understand about the "glow of pregnancy" yet. I had my husband reassure me later in the day that I'm not ugly.

I think now that Sarah has the principle of honesty nailed down, we will move on and learn about tact.

Saturday, March 06, 2010

Help Wanted

I think I need to hire someone to post blog posts for me. Like I've said before, I'm not that busy, just not in the mood. I've been getting some good organization done in my house lately. We did some yardwork today. Blah blah blah. Anyway, I promise to try and do better.

Today I took a tour of the new hospital in town. It is replacing the old hospital that all six of my children were born in. This next baby will be born in the new hospital. It's the same hospital system, just a new building. It is due to open April 1. The tour began at 2 PM and when I registered they told me that it just for adults, so I went by myself while my husband watched the kids. As I pulled into the parking lot there were flocks of couples walking into the shiny new building. The pregnant women had shiny nice new maternity clothes. Walking in by myself with my 5 year old maternity clothes made me feel like the woman married to a dead beat dad. But it was all good. I saw someone I knew as I stood in line for the tour. We chatted for a moment and she asked me, "What number is this? Seven?" I replied, "Yes, number seven." The husband in front of me said, "Did you just say, 'seven'?" I told him yes. He remarked, "You must be a pro at this." I never thought much about it before, but I guess I could consider myself a "pro". Now if only I got paid to do it. That would be awesome. But....I am paid in blessings. Right now I blessed with big boobs.

So the tour was fun. It seems so fancy. There are HD televsions in the rooms and not a single scuff on the walls. There is heightened security so people can't steal your baby. I'm kind of excited to try it out. (The hospital, not stealing babies.) My only question was, "Are all the post partum recovery rooms the same size?" The answer was, 'yes'. I was hoping that maybe there would be a couple larger ones for people with lots of visitors, but there's not. That's not all bad though. It might just give me some more time to myself during my two days in the hospital. There was also talk of how they are encouraging the baby to be in the room with the mother as much as possible. Forget that! I have no problem sending my baby to be carefully watched by the nursery staff. Unfornately, the recovery rooms don't have bathtubs. That's a total bummer. I'll just have to take super long hot showers.

So that was my day. I guess I should go to bed now. I have to teach in church tomorrow.....

Tuesday, March 02, 2010

Answer to yesterday's question:

Here is the clean version:

1. Lip
2. Hip
3. Leg
4. Arm
5. Toe
6. Rib
7. Gum
8. Eye
9. Ear
10. Jaw

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Bad Bad Blogger

I can't believe I've been such a slack blogger the past week. I have no good reason either. I'm not sick, I'm not out of town, I haven't really even been watching the Olympics all that much. I pretty much have prescribed myself to bedrest for the next 2 1/2 months. The only comfortable postion right now is laying down on my side. It helps relieve back pain, pelvic pressure, and lung compression. It also is a lot more comfortable laying on my bed watching TV with my children next to me instead of on the couch with my children on top of me. Anyway, just wanted to let you all know I'm fine. Just lazy.

The other day as my kids and I were folding laundry at the end of the day, Bradley proposed that we play a game he read about in a Highlights magazine. The goal is to name at least 10 body parts that only have three letters. It's more difficult than it sounds. I shamefully taught my kids two bad words in the process to try to get to #9 and #10 more quickly. I warned them though that they were not appropriate words to say around their friends or at church or ever. But tonight at family scripture study we read:

Mosiah 12:5
"Yea, and I will cause that they shall have burdens lashed upon their backs; and they shall be driven before like a dumb ass."

So I guess it's ok to say one of the words in church in the correct context. And if you are wondering what the other word is, it starts with a T and infants love them.

Can you name 10 appropriate body parts with only three letters?

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Three Year Olds

He was so excited to find his lost aquamarine cup behind the couch, so he dumped the milk from the Cars cup into it and didn't mind a bit standing in a puddle of milk while he drank it from a straw more than twice the depth of the cup. It was totally to be expected because I mopped the floors last night.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

God's Love

A while ago my husband told the kids that all things beautiful in the world are God's way of telling us he loves us. Saturday evening as we walked through the Walmart parking lot, Sarah said, "Mommy, those sparkles in the street are God telling us he loves us."

I've never thought about it before, but I suppose God can tell us he loves us, even through the asphalt.

I testify that God does indeed love each and everyone of us. I can feel it. I can feel it even without looking at the street.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Breaking My Vow

I'm usually opposed (and so is my husband) to the stereotypical "My Husband is so Awesome" post. At one point I vowed to never post one, but I am breaking that vow today.

So here it is:

My husband is awesome.
(Sorry, babe, I had to do it because you are, and this is technically my journal and I want my posterity to know they had a very cool Great Great Great Great Grandfather. You know, family history stuff.)

One of his New Year's resolutions was to be a better husband. Not that he wasn't awesome before, but there is always room for improved awesomeness. There is definitely opportunity for me to be a better wife such as maybe planning ahead for dinner more than one day a week. Anyway, he's been faithfully keeping his resolution. It only takes small and simple things to make me happy. Wiping down the kitchen table and sweeping the kitchen floor for me at 9PM every night makes me VERY happy. I know that sounds lame, but it amazes me how such small and simple things can make such a huge difference. And those are just a couple of the simple things he's done in the past 7 weeks.

I told him the other night that righteousness is HOT!!

I can't believe I just blogged about my husband's awesomeness, but he deserves it every now and then. :) Even after nearly 10 years of marriage and almost 7 children later, I'm still in love with him. I even love him if he doesn't sweep the floor or makes me watch The Bachelor in solitude.

I'll be back tomorrow for more about me and my life of pregnancy complaints, potty training, and maybe even a picture of one or more of my ragamuffin children.

Now here is a picture that Emily drew. She asked me, "Do you think this is a picture of a butt, or someone kneeling?" You decide.

Monday, February 15, 2010

3 More Months

Per request, here is a picture of my belly. The little guy decided to finally make my uterus pop forward and relieve me of some back pain. Six months down and three to go. Notice the hair cut too. I got it cut today. It's been 8 months and long overdue. I feel like a new woman. Off to the doctor tomorrow for a glucose tolerance test and RhoGam shot. I can't wait to drink my fruit punch in the morning! I'm surprised one of the kids hasn't drank (or is it drunk?) it during this past month that's it's been in the refrigerator.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Happy Valentine's Day!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Winter Wonderland

Today we woke up to a winter wonderland. Since my husband and I knew it probably wouldn't last long, we woke the kids up at 7AM and told them to get dressed because it was time to play. Sarah and Emily were eager to go outside. Bradley and Wendy tried to opt to stay inside and enjoy the view in the warmth. Jason was sound asleep and we forced him to finally wake up. Rachel just always goes along for the ride with whatever we do.

We went outside at 7:15AM. The kids stomped around in the slushy snow, complained that they wanted gloves, and complained about their feet being too cold. But since we knew this is a once in a decade opportunity for them to experience snow in their very own yard, we were good parents and forced to them to play anyway.

I think they did have a good time despite the cold and ill-prepared wardrobes.

They made a snowman. Now that I've looked more closely at the picture, I can't tell what they used for a mouth. It looks like a dog turd, but I'm pretty sure that it's not. I'll have to ask them later.

Jason wasn't too happy about his canvas sneakers getting soaked by the snow, so he sat down and cried about it.

Emily

Bradley

Sarah

Wendy

Jason

Rachel

Daddy took a bite.

The novelty wore off after about 45 minutes and they settled themselves snuggled with blankets on the couch and watched Spongebob.

Then they drank hot chocolate.

The snow is gone now. It was a fun day!

Friday, February 12, 2010

Snow?!

It looks like Heat Miser and Snow Miser came to a compromise to have snow in South Town just in time for Valentine's Day weekend. I just hope it's still here by morning so I can get a picture and so the kids can see it. It just started at bedtime and Wendy exclaimed, "This is the best night EVER!" She also told me earlier today, when I told her it might snow, that she was going to ask Santa for ice skates for the whole family! I definitely don't think the snow will stick until next Christmas, but it is quite a novelty for the evening. Yay for snow!

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Blog Transition

Ok, so the formatting on my blog looks funky right now on Internet Exploerer. I don't know why. I'm pretty sure it has to do with IE and not anything I did. I am hoping to give my blog a redesign in the next couple of months. I was informed that Blogger will no longer support FTP users, which includes me. FTP users are those that host their blog on their own server, which I do. And if that makes me sound all technically advanced and smart, don't let me fool you. It's only because my husband, by profession, is a web developer. He set this blog up for me about 5 years ago which was before Blogger allowed you to use your own domain name. If you wanted your own domain name, you had to host it yourself. Since we already had a hosting plan we were paying for, we just added melindabeth to the list. A couple years later Blogger came up with the custom domain option where you can have your own domain name, but the blog portion is hosted at blogspot. Anyway, since I'm an FTPer and host my own site, I will have to go through this whole wizard thingy later this month and get it switched over. I'm hoping that it's not troublesome. I'm sure my husband would/will help me, but I hate to bother him with it. So during the transition, I'm going to try to get a new design because I'm getting bored with mine. We'll see how it goes....

In other news....

Before the kids go to bed every night, they write in their journals. Sarah draws pictures because she's not fluent in writing yet. Tonight she drew a guy and a girl dancing under a disco ball. I thought that was cool.

Oh, also, today celebrates the day my husband and I got engaged 10 years ago. Yay!

Oh, and today the kids were dancing. Wendy turned the music off and Rachel stopped and froze in her position. She thought they were playing freeze dance. It cracked me up.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Dreaded Oatmeal

Today my kids decided to make a mess while my back was turned. It made me mad. I told them that I was going to feed them oatmeal for lunch if they didn't get it cleaned in 10 minutes. They failed. They got oatmeal. There was wailing and gnashing of teeth among Bradley and Sarah. They chose to continue cleaning while hungry and get something better to eat once the cleaning was finished. I don't think they ate their preferred lunch until about 3:00PM. I think I've found a good strategy.

Monday, February 08, 2010

Monday

Buddies.

My tomato seedlings under the grow lights. The peppers haven't sprouted yet.

Sunday, February 07, 2010

Sunday

Bradley put a package of flour tortillas on the hot stovetop. If only he had centered it a little more. Thankfully with a little Goo Gone and a little elbow grease, it came off pretty easily.

Sarah's new dress that we gave her for her birthday. I bought it at the same time I got Emily's Christmas dress at Sears.com. I just couldn't resist it.

(Sarah is not very good at fake smiling.)

Her little sister is learning the art of fake smiling too. I held the camera up to her and she said, "CHEESE!"

Stuffed

Today my husband took the oldest three kids to church for a service project. It was an organized activity mostly involving yard work around the building. Afterward the ward celebrated with a pig roast and lots of food. Since tomorrow is Fast Sunday, my husband thought he should stuff himself silly. I don't know why he thinks he needs to do that because we all know we are more starving the day after Thanksgiving than any other normal morning. Anyway, my husband can't pass up good free food.

When he came home he complained of being too stuffed to do anything. He always likes to drink lots of water before a fast, but there just wasn't any space in his stomach to do so, so he had to delay beginning his fast. He went upstairs to do some work on his computer while leaving me downstairs with the kids watching Wow Wow Wubzi. After about 20 minutes I went upstairs to talk to him and he was in our bedroom laying on the bed reading a book. He saw my look of surprise and he quickly explained how uncomfortable he was and that he could hardly sit in his chair because his belly was so full.

My response?

"Now sit there feeling like that for three months!"

He quickly realized the silliness of his relatively temporary complaint and I think gained some true empathy for his pregnant wife. That made me happy and I was very forgiving of his complaint.

I've just recently reached the stage of the shortness of breath while in the sitting position. Rachel loves to sit on my lap and I've made her quite unhappy several times by not letting her. I feel like I'm suffocating when she's on my lap. I can see the local news headline:

"Pregnant mother of six suffocates to death from 2 year old sitting on lap."

How sad would that be?

Thursday, February 04, 2010

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Every morning I try to make a little progress upstairs before going downstairs for breakfast. This usually means we don't eat breakfast until 10AM, but I'm totally fine with that because none of us are anxious to hang out downstairs where the temperature is about 67 degrees in the morning.

This weekend in the bedrooms and office organization process, most of the excess junk and trash made it's way into the hallway. I've been slowly throwing things out, putting them in their places, and tidying up. This morning I decided to take care of the 8 six gallon buckets of food that were in the hallway. (And to all concerned family and friends, I did not lift them, but kind of rolled them into the closet.) I did lift a couple, but they didn't weigh any more than my 34 pound son that I pretty much carry up to bed every night.

Anyway, I was so proud of myself and satisfied that I accomplished something already that morning. I knew I was going to pay a price for it later in the day with some posterior pelvic pain, but I thought it would be worth it. I was soon to be proven wrong. At about noon my husband called me and asked me to do a favor for him on his computer. Now keep in mind that the food closet is the closet in the office that has my husband's computer. So since mother and children are like magnets, my children followed me to my husband's room. Bradley, Sarah, Wendy, and Jason were using the closet as their "clubhouse" and I let them go in there to hang out while I completed my assigned task. I assumed that there wasn't any danger in a closet of several buckets and was safer than around all the computer equipment. Well, I assumed wrong. I forgot to foresee that the wire shelving would be a temptation for small children. They must have been playing monkeys or something. I soon heard a huge CRASH, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, followed by some whimpers and crying. The 6 foot long wire shelving had torn out of the dry wall causing 2 kids to be buried by 23 #10 cans. We were fortunate that no major injuries occured, except for a minor goose egg on Sarah's head. She was reluctant to admit that she was one of the monkeys hanging on the shelf. She felt really bad. And unfortunately for my blog it wasn't a moment I felt like taking a picture of at the time. I wasn't angry at my kids because I understand that they couldn't predict that drywall isn't strong enough to hold all that weight. I was just angry at the situation. Bradley told me that he couldn't stop shaking when it happened because it scared him so much. Wendy told me that she thinks spiders are going to come out of the holes in the drywall.

So, all my progress was in vain because now I have 23 #10 cans and 6 large peanut butter jars in my hallway until I figure out a way to fix this shelf. ***SIGH*** I guess I can use it as a lesson on physics and the properties of drywall for school.

I look forward to a day when I can take two steps forward and only one step back.

At least this little boy helped me to put away the 4 boxes of Great Value saltines I bought at the grocery store on Saturday. Go Jason!

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Going Heirloom

For the past couple of years I have been wanting to grow some heirloom vegetable plants. An heirloom plant is basically a plant that you can collect the seeds to grow more plants in subsequent years. Most plants and seeds purchased at local nurseries or home improvement stores are hybrids which means that they are genetically altered to grow fruit that is high in quality and disease resistant and good for mass production. However, the seeds from hybrid plants are unreliable and if collected and sown will not likely produce a similar product the following year. Don't ask me why this is. I'm not a botanist, just a gardener. Anyway, I just thought it would be cool to have heirloom seeds so that 1) we can save money each year by not having to buy pepper and tomato plants, and 2) to take us one step closer in being self-sufficient in the whole gardening thing.

This year I finally remembered to order my seeds early so I could start some bell pepper and tomato seedlings indoors. I think I found a good supplier at http://www.territorialseed.com/. They have a good catalog you can order for free too, if you are interested in seeing what they have to offer. (I was up until about 2AM last night browsing through it.)

Bell peppers and tomatoes need to be started indoors 6-8 weeks before the last frost date. They are not good plants to be directly sown in the ground in the Spring because they have a long growing period. So last night I started my peppers and tomatoes. I am hoping really hard that this will work. As soon as they sprout I am going to put them under some florescent lighting for about 16-18 hours per day. I haven't had the best of luck starting seeds indoors in past years. Natural sunlight seems to make the seedlings very leggy and weak. I am determined to do it right this time. I even gave my precious seeds a nice heating pad to warm their bottoms because they germinate best at temps of 70-85 degrees. I even put a thermometer in the soil to monitor their temp. So now the hoping begins. I also told my kids tonight that they are welcome to pray for Mommy's seeds.

Here is my setup:

I put the Jiffy Seed Starter Greenhouse in my husband's office because it is the warmest room in the house with several computers running. The heating pad is still necessary though. Unfortunately the heating pad has an automatic shut-off so I have to run up there several times a day to turn it back on if I want the soil temp to be just right. (I'm too cheap to invest in a real seed starting heating pad.) I also have an aluminum cake pan and lid with some more green peppers. As of now I have a hopeful 30 tomato plants and 44 green peppers. We aren't going to plant them all. There will be some lucky neighbors and friends if my experiment is a success.

But this whole seed starting thing leads me to wonder if the early pioneers ever ate tomatoes and peppers? Starting seeds indoors is kind difficult even in this modern world. I'm not sure that the pioneers would've had sufficient light and heat inside their cabins to get high quality seedlings. If anyone has the answer to this I would greatly appreciate the insight. From what I read online, tomatoes and peppers don't seem to be mentioned as part of a pioneer diet. It seems they stuck to corn, potatoes, beans, squash, and greens. I suppose that also means that the pioneers didn't eat BLT's. How sad. Maybe they were satisfied with just BL's.

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

A Post for Women

As I've mentioned before, pregnancy is not my favorite thing. I'm in my sixth month and the relaxin horomone is kicking in and making my pelvis feel like jelly. It causes pain and discomfort, mostly at the end of the day.

I will say and admit that one of the benefits of pregnancy is the pregnancy boobs. I don't recall ever enjoying my boobs so much. I don't know if it is a boy baby thing, the supplemental progesterone I took the first 12 weeks, or if it's just where all my extra fat is going right now, but it's fun to be able to fill out my bra. The other day Rachel was sitting on my lap facing me. I was wearing a V-neck shirt and she could see my cleavage. Normally "cleavage" is not a vocabulary word I use when describing my physical appearance. She pointed to the crevice and looked at me with confusion. Then she said, "Butt." My two year old daughter thinks I'm growing a butt on my chest. Unfortuately, my second butt will probably be gone by the end of the summer. But hopefully my primary butt will be back to a more normal size. For now, I'm going to enjoy all my butts and feed them well....

A belly picture will be coming soon....(for you, Lori.)

Monday, February 01, 2010

Happy Birthday, Sarah!

I was going to keep with the rainbow theme this year, but I forgot to buy regular M&M's this weekend. I didn't think Skittles would go too well with the chocolate frosting, so I used some Christmas green ones and stenciled a "6" with chocolate sprinkles.

She loved the pretty ballerina dress that my parents sent.

Jason was jealous of Rachel's head injury and he thought he needed one too. He fell backwards and banged his head on the kids' table. He recovered quickly. When he gets older and goes bald, he will have a nice scar to show.

Sarah had a great birthday!!

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Spinning Sarah

Last weekend my husband took the kids out and I stayed home to make some progress on house organization. He took the kids to a church Primary activity, to the library, to the park, and finally to Walmart. I have to say that my husband is a lot braver than I am. He took this video while at the park. It really makes one wonder why they even install an apparatus such as this one. It's a little crazy.

Other than that, not much else in the news. It was a cold and rainy day here so we worked on more home organization. My husband rearranged and cleaned out his office while I cleaned the kids' room closet and sorted more clothes. It was a very productive day, but we still didn't quite finish. Home organization is a continual pursuit.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

1000th Post

So a friend of mine posted her 100th post today, which made me look to see what number I was on, and low and behold today is my 1000th! How cool is that? A while ago I had meant to remember and celebrate and I'm so glad for the reminder because I totally would've forgotten!

So what better topic to post about for a 1000th post than to post about organization. I've been on an organization spree the past week. I think it might be a pre-nesting thing, or maybe just the fact that my house has been in absolute disarray going from 2 months of morning sickness, to Thanksgiving, to Christmas.

My husband finally kindly requested for me to get his office in order because that is where all the junk ended up over the holidays. His "office" happens to be the old boys' bedroom until we moved all the kids into the large master bedroom last January. So the closet in the office is, or actually was, full of bins of boys clothing. Now that I know we are having a boy, it's makes the whole organizing kid clothing thing easier. Basically I emptied out the office closet and moved it all to the current kids' bedroom closet. The office closet will now be a food storage closet full of 6 gallon buckets and #10 cans and I'm quite excited about it. Pictures will come soon.

Anyway, sorting the boys clothing was quite exhausting today. Sizing can get so confusing. There are:
1-3 months
3-6 months
6-9 months
12 months
18 months
24 months
2T
3T
4T
5T
Size 4
Size 4/5
Size 5
Size 5/6
Size 6
Size 6/7
Size 7S
Size 7X

I just don't always know how to group them together because the sizing can all be so different. I wish there was more standardized labeling amongst the brands. Because, seriously, you would think that size 4T and size 4 would be the same, but they are not. Size 4 is really about the same as 5T. And then Gymboree loves to label their infant stuff 6-12 month and 12-18 month and it always seems to run huge. Oh the dilemma of which bin to put it in!! Anyway, enough of the rambling.....

Two days ago I took care of the major sock issue we were facing. Children's socks were EVERYWHERE in our house. I bought a nice over the door shoe organizer at Walmart. Each child gets their own pocket for their socks. There are also pockets for the different sized tights, slips, ruffle socks and brand new packages of Target clearance socks. My husband laughed at me when he saw my solution. He didn't have faith that it would work because he thought Jason would likely get into it and there would be socks scattered around the bedroom in the morning. So far so good. I told my husband I have to at least attempt a solution. So here is a picture to prove what a genius I am:

Slips, tanks, ruffle socks, and knee socks.

Tights

A pocket of socks for each kid, including the new baby and the 8th pocket is for more ruffly socks. Poor Sarah only has 3 pairs of socks. I have no idea what happened to all of them.

Packages of brand new Target clearance socks.

Yay for organization!! And yes, a 1000th post could've been so much more interesting, but this is my life.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Be careful or you'll crack your head open

Tonight as I was washing the dishes after dinner the lights were flickering on and off. It had nothing to do with the power or storms, but rather some little hands. I turned my head and saw Jason by one of the kitchen light switches. I warned him to not play with the lights or he would be in big trouble. Again the lights began to flicker. I turned around and stearnly told him he was in big trouble. He blamed it on Rachel. I thought he was lying because he looked guilty. I failed to see that Rachel was at the other switch across the room flickering the lights as well.

As I finished washing the dishes, Jason took matters into his own hands to solve the problem and decided to remove Rachel from the source that was causing him to get in trouble. He moved the chair that Rachel was standing on to get her away from the switch, causing Rachel to tumble to the floor. I didn't see it happen because I was washing the dishes, but when the crying seemed serious enough I decided to take a look. I rescued Rachel from her supine position and as I lifted her, blood dripped from her head. Emily gasped. I gasped. It freaked me out because I don't like to see blood dripping from my child's head, but I examined the wound it was only about a quarter inch gash caused by hitting the corner of the baseboard (I think). I'm sure she will be fine without stitches. Her hair should cover the scar. Plus I didn't want to miss my night out at a church meeting to learn how to be a coupon wiz.

We put the guilty suspect in charge of janitorial cleanup:

I returned home a coupon whiz. But before I went home I stopped by the grocery store to use my rain check for Buy One Get One Hefty trash bags, which also had a $0.55 coupon attached to each box. I saved $15.14. I really needed those bags too. We were on our last one! Yay for BOGO and coupons!

Monday, January 25, 2010

Watching The Bachelor....

Friday, January 22, 2010

Happy Birthday, Rachel!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Ouch

I spent half the day bent over my bathroom sink trying to get stains out of clothing. Now my back is killing me!! Looks like I'll just have to watch TV or read a book tonight. Darn!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Walmart

We went to Walmart tonight and got McDonald's ice cream cones. We also bought a new scale. Woo hoo! Now I get to track how much weight I gain.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

It's a...

BOY!!

We're excited! We need another one of those.

Monday, January 18, 2010

One More Wayback

Sunday, January 17, 2010

More Wayback

From age two, Jason has been a chocolate scout. If it's there, he will find it, especially chocolate chips.

2009

Hmmm. Apparently he may have inherited it....

1978

Today Jason made it through the entire church wearing underwear with no accidents. I had confidence in him and didn't even bring a spare. Well, I was planning to bring a spare, but we were already running five minutes later than usual and when I realized I forgot them as we were driving down our street, I made the executive decision not to go back and get them.

Jason is having a difficult time adjusting to being a Sunbeam in the big Primary. For 2 out of 3 weeks he's fallen asleep during sharing time. Today one of the teachers came to tell me and thought I might want to get him. I walked into the Primary room where the leader was teaching a lesson and he was sitting in his miniature plastic chair sleeping as his head bobbed and rolled all over. I went over to him and whispered, "WAKE UP!!" Then I took him to the potty. I think that helped to wake him up. But seriously, from a 3 year old's perspective, what's the point in staying awake when there are no toys and most of what you hear is, "Wa wa wa wa wa wa wa . Wa wa wa wa wa wa." Let's hope next week is a good underwear and no accidents Sunday too. (However, I will bring a spare next week.)

Also Jason wore pants all day long without wetting them. He did poop in them later in the evening, but no wetting. Yay! Anyway, his reward for going potty while wearing underwear and pants is a toddler handful of chocolate chips. This afternoon when he was rewarded, he went into the family room to brag to his siblings. He said, "Hey guys! I went pee on the potty. I got choca chips." When there was no response, he said louder, "Choca chips!....Choca chips!!..... Choca chips!!!.....CHOCA CHIPS!" I think he was a little disappointed that nobody was jealous.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Productivity

I'm whooped because we had a productive day today. My husband got the oil changed in his car. I planted some spinach, carrots, and lettuce. I hope it grows. It's worth a try at least until April when we plan our usual crops. I found some heirloom seeds to buy online. I want to try heirloom tomatoes and peppers this year. I grocery shopped. Now I'm about to clean my kitchen up, except my back is very weak and tired, so I took a break to sit down and blog. Apparently on Facebook this week it's "Wayback Week", which means it's encouraged to post some old pics of yourself. I had my parents send me some of when I was a baby and toddler. Here is one:

1977

Look familiar?

2009

If only I had a Cheerio on my head.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Tum Tum Tum Tum

All I can say tonight is:

INDIGESTION! Bring on the Tagamet because Tums just don't cut it. Yes, I'm getting fat. My abdomen is pushing into my esophogeal sphincter and my lungs. I guess it will be 4 more months of uncomfortableness. People at church are always surprised when I go back to church so soon after having a baby. But the truth is that I feel 100 times better the week after I have a baby than I do the four months before I have a baby, so why wouldn't I go? I am able to bend over and grab crayons and sippy cups off the floor while sitting on the pew. I can breathe and sing hymns easily. And I can walk without waddling. So, no, I am not one of those women who declares, "I LOVE being pregnant!" It has it's perks though. Like the fact that I can go eat a big fat piece of cheesecake right now and wash it down with a glass of milk and a Tagamet capsule and not feel bad about it. I also like that I get to decide what restaurant to go to when dining out. However, we don't dine out quite as often as we did when we had 1, 2, or 3 kids.

Today I had some insurance issues to deal with. Seriously, insurance issues can take all day sometimes. I was trying to figure out how to deal with primary and secondary insurance. Anyway, while I was on the phone and computer, the kids were playing "bus station". My husband found a bus ticket in the kitchen this evening. On the front it said:

Stops:

Poopland

Anusland

Nice. Apparently I spent too much time on a particular planet in our Solar System lesson yesterday and my son got fixated on a particular body part. But you have to admit that "Uranus" is a hilarious name for a planet. The book we were reading was telling us that "Although the weather on Uranus cannot be seen by the naked eye, it is highly active." Uranus also "contains a thick layer of methane in it's upper clouds." It was an entertaining lesson.

I think I really needs some more adult time. Sorry.

Now to leave you with a short educational Animaniacs clip that teaches us about the planets:

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Random Rambling

Mondays might be a slow blog post day for me for the next several weeks because the Bachelor is on. I have my priorities.

Not much new is going on right now. I'm having a difficult time getting back into the swing of things. We have a more relaxed homeschool schedule during the holidays and I took an extra week off after the company left to kind of wind down. So now the kids are having a hard time kicking into full blown school mode. All Sarah wants to do it play. I don't blame her. I crashed this afternoon at 4 PM on my bed while the kids watched TV. I didn't even hear the phone ring when my husband called. He said it worries him when I don't answer because he thinks I must be rushing a kid to the hospital.

Now I have a kitchen to finish cleaning, ornaments to take off the tree, and some more TV to watch. I'm also trying to balance my reality TV shows with some literary excellence. I've chosen to read Emma by Jane Austen. PBS is broadcasting a 3 part miniseries beginning January 24th, and I thought it might be fun to watch, as well as the movies with Gwenyth Paltrow, and Kate Beckinsdale. I've never been much of a novel reader, probably because I have ADD or something. I have a difficult time finishing anything including books and projects. I'm more of a short story and magazine article kind of person. Or better yet, just give me a good quote. I'm also a fan of Rachael Ray's 30 minute meals.

So that's all for now, folks. Not even a picture.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Youth

Today at church we were introduced to a new missionary that is serving in our ward. My first thought when I saw him was, "Wow. I didn't know that they let the the Young Men go on missions." In other words, he looked very young, in the 10-14 years old range. Anyway, I don't feel bad about mocking his youthful appearance because I've experienced people thinking I'm younger than I am. Unfortunately my voice doesn't help any in making me sound more mature. Now that I'm in my thirties, looking and sounding young doesn't bother me. But in my teens and twenties I failed to realize that it might eventually be flattering. It's weird though because when I study myself in the mirror, I see exactly a 33 year old in physical appearance, which makes me believe that I must just simply exude immaturity. I'm ok with that. I will always think fart sounds are funny.

My husband reminded me at lunch today about a time after we first got married. I was 24 years old. We were both serving in the Youth program at church and were chaperoning a youth dance. I was standing around chaperoning and a boy came and asked me to dance. I danced with him. He was about the same height as me, probably about 15 or 16 years old. I think I asked him if he was having a good time. Then he asked me what school I went to. It wasn't until that point that I realized he actually thought I was a teenager. I thought he was just a nice kid trying to be nice to a youth leader by asking her to dance. My brain immediately raced to find the appropriate response in order not to embarrass him or myself. I didn't find it and I just simply said, "I don't go to school. I'm a leader." I don't remember his response because it was at that point that I tucked the experience into the back of my memory. I felt so bad for him because I could tell he was embarrassed. Thankfully the song ended and I quickly went back to my fellow youth leaders and laughed off the embarassment with them. I'm glad I didn't tell the kid I was pregnant. It still cracks me up to think about it. I'm sure if the lights weren't dim, he would've seen that I was nearly 10 years older than him and that the ring on my left hand was not a CTR ring.

So yay, for youthful looks. I guess. I see the crow's feet, sagging lines around the mouth, and fading collagen. So I'm thinking maybe it's my youthful chest that can still fit into a pre-teen training bra that gives me a younger appearance? I don't know. I just hope to live to be a ripe old age and that my voice will deepen as I grow older.

Now here's a picture depicting the delicious part of youth: