Ugggh!

Have you ever accidentally washed a pull-up before? Yeah, well me either until tonight. It's 1am and I just finished cleaning out my washing machine and shaking out all the clothes that were covered with whatever it is pull-ups are made of. Ew! Yuck! Lucky for David he's asleep cause I was pretty mad. He must have taken it off and left it in his pants and of course I somehow didn't notice. Granted I feel for the kid because he HATES that he even needs the things. I would too though. What to do, what to do?

3rd grade

So I've noticed a trend in my third grader. Every Sunday night he gets very very sad. He doesn't feel loved and he HATES school. Have I ever mentioned that he hates school before? Well he does, a lot. Anyway I was thinking on this event and I suddenly remembered that I myself hated 3rd grade. Indeed it was quite tortuous to go. We had moved to Ohio and I thought it was because I was new but now I believe that perhaps one is destined to hate third grade.

What I remember, it was winter when we moved there and my teacher didn't like to turn on the lights. This was a bit weird but she always wore very dark brown or black and had dark brown nail polish. This convinced me that she was a witch. (remember this was before people really got crazy with the colored nail polish). I also remember every time we went out for recess that I felt blinded by the snow because I spent all day in a dark dungeon with a witch.

I also was a bit behind in school as I had a learning disability and had already failed the 1st grade so my confidence wasn't much. And if my sob story isn't bad enough I was a tubby kid and got teased. In fact I recall going to class (no friends) and sitting down after having missed a day of school and some kid started singing "Chunky's back and she's getting even fatter, hey la chunky's back" Ouch that really hurt. You should have tears in your eyes by now. If not pinch yourself.

So my kind loving mother let me stay home a few Mondays. I think she just felt bad for me. I'd cry and throw fits about going to school. Then one day my older brother gave me one of the greatest tips he's ever given me in my life. He told me that the best way to get mom to believe you are sick is to fake Diarrhea. Not only would mom never send us with the risk of crapping our pants and having to come pick us up (we were a one car family at this point, lime green Volkswagen van) but she loved writing out diarrhea because she said most people spelled it wrong and so the teacher would always know our ailment the following day. Who can argue with Diarrhea. I conveniently had diarrhea every Monday for a very long time. I'm pretty sure my mom had me figured out after the first few attempts yet she still let it slide for a while.

My tale is sorrowful no doubt and yet tomorrow will come and I will indeed put my third grader on the bus. As much as he hates school I believe he will hate make up work more. Plus I let him go with me to his brother's appointment last week and we never made it to school since it took so long. He got a freebie anyway.

If I were a modern girl I would insert here a photo of my third grade chubbiness but I don't know how to scan it in so you'll have to imagine what I looked like. My Mother still loved me.

ho ho hum

So you'd think my kids would be happy to see Santa but the looks on their faces do not confirm such a thought. This was at Mike's work party and yet once again I was without a camera, fortunately they had someone there set up to take pictures, he even sent them out the next day. Too bad I can't have someone do that for me all the time. :)
Sam was happy but didn't really look at the camera, he wasn't sure this was the real Santa or not.

David looks a bit worried, he also questioned whether this was the real deal or not before he sat on his lap but afterward he was sure he wasn't "The" Santa.

Jack almost looks in pain here. As far as I can tell Jack does truly believe in Santa but had no doubts that this guy was a fake. I mean really look at his beard, it's obvious. Nothing gets past Jack.

Veterans Day has come and gone but I thought I'd post a couple pictures anyway. Courtesy of our summer trip and someone else being in charge of the camera. :) This is Mike and his Dad at a memorial by Denali. It was such a beautiful day, incredible really. We saw Denali and only about 10% of visitors really get to see it, so we felt lucky. Mike's really enjoyed being able to relate some of his military experiences with his Dad. Their jobs were totally different but they've been to some of the same places and it's sweet to hear when they talk of their memories/experiences. Mike's been to Japan a couple times now and his Dad served there for a time. It's fun to think that these father/son experiences continue even when we're all grown up.

Mike's official photo. He no longer has the glasses though. I'm still getting used to seeing his eyes all the time. It's nice though.

hmmmm

Some people's kids look like mutants and that's all there is to it.

My Monkey Boys

Jack in action on the monkey bars. I remember that hurting my hands as a kid and am always amazed when I see kids do it over and over again. Jack's not one of those kids but he will do it every once in a while.

Brotherly love. I love this picture.

Mike VS Wild

Many of you know that we don't have TV, no reception whatsoever, not even a fuzzy one. We've pretty much never really had TV the 11 years we've been married. Anytime we go to hotels we stay up late watching episodes of Man vs. Wild. My kids love it. We're always grossed out at the stuff he eats. Since living here in AK Mike is a bit more Wild. While his parents and sister visited this summer we had to try and go fishing at least a little bit.

We started at shipcreek which is my least favorite spot. It's the only non-pretty place to fish in AK. It's really muddy, which the kids LOVE. No success there. So on the way home we stopped by another spot. One kid was only in a sweatshirt of mine since he fell in the muddy waters and was freezing. We kinda hopped out of the car later then everyone else. The scene we saw was Mike catching fish with his bare hands. I've never seen this done before. It was actually quite amusing. He caught one and threw it up at us and hit his poor mother. So she was "fish slapped" Shameful really. :) She laughed it off pretty good.

As you can see from this picture Mike decided to give it a go in all his wildness. He said it's a lot tougher then he thought to bite through the fish skin.

Japan

Mike gets to travel the world without me. I think it's totally unfair but I do like that he has a job that allows him to do what he loves to do. And I also like to hear the experiences he has on these travels. These are some friends he made in Japan. Doesn't he look fetching in this traditional Japanese attire? I think so. Note there are no glasses, he got some of that fancy eye surgery and can see pretty good now, though they say it'll be about 6 months till he's totally healed.

Last time he came home from Japan he had all kinds of edible treats that we didn't know how to eat since we can't read Japanese but it sure was a lot of fun. My kids love using the kid chop sticks he got. They're normal just smaller. Jack is officially a fan of wasabi and can eat it plain. Silly boy. If you ever visit us we'll make our little American version of sushi and you can watch my kids who don't eat much, eat a lot of sushi with wasabi. It's pretty fun.

Naming

Tonight at dinner my boys were telling me names they would give their daughters if they have them. David announced that he WILL NOT get married but he'll adopt some kids. Jack said he'd name his daughter Kamber, which is the name we gave the baby we lost. I tell him that's sweet and David pipes in and says "I'll name one of my daughters Mary" Which I of course have to gush over. Then Sam pipes in and says he's going to have 4 daughters and he'll name them "Amber, Charlotte, Mary and is that 4 Mom?". Me -"No that's only 3". Sam says -" and Scribbity doo" We all bust a gut on that one and he is obviously proud of himself for making us all laugh so hard. So then they all come up with totally ridiculous names. It was very entertaining.
Here I thought little girls were the only ones who thought about naming future children.

quitter

So I was out with my little Sam man this morning. We couldn't get the oil changed on the car so we were just hanging out outside. He wanted to rake the leaves and I thought "why not". Now the leaves here are a bit frosty especially in the morning and it's probably not the best time to rake but Sam thought it was fun so we did.

As I was raking I looked at my yard and thought "ah, I don't feel like finishing this". This thought sparked some thoughts on quitting. I am a quitter. I quit many things. I have numerous unfinished projects in ALL areas of my home. When I do laundry I always leave some socks out. When I do dishes I don't like to finish off the job all the way. I don't know why but I don't. So I started to make this mental list of all the things I quit. Work out schedules, pottery projects, sewing projects, cleaning projects. Sometimes I think just get bored and don't feel like doing it anymore. I looked at my yard and the leaves on the outskirts and everything in me wanted to quit. I thought to myself, as annoying as it is to rake frozen leaves that are sparsely scattered on the edges of my yard I WILL finish this job.

So I as I raked (not meticulously mind you) I made my mental list of things I have not quit. I actually finished a mission and college. I haven't quit being a wife or mother. I haven't quit going to church or fulfilling my responsibilities there. And I do actually finish a few projects here and there when a deadline pushes me to. I haven't quit on family or friends even when I sometimes want to. So perhaps I'm a quitter of nonessential things. Who cares if I always leave out a few pieces of laundry? Well my husband but that's okay because I sometimes pick up his black socks from the floor that dump little black sock boogers there EVERY time, requiring me to ignore them or vacuum.

Boo!

So every year we get "Boo'ed" and my kids love it. I have to say that the older they get and the faster they can run the funner(it's a word right?) it is to "boo" in return.

For those of you who may be wondering what I'm talking about I 'll explain. Someone makes some treats, leaves them on your door with a little note and a sign, rings the bell and runs. You eat the treats(hoping they aren't poison), copy the sign and accompanying note. Place the sign in your window or on your door. Then you make treats and do the same thing to other people in your neighborhood. It really is fun. There's nothing quite like the mask of darkness so early on right now to help out as my three little stealth ninjas (full face masks included) sneakily "boo" our friends and neighbors. I almost give us away as I hide behind parked cars giggling at it all. Then when we get home my ninjas like to reenact how it all went down. "Mom, I was here and you were there by that car, which wasn't' a very good hiding place, and then we rang the bell, and then I ran here and Sam ran here, and it was so awesome" So for my friends in Ak, if this Darkness is already getting to you, go boo someone, it'll lift your spirits and you'll have a nice bit of cover in the early dark hours. :)
BOO!

life is good.

Homework was done by 5:45pm and dinner was finished earlier then that. My boys are happily playing with toys they bought from a neighbor at a very reasonable price. We finally have the 6th book in the "Sister's Grimm" series to start tonight. Life is good.

Still in my pj's

So I may still be in my PJ's but after I posted my last post Sam came to fetch me and we ran around the house yelling loudly "I'm bored" then we went to work rearranging and throwing away stuff. It was a bit more refreshing then I had anticipated and my husband will be glad I actually threw stuff away. pat pat, did you hear that? It was me patting myself on the back. :)

The begining of winter

With talk of termination dust (snow on the mountains, end of summer) and sicknesses settling in, and our light diminishing everyday, I've begun to feel the need to hibernate. I'm aimlessly wandering the Internet while Sam entertains himself with video games. We did do some school this morning and it was pretty good considering he has decided to hate all school things like Jack.

My point is that I've no focus. I am wasting vast amounts of time that I should be doing something useful. It's 11 am and I'm still in my pj's. I have tons to do but feel no pull what-so-ever to do them.

What motivates you? Share with me please cause I'm needing some ideas.

Back in the land of the lower 48

So I found an old file that had some of my cell phone pictures from when we lived in GA. Since moving here to AK we no longer have the benefit of picture messaging. I can't even send them to myself. So I thought I'd let ya'll see how little my boys were just a few years ago. Still pretty cute.

David the ever ready soldier. They still play with those handkerchiefs (isn't that such a weird word?).

This puddle was great fun and Sam eventually just sat in it happy as could be. That bike jack is on is the same bike David learned to ride without training wheels as well as Sam. It's also the bike involved in the broken jaw accident. We'll have a new one next year.

What's more fun then three little boys snuggled up in your bed? I think I had promised them they could sleep with me when Mike was gone if they were good. They thought it was so much fun. I think I ended up in one of their beds though. :)

Watch out world, a fierce ninja warrior is about to unleash his best moves. I love this picture.

Misc.

Jack- "Mom, what's the difference between boogers and snot?"
Sam- "Mom, it wasn't me, it was my nice mouse friends that did it"
David-" . . . . ssssspt. . . . . " (almost silence-he found some red spray paint)

Every day is a great day to be a MOM!

Observations of a 4 year old boy

While picking up a few things from Lowe's Sam asked a very interesting question. The young lady who was helping us walked away for a moment and Sam observed her and then said "Mom, why do girls bums shake when they walk?"

Science projects and pots of gold

The beginning of this week started with a bang, a quite smelly one. I have prided myself in the past on allowing my kids to do creative things, like make a laboratory under the bathroom sink. My rules have been pretty simple. Leave it there, I don't really want weird concoctions all around the house. They've been pretty good though I will occasionally find a bottle of colored water in my freezer. I even encourage it by giving them old containers to use and letting them pick up free containers at the airman's attic.

The laboratory grew. It grew and grew until it was a great big mess under the sink. So this week I see Jack going towards the bathroom in his lab coat preparing for some ingenious concoction to amaze his brothers when all of a sudden Sam comes running to tell me something smells bad. Oh yeah, it was really bad. I mean I thought I might throw up bad and I don't throw up easily unless I'm pregnant. Apparently one should monitor a bit more closely the science under the sink. It's apparent to me now that it was not merely water and paint in those little bottles. It took a lot of bleaching and a lot of smelly candles and then it was just slightly bearable.

Silly me, I went to shower in there two days later and grabbed my towel without thinking and about puked again. How could I so foolishly forgotten the towels. Oh man it was bad. We once watched some guy on TV talk about how he wished there was such a thing as "Smell-a-vision" Well I really don't think I wish that but if we had it on the web you'd all be gagging right now and probably leave not a single comment because it could actually impair your health to breath it that long.

Now onto the Gold!
Yesterday I was set to the torturous task of helping Jack with his homework. Have I mentioned how much this kid hates school? He keeps asking me "Mom, seriously what is the point of school?" Oh I keep telling him but it just doesn't seep in.

So he's taking way too long to finish his homework and I'm dying because if I leave he'll not do it at all. He's jumping around wasting time and I say "what are you doing?" He says "I have to entertain myself" Oh, yeah right, I forgot.

He had about 3 or 4 math problems left and he'd be done for the night. We were sitting on my bed and he looked out and saw a rainbow. He got so excited and said we "HAD" to go find the pot of gold. I told him I would go with him as soon as he got his homework done. Low and behold it was done in amazing swiftness. So we hopped up and ran like the dickens to find this pot of gold. He was sure we were going to get it. David came following saying "Yes, we're gonna be rich!". By the time we ran past two courts through a play ground and into the woods it had started to rain more and the rainbow was gone. We did find some wonderful raspberries and enjoyed those until Jack realized that where there are berries there are usually bears so they decided we needed to leave promptly.

I just have to say that it was so much fun to chase a rainbow and look for the gold. I can't remember the last time I did that and really thought I'd find gold but I loved every minute of it. It even got my heart pumping and I'm calling it my exercise for yesterday.

I'm on a roll

Remember that post where I brag about our 8 mile bike ride on the Tony Knowles Coastal trail? Well look we have a couple pictures. I finally got them here for you. Shocked aren't you? I know. Remember this is before the broken jaw this summer.

We just went on a very mild bike ride this week and poor little Sam would hop off his bike at the slightest decline and walk it down. Now most people do that for the incline but not Sam. He does not want to be in pain like that again. Cute kid.

Another item for your viewing pleasure.

My next tee shirt purchase. The shooting range has ladies night. Oh yeah, any one want to come?

Stuff I like

So I have a folder in my pictures labeled "STUFF I LIKE". This bed is in it, don't you just love it? Not the bedding but the bed frame. I love it. My husband has recently informed me again that he would like ALL of our furniture to be light colored, round, log wood/cabin furniture. I disagree because I just don't really like much of anything that is all the same. I'm surprised that we have matching dishes and silverware because I think it's fun to have VARIETY in almost everything. Alas, we are so different and yet our relationship works. In fact we just celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary. Yes, that's right 11 years. So now you may be asking yourselves, "wow, I wonder what they did to celebrate" Well besides the obvious we went to (brace yourselves for this) . . . . . . The Shooting Range! Isn't that amazing. I told one of my favorite people this and her response was "Dang Mary, you're a redneck". Well that may be true but she is too. Okay not really but she teases that she left our redneck invested mountains in NC only to fall for a redeck from Denver. Ha, ha, I think it's great.

Oh, yeah we also went to a resturant with a reservation so you know that erases the prior red neck behavior. On the way we did listen to Jeff Foxworthy and confirmed that rednecks do not take their women to resturants with reservations, they prefer drive thru's with the second window and super sizing. :)

I want you all to know that I LOVE those NC mountains. Take no offense to the red neck jabber, it's all fun and games.

Summer Here, Summer gone

Wow, time has flown by this summer. I never went to the u-pick it farm or to pick wild berries. All my things to do didn't get done but it was still a great summer. Well except for Sam breaking his jaw that is. :) School starts tomorrow for Jack and next week for David. I'm amazed that I will have a 1st and 3rd grader. Wow, I must be grown up by now, though sometimes I still don't feel like it.

Jack got baptized the first Sat. in Aug. and that was wonderful. It deserves a post of it's own but we'll see how good I am at getting to it. I relied on my in-laws for pictures since I couldn't even find my camera. He really is so big these days.

Sam will be staying home with me unless we find some more friends that want to do another preschool co-op. I thought of running my own preschool for a while and even had a complete outline for the year all done including Spanish in the curriculum but then one day I got frustrated and chucked it.

We've had wonderful visits from Mike's family this summer and got to see Denali on a beautiful clear hot day. I knew I shouldn't have worn that darn long sleeve shirt. It was about 80 the hottest I've ever been while in AK. I know wa wa. :) We did lots of stuff with them too which should also have it's own post.

Mike's sister stayed with us for about a month this summer as well. The boys loved having her here even if they teased her a bit. Jack still says that having her here this summer was the best part of his entire summer vacation. He gets all sad faced about it. I think he's being a bit dramatic but it's cute. Our Ainsy stay also needs it's own post or two or three. :)

We've also just given our boys each their own room. Sniff Sniff. I thought they'd love being together forever. So we've been rearranging everything like crazy. It looks like we just moved in again. The boys are excited and LOVE it. Now we've had to divie up the toys since they all resided in one room before. That's been a little bit more challenging but not too bad. There's been a little of "you can't come into my room" but not much. They all made signs for their doors right away though.

Another note to mention is that I finally got my wheat grinder! I know a tad bit nerdly but I'm very excited about it. I just made my first sourdough too. We'll see how it turns out. It's cooling as we speak. Healthy whole grains here we come!

So this has been a rambling post but I won't promise any different next time cause that's just how I am.

Test results

1. If I were suddenly given an extra $70 and I had to use it for something for myself what would I get?a. a nice hair cut for once b. some decent jeans c. a beautiful piece of Alaskan art d. add it to my fund for the wheat grinder
-D I really want me wheat grinder but a good second would be some Alaskan art then the jeans and lastly the haircut.

2. My favorite threat to my children when they are misbehaving is a. I'm going to sell you to the zoo! b. Gosh Dang it! I'm gonna rip your head off! c. ONE . . . TWO . . . THREE! d. That's it your toys are mine!
-A used to be my favorite but then I was afraid my kids might actually think I'd really sell them and I'd hate for them to have abandonment issues so then I'd say C. as counting happens ALL the time then D and on a very rare occasion B but that really is Mike's saying.

3. My love language is . .a. gifts b. acts of service c. quality time through conversation d. physical affection
-Definitely C I'm a blabber mouth but I like the other person to blabber with me.

4. What describes my lawn mowing technique best a. straight as an arrow b. angled lines c. mow? d. random patterns that suite my fancy
-D-I'm so random can't you tell from this blog! :)

5. What things do I do with my left hand to boost my memory?a. Vacuum b. brush my hair c. brush my teeth d. drive
-Did any one think it funny that I put Drive with my left hand? I did, ha ha don't you usually drive with both hands. Everything else I do periodically with my left hand due to a book a read that it would help my memory and brain function.

6. My degree is in a. social work b. food science c. psychology d. accounting
-A all the way but I think Food science would be fun and I don't think you could pay me to do accounting.

7. What did I collect when I was younger? a. boogers b. rocks c. pig stuff d. candy wrappers
-A,B,C Yes I have collected boogers with my brother Ed when we were little and I mean like 5 years old kind of little. I'm not sure when he quit collecting them. For all I know he still does. We kept our collection under the coffee table. I wonder if anyone ever found them. Rock are cool and I fell in love with pigs after reading Charlotte's web, to the point I would no longer eat pork at all. Not even bacon. I started eating pork again sometime around my junior or senior year in high school

8. My favorite super hero is a. wonder woman b. spider man c. hulk d. batman
-Yes I had wonder woman underoos once as a child but Spider Man was my favorite so the answer is B. My mom also let me get a pair of boys tennis shoes once that had a bunch of super heroes on them and I remember I could run so much faster with them. They were awesome.

9. What club have I been a part of ?a. the itty bitty titty committee b. the body hair is beautiful club c. book club d. art club
-All of the above. In high school I joked about A so it wasn't a real club. B is not a real club either but I believe it should be. We should ban all shaving from now on. Here here anyone else agree? This was a joke from where I used to work. I love my book club and in high school I was in Art club

10. My dream is to a. grow my own chickens and honey b . go to India c. live in Florida d. become a nudist
-A and B I have absolutely no desire to live in Florida or be a nudist but going to India has always been a dream of mine. I also can't wait to grow my own chickens and honey. Doesn't it sound like fun?!

There you have it. Many of you know me well. I had so much fun reading your responses. Thanks.

Crafty groove for a day.

So I got into a bit of a crafty groove there for a day or two. This here creation was made from a sock that was never worn but had no match. I'm not sure why but that's the story and I just couldn't throw a perfectly good new sock away. I'd like you to meet Sally. My children named her. I realize that her eyes are too high on her head but we still like her. Sally's hair is made from wild Alaskan snowshoe hare. Yup that's right. My husband "kilt" some rabbits and we "et" them up like some fried chicken one day and then biscuits and gravy the next. Was "pret ner good" if you "ax" me. We gave hide tanning a try and realized that it's a bit of work. We destroyed some and had little tiny scraps which is how Sally got her ultra soft hair. Wish you could feel the softness via my blog.

Arrrgh! Doesn't everyone love pirates! Well I had an a baby shower to attend and decided to pull out some stuff in my "messy room" and create. This is what I came up with and I love him. I must admit that I stole the idea from my good friend suziepetunia. She mailed me a great little toy for my third baby and he loved it. It was similar to this but not as piratey.

You notice that I got my pictures in the wrong order so you get to see the back of his head first. He had a lovely treasure map on the back of his head. You may note that he has two different ribbons for hair. His pants are made of corduroy to add a little more texture. His arms and legs are pretty skinny for grabbing with chubby little hands. He also jingles inside.

Here's his face. Scary eh? He has a zipper mouth that you could put something inside. Nothing too big grant you but you could hide some gold fish in there. His nose and eyes are felt. His patch is vinyl and of course there's an eye under it.

I love this pirate so much I almost didn't want to give it away. I even have a few requests for them. We'll see if I get to making anymore but he was awfully fun to make. I'll have to hit another crafty groove again. And lest you think I forgot about my giveaway, I have not. My dear friends I will be crafting up again to make some more stuff and fulfill my promise.

How well do you know me? blah blah blah

Okay so I just decided for the first time to do one of those "how well do you know your friends" things on face book. DUMB! I mean really what do those five little questions have to do with anything. So I decided to make my own how well do you know me test. Let's see what I can come up with in the next few minutes.

1. If I were suddenly given an extra $70 and I had to use it for something for myself what would I get?

a. a nice hair cut for once
b. some decent jeans
c. a beautiful piece of Alaskan art
d. add it to my fund for the wheat grinder

2. My favorite threat to my children when they are misbehaving is

a. I'm going to sell you to the zoo!
b. Gosh Dang it! I'm gonna rip your head off!
c. ONE . . . TWO . . . THREE!
d. That's it your toys are mine!

3. My love language is . .

a. gifts
b. acts of service
c. quality time through conversation
d. physical affection

4. What describes my lawn mowing technique best

a. straight as an arrow
b. angled lines
c. mow?
d. random patterns that suite my fancy

5. What things do I do with my left hand to boost my memory?

a. Vacuum
b. brush my hair
c. brush my teeth
d. drive

6. My degree is in

a. social work
b. food science
c. psychology
d. accounting

7. What did I collect when I was younger?

a. boogers
b. rocks
c. pig stuff
d. candy wrappers

8. My favorite super hero is

a. wonder woman
b. spider man
c. hulk
d. batman

9. What club have I been a part of ?

a. the itty bitty titty committee
b. the body hair is beautiful club
c. book club
d. art club

10. My dream is to

a. grow my own chickens and honey
b. go to India
c. live in Florida
d. become a nudist

Okay so maybe my little test is a bit dumb too but let's see just how well you know me. :)

A post to post and not much more

So life's been a bit busy but when isn't it? Really, aren't we always busy? I was supposed to post some pictures for you all to see but you'll have to wait till I get some assistance.

I don't think I ever posted about Sam's amazing broken jaw but for those of you who were aware of it, the update is that he's doing well and has a 3 month wait before he needs to be seen again, unless there's another injury of course. We shall all hope and pray that that doesn't happen.

For those who didn't know about it here's the short story.

We went on a cub scout ride and Sam confidently rode his little tiny bike down a nice sized hill and then it wobbled and crashed. I crashed too trying to save him in his crash. He busted his chin and broke his jaw. I just got a massive bruise and a little road rash. I feel like I've said this before. Maybe I should check my own blog to remind myself of what I write. How embarrassing would that be to repeat myself. Oh well. Too lazy to check, you may just have to read that twice. Aaah!

Salmon

Now that we live in the last frontier where you can catch lots of yummy fish chalk full of omegas, I've got to find new ways to cook them. Again I am but a frugal chef of sorts.  So after I asked my husband to filet a few of his beautiful red salmon I had some left over bones with a bit of meat left.  I of course can not let it go to waste so I bring out my stock pot and boil some bones.  I admit, it did make the house a tad bit stinky.  Then I took out all the bones and pulled off the remaining meat, well most of it anyway.  Now I have lots of fish stock (what do you do with that?) and some little chunks of salmon meat. 

I didn't grow up a fish loving person so this is new territory for me.  I do enjoy eating fish now that I'm all grown up. ( I may never grow into eating mushrooms but I think that's pretty much the only thing.  Side tracked I know, I do it so easily.)  Anyway my plea is to enquire of my dear friends on tasty ways to prepare salmon and perhaps some fish stock.  I am planning on trying some kind of salmon chowder but have my doubts. 

Oh and tonight I last minute decided to make Alaskan Haystacks.  Never heard of them?  Well that's cause I invented them.  Maybe not but I'm going to pretend I did.  My family, to my dismay, loves Hawaiian Haystacks.  Not sure what those are?  Yeah, I never heard of them until I lived in Utah.  I wonder if it's a Utah thing but regardless it's basically rice and lots of toppings including chicken and pineapple.  Not my favorite dish.  My family loves it though.  So tonight I thought I was very clever and made the same dish only I used some of my stock and salmon to replace the chicken like gravey stuff you normally eat with it.  It was a pretty in pink gravy.   David was sweet and ate it declaring "I like fish"  Sam almost knocked me out as I tried to put it on his plate and Jack just avoided it all together.  Mike ate it though I knew with every bite he would never want it again.  I was thankful he never said it out loud.  You win some and you loose some.  Tonight was not a winner but maybe tomorrow will be.  I'm trying a new recipe Chicken Florentine.  I even made my homemade french bread for it today.  Mmmmmm white bread! 

I don't see my spellcheck option so I apologize for my errors.  Too lazy to find it. :)

I love . . .

prunes, juicy, soft prunes. They are so good. I know not every one's favorite treat but they are so good. I learned the hard way that you really should hold back on the consumption of my beloved prunes. As a missionary in CA, the people we taught often offered us food. One family in particular always had food and we didn't want them to feel bad by not eating it, so we ate. One day they had set out a bowl of prunes and pecans. My companion said to me that she didn't eat prunes and I told her not to worry I'd take care of them and she could eat the nuts. Well I ate at least 9 or 10, maybe more. Later that night I was supposed to be translating for a meeting but was pinching the penny too long if you know what I mean. I was quite relieved when someone came up and asked if they could translate instead. Oh yeah! Home was the only stop after that. Since then I've learned to only eat 4 or 5 prunes at a time and I'm okay.

FYI-lots has been going on but I've not the strength nor time to write about it so I just thought you would all like to know that I have a great love for prunes, glorious, delicious prunes.

If insanity is contagious . . . .

Stay far away from me.

Bragging

We are starting our summer with a bang. We went on the Tony Knowles coastal trail with our kids Friday. My husband took pictures and put them on his computer so you'll have to imagine with me how wonderful it was. I think it was somewhere close to 60 degrees and sunny and beautiful out. We rode on a great little trail that seemed pretty busy with other people who also thought it a perfect day to be out. We sure enough rode along the coast. Coast on one side watching the waves and rich people houses on the other side. I haven't really paid much attention to class distinctions here but now I know where the really nice houses are. Oh the really fun part is that we went through about 3 tunnels and said "AAAAAAH" through them scaring those in our path.

Let me remind you that we have an almost 8 year old, 6 year old and 4 year old. All now ride without training wheels. We even went without the bike trailer which has been our back up for tired whiny kids or anyone who gets hurt. We pack them in with their bikes and I get to haul them. So here comes the bragging. We biked four miles in to Earthquake park and 4 miles out. Making a total of 8 miles. No kids cried, no kids walked except up a really steep part. They do have little legs you know. :) I loved it! It has given me hope for our future.

I had hoped that such a wonderful bike riding day wasn't a fluke so today I decided to take the boys without Mike to ride to a park fairly close by. It was about 2 miles there and 2 miles back. Granted I don't think it was as novel for them they did well up until the very last 20 minutes while I had Jack and David wait for Sam at which point they tried to knock each other off their bikes and blame it on the other. Unfortunately for David he was the only one who went down but he was fine without a scratch. Just hurt feelings.

Now on to the not bragging part. I love having my kids home for the summer but I had already sensed it to be one of much bickering, tattling and fighting. So after a recent conversation with my oh so wise mother, she reminded me of something we did one summer, actually it was for my brothers as I was too angelic to have been the least bit of a problem. She said she'd started by writing $4 on the chalkboard every day. Anytime there was fighting or teasing etc. they lost 25 cents and if there was any physical contact such as hitting or kicking it was 50 cents. They were trying to save up for a Sega game system. Apparently the beginning was rough but they eventually learned to live with each other in order to save up the $200 I think it cost by the end of the summer. I had mentioned this story to my husband who thought it was brilliant so now we are using a very similar version of it. Each kid starts with a dollar a day. Anytime there is fighting of any kind each person involved loses 10 cents regardless of whose fault it is. The first two days were pretty rough. I think Sam had nothing left and Jack and David had about 20 cents. It's already getting better. So I may have to save some money to pay up but I'm glad and it will be well worth it to curb the incessant tattling and teasing. I mean really "Can't we all just get along"!

So for those of you who may be in a similar situation this summer what do you do to try and keep things pleasant?

Mother's Day

My Day-
Church, Primary, missing about 3 or 4 teachers, last minute scramble, everything okay, sharing time my turn, drive home, gave the guard Sam's fake ID card, guard laughs Sam's happy (he has to do this every time we come back on base now, silly boy).

Home, lunch, gourmet chocolates Mike left for me special for mother's day even though I'm not HIS mother :), shared, lazing around, friends came over for dinner, mmm it was pretty good. Grilled chicken, ribs, baked potatoes, raw veggies, ice cream with magic shell, rice crispy snacks. Played outside with friends, watched rotten kids (note these were not my kids) break glass all over for no reason, got my broom and cleaned it up.

Kids showered, pj's walked to friends, gave Oh Henry bars we made but for some dumb reason I lined the pan with wax paper, I meant to use aluminum foil. DUH. Bars don't come off paper easily but I still cut them up and put them on a plate and take them to friends house (they can bite the tops off right ), stay too long, they gave boys a box of bionicles, boys in heaven, walk home, boys play with new bionicles, I check emails, an hour past bed time kids lie down.

Waste time checking blogs and writing on this one. It's been a good day all and all. Oh and I called a few mother's I know in between the lazing part and dinner. :)

Reflections for the day.
My life is good even when it's bad.
I love my kids even when they're bad.
I should really try not to get so mad.
My kids have a great dad.
No one in my family is named Chad or Thad.
I can't remember the last time I said RAD.
My brother's a BYU Grad.
Next month I'll be calling my good old dad.
Chocolate makes me glad.

Yes, My brain should retire now. May you all be as cool as me and rhyme in "ad".

Another prayer post

Tonight Jack's prayer went something like this

"Heavenly Father thank you for my family, bless us to see our cousins at least once before we die, I'm thankful that mom and dad can provide for us. Bless me to keep growing up and bless mom not to be sad about it"

Have I mentioned how much I enjoy hearing my kids prayers? Yea, I know I have. Is it annoying? One day they aren't gonna let me listen anymore but I hope they keep saying them. He looked so big today so I mentioned that he looked more grown up. I guess that's where the bless mom not to be sad about me growing up part comes from. My kids are also still really sad they haven't seen their cousins in a very long time. It's gotta happen soon. Sometimes I wish I had all the money in the world and sometimes I just wish for enough to buy 5 plane tickets from Anchorage to the East coast. Last time I checked around Christmas they were about $1,500 a piece.

Labeling

My friends in high school used to tease me and say "Molly Mormon, Betty Crocker, Bake it from scratch" There may have been a "Goody Goody" in there too somewhere. I had the opportunity to learn to cook early in life. While my mom went to grad school Mon-Thurs. I made dinner for 8 those nights. Granted they were things like Spaghetti, Tuna Noodle casserole or Salmon loaf. Nothing too fancy or desirable but I obviously learned to love cooking and I have always loved baking.

Well I'm here to tell you that it's only gotten more intense. Granted I don't think I use Betty Crocker for anything in my house, though I think I could take her on . I do love to cook and eat. My goal in life recently is to "eat food, not too much and mostly plants" at least that's what my most recent readings tell me in the book "In Defense of Food". I really like most of what he says. I have always agreed that the most natural something is the better for you it is.

So that said let me share my desires with you. I only buy four loaves of bread a month. That's about $9.18 a month. Then I make homemade bread at the end of the month. I've finally gotten a really good recipe that I like. So a 25 pound bag of whole wheat is about $8. How much bread do you think I can make with 25 pounds of wheat? A lot more then 4 loaves. What do I need to make that bread? A wheat grinder. These are definitely more pricey. Here are the two I am looking at. The electric one cost $42 to ship and is cheaper but I really like the manual one and think it would be fun to hook it up to a bike. Do I sound crazy to you? Maybe a little but I've got to live up to my label of "Molly Mormon, Betty Crocker, bake it from scratch" title I earned back in my high school days.
I've heard these manual ones are really fantastic and will last longer than you. You can convert them to have a motor or hook it up to a bike or do it the old fashioned way.

This Electric one is great I'm sure and a bit cheaper. If any of you have a wheat grinder you are fond of please let me know. I'm saving my pennies.

Smawlie

For those of you who don't know we have a cute little cabin in NC. We miss it so. Our kids ask for "Chogi" Stories. This is where we spent every long weekend when we lived in GA. Our cabin's name is "Smawlie". Jack gave it this name when we watched them haul it up the mountain. It's surely beautiful there this time of year. So to all our friends and family. Remember we give a great discount of buy one get one free. Queen size bed in the bedroom. Do you like the little bear on the shelf? We have lots of little bears hiding in the cabin. Our kids think it's so fun.

This is the view from just above our cabin. You can hike up behind it. Isn't it beautiful? I do miss it.

This is our living/dining area. The futon turns into another queen bed. Some times we like to sleep there and watch the stars. On a clear night it's amazing.

Our "Smawlie" may be small but it's oh so much fun. My kids favorite thing about it is the fact that they can get dirty. We also have a loft where the kids sleep. They like that a lot too but I'm pretty sure they like the dirt the best.

A monster has been created.

Jack is pretty smart, at least I think so. He's been into reading these Bionicle books for quite some time now. I don't know how to say half the words in them but Jack loves them. He loves them so much that I think all his thoughts focus on these Bionicles. When he gets computer time all he does is look up Bionicle stuff. When he plays he only wants to play with Bionicles (we have tons of them as I got a great deal on a huge bucket of them at a yard sale for his birthday). When he reads he rereads all 7 or 8 of his Bionicle books. When he talks with you he'll tell you random Bionicle facts that I really have no clue about, which Toa has what power etc. I'm not listening with my "Real" ears when he speaks of his beloved Bionicles. I wish I cared about them. GI JOE's were more fun for me. I like reading the comic books and on occassion still do. Shhh don't tell. I did grow up in a comic book family though. :)

So lately Jack has been mentioning this "Club" at school. At recess Jack and a couple of his friends play Bionicles. One day he told me that one of his friends was kicked out of the club. Jack isn't the most friendly kid in the world so I was a bit surprised as he seems to struggle making friends at times. I asked him about it. He said that this friend only wants to play Star Wars so he was kicked out. I thought it sounded a bit harsh and asked him why he didn't play Star Wars with his friend sometimes. Answer "Duh, mom it's the Bionicle club that's why". So now were exclusive.

Tonight I babysat for another one of his friends that is apparently in this exclusive club. I heard them playing and his friend didn't want to play Bionicles with Jack, probably because Jack tried to dictate everything he did and told him that his Bionicle had no cool powers. I mean really who wants to play with a guy that has no cool powers and is just going to get defeated. Get real! So his friend quit playing with him (exactly what I would have done). Then I hear Jack say "that's it, if you're not going to play with me then your on the bottom of the list and that means you're almost kicked out of the club" Wow, who's ruthless child is this? It's my way or the highway. Gee whiz.

I tried to be a good mother and pulled him aside and mentioned to him that his friends may want to play more with him if he didn't try to tell them everything they should do but let them make up their own stuff. He got mad and said "Mom, I'm not trying to tell them what to do but they don't know how to play" Oh it's so hard when one thing consumes your life and no one else can quite understand.

Then as I tucked him into bed I decided to try and talk about this issue again. He doesn't seem to get how unfriendly he comes across and he doesn't seem to be too forgiving of others ignorance about Bionicles. I told him that because he's read so many of the books, so many times that he probably knows a lot more about Bionicles then his friends do and that it's okay if they don't understand all about them. Jack got very intense when he said "Mom, I have read every book that Greg Farsee has written and I'm his biggest fan, of course I know this stuff!" Still doesn't get it.

My wonderful husband has spent countless hours building the bucket of parts we got with him. It took an entire week of all of his free time and he was even off work. They looked up all the instructions and built more then I thought possible. Mike also has started reading the books so he can talk to Jack about them. Mike is a great Dad. I just can't make myself do it but I'm glad Mike can, he'll probably be in "the Club". I'm out that's for sure.

Real eyes

My Sam is no fool. He knows when I don't really look at every little thing he says "mom, watch this" to. A sad but true fact. So he's started to tell me "mom, watch this" I say "Yeah, bud that's cool" Then he says "mom! look with your real eyes!". Darn those fake eyes.

Camera impaired

I was thinking that I almost never put pictures on my blog and people like pictures, I should put pictures on my blog. I almost never take pictures which is one of the reasons why I don't have any to post but when I do they come out like this. This picture was taken from the Empire State building in NYC , September of 2008. Lovely isn't it? I knew you'd love it. There are a few others like this. So I am excusing myself from pictures because I'm camera impaired. I kinda like this shot and think I'll pretend that I meant it to look like this in an artsy fartsy way. :)

treats

We eat too many treats in our house despite my constant reading on food and nutrition. I have to just let everyone know that one of my favorite healthy treats (at least I think so) is dried cherries and raw almonds. They are so dang good. Sometimes I add some dark chocolate chips to the mix but I love this little treat even without them. What's your favorite treat, healthy or unhealthy? I love oh so many unhealthy ones including this gooey chocolate pudding I made on Sunday. I was a bit disappointed as it overcooked but when it's made right oh man is it good.

Prayers

Sam- bless me not to fall on the ice and cut my knee, bless me not to fall in lava, bless me to be a good boy and not a bad one. I really enjoy my kids prayers. It's nice to hear what's on their mind. Sam of course comes up with some pretty funny things.

I made some Beef and Barley soup tonight. No body liked it. Not even Mike. In fact he called about three people trying to pawn it off (strange I know). I'm sure thinking he'd have to eat the left overs. Before we ate the soup though the boys were sad about dinner (not uncommon) and in Jack's prayer he said - Bless this food to taste good so we can eat it and get dessert. I made some gooey chocolate pudding to encourage the eating of the soup as I knew it wouldn't go over well. Then my darn gooey chocolate pudding over cooked and was more like cake (which Mike hates). Oh well some days you win and some days you loose. I even made this great Greek salad and homemade french bread for lunch. The kids didn't like the salad but ate the bread. We had whole white wheat crepes for breakfast. My kids like chocolate ones but I don't really feel great about having dessert for breakfast so I take plain yogurt (about a cup) and add one scoop of Hershey's chocolate milk mix ( I think it dissolves better) and fill them up. They love it. I'm sure it has less sugar then most cold cereals and is made with whole grain. Everyone liked the crepes, so I guess today's food wasn't a total loss. :)

What's cooking at your house?

Kid stuff

Tonight we played with Mike on the snowmobiles. I have to admit that it was pretty fun. Since it's started to stay light for longer we are already loosing track of time. Well I had a pretty good feeling what time it was but by the time we left it was 9:45pm so we didn't get home until about 10:15pm. On the way home we told the boys we were doing Articles of Faith for our scripture study. Jack had all the 13 memorized last April. He's got such a good memory that he still pretty much knows them all. David has 4 memorized. Sam has numero uno, nada mas. I figure that's pretty good for a kid who can't read. He was sounding a little sad about it and then we asked him to tell it to us. This is what he said,

We believe in God the Eternal Father and in his son the burning bush and in the holy ghost.

Well for my friends who don't know what the articles of faith are they are 13 statements that summarize what we believe in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The first one really states

We believe in God the Eternal Father and in his Son Jesus Christ and in the Holy Ghost.

Sam gets so many little things wrong like this and we tend to laugh because we think it's funny. Now he'll just pop up with something he once said that produced a laugh and expect the same response. Example, a few months ago while eating dinner he made a comment about not being able to talk because his "mouth drain" was full. Meaning he was chewing and swallowing. We thought it was hilarious at the time. A couple days ago he looks at me and says "mouth drain" and waits for a laugh. I looked at him and said "what did you say?" he repeats it and says "remember when I said mouth drain?" and then he cracks himself up. He's such a funny kid.

I've noticed in those parenting magazines, that I somehow still get for free and don't know why, the funny quotes in the back are almost always from 4 year olds. Must be something to that.

Oh Dear!

Lately I've been thinking about the funny or silly things my kids say and do. They are so much fun. One of Sam's favorite comments now is "Oh Dear". I don't know where he picked it up from as neither Mike nor I say it but I think it's cute. I'll hear him playing and he'll say it out of no where.

The other day I was in deep conversation on the phone regarding callings for Primary. I kept getting interrupted by my kids and was getting a bit frustrated when the next one to come by was Jack and as I looked up he said "Mom, Look how far I can stick my finger in my nose!" He was totally amazed by his own skills, if you want to call it that.

David is so much fun, he's my hardest worker and my adventure boy. Mike let Jack and David drive the snow mobile totally on their own unbeknownst to me. I don't think it wise at all. Apparently he said that Jack drives like me, slow and David drives like Mike, fast. Oh how it worries me.

Anyways I've realized that David has the Henrie Zeal for life and adventure but he also has a bit of me in him too. With this Volcano he's been quite concerned. When we found out the Ash was here he got really worried because Mike wasn't home and then he said we needed to get to the store and buy two carts "full full full of food". He then wanted to duct tape the doors shut until I told him we needed to wait for Dad to come in through the door.

We also recently practiced a fire drill at which time David was pretty much in tears. He doesn't like the anticipation of the smoke detectors. I'm amazed at this little one.

We also declared underwear day yesterday as we are pretty much home bound with the Ash. They were all too happy as I've made strict rules requiring clothing to be worn at all times. So I guess to make up for it they had on the original pair of underwear they started the day with and then the came out with an extra pair on top of the first pair. Then they came out again but this time with another pair on their head. We'll see if re enforcing the clothing rule will be an issue again now that they've had their freedom. Life's good when you can run around in your underwear isn't it?

I'm looking forward to our own little Church service at home today. Mike asked Jack and David to give talks and Sam to do an article of Faith. They seem excited about it. We're also looking forward to General Conference next week. I'm curious if any of you have any traditions that your family does for General Conference, please share. The only thing we do is I make cinnamon rolls and we watch via the Internet.

Deep Conversation

My husband read "The Five Love Languages" Book a few years back. I didn't read it until we moved here. After reading it I told him he had me all wrong, he said that my love language was hearing praise, words, nice complements, which I do like but don't feel it's my love language. I've been telling him that it's really quality time through conversation. Basically I like to talk. I was thinking about this recently as we sat down to lunch and I listened to the conversation that came up. This is best to my memory but you'll get the idea.

Jack- "You can't kill Darth Mall"

Sam- "If I saw Darth Mall I would just punch him in the face cause I'm so strong"

David-"No way you can't kill Darth Mall by punching him, you need a light saber"

Jack- "Darth Mall is already dead that's why you can't kill him"

Me-" He's not real it's just a movie"

Jack- "remember when you guys left me all alone and I was watching it and I freaked out and was screaming" (We had walked outside at a friends house and realized pretty quick he was alone,oops)

Me-"yeah sorry"

Sam-"I would chop off Darth Mall's head with my sword"

Jack-" Sam you can't kill him"

Mike-"Only a Jedi can kill Darth Mall"

David-"Yeah, only Jedi's can kill him"

Sam-"That's okay cause I'm so big I could just get Monkey Bob to give me his powers and I could kill him"

Me- "He's not real but can we put bad guys in jail instead of killing them? "

Some nice quality time through conversation wouldn't you say? :)

Tied up

Have you ever gone to your dinning room table and prepared to pull out a chair only to find that it's restricted? Well tied up. Not too uncommon, I believe most little boys think tying things up is probably pretty fun but mine seem to think that all that free floss we've been getting from story time and the dentist is meant to tie things up. It's not limited to dinning room chairs, oh no. We've gone beyond that. We tie up little zip lines for the GI JOE's from anywhere, door knobs, dressers and my favorite the bathroom towel rack. I find little bits of floss everywhere and in a variety of flavors.

So I decided to take away the floss since it's obvious that it's main purpose is not what it's being used for. Tonight I watched my boys brush their teeth (mostly cause they were fighting) and then Sam who hasn't had access to floss for a couple days now reaches down under the sink in the cabinet and behind some jugs of water that I keep there for emergencies and pulls out an old piece of floss, the blue and white fluffy kind. He begins to floss, I'm grossed out and tell him to stop. I didn't realize that they still were flossing their teeth with old stashes of floss. Now I'll have to dole it out every night. tsk tsk if only they could be trusted.

Oh and when they use up all the floss they like to try and make weapons and things out of the containers that held the floss. Who says kids even need toys, I tell you some floss and an old shoe would probably make kids world wide happier. Good news for a declining economy. I'm sure it makes great birthday gifts. Let's see who's party are we going to next . . . ? Just kidding, I'll not give you floss and an old shoe.

Me? A give away? Yes, it's true.

So, here's how it works: the first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year a handmade gift from me. What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well. Before you leave your comment, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going (or copy and paste like I did). Then come back, let me know you're going to play and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift!

Happy Time

Mike's family has a tradition of saying their "happy time" each day. It's something we continue to do and have enjoyed greatly. Our kids will always remind us if we fail to ask them about their "Happy Time". Jack will often not have one because he's mad he has to go to bed. Sam's are random and sometimes you just can't understand him cause he's so sleepy when he tells them to you. David's have been the same for about two years now. He ALWAYS starts it the same and then adds daily changes to it. This is how it goes.
After he says his prayers I say "David, what was your Happy Time today?"
David- "Be good, be nice, no hit, no spit, no fight"
Me- No no no , I want to know what your "Happy Time" was.
David- "Being good, being nice, no hit, no spit, no fight"
Me-okay what else"
David- (He spends a few minutes thinking as hard as he can) ummm, my happppy tiiiiime waaaaas, ummm school
Me- yeah anything else
David- ummm, yeah, and then he inserts anything particular that he enjoyed.

He's so used to saying his little be good, be nice, no hit, no spit, no fight that he now asks me if he can say it before he tells me his happy time since I've been trying to tell him that it's not actually his happy time especially on the days when he's not good or hits or fights. He's over spitting. By the way today he's eventual happy time was singing at his school Assembly in front of everyone. I was so proud as my kids never sing for people, at church or anywhere. Okay I take that back, last night Sam did sing a little Roxlan for our neighbors. The song is getting old even if he's still so cute singing it.

Confessions of a cheap Mom

I'm cheap. Yup yup. So I'm wondering how cheap the rest of you are. Please share your cheap tricks with me so I can perfect my cheapness. Here's a few I confess too.

My kids don't usually eat the crust off sandwiches so I just cut it before I make the sandwich and put them in a bag in the freezer. Later when I've got a good stash and some time I make croutons, stuffing for a roasted chicken, bread crumbs, and sometimes bread pudding. I save the ends of my bread too.

My kids don't always eat an apple when they promise they will. I really hate wasting so I usually bag it and put it in the fridge. They get hungry and I cut of the brown parts and give to the again. Yes, I know that perhaps there is bacteria growing on it but no one's gotten sick yet. Tip- Granny Smith apples don't brown as much.

I sometimes use a dryer sheet twice or save a few and put the once used 2-3 in the same load. I don't know if it does much but I do it.

When I make any veggie like broccoli, carrots, kale, green onion, etc. I save the bits that we cut off like broccoli stalks or ends of carrots and freeze them. Then when I have a bunch I put them into a pot and boil to make veggie stock. It's usually really good but I caution you against too much broccoli in it. The flavor is a bit stronger. Sometimes I use the stock right away and then sometimes I freeze it for later.

That's all for today. I can't wait to hear some more great tips.

A day in the life of Me

Hello there friends, family, and lurkers. I thought I'd share my day with you.

7:30am NPR wakes me- rats, I thought I'd make myself get up with my husband, must have slept through.

7:31am called to make Jack a doctor's appointment for his popping ears. Appt. set for 3:40pm

7:36am turn on lights and wake boys up with my nice voice.

7:40 am Set cereal on the table with milk and realize I didn't run the dishwasher last night. I get out little tiny dessert bowls for the kids and me and then give Mike the only clean regular bowl. I figure perhaps my kids won't waste too much cereal today an maybe it'd be a good trend to start. I eat about 5 mini bowls of honey nut cheerios and re-load everyone else with milk as the bowl is so tiny it seems too easy to spill. Sam uses another 10 napkins and eats the first 2 bowls of cereal but not the third.

8:00am called the Anchorage School District Transportation and Safety number to ask them to please tell their driver that we are changing the bus stop to across the street about 10 feet in hopes of increasing safety. Our house was the old bus stop and quite a nice sledding hill. So nice the kids can't resist even when the bus comes. Too many injuries and detentions have come from this temptation. My husband and I have made too many phone calls this week finding out who is in charge of it blah blah blah. But it is done now. Yeah!

8:10am I hop in the shower faster then a lightening bolt while my kids are still brushing their teeth. They think it's hilarious as I throw my clothes over the shower curtain and threaten their lives if the don't hurry up and get out.

8:24am I rush with wet head to get three boys in full snow gear and out the door with back packs ready to go.

8:35am- Stand at old bus stop to tell the kids that I called the bus driver's boss and the bus stop really is moved over. They finally believe me and move over the 10 feet. I see the principal checking in on us and he let's me know he is happy for this new change.

8:40am- kids leave on the bus and I talk to my neighbor for about 15 min. while Sam begs me to come inside with him and stop talking.

8:55am- I throw some laundry in and Sam really really wants me to play with him. Bionicles. I'm not thrilled so I suggest a snuggle fight. Snuggle fights were created by Sam and involve deciding which side of the room is yours and trying snuggle/wrestle the other person to the opposite side. I let him win a few times and he lets me win a few times.

9:20am I decide to brush my hair and put on my face. Sam is bored and says he wants pizza. He decides to help himself. I also check my emails quickly and then try to sew a pillow but realize I hate it and quit.

10am my friend calls and asks if I want to go out to eat but I have bigger plans.

10:30ish I walk with Sam to the hospital for our WIC voucher pick up. It's been in the 30's lately and it's just so nice, I wanted to walk. Someone offers us a ride and looks at me as if I'm crazy when I decline. We sing songs out of tune and make up our own words along the way. We pick up the WIC and wave to our favorite security guard but he's not at his desk when we leave and Sam is sad because he doesn't get a sucker. I notice the blood mobile and think "hey I should do that" So I do.

12ishpm I finish up my giving of the blood and realize that maybe I should have thought this through better. Maybe I shouldn't have given blood without lunch and walking home. What if I pass out on the side of the road and Sam doesn't know what to do. Oh well. I call my friend who is going with me for a haircut and let her know in case we don't make it back so she can drive around looking for us.

12:30pm we make it back in the nick of time. I grab an old piece of pizza and some snacks for Sam.

1pm After a lovely drive with one of my favorite people we arrive at our hair cut lady's house. It's so pretty and clean. I want to live there but think I'd probably get in trouble with my piles. Oh those wretched piles of things to do later but later never seems to come. She cuts my hair and I like. I make a mental note- I should have taken a before and after for my blog. Oh well. Maybe I'll take an after for you anyway, but it'll be later too.

Just after 3pm- We pile into the car to leave. It was so fun to talk and get new hair do's. Oh crap, I have a child with ear issues and no way am I getting back in time. Oops. I call the hospital to let them know and hope they can fit me in the next day they do. So we realize we have an extra half hour before we need to be back and decide that the absolute best use of that time would be going to target. I buy discounted fishnet pantyhose because they are only $1.77 and why not.

4pm We leave and I get home just as my kids are getting off the bus. How perfect. I switch some laundry and feed everyone left overs for dinner. They all complain but make some concoction and eat about three bites and ask for chocolate. Hmmm.

After 5 ish we get homework done because we are going to go to free bowling tonight. We are also watching two little boys for friends while they got to a ALS graduation (it's military school).

My boys get done with homework later then anticipated so everyone else plays until about 7 ish and we go bowling. 17 month old babies don't bowl. I chase babies and Mike helps everyone bowl. It's pretty fun and I think everyone is enjoying it. I look up and see my entire family entranced by music videos on the screen. I look around and notice that no one else is quite as entranced. I realize the rest of the world probably has seen these videos a million times but it's a first for us. On the way home I hear Sam sing Roxlan about 50 times and David sings I'm sending out an SOS about 20 times both while they listen to a more recent CD of Sting.

9ish we get home and say brush your teeth but no one listens. Not long after our friends come to pick up their cute boys. It was fun. Did I mention she brought some cookie dough for us but I didn't make it cause we were leaving. I did eat a few bitefuls of just the dough. It was really yummy.

10pm my boys are finally getting into bed. Sam prays for Santa to come tomorrow and for no one to die or be mean. Jack prays for no one to be mean and for people to be nice, I don't remember David's prayer because while he was saying his Jack and Sam were doing something that distracted me. I know mother of the year award, right here!

5 minutes later I start typing this but hear little feet and get mad cause they should be in bed. Suddenly I have one who needs to poop and another who wants to go pee again. Then they all go back to bed with their lives threaten if they come out again.

5minutes later again, I hear David crying, kinda a fake cry. I ask why. He doesn't answer, I get up and find out that he is sad because I yelled at him. Mother of the year award! oh yeah. I say I love you and good night. He quits crying and Mike comes up to kiss them goodnight and they are all out cold.

So there you have it in all it's glory, my day.