My New Calling

(For non-Mormons, "calling" is LDS speak for "my current job at church"). I just got called to be the Primary Pianist. Can you get more of a gravy job than this? At least 90 percent of the songs in the Primary Song Book are easy enough, that I don't need to practice them. I just show up and play songs for children. It's fun, and practices my sight reading, and if I mess up, the kids don't notice, or care too much. Gravy.

Plus you sometimes get to hear the kid's say funny things. Last Sunday, Aunt Claudia was giving a Sharing Time lesson on following Jesus' example. She told several stories of Jesus, and pointed out a different aspect of Jesus' character that we should try to follow. She told the story where Jesus heals the blind man by spitting in the dust and making clay to put on his eyes. She said something like "We may not be able to heal the blind man, but what else can we do to be like Jesus from this story." (She was fishing for "Service".) Dulaney Reed piped up and says, totally serious "Spit in the dirt." Funny!

Christmas Highlights

1) Spending time with family. Sounds cheesy, but it's true none the less. I love my family! (I also include Bruce's family as "my family;" they are.) My side of the family and Bruce's side are so very different, in some ways. My family are insanely silly, and his are very not silly. His family think I'm a bit of a weirdo. It's all good. I love both families way much! I don't know if Todd reads this, but I know Suzanne does, so I'm directing this comment to both: I miss you guys! Let's get together more. Love you!

2) Jonni opening a present and yelling "I hate this!" I felt bad for Uncle Trent, who got her the present, but it was funny. I'm glad it wasn't my kid (this time).

3) My favorite presents that I gave were: a) I got Ashley a t-shirt that said "I love boogers" on the front, and "Nase Bohren" on the back. See, we had a drawing and I drew her name. You were supposed to put a wish list on your card, so that who ever got your name would have a clue what to get you. All Ashley put on her "wish list" was "I love boogers." She laughed, and put it on immediately. b) I printed out the entirety of both of my blogs, bound them, and gave them to my parents (who still don't have Internet.)

4) Dad and Mom both laughed themselves literally to tears over The Maverick. (That's an entry on Tadpoles, my other blog. I think it was so funny to them because it is about them.

Losing My Mind and Other Important Bits of Stuff

They say having children eats your brain. It must be true.

Last Saturday was the Christmas party for Bruce's Dad's former place of employment. The whole extended family goes every year and has a good time. It's a fairly large thing, with the blow up bounce house things, Santa a real reindeer crafts, a magician, food and such like that. The only bad thing about these big places is that it is easy to loose the little ones among the throng. Lydia, Ross and Mark are big enough now that I don't worry about them too much, Justice is another story. I lost him about 3 or 4 times that day. Lydia was holding Clayton while they got their picture taken with Santa, and saw the reindeer. She handed him off to someone afterward and went off to play. I was standing around talking to Bruce's parents. After a few minutes I started looking around trying to see who was holding the baby. I couldn't see anyone from our group who had the baby. I asked Bruce's Dad & Mom "Where is the baby?" They looked weird at me.

"Justice?" they asked me.

"No, he's right there. I mean Clayton. Who's got Clayton."

They continued to look dumbfounded at me. I continued to scan the throng, looking for my baby, and starting to feel a little panicky.

"Where is Clayton. Who did Lydia give him to?"

More weird, crazy looks. She had given him to me. I was holding him on my hip. Seriously. I guess I'm just so used to his weight, that I'd forgotten that I was holding him. Moron!

This morning as I was packing up my diaper bag / purse to take Ross and Mark to the dentist, I missed my wallet. I checked in my purse where I usually keep it. I swear it wasn't there. I started combing the house. I had Mark look in the van, I looked every place that I might have set it down. I was starting to worry, and I had all of the older kids "on task" looking for my wallet. Lydia found it - in my purse, in the exact right compartment. I swear, I'm losing my mind!

Oh, and here are some gratuitous pictures of the Clayton, and the kids at the Christmas Party.

More Old Funny Stories

We were remembering at breakfast, so I want to record this funny Lydia story. I can't remember if I've done this one already, but I don't think I have. It was one of those moments that you just wish that you had a camcorder going. I could have earned some money off of this one.

Lydia was a cute five year old dressed up in her pretty ballerina outfit, complete with a pink leotard, pink floaty skirt, and some satiny pink "ballerina slippers." She was playing "dance teacher," and I was playing along as a student. "...do it just like me okay, do exactly what I do, okay!" Then she did this really fast spin around pirouette thing, lost her balance and crashed into the radiator with such momentum that she bounced off and fell in the opposite direction, knocking the front of the radiator loose. As the radiator face crashed down on top of her, she finished her performance with a fart. You'd have had to see it; it was sooo funny!

An Embarrassing Moment:
Back when L, R, and M were all preschoolers, I had a group of friends from our ward (church) who I used to meet with for playgroup type stuff. We met often at the library for story time. As is my custom, I was running late and had gotten dressed in a hurry. After story time, a group of us grown-ups were standing around talking. I noticed something funny feeling on the inside of my pant leg. I realized there was something extra in my pant leg, and it was working it's way down toward my foot. I kind of casually wiggled my leg until it came out. There on top of my foot, in plain site, was a pair of my underwear that had apparently gotten washed inside of my pants. You can imagine my embarrassment as I bent down and casually picked it up and stuffed it into my diaper bag.

"Making a Mystery"

I was feeling like it was high time that I did something fun with my kids. Ross asked me on Saturday to "make a mystery" for them to solve. I didn't come up with anything that day, but today I decided to follow the examples of my mom, John, and Erik and make a treasure hunt of sorts. While older three kids were at school, I set it up like so:


I taped this note to the face of the TV screen (so as to be sure that it would be noticed right away).

Attention! Hoppy, Jumpers and Lydia's CD player have all been kidnapped!

If you ever want to see them again, you must follow these instructions immediately and exactly! You must find each of the following:

A broken heart and a contrite ... wait, that's the wrong list!

5 golden rings, 4 calling birds, 3 french hens, 2 turtle doves,... no, sorry wrong list again!

3 jugs of milk, toilet paper, a rubber salami ... oh that's my shopping list.

Okay, here's the real list of things to bring:

1 Pony tail holder

1 red, 1 yellow, 1 blue, and 1 black crayon

2 pair of matching socks belonging to your father

2 pennys

1 twig that is over a foot long

1 bike bottle of water

Once you've found each of these items, bring them to the Dangerously Crazed Captain Silly Face for inspection. There you will receiver further instructions.

Next I gave them a clue with a code to crack, which led to a treasure map, which led to a riddle to solve, which led them back to their original clue and told them to look for the clue hidden in the background. I had their things hidden in the box in the back of the picture with the ingredients for making rice crispy treats and a note that said that their friends were waiting for them to make a tasty treat with them. So, we made the rice crispy treats.

It was a huge success! The kids loved it, and have requested more mysteries. Fun stuff.

My Bed Is Too Crowded

Now just picture Bruce squeezed on the other side of Justice, and you've got how we end up sleeping about half of the time. No wonder I'm always tired!

Potty Training By Renae

So, lots of people have asked me how to potty train lately. I guess having 5 kids, people think I know how to do it or something. Well, I hate to disappoint, but I REALLY don't feel like an expert. However, being on my 4th go-round here, I do think that I've learned a few things.

1) You HAVE to wait until the child is ready. Until then, it just ain't gonna happen, and you will just get yourself and your little one needlessly frustrated. Be patient. Lydia was about 2 1/2 when she got it, and my boys, Ross, Mark and Justice were all nearly 3. Believe me, I know how much we all want our children to be out of diapers. But trust me on this, if they aren't ready, don't waste your time. Don't give yourself a needless headache (or your child needless guilt trips) and don't feel like a bad parent either. Some kids will be ready before others, and that's fine. I don't know how to tell when they are ready. They may show an interest, heck a keen interest in the potty early on. This may or may not mean they are ready. Yes, try it, but if it doesn't work, don't sweat it. Let it go and try again in a few months. When they are ready, it only takes a couple of days till they just get it, and then they are completely there. That's how it's been in my experience anyway. If you've tried and after a day or two, they just aren't getting it, don't push the issue, try again in a few months.

2) Don't waste your money on pull-ups as a general rule. Face the fact that you are going to have to clean up a mess or two or three or four. Pull ups are just like diapers to them. They just pee, and it gets absorbed, they don't care. Let them pee their pants with underwear (or go bare bottom, if you prefer). Let them see and feel the consequence. They probably won't like it. Now, if you are going out of the house, and they aren't quite totally trustworthy with those undies yet, yes, use a pull up or a diaper. But at home, NO. (If you work, wait until a Saturday when you can spend most of the day or a couple of days at home before you even try.) If your child is really ready for the potty, this stage shouldn't last too long. Like I said eventually it just clicks and they know what to do.

3) With a child who is ready, sometimes it's just a battle of wills. Justice is like this. He can do it, he's just not sure he wants to. Win the battle of wills. Put that kid in underwear, show him how to use the toilet, and let him pee his pants, poop them too. (Of course offer to take them to the potty several times a day. If you can see that they are getting ready to go, pick them up and set them on the potty.) Most little kids want to be a big kid, they want to wear the underwear, so if they are ready just enforce it (during the day, night time bed wetting is a whole other ball of wax. Some kids are just bed wetters, and so far as I know, they can't help it.) You don't have to be mean about it, just let them know that they are big and that they won't be wearing diapers anymore. Brace yourself to clean up a mess or two, and do it. Have a sticker chart, a bag of suckers, a few chocolate chips or something for a reward, and make a huge deal about it when they do use the toilet. When they mess up, show them that you are disappointed, but don't be mad at them. They are just little kids learning a new skill, they will mess up. It's okay. Having them help clean up the mess (in a nice way) will be a reminder and an incentive not to do it again. Don't make potty training be stressful for them. (Boy, don't I wish I could say that I've always done it like this! -HA HA!)

A tip that sounds good to me is to put them immediately on the toilet the first thing in the morning, as soon as they get out of bed. Don't we all have to pee first thing in the morning?

You might have a child who is like Ross was for me. He was truly afraid to poop in the potty for some unknown reason. I'm not sure what his aversion was, but he went a full year only half potty trained. He peed in the toilet always, but he would not poop in the potty. Why, I don't really know, but I think he was afraid that the toilet monster would come out and get him. What to do about that, I don't know. I tried to catch him in the act time and time and time again, and set him on the toilet when I KNEW he had to poo. He wouldn't do it though. He'd hold it all day until he got a diaper on to go to bed, then he'd poop in that. One day about a year after he was pee potty trained, we caught him at it, and he couldn't hold it any longer. He pooped in the toilet, and that was the end of that. It was a light bulb moment for him, he just realized that the toilet monster wasn't going to kill him, and it was all good. If you have one like Ross, I'm sorry. No good advice. Be patient and ready with those wet wipes.

That's all I really know. Hope it's helpful. Sorry if it's really not. I'd say, if you've tried everything you know, and it's not working, don't stress out - maybe they just aren't ready. Give it up and try again later.

-What a lot of yammer about nothing!

Bruce's Kind of Christmas Decor

P.S. Justice wore underwear all day today, and kept them dry! Happy Dance, Happy Dance!

The Potty Train

Justice is going through a very independent streak right now. He wants to do everything himself. This includes changing his own diapers. I've always said that if they are old enough to change their own diapers, they are definitely old enough to use the toilet. Well, it's 8:00 am, and Justice is on his 2nd pair of underwear today. Any bets on how many he'll go through today? A few minutes ago, he said "I want to go on the potty train!" lol

Guilt Trips From the Guilty

Bruce's mom babysat J & C while I took the other kids to the dentist today. While I was gone, the following funny thing happened: Justice was headed for the basement, and for some reason Grammy didn't want him to go down there at that particular time. Justice flat out ignored her as she repeatedly said "Justice, come back. Justice, don't go in the basement. Justice get back here!" etc. Grammy followed Justice into the basement and gave the unrepentant delinquent a swift spanking. Justice turned around and looked at his Grammy with wide, watery, puppy dog eyes and says "Grammy, are you sorry that you hurt me?" Then he went upstairs and said to Pa "Grammy's a bad boy!"

Poopy Diaper Humor

I was just giving Brad W. a piano lesson. He was playing along for me when Justice came up and climbed onto my lap with a very smelly diaper. "Wow, you really stink!" I said. Brad, looked distinctly hurt. He thought I was commenting on his playing.

After the lesson was over, I was talking half to myself, half to Justice. I was thinking of my to-do list, and naming the things I needed to accomplish. I said "Come on Justice lets change your diaper. I need to make dinner!"

Kiddie Politics

My 6 year old, Mark and his friend, Kendall were in the kitchen having a snack when I overheard this bit of their conversation about their school's mock election:

Mark: "Who did you vote for?"

Kendall: "Who did you vote for?"

Mark: "I'll tell you if you tell me first."

Kendall: "I voted for John McCain"

Mark stared wide eyed with his mouth hanging open for a minute.

Mark: "I voted for John McCain too! Do you know what I heard about O'bama?"

Kendall: "What?"

Mark: "He will steal away all of your money."

Kendall: "Yup."

Mark: "And he wants to take away the mothers' right to have their children."

Kendall: "I don't think so."

Mark: "And he wants to take people out of the war!" --spoken like that was a bad thing.

I was chuckling to myself. Kids are funny.

My Week

The Race:

I ran in a 10 mile race yesterday. I wasn't blazing fast, but I finished still feeling good. That's all I was going for. I picked a nice comfortable pace, and just kept pegging away. I averaged 9.38 minute miles, or 6.4 mph. This is 2 minutes slower than the only other time I did that race. That was 2 years ago, 9 months after Justice. Last time, I had 4 more months of recovery under my belt, but I was still very new to running long distances, plus I was sickish that day. I felt 100 times better at the finish yesterday than I did 2 years ago. No ice bath, and I'm only a little bit sore. Next year I'll be going for a better time, but for this year, I'm happy.

On a funny note, Brad Wever, a 13 or 14 yr old kid that I give piano lessons to, also the son of 2 of our Godzilla friends ran about the same pace as me. We stayed together for about a mile, in between his vomitings. He pulled off of the road 3 times to puke, and still beat me by one second.

The Princess:


After his shower the other day, Justice had his towel wrapped around his waist like a skirt, and he said "I'm a princess!"
My Toe Nails:

After cutting holes in two new pairs of socks with my toe nails, I decided it was high time to cut the darn things. I have the thickest toenails in creation, I think. I actually broke the clippers. You can't tell it in the picture, but the metal thing that you push down on actually snapped in two.

Also, John and Liz got stranded here. I've gotten to see lots of them over the past week, and that is always a good thing. Good times!

For Mr. Scrooge

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Merry Christmas From Our Blogger Friends!

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booga

The Ultimate Luxury

The Ultimate Luxury would be to sleep in a bed all by myself, with nobody coughing all night, farting, kicking so much it's like trying to sleep with a windmill, rolling on my hair, crying or making my bed so crowded that I have to sleep on my side straight up and down with my arms tucked tightly at my side, "thinking skinny."

The funny thing is that someday it will happen, and I'll probably miss the crowd. For now, I'd just love one good night's sleep!

Torture!

I think there is a conspiracy against me. My friends and loved ones are trying to see how many crazy torturous things they can make me do under the guise of medicinal purposes. I ran 10 miles today. I used to run 13-14 miles on a semi-regular basis, before I had this last baby. The most I'd done post-baby thus far was about 6.5 miles. I wanted to see if I could run 10 miles since there is a 10 mile race in a couple of weeks that I want to do. Well, I made it, rather slowly, but I did run the whole time without quiting. As soon as I stopped, my legs were telling me that they were not happy with me. So, after I stretched, I asked Bruce if there was anyway to prevent (as much as possible) being in severe pain for the next several days. He suggested an ice bath. Yup, I did it. It really was not fun. I filled the bath with nothing but cold water till it just covered my legs and hips. The point was not to lower my core temp. After I'd been in a few minutes, Bruce added some ice to keep the water nice and frigid. I stayed in for about 9 minutes. I survived by reminding myself that it was not so bad as child birth. This is probably the craziest thing I've ever done. Mind over matter, I am a tough chicky, am I not?

Laughing With My Kids

I ask you, is there anything better than a good belly laugh with children? I can't think of anything. Here are a few things that made us laugh tonight:

Ross was making up his Christmas list. (Ross makes me laugh nearly everyday. He has a wacky sense of humor. I should blog about him more. I can't think of them right now. He's always drawing cartoons that make me laugh. About a month ago, he brought home one of his 80 page notebooks that I bought for him at the beginning of school. It was completely full of his silly drawings. I should scan them in, so you can see them. Anyway, I'm digressing.) So, Ross is making up his Christmas list. There are the normal things on there ex: a rip stick -it's on all of my children's lists, well the ones that are old enough to make lists. Benderoos (not sure if I spelled that right. I don't even know what it is, but it's on Mark's list too.) Then there are the impossible things: a Segway. Then he had this: Nationwide Insurance. We laughed about that.

Mark was feeling sad about something. I don't even remember what it was. I told him he should be happy because 1) he got to play with Tyler, 2) he got to have dinner and dessert at his friend Kendal's house, and 3) his mother pinched him - at which point I reached out and gave him a playful pinch. That made him smile in spite of himself. I explained that people like to be pinched. After all when people are so happy, they say "pinch me, I'm dreaming," so it must mean that pinching is a happy thing. ;) We then had a fun pinching war. We'd pinch each other and jump around pretending to be deliriously happy. Justice joined in, and we pinched, laughed, clapped our hands, and squealed like crazy.

At scripture time, Justice kept getting up and running across the room, hitting Mark, and darting back to his side of the room. I kept having to stop reading to tell him to sit down. Which of course, he did not. I was starting to get ticked off. He did it again just as I was reading " '...can you imagine to yourselves that ye hear voice of the Lord , saying unto you...' (here I broke off to yell at Justice, not realizing at the moment how funny it sounded) SIT DOWN!!" The kids all fell out laughing. Well, Justice continued to misbehave, so much so that I eventually sent him to his room for the duration of scriptures. I have to lock him in his room, or else he comes right back out. (No, don't call anyone on me, I don't keep him locked up too long. But I do need a way to discipline that boy.) Anyway, so we were reading scriptures again finally with some semblance of peace. We were ignoring Justice's yells from up in his room, to be let out. All of a sudden, the tone of his yelling changed from anger, to real panic, fright, and an urgent cry for help. I couldn't make out the words of his hysterical cries, but one thing was clear, and that was that the boy was terrified about something. Well, if you know Justice at all, you can only imagine what kinds of trouble this maniac dare-devil boy is capable of getting into. Imagining all kinds of impossibilities from him setting fire to his bed, to him dangling out of the two story window, I pelted up the stairs at top speed, (with all of the other children trailing alarmedly right behind me) unlocked the door and threw it open. I found him sitting on his bed (which was not on fire) and frantically yelling "HELP! The ladybug's trying to kill me!" He was scared of a silly ladybug. We all laughed a lot!

Normal People Don't Do This

I seem to be forming a habit of getting sick at this time every year. I'm a little tired of it frankly. Well as long as it doesn't drag out like last year's fiasco, that'll be okay. I'm actually somewhat nervous about it. My friend, Crystal told me about this method of clearing out the sinuses. I had heard from several sources that it works. In desperation, I sent Bruce out for a NetiPot. Basically you pour salt water up one nostril and let it drain out of the other. It's funky. And for the record: I still feel like absolute crud. Just crud with maybe clearer sinuses. I guess it isn't a cure all.

The Bishop Called Me A Weirdo

That's right, from the pulpit even! He didn't call me by name, but I'm positive it was me he was talking about. No, he didn't say weirdo either. He was talking about the Fall Ball last night, and he said "...some of the younger married couples showed us some interesting moves." (And no, I wasn't insulted. I laughed.)

A Crazy Colliding of Two Worlds

Two of my favorite kinds of books on tape are Harry Potter and the James Herriot books. Christopher Timothy always reads the Herriot books and does it exactly perfectly. Jim Dale always reads the HP books and likewise they are perfect. Imagine my surprise when I got a new James Herriot collection from the library (new to me anyway) and turned it on to hear Jim Dale's voice reading James Herriot (which are always told in first person). I can't describe it. It's just weird. He's reading about finding a little lost kitten as if it were some huge mysterious thing. Then to hear in Hagrid's voice "...Kitten? We haven't got no kitten." It just is cracking me up. You'd probably just have to be into listening to these books on tape, like I am to get how WEIRD it is.

Something I'm Surprised to Find That I Miss a Little

The phone rang. I looked at the caller id. "Another telemarketer" I thought to myself. "HHEEELLLOOOOO!" I answered in a lunatic voice. It was just a recording on the other end. I felt a twinge of disappointment. It was fun to mess with those pestilential live telemarketers. Not that I want them back; on the whole, I wish all types of telemarketers would evaporate. (Not the people themselves, just their calls. My brother and my sister-in-law were both telemarketers in their young college days.) It was entertaining to mess with those poor saps though.

A while later...

I'm feeling better now. A live telemarketer called me just now. I answered the phone something like this: "wegoooishbnalpigpig"

"Hello?" from the TM

"Hello!" me in a strange voice.

"What language do you speak? Spanish, Portuguese?"

"Pig Latin"

"What?"

"Pig Latin... igpay atinlay... igpay atinlay!"

He hung up on me. I giggled.

ILL

I feel like I'm on the Titanic.

Alas For My Practically Naked Bum!

Note all of the holes.

Where are Stacy and Clinton when you need them? I need someone to call and report me to them. Some of you out there can sympathize. It is hard to find pants long enough. Yes, they make long pants, but nobody ever stocks more than about 2 pair. I can't afford to go out and buy a bunch of new pants, but what can I do? Long pants are hard enough to find on the regular racks, but forget trying to find them on a clearance rack! You can find 500 pairs of petite or regular length, but never long. RANT! RANT! RANT!! I've bought regular pants that weren't too bad, till I washed them. Then it's back to dorkdom for me. I have 2 pair of jeans that are long enough, that's it. However, I can't wear either of them currently because they don't quite fit yet. I've got another 5-10 lbs of baby weight to loose before I can wear them comfortably. All of my other pants that I've managed to get back into have decided to wear out all at the same time. *Sigh* If any of you out there know of some store whose pants happen to run long, please let me know! I need to find some on a clearance sale. Okay, I'll shut up now.

Church Attire

Ah, my Mark. He hasn't quite grasped the concept of what goes together. Here's how he came up dressed for church yesterday. Note the pants tucked into his boots. You can't really tell in the picture, but the shirt has a blue checked pattern that clashes with both the pants' green checked pattern, and his red striped tie. Also he has his shirt not only buttoned wrong, but there are two peices of tape holding the shirt closed where the buttons are missing. I hope he will forgive me for posting this!

Pancakes

My quest to make the ultimate pancake continues. It all started over a year ago when we had pancakes at Amy's house. My children remarked that her pancakes were better than mine. I had to agree. Since then, I've been trying different recipes, and experimenting with taking some of one recipe and some of another. Here's how I made the pancakes today (and I have to say, they were pretty dern good):

1 1/4 cup flour
2 TBS sugar *
1 heaping tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 cup buttermilk
1 egg
3 TBS melted butter

Sift the flour, then add all the other dry ingredients and mix in a large bowl. Mix the wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry. Mix just enough to get it together. Don't worry about lumps. Cook on a preheated griddle sprayed with cooking spray.

Here are a few tips about pancakes that I have gathered:

1) Use real buttermilk!!!! It makes a huge difference! I've started keeping it in the house, just so I can make stellar pancakes. I generally use it up before it goes bad.

2) Sift your flour well. (I actually don't own a sifter, so I just fluff it up with a fork really well before I measure it.)

3) Real butter seems to make them better.

4) As always, don't over mix. That's a killer for sure.

* I meant to put in 1/4 cup of sugar, but I think I screwed up and only put in 1/8 cup (which is the same as 2 TBS.) These pancakes were really good, so I wish I could remember how much I actually put in! I'm not really sure, but I think it was the lesser amount. Recipes vary on sugar pretty widely. I'm thinking my screw up might have found the perfect mean. I'll have to try it again, to be sure of what I actually did. Either should make a good pancake, but I prefer what I did today (I think it was 1/8 cup.)

Potty Training Funnys

Potty training nearly always includes something humorous. Justice was sitting on the potty trying to figure out how to pee. Holding on to his part, as he has seen his brothers do, (he apparently thinks there is a button that you have to press to make it happen) he says "I can't press the button. Can you help me Mommy?"

A Screw Up That Makes Me Giggle

On my cd version of Little Women (my fav. book), there is a little mess up that cracks me up everytime I hear it. Here it is:

...Little Brothers!

Various Bits of Fun

Last night was our ward Halloween party, so we all dressed up in our costumes again. (The first time was for J&L's party, but that's been posted enough on other sites, so I'll refrain here. I'll only say that it was splendid.) Here are the kids in their costumes:

Mark as a Vampire

Ross as a Werewolf

Justice as "Inda Jones"

Lydia as Lola from Hannah Montana

And Clayton went as a Cute Baby

I didn't really have a costume. I always run out of energy and $ after I get my kids' costumes, so I rarely dress up anymore. I happened to be wearing my favorite t-shirt: a red and pink Super-Girl t-shirt, and my red jeans. I threw on a pink cape and went as "Super Mom." Clayton decided my outfit wasn't quite complete, and put on the finishing touch by pooping all over me 15 minutes after we'd gotten to the ward building.

Bruce had to work overnight last night. I had my whole bed to myself. NOT. Ross came up and got in my bed around 3 am, Mark came up around 5 am, then Justice joined in the fun around 6 am. Very shortly thereafter, Clayton decided he was hungry, so I had to kick them all out so I could feed him. My bed just isn't big enough! I will miss these days though. I just smiled and enjoyed having little boy stinky morning breath in my face and my hair pulled as my children rolled on it.

On another subject, Ross and Mark have learned to work their sister. They paid her a quarter to clean their room. Then I asked them to clean up the rest of their mess in the living room and other parts of the house. They asked Lydia if they could just throw their stuff into their room and have her put it away. For another quarter, she agreed. I'm not sure who is working who. But hey, as long as everybody's happy, and the house is getting clean...

Beans and Dollars

We've been using the bean system for quite a while now. It works well. The only problem is that it could break me financially. We've been at this for what, a year and a half, and we haven't been too broke yet, so I'm not actually that worried, but all three of my older children cashed in 20 beans this week to get picked up from school and go out to lunch with me. I love going to school and seeing my kids there. They are always so happy to see their mother at school. I love my dates with them too! This was just not a good week for me to afford to go out to eat 3 times.
Oh well, spending time one on one with my children is better than money. Good times!

Funny Church Things

Does this strike anyone else as funny? Someone from the Primary presidency handed me an envelope containing our children's parts for the Primary program. On the way home from church, I opened it up and was looking at the parts. Lydia's entire part is a quote from Satan. (No, we LDS persons are NOT Satanists, the quote was to point out that he is bad.) It tickled my funny bone.

Also, after church today, Justice (my 2 year old) was in the Primary room talking on the microphone, as all children love to do. He was babbling along, and I didn't catch much of what he was saying, but he mentioned Jesus. Then he mentioned something about "punch you in the face."

Late Night Crazies

Well, it finally got cold enough that we turned on the heater. Around midnight, Bruce and I both woke up and decided we were cold, so he turned on the heater. He also planted the evil thought by asking me where the carbon monoxide detector was. Well, I couldn't remember. That thing was always too heavy for it's prongs and wouldn't stay plugged in. Yes, I know you should have them in more than one location in your house, but those things are expensive! Anyway, I rolled over and went back to sleep. I dreamed about finding the CO detector; I dreamed about knocking on my neighbor's door at 1:00 in the morning, asking to borrow one. I woke up at 1:00 am with a headache. "Oh crap, I have a headache! Now I have to worry about it!" which of course, I did. I got up and started looking all over the house for the CO detector. I couldn't find it. I was tired, so I laid back down, couldn't go to sleep. So, telling myself that I'm a lunatic, I got up and drove to Wal-Mart at 1:45 am, going 70 mph. I bet I looked a bit crazy with my make-up that I didn't bother to take off from the day before, smeared under my eyes, my hair sticking up everywhere, etc. I was in good company though. It really surprised me how many people there are in Wal-Mart at 2:00 am on a Saturday morning. There was actually a longish line in the cigarette line. I found that amusing through my foggy brain. There were also some seriously freakish people there with the way gothic look going. Piercings out the wazoo, gothic make-up even on the guy, gothic hair, etc. Anyway, I walked to the CO detector aisle at top speed. (I can walk really fast when I want to. This stems from having long legs and from walking to school in jr high and high school always at least 10 minutes late). I'm sure I looked absolutely mad. I made it back home in 20 minutes total, plugged the thing in. It didn't go off. I went downstairs where the boy's bedroom is, plugged it in there. No alarm. Good, back to bed. I still have a headache this morning, but the thing isn't beeping, so I guess I just need to snap out of it.

My Sweet Boys

There was no school today. Those wonderful teacher's institutes - I loved them so much as a child! My boys got up about the same time as usual and knocked on our bedroom door. I opened the door to see Ross and Mark carrying a tray with two plates of leftover pancakes and three carrots. They each carried a tall glass of juice. Justice was tagging along carrying a bottle of syrup. "We brought you breakfast in bed!" says Ross "The one with a bite out of it is Justice's." he says (meaning the carrot.) They hung out and shared our leftover pancakes with us. Aren't children great!

On a side note, I noticed that Justice's diaper was extremely soggy, and I asked him: "Are you poopy, Justice?"

"No, not yet." was his reply. I laughed. I've got to get that one potty trained!

Good News, Bad News

The good news is that my fat dog has lost 8.5 lbs. The bad news is that she had a tapeworm. She's fine now. The vet fixed her up.

The Awesomest Weekend! (Now back to Reality)

I of course forgot to bring the camera, so I have no pictures. We went camping in Nauvoo with my parents and all of my siblings. Everyone was there, except my sister-in-law, Liz. I hear she had a good weekend too. We actually did almost nothing in town, but I didn't mind it one little bit. We were at a great campground with heated cabins, and a playground just a stone's throw from our cabin door. We just farted around and let the kids play all day. We played some volleyball. John, Trent, Ashley and I all went for a morning run. I was by far the slow poke of the group. Oh well, I'll get it back eventually. Well, I'll never be as fast as John or Trent, but I'll be able to keep up with Ashley at least. John, Lydia and I went for a midnight walk all the way down to the river. That was nice. Basically we just relaxed and socialized. About mid-day, our friend Colista, who lives in town came over and brought her boys (who are nicely just the same ages as my boys, so they all played). Ross really liked Tristan! Too bad we don't live closer. We just hung out and chatted. That's about it. It was just sooo inexpressibly nice to be able to let the kids run around, with no TV or video games to fight, no homework to do, no place to have to go to. The weather couldn't have been better either. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Now I'm back home, I've completely unpacked, I took Clayton to the doctor to investigate a bug bite that looked nasty. Turned out to be a wasp sting. He never cried. Weird. He's fine. We put the basement back together, and cleaned up the downstairs family room. I found out the Chloe has worms (not heart worms), so I have to take her to the vet tomorrow. I have to spend tomorrow paying bills, and catching up on piano practice. And our water heater broke. Fun, fun, Fun. Vacation is over. However, I'm still good and chilled out from the weekend. I care not, it will all be well.

The Solquid

Ever wonder what to do with all those boxes of cornstarch you have just laying around? Try making cornstarch feelies! I highly recommend it. We've done it several times on a small scale, just enough to play with in your hands. I've wanted to do enough to walk on for a long time. I was wanting to fill a kiddie pool with the stuff, but after doing a bit of calculation, I realized that it would take like 100 or so boxes. Not too cost effective. However I did blow 13 boxes at once here. It was great fun!

The cool thing about cornstarch feelies is that it really isn't a solid, but it's a weird kind of liquid. See, it's a surface tension thing. As long as you hit it fast, it feels solid. You can run and jump on it. But the second you stop moving, you sink into it like a liquid. When you roll it around in your hands, it will roll up like a ball, and it feels really solid. As soon as you stop rolling it, it runs all our of your hand just like any other liquid.

The formula is about 1 part water to 1.75 part cornstarch (give or take a little). That's about 1 2/3 cup water per 1 lb box of cornstarch. It does seem to dry out pretty quickly as you play with it, so you'll have to add a little water as you go. Give it a try! We love it. Oh, and here's a hint: A box of cornstarch at Shop -n- Save will run you about $1.40, but you can get one at Wal-Mart for $0.84. I haven't checked the Aldi, Save-a-Lot type stores yet.

Unfortunately, it was getting dark as we were doing this, so some of the video is pretty dark, and you can't see it so well on this little window.

A Picture for Mary's Mother

(sorry, but I don't know your name)
She was wondering about this picture that I had in YMCA. It's a man milking a horse, sort of. It's from Monty Python.

Things You Don't Hear Everyday

At Wal-Mart today, I had a snip-it of conversation that struck me as a funny kind of thing you don't hear everyday, especially not in a casual conversation.

As I was getting ready to leave the check-out counter, out of the corner of my eye, I saw something fall out of my cart. I said "Uh-oh, I think I dropped something."

To which a lady walking past calmly replied "It's the baby's head."

"Oh, thanks!" I say, picking it up and walking on.

And incidentally only a boy would carry around the decapitated head of a baby doll.

How Do I Miss These Things?

A few years back, Bruce laughed at me for singing along to a song which I thought went like this: "Get your rock salt, get your rock salt, Honey!" Well, as it turned out, the real lyrics were a bit obscene. Then there was the time when I thought "Money for Nothin" from Dire Straits went like this: "We got the movies refrigerators. We got the movies color TVs..." I can't remember how old I was when I was finally corrected on that one.

Of course there is the Primary song that has always been so confusing for us Mormon kids, you know the one about "... by this shimeno, ye are my disciples..." I still can't figure out if we are supposed to go to Zambia, or if I need to purchase a certain fishing reel in order to be "saved." This could be important information for my salvation!

Seriously though, Bruce and I were just talking about movie Dances with Wolves and he said that he thought it was sad when Wind in his Hair was about to cry over Dances with Wolves leaving. "What?!" Says I. Apparently I totally misunderstood the ending of this movie. I've seen it a million times (it's been a few years now, but still.) Heck, we own that movie. I never got that Dances with Wolves and his wife leave for Washington! I just thought the whole tribe moved away to some other part of the wild west. How did I miss that?

Recent Amusing Quotes From Our House

"Do not throw balls at open cans of paint!"

"I'm sorry that you can't paint on my face with your spit."

"Everyone fall down the hairplane! AHHHHH!"

My First Post-Partum Race

I did the Challenge of the Bluffs yesterday. It's only 5 miles, but the first 3/4 of a mile is straight up hill. (The name should give you a clue.) I felt slightly queasy before the race. I just dismissed it as pre-race nerves, which very likely it was. The race was tough (I've only been back to running for 6 weeks.) I pushed myself and didn't stop to walk at all. As expected my time was significantly slower than previous years. No disappointment there. I was just glad to finish.

Here's the weird part: As soon as the race was over, my body freaked out! I started getting chills within minutes, and I just spiraled down from there. I was VERY sick yesterday. Fever, aches, chills, headache everything. I felt like I was going to pass out just getting up to go to the bathroom. It's the next day, and I am still feeling pretty horrible. So I'm wondering if pushing myself so hard at the race did this to me. (I have a hard time swallowing that theory. I've pushed myself pretty hard before without this happening.) Or was I already harboring a virus, and racing just pushed me seriously over the edge? I just hope I don't get everyone in my family sick especially Clayton. I had to snuggle him a lot yesterday and through the night to feed him. He has been sick for a few days, so I hoping that I just caught what he had, and not the other way around. (Did that make sense?) Okay, got to go lie down.

A Really Cool Leaf Project

Lydia had another school project. (I never did post about her "Animals in our Backyard" project, but it was really cool!) This project was about leaves. She was supposed to make a display. I think we did something rather unique, so I'll tell you about it. We went around and collected a bunch of leaves, and pressed them in wax paper (inside a book, under a 50 lb weight. I'm pretty sure you don't need that much weight, but that's just what we did.) for about a week. Next we stuck the leaves between 2 layers of clear contact paper to sort of laminate them. We cut out around the leaves, and labeled them. I found one of those satellite maps of our neighborhood and put each leaf where we actually found it. We had a bunch more leaves that we pressed, but I'm no expert, and I didn't know what kind of tree they belonged to, so we didn't use them. If only my neighbor had been home when we were putting this thing together. He's an arborist. He could have identified them for me in a second. Oh well, we had all that the project required plus a couple of extras for extra credit.

I HATE CEREAL!!!!!!!

I HATE CEREAL, I HATE CEREAL!!! Never buying it again. (Well, that's probably not true, but still.)

Breaking News: The Tooth Fairy is Retarded!

So, Mark lost his first tooth last night. He was very excited about that! Unfortunately, we've come to the conclusion that the Tooth Fairy must be retarded. About 90% of the time she comes to our house, she comes way late. The child wakes up so excited to see if the Tooth Fairy has left them any money, only to be disappointed. She generally makes it in sometime during breakfast. She'll often have some cock and bull story about what held her up. Once she left a note about being backed up because of the Peruvian Annual Tooth Pulling Fair, or something like that. Well apparently she can't count money either, because instead of leaving the usual dollar, she left Mark three quarters and a dime last night. I think we parents should band together, and hire a new Tooth Fairy! Seriously!!

And The Winner IS .....(Drum Roll...)

The results from our "Name That Baby" game are in and the winner is: It's a tie between Jeanette and Kirsten! (And this is the first time ever that Jeanette has commented here on Frog Droppings. Thank you for coming out of lurker land. Or was this your first visit? I'll have to spy back on you now. Yay for new blogger friends!)

The correct answers are as follows: A-Lydia, B-Clayton, C-Mark, D-Justice, and E-Ross. Both J & K got all of them right. I'll get your prizes to you soon!

I Practically Had The Same Baby Five Times!

Please play along! Can you guess who is who?

Answers will be coming after you all vote.

A prize will be involved for the most correct answers.

Brrharroom Fundraisers!

I just paid $12.50 for four little pieces of garlic bread!

Blow Outs

Why is it that babies wait until you are both wearing clean clothes to have a blow out diaper that mucks you both up? That's twice in one morning. He must be cleaning out the pipes today.

Reminds me of my brother, John's wedding. Mark was one month old. I was changing his diaper in the van, about 20 minutes before the ceremony was to start. I had the old diaper off, and hadn't yet managed to put the new one on yet when SSSPPPLLAATT!!!! That stuff came shooting out of there like water out of a fire hydrant. Covered my entire torso in yellow baby poo, plus a good portion of the van seat and headrest. My nice dress suit was ruined.

Another Slideshow

How could I have forgotten about "Bad Babies?!"

Because It Makes Me a Little Sad to See My Hard Work Pushed Off the Page Already

I tried to post YMCA to my sidebar, but I can't figure out how to do it. So, I put a link on my sidebar. Plus, I added a few of my old slideshows too. Now you may enjoy them always. As always turn off the playlist first. You must be such a moron for me to have to remind you all the time!

Why My Daughter Rocks

Advice to anyone who is going to have 4 boys: Have a Lydia first. That girls is awesome! She got up yesterday, and got not only herself dressed for church, but Justice and Clayton too, without being asked. Unfortunately they cancelled church because the roads, and many peoples basements were flooded due to hurricane Ike. Funny that they cancelled church for a hurricane in the exact middle of the continent. (No, it wasn't actually a hurricane by the time it reached us, it was just a massive amount of rain. Duh.) Well, our basement did flood a bit, but I can't complain. At least I still have a basement. Anyway, Lydia volunteered and took a long turn with the shop-vac in the basement. Next she cleaned out the hall closet without being asked. You could say that she's angling for something, and maybe she is, but she is very often like this. She is just the best girl ever!

The Past Through The Eyes Of A Two Year Old

L to R: Renae, Mark, Lydia, Ross, Bruce

While cleaning a closet, Bruce found an old photo album that I had put together for Mark when he was very small to help him get through sacrament meetings. (How's that for a run on sentence?) Justice was looking through it, and he didn't seem to recognize us from a picture of us when we were newly weds. *Sigh* Bruce asked "Who is that?" Justice simply said "No." And moved on to the next picture. When he got to this picture, he said "There's Mommy, and Cwayton, and Marky, and Daddy, and Wydia, and don't cwimb the twee!"

A Quick Observation

A two year old with a magic marker (incidentally, why do they call it a "magic marker?" A better name would be: "The marker from Haties" or "Marker that will ruin your favorite sweater faster than you can say 'Oh ski-dunking booger mongers, not again!" But "Magic Marker?" I ask you "What the ruddy heck is so great and magical about a marker that won't come off of anything under the sun with out taking serious health risking means of action?") Anyway, when a two year old comes up to you with a magic marker with the lid off saying "I found a Q!" It doesn't usually add up to anything good. (Unless you count the fact that he can recognize his letters.) It was only a mouse pad this time, so I'm not upset at all. But it is a good observation.

A Couple of Funny Kid Things

Last Saturday Bruce was cleaning out the garage, and he found a little snake in there. (I don't know what kind it was. It didn't appear to be a garden snake.) He picked the thing up by the tail and brought it around for everyone to look at. Then he walked over to the woods near our house, accompanied by a few of our children, to set the snake free. Bruce put the snake on the ground, and Justice (the 2 year old) immediately stomped on it as hard as he could. "Justice! What did you do that for?" says Bruce. "I have to kill it!" says my mighty hunter of a son.

Last Tuesday, we let the kids stay up a bit on the late side to have a bonfire in our backyard. Ross asked if he could have some Mountain Dew. I said no, because it was too close to bedtime. To which Ross replies "That's what pull-ups are for!"

BTW, I'm glad that I don't live in Galveston TX today! I feel for you all down there! I'll toss up a few prayers on your behalf.

It Ain't Just Me

So, out of sheer boredom, I was checking out who else in the blogger world listed my beloved Michael Ball in their favorite music part of their profiles. Here's what I found: (I didn't actually count or anything, and I didn't look at ALL of them, but I skimmed through quite a few just to see what kind of people share my taste.) It appears that about 80 percent of all Michael Ball fans are women. The other 20 percent are split up between gay and Mormon men. Hmm, interesting. What does this say?

Ross the Philosopher

"I don't think Dad will like it when he is resurrected." says Ross.

"Why not?"

"Because there will be no boxing. If you can't hurt anyone, what's the point?"

Night Time Fun

So maybe I kept my kids up just a tad past bedtime last night, but it was worth it. We roasted hotdogs and marshmallows in our back yard. We even pulled out a few sparklers left over from the 4th of July. Good times.




Here's Justice "helping" me mud seams in the kitchen today.

Two Totally Unrelated Things

Who knew that a musician had to also be a mathematician. Hey John, our roads related after all! This is one single beat from a Chopin Etude that I am learning. The "x"s represent where in the beat the notes fall. You have to divide the beat (not the measure - the beat) into 12 parts in order to figure out where to play the notes. The one on top is what you play, with the right hand at the same time as you are playing the one on bottom with your left hand. It's driving me Mad!
Here's a crazy spider I found by my garage. It's huge! Sorry, but there ain't no way that I'm putting my finger next to it for a size reference! You'll just have to trust me that it's about 2 inches from front legs to back. Anybody know what kind it is? It appears to be making an egg sack. Is it poisonous? Should I get Bruce to kill it? (I'm not doing it. I'm a chicken.)

A Look Into My Future

I was just thinking. In a short four years I will begin the trips to early morning seminary (it's a Mormon scripture class everyday before school) with my kids. This will last for an uninterrupted 14 years!!! Crap, life will be crazy. Bruce will have to get into the getting kids ready for school scene. We will have a 4yr old, a 6yr old, a 10yr old, a 12 yr old, and a 14 yr old. I've already decided that I won't mind driving to seminary, It'll be a great time for me to go running.

Hiking with the Kids and Grandparents and Misc.

Yesterday I got up with big plans to accomplish much in the way of painting my kitchen.

(Before that I went running with my group for the first time since baby was born! Yay! I love being able to get back into my running, but the best part was seeing my running friends again. It made me so happy to hear "Renae, your back! Good to see you." Friends rock.)

Anyway, I have much in the kitchen that needs to be accomplished, so I planned to dig in and work all day, then to go out with my favorite guy in the pm for a date. Well, I was just changing into my painting scrubbies when my mom calls. "Can we take the kids out for a day at the park and some hiking?" "Of course! They'd love that!" is the knee jerk response. Next follows the battle: do I stay and take advantage of the kids being out of the way, and get lots accomplished -hopefully; or do I go and spend a great day with the kids.

My father-in-law has spent many a day over here, breaking his back, out of the sheer goodness of his heart, in order to help me get my kitchen back. He specifically asked me to get some painting done so that we could get the trim hung around the windows. So, yes that needs to be a priority. However, that haunting quote from the movie Hook: "...you are missing it." kept floating around in my head. When my parents showed up, I was still in my painting duds and barefoot. I had almost made my mind up that I'd stay and work. "...you are missing it. ...you are missing it." Mom asks are you coming? Well, I looked a fright, and I wasn't at all ready to go. But come on, how beautiful do you have to be to go hiking? I hemmed and hawed for a couple of minutes, glanced at Bruce guiltily (he was staying home to work on cleaning the garage). Finally, I ran inside, grabbed my shoes, camera and some diapers for the baby, put the baby in his seat and ran out the door with the kids. We had a good day. We picnicked, played at the park and hiked.

Then last night Bruce and I ran away, leaving the kids with Trent (except for Clayton who stayed with Grandma Sever) and we went to a party with my running group friends. Had a good time there too.

Oh, and here's one of Monkey Boy washing his hands.

YMCA

Finally! It's not perfect, but I'm tired of messing with this, and I'm too ashamed to admit how much time I wasted on this piece of nonsense, so you'd better spend four measly minutes watching this, and leave me lots of comments okay! (approx. 500 pics!)

P.S. You'll have to go to the side bar and pause mt playlist before you watch this silliness.

Blast!!! I just watched this on my downstairs computer, and the sync got screwed up.

Ahh, The Joys of Motherhood!

Probably Not the Best Place In the World to Take a Nap

"Wholesome" Home Made Bread

I don't know why I feel like blogging about this. If you don't like girly, feeling stuff, you might want to skip this one. Every time I bake bread I can't help but to think about an old friend of mine.

This was kind of an odd friendship. I don't know how or why, but somehow this guy and his friends started sitting with me and my friends at lunch in high school. We didn't really run with the same crowd at all. Only we happened to have the same lunch period, and I guess some of his lunch time friends were friends with my friends. Anyway, as I remember it he sought me out for friendship. He started calling me everyday after school. It was like clockwork, I could always count on his phone call. We would talk for at least an hour, sometimes two everyday after school. From his appearance, you'd assume he was a bad boy, but he was really a great guy on the inside. He kind of reminded me of Steven Tyler (Aerosmith) in looks. Anyway, why did we become friends? I don't know. I think he liked me in the crush sort of sense, and I'd have to say that the feeling was mutual. However, neither of us ever made any move in that direction. We were only ever just good friends. He seemed to see something in me that was better than I was at the time. I remember him telling me that he could see me someday in the future baking bread and playing piano. He said he just pictured a husband coming home from work and there I'd be playing the piano with a "beautiful loaf of bread." (He also liked the word "wholesome." Why, I don't know, he said it just sounded cool.) I told him he was silly because at the time, I neither knew how to bake bread or play the piano. The funny thing now is that piano has become my absolute favorite hobby. (He had nothing to do with it. I just fell in love with the instrument.) I remember feeling like I should try to do some missionary work with him, but I was a chicken, and never plucked up the courage to try.

Anyway, about a year after he graduated high school, he was murdered. It was rather horrible. I wanted to go to his funeral, but I didn't. I kind of felt like an outsider. He was the only person in his circle that I really knew. I wasn't friends with his close friends, and I'd never met his family, so I just felt like I would have been out of place. Anyway, I can't make bread or hear the song "Brown Eyed Girl" (That song seemed to play over and over again on the juke box at in the high school cafeteria. He's why it's on my play list.) without thinking about, and fondly remembering my friend who turned out to be right about me.

Not Yet Anyway

It makes me happy that my kids still want me to walk them to the bus stop. What makes me even happier is that they still like it when I'm silly around their friends. Yesterday I walked to the bus stop with the kids, and I was in a jolly mood. Lydia started me in on our game (which originated with my father) of pretending that we have rules against smiling or laughing. I very sternly tell all the kids that we must not laugh or smile, or else there will be punishments. "No Laughing, only Crying!" This, of course produces laughter from the kids (fake at first). I have to get more insistent that no one laugh. "And we don't hug either, only smacks!" More laughter. More insistence. So it goes, until I can't help but crack a smile or laugh myself. Then I have to start spanking myself, or hitting myself in the head. Now the kids are rolling.

A few minutes later I was singing "YMCA" and crazy disco dancing, with the Ed Grimly dance thrown in there a few times. As the bus pulled away, I Ed Grimlyed some more. It makes me extremely happy that Lydia still likes it when I act silly in front of all her friends! She's not embarrassed by her weirdo mom, not yet anyway

It's No Wonder That All My Mail Carriers Seem To Hate Me

I'm looking at a name, on a piece of mail, that I hadn't seen before: "Bathsheba Meyer Smith." I always figured it was my dog that the mail carriers hated, but I think it might also be John's silly mail. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind the joke. I'm laughing, but seriously I have three mail carriers that I see on a regular basis, and two of them seriously seem to loathe me! I try to be friendly to them, but they can't seem to do anything but give me dirty looks. Is is Chloe? I don't know. Partly, but maybe not totally.

OUCH!!! My Poor Baby!

You can somehow always tell the difference in the cry when they are really truly hurt. Either that or something just nudges you and tells you that you need to run to the child. I swear you people out there must just think I'm a terrible mom. My poor Justice was jumping on the trampoline last night, and he fell and bashed his front teeth on the bar. He chipped one tooth, and pushed about 3 or 4 of them back and to the side a bit. I took him to see Brother Lindsey, a dentist in our ward, last night. He said that the teeth will most likely straighten out by themselves. His front teeth might turn dark though. The poor kid can't eat anything but pudding type stuff. I can't get him to take any Tylenol. He just won't let me anywhere near his mouth, no matter how much I tell him that it will help him feel better. He was up half of the night crying. I hate it when my kids are hurt. I just can't look at his poor face without almost crying. We are taking him to the doctor this morning. His poor lip is swollen like you can't believe. He is acting better this morning. He's even smiling and playing a bit. He'll be alright, but I hate it for him!

Ross Magoo

The other day some girl at tae kwon do told me that Ross looks like Zach and Cody from the Disney show "Suite Life of Zach and Cody." As much as I loathe that show, (seriously one of the stupidest shows ever!) I'll have to admit that maybe she had a point.

I have to give Ross props. He's been very good this week since we've been back at school. He's been getting himself up with an alarm, getting ready for school and doing his pre-school chores with little or no complaints. He even did his homework today without being asked! Rock on!

Here's a self portrait that he did at school today. I'm posting it because I found the fact that he glued the hair down over his eyes amusing.

The Good Ol' Days

A couple of weeks ago, I went to Walgreens looking for glycerin which I had heard that you can make great bubble solution out of. I had visions of the kids and me, in the backyard making bubbles big enough for them to fit into. I had no idea where to even begin to look for glycerin. What is it even used for (besides bubble formula)? I had just heard that you could buy it at a drugstore. So, I asked a clerk. She said "I don't know if we carry that anymore." After I inquired where to look to see if they had any, she waved vaguely at the other side of the store and said "It would be somewhere in first aid." So, off I go to the first aid aisles. I look for a good long while, then I ask another clerk. "That would be in first aid." Gee thanks! So I ask the pharmacist "First aid" DUH! "What is it used for?" I ask. She told me a couple of vague things that I can't remember anymore. So, I begin to look for those type things. I even tried looking at the ingredients in products, hoping to find something that was glycerin based. I just figured it must be some old-fashioned remedy that no one uses anymore. No luck. I eventually gave up.

Disappointed, I was on my way home, when I noticed Rinderer's Pharmacy across the street. It's a mom & pop kind of a place that I'd never really paid much attention to before. I figured I'd give it a try. I stepped inside, and it was like stepping back into the sixties. ("Welcome to the Sixties! Oh oh oh oh oh-o-o-o-o!" -Hairspray with my Michael Ball. Quit it with the M.B. already, dork!) Everything there looked old fashioned from the shelves, their funky stockings, to the price tags on them. Clearly a store for old folks to buy their medicines, scarves for their heads, walkers and such. I decided not to beat around the bush, but asked the first clerk I saw. She was sitting at a large desk with another person across from her. I'm not sure if he worked there or not. They gave off the air of two people playing a friendly game of checkers, or something. They chatted friendily with me, and told me that I could make "bubbles as big as a house" with my glycerin. The woman pointed and said "the last aisle over there, against the wall, on top, in about the middle of the section." "Thanks!" I say and head over. I begin scanning about where she had directed. After about 30 seconds, when I hadn't found it yet, another clerk asked me if I needed any help. "Yes," I said, "I'm looking for some glycerin." She smiled and picked up a bottle and handed it to me. I proceeded to the check out lane. A couple of older women stopped me to admire my baby, and to talk about how they had had six of their own back in the day. Everyone there was very friendly. I left there thinking "I can't even remember the 'good ol' days,' but I think I miss them."

BTW, the bubbles ended up being a bit of a disappointment. Not really any better than store bought bubble solution. Maybe I'll experiment with it another day. It was about 500 degrees outside that day. I didn't really give it much time to impress me. So much for all that bother!

My Attempt at Photography

Okay yes, I know I'm no Amy, but I do know her favorite place in my house to take pictures (for the lighting). So I decided to try my hand. I was mainly going for pictures of Clayton, he being the new baby, but Justice kept jumping in. I decided to roll with it. Here's what I got: