Tidbits

Yesterday I took Clayton with me to run some errands. As I was buckling him in his car-seat, I noticed that he had some Oreo dirt stuck on his nose. I tried rubbing it off with my finger, and when that didn't work, I licked my finger for another try. Clayton gave me a funny look and asked, "You eat my boogers Mom?!"

Shortly later we were at the grocery store and Clayton kept challenging the other people shopping there. It must be a youngest brother thing. He wasn't doing it in a mean kind of way. I think that's how he thinks you are supposed to make friends or something. We walked past this really big guy (bigger than Bruce, and that is saying something), and Clayton calls out "Hey YOU!" at the guy, shaking both of his fists at him like a boxer. It was funny.

Ross and Lydia have christened January 25th to be "Mark's a Dork Day." They kept congratulating him on having such "holiday spirit" this morning. Siblings!

Sleeping Outside in the Snow and Shocking Ourselves

When Mother Nature decided to dump about 9ish inches of snow on us last week, Bruce and our older three kids decided to build a big snow fort. They covered the top with a tarp, added a removable wooden door and lined the floor with rubber mats and about a million blankets. Then they slept outside in it! Crazy folks! Being the worry wart mother that I am, I did a little sigh of relief as each child came inside the next morning. Ross slept a little later then everybody else, so I made Mark go and check on him. When Mark didn't come back inside, I went outside myself. I refused to go back inside until Mark woke Ross up and I heard Ross' voice. The kids said that they were all warm and toasty. Just goes to show that my Bruce is a good outdoors-man.

(Clayton is just here for the picture. He didn't sleep out there with them.)

You can see the fort better in the night picture.

They got more snow in the night.

Here's one day a couple of weeks ago when Clayton was "helping" me make biscuits, and turned the dog half white. It was more impressive in person.

You just can't get a shock collar for the dog and not try it out on yourselves.

Poor Kitty

I feel sorry for the cat when she is the object of a three-way-tug-o-war between the dog, the two-year old, and myself.

My Brilliant Idea for the Day

Well it took me HOURS to accomplish, so I hope my children find it useful! A little background for my non LDS friends. As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we try to hold Family Home Evening every Monday night. This is a night that we, as a family, set aside to spend time together having fun and learning about the gospel. We usually start and end with a prayer, sing songs together -some silly and fun, some spiritual, have a lesson, have some kind of fun activity, and have a treat. FHE is a great time to just enjoy being together and also a great opportunity to teach each-other about the things we believe.

Anyway, our FHEs, while fun, have not always been organized and planned as well as they could be. We've tried making assignments ahead of time, but we always forget who's turn it is to do what. So in an effort to make our FHEs more meaningful and better planned, I have spent HOURS doing the following:

I created a new background on our computer where everyone will see it everyday saying who's in charge of what for the next month and a half of FHEs. That was the easy part. Next I went through Lydia's Personal Progress book, and Ross and Mark's Faith in God books and found every requirement that could be at least partly done by teaching a FHE lesson. I included things that said "learn about" or "discuss" or "teach a lesson" etc. Then I made a folder just under our FHE chart on the desktop with about a million links to scriptures and lesson plans taken from the FHE lesson manual and the Primary manuals on the church website, and clearly marked which requirement those lessons could be used to fulfill. Now when it is their turn to teach the lesson (and they can't miss seeing it everyday), all they have to do is click on that folder to find LOTS of lesson plans and ideas perfectly suited to help them get their different awards done. Now I just have to see if they will use it.

Artful Little One

When did two year olds become so artful? Clayton really wants to watch TV right now, but I have turned it off. He knows that if Mommy is playing piano, she tends to be a bit deaf.

He is standing in the living room looking wistfully at the TV. "Go pay your pano Mommy."

"Why do you want me to play the piano?"

"Betause I like it."

Yeah right! Artful one!

"Go pay your pano! I like it."

He clearly just wants me to disappear into my own world so that he can watch TV. It's cracking me up.

"Go weed you sciptrs... Go do someping else!"

"Go Mommy! I like it!"

Major Bed Head

What Happens When You Mix Diaper Dust In With The Hot Cocoa

Well, maybe you should check whether this stuff is toxic or not. I don't know. Actually it was that instant snow powder, which seems to me to be pretty much diaper dust (the stuff inside diapers that is mega absorbent).

Well our hot cocoa mix was down to only enough to make one last cup of hot cocoa. Someone decided they'd be funny and put their instant snow powder in the mix. I saw the white stuff in there, but that's not really unusual. I just figured it to be powdered sugar that hadn't gotten mixed in properly, or powdered milk. Whatever. So I mixed my one last cup of hot cocoa. However upon stirring it up, it became one big cup full of brown sludge. What the heck! That's when I remembered seeing the empty tube of instant snow. I wish I had taken a picture. Oh well.

I still don't know if the stuff is toxic or not, so I'm not sure if I'd recommend this prank or not. But since I didn't drink it, good one, whoever did it!

Peanuts

The other day, Clayton was playing in the kitchen sink, and Lydia came and turned the water off, getting him down from the sink. He got all mad and said... Well I guess I have to explain first. The kids all made code names for each other. Ross is Peanuts.... I can't remember what the other ones are. Someone is Oatmeal. Lydia is Peaches. Anyway, if you say their code name it means that they are supposed to beat up whoever you name next. Justice is always getting mad at Mark and yelling "Peanuts Mark!" Thus, Ross is supposed to beat up Mark.

So anyway, Clayton got all mad at Lydia and complains as he's leaving the kitchen, "Lella shut the walla off." (Lydia shut the water off.) "PEANUTS LEELLA!!" Then he stalks back into the kitchen, shoots Lydia a look and says "I'll show you! Peanuts you Leella!"

Ross' reply was "Uh, I don't think so. She's too big."

Clayton was mad at me a few weeks ago about something. I don't remember what. I just remember him sitting on the stairs and quietly pouting "Peanuts Ma ma." To which I laughed.

Ha ha!

Justice and Clayton spent the day at Grammy & Pa's house yesterday while mommy convalesced. As they were pulling up to McDonald's, Justice confided the following in his grandparents:

"I'm glad Mom's sick, so I can come to your house."

For the record, I'm feeling mostly better today.

Funky

It feels really weird to have a swollen uvula! I keep trying to swallow the thing.

Playing Hooky

Bruce and I had been planning on having a family day out all winter vacation. To accomplish this, Bruce had to be off work as well as the kids off school. The days surrounding Christmas were spent with family who came in from out of state. (We really enjoyed having you Greg and Mindy, and hope that you come again soon! Maybe we'll have our bathrooms remodeled by next time!) No problem, Bruce had Friday and Monday surrounding New Year's Eve off too, so did the kids (at least that's what I thought.) Friday and Saturday were hunting season for Bruce and Lydia, so those days were out. So we planned to go on Monday. However upon checking the actual schedule (always a good thing to do) I found out that the kids were supposed to go to school on Monday. DRAT!! We have a membership to the science center, but it expires at the end of the month. Anyway, we deliberated long about it, we prayed about it, and in the end, we pulled the kids out of school for a family day at the science center. I told the kids that this kind of thing will never happen again, so don't even ask. It's probably a good thing that we went on Monday, because I came down sick on Tuesday, and if normal family policy stands true, it will take a week or two to get it through the whole family.

Call me a bad parent if you want, but it was one of our best days ever!

There is nothing in this world better than a 2 year old hug. (Bruce says that it looks like my head is coming out of his body backwards.)

Here we are inside a nose at the grossology exhibit.

This is just a whacky picture that I found when I took the pictures off the camera this time. Check out where Clayton is sitting.

On a completely unrelated topic, we've been having problems with Ally (our 6 month old puppy) running wild when ever the front door is opened. I can't tell you how many things this dog has made me late for. No matter how hard we try, she always manages to dart out between the legs of whoever is opening the front door, and then she's off like a shot. There is NO getting her back either. It's a complete game to her. Well I got sick of playing, so I finally gave in and bought a remote controlled shock collar online. It came this morning. Upon opening the package I had a laugh. Look at how big the collar is. It would fit around a grizzly bear's neck! I'd hate to see the dog that it would fit!

Anyway I adjusted the mile long thing to fit her neck, and I couldn't resist testing it out. I set the dial to the lowest setting. I opened the front door and let her out into the yard. Off she ran; I called her and when she ignored me I pushed the button. (Unfortunately I pushed the wrong button. There is one for the stimulation setting that the dial reads, and there is a button that gives the stimulation two notches up from what the dial reads.) I pushed the button for two steps up. Oops! Well she yelped stopped. I called her and again pressed the wrong button. (Only the second time did I realize my mistake). She yelped and ran back to me. We hung out in the yard for a few minutes. Our neighbor came walking down the street. Ally ran out to greet them. I let her go to the end of the yard and told her to stop. When she continued, I gave her a little shock (this time with the right button). Amazingly, she ran right back to me. Yay for miracles! The down side is that I think she thinks she's in danger if she isn't right on my heels. She's been shadowing me ever since. I really don't think we'll need this thing for long. I just hope she isn't smart enough to figure out that it doesn't work if she's not wearing it.