Grumbly reflections

I was feeling a little grumpy this morning after I showed up an hour early for church with the kids but without the donations of clothing I planned to bring for the community drive.

The beauty of stake conference is that it starts late! I missed that and got extra time to run home, and and extra half an hour attempting to keep the kids under control. Karl was singing today so he could not help.

Anyway, just as I was thinking grumbly thoughts I realized the lady in from of me had 7 kids. She was alone too as her husband was also singing. 14-10 months. Time to be grateful for my blessings!!


Church has not strarted yet. So far there has beenl one escape attempt, two trucks have been thrown and 10 fish trampled. I can make it!!

Mr Sandman cont.

Karl finished the sandbox Wednesday! They love it! Any suggestions on keeping sand out if my house?

Notes

Today we had a pool party to celebrate Sydney 6th birthday. We had a great time with friends and really enjoyed the pool. Her birthday was Thursday and we had a fun celebration then with preset for Sydney and 2 for Emily.

Tonight Karl and I had a meeting at church so we got a sitter. When we got home we found this note from Emily. I have been working with her on present acquisition. I have more work to do apparently.





If you can't really read it the jist is she is sad because Sydney got cool stuff and she wants us to get her any 4-5 things we think she might like.

Mr. Sandman

I have a great husband. I know this because with only minimal grumbling, he is building me a super cool sandbox in some really hot weather! Not only that, but he let me sleep in until 9:30!! Woohoo!

Today we went to a work pool party from 12:30-5. Josh and I were super Late for naptime. When we got home, we headed out as a family for sandbox building fun!

Here is Emily attempting to dig.












Not loving her new look!












Our transplant sod program- building up the former digging pit with our sod bricks. Hope they live!!











Sandbox dug out












Zen raking:)
























Weed and creepy crawly protector layer











First layer! Totally looks good here, but it gets even better! See more pics Monday! We worked till 9pm and it was too dark for pics.






Missing three boards and 62 bags of sand.

Bribery in the American family

Sydney got sent to timeout for snatching, a new rule they established in family home evening. As I was standing at the stairs planning her new room design she begged for an early release and offered me a penny to let her go. I didn't take it, and now she is whimpering.

Backyard adventures continue

Karl got the deck done almost 2 weeks ago. Sorry i forgot to annouce it! I put up the table and chairs for outside all by myself! The umbrella needs a base. And we have eaten out there 3 times. It has been delightful! Now we (and by we I mean Karl) are working on a sandbox for the kids. I still have landscaping and gardening projects to tackle outside. But so far things seem to be coming along nicely! Mulch is waiting and weeds are growing.

Up next is a redesign in the girls room. They suggested a board down the center of the room. I am thinking loft beds instead. Maybe a curtain, but no boards or walls.

Sweet viewpoint

I got asked to be the primary president (managing the kids 3-11) at church recently.Today in the car as the kids wondered where dad was (meetings at church that began at 6:45) Emily piped up with " wow, you guys are so lucky to have your jobs at church!" I was really apreciative of her way of looking at it! It was certainly better than my way!

Artistic differences

Josh and I had some different thoughts on Friday. He was happily eating his yogurt so I decided to quickly run the vaccum to do some post breakfast mess clean up. Well multi-tasking was not
my best move! My new plan is no matter how boring it seems, do not leave an eating toddler. He painted the table and his body with yogurt. So I got to give him a bath and wipe te table and floor.

Talent show

This week has had some extra excitement! Emily signed up for the school talent show. It was held today an I will try and post video of her doing the Hoedown Throwdown dance. So cute:)


Here she is waiting for the bus. And yes those are pink streaks in her hair. We did it at breakfast! So fun to have girls:)) I hope she let me do her makeup when she is older. She has awesome eyes!

Deck building

After almost three years living here, I finally get my wish for a deck in the backyard.




We are using dek blocks instead of concrete foundation piers; less digging and hopefully plenty stable.







Did I mention the pouring rain that came in a flash last night??



We have got all 25 piers in place, and support posts in place.


Next we are joining the 12' support beams. That will be tricky! After those are in place, the 10' decking boards go down. Woohoo! Lemonade on the deck tonight! (i hope)

Right now we are off to the church pig pickin picnic for a little break.








No only that, but we dug up the massive concrete stone that was out near the swing set that I hate for no really good reason than it is there! Yeah! It didn't go far. We stuck in under the deck foundation, but at least it is out. Getting the circle stone up means I can work on a side project and level hill back there and try to get grass to grow.

I am using our rotoiller for the first time myself.




And on our way, just a snippet of conversation.

Emily-"why does it say we hve to go this way?"
Mom "cause the road doesn't go the oter way."

Emily " are these buildings really old?"
Dad "yes."
"do people still live in them?"
"yes"
"why? They might have weird pictures in them?"


Status update


Framing


First board in place




Our little helper




8pm - Are we there yet?- we are running out of steam. But we are going to keep going!

9:30 - we are halfway done laying the decking boards. I love the magical sound of bugs zapping in the moonlight.

10:15 - Done for the night. 2/3rds done with the surface.

We have noticed that the height of our fence is much more noticeable when you stand 2 feet off the ground than when you don't! Fencing, a project for another day! Time to soak in the tub!

Bath time

It isn't even 11:30 yet and we already had the first mud puddle related bath today. Josh sat happily in a giant puddle flinging mud while I attempted to garden.
I didn't get pictures, but he was coated in it!

Languaged Challenged

Josh is learning to talk. It is really funny to hear him find buses, cars an balls while riding in the car. He loves to climb in my seat and "drive" He also loves all things dirty and gross in the mud puddle in the backyard. He really is all boy, so different from his sisters. Karl was taking care of him the other night, and ran out of ideas. He pulled out Car and Driver and showed to it Josh. He exclaimed Wooh! Wow! on each page. So funny!

He also has no word for Dad yet. He can say mote-for remote, but not Dad. He knows who dad is and will point on cue. Course the word for Mom is an awful lot like "Mine." hmmm.

On another note, I realized today that if we bought the other house we looked at on a busy road,we really would have a problem, as Josh views the street as an extension of the front yard and therefore a great place to be. We deadbolt the door and it keeps him inside for now. He got out once dead bolted, but I think it was a fluke. learning to lift the toilet seat seems to have been a one time occurrence so far.

Natural Consequences

This week was all about consequences it seems.

Lesson #1 If you have a snack and leave out a full box of cereal, and the baby of those house climbs on to the table and dumps it all out on the floor, expect to clean it up since putting it away would have prevented the mess. Same goes for the milk. That was a different day, and happily the cereal was put away that time. The milk was not, so she got to clean up the milk and learned how to use my good friend the Hoover Floor Mate.

Lesson #2 If Moms stays up too late doing stupid stuff and is less than pleasant all day, expect children to pray that mom will be nice the following day.

Lesson #3 If Josh sees anyone go outside, he will follow them. Lock all doors! Especially if you are showering and think he is watching Elmo. Otherwise you get to face the neighbors as the return the baby-ok the neighbor didn't come this week, it was a few weeks ago, but I did hear the door shut while I was getting dressed and had to grab the bathrobe and run outside.

Lesson #4 If it is bad for you, ie chicken nuggets, that is the only food he will willing eat. all other offerings are thrown on the floor.

Lesson #5 If you have lapsed medical insurance from changing jobs, you will have mysterious earaches or fluid filled ears from plane rides that linger for days!

Lesson #6 If you get to go away for the weekend, don't expect too much when you get home! Josh was thrilled to see me in the morning, but really wanted to tell me about the new toys in his room.

Lesson #7 If you have to wonder if a neighborhood child is stealing your things, it is time to nip the friendship in the bud. That was a hard lesson this week. We got the shoes back, and our neighbor got her stuff back, but the girls are disappointed about losing their new friend. This child roams free, takes stuff that isn't hers, and has no rules or respect. It is sad that she lives like that, but I am not willing to start questioning my kids honesty all the time as I do hers.

Lesson #8 If you or your child leave the garage door open a crack, a strange cat may come in and eat your cats cat food. You won;t know this of course, but you will blame your cat for being hungry ALL the TIME! And wonder why she didn't run them off.

Lesson #9 If you buy it, you will probably eat it. Avoid the ice cream aisle! Sigh. Yummy frozen goodness.

Lesson #10 If you see the baby is making poop face in the tub and even says "Stinky", don't think you can run to the changing table and get the diaper on in time. Shouting no Josh won't work either. Slap the wet wriggly munchkin on the toilet and hope you don't let him fall in. Otherwise the towel will get yucky.

Scrapbooking

I have been bothered by the fact that I am years behind on my family scrapbooks. I bought a digital scrapbooking Program a few months ago to make a digi book as a weddig present for a Good friend. I made her book quickly and was thrilled with the finished result. But since then I have not done anything for myself with it. I have made cards, incursions, handouts, and other useful little projects, but no more books.

So last Sunday, something it under my skin and I started with the cover of a 2009 book. This week u have worked on it almost everynight and I have 30 pages done so far. I am up to October. I think I can finish tomorrow and have a good record of the major events of the year. What a relief it is to make progress on a goal that has been mentally like a splinter. I know I want to do it, but the anal compulsive designer in me does not want to do a paper version because I might mess up, and I have to print the picture, and I hare my handwrting-insert complaint here... So nothing really got done after I stopped going to my Monthly scrapbooking club. I did a great job with 2007-8 but not Much since then.

I am excited to finish tomorrow! I can't wait to show the kids when it get printed. They love family scrapbooks. Sydney had already requested a "just her" book:) maybe I can do that for her birthday!

For now however I am grateful to go to bed and sleep off my sore throat and stuffy nose!

On another fun note, we are not moving this year. Karl got a new job in the area, although it will be a rough commute and is less than he was making at his other job, he will be home with hte family! We are happy to be together after 4 months of seperation. The girls are disappointed they will not be getting seperate rooms, as am I, but we will just learn to deal with the house we have and enjoy this great area and all our friends here! I plan to try some touristy stuff this summer with the kids and take advantage of the history in our area. Anyone wanting to visit, we would Love to have you come!

Suburban Dilemma

What do you do when your child makes a friend you find questionable? I have never had a my daughter have a friend I didn't like or didn't even trust. My girls made a friend with a child in the neighborhood who was a former classmate and we have had some recent experiences that have been incredibly frustrating for me as a parent. She has caused me to doubt the honesty of my own children and has flaunted my rules in my face. I am at a loss. I want to bann her from my home, but I am not sure it is the right approach.

Please send advice! I am really stumped on this one! I will email with more details if desired. Life was simpler last year, and I know it will only get more complicated next year. Yikes!

ENT success story

Sydney had tubes put in again on Thursday. The operation itself took only 20 minutes, but we were waiting for hours beforehand. Since she could not eat anything after midnight the night before, by 1:30, she was hungry!!

We think there is alot of Improvement in her hearing which hopefully can make things a little smoother at home.


Sydney pre surgery reading fantastic mr. fox.

Laundry day

Because we are showing the house again, and because it is just a good thing, I have been trying hard to stay on top of the laundry. Yesterday I hid some
Dirty laundry in my car before a showing. So today I dumped 2 loads on my bed to do during the day. I came in the room to fold them and discovered my cats, blissfully curled up with the fresh previously hair free clothing. It's good to be a cat!

Trouble on the home front

We got word today that the buyers for our house decided they were done waiting and found another home. Frankly I'm not surprised, but I am frustrated with the bank for not getting a move on and causing us to lose this sale. Not only thy, but the other family who was interested in the home has also found another house. Not just one buyer but two in one slow bank move!!

Fortunately we had a couple come through today looking at the house. It is spring and the housing market is picking up, so hopefully we will get more traffic coming in. But this might mean we are back to the begining with the bank and now have to wait to restart the process. What a mess!!! I am really stressed about this whole situation.

Applesauce 101

So on scale of 1-10, I give this a 7. I made Emily fish her applesauce cup out of the trash and eat it. The lid was mostly sealed an it was on the top. I had had it with the complaining about everything today. Even now I can her them whining in the dining room. Aargh.

Her primary complaint was that she would smell like a garbage can and dogs would try to eat her if she ate it. Let's ignore the fact that we have no dog. And the trash is change daily. And that it had been there a minute or so. She ate it and hopefully won't do it again. If she had not insisted on that Flavor, I would have been so annoyed.

And now for a wonderful story...
Monday night she helped me unload the car and put away all the groceries. I was putting a sick and cranky Josh in bed. She did all the work for 2 kudo stickers. She did not complain at all. It was wonderful. I can't find everything right away, but I really appreciated the help.

Sydney was doin her homework so that is why she did not help out.

Josh dining

Josh has decided that milk is best poured out of the bowl and either drunk out of the bowl or sluped off his tray. Yummy!