Finally Finished!

We finally finished painting! They still need the border put up and we will do that but I wanted you to see a picture while they were still (mostly) clean.

Room #1 This room she wanted decorated in Dora the Explorer and Princess. I have some shelves that still need to be put up but its mostly done. Her dad got her a new dresser with a huge mirror but it needs some work. It has two doors, one on each side. I opened one and the top drawer came open too. We'll fix it and then freecycle or Craigslist the old one.

Room #2 I have Tinkerbell border that we will put up and I'm hoping to convince my sister-in-law to paint a picture of Tinkerbell on one of the walls.

Trading Spaces

My older girl is getting too old to share a room with her little sister. My son said he would move downstairs to his dad's old office. We cleaned it out and had him moved in before Thanksgiving. We took the chair rail down in his old room and painted the closet, the trim and the ceiling in a dark pink. The rest of the room will be done in light pink paint we were given from my sister-in-law. We have not spent one cent on this room in paint. So cool and she loves the colors. We will finish painting her room Monday after my husband gets home from work and then I will post finished pictures. She has a few "Princess" decorations we will put up after the paint has dried. For now, here's our work in progress.

When this is done, my 7 year old wants a purple and green "Tinkerbell" room. My husband thinks he can get it done before Christmas. I would love to have nice, neat clean, newly painted, organized room for Christmas. Well, at least they'll be newly painted.

Free Letters from Santa

Free customizable letters from Santa Claus for free http://www.freelettersfromsantaclaus.com/free_printable_letters_from_santa.asp
http://blog.christmaslettertips.com/2009/04/29/free-printable-santa-letters/
http://www.santas-workshop.ws/ This is where I got mine last year

Of course there are plenty more. All you have to do is google free letter from Santa
For special effect print a personalized Santa letter, place it in a stamped envelope addressed to the child you want to receive it.
Write "Santa, North Pole, Alaska" as the return address in the upper left corner of the envelope.
Then follow these instructions given by USPS. There are also instructions on how you can be one of Santa's helpers this year.

In case you couldn't link, these are the instructions directly from the USPS website:
The Postal Service is helping create holiday memories for children. Parents, guardians and other Santa’s helpers can craft a response from Santa and mail it in a second envelope to the Fairbanks, AK, Post Office. Postal elves at the nearby North Pole Post Office will open the envelopes, postmark Santa's reply letters and mail them back to the children they are addressed to.After writing Santa's response letter, place it in a stamped envelope addressed to the intended recipient. “Santa, North Pole, Alaska,” should be included as the return address in the upper left corner of the envelope. This envelope should then be placed into a larger, properly stamped First-Class Mail or Priority Mail envelope with your correct return address and mailed to:North Pole Christmas Cancellation Postmaster 5400 Mail Trail Fairbanks AK 99709-9998 North Pole postmark requests must arrive in Fairbanks, AK, before Dec. 15, 2007. Please mail your request by Dec. 10.
Customers interested in obtaining the North Pole Postmark on greeting cards should mail them to the address above, following the same directions. Please make sure that the stamped envelopes are sealed and contain cards or other inserts (empty envelopes can be damaged by high-speed sorting equipment)

When to Wrap

I always want to wrap the Christmas presents as soon as I buy them. However, I know, for me, that's not a good idea as I'll be unwrapping them to remember what I put in there. I would label them but then if the children find them they'll also know what's in there. I would try a numbering system but I'm constantly losing my list.
My gift wrap is in my craft room but I don't do my wrapping in there. I usually end up wrapping all my gifts on Christmas Eve. My children are allowed to open anything in their stockings in exchange, they are not to wake up mom or dad. I am usually up around 7 or 8am on Christmas morning so they really don't have to wait that long. They haven't complained yet.

Wrapping Center

In order to keep my sanity while getting things organized and ready for Christmas, I set up a small wrapping center. Its just a place to keep wrapping supplies together. I have one of the under-the-bed boxes. I put wrapping paper, tape, scissors, ribbon and curling ribbon in that box. Because that box isn't very big, I have other box in the same area where I put gift bags, gift boxes and tissue paper. I wish I had a dedicated spot like my mother-in-law. My father-in-law built her some cabinets in her laundry room. Under one of the cabinets he put a small counter. In it she has all her wrapping gear like what I have in mine but much better organized. How do you stay organized for the holiday season?

Christmas is Coming

And very quickly I might add. I was just over at I'm An Organizing Junkie where she had this post about her gift closet. I have a box for each child for Christmas. Its just a plain old apple box. I also have an extra one for my son because his birthday is very close to Christmas. Although Imay not be very good at it, I do love an organized house. All my presents for my children are currently in the half bath just off my bedroom. I would love to use that room again. I do not have a closet I can use. My husband no longer needs his home office so I was cleaning it out to use as my sewing room. It has a great closet. I was planning on banning my children from the room so I could work on and store their Christmas and birthday presents in the room.

My two girls share a room and its becoming more than their father and I can handle as they always seem to be arguing about everything. So, we asked our son if he would be willing to move downstairs. He said he would so when I can get the room cleaned out, he will have the old office. I don't mind losing the office to him but I wish my sewing room has a closet. Its a small room with little storage and no closet. I have put up shelves and have bins of fabric but really no room to move around and sew so I don't do much sewing. Wish I could right now. I have 3 children that I would like to have in matching pajamas for Christmas. Point was, I need a gift closet that I know the children will stay out of. I suppose they will stay in the half bath for now.

Pumpkin Allergy

I think my son has developed a pumpkin allergy. He got itchy, watery eyes when I burned a pumpkin spice candle and said he was itchy all over. He carved a pumpkin at school and his hands got itchy. We made pumpkin cupcakes last night. I let him taste the batter and his throat got itchey. The odors made his eyes itchy just like the candle. I'm so sad. His favorite part of the holidays is the pumpkin pies. He also loves pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I feel really sad for him. He was crying last night because he is sad he won't be ableto have any pumpkin pie. That is the only reason he eats Thanksgiving dinner-I won't let him have any pie until he eats something good. Poor kid.

Halloween Party

I promised my children to that I would throw them a Halloween Party. Problem was, up until last night I wasn't sure what I was going to do. I made pumpkin cupcakes last night. Today I made spiced apple juice and chocolate chip cookies.
We made pizzas first and played games while they were cooking. The first game we played was Witch's Brew. We cut out things that might go in a witch's cauldron; 10 red ants, 1 green toad, 10 shark's teeth, etc. We had 5 children come so there were 5 of each item. 1 was given to the person the rest were taped to his back. The idea is to get one of each item from the other player's back while protecting your own. The first person to collect them all and put them in the cauldron was the winner.
We also played Halloween bingo I had bought when my daughter was in kindergarten and I was room mom.
The last game we played was lots of fun but I'm not sure what it's called. We put 20 random items in a bag. Each child closed their eyes and picked one item out of the bag. Then we started the story. "One night I went to our deep, dark cellar . . . " The children had to continue the story using whatever they had picked from the bag. They picked 3-4 times before they ended the story.
I had goodie bags but didn't get the chance to fill them before the party so I made that a party game too. The children really seemed to enjoy that. It was kinda like trick-or-treating.

Fall Activities

This last weekend was so fun. Friday night we went to the Enchanted Woods in Ogden, Utah. It is $6.00 per child but the adults get in free. We helped Little Bo Peep find her sheep. We heard stories from Pecos Bill, Puss in Boots, Beauty from Beauty and the Beast, the Frog Princess (the princess who dropped her golden ball down and well which was retreived by a frog who was actually a prince), Charlotte from Charlotte's Web, the One Little Pig (semi-original story) Jack from Jack and the Magic Beanstalk and others. At each stop, the childen got little treats, a mask, a flute, a sucker, etc. I think my son is too old for this now. I don't think he had much fun. I don't think you are allowed after you're 11 anyway and he will be 11 in December.

We also went to the George S. Eccles Dinosaur Park in Ogden. They have people stationed around the park for the children to trick or treat at. This year, they even had pie samples. It was okay but we will probably go earlier next year. We got there later than normal this year and they were running out of treats for the night. We paid for 2 adults and one child and it was $25.00. They did accept coupons we had for buy one adult ticket and get one child's free.

On Saturday, we went to Boo at the Zoo. Its fun to trick or treat there. I'm not sure the price to visit the zoo but they don't raise the price to go to Boo at the Zoo like they do at Eccles Dinosaur Park and This is the Place. The children were also excited to see the baby giraffe, tiger cubs and the new baby elephant, first one in this zoo for 90 years. The babies were so cute!

After the zoo, we went to This is the Place. (Its a Utah thing.) We rode a train, went trick or treating a bit, did a couple crafts and rode on a pony!

Getting Organized for Christmas

Getting organized for Christmas is quite a task. Every year I get things done that I want to but there are other things that I think would be really nice to do but never get around to doing. I have thought about paying someone to help me be organized but I really can't bring myself to spend the money. So I go here. I like the calendars, the gift lists, the children's want lists. They have lists for making gifts, what your making, who its going to and a date to have it done by. And its free.
If you are interested in Santa sending your child a free letter, I'll post that link later, so stay tuned.

Why I Like Canning

I love saving the fresh fruit and vegetables that we have grown.
I like knowing that there is food in our storage.
I like serving food I grew so there are no pesticides or herbicides.
I like knowing what is in the food I am serving to my family.
I like not serving preservatives and other chemicals I can't pronounce.

It gives me a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.
I love being creative and trying new recipes.
I enjoy the process.

I know I'm following the prophet by being as self sufficient as I can.

Temple Tour

The Oquirrh Shadows temple was dedicated last month. My family had the opportunity to go through before it was dedicated. It sits atop a small hill just inside the Daybreak subdivision. As this will be the temple our stake will be going to when they go on ward temple nights, we were given opportunities to serve during the tours. It was a wonderful experience.

Canning Jalapenos

We thought we were buying bell peppers and somehow grew jalapenos. I don't like to waste food but I also know there is no way my family would eat so many. I thought I might put them in some salsa later in the winter when its cold anyway so it would warm up my home. I took my recipe from here. While it seemed to be a good idea, I will NEVER do it again. While cutting and cooking, the gas and fumes irritated my throat so much I almost lost my lunch. Every member of my family was coughing before the we were able to get them all into bottles. I am willing to try almost any canning idea at least once but I won't repeat this one, though I am glad I tried it once. On the bright side, however, look how nice they look. I did get 19 half-pints of jalapenos. I must say how grateful I am to have used the rubber gloves. My husband said he could do them without rubber gloves. He used his bare hands and did half of the peppers or maybe even just over half. He was hurting the rest of the night! Poor guy!

Make Your Home Sing Monday

Welcome to the Making Your Home Sing Monday meme! Every day you are doing something to make your house into a home for yourself and your family (if you have one). My point with each Monday post is, what are you doing or going to do today to make your home sing? W

ell, I think Nan's post was directed to me. I am the night owl. I do tend to stay up to late. But the children are going back to school after a three week break (year round) so I need to start getting to bed at a decent hour and actually go to sleep. I know when I do, the day goes better. I get more done and have a clear head of what needs to be done. So thats what I will do to make my home sing, get to bed at a decent hour. What are you going to do?

Menu Planning Monday

Monday: Cereal
Lunch: Chili with Crackers
Dinner: Roast Beef, Baked Potatoes, Fresh Vegetable
Tuesday:
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Soup with crackers
Dinner: Grilled Chicken , Baked Potato, Steamed Vegetables
Wednesday:
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Dinner: Pork Chops, Fresh Steamed Vegetables
Thursday:
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Sandwich with Chips
Dinner:Spaghetti,Fresh Salad Steamed Vegetable
Friday:
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Egg Salad Sandwiches with Chips
Dinner: Date night for me and pizza night for the children
For more great menu ideas click here.

Very Basic Canning Basics

Some things about canning are to have fresh fruit of good quality. Your foods quality will not be improved in the canning process so you must have good produce to start with.
Make sure all your equipment is clean and ready to use before you get your fruit, vegetables, etc ready. That way you are insured the jars and other equipment is ready.
Only use canning jars made for canning. Don’t use old mayonnaise jars or other jars not designed for canning. The lids don’t always fit exactly right which means they may not seal properly which can potentially put your family at risk.
Use the correct canning method. If you put all the work and creativity into preparing your foods, you want to make sure they will be preserved for when you need them.
Know the correct amount of time to can for your area. Most canning books give you the time to process your foods at sea level with a conversion chart for other elevations. I live in Utah so I need to process things a little longer because we are so much higher than sea level.
Can what you will use. You won’t want to spend so much time prepping things and processing just to find out no one will eat it. I canned a few things that my family will not touch. That being said its fun to experiment.
Most of all, have fun. I usually make applesauce, apricots, tomatoes and peaches. I missed the peaches this year which make me sad. This year was still fun though. I canned pink pears, apple butter, and spaghetti sauce for the first time ever.

Applesauce

We have been making applesauce. I thought I would post how we do it. Its actually much simpler than my mother used to do it which is how most people make applesauce. I have a steam juicer. Rather than add water to my applesauce, I use the steam juicer. When the juice starts to flow, I know they are soft enough. After they have stoftened, I put them through the food strainer-that gets rid of the peelings and any seeds I may hacve missed. Then we put them in pints because my children don't eat applesauce-we substitute it for oil in our recipes. (In case you were wondering, no one has noticed.) Luckily my parents and we have apple trees so our apples were free. I love free!

Homemade Applebutter

I have always wanted to make homemade applebutter. My mother said it was hard so I have never even attempted it. I read a blog called Cents to get Debt Free. She posted a recipe for Crockpot Applebutter. I admit that I have actually burned things in the crockpot but I am willing to try again. I will only do half pints becuase I'm running out of pints and quarts and I'm not sure if my family will eat it. If not, I'll give away some and keep the rest for me. If you would like to try the crockpot applebutter, you can get the recipe by clicking here.

Refi Update

We are getting an appraisal done on our house. In anticipation of this, we have been getting rid of items that we don't need/want/love. I am an admitted pack rat. I wish I could say I don't hold on to anything but I can't. I always think I'll need it right after I have given something away. Sometimes I am right but most of the time and am not and I ususally find I didn't really need it after all. I am happy to be getting rid of as much as we are. This picture is half of what we ended up getting rid of. It took my husband two trips to the donation center with a full van to get rid of what we did. I do admit that there is more "stuff" around that I can get rid of, I just need to be ruthless and do it. It is so freeing (is that a word?) to have that "stuff" out of our lives.

Tis the Season

For canning that is. Since the apricots were ripe last month, I feel like I've done little else. So far, we've done apricots, applesauce, grape juice, tomatoes, salsa, green beans, pink pears and zucchini. I'm still harvesting tomatoes, apples and zucchini. I would love it if my neighbors would bring over some more pears but I am blessed with what I've done so far. I hurt my arm a few weeks back and that will hamper my applesauce efforts. I am so grateful my husband is willing to help and even do the canning himself if need be.

Fall Family Fun

I love going to the Children's Treehouse Museum in Ogden, Utah. They have what they call "Enchanted Woods". They pick a fairy tale and tell they story while you go around a designated path through the museum. We've learned things about different cultures. They give out a little candy, you make a craft and usually end up at the stage. They go every 15 minutes. Its $6.00 for children but adults are free. It gets expensive if you have a big family but it is so fun.

The other thing we really like doing is Boo at the Zoo. Trick or Treating at the zoo, hmm, long lines, no animals doesn't really sound fun. If you get there at the right time, the lines are short and you will have time to see some animals. Even if you don't go to Boo at the Zoo, you should go to Hogle Zoo to see the baby elephant, baby giraffe and baby tiger cubs. Obviously, in this picture, my youngest hadn't gotten into the dress-up part of Halloween. She was supposed to be Dora and wanted the costume off as soon as I took the picture.

George S. Eccles Dinosaur Park also in Ogden, Utah has a trick or treat thing they do after dark too. They have carved pumpkins done in all sorts of designs. There are park employees at different parts of the park and you walk around and trick or treat there. There is someone who sells glow in the dark sticks. I suggest stopping at the dollar store and picking some up there for a fraction of the price they charge at the park.

What are your fall traditions?

Menu Planning Monday

Monday: Pork Spare Ribs, Baked Potatoes, Fresh Vegetable
Tuesday: Meat Loaf, Baked Potato, Steamed Vegetables
Wednesday: Grilled Chicken Breast, Baked Potatoes, Fresh Steamed Vegetables
Thursday: Spaghetti,Fresh Salad,Fresh Steamed Vegetable
Friday: Date night
Saturday: crock pot chicken
Sunday: Fend for yourself/leftovers

for more great menu ideas, click here.

Redecorating

We are trying to refinance the house. Hopefully, we'll close next month. We are scheduled to have a appraisal done at the end of the month. We were hoping to do a bunch of painting since some rooms havent' been painted since we bought the house ten years ago. We repainted the bathroom. I only bought one roll of wallpaper border since its a small room and I thought one roll would do it. I underestimated. I bought another roll and then my van died so my husband hasn't had time to put it up.

We also painted one livingroom wall and the hall. My husband painted it blue and I'm not real keen on having a blue livingroom so we'll be painting the other walls a different color. I know, weird, but, hey, I'm the one that has to look at it.

I have 3 rooms upstairs and 2 bedrooms in the basement. My girls will be staying upstairs and my son will have a room in the basement and (hopefully) a new bathroom to himself.

My daughter wants her room to be done in tinkerbell, so purple (which is her favorite color) and green (which is apparently Tinkerbells favorite color). I was hoping we could get her room done before the appraisal but it isn't looking likely.

My other daughter wants her room done in princess style which is really funny because she is my Dora the Explorer fanatic. She plays with Dora toys and dolls. She wants to watch Dora when its her turn to choose a movie. She pretends to be Dora all the time. She will be moving into my sons old room.

My son has found something called Bakugan. It is kind of like marbles but these "marbles" open up to reveal a dragon or some other creature. He collects the "marbles" more than he plays the game though. He is also getting into Star Wars. I think his cousin got him interested. He says he wants his room to be all Bakugan but last year he wanted Yugioh, so we may have to go with something basic so he can change his decor with bedding and posters.

We want to put in a bathroom downstairs. He said he would move downstairs if there was a bathroom there. So I told him, since he would be the one getting the most from it, he could pick the theme.

Progress on 101 in 1001

2. Get rid of PMI-done
16. Say prayer every night.
17. Say blessing when we eat.
28. Complete a UFO.
39. Try a new craft.
47. Go to a dentist-done
48. Make an appointment to see my diabetes doctor and actually keep the appointment.
49. Go on a mile bikeride with the children in the trailer.-done
54. Transition L into her own bed. -done
55. See a movie in a theater. -done
59. Go to the zoo as a family. -done
60. Go to Lagoon as a family. -done 61.
64. Go to the George S. Eccles Dinosaur Park in Ogden, Utah. -done
65. Go to Red Butte Gardens in Salt Lake City, Utah. -done
66. Go on a picnic in a park. -done
69. Get S in to a dentist for a checkup-done
70. Get E in to a dentist for a checkup-done
71. Get L in for a dental checkup-done Home
81. Fix living room wall. -done
82. Paint livingroom. 1/4 done painted one wall
85. Lay wood floor in media room. -done
86. Fix curio cabinet. -done
89. Fix baseboards in bathroom. done
99. Go to a drive in and watch a movie. -done
100. Sell, donate or throw away 101 items. done but doing it again.
Well I was thinking 25 didn't really sound too good but its almost one quarter of the way done. Unfortunately some things I wanted to do just won't work out as planned. So maybe I AM 1/4 of the way done after all. Seeing as I have less than two years left though, I better hustle.

Dinosaur Land

The museum in Vernal is open. I thought I'd have to wait much longer.

There used to be one wall of a museum that was a hillside where actual digs were going on. The hill was full of dinosaur fossils. There is another museum there where they have life-size dinosaurs like those at the George S. Eccles Dinosaur Park in Ogden, Utah. You can go to http://www.dinoland.com/ more information and pictures. I understand quite a bit has changed since I have been but I still want to take the children. I think they'd really enjoy the dinosaur gardens were there are life-sized statues of several dinosaurs.

Dinosaurs seem to be a big thing here. There is the park in Ogden, the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, and Dinosaur National Monument in Northeastern Utah. Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum has life-size dinosaurs. Their dinosaur gardens was a favorite of mine when I was little. I still have the souvenirs I bought there when I was younger. I can hardly wait to take my children there.

My Poor Car

Okay, hood is back on the van. It sounds good. I"m liking this. We ran to the store in my husbands van. When we came back, there is a puddle coming from under my newly repaired vehicle. Upon closer inspection, we discovered its transmission fluid. Didn't leak until we drove it out of the garage. Now what?! Hubby is so sick of trying to fix this thing. He says he hopes its just a hose that has come loose. We'll see tomorrow I suppose.

I (Almost) Have a Car Again!

While going to the dentist just before school started, July 21st to be exact, my car died. At the end of our street, it just died. School started on July 27th, so I have had a fun time walking my children to school since then. (Why haven't I lost any weight?) My husband decided it was the transmission. He bought one and was putting it in when he broke the block-the bottom part of the engine. Okay, my van is a 1994 Dodge Grand Caravan that my dad gave me after someone had rear-ended him and the insurance gave him enough to get a newer van so it isn't worth the money for a new car. My husband went the the junk yard and bought an engine. He brought it home and it didn't work. So, he went and got another one-which would not start. It would try but not actually turn over. So, after trying to get it to work for a week and half, he took it back to the junkyard. When he brought the next one home, it was half price so they gave him some money back! He put it in, started it and didn't like the way it sounded so he proceeded to replace the heads. Last week he put in the first head. He didn't have time to finish it because he works 2 jobs and we ended up going to a birthday party for my great neice, going to a baptism for another neice and going to another town 1/2 hour away to get something that ended up not being there. Yesterday, he put in the second head and put the rest of the engine back together. He started it and was so happy that it is a very quiet ride now. Today, after I pick him up from work, we will put the hood back on. Tomorrow we will take it to get the safety and emmissons test done and next week, I will borrow his car again so I can go for an hour drive to the nearest DMV so I can get new stickers on it so I will be legal again.

random thoughts

I have been working at a job that I get to work at home. Now, that sounds like a good thing. There are pros and cons. Unfortunately, I'll be losing my job soon. But the silver lining is I'll be able to post more and get to read more of my friends blogs again. Yeah. Can't wait. So, I'll be seeing more of all of you soon!

Menu Planning Monday

Breakfast: French Toast with Sausage
Lunch: Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with Chips
Dinner: Pork Chops, Baked Potatoes, Fresh Vegetable
Tuesday:
Breakfast: Pancakes
Lunch: Pizza
Dinner: BBQ Chicken , Baked Potato, Steamed Vegetables
Wednesday:
Breakfast:Cereal with Skim Milk
Lunch: Egg Salad Sandwiches with Chips
Dinner: Grilled Chicken, Baked Potatoes, Fresh Steamed Vegetables
Thursday:
Breakfast: Cereal with Skim Milk
Lunch: Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with Chips
Dinner:Spaghetti,Fresh Salad,Fresh Steamed Vegetable
Friday:
Breakfast:Cereal with Skim Milk
Lunch: Egg Salad Sandwiches with Chips
Dinner: Out dinner
Saturday:
Breakfast: cereal with milk
Lunch: sandwiches
Dinner: Spagetti with garlic bread and salad
Sunday:
Breakfast: cereal with milk
Lunch: fend for yourselves
Dinner: Beef roast with roasted veggies, rolls and salad

to see more great menu ideas see Organizing Junkie

What A Summer!

I haven't been posting for a while because after I get done working, I just want to go to bed and get some sleep. That doesn't mean we haven't done anything fun this summer. We have been doing a couple of things a month since May. The best part is, my husband has been able to join us. He is usually busy even if I have planned to do something so we go when he is at work but this year, he said he wanted to do "stuff" with the family.

We have been to Lagoon, the local amusement park,

Red Butte Gardens,

took the new boat out for a spin,

visited the ranch at Antelope Island, the biggest island in the Great Salt Lake,

and went to the George S. Eccles Dinosaur Park in Ogden.

We also took swimming lessons, went on a few picnics at the park, saw an actual movie in an actual theater (Disney's "Up"), went to the natural history museum (cool traveling frog exhibit), and went to a couple of family reunions.

I am sure there are one or two things I am forgetting or overlooking or maybe I just thought we did more things this summer than we actually did. I would still like to go camping which I was looking forward to but we haven't been able to do. I would like to go to Dinosaur Land and see the museum where one wall is a real dinosaur dig but it has been closed and only recently got funding to rebuild. I guess we will wait a couple years until it reopens.

I am hoping to do one or two more things before they go back to school. School starts on July 27th. Although I am not excited about school starting so early or the summer essentially ending, I welcome the structure that the school year brings. I will miss my children when they go back to school but I have one more at home for at least a couple more years.My youngest turned 3 in February.

Grandmother Webb

My husband's Grandma Webb died yesterday. She was very sick and ready to go. She thought she was seeing and speaking to her husband who has been dead for 37 years. Being LDS, I believe that our spirit lives on after we have passed away. I believe she was seeing and speaking to her family that has passed on. She is out of pain now, for which we are thankful. I did not get to know her as well as I would have liked. She was very creative and made many things for her family. She knitted, crocheted, did plastic canvas and cross-stitching. Her husband died when my husband was a child so she has been widowed for several years. She raised 9 children4 boys and 5 girls. We will miss her.

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day we went to my mom-in-laws for dinner. My son was wrestling with his cousin and hurt his left arm. (thank goodness he is right handed) After dinner we went to visit my mom also. He was running and tripped. On Tuesday, he said it was still hurting so we took him to the doctor. They did an x-ray. They had to send it out to get a final reading on it but they did give him a splint for his arm. They called today and said they had the final reading. He does have a small fractor and they'd like to have my son get a cast on his arm. He is afraid of getting a cast on it for some reason. I'l tell him when he gets home from school. I am not looking forward to it.

Kittens

I promised pictures of my little balls of fury so here they are. I haven't downloaded mine but my son has so I'll show you the ones he's taken. There are more to come as my son spoils these little guys! Yes, they are both boys. No, they are not currently fixed. Yes, they will be.

Preschool - Manners

Today we talked about manners and polite "key words" and when we would use those words. Polite "key words" are please, thank you, you’re welcome, I’m sorry, excuse me and let’s share.
We practiced our coloring skills by coloring our "key words".
We had yogurt and pretzels for our snack. Yum!
We played some file folder games. They teach me visual discrimination as I match the shapes and letters. They are lots of fun.
We played outside with our preschool friends to get some exercise. My favorite outside activity is playing in the sandbox.

Nickelcade!

We went to Nickelcade! My sister and two kids plus my niece and her two kids went with me, my husband and my kids to play video games. I really wasn't looking forward to it but the weather was awful and since my sister was going with my neice and their children, and I didn't want my children to miss out on any fun since they do so much without us anyway, we went. I didn't take my camera so for pics you can visit my sisters blog at http://diabeticdilemma.blogspot.com/2009/04/another-spring-break-activity.html. In case you don't know, Nickelcade is an arcade-type place where you pay an entrance fee and then all games, rides, etc are just a nickel. We used coupons which essentially got most of us in at half-price. We had an odd number of people in our family and it was buy one get one free so we bought three and two got in free so not quite half price.

Kitties

One of my cats died this winter. It was very sad and I went to pieces even though I knew it was going to happen. I still have my Cuddles and really wasn't sure if I wanted another cat. Of course, my children did. My littest decided she wanted a "black kitten". I thought that was amazingly specific, even my older children had just said cat. So, I started looking for a black kitten. I found some, 10 weeks old, already litter box trained. It was a long ride but we went to get one more kitten. We came home with two. What?! Well, they will play together and sleep together so they won't keep us up all night crying. My older cat is NOT happy. She doesn't like any other cats at all. We have told her she needs to be nice but I don't think she's buying it. She has growled and hissed at them but hasn't hurt them. The kittens seem sufficiently scared enough to leave her alone even though they are extremely curious. I will post pictures when they are more comfortable here. I feel really bad about the little boy from the family that gave us the kittens. He really didn't want to let them go. He stood crying at the door as he watched his beloved kittens being taken away by strangers. Poor child. To you I want to say that I love cats. I love these little kittens and I promise to take good care of them. They are already loved by me and my family especially my little children. And I will keep my promise to send you updates on our kittens.

Easter at the Inlaws

Easter pics. For some reason, the stump was a big hit! The big white thing in front of the couch is a table. We had Easter dinner at my in-laws house. My husband said the the stump was just the right size for my daughters.

Aww!

How sweet is this? My daughter fell asleep on the couch and the onery cat actually cuddled up to her.

Update

For any who actually care, here is my basement room finished (and already lived in-daughter had a sleep over in there that night with her cousin). Hubby did a great job! Wow, with all that stuff on it, you can't even see the floor. Guess you'll just have to take my word for it.

How Sweet!

My friend brought over a treat for me and/or my children as I am diabetic. She brought over a handmade barn and barnyard full of animals. Every farm animal had some kind of candy attached. The pig had a chocolate covered cherry cuz the pig and the package is pink. The horse had jr. mints, the cow had milk duds, the flower had rolos, the chicken had mini M&M's, the dog had dots, etc. I'm not sure how each related to each animal but she assures me each candy was attached to each animal for a reason. She does great stuff like this all the time. I'm not sure who enjoys it more, her or my children!