monster!

Shannon has discovered that she has the strength to open the fridge door. We have found her playing with the eggs, eating the cookie dough, trying to get some milk. This evening after the kids are in bed, i'm going to have to go buy a lock for it.

water balloons

The kids have been playing on the trampoline with water balloons this evening. we have kept shannon's balloon pretty small. i glanced over as she decided to put it in her diaper! funny child! the she screamed and laughed about it!

camping

just got back from our first ever camping trip without more seasoned campers. had a blast! because we were only going to be there one night, we didn't take the air mattress, but we were so tired, it didn't matter. we slept like logs!

another first, was cooking over an open fire. that was actually fun. i thought i would need to wait until the fire died down, and i had coals. but it turns out, that it's very similar to cooking on a gas stove. you need the actual flame to do much. as i was cooking the bacon, our friends, who we were with, informed me that you could put the bacon in tin foil, and cook it right over the fire, or in the coals. since i was halfway done with it, we didn't do it, but we did try the sausage that way. it worked really well.
i did take stuff for pancakes, but they didn't work real well. i had put everything in a ziploc bag, and was going to mash everything together, like you do for amish friendship bread. great idea, my method was slightly flawed though. i tried to put 3 cups of mix, the eggs, oil, and water in a quart bag. a quart only holds 4 cups. there was no room to moosh it and get the lumps out.
however, we did have fabulous eggs, and bacon and sausage!

i think i could do it again sometime!

crickets

i was sitting in my bedroom about an hour ago, feeding ashley, when taylor came in. he had caught a cricket, and had to show me! it was cute.

then, he informed me later that he had let the neighbor boys take it. that had me a little concerned, cause i know those boys are not very nice to animals. (case in point, they dug up another neighbors dead kitty, just to look at it. and on another occasion, they threw same kitty against the deck.) i hope he gave it to them, and then left. cause i know what happened after they got it. no more cricket.

savings

we dropped our bills this month by $40!

what? only $40? . . . . . .well, yeah. that's all we've been able to figure out so far.

how? . . . . . .we got rid of our storage unit. a lot of what was in it was junk anyway, but now that it's all here, i can start going thru it a little at a time, and get rid of some it. (i hope)

milestone surprise

shannon, our 19-month-old, has lost her first tooth.
here's the story behind this momentous event:

we had a block party on monday. it was fun. there was lots of good food, and good people to talk to.
elizabeth, while running around, tripped and fell, and scraped herself up. shaun took her home, and then came back to get the rest of us.
he went to catch shannon, who likes to run away from you. he ran up behind her, caught her and promptly tripped. shannon went flying right into the concrete driveway. she ended up breaking one of her teeth. shaun hauled her home, and i rounded up taylor and the baby, and we headed home as well.
i tried calling the dentist, but couldn't get an answer on the emergency phone. so, we got her cleaned up as best we could, gave her some tylenol, and put everyone to bed.
i got a hold of the dentist in the morning, and took her in. we wanted to try and save it, but that required a root canal, and their next surgery date wasn't for another 5 weeks. too long to wait. he could have done it in the office, but she would have been awake, and it would have taken close to 40 minutes. and we would have had to physically hold her down, and the dentist would have ended up being a bad guy. not something i wanted to do to my little girl. so, we decided to pull it. once that was done, he said that if 1/2 a millimeter less had broken off, we wouldn't have had to pull it, it would have been fine.

with her missing tooth, shannon looks like a little imp!

stripper/streaker

shannon, who is 19 months, has found a new hobby. she loves to take her diaper off, especially when she's just peed in it, and run around with nothing on. it's become quite the challenge to keep it on her. the only thing that stops her from taking it off is if she has a onesie on. and the other day, she actually got elizabeth to take the onesie off for her so she could get the diaper off. i know she's ready to potty train, but she can't tell me when she needs to go. i need to teach her the signs for peepee and poop.

obedience

Taylor, the other day, asked me if he could go to the park with a friend. I told him he had to have an adult with them. He went anyway. When i found out, i sent shaun after him. They missed each other. Taylor came home first. I informed him he was in trouble, and that he was grounded for two days because he had done something even after he was told he couldn't.
as the days went on, i discovered that it would have been easier if i hadn't grounded him. At the same time, he wouldn't have learned anything. I'm still not sure he learned anything.


especially since he did it again a few days later. what am i going to do with that boy?

macaroni

The other day, elizabeth decided she wanted macaroni & cheese for lunch, after i was done making lunch. She put it on the stove and made it herself. A few months ago i had taught taylor how to use the stove to make ramen. I'm sure he's been helping her out.
She forgot to drain the macaroni after it was cooked. It was very soupy.

goodbye perry's

well, the perry's were here and now, they are gone. seeing my family is always a little bittersweet. there comes a time when we have to say goodbye. it's always nice to see them, but i dont' like having to say goodbye to them.
while they were here we went to the parade on saturday, blessed the baby, had a lot of laughs and enjoyed each others company. we didn't do a whole lot cause everyone was always tired (they did drive all night to get here), and no one had any money. but in my family, we always manage to have fun whatever we do.
i was able to send them away with a little bit of food storage. i know it wasn't much, but it is the only way i can help anyone right now. food, i have plenty of, anything else we have to scrape for.

blessing reminder

just a reminder, we are blessing ashley on sunday for anyone interested in coming. it's at the grey church on main street in sugar city at 11am. after the 3 block, there will be food in my backyard. if you would like to bring something, you can bring a dessert