celebrate youth

madison school district does a huge back to school party every year. they do it in one of the parks. they have free sack lunches, free carnival games, and raffles. the best part is that we live less than a block away from the park they do it at!

 elizabeth doing the climbing wall. she didn't get very far, but she had fun!

taylors turn on the climbing wall. he got 3/4 of the way up! in flip-flops!

 free train rides!

 waiting for our turn on the train.

bouncy house fun!

 face painting! ice cream

 minion!

balloons!

this one's a double yolker

in truth, there are 2 eggs in the bowl. do the math.

holey hose!

something ate my hose this summer. i was not happy!

i put duct tape around it, and that works for about 2 weeks. then i have to reapply it.

canning

 LOVE these beautiful peaches!!!

cousins

i discovered one day, that i have cousins living in my ward. he's in the bishopric and owns the inexpensive movie theaters in town.

anyway, we were at the space derby, and trying to entertain kids during the lulls.

aren't these just the cutest little girls ever!!

cool dude!

such a cutie! and turning into such a delightful little boy!

garden tic-tac-toe

we had a few birthday parties the kids were invited to this summer. as funds are always tight, i had to think of something inexpensive and fun that the kids would enjoy getting. in perusing pinterest, i found a perfect project. and the best part is that it will work for both boys and girls!

 these are the ones i did. ladybugs, and bees. you find 4 sticks to use as your board, and have fun!

taylor wanted to do the ones for his friend. his bees aren't done yet, but they still look good for a 9-yr old!

painting

the landlord has given us free rein to make any changes/alterations to the house that we want to. he told us that as long as we don't burn the house down, he doesn't care what we do.

in light of that, we have painted the front room. 

we have an accent wall, which i actually like. this is a picture of the corner. showing both the accent color, and the main color.

shaun is painting above the stairs. we didn't have an extender, or a ladder, so he duct taped a 1x2 to the brush, and painted that way.
while we were painting, shaun mentioned that his professors would be proud. he's using a bigger brush (2 inch), and painting from farther away. (in school, shaun was notorious for painting with a 5 bristle brush, and painting super close to his canvas.)

space derby

this summer, we lost nearly our entire scouting unit. leaders and boys. since it was an anticipated loss, they had planned accordingly.

they combined pack meeting with another ward. and so, taylor had his first ever space derby. and i think it was the leaders first space derby as well. there was a lot of trial and error and shuffling to make things work.

 trying to get the rubber bands fully inserted. and you can see his paint job here. he did it all by himself!

 the start of a heat. taylors is in the middle.

 the race!

and...he won second!!

brrrrrrr

today was picture day at school. i made the older kids take baths last night. taylor went first, and then elizabeth. elizabeth complained that the water was cold (it happens sometimes. taylor is his father's son, and likes his baths/showers extra warm).

this morning, when i climbed in to take a shower, i discovered that my water was also cold. yesterday, michael apparently turned the thermostat on the water heater down when he was "helping" me do the laundry. 

baking monster

as yesterday was substantially cooler than it has been, i took the opportunity to do some overdue preparation baking.

i made 4 pizza crusts.

i made 32 pretzels.

i made a batch of caramel corn.

i made a double batch of granola bars.

it was quite the productive day!

mouse, mouse

ashley and i were reading a book last night. there were pictures of animals and the sounds they make. she pointed to the mice and said, "mouse, mouse!"

i'm in a funk. i have tons a pictures to go through and make posts with. i have lots of everyday things that i keep meaning to post about...........

and i can't ever seem to get around to doing any of them

good quotes

i've found these quotes over the last few months, and wanted to share them, but also get them down somewhere permanent, so i don't lose them. (i don't know the authors.)

"When you look for the best in others, you discover the best in yourself."

"Instead of pointing a finger at someone, try holding out a helping hand."

"How beautiful it is to do nothing, and then rest afterwards."

grilling.....oh wait.

i was going to grill up the chicken that i got today, and then dice it all and freeze it. halfway through the first batch, i ran out of propane.

DOH!

crazy day

i am thoroughly exhausted!! it's been one of those days.

this morning started very late. like, 10:30a late. but, we were able to get a lot done.

we started cleaning. ashley's room got a deep clean and vacuum. taylor's room got cleaned and vacuumed. i got the laundry finished. the front room got a deep clean and vacuum. the kitchen floor got mopped, twice.

around 7, i got a call from a neighbor. their deep freeze had stopped working, and they needed to get rid of everything in it. i got 4 pounds of hamburger, 1 pound of bacon, 4 pounds of chicken, 1 pound of sausage, and a large pork roast. with the exception of the roast, i got everything cooked up, and sectioned out. it's now all back in the freezer, waiting for meals to be used in. the roast is for dinner tomorrow night.

i was even able to get some bread made. if i hadn't had to cook up all that meat, i would have been able to bake some cookies or something, since we dont' have any snacks in the house at all right now.

miserable

yesterday was extremely miserable for this mama. i went to bed sunday night with a headache (after watching 4 hours of eureka. most likely the cause). i woke up monday morning with a migraine. a particularly bad one. i didn't dare take anything, or move too much because of the nausea. i spent most of the day in bed.

shaun attempted to work from home, and a friend took the older kids for most of the day. by noon, i was no longer nauseous and able to take something. by 3:30, i was able to get up and physically function. it wasn't until 9 or 10 last night that i was all mentally together. and then, because i'd slept all day, my body couldn't fall asleep.so, i was up until 2 or so.

new calling

i have a new calling at church.

our good friends moved out of the ward. she was one of the librarians. i am her replacement.

being a librarian gives me an excuse to not have to worry about my anxiety. on my bad days, i won't have to worry. i have somewhere to be that shouldn't cause problems. i'm not teaching, so being up in front of people won't be a problem. people are coming to me with things they need. mainly chalk or copies.

disappearing act

the little girls vanished one night. shannon is only 4, and ashley is only 3. but, they slipped out the front door unnoticed by anyone.

i had taken my crocheting out to the back yard, because the front room faces the east, and gets all that hot afternoon sun. the rooms turns into a sauna some days. the kids were watching a movie, or should have been. shaun came up from working, and couldn't find the little girls. we searched the entire house, and then decided it was time to start canvasing the neighborhood. i looked in the nearby places, and shaun headed straight for the park.

they had walked down to the park, and crossed the road on their own. ashley didn't even have shoes on!


today, shaun called me on his way home from work. he had found shannon down at the park, again. she had tried to ride a bike (with flat tires) down there to play. he packed her and the bike in the car and brought her home.


how i wish i could find a way to keep her home. she's so desperate to be able to go play with the older kids, that she doesn't stop and think. well, and we've become a little more protective since elizabeth.

little things

there have been a lot of little things happen recently, and i'm going to try and capture them all.

yesterday morning, ashley pulled the marble rolling pin off the kitchen counter and dropped it onto shannon's toe.
the toe is fine, and so is shannon, but there was lots of drama for a while.

last night, the kids were playing a game out back. in the game, there was a "bad guy." ashley started screaming, and was very hard to console. we told the kids they were no longer allowed to play "bad guy" games.
when we got home from lunch at the park today, ashley started crying, again. she was convinced that there was a "bad guy" under the kitchen table. i held her for about an hour and a half, in which time, we both fell asleep.

yesterday, taylor went to play with a friend. at 6:30, when he hadn't made it home, i called. he'd left there 2 hours earlier. shaun went out looking, and i called another friends' house. he was there, and they had fed him. taylor got grounded. he's not supposed to go other places without informing us first.

the toilet seat in the upstairs bathroom just broke. i sat down to go to the bathroom, and the seat busted and shifted something fierce. it's hard to pee when your butt isn't staying still!

taylor's hair was starting to curl around his neck and ears. i finally sat him down yesterday, and buzzed him. now he has a funny tan line from his hair!

when my family was here the beginning of july for elizabeth's baptism, i had my mom cut micheal's hair. ok, she tried to cut it. he wouldn't sit still long enough for her to get it all done. she was able to get most of the top cut, but not the back. for about a week and a half, he went around with a mullet hair cut. i sat him down, and finished the job. he now looks like a little boy. but, all the cute curl is gone!!