pumpkins 2013

 here is smurfette. it's what elizabeth wanted on hers. she went to bed before i got pictures taken.

 ashley chose the kitty. and then insisted on a picture with her pumpkin.

shannon wanted a horse. and of course she had to have a picture with it as well.

 and since they do nearly everything together, one of the both of them.

  taylors, the star wars "sign." the first attempt didn't work too well, so shaun turned it into a creepy face.

 and the pictures with.

and shaun putting a superman symbol on his!

i normally end up doing pumpkins by myself with the kids. this year, shaun wanted to save me some stress and frustration by helping out. after the first 2 cutouts didn't work well, we decided to just cut the peel off. some of the designs had very tiny places to "cutout." it wasn't worth it!

halloween 2013

 this was the extent of my costume this year. sparkly eyeshadow. i don't do a lot for me. the kids are more important.

 michael. the smurf decided to eat the paper bag.

 taylor. i thought we did pretty good for a jack frost.

 elizabeth. pocahontas. these were so FUN to make!!!

 ashley. my poor attempt (and by poor i mean $.) at a ballerina.

shannon. once she saw elizabeth's costume, she HAD to have the same one!

frustrations

i got everyone treated yesterday, except for me. in the middle of ashley's, the comb starts to break. i was able to get her finished, but because the comb broke, wasn't able to get me done. so, i sent shaun to the one place in town that i knew had them. they were all out! (apparently, this is a wide-spread issue.) on his way home, he stopped at our little corner pharmacy. they could order us one, and have it to us first thing in the morning. since there wasn't another option, we went ahead and got one.

this morning, shaun took the girls to school. the van was clean, and i was not... . they checked the girls, and still found nits. (what frustrates me, is they check twice a week, monday and wednesday. monday when they checked, they didn't find anything. but i know that shannon had it. so, they don't find them when they are there, but find them when they are not?!)

so, shannon and ashley had another vacation day from school. and both were greatly upset that they couldn't go.

oocoos no more

 so, here's my little man, hairless. when i tried to use the guard on the clippers, they didn't work. i then tried just scissors, but didn't like the look. i then went to bare clippers, and he now looks like a cancer patient. i miss is blond hair!

and this is what my laundry room looks like, after i've already done 4 loads! unfortunately, most of what needed to be de-loused, also needed to be washed. i've just been put it off. this is going to take all week to get cleaned up!

oocoos, again

as if life wasn't crazy enough!!

last night, elizabeth complains that her head itches. so, i sit her down and start looking her over.
sure enough, she has lice.
and so begins the process of de-lousing the house.

i treated elizabeth last night. shaun stripped her bed down, and vacuumed it. we started washing things and throwing other things in the dryer.
today, we treat the rest of the family, and hopefully get the rest of the house taken care of.

the kids are all staying home for a vacation day (some vacation, huh?). we'll all be working our tails off though.

success!

i have had troubles getting elizabeth to read. anything. which has been making school difficult.
she doesn't even like to read things to me.

yesterday, i found a "solution," at least temporarily. i had seen an image somewhere, they had to convince themselves to study (must have been a dry subject). they placed skittles at the end of each paragraph in their textbook. when they reached the skittle, they could eat it. i was in the process of making individual bags of snacks, while i was trying to get elizabeth to do her literature. so, i placed a mini marshmallow at the end of paragraphs. when she reached the marshmallow, she could eat it. she read her story without any problems!

now, granted, this is not a permanent solution. but, for now, it will work.

learning curve

homeschooling has created an interesting  situation in our house. first of all, it's a HUGE learning curve. second, it means that any free time i'd gotten from having everyone but the baby in school in the morning is now gone. the other day, i had one of those moments where i wasn't sure the trade-offs were worth it.

today is better.

the other problem i've run into, is that the week i started homeschooling, my schedule exploded. i had multiple things going on each day that took time away from school. i think next week slows down. at least, i hope it does!

when i signed the kids up, they warned me that it would time to get a good schedule going. they told me to expect a minimum of 6 weeks to get things straight and fluid. i hope it doesn't take quite that long, but with the first 2 weeks so crazy insane with appointments, it might.

as if all that wasn't enough, i have a severely depressed spouse who refuses to entertain medical solutions. and all my alternative ones aren't working.

see, i'm trying.

today, we had an eye appointment for taylor. he's jumped 2 strengths in the last year.

i was able to get halloween costumes finished for the girls. with lost of help, of course!

i got granola bars made, and brownies made, and dinner done.

and throughout the day, we did school. taylor struggles to do his math. after that, he breezes through everything else. elizabeth doesn't like to read. which causes a problem, cause just about everything requires reading.

in a funk

i have tried for weeks to get posts up. and i keep running into blocks. either emotional, or physical. i get on the computer to write, and get lost in cyberland (not a good thing!). i get on to write, even have the page up to type, and for some reason, can't get myself to put anything down. or other times, like today, i get started and then i have to go change a bum and get kids dressed.

i suppose it's mostly cause i'm in a funk right now. the last few days have been strange. i know what needs to be done, and i want to get them done, i just can't seem to do them. the basics get done, cause they are habit. i've done laundry for so many years, that laundry day just happens, even if it is a little late some days. some days, dinner is a little more difficult to do.

i'm not really tired, but all i want to do is sleep. it just occurred to me that things could be much worse if i weren't on my medication.
some additional thoughts are required on this.

donating

i am doing something i never thought i would do...

i am donating all my baby clothes.


i have recently joined a group that's all about helping out and donating things to those in need.

i had been keeping all my baby clothes until i was sure that we were done having kids. especially since baby clothes are so expensive.

but since being on this group, i've discovered that there are A LOT more people in need than i am. and since they aren't currently being used by us, they should be used by someone else.

besides that, if and when the time comes that we need some, the means will be there to get them.

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!!

words

michael is getting so big! he's constantly saying new words.

milk.
i want the doggie (talking about binks).
taylor
stop
water
mom
dad
no

boose gumps

Elizabeth, age 8, "i've got boose gumps!"

car woes and a solution...and more woes

monday, the day the car wouldn't start, shaun didn't make it to work. it took most of the day to diagnose and fix it. they discovered the the starter was bad. they replaced the starter, and took it for a drive to see how bad the cv joints were. while they were on that drive, the drivers side front tire exploded. the tread had separated, and flown off, taking the blinker with it as well. $30 later, we had a "new" tire to replace it.

the friday before, a good friend called us. he'd found a van for sale. $500! shaun was concerned as he didn't get paid until the following week. but, i'd been putting some money aside, and had $500! (well, sort of. i had $350, and some money we'd set aside for rent. we knew the landlord would be more than understanding, so we used it.)
wednesday, we went and purchased it from the owner, and got it licensed and ready to go for the family. i went to drive it home, and it wouldn't start. shaun was upset, and some our friends said we should inform the previous owners. but, they had been very straightforward in what they knew the car was lacking in, AND what was good with it (nearly new tires, needs wiper blades, rebuilt engine...etc). so, we were fairly certain they didn't know about whatever the problem was.
turns out, we were right. it's the fuel pump. they don't give any warning when they go, they just go, and then the car will not start.
as we couldn't get the van to start, we had to leave it where it was. in the parking lot of the DMV. we informed the people inside, and let them know we would come get it when we could. the following evening, some friends helped us tow it to the house, and there it sits, waiting for someone to have the time to help us replace the fuel pump.

nearly 2 weeks later, we are still waiting!

car woes

it would seem that our car troubles will keep continuing.

the car, that we had troubles with earlier this year, is once again giving us grief. this time, it's the starter (we think).

aside from the fact that we don't all fit legally, it's not a bad car. just too small.

strange connections

today was one of those days that could have only been designed by the Lord.

we went to the park to eat lunch, like normal. afterwards, we went to play at the playground for a bit. we weren't going to stay long. taylor had a birthday party he was going to, and i'd told the other kids that we'd visit the water park while taylor was at the party.
while the kids were playing at the park, i was crocheting this. a girl who was there with her russian bloodhounds, asked me about it. we got to talking. i learned that she grew up in this ward. she is an it works! distributor. we both suffer from clinical depression and anxiety. after about an hour of talking, we moved things to my house, the kids were cranky. we let the dogs go out back, and continued our conversation. i was so comfortable with her that i found myself telling her things i don't normally tell people when i first meet them.

in our talk, we discovered the strangest connection i've ever found with someone. i was telling her about how we came to find the house we are renting, and how the last 4 years have been difficult. i then gave her basics about elizabeth's abuse. she then told me about a guy that made lewd comments to her and a child she was walking home one sunday after church. she reported it, they had her meet with a sketch artist, and she was told to call (someone, we think a detective) if she saw him again. she never did. but she told me that even though it's been 13 years, she's never forgotten his face. since we were on the subject, she asked if i had a picture of elizabeth's abuser. i did, in fact, have a picture; it was just a matter of finding it (leading up to, and during the trial, it was highly publicized. to the point that his attorney asked for a change of venue.) i did some quick digging, and was able to find the article the prosecutor had made a copy of. she told me that if you put white hair on him, it was the same guy.
she also told me that she had been praying that they would catch him, and he would go to jail. when i let her know that he was in jail, and based on his sentence, he most likely wouldn't make it out alive, she was immensely relieved.

i tried calling the detective who had been in charge of our case, but he was unavailable. i left him a message though. i don't know what this will change, but knowing (even though we already did, just not formally) that we aren't alone, was a huge relief for me.

baptism

elizabeth's baptism was this last saturday, and it was interesting to say the least.

she was supposed to have her interview with the bishop the tuesday prior, but as my sister stephanie was here, i completely forgot (whoops!) so, we rescheduled for friday evening. when i get her there, she was too embarrassed(?) to talk to the bishop (i'm not sure what the problem was. it could have been her anxiety coming out, or something else.) he had to put his bag on the desk and "hide" behind it. so, the bishop handed me the list of questions she needed to answer, and i asked them to her. when we started, she wouldn't talk at all, then she would sign, and by the end she was talking and joking around. the bishop said it was the easiest interview he'd ever done (and probably the strangest!).

the primary presidencies like to do a little spotlight on the kids that are getting baptised that day. i had already talked with the president and let her know that chances of elizabeth joining her on the stand were not good. we could attempt it, but i didn't think she'd do it. the president didn't even ask her to go up. (have i mentioned how grateful i am for understanding leaders and friends?)

elizabeth was the only one from our ward getting baptised this month, and i thought that was probably a good thing. i was really concerned that with all the new unknown people that we would have problems. i was right. i had to sit up front with her the entire time prior to the baptisms. as she was the only on from our ward, i was hoping things would go a little smoother. then, the high councilman in charge combined our ward with the other one. it didn't go well. i had to push her across the front of the room, and into the font entrance. than she collapsed on the floor. my mom and i talked, and decided to see if we could get the other ward to do theirs first, and then we would try again.

we were able to get her into the font room, and then she balked again. my mom walked her down 2 steps before she willingly took matt's hand and walked the rest of the way down. after that, it was pretty normal.

as i said, interesting.

insanity

the last weekend in june, we had a family reunion that we wanted to make it to. unfortunately, our working car, doesn't legally fit us all, and we didn't trust it to make the 2+ hour trip to burley. we invited caleb and laura to go with us cause they have a suburban that we all fit into (that's 12 of us. it's a tight fit, but it works). they couldn't find people to cover for them at work, so we didn't plan on making it. my sister stephanie decided she wanted to take taylor and elizabeth with her, so she came up thursday, and they left just after lunch on friday. saturday around 3, we got a call from laura saying they had everything ready to go, and they wanted to leave in 20 minutes. it took us a little longer than that to get everything ready, but by 5:30-ish, we were on our way. it was fun, but as always, too short.

after the reunion, stephanie spent a few days with us. she'd gotten a bunch of books for the kids, and found some dresses for elizabeth to choose from for her baptism. we attempted to go to the zoo, but they wouldn't let her service dog it (big breach of ada law, and she's filing a complaint), we went to the pool. then she tells me that my kids are crazy. she had it easy, she kept them entertained.
wednesday, she went down to utah to pick up my parents, friday afternoon, everyone was back up here for elizabeth's baptism.

birthdays

i've been really bad lately about posting. it's not that life is more insane than normal, it's just....i'm not sure.

ashley turned 3 the end of may. she's such a fanny kid, with a HUGE personality. she got a little pink trike for her birthday, and shannon rides it all around the house.

shaun turned 34 the end of may. he got himself a bigger second monitor. it makes things easier in photoshop when you have 2.

elizabeth turned 8 the beginning of june and was baptised this last weekend. she got a new bike, and tons of little things. i can't even remember what anymore.

we didnt' do much for birthdays, they come so close, it's hard.

good gracious!

taylor, age 9, commenting on a fourth of july parade float, "good gracious! holy cow!"

wake up, dad

i got michael changed this morning. he then walks over to my closed bedroom door and knocks. then he says, "wake up, dad!"