Making Me Do the Math

I asked Michael if he wanted a corn dog for lunch before I put some in the oven.

He said, "I want a half of a quarter."

Forty five minutes later, the corn dogs are cooled off, it's time to eat and I ask everyone if they want a whole or a half of a banana.

Mr. Difficult replies, "I want three 'halfs' of a third."

Hey, haven't I seen you before?

Yesterday, I dropped the two biggest girls off for seminary and went to get gas. I filled my tank and went to stand in line for my change, when another lady stepped just in front of me. She was there for a couple of minutes while she put some money on a gas pump and bought a pack of cigarettes. I stood behind her and noticed the color of her hair.

After I got my change, I mailed some stuff at the post office, went home to feed the three youngest and the four of us took off. We dropped off Kelly to take her standardized tests for school and Michael, Mo and I went to Walmart where we bought freezer jam pectin, a cake plate with a dome on it (I've been wanting one for a while) and a Mothers" Day card. We drove back to school for Kelly, returned some books to the library and picked up a quarter yard of green lycra to alter a swimsuit with.

As I was leaving the parking lot, Summer called. "Did you know I stayed home sick?" (I had no idea.) "When are you coming home?" I told her I was on my way and why didn't she clean up after breakfast for me so that we could eat lunch as soon as I got there. Poor girl, there is no rest for the down and out around here!

I fed the oldest and three youngest and, taking advantage of my newly discovered babysitter, took off on my own to run a couple of errands before I had to pick Rachel, Heather and Gwen up. I rushed into our doctors' offices to get something from the pharmacy and ended up in line behind one lady while I waited for my turn to pay. Her shirt looked familiar. I had seen that hair somewhere. It was driving me crazy. I had to mentally go over every place I had gone and every line I had stood in when I finally realized she was the same person who was in front of me at the gas station. I was so excited when I remembered, that I blurted, "Did you buy gas at Food 4 Less this morning? I was in line behind you twice today!" She said, "Yea, I remember you now!"

After all the places I went...isn't that funny?

Yesterday and Today

This morning, Michael asked me if he could play with play dough. We were taking off in a little while and I didn't want to worry about the mess, so I told him no. I asked him if he wanted to help me make brownies instead. He got excited and asked what the brownies were for. When I told him that they were for the young women, his face fell. Poor guy. I decided to try to kill two birds with one stone and had him roll some cookie dough (the original play dough?) and smash it into sprinkles. He did a good job and had fun. I can hear him in the dining room now asking his sisters if they like the cookies he made.


Yesterday, we all went to the pet store so that Summer could pick out a bunny. Summer is hoping her bunny is a girl and named her Madeline, because she was born in March. Get it? Mad as a...

She isn't mad, though, she's adorable.

I took her outside to take pictures and she was happy to discover dandelions in the back yard (happier about it than I am).

It was so cute, it made her nose yellow when she ate it.

Ice Skating

After reading my post from earlier today, Rachel pointed out that I did have something to blog about: we went ice skating last Wednesday.

Stan kept the two youngest off the ice, took pictures and put change in the vending machines to keep them happy while the five older girls and I skated.

Ice skating makes me feel like a kid again!

Pictures of the Kids

I have no idea what to blog about. My muse is absent this week, but here are some pictures of the kids.

I was scanning a bunch of photos of the young women in our ward for an activity this coming Mutual and during the wait times I either tortured or thrilled my children (depending on their age and attitude) with the camera.

Naomi was thrilled. She jumped up and down so much while I was trying to take her picture that most of my efforts resulted in either her bangs or her chin, but here is one where I caught her whole face.

Michael peering intently at some crusty brown thing he found in the yard.

Kelly found some bugs in a lily.

Gwen's hair was a little messy after wrestling with Heather on the living room rug.

Heather helping Naomi get out of her church clothes and into a play dress.

Rachel's hair is getting long.

Summer was playing the piano in a dim living room between me and the window. I think she has a lovely profile.

Farm!

For the last half of our Spring Break week, Summer and Rachel went to Youth Conference. They had a wonderful time staying up late, trimming bushes, socializing, weeding, speed dating, scraping calcium deposits off gravestones, ice skating, and dancing.

Summer was a "big sister" this year and, along with the "big brother" in their family, gave devotionals every morning and family home evening lessons every night.

One of the boys (...removed by teenage censors).

There is a farm on the Orange County Fairgrounds that had free admission this past weekend, so I thought it would be a perfect time, while my two girls who think they are too big for that kind of stuff were busy somewhere else, to take the five younger kids. We had a wonderful time!

The petting zoo was where we started and we had to visit again on the way out. It was all the kids' favorite part of the day.

This baby goat was still bottle fed.


That is a pig Kelly is petting.

They didn't have anything for the kids to feed the animals, but that didn't stop Gwen from trying. She started with her finger...

...and then the goat found her hair!




This was my view most of the day: five adorable kids looking over (or through) a fence.

Sometimes, I walked around to the other side of the pen to get a front view of an adorable kid looking over a fence.


These piglets went from taking a nap to eating in two seconds flat once they heard milk being poured in their dish
.
We watched the calves being bottle fed.

These two were trying to get the milk off each others' noses after they finished their lunch!

There was a big plastic cow to practice milking on.

Michael was really excited about throwing a hatchet.

He also found a mentor at the clay table.

Kelly made a covered wagon with horse and rider.

Michael made a cup, with help from his new friend.

Naomi made a table, all by herself.

Have you ever seen a banana flower before?

These sweet peas are for my mom :)

This looked like one pampered chicken to me!

Isn't this checkerboard bunny nifty?

If you want to see more farm animals, here they are - happy viewing!

Wow.

My necklace is being bragged about on


today.

What a compliment! Thanks Karen :)

Happy Birthday Heather

Heather is twelve...and wise enough to request having one candle in a candle holder, instead of twelve in her cake, which may not have worked well in still warm cheesecake.

Naomi liked watching her open her presents.

Stan gave her the coolest gift: an antler he found while he was working in the Sierras last week. Heather tried it on Kelly.

Here she is, lovely even when her mother gets a little crazy and turns her lilac. She is such a kind, thoughtful daughter. We feel so blessed to have her in our family :)

Happy Birthday Heather!!!

Spring Break

The kids have off school this week. We spent at least 45 minutes, if not an hour, Sunday night scheduling each of the next five days. Yesterday, Rachel packed a picnic lunch and we took off. First we went shopping for fabric for Easter skirts and an Easter tie. Better late than never, I guess. Then we took off for the hike we had planned. Unfortunately, the rain got worse, not better. We ate our sandwiches in the dollar store while strolling the aisles. Then, we went to the movie theater and ate our crackers and apples while we watched The Spy Next Door. Today, the day we planned on staying home all day, the weather is lovely.

I am putting together work samples and blogging and helping Rachel sew her skirt. Summer is babysitting. The highlight of the other kids' day seems to have been watching the piano tuner!

Jewelry

I like making jewelry and painting my toenails and baking cakes. Little bits of creativity smashed into my schedule help me keep my sanity.

I made this necklace and bracelet during Kelly's Spanish class.

Summer and Heather gave me a package of Shrinky Dinks for inkjet printers for my birthday. I had fun finding images and making little thingamabobs out of them. I think this one is my favorite. Thanks to the Graphics Fairy for all the lovely clip art she makes available. Summer introduced me to her blog. It is wonderful and addictive!