Moocher's Paradise

Saturday, we went to the OC Great Park. The main draw was the free ice skating (a rarity in our neck of the woods), but we were also looking forward to the sledding and ice carving demonstrations, as well as intrigued by the mention of free snacks!

They decorated the balloon for the event with snowflakes. There are lots of flakes around here, but not many made of snow.

Stan took the younger kids to the sledding and snow play while the older girls and I took turns keeping our place in line for an hour and a half to skate. Here they are as we are coming to the end of the line - almost there.

Summer decided the bast place for her sticker was her sleeve.

We all had a lot of fun! I haven't been ice skating for a while and I loved it. The kids had a blast in the snow. The free "snacks" ended up being enough for a meal, albeit a not very healthy one. We all had hot chocolate, cookies, Jamba Juice, Einstein Bros. bagels and chocolate coins to our hearts content. It really was a moocher's paradise. They even had a guy wandering around handing out free gloves to everyone. Heather and Gwen really liked the baseball caps they got while we were there. Last night, I came home from Mutual and went into their room to say goodnight and this is what I saw...

No More Pacifiers

Naomi has been asking to go to the "cake store" about 15 times a day for the last week and a half, so I made her a deal. I'd bake her a cake and she would throw out ALL her pacifiers. She took me up on it. She put her pacifiers in the trash and we took it out to the curb. Then we had a three layer triple chocolate fudge cake with chocolate whipped cream filling and chocolate glaze icing to celebrate.

While she was eating, she kept saying, "Own cake." We were lucky she shared with us.

The next morning, we were up early watching the garbage truck take the trash away and waving at the driver. She's asked for them a couple of times and has needed extra hand holding at bedtime, but overall has handled the change pretty well.

Totally Unrelated Things

Rachel learned a lesson yesterday about setting things on the burners of the stove.

We don't usually have Fruit Loops in the house, but they were on sale and they are one of Stan's favorites, so I indulged. For the last three mornings, Michael has been asking for "hula hoops" for breakfast.

By the way, did you know Fruit Loops have trans fat in them? Eek! It is a good thing I make the kids mix them half and half with Cherrios. I am hoping all the cholesterol absorbing oat bran zaps the trans fat.
I think I spend too much time reading cereal boxes.

The other day, Michael asked what the little balls on the orange tree were. There are a lot of buds, a few opened flowers and a smattering of teeny tiny oranges. I showed the "baby oranges" to Michael and Naomi. Mo said, "Awww...to-o-oot (cute)."

Later that same day, she was looking through an old photo album and found a picture of Stan at his brothers wedding 17 years ago. He was wearing a tux with a pink cummerbund and Naomi hollered,

"Daddy! To-o-o-ooot!!!"

Hiking for FHE

The kids take turns choosing our FHE activities. It was Gwen's turn and she wanted to go for a walk. I suggested a hill not far from the house. We got there just as the sun was setting.


Naomi picked me some flowers. Rachel tried to get her to curl her fingers around the bouquet, but she said it was too "pokey".




The big girls were there, but camera shy.

Michael was happy to have his dad there to get the grass seeds out of his socks.

The Joy of Siblings

Naomi's life is full. She has eight people at her beck and call and enjoys every one of us. She is also learning some of the advantages of having six siblings. She tattles on a regular basis. She started tattling before she could even talk with grunts and hand signals and I guess I gave Her Royal Cuteness too much sympathy because now she tattles when she wants attention, first thing in the morning, when she's bored and last thing before bed.

This morning, during the early breakfast Rachel got for her, she put on her sad face, used her pitiful voice, and said, "My-my" (short for Michael). I pointed out to her that there was no point in tattling on Michael because he hadn't done anything to her - he was still in bed. Stan said, "Yeah, Michael has an alibi."

She has discovered another perk (at least a perceived one, because it has yet to work) in having lots of kids around. She has gotten old enough that I have been trying to get her to finish her food at mealtimes. We will have a conversation sort of like this -

Naomi - cookie?

Me - After you finish your (fill in the blank).

Last night at dinner, I told her she needed to eat the rest of her noodles before she got any more fruit salad. She replied authoritatively, "My-my eat it." The other morning, I was trying this tactic with toast and after a minute, I heard her from the other room, saying in her most persuasive voice, "Le-e-elly, to-o-o-oast. Toast, Lelly?

Lately...

...Rachel has been playing basketball with the young women at church.

Here is Kelly making a mustache for her self in the bath.

...and a random picture of Naomi sleeping under blacklight.

Too Many Blogs

I felt like simplifying my life in a minuscule way today, so I merged my Phraseology blog for Tuesday Musings into this one.

I haven"t deleted Phraseology yet - maybe someday I'll use it for something else.

Two Yummies

Rachel made yummy homemade doughnuts...



...and doesn't Naomi look yummy in her new hairstyle? I told her she was getting two ponytails today because she is two!

The Backyard

Saturday, the kids finished the tunnel they were digging between two holes - their big one, and a smaller one. Somewhere in between the two, they ran into a tunnel the rabbit dug out of the chicken coop.

Sunday afternoon, Stan noticed a Cooper's Hawk (also called a chicken hawk) in the back yard, looking appraisingly at...THE CHICKENS...who were all huddled in the coop, until I stepped out to take a picture.

I don't know WHY (Did they think I would protect them? Was it just a coincidence? Did they feel the strength of their numbers?)...

...but then they all came out in a clump and stared back at the hawk.

I guess they must be scary chickens, because at that point, the hawk turned all it's attention to the family of lizards that have been reproducing in the woodpile.

Shooting Guns and Pictures with the Young Women

The Young Women and their leaders (me included) went shooting. Here is a picture of the place we went to. Can you guess what it is called?

The Rock Pile!

The YW had fun climbing...

...and I had fun taking pictures while I climbed after them. I love using the macro setting on my camera and taking pictures of flowers.

This is the first range we shot at - a twenty five foot range. We shot (correct me if I am wrong any of you who went) six shooters, 12 gauge rifles, a semi-automatic, and a forty-four, my personal favorite.

We had two brethren that were the brains behind the gun safety classes and brought most of the guns and ammo. They were great - thanks John and Rod!


After a while, we went to the shotgun range and shot at clay pigeons. The Beehives had a complex plan in place so that they all got to fire off an equal number of targets.

The Mia Maids disappeared to chit chat in the back of a car.

This past week...

Naomi turned two!

Happy Birthday Mo!!!

Heather sang with the fifth grade chorus at a school function. The microphone was turned up all the way when her principal started talking, which was a bit of a shock to the kids sitting up near the speakers. I love the look on her face. If you look closely, and if you can tell past all the greenness, she has one eyebrow up and one down :)

I got a newish, not too different haircut.

I had fun messing with the colors on these - which do you like the best?

At the Park

Now that I've finished the camera manual...here are some pictures :)

The four younger kids and I went to the park while the older ones were at their piano lessons.

Here are some of my favorites.

Gwen pushing Mo on the baby swing.

Michael living it up on the slide.

Kelly climbing and looking cute.

Gwen on the monkey bars!

Mishmash

Here are a few things from the last while.

First, some art work of Kelly's.

We check out so many books from our local library that, the other day, the head librarian thanked me personally for keeping their circulation numbers up.


For more on this, go here.

Speaking of my birthday, one of the things Stan gave me was some time alone to read the camera manual. I got myself some lunch from Rubio's, sat in a parking lot and ate, read and practiced, until it got too dark...

Michael got a couple of magnifying glasses for Christmas and here he is using one as a dress-up accessory.

Saturday most of us went with Stan to get some fresh air and sample puddles for fairy shrimp.


Finally, here is a video of Naomi getting her diaper changed. Don't worry, it is G rated. We start our bathroom readers out young.

I think it is appropriate...

...that on Valentine's Day Stan's romance website made it to the top.


If you type the words "romance marriage" into Google, he comes up first, out of the entire planet.

Congratulations, Handsome!

Surprise!

Today, Summer's Sunday School class took a field trip out to the church parking lot in the rain to put magnetic flames on our van. Robert is not behind Anthony because he is shy, but because their teacher/photographer asked him to move over so that the flames showed up in the picture.

Wasn't it nice of them and their intrepid leader to help us feel more at home in our new, unadorned vehicle?

Thanks again Bill!

Snack Time

I sent the three youngest outside for a while today while I cleaned the kitchen so that any mess they made was out there and didn't demoralize me. Michael wandered in after a while chewing on something.

Here's how the conversation went -

Me - What are you eating?

Michael - I think it is a rotten nut.

Me - Where did you get it?

Michael - Off the chicken food.

Me - WHAT?!?

Michael - I mean off the top of the chicken food bucket...

It turns out it was a pecan from off our tree that had cracked open. Who knows how or why it was on top of the chicken feed container, but it came in handy for a banished-to-the-backyard, hungry boy.