AND HE'S OFF......

Been in the works for a week or so. My earliest to date (11 1/2 months).  I can't believe it!

 Attempt  #1

Attempt #2....SUCCESS!

He's one determined little guy.  That must be why he conquered this particular milestone so soon.  He wants to be up and running with his big brothers.  He is such a joy and delight to us all.  He is SO LOVED!

The unexpected (and unwanted) finally dies.

A well meaning Sunbeam teacher sent Isaac home from church on Sunday with a unexpected (and very unwanted) pet.  A fish....quickly dubbed "baby fish" by it's new owner.



I was quite livid at first. I take the care of ANY living thing quite seriously and was not ready to take on this responsibility (however little it may be)...which is why I had not chosen to purchase a fish (or any other pet) myself.  And...my three year old wasn't about to do it.



"Baby fish" took up residence in one of my favorite Pyrex dishes (much to my irritation).  Then...we watched and waited for him to die. 



Day after day he hung on.  Long after all the other Sunbeam children has said their farewell's.



This morning we found "baby fish" belly up.  We sent him to his watery grave while I belted out "Taps" on my invisible trumpet.  The older kids thought it was funny.  Isaac cried ( mostly because he was still upset that I made him get out of the bath sooner than he wanted). 



Such a sad affair.  Truly!  Sniff, sniff. 



Isaac and I then had a little talk about the fishy and how his spirit had gone home to be with Heavenly Father.  That seemed to calm him.  Crisis averted.



I quickly set out to clean my Pyrex bowl.  After a few rounds of bleach and a couple of "sanitizing" runs through the dishwasher, I may even use it again. 



I checked the manual.  This Sunday's lesson is on "Animals" and the next week is "Birds and Insects".  I am going to ask said Sunbeam teacher to take care not to send home any more "friends" related to those lessons.  I don't even want to know what we could end up with.  :)



Side note:  I like Isaac's Sunbeam teacher.  She is a neighbor and friend.  No hard feelings (as long as she doesn't do it again.  Ha ha ha!) 

Is that a caterpillar? Or a mustache on your face?

Rob thought it would be funny to grow out his "cheesy  mustache" again. 

 

And this is his..."you wanna piece of me" former correctional officer look.

Are you scared?

People at work loved it.  His wife....not so much.  Not only does it age him about 15 years but more importantly, the hairs grow STRAIGHT out and it pokes.  LIKE CRAZY!  If it were a caterpillar (which I think it looks like) it would be one of those spiky poisonous ones.  At least that's what it feels like.

I prefer clean shaven thank you very much.

HILLARIOUS! ROLL. ON. THE. FLOOR. LAUGH. OUT .LOUD. FUNNY!

I would seriously be no friend if I did not share this video with y'all. It's a series called Kid History on You Tube. This is BY FAR the best one. It's HILARIOUS! I was rolling on the floor, okay not literally, but I might have well been. It is too funny! My kids thought I was possessed at first. I should probably laugh out loud more often.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

UPDATE: Cael-ism

Cael:  "Mom, when I get done with my job I am going to read my scriptures on the couch until it's movie time."



Me:  "That's a good idea, Cael."



Cael:  "Yeah, I'm going to read them so I can feel the Spirit touch me."



 UPDATE:  Fast Forward a few hours from previous conversation.



I found Cael sitting on the couch with his scriptures lying on his lap.  After a few minutes he hops down and informs me,  "Mom, I DO feel the spirit.  I feel something hot sitting right here (as he puts his hand on his heart) on my shoulder."



It's moments like these that make me realize that not EVERYTHING I say gets ignored.  Makes the LONG hours doing my job TOTALLY worth it.  :)

Let the YUM begin!

I read something on some blog (I cant remember which one) the other day about freezing sliced bananas and making ice cream out of them.  I had some bananas that were ripe and decided to try it.  I never ended up getting around to it and almost forgot completely.

Tonight the kids were pestering me about dessert (of which I did NOT want to have...I have been feeling very yucky fatty lately) and I remembered the bananas.

This I could do.

I blended the bananas up with some frozen raspberries and a little milk.

While pulling out the fruit, I noticed some leftover super delicious whole wheat buttermilk pancakes I made a few days ago and got an idea.  I heated them up (slowly so they were not chewy) and topped them with a scoop of the banana/raspberry ice cream.  Added a little drizzle of caramel syrup (because you can be TOO healthy, of course).

It was so tasty!  It sounds weird but it was SOOOOOO GOOD!  SOOOOO GOOD! 

And much more healthy and fibrous that vanilla ice cream over double chocolate brownies (Oh...brownies).

I so impressed my impromptu culinary self that I had to take a picture. 

I am quite a amateur in the kitchen (and with the camera for that matter) but I'm learning.

The other day I wanted to make sugar cookies for a St. Patties Day treasure hunt we were headed to.  I wasn't about to do shamrocks without a cookie cutter...but decided that a Pot of Gold might work.  It took me quite a while to think up a brilliant plan.  Here's what I came up with...

I had two sets of the same Halloween cutters.  A sharp set of kitchen sheers...and bit of painters tape (don't judge) and viola!....a pot of gold cutter. 

Apparently my engineering skills are much more fine tuned than my culinary skills.  They turned out looking ridiculous but were tasty anyway.  I don't have time or even care, at this point, to make things aesthetically pleasing.  Hopefully I am judged for my efforts not my results.

LIVES to draw!

The kids have been on a real drawing frenzy lately.  Especially little Red (Cael).  He draws picture after picture after picture.  ALL DAY LONG!

He's a total natural.  He grabs a piece of paper and pencil, stares off into space for a few seconds and then he's off.  He doesn't pause until his picture is complete.  He didn't inherit that from either of his parents.  We are both artfully challenged.



At any given time of the day he can be found here...

Drawing this:

and this

or these









There's plenty more where those came from too.



It amazes me.



Here's another.

 

He's such a character!

Battle over the baby....

Text:  WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
*Darryl, get Wren. 
*She needs you, Wanda. 
*No, she doesn't. 
*Sure she does.  She needs her mommy.  Especially during these early years when the bonds of trust form between mother and child. 
*Simply guilt will not get me out of this bed.
*How about guilt and a few pokes with my icy toes?

Rob found this comic strip in the paper this morning.  It hit really close to home.  He just HAD to share it with me.  We both had a good chuckle.

It's SOOOOOO true.

I ALWAYS WIN the battle.  He knows better than to put his cold feet on me.

Icy toes on Melanie = a woman's wrath....which we all know can last for HOURS.

I used to pretend I didn't hear them.  Now, I truly don't.   It's heaven.

Excitement in the air...

I just can't wait for spring. 



Not only do the plants and little animals come to life but so do I.



I'm so excited that it's getting closer.





The "dirt games" have already begun and I find myself cleaning it up ALL over the house but I'll take it over the stuffy cooped up feeling of winter. 



P.S.  I just caught Cael and Isaac dumping cup fulls of dirt on Isaac's coat after it had been discarded.  FUN!

Because him's just so darned cute (Uh hyuck!)!

Just too darn cute not to share.  Mostly para la familia que no vivan cerca (for family that does not live close). I guess that would be ALL of our family...he he!

He's just growing too fast.

To Hell and Back!

This weeks couponing trip was a bit on the "hell-ish" side (you can read more about it here if you'd like.) Not much fun! The kids did really well considering. And me....well I actually came through laughing. I could have been screaming, I could have been crying but....I chose to just laugh it off. I treated the kids to a treat (that they usually buy with their own money) and took them out for Subway after wards too. Yeah...it was THAT bad. As in 3 1/2 hours worth of bad....for a "quick trip" to three stores. Why didn't I just give up, you are wondering? Read last post here. That's me...for better or for worse. Anyhow. What I am grateful for is that we are all alive and well. I did not flip out and go psycho, although I did sweat a lot (I was in HELL after all, mind you), and...I saved a lot of money. Cheers!

The gift of psycho-ism

I have a somewhat sickening, innate DRIVE to push past perceived limits. A drive to go a little further....push a little harder...prove to myself that I can do ANYTHING I put my mind to. It's part genetic....part learned. Benefactors....my Heavenly Father and my earthly father. First, I thank my Heavenly Father every day for bestowal of this gift. It is truly a gift. And without it, I would be lost. Life is hard....it would be much easier to give up. Sometimes I wish I could. But the drive....the drive (sigh)....I just can't do it. I CAN'T GIVE UP! I think Heavenly Father knew I would need that. And that's why I am so grateful for it. Secondly, my earthly father. His loving encouragement so many years ago still rings in my ears every time I want to give up. While jogging with the "family circus" he would point out a spot and say, "Just to there." When we would reach that point he would say, "Okay...just a little further" and when we would reach there, "Alright...how about to there?" Stretching my confidence in myself little by little, making anything possible. It has had a real impact on me...even to this day. Where did this all come from? Why was I thinking about it today? I went jogging. In the rain. I was tired. It was later than usual. I gave myself permission to take it "easy", under the circumstances. You think I would know better than to lie to myself. Who was I trying to kid? I ended up running ladder-like sprints UP the mountain. Just because I told myself I could. Psycho I tell you. Psycho. So it is in life. I have just broken out of "survival mode" and am feeling quite enthusiastic about life and it's possibilities again. Life is STILL hard...there's a lot to do and a lot to undo....and I'm tired. But....I CAN DO IT! and I WILL DO IT! At least...I'm going to try! And I'll take that... ...for as long as it lasts!

Sometimes it's hard...

As excited as I am about saving money and paying off our student loan debts (and believe me...I am totally psyched about it...it consumes my every though), still.....sometime the sacrifices can be hard.

REALLY hard.



I am really going to miss my Bounty paper towels.

Sniff, sniff.

Three little men in their choneys (CHO-knees)

Don't ask me what they were doing....

actually, I will tell you.

They were screaming "NAKED" at the top of their lungs and flinging themselves onto the couch together.

Boys are a whole different species....that I know for sure!

I just don't get it.

But...their pretty cute in their undies (or as Rob calls them, choneys (CHO-knees) anyway.

It's sickening how much we love our sweets!

In a quest to slim down our spending and be more aware of our purchases, Rob and I kept EVERY receipt during the month of February. We were curious as to just how much of our $$$$$$ was going into certain things.

One of those things we were particularly curious about was how much we were spending on candy/sweets/desserts/etc.

Two days ago I went through every receipt and totaled up the dollar amount in this area.

It was STAGGERING! SHOCKING! UNBELIEVABLE!

I am thoroughly disgusted. THOROUGHLY!

I wont tell you how much it was in $'s (I'm too embarrassed)....just that it was 1/4 of our ENTIRE food budget.

RIDICULOUS!

Even more sad....I consume at least 90% of it.

It's no wonder I'm not loosing more weight.

BLEGH!

This month we are going to try and cut our sweet/treats/dessert budget down by 2/3 (or should I say, we are actually going to set a budget). When it's gone, it's gone. I'm interested in seeing how it will turn out.

Maybe now I will be able to finally loose those last few pounds. He He He!