Skittles and a Tower O' Flour

Nathan was in charge of F.H.E. (Family Home Evening, a night where we spend time together as a family, have a song, prayer, lesson, and treat) last night and this is what he came up with.

He packed a cup with flour, placed a plate on top of it and then turned it over, thus creating

Tower O' Flour

Then he placed a single Skittle on top. Each of us took a turn with a butter knife, shaving off some of the flour until the Tower fell and the Skittle dropped, covered with flour. Nathan talked about how each time we sin it hurts us, like when we took the knife to the Tower O' Flour, making it collapse. Whoever was the one who shaved off the last bit before it collapsed was the one who had to retrieve the Skittle--using nothing but their lips. Megan was the first to break the Tower.

Nathan then talked about how repentance can be difficult and not fun, but at the end there is a reward--the forgiveness we need and desire. Hence, working for the Skittle.


We did the whole thing a second time so Jeremy could have a chance to knock down the Tower.

He worried that he wouldn't be able to get the Skittle.
But in the end, he did it. . .with a mouth full of flour.

Can I tell you how worried I was that I'd knock down the Tower and have to stick my face in that flour? Petrified!
I was shaving off the smallest amount possible each time!!

It's Never Happened Before

For the first time,
in I think possibly. . .ever,
all three kids are asleep for a nap.

Jeremy fell off of Megan's bed. I was going to take him out and rock him, but instead put him on his own bed and laid down with him for a few minutes. After a very scratchy-due-to-my-sore-throat round of "The Family Song," or Families Can Be Together Forever, he fell asleep.

Nathan rocked Emma while I then laid Megan down. I wondered about Megan. She doesn't go down easily. But weariness finally won her over.

I have a quiet house.
I'm trying to appreciate it while I've got it.

Do-It-Herself

I took a class at Home Depot last night. Nathan thought it would be a good idea for me to get out of the house without the kids and learn a new skill that would come in handy with the new house. (Of course he was right.) So last night I took myself to Home Depot to learn how to tile a floor or wall.

I have to say, I was unsure just how much I'd learn in such a short amount of time. By the end would I really know how to tile? I didn't bring any note-taking things because Nathan had the diaper bag which had my planner which had all my paper, pens, etc. (not to mention my driver's license) so I worried that I wouldn't remember anything from it.

My worries were pretty much unfounded. It was informative without making me feel overwhelmed and the two instructors encouraged us to try things ourselves right there. I got to put mortar on the board, smoothing it out with the proper tool (while I know how to do it, I can't remember what anything is called, but that's ok because Nathan does). I didn't actually lay out a tile, but I did get to do the grout from some tiles that were already laid out. It was really fun. I got to learn the differences between products (like grout or mortar) that are ready made and those that you have to mix yourself (get the ones you mix yourself). We learned how to cut the tile, too, which was really cool.

Then we took a little field trip through the store to see a table and some counter tops that these two instructors had worked on for the employee break room, and then we went to see the tile aisle and we talked about the different types of tile and the different types of looks and what you would do different for varying types of tile.

It was all very interesting and fun. The two guys were very friendly and informative and offered their help if we ever got into our projects and realized we messed up, or were nervous about a cut we have to make, or for any reason. It was a lot of fun and I recommend it to any of you ladies out there. It's a great excuse to get out of the house and I think it's one that your husband would gladly agree to. Just think, you'd go up to him and say, "Honey, I think I'd like to learn how to tile our bathroom and use a wet saw. I know a place I can go and learn for free. Think you could watch the kids for a couple hours?" I think he'd be pretty up for it.

Please Feel Bad For Me, Okay?

I got zero sleep last night; I have six very rowdy kids in my small apartment; Emma pooped through her diaper, completely destroying her pajamas and staining the carpet in three places; the screaming pig is, what else, screaming; Emma is unhappy because she, too, got no sleep last night; I am about to walk six kids to Megan's school because I have no other way of getting her there; I'm in a bad mood; I feel guilty for being in a bad mood; and there's one other thing that you should feel sorry for me over, but I can't mention it here. At least not yet. Today isn't fun.

Press It--I Dare You

Put The Big Red Button on your site

Jeremy Funny

Do you want to know what my son just did?

Jeremy: Guess what?

Me: What?

Jeremy: Chicken butt!



Do you remember that SNL skit? I couldn't find it on YouTube, so if any of you can, please send it to me!!

Surprise!

We had a good weekend here. Nathan was on Spring Break all week which was great. On Wednesday he told me he had a surprise for me on Friday. So Friday morning we woke up early and got in the car and got driving. A couple hours later I recognized a Mc Donald's. We hadn't eaten there (blech), but we'd turned around in the parking lot months ago. We were in Pennsylvania. And not just anywhere in Pennsylvania, but we were near Ikea.

We pulled into the parking lot, took Megan to the kid play area (Jeremy sadly is still too short to enter the play area and not fully potty-trained), and then began meandering though. Nathan asked me if I knew why we were there and I had to be honest: No Earthly Idea.

I knew there were tons of things I wanted at Ikea. But I couldn't think of why we would be there other than just to have something to do.

When we got to the bedroom stuff he walked to the dressers and said, "Pick one."

I was shocked. I got to pick out a new dresser!! I've been using the K-Mart dresser we bought for Megan when she was born. The drawers stick, refusing to either come out or go back in. Also, I have more clothes than the average 4 year old, and needed more space than a simple, small, 4 drawer dresser would allow.

And since the last time we went to Ikea we bought a dresser for Megan and Emma to share, and I of course picked out my favorite dresser for them, I got to pick out the same dresser for me. I just picked a different color this time. So mine is a black wood. And has no hardware. Because, if you recall, I bought a bunch of different pieces of hardware for Megan and Emma's dresser at Anthropologie. Nathan would prefer that my dresser look "classier." Really, that's exactly what he said. So, for my dresser, I will be picking matching, cool, vintage-type hardware. That's ok, right Nathan?

House Hunting Question

Have you ever been house hunting? Have you ever seen a house while house hunting and thought, "I really like that one!" and then realized that there's no For Sale sign outside? yeah.

St. Paddy's Day

The following was posted by Nathan:


Top o' the marnin' to ya!

(you say, "And the rest o' the day to you," which is, of course, the correct response)

St. Patrick's Day is a big deal in my family. I have Scotch Irish blood through my dad's dad's mom and we observe the Irish American tradition of eating corned beef and cabbage. Actually, our family's food tradition consists of corned beef, colcannon (which contains cabbage), dilly bread, and apple oat crisp for dessert.

The first year we were married, Kellie and I prepared all the food and invited one couple to celebrate with us. After that, we decided to make a bigger deal out of it and, in subsequent years, had several families join us. This year is no different. We've rounded up the guys from dental school who didn't have plans for Spring Break plus one of Kellie's friends from church. Fun will be had by all.

I got up at 4:30 this morning to get the corned beef started (I slow cook it for 12 hours and dinner's at 5). We learned early on that it's easier to farm out the other recipes to the people we invite, so the meat is fortunately my only responsibility. I suppose if folks are interested in the recipes, let me know and I'll post 'em in the comments.

In other Green Day news, I made shamrock pancakes for the kids this morning. Unfortunately, they wouldn't let me dye them green, but this is how they turned out:


When I put the food on the table, Megan excitedly exclaimed, "Stingray pancakes! We get stingray pancakes, Jer!" I tried to explain that it was actually a shamrock and Megan rebutted, "Well, you think it's a shamrock, but they're really stingrays. See? Here's the tail!"

Of course! Now I see. Coincidentally, internet lore indicates the stingray brings good luck, so I suppose it's an acceptable alternative.

The Pink Medicine

Poor Jeremy. We found out two Christmases ago that he's allergic to Motrin and now we've discovered a new allergy-amoxicillin.

I'd just taken the kids to play group (and had six kids all week while babysitting and had a friend babysit him and Megan) when I saw his legs covered in spots and immediately thought Chicken Pox. Crap. One of the most highly contagious childhood diseases and I was sure he had it and had passed it on to every child within 25 miles.

I got home, Googled pictures of chicken pox, and became certain he had it. When Nathan got home he voted hives. This relieved me quite a bit, but still, we weren't sure. Even after talking to the doctor over the phone we weren't sure.

The next day Nathan took him in when the spots started spreading all over his chest and arms and neck and started looking pretty bad. Thing was, Jeremy wasn't itchy or feeling sick or anything. The doctor assumed it was a less severe strain of chicken pox because Jeremy had already received the vaccine. Then as the doctor was leaving the room he asked if Jeremy had been on any medicine lately. We'd started giving him amoxicillin last week for an ear infection and the doctor took another look at Jeremy and determined that Jeremy was allergic to the amoxicillin and that it wasn't chicken pox.

Yay for not having chicken pox and passing it to all the kids at Church and that I babysit.

Boo for not being able to take amoxicillin.

But you know what? I hate that nasty pink medicine. I do. My kids, including Jeremy, love it. They would drink that nasty bottle of medicine like it was a bubble gum flavored milk shake. I can't even stand the smell of it. Really. And I think that Fructis Shampoo and Conditioner smell just like it. I've had to stop using Fructis because it smells so much like amoxicillin. I recently bought some because it was on sale and now everytime I use it I have to fight the horrid fumes. So next shampoo/conditioner shopping trip, I'm buying something that doesn't remind me of hiding from my parents while they try to force it down my throat as a kid. I can remember they once tried to hide it in a bowl of ice cream. I was wise. I knew what was up.

Strangely Attractive

My sister in-law, Sarah, is one of the most talented people I know. She has made fantastic quilts for each of my kids.

Megan

Jeremy

Emma

She recently started a blog to sell her quilts as well as some really cute aprons that she's made. So far she only has the aprons up, but she will get some quilts on there as soon as she finishes more. She does all the stitching by hand and her stuff is beautiful.

As far as pricing goes, I think they're a steal. And if you've been on etsy recently, you'll probably think so, too.

Child Sizes:

3-6 are $10.00 each,

7-10 are $12.00 each

Adult Sizes:

half aprons are $15.00 each,

full and reversible half aprons are $20.00 each

reversible full aprons are $25.00 each

So here's my big plug for her. Go to her website Strangely Attractive and order yourself or a friend a sweet apron or (when she has the quilts up) a beautiful quilt.

BTW she did a gorgeous butterfly quilt that my kids adore, but it's at Grandma's house, otherwise I'd post a picture of that one, too. But I just found on her blog on the labels section there is 1 item under quilts and it's the butterfly quilt she made for her little boy. So go and see how cool it is!!

Retro House Pictures!!!!

Who wants to see the Retro House?

I know you're all screaming Me! Me!

So here it is. . .

First we have my favorite room in the house
(because it will be my room. My sewing/craft/writing room). Here you get a little peek into the dining room, which we didn't get a picture of, sorry.

P.S. This is all the owner's furniture in here still. We don't move in until the end of May. We were there for the housing inspection today and asked him if we could take some pictures.

The Pink Kitchen

Yes, those are turquois and black tiles on the counter top! Why do you ask?
So Nathan hates the counter top, and like I said before, I've always hated tiled counters until this one. I don't know why. This will be the first change we make to the house.

Now on to the bathroom. Everyone needed to make pit stop, right?
Don't get dizzy now!

Yep, that wallpaper goes right on up and over the ceiling. If you need to sit down and take a breath, I'll try to understand while I'm basking in the glow of the funkiness. While you're at it, check out the great bath tiles on the wall :)

Ok, now that you're feeling better, let us move on to Jeremy and Emma's future room. Yes, we are having them share as we don't think Jeremy should be in a room by himself yet and Megan wanted her own. We thought it worked out perfectly.

We will be covering up that linoleum with carpet.



On to the master bedroom.

Holy colors, Bat-Man! More pink!

The ceiling lamp that Nathan was hoping would go.


And are you ready for this? Here is Megan's room with the darling wall turn-key lamp that is mine! All mine!!!!! [crazy, maniacal laugh]

I love it!

Some Things Just Shouldn't be Homemade

So the other night Nathan and I were chatting before falling asleep, even though we were exhausted, and the subject of sailing around the world came up. It used to come up all the time (Nathan has an obsession) and this was the first time in quite a while so I just let him go with it.

Eventually, as it nearly always does, the topic turned to what we would eat while doing said sailing.

I informed Nathan that I would keep a deep freeze in the boat. Stocked with beef. And some chicken. But mostly beef.

Then Nathan went on to remind me that sailing around the world will take a few years.

That's when I reminded him that we'd get to stop along the way and buy beef. And chicken. But mostly beef.

According to Nathan we'll eat mostly fish. My whole self disagrees with this. My tongue, my teeth, my stomach, my brain, my toes--yeah, pretty much everything.

Then he said something that if I hadn't been laying down in my comfy bed with nice warm blankets on me would have made me go to the bathroom and hurl.

"I could make tuna."

Um, ew. Yes, I will on occasion (like every 6 months) agree to eat tuna, but you see, tuna belongs in a can already cut up and ready for consumption. The idea of homemade tuna from tuna Nathan would catch while we're sailing, is disgusting to me. As I think about it now my mind goes back to the same images it created when he came up with the idea--Nathan taking a fork to a fat fish and shredding it.

Ew. I have to go puke now.

Book Review-The Diamond of Darkhold

The Diamond of Darkhold by Jeanne Duprau

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
SMALL SPOILER ALERT!



I really liked this book a lot until the last couple pages (I'm struggling with my rating) and it kind of ruined the whole thing for me. I didn't particularly like the book just before this one, The Prophet of Yonwood, just not enough conflict or anything really of interest going on through the whole book. Anyway, I bring that book up because suddenly in the last two pages of Diamond of Darkhold the author out of nowhere brings in information from Yonwood and ruins the last book by suddenly making the book science fiction. Nothing in any of the books (except one small weird scene in Yonwood even mentions space, however it doesn't mention aliens at all. It was lame to add it suddenly at the very end when readers have invested so much time in her books and have trudged though Yonwood to get to the final book in the series. I really enjoyed The City of Ember, The People of Sparks, and until the last couple pages, The Diamond of Darkhold, but if you decide to read them, just know they are great books and I think they are great studies on people and society, even and perhaps especially Yonwood, however she ruins the last book with the last couple pages.



I do however love her use of imagery. She really is a great writer who provides wonderful characters who are fun to read and watch.


View all my reviews.

Create

Can You Find the Kids in These Pictures?

This is our family's version of Where's Waldo today.

This is what Jeremy does when he's upset or in trouble.
Except right now because I threatened keep his head in the corner forever
if he took it out one more time.


Emma started crying while she was supposed to be taking a nap. I walked in to find her like this.

Can you even see her in there?

Poor kid.

Consequently, the above is not what got Jeremy the time out in the corner. Destroying one of our already dying dining room chairs to the point of no return is what earned him corner time.


*And since everyone has been asking how the toys got in her crib, Megan and Jeremy did it.
"We thought we were being helpful."

A Beautiful Moment

Nathan said it was just because we're girls, and I did notice her brother wasn't crying. Or maybe I didn't see him crying because he turned his head at just the right moment. I can't be sure.

Today I went to see our house again. The house that will be ours within what will hopefully be a couple very short months. The man's daughter and son were there to help him start getting things ready for his move. There is a lot of furniture that he can't take with him. Beautiful pieces that have probably been in the home since they moved in as the original owners in 1950. Beautiful dressers and side tables. An antique desk in near perfect condition. A vintage vanity. And guess what. The electric turn key lamp we thought was leaving. . .it's staying. It's ours.

When we stepped into his daughter's bedroom she told me how much she loved living in the house and how full of love it was. Is. She began talking about her mom and began to tear up. I told her when I first came to her childhood home I could feel that love and it made me fall in love with the home. It wasn't just a really cool house to me. It wasn't just our first house. I know and understand what we are getting. In a way, what we are inheriting from them. Together we stood in her girly pink bedroom, with it's framed Norman Rockwell painting and turn key lamp, and we cried. She of course had more reason to cry than me--her childhood home is being sold, her father is moving out of it and it will no longer be there for her to come back to and reminisce. My reasons aren't as sharp. Could it have been sympathy? I don't think so. I am sorry that she won't have the house to come back to whenever she wants, but I'm too excited to really feel much sympathy. I hope that doesn't make me a bad person.

I think the real reason I cried there with her was the Spirit was in her home in overwhelming proportions. The love her family has for eachother and the love of the Lord exists in their home. I felt it the first time I entered into it and it helped me fall in love with the house. This second time was so much greater because today his children were in the home, filling it with even more love.

I feel so amazingly blessed.

Already Been Chewed Tag

A
- Available: Just assume not.
- Age: It goes up every year; this year it lands on an even number.
- Annoyance: Stupid people
- Animal: I'd rather not.
- Actor: Nicholas Cage (I know that's a weird choice, but I can't help it after National Treasure.)
- Actress: Bernadette Peters

B
- Best Friend: Nathan
- Blind or deaf: Uh, I'd rather not, but thanks.
- Been in Love: Yes
- Been on stage: Yes
- Believe in Ghosts/spirits: Yes

C
- Candy: Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate with the berries and nuts. . .mmmmm
- Color: Green
- Cried in school: yep
- Chocolate/Vanilla: Chocolate
- Chinese/Mexican: Mexican
- Cake or pie: depends
- Country to visit: Italy

D
- Day or Night: depends, do I have my kids with me? Is it cold outside?
- Dance in the rain: Of course

E
- Eyes: 2, blue
- Everyone has: to comment :)

F
- First crush: Matt in 5th grade.
- First thoughts waking up: "Too early. Go away."
- Food: Burgers

G
- Greatest Fear: Others dying
- Giver or taker: both
- Gum: any that isn't fruit flavored
- Get along with your parents: Yes

H
- Hair Color: brown
- Height: 5'4''
- Happy: yeah
- Holiday: 4th of July
- How do you want to die: I'm going to twinkle

I
- Ice Cream: chocolate
- Instrument: clarinet

J
- Jewelry: usually a watch, but it broke, wedding ring, anniversary ring
- Job: maid, servant

K
- Kids: 3
- Kickboxing or karate: not recently, no.
- Keep a journal: I keep a blog and I'm trying to keep a "spiritual moments" journal.

L
- Love: my Family & friends
- Laughed so hard you cried: occasionally
- Love at first sight: not sure.

M
- Milk flavor: chocolate
- Movie: Pride and Prejudice. I could watch all 5 hours of it every day if I had nothing else to do.
- Marriage: Wonderful
- Motion sickness: No, I fall asleep in the car.
- McD's or BK: Burger King

N
- Number of Siblings: 1 brother, 1 sister
- Number of Piercings: 2 in each ear, but only wear 1 set if any

O
- Overused Phrases: I don't know. . . .
- One wish: tapioca pudding. j/k I don't even like tapioca.

P
- Place you'd like to live: In a house
- Pepsi/Coke: Dr. Pepper

Q
- Questionnaires: annoying

R
- Reason to cry: don't need one
- Reality T.V.: don't care for them, except What Not to Wear, but is that considered reality?
- Radio Station: not many good ones here.
- Roll your tongue in a circle: Yup.

S
- Shoe size: 8.5
- Salad Dressing: Ranch 0r Italian
- Slept outside: yes
- Seen a dead body: yes
- Sing well: Sometimes
- Stuffed Animals: nope
- Single/Group dates: either
- Strawberries/Blueberries: Strawberries

T
- Time for bed: too late
- Thunderstorms: during the day it's fine, rather have quiet at night
- TV: I have one.
- Touch your tongue to your nose: No

U
- Unpredictable: Probably

V
- Vegetable you hate: Brussels sprouts

- Vacation spot: British Columbia

W
- Which one of your friends acts the most like you: I have no idea anymore
- Who makes you laugh the most: Nathan
- Worst feeling: My kids being sad
- Worst weather: snow and wind

X
-X-Rays: was supposed to get one once. got a CT scan instead. (thanks for checking the wrong box, mom!)

Y
-Year it is now: 2009
-Yellow: Happy

Z
- Zoo animal: elephant
- Zodiac sign: cancer

If you want to play along let me know and I'll check yours out.

Harvard Girl on the Church

Go to Kristine's blog and check out the video she has. A girl from Blackfoot, Idaho that attends Harvard participated on a religion panel and was grilled about the Church. I thought she did a great job. Thanks Kristine for always finding cool videos!

First Field Trip

I will preface this with an apology. Sorry mom, I forgot to bring my camera. I know I promised to take lots of pictures and as I was getting ready all morning I thought I have to remember the camera and then I forgot it. I even had to run back into the apartment because I forgot Megan's physical form. So I'm sorry but there are no pictures to go with this post. I did see other ladies taking pictures, so I'm sure I can ask them for copies or for them to email me.

That being said, Megan and Jeremy loved the Museum of Natural History yesterday.

I didn't stick around with Megan's group because every time she saw me she left her class and came running up to me. I didn't want to be disruptive, so Jeremy, Emma and I stuck with another of the classes. Except when they went to see the animals outside. I thought they were crazy for doing that. It was 15 degrees out there! No way was I taking my kids (or myself) out in that freezing weather just to look at a couple birds and a moose.

Jeremy ran into the planetarium, which I don't think was included in our trip. Nevertheless, he decided he wanted to see the planet stuff. It was actually kind of cool from what I got to see. Both kids loved seeing the dinosaur bones and Lucy, the supposedly 3 million year old set of bones. Jeremy was scared of a primitive shark they had on display. He started freaking out and made me carry him past it. Megan was positive it was a nice shark and tried to arrange an introduction for Jeremy, but he just wouldn't have it.

In all it was a good day. After the field trip we proceeded to have the world's fastest trip to Target so I could get some necessities before a prospective new tenant came to view our apartment. That gave me 15 minutes to get home and clean up the apartment. Uh, yeah. The cleaning up part didn't go so well. There was a half-eaten apple, a banana peel, a crushed cupcake, and all manner of junk in the living room, kid beds were unmade, the kitchen table still looked messy, and the kitchen. . .oh the kitchen. Let's not even reflect on the mess that was (is) in there. I vacuumed and half made Megan's bed before the girl got here. She didn't seem to mind that everything was in it's normal state of messiness. She said it helped her see how it would look like "lived in." Yes, she was very kind to pretend not to see my mess.

Anyway, she is looking at another apartment today and will let us know soon if she wants ours (please oh please oh please).