Comment of the Day

R, "Mom, can you buy me a space probe at D.I. today while I'm at school?"

Minty fresh

We recently purchased a tube of Crest ProHealth toothpaste, and the box magically moved from the garbage (Miss M. likes to "find" things there!) to the front room.  R. was reading the box and was happy to announce that it would help with bad breath.  Teasingly I told him that he should use it.  He replied that he didn't need it as he didn't have bad breath.  

"Oh really, how do you know that?" I replied.

"I don't melt things when I breathe on them," R.

Terra Firma

R. walks into the room and asks, "Mom, do we live on earth?'
"Yes R., we live on earth," Mom.
Dad, who happens to be standing next to mom and R., thinks he will be cute and get R. to say that we live on terra firma. "R., another name you can use for the rock we live on is terra firma.  Tell your teachers that," Dad.
R, laughingly replies, "No dad, the rock we live on is Jesus!"

Sheesh, silly dad, get it straight!

What Do You Say?

"Mom, did God make God?", R.
"Uhhhh....", Mom
"Did the universe make God?", R.
"Uhhhh....", Mom.
"Who made God?", R.

He's Smiling!

At some age R. became self-concious about how he looked in pictures, and it is nigh unto impossible to get him to give an actual smile.  So, since I actually captured one, I thought I would share.  Yes Holly, you now have a new picture!

Flap, flap, flap

I realize all of my posts lately - and they are many - have only been words, so I will try to rectify that later.  However, this one is just words too.

"Look a birdie boogie," exclaims J. as he picks his nose.
"Flap, flap, flap," he motions with the boogie stuck on his finger.
"Look, a birdie boogie! Aump, I ate the birdie boogie," as he stuffs it in his mouth.

R. Quote for the Day

"Mom,
do we go to Pittsburgh if we die bad?"

The Stinky Conversation Continued.......

Mom -  "J. you have a stinky bum."

J -  "Yeah, it's a volcano."

Mom -  "A volcano, huh?"

J -  "Yeah, it erupted!"

MMM, Tasty.... Buffalo Chips! And My Mom

For H.  WH/NH have heard this before.  We went over to our neighbors house for FHE.  The idea was to have a pool party and nachos for dinner.  Which was very nice.  The boys didn't want to stop playing in the pool to eat dinner, so Sister Dodson volunteered to watch J. who was sitting by the pool. (Didn't want to go in, but didn't want to leave it alone either.)  While she was watching him, he very kindly looked at her, patted her face, as though to say thank you, but kindly informed her that he already had a momma.  This was the first time the boys had eaten nachos, and was quite a treat for them.  (A dinner that revolves around chips, what isn't to love?)  Fast forward to Sunday, and Primary.  They are talking about the pioneers, their struggles and how they made due with what they had.  I guess the use of buffalo dung for fuel was brought up, at which point R. raises his hand and excitedly announces that we had those for dinner at Sister Dodson's house earlier in the week.

Consternation on the Constellations

Okay the title just sounded good.  Again for H.  W-H/N-H were already informed.  Last night R. was reading a book about the solar system and what happens when a star dies.  I was downstairs working on somethings, and I hear him up there repeating to himself that when a star dies it squashes in on itself.  He repeated this a few times to himself, and was apparently not able to calm himself by this, and so he comes downstairs to tell me that when a star dies it squashes in on itself.  I could see that he was concerned, so I reassured him that no stars were going to die tonight, and that it would be okay.  He thought about it for a minute, looks at me and says, "God isn't going to let any stars die tonight? "  "No, God isn't going to let any stars die tonight."  "Oh, okay".  And off he went to bed.

Humor 2yr old style

This is for Holly.  Since I already told the White-Haired/No-Haired Club.  Today as I was changing J's stinky bum, he told me that he had a "Santa Stinky".  Not wanting to miss out on what this could possibly be, I enquired as to what a "Santa Stinky" was.  He replied: "You open it, and surprise, surprise, it's a stinky."

R. on The Solar System

"I like being on earth.  There are more things to do here, than on the other planets.  The other planets aren't my favorite.  There are volcanoes on Mars.  Mars has red sand.  As you can see, I don't like being on Mars. And Neptune has a big storm.  On Jupiter there is a red spot.  Way up is the moon."  R.

Pirate Jane

Kids are quite honest with their opinions.  Miss M. has now been dubbed "My Pirate Sister" for the day. 

(I was thinking more Napoleon. )

An Admission

I have to admit that it is a lot of fun to have a girl.  Not having had one of my own previously, and having 2 boys, I didn't realize what a difference there would actually be between the genders.  And let me say, for anyone who thinks that boys and girls SHOULD be the same, they haven't had kids, or are doing a HUGE disservice to their kids, because boys and girls are NOT the same.  Nor do they act or think the same.  That said, again, it is fun to have a girl.  Dresses, fabrics and crafts are fun again.

Prayer at the Primary

One last post to round out the day.  R. had to give the opening prayer in primary today.  I didn't want to tell him what to say, because he knows very well how to say prayers, and says his own prayers all the time.  So, I decided to let him say it, and if he wanted/needed help, I would step forward and give help.   He ended up saying his "food prayer" for the primary opening prayer.  After we got home, and were eating food, I tried to explain to him that when you are praying for primary you are saying the prayer for everyone in the room, that it should be applicable to what is going on in primary, and that you should really think about what you are saying.  You should thank Heavenly Father for what you have, and how you feel.  So, for his prayer over his food he was sure to express his thanks for his food, and thanks that he could feel his fork, and feel Joe (as he was kicking Joe under the table).

Mud and Dirt, Mud and Dirt - And an ENORMOUS Pile of Laundry

Seeing the last post, R. insisted on letting everyone know that they also LOVE playing in the dirt.  The best and greatest thing on earth is after it rains.  "Mom, look the rain made water so we can make mud."  And along with that the great fun of burying their toys in the mud. I was just corrected, they like 'sinking' their toys in the mud.  All this fun is brought to us by a dirt patch left over from a tarp for a kiddie pool some summers ago, which we tried to reseed, but were unsuccessful.  Enjoy the mess!

Garden Implements or Deadly Weapons?

No, my children haven't taken to watering the plants... Well, they would, if they were allowed - but for fear of them drowning the plants ("Mom, your plants need more water"...... 10 minutes later..."Mom, your plants need more water") they don't really get to do that.  What my children do love, and no matter what we do, we can't seem to stop it, is playing that they are shooting something.  Sprayers are great for looking like guns. (This was them laying on the ground shooting something - they never seem to stay there long enough to find the camera and then take the picture; and forget about them posing for the picture) Other things that are obvious guns: hangers, bendy curlers, the pipes from the football uprights they got for Christmas, parts from the mobile that go to the playpen, the tripod for the camera, or just about anything that is remotely straight.  And when told that they aren't allowed to shoot; they "gun", "bang" and "pow" things.  No, they don't have toy guns - water or otherwise, but are pretty inventive with EVERYTHING else to pretend that they are guns.

Baby Needs a New Pair of Shoes!!!!

I enjoy crocheting, and can follow a pattern - fairly well.  However, when it comes to making two things that HAVE to be the exact same - I quite frankly stink at it.  So, I don't attempt shoes.  Well, that isn't true. I attempt them - but they go in the fail category.  So, it was with dismay that I finally gave in and decided to make miss M. some shoes.  I had looked at Walmart, Target, Ross, TJMaxx, Nordstrom Rack (all the usual discount places), but no cute shoes - anywhere. (I might have high standards when it comes to cute shoes....) At any rate, I finally gave in and made her shoes.  I wanted to make some that would look like espadrilles, and since I scored at DI, I had plenty of yarn choices. :)  I opted for a natural cotton fiber for the bottom and a linen-cotton blend for the top.  I haven't put any embellishments on as yet, so we'll see if I get inspired.  I used a pretty standard bottom; half double stitch for the sole, next round only in the front loop with single crochet for 2 rounds.  I slip stitched around the inside to add some stiffness (it also changed the direction of the stitch from the top to the inside, which allowed for a straight top).  The heel is just a triangle with a few decreases and a few holes to run the ribbon through it.  The toe was worked in an arch getting progressively smaller.  I looked and thought about using a fancier stitch for that, but since the linen/cotton blend isn't smooth, I didn't think it really mattered.  I don't think you would have been able to see it that well.  Anyway, in the end, they really aren't exactly the same - so don't look too closely. Or, if you do, just don't tell me that you can tell.  I already know, but am not going to redo them; because in all probability, I would mess something else up and they would still be different.

The Infamous Boogie

For those of you who get queasy easily, this may not be the post for you.  For those of you who have enquired multiple times, and actually MADE me (okay, you can't make me do anything, I don't choose to do) pull it out of the trash, this is the post for you.  Here is the picture of what J had stuffed up his nose.  Mind you, I didn't actually pull this out, he did.  Here is the relationship we have - J. enjoys his finger finding things in his nose.  When J. does find something, he is altogether too eager to show me what it is he found, so that I can take it and throw it away for him.  So, a few weeks ago, as usual, J. comes up to show me what was in his nose.  Not a boogie. When he brought it to me, it was probably the size of a marble.  At which point, as most anyone would do (or any mom I have to say) I freaked out that my son had this up his nose for who knows how long.  And I proceeded to call mom and siblings to commiserate on what exactly my son was doing with this up his nose. (Which is why it was pulled out of the garbage for further inspection) And, I must say that he has been almost a gem of a child since then.  Granted, he still has his moments, and he still wants to come in at 4/5 in the morning to my bed, but he actually sleeps the rest of the night, eats his food, and seems genuinely happy.  Okay, here it is.

The Final Product

Well, since I had such an outcry (all 3 of the people who read/viewed my 'thank-you bird' for grandpa), I decided to put a beak on him.  That, and I added glasses.  Here is the final product.  That I WILL get to Grandpa...... One of these days.

You Spent How Much? At Where? On What?

Yes, contrary to popular belief, you can spend a lot of money at D.I.  But, as I told the nice cashier lady, bless the little old lady who died and gave her stash to D.I., because it is WAY cheaper than it would have been regularly.  In my defense (and it isn't much of one, since I feel a certain pang of guilt in sending it there) some of this is going to Carol. 

It is a nice lot of yarn. A lot of it is a mohair blend or cotton linen blend or cotton rayon blend.  Okay, I'll stop defending myself.  Here's what I got:

The first two pictures are for Carol.  The emerald green is the mohair, and the other two bags are the sock yarn.  One bag is full of just yellow, and the other is mixed (as you can see).  The next picture, the red is a cotton/rayon blend, the lime green behind, yellow to the side, and black behind are all mohair blends.  The last picture, the pink and white next to it are cotton/linen blends.  The 'pingpong' yarn (visible in both pictures) is a wool/orlon blend - I just liked the colors.  And the bag with blue is cott'n silk (cotton/nylon/silk) and the curly stuff in that bag is a mohair/wool blend.
I don't think I am actually going to disclose how much I spent.  Just incase mom sees this, I don't want her to lecture me about it.  Yes, I do feel guilt over it.  But, since it is nicely packaged, it should not make too much of a mess. (As long as J doesn't get a hold of anything).  So, yes you can spend too much money at the D.I.

Follow Up Pictures

Carol,

Here is a full view of that piece of handiwork.

A Thank You for Grandpa

As long as I am blogging, I may as well post this too.  Grandpa's birthday last year was his 90th.  Mom wanted to do a big shindig, and so she and Lisa put it together.  Well, I think I butted in on it, and as usual, volunteered to do a lot.  So, I put together a book of his work, and a film of his life.  I guess he was so blown away by it, that he wanted to do something to say thank you.  So, he painted me a painting.  By which, I am amazed.  I think it is too nice to be in my house, honestly.

Well, I can't let it go unthanked.  And since he is diabetic, I can't just bake him something to say thank you. (Which is a go-to thank you for me) So, instead, I made him a painter-bluebird.  T doesn't think it looks much like a bird; I contend that of course it does - it is blue and has wings.  I hope he likes it. I don't have his paintbrush done, but I hope to finish that today or tomorrow.  The majority of it I made up as I went along.  He is pretty simple in design.  I did borrow the pattern for his tail feathers from "Roosting Birds", by Irene Strange and his feet from "Eggy-The Cute Chick", by Ami Amour.  (Both of which can be found on Ravelry.com)  His wings are just a 'magic-circle', that isn't fully closed (I don't know if that is kosher with amigurumis, but such as it is) and has graduating heights of stitches, descending the same on the other side. .

Carol - Use Your Magic Identifying Powers!!!

  

Okay Carol,
Let's hear what kind of fabric you think this is.  For those of you not privy to the conversation surrounding this (which would be Holly, since she is the only other person who reads this), T's grandma was an avid quilter.  When she passed away in November, T's grandpa started giving away her collection of fabric.  I didn't think I was in on the pot, so I didn't ask for any.  However, when he came up for Christmas, he mentioned that if I would like some, he would put some aside for me.  Well, he sent me up a box of fabric, and being the greedy person I am, asked for more (in an nice way, don't worry mom, I wasn't rude!), well he had already let the RS come in and scavenge it. (Me crying!) So, there wasn't much left.  However, he did give me a box of her embroidery, which didn't have much - except this.  Which I won't part with for anything. Enter Carol to identify my cool find. It is linen stitched to the fabric.  The original design was drawn onto the linen.  There are faint marks visible where she didn't make part of the design.  If you notice there are two circles on the bottom of the curly part, and only one on top, but a faint pencil mark for the other circle.  At first glance it appears to be machine stitched, because it is sooo precise.  However, upon further inspection, you see where the thread was knotted to start a new motif.  The crochet hooks are also pretty cool.  I'm not sure what the deal is on them, but the bottom one, you notice, has a coil wrapped around it.  Which makes me infinitely curious as to why. So Carol, do your darndest.  I am waiting!

Is It Wrong to Laugh at Your Kid's Distress?

I know that I shouldn't laugh at my children's expense.  But, honestly sometimes it is hard not to.
 J. has issues sleeping. He has since he was born.  We used to have to wrap him in a Moby Wrap just to get him to sleep.  Then he had colic issues, and finally when he started going to sleep, he had to have a specific routine, and be nursed to sleep.  When we stopped that, he hung on to the rocking to go to sleep. Just before Miss M. came along, we put him in a room with R., and he had to quit going to bed by being rocked to sleep. (I think it is the motion that helped him to get to sleep.)  All along though, he has had troubles staying asleep, and will usually wake up several times during the night.  So, when I hear him crying in his bedroom, I don't think too much of it.  It is usually him talking in his sleep about R. being a mean older brother, or that he can't find his water, or that he wants a hug from his mom.  So tonight, I hear him crying, and can't quite understand him, and he somehow sounds muffled and distant.  Okay, I think, he hasn't come and found me, must just be a dream about R....... Crying continues - still muffled, and sounds somewhat frantic.  So, I go to check it out.  Somehow, he had gotten himself under his bed, and fallen asleep there.  Oh, there's nothing quite like reassuring your child, while trying to hide the fact that you are laughing at the situation.

Things My Head Does For Fun While I Am Sleeping.

What does your head do while you are sleeping?  Mine - tells jokes.  Not to say that they are that original, are standup quality, or that they would garner more than a pching from the drum.   However, here is the latest, and a few favorites:

A man walks into a bar, slips on a banana peel and sues the bar.  The bar tender replies, "I want an appeal!"

A man sees another man with a power pole in his car, and asks him what he is doing.  The man replies, "I'm taking a telephone poll!"

A man sees that another man has a bunch of rocks on his forehead, and enquires as to what they are.  The man replies, "They're headstones!"

Can you tell I like play-on-words?  Yes, these are jokes my head made up while I was asleep.

Cool Find in the Backyard

We have lived in our house for 5 years.  And for the duration of those 5 years, we have endeavored to clean up our backyard, and remove the weeds.  (We have some fun weeds that really agree with the multiply and replenish idea; so they have been particularly difficult to vanquish.) And in our digging about we have found: squirt guns, little tonka trucks, old balls, a ring that was left in the tree and never retrieved, lots of stumps - but never anything so cool as what I found behind our shed.  Nope, no dead bodies .... yet.

...

Tada......
(the sign, not the water barrels)  How cool is that? I'm sure one of the neighbors or a former inhabitant of our home stole it from somewhere and then ditched it so as not to get in trouble.  So yep, we are now the proud owners of a route 40 sign.  I think we will clean it up and hang it somewhere - preferably the garage

Forgiveness to the Rodent!

I am in a much more charitable mood towards the little rascal after I awoke this morning, and instead of snow on the grass; I found FLOWERS! (Technically there still is snow out there - as R. pointed out just now, and I realize that the flowers aren't ON the grass - but you get the idea.) Now if we can just keep the weather warm, the blossoms will be popping out all over the place... Hmmm, reminds me of a song Dorcus Butikas.

March, huh?

You know, I could have sworn that some ground hog somewhere predicted an early spring this year..... And, I suppose if spring consists of snow, cold weather and shoveling - then yes, it is spring!

But it does look awfully picturesque with the snow on the trees, and the bright blue sky.  

Eat your heart out Vegas! I know you are jealous.

Steph's wedding cake

Bek,

Here is the cake I can make.... if you want, I will make it for you.

Poor Girl - Mom Has a Thing For Hats!

As I was taking a picture to document the hat I made for Miss M. for Christmas, I felt a certain amount of pity for the girl. She's only 5 months - and not even quite that - and already she has had 8 different hats.  To be fair, 5 were given to her. So, I have only made her 3...... But, have plans for more!!  Here are 4 of the hats... One from Carol, and 3 from me.  The other one from Carol was already posted - for her blessing.

My Guys!

How lucky am I?

Butterick Pattern 3835

Carol,

Okay, here is the pattern that I have....

Why Yes, It is 4:04 am... and Yes, I AM Awake Playing Mom

I think I will spare you the photo on this one.  There is nothing quite like having to deal with children who are sick.  And by sick I mean chundering.  If you don't know what that is, you should be able to figure it out based on context.  I really don't want to go into detail.  That is the thing about being mom, it doesn't matter if you are tired, or hungry, or get sick yourself.  You are still EVERYONE'S security blanket.  You are the person who is supposed to fix things.  And if you can't fix it; at least you can comfort them in their discomfort.  Hence, why I am awake, and don't really want to go to sleep just yet.  I am sure that at any moment one of the boys will wake up and need to make a hasty trip to the bathroom; or I will have to clean up something that didn't quite make it to the bathroom.  I suppose I could post a picture of the bathtub full of soiled laundry.  That isn't overly descriptive and likely to induce vomiting.  The other reason I haven't gone back to bed, is that it is almost time to feed the baby.  And really, why sleep when in 1/2 hour you have to be back up to feed the baby?  You know, I think it is a good thing God didn't put men in charge of these things.  Hubby would be worthless tomorrow if he were awake right now.  Me - I still get to be mom tomorrow.... I have a tub full of laundry to clean, probably more to come - and a baby to feed.  Well, I am off to waste some time playing on the internet, waiting for the next kid crisis.

Butterfly Project

This post is mostly for me, to remind me that I would like to participate in this, and make some butterflies.http://www.hmh.org/ed_butterfly1.shtml

Miss M's blessing dress

Here is a long awaited picture of Miss M. in her blessing dress made by Carol.

Definitely the product of William Webb

I'll give you one guess whose forehead that is...........
On J. man