Felt Food

I haven't posted much lately because I've been busy with a sewing project. What's going on with us? I don't know, I'm sewing! Want to see pictures of the kids? Too bad, I'm sewing. Anyhow, after looking at lots of pictures, I decided to try making some felt foods. I think I'm done with my trial run. Either way, the sewing machine needs a break and the kids need some attention.

bread, cheese, lunch meat, lettuce, orange slices, chips, carrots, strawberries, pancakes with butter, and fried eggs

Hamburger patty, fish, frosted cookies with sprinkles, chocolate chip cookies, bowtie pasta, raviolis, marinara sauce, and a grocery sack to hold it all

Live each day to the fullest

Sometimes, we get so caught up in the things that don't matter that we miss out the things that do. We had such a reminder this afternoon.

A sweet friend of mine lost her husband suddenly this morning. She's due to have her third baby in about two weeks. She can't be more than 30 with a 2 year old and a 3 year old at home. Through Cub Scouts, I learned that she is a very strong woman, one that I admire for her integrity and her moral compass. I just want to hug her, hug her children. Hug my own children. And pray. Pray for her, pray for Cole and Halle, pray for their new baby. Pray for an even better understanding of the Gospel. Pray to remember what's really important.

Bleeding out your eyeballs...

First off, thanks to my guest blogger that posted Sam's picture below.

Now for the story (so you don't think I poked my baby in the eyes with a fork or something!)

Sam likes to help with the dishwasher. Actually, he likes to help remove things from the dishwasher. You know, the still dirty plates, the breakable stoneware, or just the lower rack in general.
Our problem occurred Friday night with the lower rack. He pulled it out and was scooting it around the kitchen like always. Then, I heard him crying from the other room and the stampede of big brothers rushing to his rescue that follows said cries. I relaxed as they took him into Jared, until I heard Jared telling the boys and their cousins to "Find Mom, find Kelly, get mom!"

This is where a little family history comes into play. I guess people in our house growing up used to fake being sick to miss school.My mom got to the point that she told us no one would be missing anymore school unless they were bleeding out their eyeballs. I had recently adopted this reasoning with my boys that have miraculously been healed from a few
illnesses about 15 minutes after school has started.

So, back to Friday. I walk in to the kitchen and little Sammers is actually bleeding out of his eyeballs! He had fallen on the dishwasher rack and caught the pegs in his face. His left eyelid and underneath his right eye was bleeding, and the right side of his face was scratched.
Luckily, he calmed down pretty fast ans we were able to see that the eyelid was only gouged and not poked through (sorry to my queasy sister). The other owies were just surface. his dilation was fine as well as his tracking. He just ended up with some swollen, black eyes.

Too bad he used the 'bleeding out your eyeballs' card, though. He's not even in school yet!

Sam vs. Dishwasher

Kelly had a really sucky day Friday. BLOOD THAT WAS COMING OUT OF HER SAMMERS EYE BALLS was the icing on the cake. You should wish her a good day. :)

Crush? Yes Girlfriend? No

Shot through the heart,
and you're to blame,
You give love a bad name

This is really what I was expecting! Well, not Bon Jovi, but I was expecting a little bit of arguing when we delivered the news to Jake. I was ready for tears. I was ready for "but you said"s. I was ready for stomping upstairs. The night after he told us about his girlfriend, we explained to him that he couldn't have a girlfriend.
We explained that the Prophets have told us to wait until we're 16 to date and if we let him have a girlfriend now, he could get into trouble later. I don't think he understood what we meant by "trouble", but in a very un-jake-like way, he agreed with us!
He asked if it's OK for him to still like her and we said crushes were allowed. I mean, really, he called dibs and I'd hate for all that pre-planning to go to waste! And, I was so proud that he didn't even think about asking her for his candy bar back!

Fatherly Advice

On the way home tonight, I was made aware of the fact that Jake has a girlfriend! Yeah, he's, ummm, ten! So, Jared has known about this for a week now because that's when Jake extended the offer to Riley to be his girlfriend (she just barely accepted today). So anyways, here's some of the advice that was bouncing around our car on the way home:

• you should give her the big Snickers bar you got for Halloween because 'chicks' like chocolate
• you have to call dibs on a girl to make sure you get to be her boyfriend ; otherwise, one of your friends could get her (I found out tonight that Jared called dibs on me some 11 years ago, how romantic!)
• she's really only your girlfriend when you're both at school because that's the only time you really see her.

So, now that you know the incredible romantic powers held by my husband, please remember that he's taken. I called dibs on him!

P.S. Lock up your daughters - he's teaching everything he knows to my boys!

I needed to turn in a picture for a project for Super Saturday and I realized I really didn't have any that were good of all 4 boys. We tried this after church on Sunday, and I got this shot on the first try! I really have some
cute boys!

Look! They're all 4 smiling at the same time!

A good use for Pokemon cards!

and Bakugan cards, and YuGiOh cards and probably a few Old Maid cards!

Plus, it really helps pass the time when you get sent to your room!

Halloween 2009

Jake - G.I. Joe guy, Cam & Josh - werewolves, Grace - cheshire cat

Since the child that was so appropriately dressed up as a little devil this year broke my camera, I only got this one picture to turn out using Cam's camera. I'm not sure what 'artistic' settings he's using, but everything else turned out blurry and bright! I guess that's o.k., like I scrapbook anyways!

Halloween Hand for dinner

So, I saw this on another blog and had to make it or dinner! The comments I received during dinner let me know that it turned out pretty awesome! There's nothing like a little baked hand right before Halloween to make you appreciate that Thanksgiving turkey!

Lib's Ward Party

These are from Lib's Halloween Party in her ward.

Josh is a werewolf similar to Cam, but his hood is soooo itchy!

Cam is a werewolf and Grace is the cat from Alice in Wonderland. ( My mind is blank right now!)

Sam went as his alter ego - a little devil!

knives and matches!

We carved our jack-o-lanterns for FHE tonight. I was trying to pinpoint exactly why the boys like this tradition year after year. But then, I started to wonder what's NOT to like about this tradition year after year (if you're a little boy, that is!) We started by designing our pumpkins on dad's iPhone - how's that for tradition? Then, it's time to fish out the gooey yuck. Next, playing with knives and finally, lighting fires! What could be more fun?!?

Jared gave Sam a pile of guts to keep him busy in his booster while we carved. Sam looked at them, said, "ewwww", and threw them all over the floor. Yeah, have fun with that, Dad!

Cam mentioned that he thought it would be fun to swim in a big pool full of pumpkin guts - disgusting, I know!

Josh was super intense with his drawing. He actually found the app that let's you design your pumpkin on dad's iPhone. He's had his design idea set for a couple of weeks now.

Jake useed my giant pumpkin I found at Smith's. This thing was huge - at lest 30 pounds! Oh, well. Now he has jagged teeth and ears.

Looking for jars

So I think I finally found a Halloween craft for the 5th grade party that won't humiliate Jake!

Thing is, there's 40 kids in his class. I have some jars, but I really don't want to donate 40! I'm heading to DI this morning to look for some, but does anyone want to donate 2 or 3 to my cause?

Welcome to our Preschool!

Today we learned more about Fall. We had fun making karo syrup leaves, putting together our own leaf memory games, and practiced writing and sounding out the letter F.

Oh, and we watched Sam streak through the preschool room a few times.

Sorry if your child received more education than you paid for today!

Grandma's Gangstas

Hey Grandma,
Waz up? Thanks for the clothes money. We spent it on some really nice jackets and hats to keep us warm this winter. Mom let us have our choice (almost) of what we wanted to buy and we tried to choose things that you would have chosen. Jake found a nice zippered jacket in a suh-weet animal print. The best part is that the zipper goes all the way up! Cam's jacket has some cool glow-in-the-dark spiders and spider webs and he even had enough leftover to get that rockin' hat. Josh just lucked out and got a hat because he wanted it, but we had to sell Sam's clothes to buy it. Sorry Sam! Oh yeah, and Dad, he's just trying to be as cool as we are - maybe you should send him some money next time!

Love,
Jake & Cam

Scarecrow Festival

We went to the Scarecrow Festival over UEA Break - as one of my friends put it, we might as well invest in the boys' reform school the puts the festival on in hopes of getting a scholarship later when we need it!

Cam and Josh REALLY enjoyed their cotton candy. They were so cute counting out their coins for the $2 a bag treat, that the sales guy gave them each a bag for the same price!

The boys all loved climbing in this giant spider web thingy. We'd really like to build one in the backyard - wouldn't the neighbors love us then? Josh is near the bottom in the green & red, Cam's in teh middle in the red shirt, and jake is somewhere on that next to top layer.

Their favorite part was the rockets. For a dollar, they got to build their own rockets with fins, glitter, whatever. Then they got to blast them off with the air blaster thingymajig in teh picture below that Cam is playing with.

Even though there were a bunch of jumpies and carnival games, we spent most of our time here launching rockets.

Sam and I rode the little train while the big boys launched, but the shutter on the camera is having problems and we didn't get a picture. Sorry, Grandma!

Fortunes

So, yesterday, I stopped by Panda Express for a little taste of orange chicken. My fortune cookie said,

"People are saying good things about you."

I felt really good about this until later last night when I hopped on Facebook and realized my sister had hacked into my account and changed my profile to this:

Pretty, huh?

Thriller Night

Act I

A few years ago, Jared and I saw Thriller. We liked it so much, we decided to go again and take the two big boys this time. Of course, Jared insisted we have dinner at The Pie on the way. It's his favorite restaurant and he needed to be rewarded for convincing me he really wanted to go to the show even if there wasn't going to be a big, orange ball or an electronic scoreboard!
I really love going to plays, dance recitals, musicals, etc and I wanted to introduce the boys to a little bit of 'culture' that wasn't the fuzzy-growing-on-something type. I think they really liked the show. That is, after we got past the zombie out front with the really freaky eyes! Poor Cam was a little scared as we took our seats, but he calmed down as we laughed at the Chucky dolls, Frankenstein, and Jason and his hockey mask. I loved hearing their favorite parts all the way back to Manda's place to pick up the little boys. And, just to clear things up, neither of them were really scared of the freaky-eyed zombie - my mistake!

Act II (a.k.a. Just Gimme My Kids Back, Manda!)

My sister, Manda, jumped at the chance to take the two little boys while we went to the show (especially after we fed her pizza, too). I thought the show was only two hours, which would have us ending at 9:30 and on our way to pick up the little boys. We didn't really get out until 10:10. I called Manda and she seemed calm, too calm. She said the little boys were asleep in her bed. I had no idea she was so ticked off at us for being late!
We got to her building and the elevator was mysteriously not working. So, Jake, Cam and I headed up the stairs after StrangerDanger #1 used his keycard to let us into the eerie stairwell. We made it to the 3rd floor and the same guy swiped his card again to let us into the main building. The following events may be a little biased and presented under the influence of the Thriller production:
*I knocked on Manda's door & got no answer. I thought to myself, "she's trying to steal my babies to sell them on the Black Market to pay off her new car!"
*We went down the other stairwell which only led to the parking garage so we went back to the 3rd floor. Smart Jake had propped the door open so we could get back in.
*Went down our original stairwell, door on main floor was locked. 3rd floor door was locked, too. Locked in stairwell. Can hear Manda laughing through the vents. "Mwah ha ha ha!"
*Look out in to parking garage to find someone to let us in building. Avoid serial killer guy. See Manda. She ducks under cover, but we find her. Make it outside when Manda reluctantly show us how to open garage door to the outside world.
* Manda acts like she 'forgot' her key card to get in the building. Evil glimmer in her eye. Lady finally pulls up and lets us use her key card to get inside.
*Conveniently can't find any helpline phone numbers so Manda starts to call police. I think she was actually calling her accomplice that had a chainsaw.
*Find StrangerDanger #2 in original Stairwell again. Cameron approaches him, "Sir, could ye spare a cardswipe on the 3rd floor for a gentleman and his two handmaids?" or something like that anyways. SD #2 lets us onto the 3rd floor.
*Manda lets us into her apartment where Sam and Josh are still sleeping. I swear I heard her grumble, "Foiled again" under her breath.
* Cam and I grab what belongs to us and quickly leave. Manda warns us to never visit Downtown again - she says it's not safe there! "Mwah hahahah!"

*Um, yeah, thanks for babysitting Aunt Manda. You're a real peach!

we heart macaroni

Jake keeps singing the same song over and over and over and over and over (get my point?)

Anyhow, it's making me a little crazy!

"FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT'S HOLY"

I exclaimed in my best Tommy Boy voice! (is it OK for Mormons to use that expression?)

"YEAH, FOR THE LOVE OF MACARONI!"
I hear Josh yell right behind me.

He kills me!

My 10 Things that Made Me Smile Today

1. Sam's yogurt face this morning as he insisted on feeding himself breakfast!

2. The hour I had to Mine and Sam's selves this morning when Jared took the other boys to help clean the church.

3. My new skull socks I found at Target today.

4. Jake saying, "OK Mom" to one of the things I asked him to do this afternoon.

5. My new favorite saying from our Thursday Night Finance class with Brother Foy : "You can have anything you want, you just can't have everything you want."

6. My killa deal on Pampers today - $1.50 a pack!

7. The 3 caramels I had to buy at Walgreen's so I met the 'same number of coupons as items' rule and no one else knows about them!

8. Watching the boys dance around the Halloween store ooh-ing and ahh-ing over everything.

9. Driving past 4 church buildings on the way to WalMart tonight and pointing out the overflowing parking lots at each one to my boys. You go, Priesthood!

10. Driving past those same 4 churches on the way home at 7:50, just in time to beat all the priesthood traffic.

Sketti Sauce

I mentioned to Jared that if we had enough tomatoes, I would make and can some spaghetti sauce. Well, being Mr. Getterdone, he went around to the neighbors and gathered tomatoes! Thanks to the Foy's, the Kitchen's, and the Gibson's for supplying my moocher husband with tomatoes!

Questioning my own sanity, I decided we should let the boys help with the sauce. So, our FHE lesson was about following the prophet in the area of being prepared. They tend to question me sometimes when I come home from Smith's with 20 boxes of cereal."We have 200 boxes of cereal you won't die a slow, painful death from starving, my sweeties!" We also have a garden and we can things from the garden for the same reason we have the cereal.

With all that said (and nobody listening to me anyways), it was time to get messy!


Jake called the job of scalding the tomatoes in the boiling water after I cored them. This scared me a little at first, but he did a really good job and was really careful with the hot water.
Josh and Cam worked at the sink peeling the skins off after Jake scalded them. I got to work the blender and just to show everyone how good I am in the kitchen, I did it with my eyes closed!
Sam helped Jared put onions and bell peppers in the feeder tube for the food processor. Other than that, his main job was to stay out of trouble! (He would have succeeded, too, if it hadn't been for that meddling bag of sugar!)

We used Sister Kitchen's recipe (thanks again!) and it simmered all Monday night and most of Tuesday. The boys really had a great time and claimed this as another favorite Family Night Activity! As of today, we have 7 quarts and 1 pint of really yummy spaghetti sauce.

You know your Momma loves you when..

* you take blue marker to the chair, piano, tile, front door, and brand new dollar store baby meant for preschool
* you color the preschool stools with black marker (where in the world is his secret marker stash?!?)
* you empty a bag of pancake mix into the carpet
* you follow the pancake mix with a bowl of rice in the carpet
* you pour a glass of water out all over the table and sit in it
* you dump out the trash can - twice!

And, you do it all within a 24 hour period of time and she still thinks you're a little bit cute!

And...we're back!

So... Jared's spending a little time at home looking for a new job, which means he needs the computer to work. He worked on it this morning and conquered the virus! My knight in Shining Armor!

Lucky for me, because I can now do my really important stuff like blogging, uploading pictures, facebooking, catching up on Peoplemagazine.com, and playing FarmTown.

What!?! I guess he needs to use it to email resume's. Geez, what the heck in the world?

Well, at least I got to put a few pics on here. Enjoy!

Jake's new bike

Our cousin, Patrick, passed down this really great bike to jake. We saved it for his birthday since Cam had gotten a new bike for his birthday the month before. Jake loves it. It has all kinds of gears and it's really tall. I guess that's all you need to be a cool bike! We bought a lock for it the first week of school so he could ride it each day and surprisingly I haven't had to drive anyone to school this year!

Pirate Pizza - FINALLY OPEN!!!

We have been following Pirate Pizza's blog and waiting very impatiently for it to open since about April. While Grandma and Grandpa Louisiana were here for teh weekend, we took the whole family (minus Jared who was stil in SanFran and Rich who was working). The food was good, although the rides and games are a little pricey (in my cheap opinion). The atmosphere and servers were incredible! Everyone was dressed up and spoke 'pirate'. We all had a great time!

Our three oldest pirates donning their hats for me.

Jake, James, & Miles were all sung to by a fairly clean group of pirate for their birthdays. The pirate with her hand on Jake's shoulder was our server, she was amazing!

Grace is pretty good at that 'crazed Johnny Depp' style of pirate!

Grandpa even felt the need to wear a hat! I ownder if they gave him his senior discount?