Halloween with Grandma

We had a great time with Grandma here on Halloween. We had a pizza dinner, then went out trick or treating with our very large group and got lots of candy! Everyone looked great in their costumes, Steven a chicken (We got a lot of comments about his costume), Yanina a witch, Nick a bee, Becca and Sarah were in Poodle Skirts, Gavin (Laura's Cousin) was an IRS agent, Jacob a vampire, Mariah was a random person, Noah I did not get a picture of was a bee also, and the rest of us...well we did not dress up. We were glad that everyone could come and join us for the night.

For Andy

Will was going to be a superhero (I thought) but he insistede on being a monkey for the second year in a row. It is fine by me as long as we get our money's worth from the monkey suit. The boys are trying to show you their muscles in the one picture and Eli is waving hello.

I'm very disapointed!

I think I've waited patiently long enough. I have been out here in the middle of nowhere checking all the blogs daily to see all of the Halloween pictures of cute nieces and nephews in costumes. Nothing. I expect you all to repent over this weekend, and have pictures up by the end of Sunday. A vos te digo tambien Laura. Ya es tiempo para que pongas algo en el blog.

Happy Belated Birthday!

I'm sure you all know by now that we are really, really bad at remembering birthdays. We are so sorry Ralph! We hope you have a great birthday.

Reunion Pictures

Did we ever get the photoshopped photos from the lady?

Voting time

Who's everyone voting for? Adrianne and I voted for Chuck Baldwin--we know there's no way he's going to win, but we are registered in Utah and they will select McCain regardless of what we do. We agree with the constitution party's position on most things. Are any of you in states where your vote actually means anything?

What is/has every one done for Halloween?

We went and picked pumpkins and then carved them. Unfortunately, it's now sure that I will not be here for halloween. I am going to Sierra California for 3 weeks this Saterday.

FUmpa FUmpa FUmpa...NOAH!!

Is someone talking to me?
FUMpa FUmpa FUmpa
NOAH!!
Who is This?
It's a miracle. Andy put a new post on his blog. It's even got pictures and everything. You should check it out.

Noah

Laura asked me to post some pictures of Noah.

He is 10 pounds 6 ounces, and 22 inches long.

SOMETHING COMPLETED - FINALLY!

We enjoyed watching general conference yesterday and today, and our testimonies have been strengthened through the talks we heard from the general authorities and other church leaders. We were glad to hear about new temples in Rome and Philadelphia, both of which we hope to visit :-).

Friday and Saturday (before and in between sessions) Dad cut and glued the capstones for the planters in front of the house. He started building them last summer, and feels great satisfaction at finally completing them. Still lots more capstones to do on the "great wall," in the back yard, but he continues to move forward.

Destructo Man

My little one year old boy (birthday pictures on my blog) is a constant mess maker. He climbs into everything, pulls things out of all the cupboards and drawers he can open, throws things on the floor and says uh oh! He is so cute, but I have twice as much to clean up now that he has learned these new abilities. When he gets hungry, he climbs over to the snack cabinet, pulls out some cookies or crackers and eats right thru the package. I finally have had to lock some of the cupboards up. He pulls out all the pots and climbs inside that cupboard while I am cooking dinner. He loves to watch things fall and say uh oh. Ah, what a fun stage this is.

Post Cards, please

Check out this post from Adrianne's sister. Her daughters class is collecting post cards.

http://mcclarkies.blogspot.com/2008/10/shout-out-for-postcards.html

Mike

Yesterday morning

Yesterday morning Adrianne and I got up for the day around 0610. I got into the shower and Adrianne went for a jog. After being in the shower for a few minutes, it was time to wash my face. I applied the soap to my face, and as I was doing so, I heard, from about 3 feet behind me, "Mahhh-mahhh." Naturally, hearing what sounded like ghost noises to me, I screamed like a girl. A second into the scream my brain caught up with my adrenalin and I recognized that the noise was Isaac.

Let me interrupt my story. On Sunday I was going to the bathroom when I overheard Adrianne telling the boys that I was a monster and that they needed to go "quish" me. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to play with the boys, so as they ran down the hall to squish me, I turned and yelled, "Roarrrr!" Will was a little startled, but Isaac, stopped, shook like he was having a seizure and then started bawling. That was not my intended reaction, especially since it took about 30 minutes to help him stop crying. For the rest of the day he kept saying, "Daddy, no be monster/dinosaur."

Now, back to my story. I quickly opened the shower curtain to see Isaac, terrified, standing in the bathroom. Before I could say anything, he screamed, too. I tried to reassure him that things were okay, and that I was just a little scared by him, but all he would say was, "Daddy, no be monster. Daddy, no be monster." I couldn't figure out what to do--Do I hop out of the shower naked, dripping, and with soap all over my face to comfort my crying child or do I pick him up and bring him into the shower? I decided to pat his head, and tell him he was okay. After a few minutes he calmed down enough for me to tell him to go back to sleep and that mommy would be home when he woke up.

I no more than shut the curtain and resumed my shower when I heard, "Daddy, what was that scary noise?" With less patience for him, I told Will to get back in his bed and go to sleep.

Some men are afraid to admit that they scream like a little girl. I am not.

Mike

Advice

Does anyone know anything about the current market? Other than it is not doing great.

We are thinking about refinancing (again) and wondered what will happen to the interest rates over the next few months.

I have to lock-in my rate and am not sure what to do!

Chores

How does your family do chores? Mom and dad do it all? The kids have assignments? Charts? Daily, weekly? What do you do??

One more thing...

P.S. How is Laura, Andy's pregnant wife, doing?

Wheat Grinders and USAF Academy

Mom has offered to get each family a wheat grinder for Christmas. http://www.blendtec.com/millpromo.aspx (Mom, the promo code is here on the page--it seems like the code only applies to 1 purchase, so you might have to do a separate purchase for each grinder) If you are interested in getting one, please let her know.

I have been becoming more and more concerned about food storage recently. I went to the cannery for the first time in my life yesterday. We now have a lot of macaroni that will not go bad for the next 30 years, but we still need to get some other stuff. I am excited about having a wheat grinder, too. I only have 3 cans of wheat right now, but next time we go, I will get more. I'm convinced that even if we never have to use it, our family will still be blessed for following the Lord's counsel on food storage. “From the standpoint of food production, storage, handling, and the Lord’s counsel, wheat should have high priority. … Water, of course, is essential. Other basics could include honey or sugar, legumes, milk products or substitutes, and salt or its equivalent. The revelation to produce and store food may be as essential to our temporal welfare today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah.” (Ezra Taft Benson, Oct. 1980.)

On another note, unless something out of the ordinary happens, we will be moving to Dayton, OH in Aug 09 where I will get a master's degree in mechanical engineering. We will then move to Colorado Springs in Dec 10/Jan 11 where I will teach at the Air Force Academy for the following 4 years. Exciting, eh?

Mike

New FamilySearch Take Two

Well, I got access to the new FamilySearch on Wednesday and have probably spent 10 or so hours on it since. I am really enjoying messing with it. So far, I've completed the training for family history consultants/priesthood leaders and have spent most of the rest of my time going through and combining duplicate records of a number of our ancestors. In fact, almost every one of them has had at least 2 records. It has been very interesting to me. I think Aunt Shauna is also working on things--there was a piece of information that she changed.

I haven't actually tried to find anyone new. I've added a few pieces of information from Grandpa Paulsen's records (the ones I stole from Mandy). I am just starting to go through the records he has and compare them with the information on line. Most of the people I'm updating have already had their temple work done, but it seems like there have been a few sets of siblings that are awaiting their work--I don't know for sure because I haven't tried to combine their records. You see, almost every time I've found someone who needs their temple work done, I find a duplicate (or a few duplicates) that already have their temple work done.

In any case, if your temple district is using the new FamilySearch, I invite you to register and take a look around.

Mike

FREE!!!

This morning there was an ad from a yard sale. They had all this stuff left over from their yard sale and were giving it away free. My sister in law and I went and spent about an hour going through all the stuff. This is the junk I came home with. There is a mirror, some clothes, a printer ink, cookbooks, candles, candlesticks, laundry detergent, shoes, a tray, knick nacks,

a fleece blankie, fat curling iron, etc. It was soooo fun! I wouldn't have bought this stuff, but since it was free...!!! My sister in law Laura got a bunch of stuff, too. She got some roller blades, books and a bunch of more stuff. I think people should give me stuff free more often!!

Poll

So Mom told me today that Laura is already dilated. SO we better hurry up and place our bets.

Important facts

Her due date is October 17th

She had Nick 4 weeks early.

PLACE YOUR BETS

New Family Search

Mike wants to know who is using the new family search. He is very excited about it.

New Post

Everyday I check this blog to see if something new is here... like many of you, but there isn't. I've finally come up with something to post.

Rummage Sales!!

Also known as yard sales and garage sales.
Most weekends through out the summer in any town.

You may not know this, but I am addicted to yard sales. I hate to miss them, what if they have just what I need at an incredible price?? Here there are sales from Wednesday to Saturday, and sometimes Sunday, too. I can usually get in at least one a day and fill my obsession. Today I got a book for 50 cents for Jacob.
I've found some good things this season. We got a lawn mower, a rake, decoration for Jacob's room, clothes, and other stuff I can't remember. Oh, lamps, little people farm...
I've also seen some really weird stuff for sale:
empty bear honey bottles
empty gatorade bottles

This is Powwow weekend in Bismarck. It is the big weekend for sales because lots of people come into town. I will try to hit at least a few a day for the next few days. I will let you know how it goes.

Have you been "saling" thing summer? What have you found? What weird things have you seen?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICHOLAS

Today, Nick turns two years old! He's thrilled with the little soccer ball he got, and we had to hide it from him to get him out the door for Stake conference. Laura made the wonderful cake, and Nick got to talk to allot of his family in Argentina. He seems really happy.

He is on his knees

He's not ready to crawl but he is already getting himself on his knees and he is able to wiggle himself quite a ways from where we lay him down.

Gardens

In our yard we have a variety of gardens. There are flower gardens and bushes and plants and trees and herb gardens and what at one point was a vegetable garden and is now a weed garden. Some of it is pretty and some of it is ugly. We don't even know what most of it is and will probably pull alot of it out at some point. However, we have lots of different lilies and they are all beautiful!! Every day it seems there are new blossoms.

Open the flood gates

Well, once again we have tested and proven the tithing theory. Not intentionally, anyway here is our latest story.

Jason is going to school, as you all know. He will be taking 12 credits this semester. He is going to the local community college so it is not terribly expensive, but it does add up, especially when we are really tight to start with.

So back in May or June I went on line after a friend told me where to go and what to do and I filled out the FAFSA. It had to be turned in by July 1. A week or so later we got something in the mail from the school asking us to fill more stuff out and send in a copy of our most recent tax returns. We did all that. A few weeks later we got another thing saying that Jason did not sign his tax return and he needed to. So he went to the office got that all done and they submitted it.

We never heard anything back. I checked on line and it said that his expected cost of school was $12,000 (which includes books, housing, etc) and he had been awarded no financial aid. I wasn't that surprised, mostly just disappointed.

So, now we have to pay his tuition by the 31st of July so he doesn't lose his classes. I was getting more and more worried. We are going to have to put it on a credit card. So last Thursday I told him to go to the financial aid office and find out about student loans. When he got there they pulled up his record and found that it had never been submitted. I was SO angry!!! They told him that they would turn it in then.

Well, the next day I looked on line and found that he had been awarded enough money to cover his classes and his books for the entire year!! I was so happy. I called him in and made him look at it with me. Then we knelt down and thanked Heavenly Father for once again saving us with a HUGE blessing.

My brother Ammon is having two major surgeries. The first one will be on Monday and the second one won't be until Aug., although he will have to stay in the hospital the entire time. The surgeries are very difficult and we are all very nervous for him. After the surgeries he will have a long recovery and he will have to miss the first few months or more of school--he is very sad about that. We are all praying for him and I wondered if you would all do the same too. I think we could use all the prayers we can get. He started his own blog so we would all be updated on what is happening with his surgery and recovery. You can check out his blog here .

Thank you everyone!

I just wanted to write to everyone and say thank you for coming to our family reunion. It wasn't perfect, but it sure was nice to be together as a giant family.

We just got home from mom and dad's house. Mike and Adrianne & Andy and Laura are still there and I am glad that I will get to see them a couple more times at least, but I am still sad. I am sad to come home to an empty house. I am sad that I won't get to see many of you again for three years.

I had the best of both worlds. I was still in my house, with the comforts of home. I didn't have to pack anything or travel anywhere. But I still got to spend tons of time with my family. I know that for many of you, going home is a nice thing, kind of a relief. But for me it is just sad and lonely.

I love you all. Thank you again.


PS Jason and my kids think I am nuts sitting here crying in front of the computer.

PSS I don't think that it helps any that I have to go back to work tonight and I really don't want to. And that I have sharing time tomorrow. It was fun to pretend for a while that I had no responsibilities.

Sleeping

Hi. I am trying to figure out if I should get a bed/beds for our basement bedroom. We have a partially finished basement. It has a bedroom that has walls, but no paint or carpeting or anything. There is a family room area that is not finished either, but could be a separate sleeping area if wanted/needed. There is also a brand new full bathroom. I would be very happy to have someone stay at our house, but do understand that it would be a sacrifice to not be at mom and dad's. I would like to be staying there also but like having my own bathroom. (So we will have three full bathrooms in our house with five bodies in it if no one stays with us.)

I took pictures of the partially finished shower and the bedroom. It has our exercise equipment in it, but there is plenty of room for a bed and other stuffs. We do have a carpet that we can lay down on the floor.

We live about 25minutes from mom and dad's.


Mom and Dad have the following sleeping accommodation's available:


Room with Queen bed and crib
Green Room with double bed
New bedroom in basement with queen size bed
Kid room with four twin beds

Dad is willing to buy a double bed on bottom and a twin bed on top set to go into the kid room if one of the couples would like to sleep in there with all of the children.

Plus there will also be pack and plays available to set up where ever wanted.

So, let me know what you all are thinking....
Also mom and dad have a blow up mattress that can be put in the family room/living room at their house.

Mom and Dad hopefully will have three working full bathrooms to share with everyone.

Yanina

Pronounced Shah-NEE-Nah, Yanina is Laura's sister, my sister-in-law, and Nick's Aunt. Laura and I are doing all that we can so that Yanina can come visit us when Noah is born. On the 24th of June, she'll have an interview at the U.S. embassy to prove to them that she will not stay here as an illegal alien if they giver her a tourist visa. We are praying that everything goes well with her trip to the embassy and that she will be granted a visa. We wanted to ask you to add her to your prayers as well. Thank you very much.

Accomodations

Okay, these aren't necessarily "assignments" as much as mom and I are trying to figure everything out.

Jess asked me to post this, as she has been unable to sign into the blog recently.

In regards to the reunion:

Who needs a pack and play or crib of some kind for their baby?
Ralph- 1 Jess's crib or Michelle's pack and play
Mandy-1 Mom's pack and play
Mike- 1 Kim's pack and play
Andy-1 Mom's crib

What kinds of car seats will be needed?
Booster-
Ralph- 0
Mandy-2 backless boosters x2
Mike- 1 Layla's booster
Andy-0

5 Point Harness-
Ralph- 1- will bring own
Mandy-1 mom's new
Mike- 1 mom's yard sale
Andy-1 borrowed from Kim

Rear facing seat
Mandy-1 borrowed from Wendy Lee
Mike- 1 Jess's

What about strollers? Is anyone bringing theirs?
Ralph-
Mandy-bringing a single
Mike-
Andy-bringing a single

I put this in the comment as well. I have a single stoller, not a tiny one, a normal one. Mom has an umbrella stoller. I also have a double jogging stroller. And could borrow another one or two if needed.

As you can see, my family needs one of everything! Mom and Jess need to start collecting/borrowing these things for those of us that need them.
Thanks!

A request

Hey all, my brother and his family live in Iowa where all the flooding is going on. They are ok and haven't been evacuated yet but things are going to get worse. Could you please pray for them? You can read about their situation here

Family Home Evening

As we are all going to be in Maryland on Sunday, would we like to consider having a family home evening? Each family could take an assignment. Mom could have her apple pies for the treat. Are you interested?
We would need:
lesson
music
prayer
activity
scripture
That would give each family an assignment. If you want in, say so.

Becca is Driving!

Becca got her driver's permit about 9 days ago. She is having fun learning to drive. Ralph usually takes her out to drive at a nearby park or parking lot. (I do not have the patience, so both Becca and I agreed that I would not take her out driving.) She drove on the road last Thursday night, she was really nervous, but Ralph said that she did just fine. Becca will have her 3rd drivers ed class tonight. Here is Becca sitting in our new car that we got about 9 days ago also. She has only driven this once in a parking lot. She is also wearing her Letterman's Jacket that we got today. More pictures of that are on our blog.

Below

Some how I got a post underneath Layla's bday. Be sure to go read it and comment. Thanks!!

Layla's Birtday

Today was Layla's birthday (yesterday was my birthday, thanks alot to all you schmucks who forgot!!!). She had a princess/unicorn birthday party. We went on a treasure hunt to find the stolen treasure. It was a lot of fun.

Monday

Monday we are planning a picnic, with pictures to begin the day. That evening we will be having our unbirthday party. Let's talk specifics.

10am Pictures at park
Play at park
12pm Picnic at park

Go home, do whatever you want
Prepare for party, get food ready
Activities for kids, like make decorations, plans some games, etc.

6pm Food and party

How does that time frame sound? Would you rather start the pictures and picnic later? I know we are all coming from different time zones, so we need to take that into account. My family is early risers, but everyone else might not be. Share your thougths on this.

Food for Monday
~we talked about breakfast in an earlier post
~picnic -What do you want?
sandwiches, chips, cookies, veges, fruit?
or chicken, salads, eclairs?
~party appetizers
layer dip/chips
artichoke heart dip
spinach dip
mushrooms
vege pizza
What else?? What do your kids like? Fondue?

Ok, now everyone needs to weigh in on this day, both activities, timing and food.
Thanks!!

Shopping List for Mom

Okay maybe we need to do the food a little differently.

Breakfast: Cereal, Eggs, is that okay with everyone?

Unplanned lunches: Sandwiches, left overs

Snacks: Gold fish, gogurt, fruit, veggies and ranch, pretzels, string cheese, etc

Unplanned Desserts: Cookies, Ice cream, pop sickles

Does that satisfy everyone's needs.

Family Picture

So let's talk for just a minute about different colors for different families...

What color would each of you pick?

I would choose blue because we each already have blue shirts, and with our blue eyes we look pretty good in blue, and well, because I just like it! (We could do another color if someone else needed blue.)

M&D Richards:

R&L Richards: Dark Blue

Pitcher: Red

Crowl: Light Blue

M&A Richards: Green

A&L Richards: Yellow

Family Picture

What does everyone want to wear for the pictures? I think we agreed to go casual.
Some ideas that have been suggested:

~Each family has their own color, we each pick our own
~Red, white and blue
~Denims and white shirts
~I just saw some 4th of July t's at walmart for kids for just$2.50. If we are interested in all have the same shirts. They had red, white and blue ones. Not sure what was available for adults, didn't look that closely.
~Any other ideas people want to throw out there?

We should decide this soon in case people need to start searching drawers or bleaching out white t-shirts...

Menu

It's going to take alot of food and planning to feed all of us at Mom and Dad's house. So that Mom can start to plan and prepare for the invasion and so that I can feel planned, as I am an overplanner and love it, lets start talking food. I think we need to plan lunches and dinners and once they are planned we can make preparation and cleanup assignments. So here we go!!


Sunday (fast Sunday, but some of us will still need food)
~What time is church? Do we eat a big meal after, or a meal later at dinner time?
We will NEED dessert this night, too.

Monday
Picnic lunch: sub type sandwiches?
chips, fruit, cookies?

Party dinner: we had lots of different appetizers once for the party dinner, it was yummy!!
Bread bowl dip
veggie/fruit pizza
stuffed mushrooms
etc.

Tuesday
BBQ lunch at Crowls
Meat
salads

Dinner

Wednesday
Beach picnic fried chicken

Dinner Junk on boardwalk

Thursday
Picnic lunch

Dinner
BBQ?

Friday
Lunch

Dinner Mexican???

Saturday
Some of us will be leaving this day, but mom will probably still feed the rest of you, right?
Lunch

Dinner

We also should share what types of foods we need for snacks or if you have a favorite breakfast food you can't live without. What I put above are just suggestions, they can be easily changed. Please give any and all suggestions so we can help mom to get prepared!!

Diaper changing stations

We are planning to set up a couple of changing stations stocked with wipes and diapers. We need to know the size and brand preferences for diapers and pull-ups and wipes to if anyone needs a specific kind. Our hope is that this will make life a little simpler and therefore more FUN!

Beach Day

Okay, some of you haven't been to Maryland beach day before, so I just wanted to let you know how it goes.

8:00am meet at Jess and Jason's

10:30 Get set up at beach and play

5:00 Leave beach

5:30 Arrive at boardwalk

8:00 Leave boardwalk, drive home

10:30 get to Richard's house

There will be lots of fun and lots of eating that day. It takes about 2hours 15mins from my house to the beach. So it takes up the whole day!

Reunion time!

It's time to revisit our reunion plans. This was the previous plan, but as we are closer now,does anyone have other ideas, or changes that should be made?

Mon: Family picture at park in morning
Picnic at park
Unbirthday party and games

Tues: BeachBoardwalk

Wed: BBQ at noon at Crowls
Annoying games

Thurs: Zoo and picnic lunch
Option of attending temple visitor center (10 away from zoo)

Fri: As you can see Friday is blank.

There are additional options that have been mentioned:
Hershey Park
DutchWonderland
Chuck E. Cheese
Philidelphia
DC
New York

We also must have a planning session for future reunions.


Second, we need to talk about foods. Because there are many of us, planning ahead is a must if we don't want to run out of food, and we don't want to do that.
Are there any requests or anything, allergies or hatreds?

Memorial Day

Yesterday we had Andy, Laura, and Nick up for a BBQ. We had a great time eating, swinging, jumping on the trampoline, and throwing the baseball. It was great to have them over for the afternoon!

We bought our tickets!

We finally found a good deal on tickets and bought them. We will be flying in on Saturday the 5th and leaving Saturday the 12th.

We have flowers

Mike bought me containers for Mother's Day. I love them. I went and bought some flowers for them. It makes our front yard so much nicer. We also planted flowers from seed. They are doing very well but no flowers yet. I'm so impatient for them! I also got some beautiful Cali Lilies from Carol. I love them!

Here we come!!

Just letting you all know that we got our tickets today. We will definitely be at the reunion!!! Yeah!! The kids and I will be going in the end of June and Mike will join us on the 4th of July. We will all leave on the 12th. We are so excited!!

How are the rest of your plans going???

A Swap?

Hey, spring finally made it here! I had to find shorts for the kids and put the sweaters away. I just went through all the kids clothes, boxed up some for other kids later on, made a thrift store pile and then another pile of stuff I just can't get rid of. So, I had a thought. I would like to bring a few things and give them to you guys. If I can squeeze them into my luggage, that is. I wouldn't have stuff for everyone, probably just Layla, maybe Sarah, Eli, and maybe new baby when we find out what he/she is. If you are interested, let me know what sizes those kids are right now. I also might have a skirt or two or my own, although I am not "stylish" so no one might want it. Anything that no one wants we could just run over to a thrift shop near mom's house. If you don't want my stinkin' clothes, though, just say so and I wont bring them. We are always looking for pass along clothes, though, so I thought I'd share what I can. It's easier for me to give my favorite things to family than to just any one.

Food blog

I want to start a food blog. Do you want to join me? I would set one up and any time you find something you like, or try something new, you could post it on that blog. You could do drinks, sides, desserts, main course, etc. If you have a story behind the food you could post that too. I think it would be fun to include a picture of the food although, that wouldn't be necessary. It would be fun to post tips on the blog as well. If you have a great bbq tip or baking secret, or a question about how to do something, etc. You could post a favorite restraunt if you want...pretty much anything food. Anyone interested?

oh, I'm also asking my sisters (and brothers if they want to be included) to join the blog as well.

What will our Baby be?

Laura will have her diagnostic ultrasound on the 27th. What do you all think she'll have? While both Laura and I will be thrilled and happy with what ever the Lord sends us, we each have our beliefs as to what to expect. After every one has guessed, I'll put what we think, and then on the 27th, we'll tell you what the ultrasound tech thinks.

New post??

I was getting tired of seeing the same post everyday. Doesn't anyone have anything worth blogging about? How about some pictures or stories about the construction going on in some homes? Anything good going on the last weeks of school? I don't have much, myself.

We are looking for a home. A inexpensive home. A nice home. A home in a nice neighborhood. We are not finding that yet... bummer.

What are you doing??

Cinco de Mayo

Last night for Cinco de Mayo we went to out apartment community center for a "Taco Feed". We figured, Hey free meal, and we all like tacos. This is what they gave us: You could choose either Fritos or Doritos. They were lunch size chip bags. The ladies would crush up your bag of chips, cut open one side of it and then spoon in meat and cheese and lettuce. Then you could add your own sour cream, tomatoes, salsa, etc. They also had a crock pot of home made mac and cheese. For dessert there was a yummy white cake with a white frosting, caramel and strawberries.
Mike and I thought it was good, but the kids didn't get the idea of eating out of a bag. We dumped their's out onto a plate, and still they were not impressed. The mac and cheese was not bright orange like the fake stuff we eat, so they didn't want that either. I finally convinced them to eat it by offering them more cake if they ate their taco bag.
Anyway, it was just an interesting and easy way to make a taco salad. And it was good. Did anyone else have Mexican for the occassion??

Food Storage

I have been feeling for a while that we ought to do better with our food storage. I have changed my budget around to give us more money for the next few months to stock up on food storage. What kinds of stuff do you all have as your food storage? I assume I will eventually want to get the standards: beans, rice, wheat, other stuff we don't ever really eat..., but for now I'd like to find stuff that will last for a while, but that we will really rotate (Like peanut butter, spagetti noodles, toilet paper...). What do you all do?

Is the indicator light on??

I know babies don't come with an instruction manual. I have accepted that. I know we have to learn as we go and that it is good for us. However, I wish they had lights, like on car dashboards, that would indicate when they are sick, or tired, or hungry, so we could act accordingly.
Today Mikayla's teacher called and told me that Mikayla needed to talk to me. Her ear hurt, again. This was the second time this week that she had asked to go to the nurse/office because it hurt. She's had a cold with a cough for just over a week, has been complaining of a sore throat and her ear hurting. I decided I better get her into the doctor before we had to deal with an infection all weekend long. She has had lots of infections, both ears at a time and burst eardrums. So, I called and had to schedule an appointment with a different doctor since ours was booked. She complained most of the afternoon until the appointment.
I woke up Tyson from a nap, carried him and Jacob into the office. I paid the $20 to see the doctor. I held one happy wiggly baby and one whiney grumpy boy and waited to hear what was wrong with her, hoping that she had an infection to make it worth coming in to the office.
She has fluid in her ear, it should drain out soon. It's not infected, yet... Her throat is fine. Her tonsils are fine. Everything is fine! He gave me two prescriptions, one for drops to numb the pain and one for amoxicylin (however you spell that). I'm supposed to go to the pharmacist with all my kids right now to buy the drops. Then if she is still in pain in three days, I am supposed to go back to the pharmacist and get the medicine.
Yeah right. We have drops from last time that we will use, although the doctor says they are probably expired. She will probably be fine in the morning. I am out 20 bucks.
I know I sound like an uncaring mom, but all of this could have been avoided if she only had an indicating light that told me she just has a cold.

Happy Birthday Adrianne!

ADRIANNE!!
You say it's your birthday
It's my birthday too, yeah
They say it's your birthday
We're gonna have a good time
I'm glad it's your birthday
Happy birthday to you!!!

It's not really my birthday, too, but that is part of the song. Anyway we all hope you have great birthday. I hear you got some pretty great presents! Yeah! Enjoy your cake. We love you!

MUTE!!

Today as the kids were asking question after question and not listening to the answers, I started to think how nice it would be to have a mute button on every child. Then I though of how smart my family is. Surely one of you could come up with a mute button. I'm not talking about putting duct tape on their mouths, that would be cruel and they could still make noise. Anyway, if anyone figures this out, it would make you millions. In the mean time, I guess I'll just keep answering their questions.

We have the coolest neighbors--except of course when the Richey's were our neighbors...Anyway, this couple has two children, both married. They live across the street from us and have kind of adopted us. In the summer, they invited us to bring the boys over and swim in their pool. At Halloween, they made special cupcakes just for the boys and gave them candy for their bags. They live between two houses that are empty. There used to be widows that lived in the houses but they have either died or been placed in a nursing home. When they were still in their homes Max (our neighbor) would regularly mow his lawn and both of these widow's lawns. One of the widow's would call out his name at 2 am and he would go over to her house to see what she wanted. He came and set the mouse traps for us when Mike was in Guam and also jump-started our car when the battery was dead--and he got out of bed with the flu to do it for me because Mike was out of town! They are such great people. When Isaac was born, Sheree made a monogramed blanket for him with his name and birthday with the onces and pounds he was when he was born. Tonight they came over to our house and brought this diaper bag and two burp cloths that she made for us. They are awesome! I love them. We are just so grateful they live next to us. Mike invited them to come to church when we bless Eli and they said they'd come. Mike and I would love to do something for them in return but don't know what to do for them. They are in their late 40's, early 50's and their kids are our age. So what would be appropriate to do for them? Any ideas?

Becca is playing Varsity Softball!

Becca is playing Varsity softball as a freshman, she is the only freshman on the team. She usually plays in left field, and she has been the lead off batter (the first batter on the team). She loves playing for the school and has made some great friends. In the first picture she is bunting and the 2nd picture she is about to take off from second and run to third (she did eventually make it in to score).

Creams

Adrianne just sent me to grab the desitin. She is on the phone and changing a diaper. I hopped up and went to the bathroom. I pulled out the drawer where we keep the desitin and grabbed it...luckily. Right next to the desitin is a very similar looking tube of icy hot. Wouldn't that be a nasty surprise for a little baby bum. I suppose I ought to go move that...

On another subject, I would like to write a book about a world of shapeshifters. I decided to call them shimatims because writing shapeshifter gets old really fast. I haven't decided exactly what the story will be about, but as soon as the first book gets super popular, I will carry on the story, as well as telling the stories of the evolution of the shimatims from people-like creatures. I want the story to be as feasible as possible, so everything I think about these creatures, I try to come up with a fairly reasonable explaination. It's fun to do, and I wish I had lots of free time when I had nothing else I would rather work on...maybe someday.

Mike

Just for fun

Braden saw the camera out and wanted a picture taken. Here are the boys!

W-4

Does anyone have any advice about the number of allowances I should claim on my W-4? I have claimed 0 for the last eight years. I just looked at my last pay check and I get about 71% of what I earn. The rest goes to taxes, SS, and medicare. I would like to get more of that, but don't want to have to pay taxes at tax time ever again...Any thoughts?

Check out our blog.

You should all check out our blog.

Happy Birthday, Laura!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! We hope you have had a great day! What fun things did you do?

Too soon???

Do we think it's still too soon to talk family reunion again?

Too bad if you think that. I just want to voice my opinion that we have a Mexican food night, or two. I'm talking chile rellanos, chimichangas, guacamole, homemade salsa, sopapillas, etc. Then afterwards we can go for a 10 mile walk to try and burn it off. Any other food requests? Mom mentioned that she could make and freeze some things ahead of time.
I love to play games, so I am resubmitting a game night. We can pull up the proposed activity plans soon, too and refine, rediscuss them.
I just have fun talking about getting together! Have you got anything to say??

Time/Money Saver

As I was cleaning up after lunch a fabulous time saving idea came to me. Instead throwing out the food after I have prepared it and served it my family, who refuse to eat it frequently, I could just throw it out before I prepare it. For example instead of making a yummy chicken and sauce dish that you serve over pasta with a nice salad, I could just throw half of those ingredients away and not bother cooking it. I could dump half each cereal box and gallon of milk down the drain before I put it on the table. Think of the time cooking and cleaning that would be saved, but wait.
It then occurred to me that I could just go straight from the store to the dumpster and throw out half the bags of food that I buy. However that sounds rather ridiculous. Smarter would be to only buy the fruit snacks, cookies, candy and juice and forget the rest. If I gave only those foods to the kids, I wouldn't have to do dishes, you don't need plates for fruit snacks. Mike and I could order in or go out with all the money we saved. I would never have to do dishes again, although Mike does like his cereal in the morning, but still way less dishes!!
What a great way to save time and money, no more grocery shopping, no more dishes and no more cooking.
Somehow the kids would find a way to complain about even this, I am sure!!

AUSTIN!!!

Happy Birthday Austin!

We wish you a wonderful birthday full of fun and presents and cake!

This is the best picture I could get. I know you are way bigger than this now!!

The Guessing Game

The time is swiftly approaching for the next in a line of marvelous children to enter this world. Adrianne's due date is May 4th and I am guessing that she will deliver him April 24th. Any other guesses? The prise for winning is that you get to be the favorite Aunt, Uncle or Grandparent if you win. The prise of course is subject to new baby's approval!