Marriage, Missions, and Fairies.

Kai:  I think I'm going to marry Dayna, and if that doesn't work out I'll marry Kaes.

Mike:  I don't think you should worry about who to marry just yet.

Madison:  Ya.  You don't have to think about that until your a teenager.

Mike:  How about you wait until you get back from your mission.

Kai:  I'm not going to go on a mission

Mike:  Why not?

Kai:  I don't want to walk FOR TWO YEARS!

Mike:  I didn't walk the whole time.  Sometimes I took a car . . .  I even road on a ferry!

Kai:  You road on a fairy?

Lingo

If you plan on watching the debate with friends you're going to need this.

You can download your own set of them here at the Bob Staake website.

Sticky Notes

This video makes me happy.

EepyBird's Sticky Note experiment from Eepybird on Vimeo.

Dream Big

Chase goes to a speech therapy preschool that is run by the city.  I love it because they pick him up on the bus.  We're pretty excited about his progress, he did say his first swear word in the van on Tuesday.  

But nothing pleased me more than when he came home with this.

See the bus?  Bus #23?  That's Chase's bus.  See the high school they're going to?  Independence High?   Not just anyone gets to go to Independence High.  I had a friend who got to go to Independence because he hacked into the school's computer and changed all the cheerleader's grades.  It was quite the scandal.  

At first I thought it was odd they had Chase's bus headed for Independence, but then I remembered that he did swear in the van on Tuesday.

Why I Should NOT Have Children

Today Chase . . .

Refused to wear a coat.

Drank three of the chocolate milks that are reserved for sack lunches.

Pulled up my flowers.

Took a single bite out of every one of my truffles.

I put him in time out.  

He apologized.  "Sorry mom." Sniff sniff.  

I told him to stay in time out.  

He was very quiet.  

I forgot about him.

He fell asleep. 

He fell off the kitchen stool . . . flat on his face.

He has a lump on his head and a freshly bitten tongue.  

Poor kid.

Happy Birthday!

This is Michael and today is his birthday.  

You can tell by his outfit that he has a desperate need for attention.  

So, if you see him today you should make a really big deal about his birthday because he LOVES that sort of thing.  

Happy Birthday Michael!

Too Much of a Good Thing

The kid's school uses Saxon Math.  Part of the Saxon method is to teach the kids how to do math quickly and in their head.  For example to add 4 + 9 they teach kids to add 4 + 10 and then subtract 1.  Or if you have 6 + 7, you can add 6 + 6 and then add one.  So far I haven't had to help the boy with is math much.  He just fills out his fact sheets, I check them, and then he turns them in.  But today he came home with his first set of flash cards.

I held up 7 + 9.

"Mom it is easier to add 10 + 7 and then subtract 1.  So the answer is 16."

Perfect!  I held up 8 + 9.  

"Hmm.  I could add 10 + 8 and then subtract 1. . . .  Or I could do 8 + 8 and then add 1 and I could do 9 + 9 and subtract 1.   What if I add 9 + 10 and subtract 2!  Huh, you know I could also just add 7 + 10 and thats all. . . .  I don't know.  I think I'll just have to use my fingers."

Its a Guy Thing

Said by Kai . . . all in one breath.

Mom.  You gotta look at these pictures.  They are so cool.  One is of a spider and the other is pirate.  I don't know why I like cool stuff.  I just do.  It's probably because I'm a boy.  Now, I know there is a hole in the pirate picture, but that because I was using a lot of red.  I wanted the sea to be bloooood.  Hmm.  blood.  That's another boy thing, I think.  So just don't pay any attention to that.  Okay?

Giveaway Winner!

And the winner is . . . 

NG! Who said "I like the apron. . . don't really cook, but I like the apron."

Congrats!  If you do cook in it, you'll have to tell me what you end up making!

It's All Too Much

The other day the boy came home with an alpha pals book.  It had pictures of animals and he was supposed to write other words that started with the same letter as the animals next to the pictures.  He did--though I confess I had to help him come up with at least 80% of the words.  He is easily distracted when we are doing something he's not really interested in.  

He turned it in the next morning only to have it sent home again because he didn't color the pictures.  I gave him some crayons and told him to have at it.  He did and I admit his coloring was less than ideal.  

He turned it in again.  It was sent home again.  Apparently he needed to color it better.   I gave him some crayon and told him to try harder.  Now keep in mind this was the day Optimus Prime destroyed Madison's homework, so I was busy making Salt Dough and trying to find paints.  In otherwords, I was NOT supervising the boys coloring.   

In the midst of all this he shows me his alpha pals book.  He has taken a ball point pen and covered every inch of it in blue scribbles.  When I suggested it wasn't so great he started to cry.  He was very proud of his work.  I told him it was fine and shot off and email to the teacher basically saying please please don't send this damn thing back.  He'd worked hard on it, and yes it looked awful but apparently that was the look he was going for.  It didn't come back.

I thought it was pretty much over until yesterday when he pulled out a different paper that had, "This is NOT coloring" written across it.  He read it and started cry.  Uggg.  

Keep in mind I do love his teacher-- she's great!  She's not trying to be mean.  She just wants him to do well.  If you ask him to color a monster or a rocket ship he'll take his time and do an awesome job.  He's just not that into coloring Bradley the Brave Bear.  Can you blame him?

I just wonder when coloring became so important.  Isn't it enough that he has a math worksheet, 20 minutes of reading, and unfinished class work to do everyday?  Is it really that important that he color well?

Check it Out

Hello all!  Check out my other giveaway at the Hip Homemaker. 

I know, I'm going giveaway crazy!

It's My Blogiversary!

Saturday was my official blogiversary.  I have now been blogging for a year.  Are you so excited?  I am.   I was busy camping with Madison on my blogiversary so I am celebrating today. 

In celebration I'm going to be doing a giveaway!  Because I love cooking so much I'm going to be giving away this apron.  

So if you want to enter you have to leave a comment in this post.  You have until Wednesday at midnight.  I'll randomly pick a winner Thursday morning.  

Good luck and Happy Cooking!

We Actually Did It

It is 7:30. 

The kids are supposed to be getting ready for bed. 

We are still doing homework. 

I know it sounds like we're in a bad way, but in reality we're celebrating. Why? Because Madison has this to take to school tomorrow.
                  

She even added in two little mountains and a valley.  How awesome is that?  

So what if she still has spelling homework and desperately needs to take a shower (she had soccer practice today).  Her continent rocks.  Lets just hope it's still in one piece tomorrow.

Another Project Bites the Dust

Last night Madison spent a good 30 minutes creating her own continent out of salt dough.  She had to create and label 5 different land or water forms.  She made a plateau, a bay, a coast, and island, and a peninsula.  She put it up high to dry over night and was going to paint it today after school.

This is how I found it this morning.

Good guy or not, that Optimus Prime can be a real pain in the ass.  I really shouldn't judge though, maybe her little continent was invaded by decepticons over night.  

So . . . does anybody have a good recipe for salt dough?

Good Book, Good Soup?

This is the time of year where some people are enjoying a harvest from their garden.  I, for one, am up to my eyeballs in tomatoes.  If you need some let me know.  Seriously.  We have so many my children have started using them as weapons in the back yard.  

I have heard a similar thing happens when you plant zucchini.  I wouldn't know because I don't like zucchini so I don't plant it.  I only plant tomatoes and basil because all I ever want from my garden in bruschetta and BLTs.  Some day I may try my hand at growing lettuce for the BLTs.  That seems easier than raising a pig for the bacon. 

Back to zucchini . . . if you have an abundance of zucchini you may want to try making this soup.  I have no idea if it is good because I've never made it.  I recently checked the Princess Bride out from the library and found the recipe for it tucked inside.  I assume the previous reader was using it as a book mark.  

I figure you can make one of following assumptions about this recipe--

1.  It must be a good soup because of the book it was found in.  The Princess Bride is a sit on the couch with a nice blanket, pillow, and cosy fire kind of book.  Its like comfort food.  The best soups are comfort food.

2.  It must be a horrible soup because instead of cherishing the recipe it was used as a book mark.

So here is the recipe.  One of you who has a lot of zucchini should try it and tell me if it is any good.

Zucchini Soup

3lbs zucchini -- slice in 1 inch pieces

2 tsp salt

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1/8 tsp white pepper

2 (10 3/4 oz) Chicken broth

1/2 cups water

Combine and bring to a boil.

Cover and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes.,

Place small amount in blender.

Repeat and blend until smooth.

Add 1/2 cups half and half.

Reheat and serve.

I'm Glad I'm Not Famous

Has it really been that long since I've blogged?  Now that my computer is fixed I really have no excuse.  However,  I'm going to make one up anyway: I've been cleaning the house.  And no, I wasn't cleaning Sunday when I should have been at Stake Conference-- that would be wrong. 

Anyway . . . .

Did you know that Gary Coleman used to drop in at the local college where I used to work? His girlfriend was in one of the programs there.  Whenever they expected him to come by we all had to stay in our offices because he was afraid we would gawk at him and take pictures.  

I ran into him again today.  We left the local grocery store at the same time.  I was tempted to say, "Hey Gary!  Can I get your picture for my blog?" I also wanted to ask if his girlfriend ever got her degree.   But then I remembered reading this and decided I'd rather not be hit by a truck today.  

And now I leave you with this question, do all little boys turn underwear into Spiderman masks?  Or is it just mine?

Prepare to Fail

I recently read an article on whipup.net titled Be Willing to Knit Poorly and it inspired me to share my two most recent knitting disasters with you.  

First I tried to knit this sweater with a lovely alpaca yarn.   Having completed most of the back I came to grips with the mess I had created and frogged it.  I still love this sweater and hope  to take another crack at it-- just not right now.

Next I decided to knit a pair of gloves for a good friend of mine.  I spent all weekend ignoring my family and knitting the most difficult part of them.  I struggled through with an error here and there, but nothing too major.  Unfortunatley I had to frog them after discovering someone had removed their needles and stitch markers before placing them in a toothpaste bath.  After several washings the yarn still smells like Orange Crest-- which might not be all bad.