Picture Time!

Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Ben was so stuffed from dinner that he hardly ate any cake.






Gifts. He got a ring toy, blanket (I found the material in the scrap rack at WM. I crocheted the edge.), and a train book Eric wanted me to buy.






What my kids do for fun! They are listening to a cassette of Raffi.



I'll have to post pictures of the new kitty sometime.

An Almost vacation or two

We went up to the grandparents' house for the weekend. It was fun. We're glad to be back away from the dog hair. The in laws invited us to come to Disneyland next month. They'd pay for park admission and let some kids stay in their hotel room. We'd only have to get there and pay for one hotel room. It would be very affordable. Unfortunately, the other database guy already has that week off. Boo on him. Aaron also wanted to go do some training in California in mid May. Caitlyn's recital is in mid May, so we can't be gone.

We celebrated two birthdays so far this month. I need to get the birthday boys up. Karen's wonderful news is that she can have milk food. The kids and I went to the store today without a list. I spent more money because of all the foods we can have in our house now. I picked up Cheez-Its, Spaghetti-Os, a churro mix, and a few cans of cream of chicken soup. The kids have never had these foods. I was hungry at the store. Ben is not yet walking, but trying hard.

Oh, yes, I need to mention the kitty. We left our future adopted kitty for the weekend. When we returned some boy friends had hooked up with her. Quite literally, actually. Orange kitty is obsessed, while tabby kitty seems to just like watching the show. It makes me sick how obsessed orange kitty is. I went down to the animal shelter to rent a cat trap. The guy told me to hang a piece of lunch meat from a string at the end of the trap. My arm isn't long enough. I managed to turn the cage around and get the string tied, but the lunchmeat fell out of the string. Tomorrow I'll put the canned food in the trap. I suspect we'll catch black kitty and when she goes her boyfriends will find another poor kitty to pounce on. Caitlyn is very upset at the prospect of losing our new pet. We've just got to get another kitty- one that can't have babies.

Holiday Weekend

We were dumped on Wednesday night. We got two feet of snow. Our piles are taller than Emily. I went out to find the sled which had not been put away. I dug out quite a bit to find it. Aaron didn't go to work because he couldn't drive his little car in so much snow. It was nice to have him home. He's taking today off and he has Monday off. We are going to his parents' house for the weekend. Aaron's birthday is tomorrow. We will be celebrating all the boy birthdays with his parents. Since we'll be gone for three days we had to make a decision about the cat. We've decided to keep her. Aaron bought cat food and a dish. The kids asked the neighbor boy to feed the cat while we were away. I suppose we should name the cat, although I am quite partial to calling her "kitty". She comes when I call. The kids vote for calling her Midnight. My husband has issues naming our babies, so I don't think I should ask his input on the cat's name or she may be called "Kitty" forever.

I received an email saying a flute player is coming to orchestra. That muddles my plans. I have music that doesn't need a flute because we don't have one. I'm going to try some oboe pieces. Flute on 1st oboe and clarinet on second oboe. It is hard to deal with free music and a limited set of musicians.

Recorders

It has been awhile. I have a picture of the kids I keep meaning to put up. I need to get the camera to the computer. Recorder class started. I am being faced with a "thinking" situation. So, I am very non-assertive, so when mom showed up with three kids and recorders instead of the one 7 year old who had registered I expressed shock at having two more kids (one of them way too young), but felt I had no option to say "no". So, I have a 5 year old in the class that has absolutely no clue. When the group plays together they can't possibly sound good because she is just making noise. Of course, there are two 7 year olds that are doing that too. At least they understand a little better. I have learned that due to all the musical exposure my kids have they are more musically mature than the average kid. I based my class age range on my older girls' abilities to focus and understand. I have two older kids in the class who have had some music lessons. They are light years ahead of the two 7 year olds. I gave out one extra exercise. If those two practice it I will let them play it while I play the alto part. We can sound good without everyone else whistling.

I make my girls practice as they are supposed to. I am teaching this class for their benefit. I knew they wouldn't heed me or practice if it was just us. Make it a formal class and they have to come and practice. Emily's recorder was my brother's that the dog chewed on. She expressed desire to have a new one, so I promised one after a week of practicing. (I was going to make her anyway.) Caitlyn has been having trouble. One day I switched recorders with her. Hers was more difficult than mine. She had less trouble on mine, so I decided to buy her a new recorder too. I researched and found the Aulos brand to be the best plastic brand. I bought the girls the cheaper model and myself a better one. They arrived today and we are in love. Even the cheaper model is better than my old recorder. The high notes some out easier. The sound is more pure. I'm wanting to play often!

TWe're having a great snowstorm. I think it has snowed at least a foot already. Aaron is planning to go to work late tomorrow. Stampin' Up sure is a nice company to work for.

The Radian Arrived

Eric's new seat came today. I have it installed already even though it snowed all day and we didn't go anywhere. Eric is excited about it as well as I am. He buckled himself into it several times before I took it out to the van. It is all padded. Eric really likes that. It is a skinny carseat, so his big sisters now have room to buckle themselves. I'll be taking pictures tomorrow. Here's some house pictures before I moved the straps up to the highest position.





In other news...My homeschool recorder class starts tomorrow and I am already stressing. I must calm down. Stress makes me ill. I cannot stress. I also set tomorrow as the date to take kitty to the animal shelter. I hope I can get kitty in a box. I wish someone would adopt her. She's really sweet. Cookie orders were due today. I made some phone calls and emails and got the order in I think. The girls switched beds. I promised that Emily could sleep in Karen's two person bed this month and Caitlyn would get Emily's top bunk. Caitlyn cried and cried... I'm attempting a half recipe of honey wheat bread tonight. I got an almost new bread machine from freecycle. I finally got the bread pan cleaned, so I decided to try it tonight. The machine is in much better shape than mine, but doesn't have all the fancy options that mine has. I decided to cook the bread in the machine. I usually take it out and bake it in the oven. We'll see how it turns out.