Gearing up

I'm gearing up for another visit from my parents. They arrive tonight. They decided to bring their own air mattress this time, so I don't have to clean the storage room. (Mom doesn't like my guest bed.) I wish she'd realize that my house is not a hotel. It's a family thing to stay at people's houses, but most of us realize that in this situation we can't be picky. If all there is is a couch, then we should be grateful for it! I talked to my parents last night. My mom is being silly about the weather just like last year. They were coming at this time just to attend Emily's baptism on Saturday. They've decided to leave on Friday and drive the entire way in snow and rain. Saturday's forecast gives the Salt Lake area a 40 percent chance of rain. Then the salt flats and most of Nevada are clear of any precipitation. The only trouble would be the California mountains. Hopefully showing the parents the weather maps will get them to be reasonable so that they will not be driving in the storm and will come to Emily's baptism as they promised to do. I told Emily last night that they weren't going to come to it anymore and she was upset.

Last night Emily and Aaron practiced being baptized. Emily is scared of going under the water. I think practicing is really helping her. I also read her a book on baptism. I read it to everybody. It is amazing how Caitlyn (aka Hermoine) knows all the answers. I talked to the primary president who gave me the list of things to have and do on Saturday. I have to remember white panties! I'm going to take them out of the drawer so that no one wears them. I believe the girls only have 1 or 2 pairs that are white. (Why is one panty a pair?)

It is freezing cold today. I am definately not going out to spend money I ought not.

Merry Christmas!

I hope all had a fun Christmas. I'll have to bring the camera down sometime. The kids had a lot of fun. They received a bunch of gifts they love and I don't approve of. After a couple weeks I'll box them up and bring them out for a special treat every now and then. I crocheted Aaron a hat since he lost his. It was adult size. I pulled it out Christmas eve since he had to go out in the snowstorm and it was too small. I need to measure his head and make another. It will be better all in one color anyway. (I ran out of yarn and the store didn't have an exact match.) I also got him a bass recorder. It is taller than Karen. Karen is not materialistic yet and really doesn't care about her presents. She was excited over everything. Eric especially loves his shooting gallery, trains, and bank. (I gave all the kids 3-part banks so they could figure tithing, savings, and fun.) Caitlyn and Emily like Eric's shooting gallery too. They received replicas of the origional 6 My Little Ponys. We now have two cotton candys- one of them origional (not a replica). They have so many ponies now that they don't fit in the castle. I don't know what to do with all this stuff! Emily has been enjoying her birthday presents. She received several drawing sets and a horse stamp set. She just loves to color and draw. My highlight was the gift from Aaron. He gave me a box of rocks. There were cd's in it too. He bought some Tab (official abbreviation) Choir cd's at a rehearsal. They are very good cd's, although not the one I have wanted for years. Maybe next year... I've got some money. I'm going to go buy myself some new clothes. I have to go to walmart today for milk, so I'm going to get some clothes today, provided they have the right sizes left.

I have a story and a warning for all internet shoppers. My mother decided to shop on the internet this year. She is known as someone who cannot get the right thing. She looked at my list of Black Stallion books and saw that the first book was missing from the list. She decided I must be looney and bought that book as well as several others and a duplicate of one. She thought it was funny. The reason why "The Black Stallion" was not on the list was because I had already purchased it. So, I ended up with two, duplicate books. I figured since it was mom's fault I'd just send them back. The two books totalled $12.50. After deducting discounts, free shipping, and return shipping amazon gave me $2.80 of credit. Mom also bought mittens for Karen that fit Emily. They ended up being given to Emily and I got Karen some tiny ones. (They were one of two pairs of snow mittens left in town.) Now I've got a dulicate mail order dress. I am going to have to decide whether it is worth it or not to send it back. I may just put it into storage. In 10 years when the first one has worn out I can pull out the duplicate. Either that or I'll give it to some less fortunate person.

Happy Birthday Emily!

Today was the day Emily turned eight years old. (I have yet to get a picture. Tomorrow I will.)

This morning we learned the primary song "I Like my Birthdays" which goes:
I like my birthdays every one
Each brings a greater joy to me,
But I can't wait until I'm eight
for then I'll be baptized you see.

We learned all three verses. Emily wasn't too enthused, but Caitlyn sang with all her gusto. Next we sang every Happy Birthday song in the primary book, then the usual one. In the afternoon I let her choose a movie to watch. First she picked a My Little Pony movie, but Aaron fiddled with the tv attached to the dvd player. (Have I explained why we have two tvs in one room?) So, Emily had to pick a vhs. When she turned two years old we didn't celebrate. We did, just not on her actual birthday. I let her choose a movie to watch. This was the first movie she ever watched and she picked Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It is a really long movie and I did not expect her to watch the whole thing, but amazingly enough she did! That movie was her favorite for years. Today, on her eighth birthday she chose that movie again. Karen, the three year old couldn't watch more than 30 minutes and ended up with me. After the movie Emily had a hurried dinner, then off to a church class party. As she was gone the rest of us made green frosting for her cupcakes. She wanted green frosted cupcakes with my little ponies on them. (The McDonald's ones.) When she returned we did the candles, etc. She opened her cards and gifts. We gave her a watercolor set. (Watercolor crayons and pencils with a pad of paper.) She seemed intruiged. We'll see how she likes them tomorrow. She was supposed to get something else, but it hasn't come. I hope it comes by Christmas. I had something else too and somehow lost it. I hope I find it some time!

The car seat poncho

I decided to make Ben a car seat poncho. Basically, it is a poncho with a hood that he wears to the car and can still wear while in his seat and being strapped up. The hood stays on the head and the rest of it goes up and over the seat. Puffy coats are bad, so I've been putting him in a sweatshirt, wrapping him in a blanket, then unwrapping him to go in the seat. It is a pain, so I decided to make this poncho. I went to walmart and bought fleece off the clearance rack. It is ugly yellow and brown, but Ben doesn't care. It is really warm with two layers. Last night I figured out how to make a hood. I only have vague instructions such as "attach hood" and "sew up the outside". I'm not by any means a seamstress. I have little experience, but fleece is easy to work with. The trick is to figure it all out. I pinned the hood into the neck hole. The neck hole is way too large, so I had to pleat. I probably did not pleat the way an experienced person would, but I did it. I've sewn 1/4 of the hood. I'm doing this by hand and have lost my thimble. (I didn't know what it was for.) My fingers hurt!

Our other news is the weather. Apparently we had snow early this morning when Aaron was up. When I got up it just looked like it was about to start snowing. Then the sky cleared up and it was wonderfully blue. The sun was out and the water was just pouring off the roof. This afternoon I saw my lawn, so I went out and picked up the rake and a few other items. In 10 minutes the sky was covered with menacing clouds, the light went away, it started hailing, and the temp dropped 10 degrees. We had thunder and lightning. 10 minutes after the start of the hail our lawn was again hidden. It has since turned to snow and continues. We are expecting 6 inches. Not too bad compared to Boston's storm, but it is pretty good for us. I'm just loving all the snow.

Car seats and boxes

For many months now we have had the car and booster seats all arranged in the van the same way. Lately, though I've been annoyed with having to lean over Ben (making him scream) to get to Eric to make sure he is all strapped in correctly. (He can buckle himself, but he doesn't do it anywhere near properly.) The first move was just to switch Caitlyn and Eric. Eric was on the third row farthest from the door and Caitlyn was on the third row closest to the door. Then we went to pick up Emily's dress and then to walmart. Caitlyn threw a fit from the time we left until we were in walmart and I threatened to not buy her soy nut butter if she didn't stop crying. (Probably a bad thing, but it worked.) I then moved Karen to Ben's old spot. He had the third row, middle seat (with the lap-only belt). Due to the lap-only belt only a car seat can sit there. It would be very dangerous for anyone else whether child or adult to sit there. Then I put Ben on the second row furthest from the door, Eric next to him, closest to the door and Emily back in the third row closest to the door. The only thing wrong with the arrangement is that Karen's seat is wider than Ben's and Caitlyn can no longer buckle herself, so I still have to get to that far seat. I worked with the seats for two hours and the two carseats still are not in a position where I am happy with them. Ben's leans very badly. Karen's leans too, but even worse- it is too loose. Back when we had the Odyssey it took me 30 seconds to install a carseat. I am so frustrated with this stupid aerostar. I know, I am greatful to have a vehicle to seat our family in that we can afford. Last Feb we had no savings for a downpayment and we could in no way have afforded the monthly payments of a nice vehicle. Especially since we were still making payments on the Odyssey until April. It was lucky of Aaron's father to let us make payments on it, starting when the old one was sold. We are greatful that it will be payed off this coming March. Then we will save for our large dream vehicle. (My real dream vehicle is a vw bug or anything very tiny for that matter.)

My other rant is on boxes. My mother had the grand idea to send everyone's Christmas presents with their names on the packages. She warned me, so I had been taking the boxes before anyone had looked too closely at them. Today, however I did not get there in time. A box came with Emily's name on it. The kids bothered me all afternoon, during dinner, and evening about that box. It is Emily's so she should get to open it. Grrrr..... I hope they forget about it by tomorrow. I'm going to wrap the contents tonight and hide the box. They think it is her birthday present since her birthday is tomorrow. In the future I will beg mom to put my name on everyone's gifts and put Aaron's name on mine or do something so I know not to open it.

18th December

Ben's vision teacher came today. She had Ben play with package bows. He didn't like them. He'd touch one, make a face, then drop it. I guess he doesn't like smooth textures. He was cute. Eric has an obsession with teasing. Karen is most often the subject of the teasing, but sometimes it is Ben. I don't know why I lived with it so long. I guess I thought it was just a phase that would go away after the hundredth "stop it". I just couldn't stand it anymore. This morning I decided that Eric would go to his room for 5 minutes everytime he teased. He learned pretty quickly and only got sent to his room three times, although it was reported that he teased while I was in the shower. Hopefully this crack down will end the teasing. When my aunt was here she kept mistakenly calling Eric by the name of my younger brother. Just a week before her visit I remarked to Aaron that Eric's behavior reminded me of my younger brother when we were kids. I suspect that was why my aunt kept calling Eric by my brother's name. My brother was aweful and never got in trouble. I got in trouble for retaliating. This was back in the day when older brother would be in charge while the parents were gone. It wasn't a good idea. I'm not sure I should ever leave more than one child home alone! They can do some naughty things in company.

I had no plan for dinner. By afternoon I thought I was going to go buy walmart pizza. As I was cleaning the kitchen I found a recipe for turkey chili and decided to make it. After I had chopped the veggies I realized we had no canned black beans. I ended up using red beans. After putting in the beans I went downstairs to get a can of corn. Right next to the case of corn was a whole case of black beans! Dh bought them just before Ben was born, but they are behind the case of tomato sauce, so I never saw them. At least now I know we have lots of black beans. I almost bought a case at the last case lot sale. I made corn bread to go with the chili. I had wondered why the batter was weird and they didn't bake up the same as usual. It was as I brought out the milk batch that I realized I had forgotten the eggs! If you are allergic to eggs, cornbread will still work out, it just won't be the same light and fluffy texture. The muffins were more like biscuits than muffins. They were eaten anyway.

Christmas fun

We did our crafts on Friday. We made ball ornaments and rudolph decorations using hand and foot prints. We made tree cookies on Saturday. I took pictures of it all, but they turned out very fuzzy. When I came to the computer with the camera I found that the batteries were dead. Maybe that was why. I guess we'll just have to do more crafts and bake more cookies. I've got some other pictures to share anyhow. This is Ben eating avocado which is one of his favorite foods. (and Aaron's too.)



One of the girls put pixie wings on Ben. I think he looks cute.


These are the pictures from last week's snowstorm. It was just too freezing cold to go out and play though. This week's snowstorm is supposed to be warmer. I may go out and play with the kiddies.

I have a love affair with my neighbor's tree. I wish I had one like it!



Aaron was in the Tabernacle choir's concert this past weekend. Then he was in The Music and the Spoken word. There is a shot of him at the end. There is a video on some Spanish you tube-like site. Aaron has it and showed it to us, but wouldn't give me the link and I can't find it anywhere. If I get the link I'll post it. I listed to the rebroadcast of Music and the Spoken word last night. The music was really good. I can't wait to own the cd next year. Previously I had not known that Music and the Spoken Word was on tv out here. I had been listening on the classical radio station that broadcasts last week's, although yesterday they broadcasted last year's concert. Having Aaron in the bell choir is really neat. I live vicariously through him! I was thinking about this recently and I really have no desire to leave my children on a regular basis. Perhaps someday when my youngest is 10 years old I might go out and do neat stuff, but for now I really am content to stay home and take care of the kiddos. It's much better than worrying about a babysitter for weeks at a time. Babysitters and having to arrange babysitting causes me a lot of stress.

I made fudge today. It has no milk in it. Usually it tastes really good, but I did something wrong this time. It could be the marshmallow cream dated February 07 or it could be the lack of quality of Macey's chocolate chips. Here is the recipe:

3 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter substitute
3/4 cup non-dairy creamer

Put in saucepan. Stir and bring to boiling. Boil at med heat for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Add: 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips and stir till melted.
Add: marshmallow cream and 1 tsp vanilla plus 1/2 tsp peppermint extract if desired

Then add mini marshmallows if desired and spread in greased pan.

The peppermint makes this fudge extra special. It is better than boring old fudge. The recipe is pretty much the same as you find on the back of the marshmallow cream. You just substitute mocha mix for the evaporated milk.