EEK!

I was out looking for the cat the other night when an ugly rat-looking thing came crawling out from under my van. It was coming straight for me and I thought that it was going to run right into me. I made a move to run, but I was so curious as to what it could be I just stood there gawking. It finally saw me when it was about 3 feet away from me and cut across the yard just lumbering along. I don't know why I thought muskrat, but after looking it up on the internet I saw a picture that looked just like my furry visitor. Paul, being a wildlife biology grad, said that it was probably a young one that got the boot from his momma and was looking for another pond. We do have a couple of ponds only a few blocks away, so that's where he would have come from. I wish him luck on his journey especially since he'll have to cross four lanes of traffic to get to any other water.

Wordless Wednesday--Fun in the Sun

Dyson Giveaway

Having admitted my Monkish behaviors, of course you shouldn't be surprised that I would be delighted to win a Dyson vacuum. I don't know if I believe the commercials about it's cleaning power, but I would love to see if it's true. 5 Minutes for Mom and Dyson are giving away a pink vacuum in support of Breast Cancer Research. You can read more about it by going here.

A Touch of Monk

I have gotten a lot better over the years, but I suppose that you could still call me a little "Monkish." I like things to be in order, even if that is impossible with a house full of pigs, oh I mean children. Here are a few examples:

CDOT has been redoing highway 34 straight through town and the traffic disruptions have been a nightmare. But I have to say that I LOVE new blacktop. I love how smooth and uniform it looks and how the painted lines are all crisp and bright. It's like a work of art. If only they could do both lanes at once so there wouldn't be an unsightly line in the middle where the blacktop isn't completely uniform. That always distracts me.

A few weeks ago we went to the local museum. One exhibit in the museum features all the ink stamps that the city of Loveland has used for 40 years in the Valentine re-mailing program. The stamps are set in a big slotted box in middle of the table and there is a date marked on each slot where each stamp should go. Of course, not everyone has O.C. tendencies, so they were all mixed up. While the kids had fun stamping scratch paper, I set to work placing each stamp into its corresponding year slot and even organized the scratch paper into piles: used scratch paper here, unused there.

We have a sesame street set of alphabet books that hardly ever get read. Why may you ask? Because I cannot let them be out of alphabetical order when they are put back. Each book has the letter on the spine, so isn't it only logical to put them back that way? My kids don't think so, so the books are kept behind the entertainment center so they stay safe and alphabatized. I must be crazy.

And don't tell Paul, but I had to refold the underwear and towels that he tried to help me with last night. I tried to resist, but they didn't look like the ones that I had folded.

Caca Doody

That's how I have felt the past week. I started feeling crummy on Tuesday but went to bible study anyway. Wednesday and Thursday were a blur of trying to watch the kids and not curl up in a ball all day. Today, I feel alot better--I haven't even had any cold medicine, allergy medicine or tylenol yet. I am reminded that I am still sick, however, when I try to do to much and end up lightheaded and winded. At least I have an excuse for the house being in disarray.

Laina's 2nd 1st Day of School

Yesterday, Laina enjoyed her second first day of school. We were very happy to learn that there was an opening in the morning kindergarten at the charter school where Laurin already goes. Yesterday, Miss Stroh, her new teacher greeted her by name and showed her where she could put her stuff and two little kids greeted her and introduced themselves. By the time I picked her up 3 hours later she announced that she had a new best friend. She told me that they learned Spanish and she knew the name for cat but couldn't remember : ). Today she informed me that she likes her new school. Praise the Lord. Now if I can just get her and Laurin ready in the morning so we won't be late. Laina is a bit of a night owl, so it has been an adjustment. On a brighter note, I have been able to go to bed a bit earlier now that the kids are too.

Wordless Wednesday--A different perspective

Together in One Place

We got a call last night from the charter school at 7:00 saying that they have an immediate opening in morning kindergarten. Needless to say, Laina will be starting there on Thursday. I am so blessed to have such adaptable children. It doesn't hurt that Laina only started school a month ago and thinks it would be really cool to go to the same school as big sister. The only thing that she will really miss is riding the bus home in the afternoons. I will sure miss that too. I will still be driving too much every day, but at least it's all to one place.

Some Fun Facts Mixed with Propaganda

Here are some fun facts I read in the latest National Geographic Kids

• male woodchucks are called he-chucks. Females are called she-chucks
• a baby humpback whale drinks up to 130 gallons of milk each day
• lemons can have more sugar than strawberries
• more people live in China today than lived on the earth 150 years ago
• a clock runs faster on a tall mountain than at sea level (maybe that's why there never seems to be enough time in the day. I need to move to Louisiana)
  

Here's what else I read in the KID'S magazine. I expected more from National Geographic, but I guess if we want to brainwash our children we better start early.

"The whole earth's climate is changing. Climate change occurs naturally, but now people are causing it--or at least speeding it up. Scientists believe that our use of fossil fuels causes global warming. ......Today, environmental pressures from growing human populations, along with the faster rate of climate change, make survival for many animals a big challenge. ....Reducing our carbon footprint helps save plants, animals and ourselves. Habitat destruction, pollution, global warming --all the things that affect the survival of animals --affect us, too. So everything we do to save them helps us."

First, the author states that the world is warming, a theory that the top scientists in the world cannot substantiate or agree upon. Then he states that this is because of people, another unsubstantiated claim. Next, the author suggests that there are too many people in the world (can you say population control children?) and finally adds the catchphrase of all the hip people in the world today--carbon footprint. Maybe our children can save their allowances to pay some corporate entity to offset their carbon footprint. I mean, their very lives are at stake, so why save for college when that money can line some fraudster's pocket?

Oh, and the icing on the cake is that Cameron Diaz is the guest editor of the magazine issue. I love to take environmental advice from hypocritical movie stars, so I especially enjoyed this advice she had for kids:

"Be selfish--it's OK to want the best. You already want the best pair of sneakers, the best video game, the best bike. Why not want the best oxygen, the best water, the best soil. You deserve it!"

Tech Savvy

I'm feeling kind of proud of myself for editing the html in my layout to personalize it. Do you like it?

Does it ever end?

Okay, so this isn't my house, but it feels like it.

I am looking at a sink full of dishes, a dishwasher that needs to be emptied, a checkbook that needs to be balanced, clothes that need to be folded, toys that need to be put away, floor that needs to be mopped, school papers that need to be gone through, coupon books that need to be delivered and clothes that need to be marked for the consignment sale. And all this needs to be done before Paul comes home in the morning or I will face his wrath. It's a good thing that I don't "work" for a living or I'd never have time to get it all done. ha ha.

This Week's Verse

Dude, what did you do to my hair?

I was tired of Ethan's mop on the very top of his head and thought that it was time for a change. He would not stay still to save his life (or his ear), so I found myself frantically snipping away like Edward Scissorhands. Hey, hairstylists seem to snip away while making "messy" cuts, so how could I go wrong? I wanted to put some hair gel in to make it stick up, but all we had was aloe. So now he's crazy aloe head and I think he looks cute. It will grow out in a month anyway if his hair grows at the rate it has been.

Oh, the mark in front of his ear is from his trip off of Laina's bed the other day. I was reading them a story and Ethan started bouncing around. I'm not sure how, but he managed to fall off of the bed before I could grab him. He landed on a toy on the floor (no, the room wasn't clean as if you had to ask) and cut his scalp a little and bruised his cheek. I am so glad that I have an EMT in the house.

Wordless Wednesday--After the Rain

It's Butter Face!

Not 10 minutes after showering --which is not an easy thing to convince a five year old to do--Laina came into the bathroom where I was cleaning under the sink (hey, it's better than cleaning the toilet). She cried, "Daddy said that I'm a butter face!" Before I could disagree I looked up and she indeed had butter smeared all over her nose. Daddy's idea of a joke. Laina cleaned her face off and left me to my task. Soon after, Laina appeared in the door again this time with butter on her cheeks, chin and nose. Rather than enjoy the fun between father and daughter, I pictured Laina covered in butter from head to toe right before I had to take her to school. It wasn't until I heard Laina saying that she wanted to make Ethan a butter face too that I drew the line. My children are not toast and it's really hard to get butter out of clothes. Maybe I should let them experiment with being sunscreen face or the ever popular crazy shampoo suds head. Maybe my husband is onto something.

Way to Go Noah!

ReporterHerald- Arts classes a hit with students, teachers

No Words? No Way.

People who know me would be amazed that I don't have much to say right now. I am with children so much of the day I feel like I never shut up once I get around adults. But I have just been at a loss for words for the last few days. Maybe the Lord wants me to speak less and listen more. We're starting bible study tomorrow and I was so excited when I saw the video clippet about it at church that I almost started crying. I know that I should have the motivation to read the bible on my own, but I seem to need the accountability of homework to keep me on task.

Laurin and I passed our hunter's education class and went to the range yesterday for the shooting test. Thankfully the teachers there didn't assume that I didn't know what I was doing. They just told me that I did everything perfectly. Laurin did too of course, but it was funny to see her leaning into her gun expecting a big kickback even though we were only shooting 22s.

No Time

I started trying to give my blog a facelift and ran out of time to get everything put together like I would like. I have been taking a hunter's education course with Laurin, because she needed the course and I thought that it wouldn't hurt to take it too. I am not planning on hunting, but I still don't appreciate comments about girls/women being in the class. There are plenty of us in there, but for some reason this seems to be a big surprise to many of the men/boys in the class. I do listen to my husband when he speaks to me about his hobbies and I do shoot guns and even worked at a shooting range for crying out loud. I would venture to say that I know more about the topics being covered than 8 out of 10 people in there, but I'm just a woman so what do I know.

Wordless Wednesday--Innocence

Laina, the Next Mary Lou

Kindergarten

Laina is having a blast at kindergarten. The third day of school she ran up to another little girl and they gave each other a big hug as Laina announced that this was her best friend. She gets to ride the bus home in the afternoon and feels like quite a big girl. She was so excited when the kids got to go to the library too. I was afraid that she would still be sucking her thumb in kindergarten, but this summer we bought some of the nasty tasting stuff to put on her thumbs and that ended it all.