19,000 visitors and a PRIZE!

Well, I thought about a prize. I even went back and checked my site meter to see who the big winner was...

it was a total stranger (who didn't leave a comment - ahem) ,

And so were the twenty or so people on either side of 19,000.

Sorry friends. You can't win if you don't comment. And around here, you never know who's gonna win or when I might get the urge to promise a prize (that may take up to 6 months to deliver - but totally worth it once it arrives!) But, you know, nice big round numbers usually strike my fancy... (I'm just sayin'...)

Now, about the people who didn't win...

people in California, Romeoville, IL(isn't that a great name?), UK, and Italy all looking at Cherry Blossoms,

lots of people looking at wedding cakes,

someone in France looking for a secret admirer,

and the best, heeheeheee, someone looking for Poo Training! ::giggle::giggle::

It's hotter than he!! - time to bake cookies!

Since it was so hot that the frosting on my donut ...melted and slid off, so hot that my silver necklace was burning me...out of direct sunlight, so hot that children will not touch a door handle on the car. I decided that it was time for another hotter than he!! experiment.



Since we were baking every time we got in the car, I was sure that it was hot enough to bake cookies.

We preheated them on the dash board on the way home from the store, then put them on the pan. It was 106 F. outside the car, and by the time 15 minutes had passed, it was around 130 (according to my candy thermometer). The kids did a little guessing - it would get up to 110, or 115 in the car. It would take about 2 hours to bake. (Package directions called for 350 for 8-10 minutes.) We took them out after an hour though, because the temp actually started to go down after reaching a high of 140 - next time we'll start at noon, instead of 5 p.m.)

We checked on them after a half an hour, and they were spreading. But after an hour we only succeeded in melting all the oil out of them. They were somewhat solidified.

But don't worry. None of them went to waste.

Myth Busters - Hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk

Well, contrary to popular belief 113 is not hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk. Or in a Cast Iron Skillet.

Sade and her friend tried it out. One on the concrete drive, one in the cast iron skillet. Eggs were room temp. the pan had been preheated all day and we began at two in the afternoon.

I checked them after 5 minutes, after 20 minutes, and after an hour. It was looking kind of hopeful.

But we found that it was only hot enough to dry an egg. No frying occurred. Stay tuned for more Hotter than He!! Experiments.

(reposted from THT - 6/22/08)

Why I Love Charlotte's Web

The babies and I have just finished reading our fourth "Little House" Book and since Laura and Mary start getting a little too old for the kids to relate, I decided that it's time to move on. Wolfman was voting for "the scary book with lots of creatures" (Spiderwick). However, I felt that might contribute to small people ending up in my bed, thus defeating the purpose of reading them to sleep. So, we just started Charlotte's Web.

Last night was the first night. It's not as calming as I'd hoped. They insisted on seeing every picture. They just kept listening and wouldn't go to sleep. Every time I finished a chapter they begged for more. Needless to say, we read 6 chapters before they finally succumbed. And believe me, if I hadn't been enjoying it so much, we wouldn't have read more than two.

Here are some reasons why I love it:

"So while the children swam and played and splashed water at each other, Wilbur amused himself in the mud along the edge of the brook, where it was warm and moist and delightfully sticky and oozy.

Every day was a happy day, and every night was peaceful."

"The barn was very large. It was very old. It smelled of hay and manure. It smelled of the perspiration of tired horses and the wonderful sweet breath of patient cows. It often had a sort of peaceful smell - as though nothing bad could happen ever again in the world."

"...From one to two, Wilbur planned to sleep. From two to three, he planned to scratch itchy places by rubbing against the fence. From three to four, he planned to stand perfectly still and think of what it was like to be alive, and to wait for Fern....Wilbur had gone to sleep thinking about these plans. He woke at six and saw the rain, and it seemed as though he couldn't bear it. "I get everything all beautifully planned out and it has to go and rain", he said."

"Wilbur didn't want food, he wanted love. He wanted a friend - someone who would play with him."

"You can imagine Wilbur's surprise when out of the darkness, came a small voice he had never heard before. It sounded rather thin, but pleasant. "Do you want a friend, Wilbur?" it said. "I'll be a friend to you. I've watched you all day and I like you."

"Wilbur was merely suffering the doubts and fears that often go with finding a new friend. In good time he was to discover that he was mistaken about Charlotte. Underneath her rather bold and cruel exterior, she had a kind heart, and she was to prove loyal and true to the very end."

Wilbur makes me smile. Alot.

You can do hard things.

I heard a talk recently. I wish I could remember exactly which meeting, but I can't. However, a man was telling a story about hiking with his daughter. Somewhere along the hike, she got tired and frustrated. He told her, "You can do hard things."

At girl's camp last week, I heard it several times (leading me to believe it was at our Stake Conference, but maybe it was General Conference). I even said it myself a couple of times. Sometimes in sincerity, and once a little tongue in cheek (when one of the busses broke down and a girl was complaining about riding for about a half-hour with four and five girls to a seat on the other bus).

However, this morning, when I was feeling a little overwhelmed by my new job and all it entails, the thought came to mind, "I can do hard things." So, I perked up, kicked my butt a little, made my list, and got to work doing what must be done.

Remember,

You Can Do Hard Things.

Big News!

Last week I had three interviews for teaching students with Autism (with three different principals). I got the job that I wanted - 

Teaching High School Students with Autism!

Woohoo! I'm excited! 

However, I'm sure my blogging will suffer. I'm going to be getting really busy. Just keeping up with kids and house is going to be crazy. Then add in the classes I have to take to update my certificate, decorating a classroom, lesson plans, scheduling & planning, interviewing and hiring aides, etc. Yup. I bet I'll be lucky to just post once a week.  Forget about blog hopping or reading and commenting on friend's blogs. Oh well. Moving on to a new season in life always requires sacrifice. 

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Poo Poo on Potty Training

BittE has decided that she wants to be a big girl. She wants to potty train. I am sooooooo not ready for that. She insists on going potty every time her diaper is slightly wet. We're wasting diapers left and right. I keep trying to talk her out of it. Picture me whining, "No potty, we just weeeeeeennnnnt." "You don't need to use the potty, you have a diaper." Then I drag my feet and let her lead me in there, grabbing a book on the way, so I can make sure that she doesn't fall through the padded Diego seat or waste half a roll of toilet paper while she waits to pee.

I finally tried putting some of Wolfman's old training pants on her. We've been through four pair in the past hour. I told her if she can wait 'til tomorrow, we'll go buy 47 pair of waffle weave padded panties and THEN she can be a big girl.

Saturday with Grandma

On Saturday we went to my Uncle Gary's farm with some fun cousins and Grandma.

We fed the cow.

Picked some green apples and

all the apricots we could eat.

Grandma was watching Aunt Maria's kids while she was down with the flu, and we just happened along at the right time to join in on the outing.

It was a pretty warm day, but not unbearable. The big kids were thrilled to see a field to run in, and were never really close enough to take any pictures of them.

But the younger ones loved hanging out with Grandma and I in the shade.

We even got to see all of Uncle Gary's hunting trophies (bears, mountain lions, wildcats, deer, antelope, big horned sheep, buffalo, turkey, etc.), and he gave us all soda and gummy snacks for the road. It was a day these kids will long remember.

I'm starting to think about Christmas.

It's time to begin making Christmas presents. Actually it's time to begin finishing Christmas presents. For the past couple of years we've had homemade Christmas. It's just a given that some of the presents we begin will not get finished in time.

There's an easy-knitter scarf, three quarters done.

Three Shrek babies with all their parts but no embroidered faces yet.

Twelve Christmas elves that were intended for my brothers & sisters' families, all cut out, half sewn, half stuffed - just waiting for assembly.

Yards of fleece are waiting for a little girl to make crazy hats for brothers and her baby sister,

and a studio-full of other good intentions that need carrying-out.

Earrings by StrungOut Designs - check out this amazing woman on Ebay! I want to copy all her awesome ideas.

So, since we've got some spare time on out hands, these people are going to start working on their presents for each other. I'm going to finish some projects that have been lurking in corners. We are gonna get busy!

Maybe we'll be done with them by Christmas Eve this year. Maybe even by Thanksgiving!

Disclaimer: Of course, that's after I finish making my house spotless, so I can host Bunco next week. And then I need to make a Movie Theatre Ticket Window and Consession Stand for Girl's Camp. Then there's camp, and recovery. But seriously... we are GOING to do it!

What to do when you've gone t.v. free ...

The other morning, Wolfman asked if we could play Simon Says. He must have learned at preschool because he's pretty darn good at leading it. We played long enough for everyone to have a couple of turns as leader. Then we played some old family favorites: Fruit basket tip-over and Hide the Thimble. The kids had a blast and have been begging to play daily! (rules at the end of post)


Instead of drawing or painting for art the other day, we decided to sew. Big brother sewed a supergirl/princess cape for BittE, while the Princess and her friend V made super cute dresses for their American Girl Dolls. The dresses ended up being a two-day project, but they turned out great! We were sew busy, I forgot to take pictures! I'll try to get them together and take a picture of the finished dresses soon.


Our family pool pass has been the best thing EVER! The middles have been swimming almost daily! Hallelujah! They go swimming, I put the littles down for a nap, and I have a couple of hours of peace and quiet.


Once again we bought tickets for Harkins Theatres Summer Movie Fun! For $7 each, you get to see 10 awesome kid movies! We love it and it's so much fun to look forward to a day out each week. Last week was our first movie - Space Chimps. Wolfman was totally into it and has been dragging his knuckles on the floor for days and fighting space aliens constantly.

Fruit Basket Tip Over: You may have played this same game with another name. We all sit in a circle with one person in the middle. But there is no chair for the person who is IT. Everyone, including the person who is IT, chooses a fruit (no repeats). The person who is IT calls out two or three fruits, and those people have to change seats, while IT tries to get a chair. Whoever is left standing is the new IT. IT can also call out "Fruit Basket Tip Over" and everyone has to change seats! We get wild with it - lots of bumping, running, whooping and laughing goes on. It's a good one for kids because there is really no skill involved!

Another really fun game that we learned from my friend is called "I have a Little Birdie". Everyone sits in a circle. The person who is IT is in the middle. They are holding a spray bottle or squirt gun. First, they have to silently think of a color. Then they go around the circle and ask everyone the question, "I have a little birdie, what color is yours?" If the person guesses a color that is not the one they were thinking of, IT just says "No, or that's a nice color" or something. But if the person says the color they are thinking of, the person who guessed correctly gets sprayed with water. Then they get to be IT and control the spray bottle! We also shoot them if someone guesses a color that's already been said. (any opportunity to spray someone is fun). Plus, with my big kids, we all try not to guess it - so we're naming every outrageous color we can think of: magenta, burnt umber, chartreusse, etc. It gets a little boring to be IT at our house. But another great game for little kids! (If they are really little, I always make IT whisper their color in my ear, so I know what to listen for, or else sometimes they forget what their color was or don't stop at the right answer.)

Hide the Thimble = Hot/Cold Game - IT leaves the room. Someone hides a small object (we use a thimble or whatever we can find about that size) somewhere in plain sight. IT is called back into the room and looks for the thimble. The others in the room, can only say hot (you're getting closer = warmer) or cold (you're getting farther away). When IT finds the thimble, he chooses someone else to leave the room, and then hides the thimble.

Also -

Happy Birthday to my AwESoMe sister, Maria!