You Don't See That Every Day

Do you ever wonder how the powers that be come up with the number of uses on their products? (sorry for the blurriness. these packages don't like their photo to be taken.) I have been buying this laundry detergent for a number of years now. I love the way it cleans our clothes, and the scent it leaves. But it wasn't until recently that I thought, gee, I have been going through a lot of detergent lately. Sure there is another kid in the house, but that shouldn't account for so much laundry! No, there are other culprits at work here. My girls are notorious for changing clothes; putting clean ones in the laundry basket; or using a towel once after a shower and dumping it in the basket. So I began an experiment. Just to see how much we were using. I like to run a full load when I do laundry (twice a week these days!) so I fill to the 2nd line on the measuring cup. And that has made all the difference . It appears that the "95 loads" is for those who don't...

my mom and my kids Birthdays and baptisms! On Saturday, my mom's birthday - the family got together and celebrated with her by having cake and presents. not enough candles for Mom! And our Miss M was baptized on Sunday evening! G. was able to do it this time too; (he had baptized S. and S. a few years back.) I didn't get any still-photos of the event, but the video camera captured her talking with the pastor, and the 'dunking' by her dad. Afterward the family went back to our house to celebrate. Of course this meant more cake and a few little gifts for her. It was a happy weekend!

Here's a picture of my mom and her sister. Don't they look like twins? My mom is the one on the right. She's the oldest of her 6 sibling, and today is her birthday! Long ago I used to wonder what my mom did all day. I figured since we were away during the day, in school, she didn't have much to do until we came home. How I laugh now at my naivete! My mom taught me all about cooking; if she gets a call around 5:30 pm, she' ll know it's me asking, "How do I cook this?" She tried to teach me to sew, but I wasn't such a willing pupil in that area. She is now known as the cookie grandma to my kids. All they have to do is walk in her house, mention how hungry they are, and she (usually) asks, "Do you want a cookie?" Happy Birthday Mom!

I finally made it to the beach! After months of pining away for the sand and wind and waves, I got to see my beloved coast. In Oregon going to the coast does not necessarily equate with flip flops, shorts, sun, swimsuits. As you can see in the photos. Even though there was NO WIND blowing, it was still cool. We had a lovely walk on the beach and then we visited my sister, brother in-law and niece. After another walk on the beach with them, I noticed baby K not acting like herself. Her head felt very warm - too warm -- and my mother instincts kicked in. I knew something was wrong, but not sure what. When we made it home that night, her fever was up to 104 and she was having little twitches, what I would call seizures, with her arms and legs. They went away with acetaminophen, but came back later the next day. We took her in to the doctor that evening and the good doc was able to diagnose - red sore throat, and fever ulcers on her mouth. A bug that is going around, lasts 3 to 5 ...

This week has held many firsts. And not for the baby either. We had the first sign of spring on Saturday. G mowed the lawn for the first time, I went and pulled weeds. It was lovely! The next day, the first actual day of spring; was rainy and wet; and then the first day of spring break, Monday, Today my son made his first breakfast - sort of. He followed a recipe and made pancakes for everyone from scratch! There was only a little trial and error - he put in 3 Table spoons of baking powder instead of 3 teaspoons. But we were able to triple the recipe, and came out with only 4 pancakes leftover. Pretty good! And today also - the first run around the track this year; the girls and I went to the high school and did a mile.

We all wore green today. And that was the extent of our St. Patrick's day 'celebration'. Although I had planned on a green dinner - split pea soup. Except I read the recipe wrong, and it needed to cook in the slow cooker for 6 hours, not 3 hours. Somehow I missed the instruction that said, cook for 3 hours, do this little thing, and then cook for 3 MORE hours. So I will throw together some rice and meat in a casserole instead. My little Irish-blooded babies won't mind! (I don't think split pea is their favorite.) My daughter did ask why the pinching was a tradition. I couldn't tell her the answer! But we did talk about the reason behind this day, and the man whom it honors - something that seems to get lost in the mainstream conversations. Did you know St. Patrick wasn't really Irish!?      "When he was about 16 years old, he was captured from Britain and taken as a slave to Ireland, where he lived for six years before escaping and returning to his...

It was Pi day, but in our house we like to celebrate it as PIE day, because it's all about food around here. I have a growing 12 year old boy who is never full, a growing 10 month old girl who is always eating, and 3 other in-between, always-growing, always-hungry girls. (I happen to like food too). So this year I had high hopes of having a "pie supper", meaning pie as the main course and pie for dessert. Shepherd's pie to be exact, with my leftover pot roast from yesterday. But with the way of things in our household, time ran out on me. I often lay down plans and they jump up and run out the front door before I can snag them and make it happen. So plan B was put into action - spaghetti! Not really 'pie'-ish, but quick, easy and ready to eat before the minions revolt. I was able to make dessert pies though! We had pumpkin pie and gave away a chocolate pudding pie to the neighbor. So we were able to celebrate pi day with pie, and all went to bed with full tu...

We play a game in our house every day. It's a lot like hide and seek. But it involves just one person "hiding" and 6 others "seeking". You can frequently hear me or G. ask, "Where's K--?" sending the other little people scurrying to find her. She goes from room to room wreaking havoc, creating chaos, leaving a wake of overturned, pulled-out-of, unfolded, or ripped, destruction in her path. The other day she was found in a bathroom happily shredding the toilet paper she had unrolled from the wall. Later I found her sitting on the rocking chair she had climbed up on. Turn around again and she was standing on it. Thus the side-turned chair. In other parts of our home - Big brother is helping little sis learn to ride without training wheels. It's a beautiful sight.

high fashion shoes We took the kids bowling Friday night. Our scores from Xbox Kinect bowling didn't exactly transfer over to real life. My best - 110 - with a real bowling ball was nowhere near my 268 on the game screen. But it was still a hoot! We showed up at the bowling alley after a dinner of fast food. The lights were dimmed and the neon was glowing. The kids seemed to enjoy seeing their teeth aglow. neon, and flashing disco balls Even the baby had plenty to look at and stay entertained for most of the time. glowing pins in the background

Last night was the first night. We are back at the crucial time in baby's life where she learns ... to go back to sleep on her own.  I, too, have to adjust my habit of going in every time she cries, picking her up and cuddling her. But oh, how those sweet hugs and whimpers break my heart.  I stood strong last night, after I finally turned off the light, and prayed a million Give me strength prayers. She woke up 3 times during the night, with each crying time getting progressively shorter! I was able to lay there and just listen to her without going in. I must admit, I was more worried about my reaction than hers. But we both came through just fine, both rested when we awoke in the morning, and we were up and out of our pajamas by 8 am! A breakthrough for sure!

 The cars were finished and turned in on Wednesday. The weeks, no, the months of crafting and researching and figuring out how to make the pinewood cars run faster - have all come to an end. Today was race day! M and her friend The countdown started last night, by our son. "Only 15 hours and 22 minutes to go," he announced to us, with more updates throughout the evening. S and friend There was a crowd there when I arrived, late (it's hard to get ready to go when Baby only wants to be carried around all morning!) We even had a cheering section. G's mom was there with her husband - who also had entered a car. And my brother came to watch too. helping out Baby K was pretty well behaved during the event. She did her normal hair-pulling and wiggling all over act. In the end, it was all worth it; every penny, every minute, every late night spent poring over techniques, came down to this: A sweep of the open class - 1st, 2nd, 3rd places going to G, the boy, a...

We have had some little visitors in our house lately. They don't eat much, but leave a tiny scrap out on the counter and they swarm it. They don't take up much space, but there are a lot of them. They make no noise, leave no sign of being there, unless I happen to catch them. Yes, we have ants. The annoying kind. No, not my mom's sisters. Nor my dad's. I like those aunts! I like it when they visit! But the ants we have visiting... I could live without them. I have for years. Until recently. They are inundating our kitchen. They are driving me crazy! We have kill-counts each morning. How sad is that? I have to actually wash up the dishes each night now before bed, or we will come out in the morning to find ants and their extended families feasting on a little scrap of food I might have missed when washing down the countertops. I know we are not the only ones. There are others in our town that have mentioned a very similar problem. I'm not ready for calling in the ...