We're On a Roll

It's been a week alright. 

So the day after the DS made it's way into the toilet, my new Palm phone took a swim.  I was standing right there, not five feet from Bella as she made her way into the bathroom.  Before I could stop it, my phone went into the toilet. 

Today, my nephew was playing happily in the floor swing while I was making dinner.  All of a sudden he started screaming.  I look over and whadya know.  There is Bella hovering close by.   Careful examination found a big bite mark on his head.  Like his poor little head was an apple.  BELLA!!!!! 

I now have gray hair all over MY head.  I think Bells gave me all of it and she barely turned one.  What am I going to do?  I'm just starting to have teenagers.  I'll be totally gray in a year!  In case you're wondering, yes, the grays go great with the acne I can't seem to clear up.  What is with that?   Can't catch a break here.

Michael performed in a play tonight at the school.  He sang a solo and did a really beautiful job.  So proud of you Michael!!  Sadly, I was distracted by the fact that he was up there in front of everyone with mon chee chee hair.  (Remember those?)  He needs a haircut in the worst way. 

Unfortunately, he also needed a haircut the day that they did troupe pictures that are on large colored banners on the marquee in front and all around the school.  Maybe people will think we want his hair that way.  (If only, it's not like its all flowy when it's long.  Poor baby.)

I rock.

And I'm going to bed now.

Strawberry Syrup

Pictures for this post will be up soon. (I hope.)

Here are my beautiful jars of strawberry syrup.  What?  You thought I was making jam?  On no, definitely not.  I was totally planning on making strawberry syrup this whole time.  I'm sorry for the misunderstanding.  So I'll share my recipe for the strawberry syrup.

Strawberries liquified in the food processor until you have four cups. 
1/4 cup lemon juice
4 cups sugar

Boil the ingredients for hours and hours and hours trying to get the mixture to thicken.  Wonder whats going on.  Add what few whole strawberries you have left in an attempt to make your strawberry sauce thicken.  Cook some more.  Fret.  Stir it a lot.  Add the one box of pectin you have into the quadrupled recipe for jam (of course, I mean syrup) to see if that will help.  Rack your brain trying to figure out where you went wrong.  Finally give up and jar your jam -oops, I mean your syrup and enjoy on pancakes instead of toast.

What can I say, that's just how things go sometimes.  By the way, don't liquify your strawberries in a food processor.  You are supposed to crush the strawberries with a potato masher until you have four cups if you want to leave out pectin.  I'm pretty sure that was my mistake.

Bon appetit!

Really, I Have Nothing to Say

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

This limited edition DS took a swim in a urine filled toilet tonight. You're awesome Bella...

This is what happens when you try to sneak away to dinner with your husband.  I mean, we didn't sneak, our children knew we weren't home.  I guess you get the babysitting you pay for.  Maybe we need to find a sitter that charges more than a bag of hot cheetos. Maybe we'd get better results.  Glad we stiffed him tonight!  (Insert smiley face here.)

By the way, why is it that I always have urine filled toilets?  It could be worse I guess (obviously), but I really wish that I had flushed "loos." Maybe someday... a girl can dream, right?

We're Jammin...

So, I was making my strawberry jam today.  And Bella was on hand to help me out.  Here she is with my quart size baggies attached to her feet, running off.  She is busy, on to her next task of taking all of the water bottles out of the box, pulling out the crayons, mashing Liam, you know the normal.

We've had such a busy weekend, I didn't even get a chance to post.  Julianna had her first softball game.   She was so cute, but we're going to need to practice.  She is an athletic little girl.  She just loves sports!

Michael called Central Arizona Community College to ask how old you need to be to go to school there.  He was disappointed because he has to wait until his Freshman year.  He is wanting to take some college writing classes.  Hmmmm...  don't know if I am quite ready for that.  But I thought it was cute he tried..

I know that there are so many other things that happened over the weekend.  We were just going from place to place.  Mom and dad are officially moving here by the end of the week!  Crazy.

Joshua turned eight on Friday, You are awesome Josh.  I am so happy that I've had you for eight years.  Josh had Father's and Sons on his birthday so we'll be celebrating in a few weeks when he is baptized.

I think that's the lowdown.  There are other things that are on my mind but I'll have to post them tomorrow!

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

My laundry monster may get me today. I am very afraid....

I was finally getting started...

Here are my strawberries, being sliced to go into delicious strawberry jam.  I was on my way

Until...

-- Sent from my Palm P%re

This happened...

Bella ate a half bag of magic markers.

Ironman

I wasn't going to post today. My strawberries are still sitting in my fridge, my laundry is breeding in the laundry room and my knee is extra sore.

The fun, upside of today is my sister Christina arrived with little Liam. He's been really good and cute, no trouble at all.

His mom and dad went to get a hamburger tonight and I happily watched Liam. (He is so fun! Just like my baby boys; skin, bones and muscles. I love it!) He was doing really well, cute smiling and no trouble at all. But like all babies, he eventually got a little unhappy.

Matthew was in the loft with Liam and I, watching the Ironman cartoon. He said, "maybe Liam wants to watch Ironman with me." After my reflex answer of "no" (I think I need to evaluate that reflex), I reconsidered and let Matthew hold him on the chair.

Cutest thing, not even one more peep from Liam. He was totally into Ironman. That loud, onery show with car chases, crashes, shooting, screaming. Liam loved it and sat content on Matthew's lap. (See the picture below.) Awesome.

I feel better already. I'll be completely cured when I'm done eating my pity party dinner of a cheeseburger, tots, and ice cream from Sonic.

AHHHHHH......

This picture goes with my Ironman post

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Busy Day :)

I was so lazy today. Or I guess I could look at it like, I was really busy today catching up on sleep. I did that for a large portion of my day, but I won't admit how large of a portion.

On my way out the door I went to the outside fridge to grab a diet coke. Imagine my surprise when I found 20 pounds of strawberries sitting there. Oh, I asked for them, I just forgot about them. So I'm thinking that strawberry jam I promised Derek I would make is going to have to get done in the next 24 hours. Guess it's a good thing I was SO busy today!

I'll post my recipe for strawberry jam. I don't have a special recipe or anything, but it will be in my little "blog book" for future reference.

On another note, Michael did his parent/child conference with me to go over his writing grade. I think he made that parent child conference idea up to get my attention. ( Insert smiley here :) )

That kid is so talented! He would be embarrased if he knew I was writing this, but he wrote a short story that made me laugh. Michael's story was about a penguin who had a nightmare that he was attacked my a monster pickle with no eyes or arms but long, sharp teeth. Who comes up with that stuff?

I need to publish the whole thing on this blog. (Along with an awesome poem Tyler wrote about Bella.) Michael thought his story was sub-par, but I loved it.

And I just love my kids.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

"Mean" Baby

Last week, I went to a mid-week Relief Society activity held at a gal's home in my ward. I was looking forward to getting out of the house. I don't really get out too much. (Baby, bum leg, etc.)

So it didn't take me too long to realize that I have the "mean" baby of the ward. You know, there is one in every crowd of children. That one child that is undiciplined and out of control. (You're never going to have one, you know, one of those kids.)

I came to reality as I was watching Bella go up to the (mostly) newborn babies in carseats and smashing them. (I am sure Bells thinks she is loving, but it's actually smashing.) Then she would go up to any child her size and just grab the around the neck as hard as she could. (Loving them, I'm sure.) Then she would go to any child larger than her, and take their stuff away and yell at them when they wouldn't give her what she wanted.

The ladies at the activity were so patient. They all said, as they were trying to protect their children, "well, she has to be tough, she is the youngest of six." (What nice women I have in my ward!) Needless to say, I was the first one to leave. Bella, no. Bella no, Bella stop for about an hour. That was my limit.

So I was pondering this as I watched her play with Matthew today. She was grabbing two handfuls of his hair and pulling it as hard as she could. Matthew was laughing and would give her hugs. Then, Derek and Tyler took her outside and played basketball with her. She got thumped in the chest with a full size basketball twice. That didn't stop her. She has a bruise on her face from running in the bathroom and sliding into the tub. Bruises on her leg from climbing in her toy box and falling out. She is a force to be reckoned with.

I guess it's no wonder she is the "mean" baby. Love in her world is a rough and tumble business. I bet she grows up to be a something else and FUN!

Oh, Little Girl

So, since I'm using this as a blog journal, I need to write this quick story about Julianna.

Jules, I promise I won't show this to you for a long time. Like, years.

So anyhow, Julianna was invited to go bowling with one of her little friends today.

Julianna comes home from bowling and she is grouchy. When she is diciplined later, all of a sudden she explodes into tears and frustration. Now, we understand that she is hitting (at nine????? but she is) some hormone changes so we are getting used to drama. However, this was a little over the top.

Come to find out that she was embarrased that she has "giant" feet. She says "I am only nine, but I'm wearing a size seven shoe." Poor baby, she is growing fast.

Turns out, when her friend's mom went to the counter to get Jules bowling shoes, she told her yes when asked if the size four shoes were comfortable. (After trying one or two smaller sizes.) So the poor child bowled for two hours in shoes that were three sizes too small so her friend wouldn't find out her real shoe size.

It stinks sometimes to grow up.

P.S. Really cute, Tyler and Uncle Quinn went to see a movie today. Tyler calle it "Quiler" time. Funny boy, I love him.

In Loving Memory...

One of our good friends lost his mother this week. The funeral was today, and I feel that I came away with some important lessons.

The daughter that gave the Life Sketch was explaining that the family was having a hard time coming up with some kind of poem or thought to put in the program for their straight shooting, plain spoken mom. One of the kids remembered a paper that had been on the fridge for as long as they could remember. She said that it was probably a handout from some long ago Relief Society lesson, but they felt it described their loving mom perfectly. I want to share it with my family because I am going to live by it.

"I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails.

I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp.
I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbors children.

I want to be there with a little dirt under my findernails from helping to weed someone's garden.
I want to be there with children's stickly kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder.
I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived."

* Marjorie Pay Hinckley *

Me too.

Finally, Like I Promised... Taco Meat (Better than Taco Bell)

This meat is so delicious, you won't be able to eat any other with tacos.

Taco Meat:

2 lbs. ground beef in 2 quart sauce pan
NOTE: Ground chuck is delicious but fattening. The meat is never drained. I use 93% lean. It cooks for a loooong time, so even the lean meat becomes tender.
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. chili powder
1 tbsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. cumin
2 tbsp. paprika
Onion, chopped
Enough water to cover meat.
ANOTHER NOTE: You may need to add salt. That depends on the type of chili powder you use. When the meat is fully browned in the water, give it a taste and adjust seasonings to your taste. I'm a salt girl.

Bring meat, onion and spices to a boil, then bring back down to a simmer. Simmer meat for about one and a half hours, (yes one and a half hours), occasionally breaking down the meat with a potato masher. Add water as needed. The meat shouldn't dry out. You will know the meat is done when the texture is literally soft like Taco Bell meat. It is delicious!

Other ways to use this meat:

Taco Burger. Taco meat on a bun with lettuce, tomato cheese, anything you like on a taco. I know it sounds wierd but it is delicious, don't be afraid to try it!

Taco omelette. Once again, may sound crazy but this meat is seriously delicious in eggs. Again, top it with avacado, tomato, green onion, cheese. Whatever sounds good to you.

Enjoy! :) Love you Dara

Happy Easter!  She was loving the jelly beans.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

To Blog or Not to Blog

I fell off the face of the earth for a little while, but I am recommited.

I was just reading my friend's blog, and she printed her blog out at the end of the year and now she has a journal for her family. That is AWESOME!

Not only that, Dara, you posted for me!!! YEAHHH. Maybe I need to Facebook this thing. I've started having a good time commenting on Facebook....

So here is my quick rundown:

*Hurt myself.
*Spent lots of time getting better.
*Aunt Dara came to stay for nearly two months and I had a great time visiting with her. We started puzzles, knitting, and makeovers. Good times.
*I fell off the blogging wagon.
*I became much better and now my life continues on at about mach 10 and I am back to feeling like I am watching my life happening ahead of me and I am chasing after it saying "wait for me!" (Does anyone else feel that way?)

I had three children make the straight A honor roll this quarter. Great job Michael, Julianna and Joshua. I am so proud of you. The rest of you, (you know who you are), I know you'll make it next time. You are awesome that way.

Julianna is playing her first year of softball. We are just practicing right now.

Mom and Dad are moving across the street from me. My life is changing so quickly. We're going to have fun guys! I know you'll stay busy here.

So there is readers digest version of life. I am back having my goal be to have this blog, complete with pictures and enjoying it.

Dara, taco meat recipe is coming. No really, I promise!