All in the name of motherhood.

I am so brave.

I was tucking Jane into bed (again) and saw something scoot down her leg, then again it wiggled.

A spider! On my sweet girl! In her bed! eeek! I must act quickly!

I squished it with my bare hands! Then I grabbed a sock and picked up it's dead self and took it into the lighted hallway to inspect it further.

It was a hairband. The stray hair on it looked suspiciously like legs.

It is official. I'm a freak.

Holy Guacamole thats a lot of pictures.

Ok, It is too late to comment on all these pictures. Must clean kitchen and get some sleep. Wonderful family, wonderful times.

Righteous Traditions.

We have a Righteous Tooth Fairy. She keeps the Sabbath Day Holy. Maybe she keeps Mondays holy too, only time will tell. Eve wasn't disappointed though, made perfect sense to her.

We ran these boys ragged. Philly was fun, but they pooped out on us.....

These boys too. In the Tradition of their fathers right?





We had a WONDERFUL visit with Kristen, Emily, Joe, Ruby Jane and Joey. Watch out, I'm posting more pictures this evening.... I took 219. In about 24 hours.

This weeks favorites.

Favorite New Instrument.

Favorite New Kitchen Gadget.

Because when your child starts an apple this big, and eats till it is this small, it is a good idea to remove some of that extra fiber.

Favorite Man who bought me Favorite gadget.

Favorite Sandwich Smooch.

Favorite New Shoes.

Favorite Solution for the missing remote.
(you should see where we find this thing!)

Favorite Tank.

It is like Reasoning with a Two Year Old.

I went to Back to School Night and Enrichment Night. Dave stayed home with the 4 olders and held down the fort. (and fed, cleaned up, tucked, loved and storied them.) (He is good.)

When I got home, I found this picture on the kitchen table.


Apparently about 5 minutes after I left Lily had a little "accident"... sitting a foot in front of her potty chair. We are working on it. Boy are we working on it. Tonight's emphasis was on the STOP IT FROM COMING OUT, part of learning to use the potty... Running fast doesn't do any good when it is running down your leg.

Dave says, "I just kept trying to get her to understand that she has to HOLD it in... but It was, It was, Well, it was like reasoning with a 2 year old."

Hmmmm. Quite like it.

Should I?

I know it is "trendy". I know it's not low maintenance (like my current eternally pulled up "style") (Who am I kidding? What I have isn't really a style...) I know that it I would keep it tucked behind my ears creating a more Triangle Head.... but man, I want a change! My hair is at that funky post-baby phase where it is still falling out by the handfuls and new baby hair is about an inch long standing straight up! I am tired of finding hairs in my soup (and everywhere else.) Plus this chick is sporting that "peek-a-boo" eye thing. Cool, I'd only need to do eye make up on one eye. Perk.






I'm pretty sure it fits in the category of "hairstyles Dave doesn't like" (neck-length that covers the ears. He says he doesn't trust people when you can't see their ears. They must be hiding something... like people who smile with their mouths open. Cant be trusted.) (That was all a direct quote, he is sitting right here.) Probably I'll stick with my thinning shaggy messy bun.

Things that make you go hmmmm.

I walked into an empty kitchen to find this. It freaked me out. Michael laughed.

Our ward had a Chili Cook Off last week. I consulted with the best chefs I know and took Robin's 2nd recommendation for Nakey Chili. She said her other recipe would win the blue prize... but I didn't start soon enough and I went with the White Chili. I was somewhat concerned when it was simmering on the stove.
It isn't "pretty" soup. It actually looked like vomit. I expressed my concerns to Dave. He agreed. We tried to figure out a way to make it look more appetizing. Adding corn didn't help. At all. (sometime ask my husband about his corn-pouch/vomit philosphy.)
However,we tested it and it had terrific flavor and was yummy! Especially with cheese and sour cream.

Lots of people told me it was delicious. Many people even asked for the recipe. I didn't think I'd win the BEST prize, but I was hoping for something. We won Most Unique. OK. Unique is good, I can live with that. Dave ran, Rocky style to accept our ribbon.

Then we won another "award".

This award made me go Hmmmm? Plus, the ribbon said Good Effort.

Becky won the over all award (and the Best Use of Beans.) She makes good chili.

Where were you?

We moved from Colorado Springs to Delaware on Sept 9, 2001. Two mornings later we sat in the lobby of the hotel, eating an especially good continental breakfast and watched Live as Matt Lauer and Katie Couric broke live to the Twin towers, one was on fire... they tried to make sense of what was happening.... then our Realtor showed up and we went house hunting! We didn't see the second tower get hit or fall, but when we came back to the hotel that afternoon, we realized it wasn't like any other day. Like the rest of the country--- world for that matter, we tried to come to grips with a new reality, post 9/11/01. Our prayers go out to all who lost loved ones that day and to the many who fight for to defend our freedom.


On a happier note, check out this "Sunshine for your Soul" story. Simply amazing. I love how the Father says, "I never kissed so many Coast Guard men in my life!” LOL.

I married one.

Slow blog week. I'm working on something really fabulous and creative though, sure i am!

My dad sent me this, I like that engineers can laugh at themselves. I know lots of wonderful women married to wonderful engineers. My Favorite is #5. My husband resembles that remark. (just ask him about his lawn mower.)

Understanding Engineers - One

Two engineering students were walking across a university campus when one said, "Where did you get such a great bike?"
The second engineer replied, "Well, I was walking along yesterday,minding my own business, when a beautiful woman rode up on this bike, threw it to the ground, took off all her clothes and said,
"Take what you want."
The first engineer nodded approvingly and said, "Good choice; the clothes probably wouldn't have fitted you anyway."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Understanding Engineers - Two

To the optimist, the glass is half full.

To the pessimist, the glass is half empty.

To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

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Understanding Engineers - Three

A priest, a doctor, and an engineer were waiting one morning for a particularly slow group of golfers. The engineer fumed, "What's with those guys? We must have been waiting for fifteen minutes!"
The doctor chimed in, "I don't know, but I've never seen such inept golf!"
The priest said, "Here comes the green-keeper. Let's have a word with him."
He said, "Hello George, what's wrong with that group ahead of us? They're rather slow, aren't they?"
The green-keeper replied, "Oh, yes. That's a group of blind firemen. They lost their sight saving our clubhouse from a fire last year, so we always let them play for free anytime."
The group fell silent for a moment. The priest said, "That's so sad. I think I will say a special prayer for them tonight."
The doctor said, "Good idea. I'm going to contact my ophthalmologist colleague and see if there's anything he can do for them."
The engineer said, "Why can't they play at night?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Understanding Engineers - Four

Three engineering students were gathered together discussing who must have designed the human body.
One said, "It was a mechanical engineer. Just look at all the joints."
Another said, "No, it was an electrical engineer. The nervous system has many thousands of electrical connections."

A Third said, “No, it was a chemical engineer. The body has 12 million simultaneous chemical reactions every second.”

The last one said, "No, actually it had to have been a civil engineer.
Who else would run a toxic waste pipeline through a recreational area?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Understanding Engineers - Five

Normal people believe that if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Engineers believe that if it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Understanding Engineers - Six

An engineer was crossing a road one day, when a frog called out to him and said, "If you kiss me, I'll turn into a beautiful princess."
He bent over, picked up the frog and put it in his pocket.
The frog spoke up again and said, "If you kiss me I'll turn back into a beautiful princess and stay with you for one week."
The engineer took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it and returned it to the pocket.
The frog then cried out, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a princess, I'll stay with you for one week and do ANYTHING you want."
Again, the engineer took the frog out, smiled at it and put it back into his pocket.

Finally, the frog asked, "What is the matter? I've told you I'm a beautiful princess and that I'll stay with you for one week and do anything you want. Why won't you kiss me?"
The engineer said, "Look, I'm an engineer. I don't have time for a girlfriend, but a talking frog, now that's cool."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My favorite part of the RNC

Both Dave and I laughed when we saw this. How many times have our girls spit-combed Henry's hair?

Have you heard about Nie Nie?

I've been following this "story" for a week or so. It makes my heart hurt. It also makes my heart rejoice. I am amazed at how a community of bloggers can join together to create such a force for good. I am pretty sure that my sisters would do for me what this sister is doing for hers. I know I'd do it for them. (Sisters being ALL of them, step and in-law alike).

It is heart warming and amazing. The Blog World is ---amazing, for lack of a better word.

So, check out her story, read the past entries, it will bring Sunshine to your Soul.

It's Apple Season!

Seven years ago this week we moved to this area! During our first Sunday here we found an old friend of mine named Carol. Carol and I had been in Primary together as little girls in Idaho, and then we met again at church in Delaware! Small World. Anyway... she and her husband invited us apple picking at a local orchard. We had a great time and have been every year since-- in fact, we bought a house just down the road from the orchard! It is a great thing to do, you ride on a tractor-pulled-wagon out to the orchards and pick the best, juiciest apples! We go through pounds and pounds of apples each week in the fall! We eat them whole, slice them, dice them, peel them, cook them and just plain thoroughly enjoy them!
I'm pretty sure I have a picture of me or Dave with Jane in that backpack next to the very same tree. Well, maybe not the very same tree.... sigh, time flies.

We call him bruiser

Because he crawls fast and goes here, and here and here...


And, because when I did this to keep him "safe"...


He did this, which isn't very safe.
I feel the need to do this:
Yes, he got his first "shiner" at 10 months. Poor guy!