Cha cha cha changes...

Well Eli has officially decided the career on an R.N is not for him. I am totally happy about this, because for the past 2 years, I have had a husband who cannot make it home in time to eat dinner with us, and barely makes it home before the kids go to sleep.. He arrives home at around 8:30 every night and I hate it!! I know lots of people and their husbands' have careers that bring them home late at night, but I don't think I can deal with it for years to come. As our kids are homeschoolers, I need some relief around 6pm or so.. I think this is a good traditional, husband intervening time. I have been repeating in my mind for these past 2 years "I will get used to this! Lots of people have lives like this" Hoping this mantra with change my mind and feelings about our lack of Eli on his work days. And on his end, he works in the IMCU at the hospital, so things are always busy and stressful, he never has time to take a lunch break in his 13 hour day, or even just sit down. He is utterly spent by the time he gets home and just needs to crash.. I know I should be grateful that he has a good job, and I am.. but now, I'd like my husband back. So Eli has decided that he wants to go back to school for something unrelated to the medical profession. We are still discussing this, but as we both agree on the crapiness of schedule, I'm sure some big changes are in store for us. I just hope our mortgage cooperates with these new 'going back to school' revisions in our life :)

Wonderful people who make bedrest bearable :)

I feel so much happiness and gratitude right now for all my wonder friends helping us out right now. I truly didn't think bed rest would work, and I surely didn't want to ask for anyone's help. But sometimes it's so relieving to accept it. First, I must say that Eli, my awesome husband (who is still downstairs cleaning up the house), has spent 3 days doing all the kids' lessons with them, cooking, cleaning and putting the kids to bed AND taking care of me. Without complaining at all :) Yesterday, one of my sweet visiting teachers from church, brought us a delicious dinner and dessert. Today my sweet friend came by with her kids to visit, brought us another delicious dinner and beautiful cake, and a get well card. Tomorrow, another sweet sister from church is picking up all four of my kids to take them to a primary activity. And we have meals coming the rest of my bed rest week. I am so incredibly thankful for all the support of all my wonderful Relief Society sisters. I realized tonight, as my kids excitedly ate our delivered dinner, that they have really been lacking well rounded meals lately. With morning sickness constantly plaguing me, I have been throwing together whatever I can. They were truly overjoyed. (isn't that sad on my part? :) I am so happy that I will be able to finish out the remainder of the bed rest sentence with the help of such great, caring friends :)

Book Ends Book Club

My kids participate in a kids' book club, hosted by my awesome friend, Cindy Scott... This club has become one of my favorite things about our homeschooling year. It had kids ranging in age from 3-13, and we try to keep the books on about a 4th-6th grade reading level. Eli or I read the book aloud, for our little ones who can't read yet. We meet at the beginning off the year, and then again in January, after the holidays, so each family can pick a book. Every 2 weeks from there, we read a new book, then meet at Cindy's to have a fun discussion, games related to the book and treats. I always have great intentions to keep up with reading my kids good classic books, but book club has really helped me make sure I am reading on schedule. Deadlines are great motivators :) Book club is being wrapped up for the year, with Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon and Dean Hale, being the final book. My favorite book we read this year was Charlotte's Web by E.B White. The book by far, blows all the movies away. Linden and I actually cried as we finished it. All the kids were really touched by Charlotte's death. Other books from this year are:

The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Skene Catling
Jess by Mary Casanova
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Because of Winn Dixie by Kate Dicamillo
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary
The Holly Joliday by Megan McDonald
Dragon of the Red Dawn by Mary Pope Osborne

My favorite breakfast ever...

Mmmn.. Pancakes with whip cream and strawberries is truly the best way to wake up in the morning..

Baby Quincy and Stella

Ahh, those first years with Quincy and Stella.. Stella was about 2 here and Quincy 1.. Their relationship is similar today :)

On theft, being poor, and hobby lobby

I had a new experience today, when my new Sequoia was broken into while I was inside Hobby Lobby with the kids. This was revolutionary in a few ways. 1) I realized that I was driving a car that someone thought was valuable enough to have valuables. This in itself is quite strange for me, for anyone who has seen my previous vehicle would understand. I never even locked the doors to my van before.. the appearance was obviously enough of a theft deterrent :) Even my house before this one.. the one we rented from our dear landlord Mohammed... that house was the worst one on the street. Not to mention, it was probably the worst neighborhood for at least 15 miles. I would lock the doors when we were home, but was not afraid to leave them unlocked when we were gone. If someone was that desperate, that they would break into MY house in Tallowood, then they had problems beyond a lack of material goods. But such has been my creed for so long.. "No one would ever want to break into my house/car when there are so many other better ones all around.." I really got comfortable in this thinking. It made me lazy. And trusting! There are many benefits of being the worst house in a good neighborhood, and many disadvantages of being the best in a bad one. So today, when I left my purse in the passenger seat, in plain view of passersby, I was violently shaken from my former motto and forced to realize the truth: We aren't that poor anymore! We have stealable things! So despite the annoyance of having a vehicle vandalized, it was kind of complimenting :)
Moving on the #2 I realized what a sociological/moral lesson this was for my kids. Of course, they know stealing is wrong (Linden was even loudly quoting the commandment for others to hear.. just in case they have never heard that one) but I think that this is something kids never think about until it happens. And what I noticed most about the situation was how they looked at me and just waited to see how I would handle it... how I would react. And of course that constructive mother in me outweighed all other parts that may want to get mad.. and honestly, I really don't care about the car that much.. I do love it, but it's just a car. Just more so the inconvenience.. So when Judah started about how a bad guy did this, and that he wanted to 'beat up the bad guy' and so on, I decided to be as happy as I possibly could (for someone loaded down with bags, waiting in the lobby of a store with 4 kids for 20 minutes, for a police officer :) I told Judah that maybe this guy wasn't bad, but just desperate. Maybe he's had a really bad life. And shouldn't we be glad for all that we have? Now I'm not this optimistic and caring, but these are influenceable minds.. and I could see a memory forming in their little brains. So they kept trying to freak out about it, and I kept telling them to chill out, that everything was fine.. We swept the glass out of the seat, cleaned out the window and went home and played with blocks. But not before we said a prayer for the guy that did this to our car; that he may have his heart softened.. and change his life and repent and choose the right. (and that our car wouldn't cost a ton to fix:) All in all, it was a good lesson on forgiveness and gratitude. I mean, at least we have stealable things, right? Now that IS something to be thankful for :)

Things my dog does not deserve...

I have quite a strange relationship with my once sweet and lovable, now smelly and manipulative, chocolate lab. I have had him his whole life (almost 4 yrs) and his behavior has gone from bad to worse.. in other words, what once was typical exuberant puppy behavior has progressed in those few years, to full blown idiocy. I'm sure this is completely my fault; a dog is like a child, needing proper training and consistency.. but I have real children, and thought that a dog would be a nice accessory to our family. Not the bane of my existence. Here is a run down of Griffen life: He is an inside dog, and as he is obsessed with me, will follow an inch behind me ALL day. He rarely goes to the bathroom outside because he is too worried to be out of my sight. When he is obedient enough to do this, he keeps eye contact with me the whole time, and if I go in before he does, he bolts in the door after me. Most likely not even finishing his business. That he saves for when I leave. I can let him outside 20 times a day, but when I leave for 20 minutes, he poops on the floor of whatever room he is in. He is even so sneaky, that when Eli leaves for work at 6:00, Griffen won't go to the bathroom for him. He uses that 1 1/2 hour window to go on the floor, before I wake up. When you punish him for this, he shivers and cowers and acts like he has endured a life times worth of beatings, but then as soon as he is freed from his confinement, he won't think twice of hoisting up on the counter to look for sticks of butter to eat. Whole. With the paper on. That's another thing; he devours the trash at any chance he gets and spreads it ALL over the house. His favorite find is dirty diapers, which he partially eats and partially spreads all over the carpet. As I do not have any children in diapers, Griffen considers himself very lucky to find a diaper left by visitors in the trash. When I confront him and yell at him, he shivers and cowers and acts pathetic.. but it's all an act! He is such a needy, disloyal dog. And to top off all this bad behavior, he has skin problems so he looks frightful, stinks horribly and scratches himself constantly, rubbing up against furniture and shaking all over the place, in a cloud of skin flakes. So I go to the vet to see whats up with his itching/ hair loss/ smell. She tells me it's a food allergy and that this dear dog needs a special, expensive, diet. Like the stuff you can only buy at the vet that's like $40 a bag. So giving me a print out of all the "special" needs, I see that there are many recipes for homemade dog food. This I like, as I try to make everything for us homemade anyway. And I do love Griffen. In a wayward child kind of way. So I have been brewing him up a special mix for weeks now. Mainly its an oatmeal/brown rice/salmon/broccoli/cod liver oil mix. It's very inconvenient. And I have to store it in the fridge and its in a huge bowl and it smells horribly. And I have only seen slight improvements to his appearance and smell. But isn't that just why we have pets? Because they bring so much joy to our lives, enriching our lives with their sweet, cuddly presence?

I was told by a friend that I need to blog more.. And today I feel like venting, so here goes. At this moment I sit in my living room... half of the lovely wood panel walls sanded, doors off the bookshelf and cabinets, with a layer of primer on them... the shelves are laying on the living room floor, along with a layer of dust from sanding, paint cans, sand paper.. Multiple garbage bags lined up in the foyer, awaiting a trip to a donation center.. (this is an attempt to clear everything out of the master bedroom downstairs, that now serves as the dumping ground for EVERYTHING that has lost its place, due to the new tile being installed in all 3 bathrooms, and the living room remodel. Get the picture? The tile guys are coming back now to repair a broken tile, I am babysitting, all the kids are running around partially dressed in dress up clothes, being quite loud and sword fighting. I have a mom cat I rescued living in our garage storage room, that just had 2 kittens and just happens to have tapeworms (found that out the hard way, while changing the litter) and the kids will not quit begging to hold the kittens.. and the art room is still trashed from art club 2 days ago. And I don't feel like doing school today. Aren't I uplifting?? :) It is seriously just one of those days. With homeschooing, some days I feel we are on top of the world; education going smoothly, kids working nicely on an educational puzzle, house clean.. and sometimes we are trudging through sand paper and paint cans in the living room, whilst I pull tiny kittens away from children hiding them up in their room... and clean up the remnants of the food storage food Griffen (our wonderful dog) has shredded and attemped to eat all over the den. And to top it all off, I left my favorite hoodie too close to the rat cage, and now it's chewed to shreds. But, there is always tomorrow! Stay tuned for more positive, upliftings words to live by... from me!

Natural Science Museum

I LOVE the natural science museum.. one visit is worth a textbook of knowledge, in my opinion.. I like making the kids scavenger hunt type worksheets to engage them a bit more while looking at the exhibits. I try to cover all the areas of the museum- energy, paleontology, gems and minerals, etc.. and have questions like "When did the trilobites first appear? How is a geode formed? Find a display of your birth gemstone and record where it was found. " We also ran into a great chemistry lesson given my a visiting chemist... over the kids head, but they did learn a lot about polymers & density..

Math Fridge Magnets...

Does math get any funner than this? I don't think so..

The elimination of the shell sinks...

This was one of those horrible shell double sinks, we had upstairs upon move in.. Yes, Liz, EVERYTHING stuck to it and it was pretty much uncleanable.. This new countertop and backsplash was my design, and Eli did all the work.. The total cost for everything was about $220

Quick fix: Tub and Tile Refinisher

Since the holidays have passed, I feel a renewed desire to finish some of our 80% complete projects in our house.. Upon moving in a year ago, some things were truly hideous.. (psychedelic pink flowered wallpaper in 2 bathrooms, a deer mural in the formal dining). They needed immediate attention, so we would not suffocate in the chaos that was this 70 and 80's decorating disaster. But it wasn't as much bad decorating as it was just decorating that spanned 30 years.. mostly early 80's with a few 70's remainders left behind, some early 90's.. and nothing to try and update or beautify... only for functional reasons. In other words, chaos. The first matter of business was painting mine and Eli's bedroom ANY other color than the flat, faded, magenta it was when we moved in.. I picked green. And then proceeded to paint nearly every room in the house some shade of green, as well. My decorator friend says this is not a faux pas.. yet. I have learned to let go of the green, and have been lately trying to achieve a little more completion in our lives. The bathrooms are so close to completion, but are mainly lacking new tile floors. Countertops have been replaced in the upstairs bathroom, not yet in the master, or the small downstairs one. Money of course, is an issue, so I am trying to make as many cheap fixes as I can, so things will look less noticeably bad. Which brings me to the bathtub refinisher... I am using this tub and tile refinisher on the downstairs giant bathtub and shower, that is this ugly, marbly-looking tile.. It is supposed to make it a glossy white once painted on in 2 coats.. That is, if you survive the violent fumes of ether.. I barely did. The master bath is still waiting, but I have finished the small bathroom's ugly sink, which we want to replace, but will have to put it behind the trailing list of other things to do. I think it turned out pretty well.. Eli didn't really like it, which disappointed me after what I endured to finish it.. more pics to come of the master bathroom.