Goliath Beetle and Useless Information

On one of my email accounts I have something called 'useless information'. I truly love useless information. For instance, this morning the u.i. was that a goliath beetle (from Africa) is the heaviest bug that can fly. It weighs as much as 8 mice (yikes) and some African children tie them to strings to keep as pets. Now my Daddy used to play this same game when he was little with beetles but I am 97% sure that the mill village beetles were not quite this large. I googled these bugs and found this:
Ok, if I see a bug this big in my house, I'm moving!

A Good Yard Sale Day

Saturday mornings are exciting here. Doug, various children, and I all load up in the mini-van and begin our quest. This is a special quest, one reserved for only the brave of heart and light of pocket. We fit the bill. This morning we were especially motivated because there was an estate sale in a neighboring town and we were desperate to see if there was anything we could no longer live without. There wasn't... BUT... that was not enough to deter us. We pushed on and out of several yard sales found two that were, in my humble opinion, a score! Since Joshie-man is quickly growing out of 3T and heading toward 4, I scooped up a couple of armloads of good conditioned boy clothes (fortunately for me there was only one other mother to fight for them and she was a skinny thing... I took her easily). We picked up a couple of other items and headed to our next conquest. Little girl clothes (the heavens were smiling on us today!) As if my chunky little baby girl's legs weren't sweet enough, now she is the proud owner of a white eyelet dress that is a MUST for the beach photo shoot that I WILL get one of these days soon (Gigi, I am still counting on you).
On another topic, I have to admit that I am a blog addict. Reading, not writing. My Daddy scolds me for not writing more while I am 'young' but I just figure that there is little to write about that anyone would be interested enough to read, so I write in my journal. Plus, I am nosy so I like to know what everyone else's life is about. So, here you go, Daddy. A post. Don't say you weren't warned.

Domestic Goddess... is me

Last week the Pig had boneless, skinless chicken breasts on sale for $1.79 a pound... can't beat that price with a stick. So, we decided to clean them out... and then some. We asked the meat guy for more than was on display... we ended up with about 57 lbs. of chicken... and what, you may ask, on Earth, do we want with 57 lbs. of chicken? A HUGE COOKOUT!!! Nah, although it is all cooked now. With my Mother's help (a veteran canner, she is), I canned all 57 lbs. (35 quarts) (and 15 lbs. of ground chuck (7 quarts), also on sale, yay!). All but one jar sealed up beautifully, so I stuck that one in the fridge and the little people and I had chicken salad sandwiches the next day.
So, no longer call me and ask for Sha, Shannon, or Momma... ask for the Domestic Goddess of the house... and I shall respond.... maybe.

Various Ramblings

Last weekend I was supposed to go with Kimberly on a girl scout mother/daughter trip. There was also scheduled a tri-stake women's conference where Julie Beck and Mary Cook (Relief Society General President and 1st counselor in the Young Women's general presidency respectively) would be speaking. I ditched Kimbo and went to the conference with Em and Liz. I have to say I do not regret the ditching. The conference was SWEET! And Sister Beck is INSPIRED! No joke, these women are SPECTACULAR! If you get the chance to hear them speak in person, DO NOT let the opportunity pass you by! I shook Sister Beck's hand (she came around before the meeting) but my brilliant and UNOBSERVANT daughter and her friend were so busy giggling and acting silly that they walked right in front of her and never knew it. Ah well, they are young.

Kimberly got back her CRCT scores. She, of course, is brilliant! She got 'exceeded' expectations in 3 of the 4 scores she received back, one of which (english) she only missed one question on the test. GO KIMBO!!
Little Joshie man is sick :-( poor guy. BUT, thank goodness for the miracle of Motrin. He went from a miserable, whiney, clingy mess to his regular playful and cheerful self. LOVE IT! He didn't want to take the medicine, but with mine and Doug's 'persuasion' (tag-team, whatever), he got most of it.

Caroline..IS.. perfection. When she was born she had (and still has) a bald spot on the crown of her head about the size of a dime. It is caused by something with a name a mile long but she has the mild case of it and it is now harmless. (other than the bald spot, of course) Doug said Heavenly Father had to put it on her because otherwise she would be so perfect she would have had to go straight back to Heaven. I think he is right.
On another note, tonight I had a tomato sandwich with fresh basil. Might I just say that that is the most perfect food on the planet!

Catching up

The other day while I was at school, I got a text message from Doug telling me that Caroline, my tiniest, baby angelest girl in all the world had gotten through the gate in the kitchen, somehow gotten out the side door, and when they realized she was 'gone' they found her climbing up the front steps. I was horrified that my baby had been out 'exploring'. There are so many things that I can envision that could have happened to her. That night I lay in bed getting her to sleep thinking of how differently that day could have ended. I am a very thankful Mother for a safe day for my little Lala baby.
On a lighter note, the end of my semester has finally arrived... YAYAYAYAY!!! I have a week off before summer starts but at least I have the week and there will be a new set of assignments that I can start fresh on. My Daddy asked if I would be on the Deans's list again... mmmyeah, I doubt it.

My second daughter, Elizabeth is, thankfully, a book addict. I love that about her. She is able to suggest books to me these days and the one I just read that she suggested was really good. It was called Finding Faith (there's no underline on this thing.....ack!)
I have been told that stamps are going up Monday to .44. I realize that this is a small amount but I hate inflation so I bought 3 books of forever stamps. No, they won't last forever, but at least I won't have to fool with stupid .02 stamps... ick!
I know there were a couple of other cute things I wanted to write but I am drawing a blank... so maybe later.
Tootles!

misunderstanding

Joshua likes going into his sister's bedrooms because there is 'fun' stuff to play with. Fingernail polish, pens, whatever. There is also a down side because their rooms aren't really joshie-proof so sometimes things fall. One day he pulled a dresser over and thankfully the fan blocked it from smushing the little guy. He jumps on Elizabeth's bed to sit with her and when his head hits the wall as he sits back, her framed picture of Jesus falls and clunks Joshua on the head, pretty much every time. Elizabeth asked Joshua about Jesus and didn't he Love Jesus. Joshua tells her, "no, he always hits me on the head!"
He might need counseling.

It's Official!

It's official! Joshua is potty trained! It wasn't quick, it wasn't easy, and it was completely on his terms. We have been working on it for MONTHS and all of the sudden the last week or two he has just ... become trained. He has even wakened me during the night to go. He prefers going outside, and does whenever he has the chance, but often goes in the potty too. WOOOOHOOOO! Four down, one to go!

A day at the beach... well...

We went to the beach a couple of weeks ago and had a great time. We took some wonderful pictures. I don't have any of them for this post. See, we took them on our digital camera and I have yet too put them on my computer. I have found that, although our cell phones take lower quality pictures, those pictures are the most accessible, to take and to post. So, here are a few of our pictures that we have snagged from our cell phones.


Joshua liked the skateboard and knew how to do it at walmart... no idea how, we've never shown him.


Kimberly was in a car accident with her dad last Friday and made a trip to the ER. She was fine other than bruises from the seatbelt but her sisters wanted to see a picture of her so I took it and texted it to them to prove her durability.


Emily loves her baby sister. She wondered if she would love a child like she did Joshua until she met Caroline. She says they are 'BFF's'.


When we ate at the crab shack it was gorgeous outside so we were going to eat out there but the no-see-ems tore us up so we changed direction and went inside. But, the picture of Lala was pretty sweet. She and Joshua filled up on crackers before the food ever came... well, and then filled up on their Dad's crab legs.


This was just too sweet. At the new mall there are statues and Joshua was just their size. He wanted to read a book with them.


Ok, well, we did get ONE picture on the cell phone at the beach. Pretty good one too.


So far Kimberly is my only tomato sandwich loving child. This is the first tomato of the 09 season.


Farmer Liz... speaks for itself.


The girls (and their mother) love Cato. This is Lizzie's alter ego, Cato Liz. She took this in the mirror in the changing room.


I was leaving for class and my little Lala was telling me goodbye. Very sweet and very sad at the same time.


Lala's bikini:


Get the idea?

Just for fun

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2 of 5 children are... creative?

If I find the pictures to go with this post I will post them... Otherwise I will just explain.

When Emily was little she was an artist. She drew on everything. Walls, floors, furniture, books, didn't matter, everything. Another incident involved vaseline. She covered herself in it. Do you realize how many times you have to wash hair to get out vaseline? I can tell you it doesn't wash out. It has to wear out. Times like this require a parent to just take a picture. No punishment is appropriate.

Emily has met her match in Joshua. He loves Nestle Quik mix. Doesn't matter if he has milk. He will get the container and dissapear. He ends up wearing it and the floor is covered. What a mess. Our walls are a mess, I have thought of just putting frames on the wall around all Joshua's creations. Yesterday he got in her room for a while and painted up her art project from school. Joshua is still alive but I am not leaving him alone with her for a while (ha).

On a lighter note, yesterday Doug took Joshua on a walk around the local neighborhoods. As they were walking, they heard some Dogs barking and Doug told Joshua to hold his hand. Joshua asked him why. Doug explained that the dogs were barking and he wanted Joshua close. Joshua explained to his father not to worry, that they were his "friends". HA!

3am... a teenager... and a camera... see for yourself.

Which reminds me....

I have laryngitis. It reminds me of the last time I had it which was about 8 or 9 years ago. My youngest child at that time was about 2 or 3 years old and she was talking to me and got frustrated with me and told me to "talk woud!" She was the cutest thing.



Around that same time, I took the children to visit my sister. We were about to have lunch and so, as is my custom, we were going to have prayer over the meal. I asked my 2 year old to offer the prayer. As we waited for her to begin, she looked at my sister, who had not closed her eyes for prayer and told her the rule in a very serious tone, "cwose your eyes!" Later someone asked my sister what she did. She replied matter of factly, " I closed my eyes".



A number of years later when this little girl was in brownie girl scouts, we were out selling cookies. She came to a door that was answered by a boy from her bus. He stood there looking at her longer than she would have liked and finally said, "see what I'm wearing? Get your momma!"

Simple Pleasures and Bribery

I recently installed a clothes line in my yard. I hadn't had one in a number of years but due to the rising cost of our light bill I decided that it would be prudent to use one again. A friend of mine confided in me that her husband put one up at their house but that she hates using it. I feel the opposite. Since I don't HAVE to use it (like I did when I was just starting out), it is now relaxing and a nice opportunity to go outside on nice days. If you don't have a clothes line, or haven't used one in a while, I would encourage you to try it. It is quite therapeutic.

In other news, my nearly 3 year old son is potty training... sort of. We have taken the advice of a number of experts and we have resorted to bribing out boy. When he goes in the potty, he gets an m&m... or three. Having only potty trained girls, I am finding out that boys are rather challenging. Thank goodness for chocolate... for the both of us.

Finally, on a sweet note, while laying this same little rascal down for a nap, I chose 4 books to read to him, the last being a lovely little book called Going to Sleep on the Farm. I saved this one for last because it ends so peacefully. The last lines are "How do you go to sleep? Tell me how. How do you go to sleep? You snuggle down in your soft warm bed, and sleepy dreams soon fill your head. And that's how you go to sleep...shhhhh.... that's how you go to sleep." Well, as I read this to him, it was like a movie.. his eyes shut and he fell asleep. Needless to say, I stayed there a while.

My new love

Several years ago I started scrapbooking and really loved it. There have been times that I did more of it and some times that I did less of it. Now that I am going to school full time I just really don't have the time to devote to it. Fortunately, I have found a fun site that is a pretty good substitute. My daughters introduced it to me. It is called Picnik.com. Here are some examples:









So, what do you think?