Look Who's 7

One of my indulgences is birthday parties.  I use it for an excuse to get crafty.  This year we found some cute cupcake stuff on clearance at the local craft store so we went with a baking theme.  Little a loved it.

The invitations.  I made these from a card template I found online and odds and ends from scrapbook projects.

The cake.  We used the same template as for the card.  We cut it out of homemade toosie rolls.  They made toosie rolls at the party.  We tried the recipe the week before just to see how it would work.  Then I decided to use the leftover as an alternative to fondant.  It looked great, tasted great, but was a little hard to cut.  The lone green sprinkle was Little j's contribution to the cake.

The birthday girl.  She lost the second of her front teeth at school the day before the party.  Her teacher put it in a cute little tooth shaped box and made a necklace from dental floss.   She's happy that she can still talk with no lisp.

The party guests.

More party fun.

“Layin’-by time”

A wonderful lady we go to church with writes a weekly gardening letter. In her latest edition she said that this time of the year is layin'-by time." All the crops are planted and weeded and you have a bit of time before harvest starts. This is the time people plan projects like white washing the chicken coop or go fishing or go to the fair or plan weddings.

The concept has never hit my radar before, but I think a little "layin'-by time" is just what we had last week. T took off some time to help me mend from poison ivy. We had planned to take some sort of summer vacation this year, but never really figured out what. With the kids starting school next Thursday we realized this was pretty much it for summer vacation time.

The first half of the week we finally painted the girls room and put up some new trim. We got inspired when we found some classy jungle themed bedding at a neighbor's yard sale. Little A now has her jungle room. It looks pretty good for attempt at home improvement.

On Friday we took the kids camping. We took the easy route and opted for the "primitive" campsite at a nearby KOA. It was ideal because they had a swimming pool and playground and a bounce pillow. . . the sorts of things kids can do while mom sits nearby and rests. We ate a lot of camping junk food. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and had a good time.

On the way to the campground Little E dumped a whole sippy cup of water. She and her car seat were soaked when we got there. Then we realized we forgot to pack her clothes. I packed her swimming suit and a swim suit cover. So we changed her into the swim dress and she wore that the whole trip. It was pretty cute, but it had a zipper down the front and she kept unzipping it! One thing we were glad to have plenty of was bug spray. Little A got a few bites on her feet, but most of us avoided trouble with mosquitoes.

When we got back from our trip, our neighbor boys (ages 11 and 12) offered to mow our lawn for $15. That was really great! T isn't really all that fond of mowing the lawn, and I'm not quite up to it yet. They are really great boys. They come over to play with our kids at least a couple of times a week. They like to play ball or goof around and try to make the kids laugh. Sometimes they play hid and seek or keep away. I'm glad we have good neighbors.

Lessons Learned - Poison Ivy

Next time I decide to take out all the weeds along the backyard fence line I will be sure to check for noxious weeds. But three weeks ago, when I decided after mowing the lawn that it was time to remove all the shrub like weeds that had grown up through the fence, the thought never crossed my mind. I first notice something was odd when I came in and there were brown patches of something on my arm. I thought it was probably sap from one of the shrubs, but it wouldn't wash off. So I figured it might be tar. T had recently done some work on the roof and some of the tools I'd used may have had a bit of residual tar on them. I got out the vasoline, aka all purpose tar remover, but nothing.

I soon realized that it was probably poison ivy. By the weekend the brown patches had bubbled and peeled off taking the skin with them. It was terrible, but I figured I was over the worst of it. WRONG!

9 days after I first cut down the plants I started getting red bumps on my legs and arms. At first I thought they were mosquito bites, but then I notices they were unusually shaped and seemed to be in clumps and streaks. The rash grew and spread rapidly. I'll spare you the details, but byTuesday, day 14 swelling had become so intense on my left arm and feet that I could barely touch my fingers to my thumbs and it was difficult to walk. I went into the ER and they recommended Benadryl. The medication seemed to help control the swelling, but it made me drowsy and I had difficulty focusing. My hand was so swollen still I couldn't change a diaper. I called in the reinforcements. My mom was packed and ready to come within three hours, but then T was able to take a week and a half off work.

The kids favorite game right now is Batman Lego on the Wii. I have issues with the game because it is somewhat violent. The kids really like solving the puzzles and beating the bad guys. Little T plays and everyone else watches, even E. She calls the game "bad guys." One of the super villians is named Poison Ivy. J calls her Toys 'n Ivy. It sounds like the name of a gift store.

Now I'm at 21 days since I cut down the plants. I'm over the worst of it. (I'm pretty sure this time.), but still have a lot of swelling in my feet and of course itching. I am humbled and I have a lot of respect for people who have been through worse or lived before modern medicine.

Two things: 1. I definitely made an impression at the hospital. They will remember me now. In it's own little way that is a blessing. 2. I thought if we were thinking of using family names for the baby we could eliminate Ivy. Though, T thought naming the baby Ivy would be great. I guess it is sort of poetic.

Virtues of a Large Family

My friends The Sapps made a post recently about odd comments they got as their family grew. I’ve been thinking about it. We recently went to a work picnic where we had the largest family there. We got a few odd comments. Mostly I get really supportive comments when I go out with my children, but some people seem to think I’m crazy.

Who values large families these days? I once heard a nurse say that if they have a large family they are either Mormon or Catholic. Then once a lady at the store was telling me she came from a large family. I think she had 12 brothers and sisters. Without really thinking, I asked her if she was Mormon or Catholic. She was Catholic.

I’ve been thinking about collecting testimonies on the virtues of large families. I thought about e-mailing friends with great attitudes that I admire, but then I came up with a bigger idea. I decided to start a new tag. Did you grow up in a large family? Do you have a large family of your own? What virtues do you most value? This tag could be for anyone, but I really hope it brings out the things people like about their families.

Virtues of a Large Family Tag

1. How many brothers and sisters did you grow up with? 5, 1 sister and three brothers

2. How many children do you currently have? 4 2/3, two girls, two boys and one girl on the way

3. Do you have aspirations for more children? Yes

4. Name 5 virtues you see in having a big family.

1. There are a lot of laughs.
2. You don’t have to go far to find someone who cares.
3. You get to use your nurturing skills a lot. So hopefully your kids will learn a thing or two and when your old they will care for you and you won’t have to live in a nursing home.
4. You get used to working a lot of different types of personalities. This can be a valuable skill when you get to the work place.
5. As a parent, I find it keeps me focused on important parenting issues. It’s a big job, so it demands your attention. Your kids have to learn how to share, help with chores and love each other. Otherwise, life would be unhappy chaos.

To start off I tag you! Leave me a comment if you take my challenge, I'd love to read what you write. Thanks for sharing your ideas.

Our New Look

Little J sporting his cool new head gear. He looks like some sort of guy from Star Wars.

Here's my little belly. This picture was taken the beginning of June. Today Little E called me a basketball.
Little A lost a front tooth. She took about twenty pictures of herself. I liked this one.

Little T declined a photo,but he shaved his head for summer again. It was pretty cute.

T hasn't finished his new look yet, but he's getting Lasic eye surgery on Wednesday. Then he will be without glasses for the first time since I've known him.

I guess it's time for a new family photo. :)

Time for an Update

So I guess it's time to post some news. I've been keeping up with the birthday posts and pictures, but no real stuff about our day to day life. It's sort of late, so I'm just going to make a list of things that are new:

1. Ty started a Master's degree in Innovative Leadership. (That is why I am awake right now. He is taking his online class and it only has like five minutes left. So since I already checked all of your blogs I decided to add to my own.)
2. We're expecting a baby! Yeah! number five will be a girl and is due Nov 17th. (I've actually tried to post this before, but the ultrasound pictures wouldn't upload, so. . .)
3. Little A started dance. She loves it, and her teachers say she is doing really well. Little E loves to dance too. She asks to dance at least a couple times a day. It has been fun and good exercise.
4. I actually taught a dance class last Tuesday. I was a sub. for the 2.5 to 3.5 age group. The class is only 30 minutes long, but wow it was a work out! It was a lot of fun too. I get to sub again next week and I'm already planning for some more fun things to do.
5. Little T is getting ready for kindergarten. Both kids were accepted to the charter school, but I've had a very difficult time trying to figure out if it's the right situation for our family. I'm sure the pregnancy hormones don't help. But, the charter school bus leaves at 7:10 AM right in front of the the elementary school that is three doors away from our house. That elementary school starts at 9:15 AM. The kids would arrive home from the charter school about 10 minutes earlier than the local school. I think the education is better at the charter school, but is it worth 10 extra hours a week? Plus the charter school is known for having a lot of homework every night. Maybe it will teach them to be hard workers. I'm a little concerned that the more likely outcome is I will have a couple of sleep deprived children on hand. What to do, what to do. . .

Little t's 5th year

I'm playing catch up tonight. Here's the long awaited video of Little t.