It's A Girl!

Everything looked great. She's due September 13th. We're open to any name suggestions.

A Little Bribery Never Hurt Anyone

This is how I get my kids to listen to General Conference. Every time they hear the word, they get to eat. They get to help pick the words and assign them to the treat. After one session, they do some switching with words that they never heard to words they think they will hear more. So for Sunday afternoon we added "temple" to the mix. I have to thank Elder Bednar for his talk about "temple" and "service". We ate well during that one. We even ran out of our "temple" treat and had to combine with something else.

It must be noted that I don't expect my kids to sit motionless for the entire thing. The rule is they have to be close to the room with the TV. You'd be surprised how well they hear a word and come running in to get their snack.

Who says you shouldn't bribe your kids with food??

The Force is Strong With This One

Archer is all about Star Wars these days. Naturally, he wanted a Star Wars birthday party. I have a bone to pick with George Lucas. The lack of Star Wars party supplies around here was very limited. Nothing at Fred Meyer, Target, Shopko, K-Mart and I even resorted to Wal Mart (where I don't shop) and all they had was wrapping paper. From the local party store we grabbed a pack of plates and napkins (because Matt thought the Yoda on the napkins looked cool, not because 6 year olds would actually use them). We also found a Darth Vader helmet pinata. Very cool. When I was informed that my total was $30 and change, I almost lost consciousness. The pinata was $22.99! For something a bunch of kids were going to smack open in less than 5 minutes.

I put my crafty mind to work, and decided to make one. What I won't show you is my feeble first attempt (because no documentation exists). I bombed. Second attempt involved buying a baseball pinata, removing the stitches, spray painting (by dad), adding some electrical tape and voila, the Death Star.The cupcakes Archer wanted had Storm Trooper and Darth Vader helmet rings and were $18 at Fred Meyer. However, they were gone and the bakery wouldn't have sold me the rings even if they had more. Instead, I traced an image of a Clone Trooper helmet onto wax paper 40 times. Then I melted chocolate candy melts, tried to dye it black and piped the outlines.
When those hardened I filled them in with white candy melts.
I peeled them off and this is the final product on the cupcakes. Pretty ingenious if I do say so myself. The kids loved the fact that they were edible!
The arsenal of light sabers waiting for the party to start (pool noodles cut in half, duct tape and electrical tape). Of course, the princess of the house had to have a pink one. Archer said to just pretend it was purple because Mace Windu has a purple light saber. Of course.
And of course, what kid doesn't dream of attacking the Death Star with their own light saber? I don't think I needed to have planned any other games (Lego Star Wars bingo, pin the light saber on Anakin, pass the Thermal Detonator aka hot potato), they were totally content running around outside. I'm sure one or two moms were less than thrilled that I sent their kid home with a weapon.

Homemade Goodness-Pay It Forward

All right, it's time for a new post. Since I'm not in the mood to be creative or witty, I'll do a couple of random tags since all I have to do is cut and paste. And this one is my own fault since I was number three on a friend's blog.

The Rules:

1. Be one of the first 3 (three) people to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me - something crafty or yummy, who knows?! (But if you live far away, don't count on the yummy, and I just learned to knit).

2. Winners may then post this challenge on their blog, meaning that they will Pay It Forward, creating a handmade gift -anything!- for the first THREE bloggers who leave a comment on their post about this giveaway!

3. You have 365 days to send your items. (There always has to be a disclaimer!)

Thanks to everyone who reads my blogs, thanks for letting me read yours. It's fun to catch up and learn more about you and enjoy your sarcasm. But mostly it's nice to know that there are others out there just like me going through all the same things day in and day out.

The Line

Some of you know this line. I'm sure you all have something like it in your own home. Everyone at Grandma Darlene's is very good about obeying the House Rules, especially the rule about not crossing the line (I wish they would listen this well at home). We are grateful to have somewhere close to go where people like us. Maybe I'm just it's my wishful thinking on that last part, but I'll just claim ignorance.

Thank you again for letting us crash for the night. Thank you also for watching all of our combined children for a couple of hours. It's nice to go out to dinner and pretend we don't have kids once in a while.

Bad

So, I've been accused of being a bad blogger. I'm sorry. I'll try to post more.

There, that's all you get.

"Hey Santa, Hey Santa"

Cameron was happy for just this long.

This was as close as Addison would get

Archer would not sit on his lap.

Mitchell was very into the specifications of his wish

p.s. I hope you now have the Wilson Phillips song stuck in your head. I have for a week.

Fine, And You?

We're all good, just staying in. Although, I really need to go to the post office. I think it finally stopped snowing, maybe I will be brave.

"U.B.'s Home"

"If the object of this game was to get the ball closest to the pin you would be champion of the world."

Matt didn't get it and said no one else would either. So, I have to ask: Can you name the movie off the top of your head?

Around the Clock

12:04 a.m. ~ Child #4 wakes up crying.
12:06 a.m. ~ Start watching The Amazing Race from Sunday.
12:57 a.m. ~ The Amazing Race is over, put child back in bed.
3:17 a.m. ~ Child #3 starts crying.
3:18 a.m. ~ Find Child #3 covered in barf.
3:24 a.m. ~ Clean the tub with bleach from two days ago when said child pooped in it.
3:31 a.m. ~ Wash barf out of Child's hair, get clean p.j.s and put back in bed.
3:49 a.m. ~ Get back in bed, but wonder if I should go to the store for milk since we are out.
5:30 a.m. ~ Child #4 starts crying again.
5:31 a.m. ~ Check on Child #3, she hasn't fallen back asleep yet.
5:32 a.m. ~ Get Child #4 out of bed and bring into bed with me since husband has already left.
7:15 a.m. ~ Alarm #1 goes off. Hit snooze button.
7:30 a.m. ~ Alarm #2 goes off. Hit snooze button.
7:55 a.m. ~ Wake up panicked since school starts in 25 minutes.
7:57 a.m. ~ Be grateful that husband ran for a half gallon of milk. Pour cereal for kids.
8:03 a.m. ~ Get Child #1 and #2 upstairs to get dressed, hair done and teeth brushed.
8:15 a.m. ~ Tie Child #2's shoes, help with coats and back packs.
8:21 a.m. ~ Leave to take #1 and #2 to school.
9:00 a.m. ~ Good friend drops her Child #3 off.
9:25 a.m. ~ Leave to take said child to preschool for my friend.
9:31 a.m. ~ Home. Finally can finish hanging lights on tree.