Anyone Heard of a Clothes Volcano?

I had never heard of one until yesterday. I actually saw one first, then found out exactly what it was.

Let me first show you, then I will explain:

*note all the empty baskets, totes, and bins hanging out, just kinda minding their own business, nuttin' in 'em...just thought I would point 'em out. They used to have 9 people's clothes in them!*

Yesterday, I went downstairs to get some clothes for our kindergardner. We keep our clothes down in our laundry area just to ease up on carrying baskets up and down stairs, especially when I am pregnant. We have shelves, baskets, and totes to keep it all flowing. I was greeted by this....disaster!!!!!!

I first stopped in my tracks, took a step back and held the edge of a dresser to keep from falling, and asked the first child to come near me, "What. on. earth. happened. HERE????" There was a little stuttering and stammering, then one of them said, "Uhh, it was, um, S's idea! She actually emptied everything out, I just jumped onto them!" Upon further investigation, I found out that my lovely daughter, S, decided the world wouldn't be complete without a clothes volcano, of all things! She proceeded to dump out the baskets, totes, shelves, even the tops of the washer and dryer of all the clothing she could possibly find right in that area, pile it up as high as she could, then climb up on top of the washer and dryer, and jump down. So, daughter G naturally followed suit "'cause S told me to!"

Can I tell you that it is nearly impossible to find socks and underwear in a pile like that, especially in time for our little kindergardner to make it to school on time? I think that was the first basket to get emptied.

Can I also tell you that it is nearly impossible to pull a pile like that apart to fold clothes again? After being jumped onto by, not a 2 and a 5 year old, but an 8 and a 10 year old? 'Cause all those clothes were compacted down pretty hard after all that jumping?

Explanation for the dirty deed?

Interrogation:

Me: Please just tell me, what were you thinking? Seriously! I need to just know. What were you thinking?!?!?!?!? Was it to be really, really naughty? Or were you just not thinking?"

Her: "Uhhhmmmm...I guess...I just...wasn't....thinking???!" Whew! 'Cause I would hate to think someone could have even given it a second of thought and make a conscious decision to do this!!!!

Well, library trip was cancelled for yesterday. Everything else for that matter. My little helpers are still helping me fold, sort, and put away laundry.

Might I add that I even had so, so many piles sorted into stuff going away for the winter, getting thrown away, getting given away, and so on....all dumped, mixed up, and compacted down?

****Sigh!!!!!****

A Teenager Household

We are now officially a Teenager Household. Our oldest just turned 13! She's acted like a teenager (and I mean in the cool sense, of course) for a very long time so the transition will be quite smooth, I'm sure! :)

*Just a side note I meant to mention on my Oink Report: When I called the school Monday to report our kindergardener's absence, the nurse told me that so far that morning they had a 40% call in rate! She said she has had not ever seen numbers this high!

Oink! Oink!

Well, everyone! We got it! The dreaded H1N1! Swine Flu!!!! Oink, oink!!!!! It hasn't been tested and confirmed but the kids that have gotten sick have pretty much had any symptom that could be possibly related to H1N1, except not so much the GI symptoms.

Oh, I sometimes yearn for blogging again...the so many funny things that come up. Especially with our two y.o. But, it goes by the wayside due to the lack of time in my life right now!!!

My dear hubby came home early from his trip to help out...and just in case anyone ends up having to be run to the hospital.

Our second daughter has asthma so she's had some struggles. We brought her in today because they highly recommended us getting her the Tamiflu antiviral med to decrease the severity of the illness as well as the length and chance of complications afterwards.

We're so weird (the girls and I), we have guesses out there as to who we think will be the next down. Our oldest was first (the school district is just swamped in "flu-like illness"). Then our second one went down (they have it figured out..it was because the oldest one tooted on the second one's trumpet then handed it back to the second dtr, who proceeded to play the trumpet, before we realized our oldest was sick). The third dtr then went down. All bets were on either the 4th or 6th dtr next, but the 5th one was next instead. She buckled today while we were at the doctor's office. She was sitting in the chair as we were all talking and such when suddenly we noticed her nodding and starting to tip forward, like she might fall out of her chair..flu mask on and all.

They all had to wear masks...all the kids in the waiting room pretty much were masked. The clinic was really good about keeping family's germs separate so they just herded ppl into their own room as rooms became available. I have pics on my phone of the girls in their masks but don't feel like looking for the cord for my phone to hook up to here.

Well, I had about three different things I wanted to tell about but don't remember any other issues but this one. Well, there's always tomorrow! :)

It's Birthday Season again!

We had a birthday yesterday, one today, then another one in about 3 weeks and another 2 days after that! Whew!

We've decided to take on birthdays a little differently this year. We've given the girls the option of having a big birthday party or cashing in on their birthday. Their "cash-in" option has two variations. Variation 1: Cash in place of the party but still a gift from us. Variation 2: Cash in place of the party and gift (which ends up being more cash that Variation 1). Both include cake and a few goodies. We couldn't do without cake and a few goodies.

They've all opted for the Cash-In Option, Variation 2. Double Whew! In the relief sense. So much easier.

I love how this money they anticipate for their birthdays is being spent....even much before any of them actually received the money. Some of their purchases include:

Buying off their sisters for many, many things. For example: "If you will share that with me, I will give you $2 of my birthday money...when I get it!"

One can never have enough of their own space: "I think I want to buy my own house with my birthday money. Do you think that's enough to buy a house...or not! 'Cause I would like to have my own space."

Then there are those that are the charity-minded: "I know what I will do with my birthday money! I will donate it to the church! Do you think that would be good....or, maybe some of it to the church and the rest of it to (now I don't remember where the rest was going). Or, I know, I will donate, like, $15 to the church, then $x to (wherever it was), then I would use the rest for (American Girl doll stuff, for example) for myself...that still would be good, wouldn't it!"

Gotta love it!

And on other notes:

Home schooling is going pretty well, except I'm feeling pretty inept as a teacher at times. I have more material than we ever would need but still I'm always wondering what we should tackle, in what order, are we "keeping up" with the rest of the world, etc. We got together with some other moms and kids that we know that are homeschoolers and have been longer than us. That was very encouraging to be able to bounce ideas off them and just know that they also have their days they don't feel all that adequate too! They are ladies from our church that I have known at least as acquaintances for many years, some better than others. It was only after we left that one of our girls realized that all the kids that were there are also home schooled.

Our baby is growing and growing. He is over 5 months now. He giggles, coos and talks, reaches for everything, squeals, stuffs his toes in his mouth... He is a joy to have around.

I wish I had been able to find the camera but I guess I will just someday update with a kajillion pictures all at once. For now I remain pictureless.

Our 2 y.o. talks and talks. When I was calling her the Birthday Girl the other day, she looked at me with a scowl and said, "I not Birthday Girl!!!" Later, I said something about having cake and she gave me a warning glare and said, "Don't call me Birthday Girl!!!" Of course it's not crystal clear like that but very understandable. I've been very surprised at how well she articulates when she talks.

I am running out of thoughts to share...it's gotten to be that time of the night again. :)

Another Updating Opportunity Passes...

I meant to have a full update, complete with pictures and all, but I had the night off Friday night and now last night I was pretty busy and veeerrryyy tired so I couldn't concentrate at all to even remember to update.

We don't have internet right now at home so I always just update myself on everything...email, blog, family page, etc. on the weekend.

Well, now it is time for my shift to end so...next weekend!

Or we will get internet back up and running this week 'cause I kind of miss it already!!! It was a nice break to get grounded the end of this summer but now I need my internet resources and contact with the outside world. :)

TTFN!

See, It All Started Like This....

I decided that it's time for a new look. I had noticed the past few times I've changed my blog background, there are now matching headers for some of the backgrounds. This time, I decided that I'm going all the way. New background, new header, might as well toss in some pictures on the header since you can do that, you know!!!

Well, that was several attempts ago. I only succeeded to waste entire, precious night shifts on nothing more than monkeying around with what "they" claim as a very simple procedure each time I attempted to get this fancy blog set up.

Next, after many tries, I decided that maybe it's time for me to purchase a cheap "PhotoShop"-like program to help me figure this whole thing out. Additionally, this type of a program can be so fun to alter pictures with! I couldn't wait....I had actually tried the free version that this blogsite touted also as a very simple process. It. was. NOT. Several tries of just downloading this free program produced a big nothing!

Okay, now here I am. Fast forward, mmmmm, at least a month and a half, two months later. Purchased a cheap, reasonably-priced program...only to realize it was far from easy to figure out.

I got a call from this company about a few days later asking me if I realize that this version that I purchased, this cheap, reasonably-priced, not to mention simple program I purchased, is an old, slightly outdated version of a wonderful newer program....a program that is much more user-friendly that comes with a user manual, many prompts while using this program....all for a slightly higher price. One that if I purchase it, I will be reimbursed my other money I put towards the cheap, reasonably-priced, not to mention cheap program. Sounds good. Sounds downright EXcellent!!!

I have since received this wonderful user-friendly program.

Now guess what! My C: drive is too full to download and install this new and improved photo altering program. And, try as I might, I cannot get enough deleted to satisfy this no-good, broken down, washed up, has-been computer to install this program!!!!!!!!!!

*Sigh*

A Not-So-Family-Friendly Side Show

Okay, for reasons that will be obvious after you read this post, there will be no pictures to accompany this little story.



This evening, before getting ready for work, I was cleaning a bit. I was in the middle of sweeping the dining room when I realized that it had become really pretty dark and almost greenish looking outside. I told the kids that were home that it looks a little tornado-y outside and I wondered if the sirens were going. I went to the patio door and opened it to hear a little better.

What I heard wasn't sirens. What I did hear was some drunkish sounding voices over in our neighbor's backyard, by their pool. I glanced over there to see a woman standing there and stating over and over, "You purposely did that! You did!" and so on. I heard the neighbor guy saying, "I did not. Now come back in the pool!" This was accompanied by laughter and such.

I was about to look back to the sky when another woman came out of the pool. I noticed that her swimsuit was a very light pink...it could have been mistaken for skin! When she turned around, I realized, it was skin!!! She was naked! Buck naked! Then the first lady I had seen came over with a large towel and wrapped it around the naked lady and herself so they were wrapped in it facing each other. And kind of jokingly exhibited some lewd behavior. Gag!!!!!!!!!

Then, as I was turning away, the neighbor guy came climbing out of the pool in all his naked glory! All I saw was very, very white bum cheeks and I had seen enough!!! I turned away. I warned the girls away (just my oldest and my toddler were there).

About a minute later I heard some really loud shouting and exclaiming! I still was a little in disbelief, thinking, maybe what I saw was some very white Speedos and other such various thoughts, so I glanced over (Now, ladies and gentlemen, you must realize, it is simply a glance out our patio door or picture window for full view of the neighbor's poolside, like pretty much from anywhere near the windows, a glance toward the neighbor's...we're slightly uphill from them). This time I was privvy to a lovely shot of Lady #2, naked. Neighbor Man, naked. Running! NOT a pretty sight! Front view. NOT good. And Neighbor Lady, wrapped in towel. Surely with suit still on. She's NOT the naked type. I finally had had enough. I went to the patio door and yelled out, "Okay, you guys. GET some CLOTHES on! My kids are over here, able to see everything! I have to keep them away from the windows right now!" No response. I shouted again. No response. I put my fingers in my mouth for a very sharp, very loud whistle. No response. Either these people are ignoring me, have drinking-induced deafness, or have music going that I can't hear above their excited shouting. Absolutely no response.

I shut the door in disbelief. I told the the girls to stay away from the windows if they want to avoid visual disturbances and possibly permanent, lifelong mental trauma and scarring. I was assured that they would.

I called the neighbor on the other side of them and asked what I should do. I told her I really didn't want to call the police on them since they periodically let us use their pool. Just kidding. I said that I would prefer to resolve this without police intervention since they are super neighbors and probably would be horrified if they realized that we saw everything. She told me that I should probably call the neighbors themselves, but then she remembered that they don't have a home phone anymore, only cell phones. I didn't exactly want to go knock on their backyard fence door since I didn't want to be greeted by someone displaying privates!

Her suggestion was to wait until they are sober and tell them, "Um, I'm not sure if you realize this but we have a very clear view into your pool area right from our living room and dining room. We saw some nakedness (or something like that) from our living room the other night...." I think that I will be informing them of that pretty much on our way to church Sunday morning! Or right when we get back! I really, really didn't like that side show!

"Little Kids Have Eyes!!!"

Daddy brought the girls to the gym the other evening. Afterwards, he brought them into the family locker room. The three older girls he had with went into one large shower room to shower and change and he and our 4 y.o. went into another.

As they shut the door, our 4 y.o. told her dad, "Now, don't look at me!" He said, "Okay. Then you don't look at me either."

After showering, drying off, and beginning to get dressed, my hubby dropped something, which in turn caused our little daughter to look sharply in his direction. He looked at her and said, "Hey! You looked at me!" She gave a big sigh and said, "Little kids have eyes! We have to look! If we didn't, everything would be dark and we would keep bumping into things!!!"

So there, Dad!!!

Computer Savvy....

I am not! Well, savvy for that matter...I am not! I'm flubbing my way from one thing to another. Just a few weeks ago, I was trying to find someone's blog I had been following that seemed to have just up and disappeared. I finally looked on my follower list, clicked on something, then maybe something else, then, next thing I knew, I was following myself!!! And I couldn't, for love or money or really kind words to the computer or bribery, get myself off my tail!!!! I do not know how to get myself off my followers list! Oh well, I guess I will just be like a dog, chasing my own tail for the rest of my blog life.

Another thing...a few years after making a profile, I was looking at my information I have on there at the same time as I was updating my profile picture, and I noticed I had written "Tom Grisham books". It's John Grisham, I think! Or...Tom Grisham...no! John Grisham! Now I'm second guessing myself!!! I'll have to Google that now.

It seems like almost everything lately is going in this manner. I think I need a mental health break....or something! I would even settle for a beach day...even a beach half-day!

Now I'll see if I can get some pics put on here and blog for a little bit. I'm at work and I've so far used all my down time trying to figure out how to put pictures on my new header! I don't even know if I will know how to get the header on here!!! :)

July in Review:

The Dane

Toddlers in Motion

(These photos were taken within about a 30 second time frame)

Brothers

(My sisters two boys...the older one was holding the baby. Big Boy fell asleep, Baby began fussing, Big Boy quickly scooped Baby closer and inserted Baby's pacifier in his sleep!)

Cousins:

The Projects:

The Old

The New

The Inside of The New

(Although it was a year old, it had never been used)

The Installer Runner-Up

(I had taken out the old, unhooked everything, and was ready to install the new one when I noticed it need to be hardwired, not plugged in like it had been in its previous home. I was going to do the wiring too but decided that The Children might still need The Mother. The Dad has done lots and lots of hardwiring in his lifetime. Lots! So he became The Chosen Hardwirer!)

The Installed

The New

Uhhhh, where did The Old go! I guess I forgot to upload the pic of the old sink!

The Testers

Yup! It passes as a bathtub too!!!

Oh. One more The Old, The New:

Oops! It isn't letting me add any more pics. "Enough!" it said. So here is:

(missing) The Old

The Older (but new pic)

Just for Fun!

This is our form of entertainment:

And toddlerville at its best. Big sister as Kanga, little sister as Roo. Roo keeps up with the latest technology...cell phone in a pouch!

Dizzy Dad!

This story is a bit reminescent this story, when my lovely hubby forgot we had a baby, or didn't realize the fussing baby his buddy was bouncing along with his own youngest child was, in fact, his very own daughter.

A few days ago, my husband and I stopped by a garage sale near our place. We only had our newborn baby along with us. As I walked up the driveway carrying the baby in his carseat, the man of the house said, "Free babysitting while you shop!" So I left the carseat near him and began to browse.

After browsing through many fine items and conversing a bit with the man and lady of the house, the lady shouted across the way to me, "How old is your baby?" I answered, "Eight weeks." She said, "Okay, I didn't think he was that old!" End of story. Or so I thought.

I think it was already the next day that my husband asked me, "Now how old is the baby?" I told him, "Eight weeks." He kind of muttered to himself, "Okay, so that would be about three months..?....no, more like.. two .. months..." Then, a very sheepish grin, "I told someone the baby's about five months!"

I kind of gave him a quick look and said, "You did? Who did you tell that to?" He said, "That guy at the garage sale. He asked me, 'How old is your baby?' and I said, 'mmm, about five, six months. Yeah, about five months..I think..!' I did add, 'I think!'"

I said, "Oh, funny...did you notice then that his wife asked me later how old the baby is? What if they compared notes later?...Wait a minute. Was his wife right there when you told him?" My husband replied, "Yes, she was!" I said, "Okay, that explains it. After I told her how old he is, she said, 'Okay, I didn't think he was that old!' She didn't buy your version of his age!"

My husband gave another sheepish grin and said, "I don't know what I was thinking! I mean, I know he was just born in April. I know that it hasn't been five months since April. I mean, I didn't do the math or anything. I just kinda threw that number out there! I wasn't really thinking, I couldn't really come up with anything so I just kinda pulled a number out that seemed like the right one!"

Dizzy dude!!! Gotta love the guy. I think he's one of those kind that is so smart he's.....dumb? :)

Wordful (and Picture FULL) Wednesday: The Month (or Two) In Review

Here's the little man, getting bigger! And the two babies keeping an eye on each other in the van. This is Memorial Day weekend. There's a shot of my oldest and youngest taking a nap together at the cabin we rented.

At the cemetery where my mom and infant brother are buried. On the left, "Um, you're standing on someone there! Hellooo!" (The 11 y.o. to the 12 y.o.)

Two of the girls standing at my mom's grave site. The 4 y.o. had just woken up while we were there and stumbled out of the van, walked over where my mom's headstone is, sat down and just was... She didn't really stare at it but more just was in her own world, gazing at the headstone. I had snapped a few more that turned out much better (here she kind of sensed me there and stretched and turned around) but they clearly had our family name on the stone and I would prefer not to have that on this blog.

Dad and girls......then one gravesite that had the most beautiful purple flowers growing all over and one precious angel sitting in the thickest part. The little footstone it is sitting watch over is one of a small child, an infant, if I am remembering correctly.

Homeschool projects:

Chicks one day old in first two pics, then about a month old in last picture. They are laying hens and will reside at my husband's parents' place, where we will take care of them and gather eggs, sharing them with our in-laws.

"The Secret Garden"

This was part of my Mother's Day gift from my husband and kids. They secretly had it tilled and partially seeded without my knowledge of it. This, too, is at my husband's parents' house.

Art Day! One of the girls picked mask-making so they were given only that for direction. I was very impressed how creative they were! I didn't get many pictures because my memory card was full and it was so time consuming to delete pictures.

Here's a phy-ed shot. The older two are teaching the younger one how to ride bike.

Everyone's enjoying Daddy being home from a business trip!

Oh, So Tired!

The little fella looks like he's already taken a few lessons from Dad. Church time is just so hard to keep the eyes open! Sooo relaxing!

Another niece's wedding! She's my godchild and married her sister's husband's brother. They are SOOO delightfully cute!

A girl and her dog! It was a dress-up day for the big girls that day!

Oh, I've got a kazillion and two more pictures to post but I will spare you all until I have another chance to blog! :) Actually I'm getting down to not too many more!