Yesterday

Pictures from yesterday:

The Human Pyramid The kids were goofing off after school. Although they had fun, they realized making a pyramid was harder than they thought.

Biscuit explosion

I was making a large batch of biscuits for dinner. There is a lever on one side to lock the head in place and a lever on the other side to turn the mixer on and adjust the speed. I went to lock the head in place by pulling the lever all the way forward. I pulled the wrong lever and turned the mixer on full speed. This took all of 1 1/2 seconds to spray my dry ingredients all over the counter, all over the floor, and all over me. I've had this mixer for several years and have never made this mistake before. Whoops!

Expired Banana

I had a box sitting on my kitchen counter for about a month. When I finally moved it there was a banana behind it. Isn't this the grossest thing you have ever seen in a kitchen?!

What can I find in the laundry?

Ever since the time I didn't catch the package of kool-aid left in a pair of pants before tossing them into the washer, I have been very careful about checking pockets.

This week doing laundry I have pulled from my children's pockets:

plastic fork
ziploc bag
ponytail holder
bobby pin
comb
quarter
$5 bill (which I kept)
pencil
pen
lego
bionicle piece
plastic lizard
bolt
m&m wrapper
rock

The $5 bill was a bonus. Usually I only get loose change. I use to get quite a bit of change each week until the kids realized that I keep whatever I find in the laundry. Now I usually only get a penny or two, once in a while a quarter.

PS (added 5/31) Also found in laundry:

half of a popsicle stick
used band-aid

Pictures

I took several pictures yesterday so I could share some of our Memorial Day with you all. One was of Thomas being hogged tied so he could practice escaping. I thought it might not be a good idea to publish a picture of my son tied up. Another picture was of Kim asleep on my bed after being tired from work. I didn't think she would appreciate another embarrassing picture of her posted on my blog. The last set of pictures was of the family in the hot tub. I took three pictures. The first one shows a nice picture of someone's backside. The other two pictures . . . well let's just say . . . it is next to impossible to get a picture of a family this size where everyone is looking a the camera, let alone smiling.

So I looked through my old photo album and found this picture of me as a baby. My brother Larry is holding me. Aren't I cute?!

Is It Summer Yet?

It was very strange sending the kids off to school today. It feels like it should be summer. Kim is working, the kids have been swimming, and we've started the BBQ season.

I'm not sure if I am ready for summer or not. I'm definitely ready for a break for homework. Yes, we will read and do things this summer to keep our skills up, but I am ready for a break from the daily hours and hours of homework (and the one child who complains and moans every single night about homework for the same amount of time he has to do it, and shall remain nameless). I think teachers today give too much homework to elementary children. It might be fine if I had one child in elementary school, but I have four.

The kids take about two weeks getting use to being around each other so much. There is usually quite a bit of quarreling. I am hopeful that with all of them being a year older, they will not take too much adjusting time.

I am also ready to not get up at 6:30 in the morning. It wouldn't be so bad if I went to bed at a decent hour. That rarely happens.

Ready or not, I have just over a week to go. Then . . . school's out!

A Kiss

We had an irreverent moment in Sacrament Meeting yesterday. It was one of those times where you really need to laugh out loud but you have to remain quiet, so your whole body shakes trying to hold it in. Every time I think about it, I still laugh out loud.

I am sitting in Sacrament Meeting with Niko on my lap. Kim is on my left. I thought I smelled something stinky. Wondering if it was Niko, I decided to have someone smell him (other than myself, of coarse). I hoisted him up with a little too much oomph towards Kim and smacked her right in the face.

Well, he wasn't stinky but he did have to go through the rest of church with a pink lipstick kiss mark on his bottom.

Adrenaline

At 5:30 am this morning Todd and I were awakened by Kim standing at the bottom of our bed. "The door alarm is going off downstairs and I don't know why!"

I'm surprised it didn't wake the whole house up because it is so loud. Kim's bedroom is the closest to the door. She said she was pretty freaked out. She didn't want to go check the door in case someone was breaking in.

So . . . basically what happened was . . .

We have a small alarm on the top of the sliding glass door in the basement that goes into the backyard. It is really to let us know if our two year old goes out the door more than to know if someone is trying to get in.

The alarm is two pieces, one placed on the door frame and one on the door. When the two pieces separate by the door opening, the alarm goes off. Early this morning, one of the two pieces fell off, and the alarm went off.

Everyone got a nice shot of adrenaline.

Dear Lyle

Dear Lyle,

It was great to hear from you. Sorry I didn't let you know about my blog earlier. Hope you and Teresa are doing great.

Love you,
Penny

Changed the Settings

Well, I know that there must be people reading my blog because I see the counter go up everyday. I'm just curious as to who is actually reading it.

I had my settings set wrong before. Only registered users could leave a comment. I've changed the settings now, so anyone can leave a comment, even if you are not a registered user.

So I ask . . . if you are reading this blog entry please leave your name in the comment section so I can satisfy my curiosity. And please feel free to leave comments anytime, any day.

Thanks for reading!

The Best Present Ever

Have you ever used a Ticonderoga pencil? I love them! There is nothing better than a brand new, freshly sharpened Ticonderoga pencil! They write better and erase better than any other pencil out there. They sharpen easy but the leads will not break easy. Once you have tried one you will never want to use anything else.

Ask any member of my family . . . I am very protective of my Ticonderoga pencils.

I have received a lot of great birthday gifts in my lifetime. At this point in my life I usually buy what I want, give it to Todd, and ask him to wrap it up for my birthday. Once in a while there is a surprise gift. A year and a half ago Todd bought me a box of 48 Ticonderoga pencils. I cried. Not just because I love the pencils so much, but because Todd gave me a gift I wasn't expecting and that he knew I would love. I thought it was the best birthday present I have ever received.

Kim Goes to Prom

I love this picture.

Kim and Jeff

On the Wrong End

There must be a reason why two year olds still need help getting dressed.

A Pile of Dirt

We live here in this big, beautiful home. We have truly felt like this is where we need to be. It really is great that being in the right place is such a nice place to be.

I lived for a quite a few years in the house where my dad grew up. There were six children in his family. The house was quite small, but had all of the basics. Many of the rooms were add ons that my grandfather built. There was a fruit orchard and always a large garden.

For most people the world of home ownership has changed over the last half century. Homes are bigger. You can buy grass already grown and just lay it in your yard. Most of the fruits and vegetables come from the grocery store. Yes, there are many more things I could list.

So, yesterday as they are delivering three truckloads of top soil to our front yard, I wondered what my grandmother would think of us paying good money for a big pile of dirt.