Car Search

We are in the midst of one of our least favorite activities....

searching for a new car.

One of the problems is we don't really know what we want,

as long as it has a back seat.

It will mainly be used for getting to and from work,

but we want the option of taking kids along.

 

The other main problem is that people want so much money for their cars

around here.

Seriously, most people are asking at least $1000 over the

blue book price, even for cars that are in bad shape.

I saw an ad online the other day for a car that doesn't run,

needs a ton of work, has a lot of miles,

and has body problems to top it off.  They want $1500 for that thing!!

 

When we lived in Idaho, that would've been worth about $500 or so.

It's a pain.

Especially since we are only available in the mornings to look at something.

 

But one of these days, we'll find something.

Which will be awesome!

Because then I can meet Tomato after school and drive to get her,

instead of pushing a double stroller and walking with

a 4-year-old who slows to a snail's pace anytime she feels like it.

In the rain.

I'm hoping we can find one during Christmas break, which

would mean that tomorrow would be our last day of rain walking;

at least until it's my turn to get the group at the top of the hill.

No Scissors Allowed

Well, I'm sure some of you can guess what this post is about.

Tomato decided to cut Olive's hair several days ago.  It was

either last Friday or Saturday.

And although it's about half gone, she did it in such a way

that you can't really tell unless you're close to her.

So I guess that's good.

But there's really no fixing it, either.

So we are just going to wait it out.

 

 

I discovered hair in the garbage that morning and asked where it came from.

"We found it."

Where?

"On the floor."

And then I realized how much hair there actually was in the

garbage can and demanded to know where on the floor it was found.

Then I took away the scissor privileges that anyone may have had.

 

And for your enjoyment:

 



Sickie McSickie

That's what we've been up to lately...

I am hoping that's it for the duration, but I have

a feeling that the cold and flu season is just

getting started around here.

 

Also, I had braces put

back on my teeth last week.

Family Pictures

We just had our family pictures taken....they turned out so great.

And true to life.

We had a photographer friend take them, and if you're in the area

and looking for a good photographer, let me know.

 

I really, really like almost all the ones we have, but

I'll try to narrow it down a little so it's not too much.

 

Little Olive wouldn't even look at my friend for the first little while,

even though she sees her in Primary every week at church.

But eventually she did, and we are so glad.

 

This is my favorite of the whole family.

 

I can't tell which one of Sour Cream's pictures is my favorite.

Every expression is so true to life; I get them every day as he is trying to be big

but still struggles because he's small.

 He finally cheered up a little when I put his brother on his lap.

Cheddar loves to play with his tongue, so this is perfect. 

 Pretty Tomato.

 Just the boys.

 If only they got along this well every day.... 

 

And a couple more for good measure.

 

 



Preparing

Does anyone else feel like they need to do a better job being ready?

For years, we've worked on our emergency preparedness

a little at a time, and we have enough of some things,

a little of other,

and a long way to go in some areas.

 

Today I finished my last class for CERT training.

It's Community Emergency Response Team; basically after a

disaster (not terrorist), a CERT team gets together and helps rescue people

and do basic first aid until the professionals are able to step in.

It's been really interesting and a lot different from any

other emergency or first aid class I've had before.

It's because the scope is different.  With CERT, you are planning on being

in a situation where EMS and professional help is on the way, but it'll

be days before they can reach you.

So you have to change the way you help people and focus on

doing the most good for the greatest amount of people.

One thing that I really like about CERT is that

PERSONAL SAFETY is your TOP PRIORITY.

And this includes your family, so if you or your family are not okay with

the CERT team member leaving to help others, then you don't go.

 

 

I will be doing the physical simulation in two weeks so I can earn my diploma,

assuming that I passed the written test today.

Which I think I did.

If there's a class offered in your community, you should take it.

It's a bit of a time commitment to take the class,

but it's really valuable information, even if you never help out with an emergency.

And even if you are not okay with touching others, or blood, or are

physically limited in any way, you can still have a part to do.

Which I also love.

All you need is a desire and willingness to help.

You can learn more about it here.

Pumpkin Patch

As soon as I decide to do better writing on here, I let myself

take a break because we had family in town.

I'm not apologizing; it was super fun to have her here & I'm sure I will

make the choice to neglect the blog the next time we have company.

Lucky for you, it doesn't happen often.

 

My little sister came to visit for a week and we loved it.

It was so convenient that she chose to come during

a three-day school week when Tomato's teacher forgot the week was short

(which meant we didn't have to worry about doing any homework!).

It was great, and we definitely took advantage of nice weather

and no homework.

 

Wednesday right after school, we headed off for our annual visit to the pumpkin

patch.  I thought about changing the farm we have been going to, but the price is right.

All the extra activities at this farm are free, and everyone else charges.

And I really like that the free corn maze is just the right size for little kids.  There's really no way

they can get lost in there; which tells you how small it is.

 

The annual growth chart.

  My dwarves 

Inside the maze 

 At the toy pile 

 Cheddar was thrilled to be there

 Tractor time

 

 

 The following poses were all spontaneous...each one has

great things, so I couldn't choose just one

 

Since I don't really LOVE carving pumpkins,

we let the kids choose their own from the

tiny pile (also super cheap).



First Grade

This may shock some of you, but Tomato is in first grade

at the local elementary school.  She was asking and asking

to go to school last spring and we decided that early elementary school

is the time to do that, rather than having us tell her no

and then ending up putting her in when things are

crazy and a drastic change from our homeschooling life. 

This is the first day of first grade in September.

And here is a comparison picture from her first day of kindergarten,

which was in late March.

She kinda loves that backpack...it's one of her favorite things about going to school,

I think.  She wanted a new one, but I said no way, since she only used

it for a few months last spring.

 

And in other news, our new computer has arrived & I'm hoping to be a more prolific

blog writer once again.  I don't know how much to do catching up,

or if I just want to start from here so it's not too overwhelming for me.

It'll probably be a combo.

I'm going to post at least once a week, though.

It's on the schedule and I'm excited.

It's nice to be back.



Crash

Our computer is toast.

Unexpectedly--is it ever expected?--it's gone.

and just when I was about to listen to my blogging itch that's 

been growing.

I'm hoping we will just buy a simple one that does the basic

functions of Microsoft office, internet, and the like.

Especially since Kidney Bean has recently quit

gaming.

It'll probably be helpful to not have any bells and whistles to help keep the 

temptation at a minimum.

Time will tell.

Or Else...

Last Sunday morning, Tomato came to my door

and asked if she could watch a movie before church.

I said no.

To which she replied that if I don't let her watch a movie then

she won't be moving out when Kidney Bean and I want her to...

I guess if she's still living with us in 30 years we'll all know why.

Valentine's Day

We decided last year to make Valentine's a family holiday,

where we celebrate the love that we share together.

It was not the most loving day around our house this year, I'll admit that.

We had quite a few issues pop up throughout the day.

But the food was great.

For breakfast we had eggs in a basket with heart cut-outs.

Lunch was going to be grilled cheese hearts and some tomato soup, but

the kids were driving me crazy so they had pb&j since it was 

faster to get ready.

For dinner we had heart shaped pizza.  I picked up the 

dough from our grocery store, and for some reason the second one wouldn't 

stretch out any bigger.  So we had one thin crust and one that was 

ultra-thick.  But bother were delicious.

 I grabbed a fondant cutter and made the pepperoni festive.

We had the sister missionaries over for dinner, and since it was a holiday,

we went all out.  We used cutie paper plates and cups that were covered in hearts,

had some red sparkling cider along with our water/milk; and ended the evening

up with some ice cream & your choice of toppings.

The toppings were Valentine m&m's, cinnamon lips, conversation hearts,

and chocolate or caramel syrup.

It was a day of great food!

New Favorite Spot

Sour Cream has a new favorite spot to color.

While the girls prefer sitting on the opposite side of the table from where

they eat, he has decided it's better to go to the corner of the kitchen.

 I tried to sneak a picture while he was coloring, but he was turning 

around at every noise I made, and then once he saw the camera,

he had to get close and smile.

 And the closer he got, the more his smiles turned into this.

Book Blitz Results

Did you participate in January's Book Blitz?

I really enjoyed being able to read so many books.

I think my final total was 13.

Nope, it was 12.

I read quite a few great books.

John Grisham has some newer books out, which are

teenage law novels all about Theodore Boone.

He's the child of lawyers and has always loved the law.

He lives in a town of about 75,000 & a there's a 

big murder trial starting.  He winds up finding some information about

the suspect, but since the trial has started, he's not quite sure what to do about it,

especially since he promised the person who gave him the info that he wouldn't tell.

 I have read several John Grisham books over the years, and

many of them have things that I'd rather not read.

But this was clean, entertaining, and a quick read.

It's also the first one in a series.  I'm not sure how many there are,

but we own 1 & 3, so there's at least that many.

I'm waiting on #2 from the library.

Of course, I loved the newest Ann B Ross book about Miss Julia.

She's trying to help out, but of course gets into the middle of

everything and finds herself in quite a quandary because she never

goes to the source of her questions and simply assumes she knows what is going on.

If you've never read one of these, I highly suggest it.

Miss Julia is filled with southern spunk and I think

it'd be pretty fun to know her.

I read two books by Phoebe Stone, about a girl who comes to 

America during the early part of World War II & her parents

 leave her in the States with relatives that she's never met.

They are excellent.  On the back, they claim to be

targeted to 5-7 graders, but I really enjoyed it & look forward to more in the

life of Flissy McBee Bee Bee.

(not her real name)

And if you enjoy reading and the tv show The Bachelor,

then you'll probably really enjoy the trilogy that starts with 

The Selection by Kiera Cass.

I will warn you, though, that the third book has not been released yet,

so if you can't stand to wait between really good books, you might

want to put these off for a month or two until the third one is available.

Again, it's a YA novel (my book club seems to read a lot of these).

The story revolves around a girl, America Singer, who lives in 

the country that used to be the USA.

It briefly gives a history of how their new land came to be; China called in 

their loans and since we couldn't pay, they took over the country & we all

had to start working off the nation's debt.

After a while, Canada, Mexico, & Central America all joined with us

and sent the Chinese packing during WW3.

So they've all joined as one nation and now have a monarchy.

Any time that there's a prince, they have one girl from each 'state' come to the 

castle and 'compete' to become his wife.

It's pretty good.  I've heard a few people say that it's 

The Bachelor meets The Hunger Games, but I don't agree with that.

Society is quite rigid like in The Hunger Games; when the king came to power, he started

a caste system that left a lot of people in the bottom of society & once there, you 

don't really have much hope of moving up.

I would recommend it.

So were you able to read a book this month?

Or more than one?

Any that you'd recommend?

Check Out This...

...Gorgeous blanket!!

 My mother-in-law made this beautiful quilt for our bed

for Christmas.  She told us last spring that she would like to make everyone 

a large quilt and that we needed to let her know what fabric

we would like her to use.  I told my husband about it and then promptly forgot.

Until August, when she came to visit and mentioned it again.

So we headed to the fabric store that night, along with my sister-in-law who

had also forgotten all about the offer.

I went around and around the cotton section of the store, trying to decide on what

we wanted.  Since we haven't ever decorated our own room & Kidney Bean said

he didn't care, the world was, if you will,

my oyster.

I think I picked out at least 4 different combinations, but had a difficult time

deciding which one I like the most.  And then I decided to go with the 

pink combo.  I love it.

At first, my mother-in-law was like, "It's your quilt.  You can have

what you want."  She didn't like the combination of fabrics

that I had chosen.  But after she cut the squares & we laid them

out together, she started to really like it.

My mom sent us the pillow cases and the throw pillows, 

which she made out of the same fabrics.

Here's a closer picture.

And it's super warm.  We put it on our bed the night we got

it in the mail & it's been nice and snuggly ever since.

Thanks, Mom!

Both of you!

Potty Time

I do not like potty training.

But once again, the time is upon us.

I am a firm believer in waiting until my child is ready before

starting to help them learn to use the toilet.

Yes, even if it means waiting until they are four, like

my oldest was.

Olive was really interested in learning how last August, three weeks before

my due date with our youngest.  But I didn't think that she'd be able to learn quickly

And not revert once the baby came, so I made her wait.  But she was quite 

insistent, so we let her try it when Cheddar was a week old.

But it was too difficult for me to remember to help her as often as she needed it

on top of taking care of a tiny baby.  And she was having a lot of accidents.

And flooded the downstairs bathroom.

Which was the last straw.

I calmly explained to her that we needed to wait until she was a little older and that

we could try again after Christmas.

Whip hick brings us to today.

Day two.

And it's not too bad.  The misses have been less than the successes,

which I call a success.

And I'm hoping it works this time around.  It'll be nice to only have two in diapers again.

Book Blitz Month

According to my list of unique holidays,

January is 

Book Blitz Month

I looked up what that's supposed to mean and it's basically

to encourage people to pick up a book

and read at least one this month.

But that seems misleading to me, or at least not enough;

isn't a blitz supposed to be a bunch of something?

So for me, I'm taking it to mean

read as many books as I possibly can.

So far, I've finished two and am more than halfway through

a third.  And I'm loving it.

Would you care to join me?

At least in reading one?