Morning musings

I think your mind sometimes enters an altered state when you are sleep deprived. This morning on Higglytown Heroes I noticed one townsmember looks like Chuck Norris. No really! As I was walking Leanna to school I pondered how his Higglytown song would go. Each hero has a song about how they "help the town with the things they do." What is his job anyway, to kick butt?

PS. check out the wikipedia page-tons of celebrities do voices for the show.

Girl Scouts

I'm excited! Leanna's going to be a girl scout and her first meeting is tomorrow night. I've read that the girl scouts have really revamped the program, to make it more modern and reflect changing needs for girls to be leaders. I think it will be interesting to see how the program has changed since I was a girl.
From their website:
Empowering Girls
In Girl Scouts, girls discover the fun, friendship, and power of girls together. Through a myriad of enriching experiences, such as extraordinary field trips, sports skill-building clinics, community service projects, cultural exchanges, and environmental stewardships, girls grow courageous and strong. Girl Scouting helps girls develop their full individual potential; relate to others with increasing understanding, skill, and respect; develop values to guide their actions and provide the foundation for sound decision-making; and contribute to the improvement of society through their abilities, leadership skills, and cooperation with others.

We have a family history with scouting. My paternal grandfather was very active in scouting, he firmly believed in giving back to your community and helping boys. He was awarded the silver beaver award which I believe is one of the highest you can earn. I was a girl scout for about 4 years myself. I think it will be a good experience for her. And I'm sure just about everyone reading this blog is going to want some girl scout cookies!!

Increasing independance

I forget if I mentioned it, but Timothy's starting to want more independance. Sometimes he wants to try to put on his clothes or shoes himself. He likes to take off his diapers. Just in general he tries to do more things for himself. Today a hospital volunteer was trying to read to him while we were waiting for Jacob's appointment. Timothy kept taking the book from her because he wanted to hold it and look at it himself!
Then he was charming her by repeating all the animals she identified. He's been going through Justin's school of charm(Justin is an expert!)
He is really growing up. His second birthday is right around the corner!

Insurance companies

First, I think calling a miscarriage ELECTIVE is awful. I've been through one and I wasn't really thrilled with the fact that a miscarriage is medically called a "spontaneous abortion." To have it called elective and then have to go through the fun of dealing with the insurance company to straighten the mess is awful.


That said, I was really fascinated by the comments. The person who comments under the name LS is really misguided, in my opinion.
1. I don't think we have first rate healthcare in the US
2. He says, "E.R.'s are required by law to treat anyone who comes in, regardless of ability to pay, and there are free clinics in every major city and many minor cities in this country. "

and: "And, as for access, people without insurance are less likely to seek medical treatment, routine or otherwise, when they cannot afford it."If they don't seek medical care now, what makes you think they'll seek medical care when the Feds are paying for it? I know plenty of people who currently HAVE insurance coverage and they don't go to the doctor, or even seek care unless they're sitting on their death bed. And even then, it's at the behest of a family member who drags them in, kicking and screaming."


Umm......when you don't have medical insurance you avoid going to the doctor or hospital unless it's an emergency because even though they have to treat you YOU STILL GET BILLED! And your credit still gets ruined when you can't pay them for the treatment! So naturally you don't go unless it's serious. That can cause more health problems!

Also, apparently many people do not realize that YOU DO NOT GET THE SAME CARE WHEN YOU HAVE A. NO INSURANCE B. MEDICAID OR C. SUCKY INSURANCE. Emergency workers must stablize you and then you are sent home, they don't have to make you well, just stable. And doctors will often not suggest expensive treatments even if they know it will help you because they know you or your insurance will not be able to pay for them! I can testify from experience that doctors/dentists/vision centers that cater to low income people are overcrowded and they don't have the time or desire to give true individual treatment. You wait a long time to get in-which probably contributes to people not going to the doctor-and then are rushed through the actual appointment. The staff are often rude(I imagine because they're overworked and deal with people cranky from waiting) and doctors often aren't up to date on their medical knowledge. I can give examples of this if you are curious. You aren't given options, and you are given drugs for just about every problem. It is definitely not the same care you get from a private practice!!
So arguing that people don't deserve healthcare because they don't go to the doctor very often is kind of rediculous. If they were treated better and didn't have to worry about how they were going to pay, I'm pretty sure most of them would go to the doctor's office more frequently!

I agree with the person that says that we oversue in this country.
I also thought it was scary that someone mentioned having mandatory treatment. I do not want the government to tell me when I have to go to the doctor or what treatment I must get. That is my decision, not theirs!

Another tiny step away from diapers!

Yay-we had another potty success with Timothy tonight. I think because he watched his siblings on the potty all the time, that helps.

Jacob's 2 month checkup

Jacob had his 2 month old checkup today. He's 23 1/2 inches long, which is a little taller than the average height. And he's 14 pounds, 5.8 oz, which is in the 95th percentile!

He got 5 shots today and one rotavirus "shot" which isn't a shot they give a dose orally. This is new, he's the first one who has had this. They told me to make sure to wash my hands after I change his diaper tonight because they give him a live virus. Wow. I can tell he's not himself tonight. I hate shots.

I think it will be interesting to see when Jacob starts solids, if it's sooner than his siblings since he's so much bigger. (I don't start them on food at a specific time like 4 or 6 months which is what they recommend. I wait until I see definite signs that they are physically ready and interested) The other three all started sometime during their 7th month, although with Leanna I felt pressured, I actually think she would have been fine with breastmilk alone until closer to a year. Leanna was my second biggest baby(smallest at birth, but she gained weight quickly), so size may not be the only factor for when they start solids.

Laughter

This picture looked normal on the camera, but when I downloaded it, it was dark. Still a really cute picture. Jacob is very smiley. Tomorrow I'll find out how big he is!

Injuries

Yesterday Justin managed to get a bump on his forehead (yellowish bruise), a bruise on his back (dark red scratch), and stepped on a piece of glass.

That was one of those times when I'm glad that my parents are next door-my Mom actually took the glass out while I held and steadied Justin since Tom wasn't home yet. That wasn't fun.

The Naked Chef

We have our own Naked Chef in the house! And it's not Jamie Oliver.

Oh yes! We had some exquisitly stirred Macaroni and cheese yesterday!

In the way they walk?

I thought this was interesting-they studied the way people walk and had observers guess if the walker was gay or straight based on how they look walking. People were accurate with gay males 60% of the time (but with lesbians they couldn't tell).
“There’s reason to think that gay people can’t conceal their homosexuality,” says Michael Bailey, a professor of psychology at Northwestern University. “I don’t think it’s a performance that gay people enact. I think it’s something that either is inborn, or it’s acquired very early, perhaps by watching members of the other sex.”

I know how she feels!

More News of the wierd:

In August, employees at the bar Changes, in Seattle, had to break up a karaoke-night attack by a woman on a man who was singing the Coldplay song "Yellow." The woman had shouted, "Oh, no, not that song. I can't stand that song." She charged the stage, screamed at the man and shoved him (and it eventually took four men to hold her for police). [Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 8-9-07]

(and how cool is that-it took FOUR MEN to hold her!)

This changes the Nativity scene a bit.......

I love News of the Wierd:

George Zokos is a professional shepherd in Tyrnavos, Greece, but due to health problems three years ago (according to an August Agence France-Presse dispatch), he now herds the sheep from his car. [Agence France-Presse, 8-12-07]

New life statue

Here's a picture of a Willow tree statue I got yard-saleing last weekend. It's called New Life. It's funny I was just looking at these statues online (they make several collections-angels, figurines, memory boxes, etc.). I won one on ebay for my sister, a late birthday present, symbolizing education. This is appropriate as she is working on getting her degree. And I like many of them myself. So it was kind of strange that I found this right afterwards. For $5.oo, brand new still in the box. You can buy it for around $25.oo online or in a store.

Also strange was that I found a new hat for Justin at the same sale, and I had just been thinking about how he needed one since he outgrew his from last summer. Pretty neat how sometimes things that you need (or sometimes just want) appear. It doesn't happen often for me. I figure I ought to pay attention more to the good things that do happen to me since I so often only focus on the negative!

Just for the record

I would just like it to be known that I am not the only person who thinks Jacob looks like me as a baby. Justin also looked like me, but that is a whole other story. : )



I'm just re posting Cindy's comment, since it's not likely anyone will go back to read it now. So there is proof that I am not crazy!



Steph,He does look like you, a lot like you. Posted by Cindy to Mommy Needs Coffee!!!!!!! (And some chocolate wouldn't hurt) at 9/22/2007 8:21 PM

Care to celebrate?

September 22 is.......

Apple Bars

I bought a bag of apples on sale and am looking for new ways to use them......here was a recipie I found that looked so simple that I tried it right away. Timothy wouldn't eat them but Justin did.

Apple Oatmeal Bars

1 cup oatmeal

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup butter

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

2 1/2 cups apples, chopped or 3/4 cup apple butter (omit cinnamon)

1/2 cup sugar
Combine the first five ingredients, and pat half into an 8x8 inch pan. Layer apples and sugar. Crumble remaining mixture on top. Bake 35 minutes at 350°

Peaches & Lying

{Insert giant sigh here} Leanna has started hiding food and claiming she ate it. We had an incident with peaches. This is bad because she is wasting food, lying, and leaving food which attracts bugs. So she ate yesterday's container of peaches, in front of me, and wasn't allowed to go anywhere, and wrote the sentence pictured here 15 plus times.

The guy who created Dilbert claims that research shows when you commit to a belief in writting you almost never change your opinion. So I figured maybe writting this over and over could help! Writting isn't easy for her yet either, so it was work.

Recording family pictures & memories

This is just for my reference. It's a post about how people save and/or print their pictures. I want to check out some of the sites they list in the comments. I am WAY behind on scrapbooking our family pictures, it'd be nice to do a digital or printed photo album to physically look through.

the cost of clutter?

I never thought about it this way before........

Trying the new blogger feature

cool jeans

Here's Leanna this morning modeling her new "cool" jeans for school. She was excited to wear them. Thanks Grammy!! I love the new trend of pants having an elastic band inside the waist that can be buttoned tighter to adjust the waist size. Although the jeans are her size, a 6, they would be too big for her to wear right now if the waistband didn't adjust.

More artwork

This is a picture Leanna drew at home. It's a princess castle. I was really impressed that she drew this on her own. You can see the door in the middle and the castle walls, she even made the crenelation on the top! I did ask her what the red, green and pink parts were on the castle itself (to me it looked like puzzle pieces) and she said it's just decoration. She said the pink in the picture was to make it look like a Disney Princess castle.

Daily dose of cuteness again

Jacob is going through a fussy period right now, I'm not sure why.

At the same time he's also a very smiley boy. He has the most adorable smile! (actually, all my kids have nice smiles)

He is so fun to play with. Even though he is seriously wearing out my arms, I love holding him. He makes the cutest little noises. People comment on how cute he is everyday while we're out.

Nature boy!

I figured I should blog about this since it's a phase he's going through-I do actually dress him every day when he gets up. but he undresses himself at least once a day. Either he spills something on himself or he's too hot. It's quite annoying, especially when someone comes to the door, like the johovah's witnesses who stalk me. It looks like I have the kids just running around naked!

Another phase-he currently thinks it's funny to stick his tounge out every time I take his picture.

*************************************************************

And yes, I know he needs a haircut.

That's how I feel

This getting up early stuff is for the birds!

I'm getting four or five hours of sleep a night now, sometimes feeding the baby once in there. Which isn't too bad for a two month old.

Had to share

Ok, Justin was mainly amazed and Leanna found it funny. Ummm.....I can do that too!
(Parts of it)

Enjoying each other

Justin of the perpetually dirty face, bonding and talking to his brother. I saw Jacob smile at him. It'll be interesting to see how the boys' relationship develops. They're so close in age-it'd be really great if they stay friends as they age.

To have children or not?

Another one on having kids, but this one talks about the fact that many people (married or single) who don't have children and don't want any or EXTREMELY hostile towards those who do. I understand that some people don't want kids or are better off not having them, but I don't understand their anger towards children and the choice to have them. They were once a child themself, and if their parents had decided not to have children, THEY wouldn't be here!

An excerpt that makes a good point:

In our society parents do a wonderful job of portraying the difficulties of having children: the financial burdens, the time drain, the guilt, the exhaustion. But we do a lousy job of getting across something else about parenthood: It's fun! When you are experiencing parenthood from the inside, there is an overwhelming pleasure in the funny, fascinating things your children do. When my daughter was 2, she put her arms around me as I was kissing her goodnight and said to me, "Mommy, you're a wonderful husband." That was better than any of the movies I hadn't been to since she was born.

I've read before the statistics that claim childfree couples have better marriages and are happier people. I think that there are things that are difficult to be measured in a study-and the joy children bring you is one of those things. It's very hard to quantify.
She also makes a good point about the nonparent's ideas about the passage of time. (I would note that this applies to discussions about large families as well. People seem to assume that all the children are babies or childish and their comments reflect this. When you have 17 kids, they aren't all in elementary school!!) I like her ending sentence, it reflects how I feel.

Children often not seen as a valuable resource

Both from Slate, articles on population. For the record though, there are way more on the fact that we should NOT have more kids. (Unless you're russian)


Have more kids: http://www.slate.com/id/2037/

Don't have more kids: http://www.slate.com/id/2173458/pagenum/2/

We live in the wrong country

Go Ahead, Take a Sex Day
by willwaddell

With declining birthrates undermining what some see as Russia's return to great-power status, the government of Ulyanovsk Oblast has, for the third year in a row, encouraged employers to give people the day off, in order to have sex. As part of a larger Kremlin campaign to increase births, participants in the 'sex day' can look forward to prizes - this year one couple won a jeep for their fourth child. Additionally, at the local post office people can send love letters, postage pre-paid, to anywhere in the country. Though Russia's population has been contracting by over 700,000 people a year, the new campaign has shown some success, at least in Ulyanovsk. In order to meet the Russian government's goals for population, it is hoped the population will stabilize at 142 million by 2015 and climb to 145 million by 2025. Among the several reasons hampering Russia's population figures, abortion stands out saliently. In recent years Russia has seen, at times, 13 abortions for every 10 live births.

Ebay winnings

It's that time of year again-I start to think about Christmas. Ebay is fun because you get that yard-sale feeling of wow! I got a good deal! Only you can search for exactly what you want. And you can see how much people are generally selling it for. I thought this was a pretty good deal-with shipping & handling I paid $11.95 for this book of Thomas the Train Rhymes and a Thomas felt board. The book alone is probably worth the $12!

Daily dose of cuteness, and me

Yet another picture of the sleeping baby. He's so adorable, I couldn't resist. (I think he looks like my newborn picture here).

Guess what I found in my teapot this morning?

I woke and and got Leanna dressed and to school, came back and woke up all the boys-Tom included. (He's been going in a bit later this week so that lets me keep Justin and Timothy sleeping at home. I only have to take Jacob along which is much easier) I'm soooo sleepy, only half awake. Then as I went to add water to the teapot-this is what I found floating inside.

Clearly the work of Justin!

Morning Oatmeal

Yummy apples and cinnamin!

Lack of info

Leanna's elementary school uses a system of "money" for rewards. For example, they sent home a code of conduct book yesterday with a page a parent had to sign and return to the school. So they told the kids that if their parents signed and returned the page the next day they would get 5 peices of school money. That's different. I wonder if calling it money motivates some of the kids more than a regular reward system?

I'm really surprised by the lack of info coming from the school. I would have thought there would be some sort of introductory note from the teacher but there wasn't. Nothing telling me when gym is so that I can make sure she wears sneakers that day. Or that she'll have some homework every night so I can make sure she remembers to do it. They're trusting the first graders to tell their parents all the info? I had to ask about a form to fill out for lunches. I still haven't been given a paper to update contact info (although they mentioned it must be done). They sent home a page welcoming the kids back to school and it has school events for Sept-Oct. on it, but no explanation of what these events are. I assume by next year we'll know, but for the first child and new to the school it'd be nice to know what's going on. Like last year when Leanna's weekly newsletter from her teacher would mention the Beary Best Bear program. It never told what that was and I wondered the first few times if I was supposed to attend and Leanna had just not been give a paper about it or lost it. Turns out you only find out what it is if your child is getting an award-then they sent a letter home asking you to attend.
Is this normal? Or is our school district just weird?

Jacob the large

At the end of the month Jacob goes to the doctor again. I can't wait to see how much he weighs. He is so big, I can't get over how huge he is. Especially compared to my other babies!

Growing things.....

We've had this plant growing in my little box of dirt out back. We weren't sure what it was or where it came from, but it looks like a pumpkin or a gourd of some kind. I don't remember planting pumpkin seeds.....it should be interesting to see if it is indeed a pumpkin and how big it gets! The plant is rapidly taking over my little garden though and has started to climb the fense. My Mom says anything that grows on her side is hers!

It's so cute to see other kids saying hi to Leanna at school. She talks about a lot of kids so she must be making a lot of friends. Some of the kids sound strange, like the one boy who keeps asking her to pinch him and when she does he insists that it didn't hurt. Over and over. One girl gave Leanna a picture for me- it was a picture of me and Justin and Timothy (I guess she didn't know about Jacob) which is sweet. I don't really know the girl-we used to see her walking to school last year all the time but she wasn't in Leanna's class last year. I look forward to hearing more stories like last year when one classmate couldn't come to school for a week because her aunt was "crying for crazy." LOL, I just love that phrase, though not gramatically correct it is discriptive!
Leanna looked so tiny as she walked into that building today, one sock up, one sock down.....those impossibly cute skinny little girl legs! She's still fascinated with who gets bad marks or has to go to the office. The principal's office is right below her class so he can hear if they make too much noise(actually she keeps accidentally calling him the president instead of principal) I can't believe I'm the mother of a first grader! Sometimes I look at her and I can't believe that she came out of me-I created this child. It's mind-blowing when you think about it.

Mommy tatoos

As I've said before, I thought about getting a tatoo before but just never found anything I wanted permanantly on my body. If I had done it I most likely would have drawn my own. Mommy tatoos are growing in popularity. There's a link at the end of this article to see a gallery of pictures. Though I'm not saying I'm going to go out and do it I can understand this trend. Putting your kids' names on you makes a lot more sense than some of the other things people put on their bodies! I can see doing it as a way to remember a child that died, or just to symbolize your lifelong commitment to them or how important they are to you. Not that you need a tatoo to remember that. : )

$15 a week for groceries?

The title is a little misleading, as the author spent 15/week on groceries in 1990-I think that would translate to about 25/week now. A lot of it is common sense, but it's good to be reminded. It's always interesting to read the comments too as you can often find good tips there as well. Anyone have their own tips? The first one that comes to mind for me is to grow some of your own produce or herbs......not everyone can do that though.

Food issues

It's inspiring to read an article like the one I'm about to post on frugal shopping. But it's very hard for me to im;lement. I kind of hate food at this period in my life as it is a major hassle for me. My husband and kids are so picky that every single meal is a hassle. And the constant worry over getting nutrients into their bodies can really make me insane. At first when I started being home to make suppers it was kind of fun-I felt all housewifey and stuff. But when Leanna was old enough to eat it too-and wouldn't-that's when it started to get hairy. And I was getting tired of making the same old stuff all the time because my husband is a real meat and potatoes kind of guy-and there's only 3 vegetables he really eats (corn and green beans and broccoli). He gets mad if I try to get creative and make something new or change the recipie. That's the fun part of cooking! And it's hard to experiment with new foods of any type-not just recipies, but even buying new fruits and vegetables-just because of the cost! We can't afford to buy food that most likely won't get eaten, or food that only I will eat. It's no fun to go to the trouble of making a meal when no one eats it. Stuff like that just wears me down and makes me want to only make sandwhiches and cereal and easy stuff like that. But that's not healthy. Oh yeah, and my husband won't eat leftovers, so that's not an option either! All these things make it hard to save money on food and extremely difficult to eat healthy. That's why I hate food!

Happiness

Just a post my Mom sent me that I thought was interesting:


"Happiness is…balance"
Back in the early nineties, I was at a point in my life where I should have been happy. I had a great job as an IT Manager with great pay. I owned a nice car. I was in great shape taking martial arts. I was single and doing the bar scene regularly. And on the outside, I had the perfect bachelor life.Then why was I so miserable on the inside? I felt like something was missing, but I couldn’t peg it.Shortly after my cousin introduced me to the angel board (thats another blog). It was short of like the Ouija board, but the purpose was to specifically contact your guardian angel. I had a bad experience with the Ouija previously (again, another blog), and was extremely wary. But, I tried it anyway.
It turned out to be one of the most enlightening events of my life. Really inspiring. One of the questions I asked, amoung other things, was why I wasn't happy. The reponse I received was that happiness wasn't a destination, it was a state of being. It was a choice. And once you choose to be happy, it becomes a belief. And that belief powers the events around you.
The problem is I thought it was a destination. Once I have this, this, and that, then I'll be happy. The problem is that we can't always control what happens in our life and if one of those items aren't acheived we feel like we've somehow failed and fallen farther from happiness. Even if we acheive all the things on the imaginary slate in our head, it's human nature to always want more. So a new list is created. And the reality is we could never complete the list.
It sounded a bit too simple to me. So, then I asked once the choice to be happy is made, how do we know we're happy? The response was that once the decision was made, we need to focus on the five areas in our life that create balance. We feel happy when we feel equally content with ourselves in each of the five areas:
Physical: How we feel about our physic being in relation to our diet, weight, cardio, etc.
Mental: How we feel in relation to our mental state. Do we feel challenged mentally in relation to our work, education, finance, etc.
Emotional: How we feel about our personal one on one loving relationships. Those relationships could be our mate, parent, child, close friend, family, etc. The key is do we feel content that those loving one on one relationships with the key people in our lives is healthy. That list of people to focus on will be different for each of us.
Social: We are social animals by nature and we need to make sure we don't ignore the social aspect of ourselves. Do we feel content that we're seeing enough of our friends and family from a social aspect. Simply to let loose and have fun with our family and friends.
Spiritual: Do we feel content about ourselves spiritually. And that means something different for each of us. Whatever you label and envision God as, the Father, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, Allah, Buddha, Krishna, Mother Earth, the Higher Spirit, the great universal energy that binds the universe, the One, or the infinite other aliases. Do you feel content that you are in touch with your inner spirit self that binds you to the higher spirit.
The five areas can be thought of as five equally spaced spokes of a wheel balanced in the center by a pole. Focusing too much or too little on one area throws the wheel of happiness out of balance and we start to feel something is off or even missing in our life.This analogy made perfect sense to me. How many people did I know in school that focused almost exclusively on one or two areas at the expense of the others. My computer hacker friends that focused heavily on the mental and social aspects of their tight inner circle of friends at the expense of their physical, emotional, and spitual states. Or my high school jock friend that focused heavily on his physical, social, and emotional states (at least he seemed like they always had a cheerleader girlfriend) at the expense of his mental and spiritual states.
The test is to say to yourself, "I am happy physically" (or mentally, emotionally, etc). You will immediately feel good about that statement, or feel like somethings off. If it doesn't feel right, it means you need to focus on that area of your life.
posted by Gizmo @ 2:38 PM

Body Issues

I can definitely relate to this post on how she feels about her body. The one I've had for the past six years or so just does not feel like me. I don't feel healthy or energetic and I miss my old body. I miss being more physical. I miss having cute clothes. I miss feeling like I look good. I know that after you have a baby even if you get back to the same weight you were before it usually doesn't look the same. I can accept that. I'll never be exactly the way I want, but it would be nice to be able to feel good about myself again.

Halleluja!!

I GET TO SLEEP IN TOMORROW! I DON'T HAVE TO GET UP! No school! I CAN SLEEP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Not a morning person doesn't even begin to cover it)

Another artist

Justin brought me this picture he drew for me-"Here Mommy, it's your long hair!"

he said. Too cute, and I love that he's doing representative drawings already.

Lunchbox and thermos

Ok, maybe not the coolest lunchbox ever, but I found one that's practical and affordable and reusable for her brothers! My sister was kind enough to go out with me tonight (that's her weekly charity to me. If Tom gets home early enough we go out shopping and mainly look at stuff we can't afford or else get the stuff I don't get out to buy any other time.) and I finally found something at Walmart. Not with all the ones on display for school though, just in the regular food container section. I'm happy because it has a separate section for a sandwhich (so it won't get squished or the container squish something else)it's sturdy, it wipes clean easy and is bacteria resistant. They only had red and dark blue so I figured red was a little more girly but could still be passed on to one of her brothers also. That way if we later get her one she wants (or maybe one day a Bento box!) it can be passed on. In the same section was the closest thing to the thermoes I remember from when I was a kid. Part of the lid flips open to hold a spoon that folds out and it has the drink lid too. And it was the lowest price I saw online or in stores-6.22. I was pleased. $12.50 for lunchbox and thermos!

PS. For the record, I would love to do Bento box lunches. It seems a bit expensive to get started though. The ones I've seen were around $16-20 for just the box and then add the little molds and containers and toothpics or foils and such and it really adds up. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely think it's worth it because the decoration could help a picky child to eat more nutritious food and help inspire a tired Mom to pack more nutritious foods as well. And it's a form of creativity which I could use to add more of back into my life. It would have to wait until I found a good bargain or until Tom gets a really big job(I have to keep up the hope that one is coming!!).

Recycling

What can they recycle this into?

Madeleine L'Engle

Author Madeleine L'Engle, whose novel "A Wrinkle in Time" has captivated generations of schoolchildren and adults since the 1960s, has died.
I read A Wrinkle In Time in fourth grade and was hooked. A great book and I love series books, I like to get to know what happens to characters beyond one story or book. I remember doing book reports on some of her books in middle school. I bought some of them for Claire when she was little because I thought they were books every child should read. This makes me sad, she was one of my favorite child authors.

Bad Harry Potter!!

This story is 5 years old but too funny not to post-Parents complain about vibrating Harry Potter broom.

Where can I find a good lunchbox?

You know, I've been looking for a lunchbox for Leanna. I don't get out much (Unless you count doctor/dentist/vision appointments) (which I don't) so it's not like I've been looking in store after store......but I was highly dissapointed with what's out there. I looked in Walmart, Kmart, Grocery stores, and didn't see much.
1. Many of them just look cheap
2. NONE come with a thermos
3. They're pretty frikkin expensive for a little box that doesn't come with a thermos or containers or anything.
When I was a kid I remember all the stores having lunchboxes on display and they usually came with a matching thermos. Maybe I was just looking too late and they sold out of most of them? Or maybe they don't sell as many because most people buy lunch? I don't know. Now you have to buy the thermos separate and they all seem to run around $15 for just a thermos! Lunchboxes themselves are usually $10, often $15. I was looking online last night and having trouble finding a thermos that was designed for a kid and to handle both hot and cold drink/food. Some were only made for drinks. I want one designed for a kid because they're usually smaller so they fit in the lunchbox or at least in her bookbag.
I'm really feeling nostalgic for my old Holly Hobbie thermos with it's cute little cup lid and spout. They don't make them like they used to!

Workin' for that pudding

Justin asked me yesterday if Daddy was working so we could buy more chocolate pudding.
He's been listening in on my conversations with his sister about money. Though I did not tell them Daddy works for chocolate pudding-that's his own application!

Now here's a study for you....

Boyfriends do more cleaning and housework than husbands and couples report better sex when roles are more equal.

Knee pain and lung cancer

Even though this is talking about older men, I still find it scary.......

Bindi Irwin

The linked current top post mentions her admiration for Bindi Irwin, daughter of the late Steve Irwin (the Crocodile Hunter). I'd have to agree she seems like a great kid, very knowledgeable and poised. Her passion for animals is fun to see. I think it's great when someone finds something they feel that passionate about, whether they're an adult or a child.

There be monsters here!

If you ask Timothy if he's a monster he will growl at you then laugh and laugh and laugh!

Day 2

Leanna was excited to go to school again today-there are 3 or 4 kids she knew from kindergarten (that I know of, although most of them were just kids she recognized from kinder. but they weren't in her class last year). The big news on the way home from school was that one boy was sent to the office on the first day of class!! LOL, that was her big news.

This morning she was really excited to wear her new skirt to school(she's modeling it in the picture). (also note Timothy imitating his big sister) I took advantage of labor day sales to get her a few things, money's tight but she's been growing again and this year we weren't given any hand-me-downs (for the first time) so I had to do something. For $45 I got three shirts and a skirt and a sweatshirt. My Mom got her a couple pairs of jeans to supplement. And Jerry's daughter did give her a pair of jeans that were too big for Mia. That'll have to do for now, so hopefully it'll stay warm out for a while. She's really thrilled with that skirt. Partially as a result of Maree's influence, she's into fashion.

First Day of First Grade

Leanna didn't have any problems getting up today-she was excited! I woke her up in the middle of a dream about school. She did have a nightmare earlier this morning though-something about riding on a tiger and her Daddy cut her arm off to get her off the tiger. She requested eggs for breakfast and then told me they smelled really good when I brought them to her. She was positively pleasant.

She did look a little scared when we got to the school. (It's a new school this year and we don't know if she'll know anyone from kindergarten). We met the teacher breifly as we tried to find the right line to stand in and Leanna was shy and wouldn't hold her hand.

Can you tell she likes to pose for pictures?

More Mountain pictures

Tom took a picture of the food cooking

Leanna taught herself how to climb trees. She really had fun, there were two boys there(ages 4 and 7 or 8 I think) and she and Justin had fun running back and forth with them and digging in the dirt together.



Tom had to be photographed in the outhouse...............and a picture of Justin walking the road to the site where the food and supplies and pond were. We went up to a place where they leave food for the deer but they ran away when we got there. It took the kids a bit to warm up, they're always shy at first but they really had a lot of fun. Justin really likes smores. The other Mom said "Your kids are so well behaved" and Tom said,"No, they're usually doing nothing but fighting!" But I have noticed that they do great when they're outside running and playing. I think they have a lot of extra energy and when it doesn't get expended in good ways, they get in trouble. It was really good for them to be outside, running and playing and getting dirty.

Oh yeah, and Justin learned how to pee in the woods. He got a kick out of that. I don't have a picture of that one though!

Visiting the mountains

We were around the Poconoes this weekend. It's funny I was just thinking that it was a shame the kids don't get to explore the outdoors more often and then they got to this weekend!

I love how the tree branch actually blends right into the camper in the picture above. It looks like an MC Esher picture!

That's just Jacob after getting his diaper changed in the van.

And Justin riding a toy car.

Gardening

Just a cute picture from last month of Timothy immitating my Mom clipping herbs. Timothy picked up his play-doh scissors and tried to do it too.

Stressed out Moms hold babies differently

Uh oh-I've always held my babies primarily on the right side. Not always, but I think usually. My right arm is a lot stronger and can handle the weight much longer than the left.

Cranky lips

Leanna told me this morning that her lips were "cranky like the baby's forehead." She pointed to the lines on my shirt and said "like that!" I said, oh, you mean chapped!
(I think she actually meant wrinkly, though her way was much more descriptive).