Just for Kicks...

I ran across this thing on another blog I happened upon today. I thought it was kinda fun. Who knows how "correct" it is though...

What Happens Next...

Wild World!

So, Saturday morning just as I was waking up Eric asked if I would feel up to going to the zoo. I was kinda hurting and cramping that morning, so he was just trying to be polite. I told him that should be fine. And by the time we left I felt much better.

As we were getting the kids breakfast and asking them if they wanted to go to the zoo, Alex said that he wanted to see Dinosaurs. I have no idea where he got that idea from. Anyway, we decided we would try out the Dinosaur Park that is in Ogden instead of going to the zoo.

So we headed out around 12:30 and got to the park around 2. Honestly, there wasn't even much there. We were kind of frustrated by the whole thing. The kids had fun, so that made it even slightly worth it, but other than that it was a waste.

The park is just filled with plaster dinosaurs...They aren't even like animatronic or anything. We figured if we lived closer to Ogden, it wouldn't have been such a big deal. But seeing as how it took about a half a tank of gas to get there, it really wasn't worth it.

However, it was a nice day together and we did enjoy just being together. Plus, there was tons of things for photo ops. That made it nice for me. I even got Eric to cooperate and get a couple pics. All of the pics will be posted on the website with the November update. The weather was also very nice. Perfect jacket weather, but not too cold. That is when I like fall.

Hope everyone else had a good weekend!

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Getting Caught Up...Sorta...

So I spent most of my afternoon yesterday scrapbooking! It's been a few months since I've actually sat down to do anything in regards to scrapbooking.


The last time I did sit down to do anything, I spent time figuring out the way I wanted the scrapbook pictures of Shaylyn from September of 2003. Yeah, that makes me 4 years behind...(hehehe).


Anyway, so I had all the layouts planned out and even had gone as far as figuring out which papers to use and I had all the journaling strips and everything done. Then it all just sat and sat and sat!


Yesterday I figured it would be a good day to start pulling all this stuff together again and to actually DO something with it. Eric was going to be gone all day and night, as it was his game night. He plays down in the valley, so I don't see him till really late every Thursday night. Tanis and Shaylyn were also in school for a couple more hours and Lex was happy watching a movie.
So, I gathered all the stuff together that I needed and got busy. In total I finished all but 1 of the pages I had all figured out for her. I told myself I needed to stop at 6 to clean everything up and get dinner made. In all I made 6 1/2 pages. I was very happy with myself.
The two layouts I posted in this post were 2 of my favorites. I ALWAYS have a couple that don't turn out quite how I planned, but what can you do? I will be posting all of the layouts I did on the website when I do the update for November.
One quick story to leave you with. Last night I made Waffles, Bacon & Eggs for dinner. Eric doesn't really care for "breakfast" at night, so I've kinda gotten into the habit of having "breakfast" for dinner most Thursday nights when Eric isn't home to complain.
I figured all the kids are usually happy with waffles or pancakes for dinner, so I shouldn't have any problems. WRONG!
Shaylyn started throwing a fit saying she didn't want waffles. I told her I wasn't going to make anything special for her. So she decided that she wanted to have (Hold your stomaches here) Mayonnaise, Pickles and Cheese put on her waffle, then she wanted another waffle on top...A sandwich type thing.
I was SURE she would take one bite and wouldn't finish the thing at all! How very wrong I was. She actually ate the WHOLE thing and even finished the eggs and bacon that I had put to the side.
Where she gets her guts and her tastes, I don't know. But it is something I WILL NEVER try. But if she will eat it, then more power to her.

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I Love My Family!

My little brother who lives in Wyoming came down this past weekend with his friends to do some things out here.
Whenever he comes to town we always try to go to dinner and hang out a little bit. He came down with 2 of his friends. Dallas, we had met before, but it was our first time meeting Jessi.
My brother has some great friends. They were having lots of fun together and didn't even mind being with our family.
We headed to the Macaroni Grill on Saturday night and enjoyed one another's company. We did miss my older brother & his wife though. They had made plans to have company over.

I ordered Chicken Fettucini Alfredo & Lemonade (this is the same thing my little sister ordered. We tend to order the same things at restaurants A LOT) Eric had Lasagne. Tanis & Shaylyn opted for Spaghetti and we got Mac & Cheese for Lex.
We had never been to this place before, so we weren't sure what to expect. I am not sure what Eric thought of his food, but the Fettucini was the best I've had in awhile. I tend to order Fettucini Alfredo most Italian places we go. It was yummy, yummy. Tanis was in a weird mood all night and didn't eat a whole lot of his spaghetti.

Shaylyn, however, ate all of her food and even tried to finish Lex's. She wasn't quite able to, but kudos to her for trying!
Overall we had a great night with lots of laughs and we all enjoyed each others company! Yes, I am big on doing things with family. I always have tons of fun!
So Donovan, Dallas & Jessi, thanks for spending your night with the crazy family!

I hope everyone else had a good weekend!

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Pictures from Last Week

Here are the pictures from last Thursday

when my sister and I took the kids to
Gardner Village for the Petting Zoo and Pony Rides.
The kids all had a blast and wanted to go on the ponies again. I explained to them we didn't really have money for them to go on again and they were okay with that.

Then a few days later Shaylyn is telling me that next time we get some money we should go ride the ponies again. HEHEHE.

Sadly though, I think that it won't be around the next time we get the time and money to go back. It was only a thing through the month of October and the kids don't have any more days off of school until November.

I love these pictures and the kids all look so cute. Especially my 1 year old nephew. He was so excited and didn't even cry or whine AT ALL! I am so surprised.

I am upset with myself, however. I had taken close-up pictures of all of the kids and managed to delete all the close-ups, except for Shaylyn's, from the memory card. That's what I get for not paying enough attention to which pictures I was deleting. Mark that one up as a "Shilo Moment."

One last funny thing I want to share with everyone is something Lex told me yesterday. He came into the room that I was in and told me he had a "kangaroo." I couldn't figure out what he meant by a "kangaroo" then saw that he was holding his mouth funny. What he meant to say was "canker sore." Too funny! There's not much else happening right now, so this is the end of this post, but hope everything is going well for everyone!

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As Promised...

As promised in the previous post, here are the kids' school pictures. I was pretty pleased overall. Six months ago when they all had their pictures taken, I didn't care for Shaylyn's much.

I had made the mistake of pulling her hair back and she had a very goofy grin. This time around though, I like all of them and am very happy that they turned out as well as they did.

I also forgot to post on my "Some New Favorites" post a recipe I found for Play-Doh! The only reason I do remember now is because of a friend of mine posted a recipe on her blog for something else, but that was enough to turn the light on in my brain.

Shaylyn's take home folder had a recipe in it for Play-Doh for her to use in some of the homework that she has. The problem was the folder was always with her at school when I decided to look into making the Play-Doh. So, I got online and found this site...Sensory Processing Disorder.

Anyway here is the recipe.

COOKED PLAY-DOH

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 cup water with preferred color food coloring
1 tablespoon oil

Mix all ingredients. Cook over medium heat until it forms into a ball and becomes "translucent", not "milky". Knead dough. Store in plastic covered bowl in refrigerator when not using it.

Like I said I LOVE this recipe. This play-doh isn't sticky at all! Even after refrigerating it for a couple days, it still wasn't sticky or even rock hard. It was cold, but totally pliable.

The kids have totally loved having this. I tried to make one for each of the kids, but ended up running out of ingredients both times...

The first day I made it, I barely had enough salt to make one. The next time I tried to make it, I ran out of the Cream of Tartar...So I suggest you make sure you have plenty of the ingredients to make as many as you want/need.

Yesterday, my little sister and I took the kids to Gardner Village for a tiny petting zoo and for a ride on a pony. I will post those pictures in the next couple of days.

Hope all is well!

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New Favorites!

I've gotta admit, I love when I get pictures from my Mother-in-Law. She ALWAYS has tons of pictures that I didn't even know she took! Lots of them are very special ones too. Anyway, she thought she had given me the pictures she took at Shaylyn's birthday party in January, but she never had.
So a couple weeks ago, we were trying to figure out which pictures I had and which ones I didn't. There were other pictures taken in January as well and some from April, but my favorite one from all that she just gave me is the one above. It is a picture of my dad and Eric's dad. I think it is just an awesome picture to have! Now, I've gotta get a picture of my mom and Eric's mom together! It is on my to-do list.
For school, Tanis & Shaylyn each have to read or be read to for a certain amount of time each night. For awhile we were reading Harry Potter - and we will go back to it, but Tanis ran across a book of poems by Shel Silverstein called "A Light in the Attic." Tanis wanted me to read this book of poems to him, so for the past few nights we've been reading them.
Two nights ago I ran across 2 poems I just absolutely loved! The first one I thought would be perfect to use on a scrapbook page of a kid just hanging out in the summer sun. The second one just really made me think of how the world treats people. Here you go...

TIRED

I've been working so hard you just wouldn't believe,

And I'm tired!

There's so little time and so much to achieve,

And I'm tired!

I've been lying here holding the gras in its place,

Pressing a leaf with the side of my face,

Tasting the apples to see if they're sweet,

Counting the toes on a centipede's feet.

I've been memorizing the shape of that cloud,

Warning the robins to not chirp so loud,

Shooing the butterflies off the tomatoes,

Keeping an eye out for floods and tornadoes.

I've been supervising the work of the ants

And thinking of pruning the cantaloupe plants,

Timing the sun to see what time it sets,

Callint the fish to swim into my nets,

And I've taken twelve thousand and forty-one breaths,

And I'm TIRED!

- Shel Silverstein

THE LITTLE BOY AND THE OLD MAN

Said the little boy, "Sometimes I drop my spoon."

Said the little old man, "I do that too."

The little boy whispered, "I wet my pants."

"I do that too," laughed the little old man.

Said the little boy, "I often cry."

The old man nodded, "So do I."

"But worst of all," said the boy, "it seems

Grown-ups don't pay attention to me."

And he felt the warmth of a wrinkled old hand.

"I know what you mean," said the little old man.

- Shel Silverstein

I have always loved this book and every couple of years when I read it again, I find new poems that I fall in love with.

We also got the kids' fall pictures back, but I have to wait until tomorrow to post them because our scanner/printer is broken and Eric left our camera at his parents house. So tonight when I head to the doctor, we will stop by and get the camera and I will then take a picture of each of the kids' pictures and post them.

Hope everyone is doing well.

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