What We Do When Ben is Gone

I was going to find a picture of a messy room (Ben has the camera) to post here and write a cute little blurb about how I tend to do projects when Ben is gone and ignore the house but I soon found that if you type dirty into a search engine you come up with a lot of stuff you didn't want. The need to search left me and so this post is picture less. Too bad. Pictures would have been cute. For instance, right now I have no living room floor. It is covered in puzzles, and crayons, and stuffed animals, and castle toys, and who knows what. If you walked into my house right now the first thing you would think would be, 'wow, this lady is not a good housekeeper,' which just isn't true. I am a mediocre housekeeper. I would then lead you carefully (look out for the legos, they hurt) over to my pantry and kitchen cabinets and open them with a relish to which you would see that everything was covered in contact paper and wiped up and organized and seeable. (Hmmm, it is saying seeable is not a word but I'm going to keep it). You would realize that I am able to clean, just not in places you can see. Tomorrow I will organize kid's clothing. The day after that I might clean out the attic space. Have no fear though. The day before Ben gets home all the dishes will be washed, the laundry folded, the toys picked up and the floor mopped. Until then please make an appointment if you would like to come over. I do have a little bit of pride left ;)

Sadie Sayings

"Hey kiddo, how did you sleep?"
"With my eyes shut."

Swagbucks

A long time ago my amazing couponing, deal hunting SIL told me about Swagbucks. I remember her telling me that you can earn gift cards which can be used online. I signed up at the site and then officially forgot all about it. At Christmas time I saw that her kids had gotten some awesome gifts and overheard her saying that it was thanks to swagbucks. 'Hold on,' I thought, 'I need to figure this out!' Then I forgot about it again. Anyone that knows me knows this is a common thing. Today she has a great post though about how to earn double the bucks if you sign up today. You can read about it on her post HERE. She also has a link that tells you how to start earning more swagbucks. The real trick is to be consistent (easier if you download the toolbar) and get people to sign up under you. Today I added my banner for easy clicking (just look to the right). Have fun everyone and good luck with starting on those swagbucks before next Christmas!

Olympic Conversations

My friend Marci blogged the other day about how every four years we all get to become expert judges as we watch the jumps, speed, and twirls that is the Winter Olympic Games. My family is no exception to this. We have been recording events, following our favorites, learning the lingo, cringing at the falls and cheering our country to numerous medals. Today we decided to watch the Olympic ice dancing while procrastinating our math work and snacking on chocolate chips. By now my kiddos are experts. Here is part of the conversation word for word (well, as far as I can remember);

Eliora: That was a very good twizzle
Audrey: It was, but they were a little off at the beginning. Mom, back it up so Eliora can see.
(pause)
Mom: Look at the step sequence, very clean.
Eliora: I think the commentators like it because they aren't talking as much.
Audrey: This music is better than the last pair
Eliora: And the costumes match better plus she's more modest.
Sadie: (looking up from her castle toys) I think she looks like a pine cone.

Thank you Sadie for bringing us all back to reality.

Happy Birthday Ben!

Growing up Ben wanted to be a rock star. He was the kind of kid though that said his prayers every night and read his scriptures every day. He finally decided that pursuing the rock star dream was not really conducive to the kind of lifestyle he wanted and decided to serve a mission instead. After spending two years in San Francisco he came home to Texas and left for a cross country trip up to Utah. He arrived in winter with no place to stay. After time he secured an apartment, a job, school classes, and a girlfriend. He married the girl two years later in the Salt Lake City Temple.

A year a half after that their first daughter was born. After giving up the rock star dream Ben decided to look into political science and journalism. Wanting to put family first though he called and interviewed several journalists. They all said the same thing, long hours and you never see your family. He gave up that dream and went into geology. Working eight hour night shifts at UPS he would come home, get two hours of sleep, and then leave for a full schedule of classes in the morning. He managed to graduate at the University of Utah with his Bachelor of Geology degree, have daughter number two and get accepted for a Master's Degree at the University of Texas in Austin.

Even though his Masters required long weeks, weekends, and field work Ben never put his family second. His third daughter was born in Austin and a week later he lost a brother-in-law. He still managed to be there for his wife, finish his degree, and make each daughter feel like a princess.

He accepted a job at ConocoPhillips in 2007, moved to Houston and had daughter number four. With all these daughters he still smiles every day.

Now, ten years after it all began Ben is the kind of man who upholds his priesthood, reads to the kids before putting them to bed at night, and buys his wife flowers on occasion. He has sacrificed dreams, hobbies, and goals to spend time with his daughters and help his wife with the dishes.

Personally, I think he is amazing. Happy Birthday Ben. I can't imagine my life without you.

The Whipping Boy

Every other week I pile the kids in the car and we drive up to Cypress so the girls can attend book club. This week the family in charge discussed The Whipping Boy, by Sid Fleischman. The book is based on Jemmy, the official whipping boy of the royal palace. Before coming to the palace he was a rat catcher in the sewers of the city. Now every time the prince does something wrong Jemmy gets whipped. He dreams of running away, but is surprised when the prince announces one night that both of them are running away. Before they know it, the outlaw Hold-Your-Nose Billy has kidnapped them. Can Jemmy keep them both alive or will the oblivious Prince Brat spoil his every plan? Along the way they meet Petunia and her dancing bear and The Hot Potato Man.
My kids liked the book although they were outraged to learn that whipping boys actually have existed in history. Eliora's picked up that although Jemmy gets whipped every day he also learns to read and write which helps him later and is something no one outside of the castle seems to be able to do.
For book club the kids sat in a circle and passed around a 'hot' potato while singing a ballad they had made up about Hold-Your-Nose Billy. The one with the potato at the end of the song got to choose a toy rat from the bowl and pull the question off his back. Once all the questions were answered each child got to pick out a rat or spider to take home. They then played a game where two kids went into the other room as Billy and Cutwater (the villains). Two other kids were picked as the Prince and Jemmy who hid under the straw (blankets). The villains returned and had to guess who was missing from the group. If they could name them then the kids were 'caught'. If not, then our heroes got away.

Valentine's Parties

Yesterday we had a Valentine's Party at our friend Audrey's house. (Somehow I think I draw Audrey's into my life). This is one of my favorite things about a homeschool group. I love the parties. There were about 26 kids, decorated boxes, cards to pass out, cupcakes to decorate, cards to glitter up, heart bingo to win, and lots of yummy food to eat. The picture above has Eliora icing a cupcake. The room is actually her garage. It is awesome.

Here are my three older kids and our friend Marissa. I'm pretty sure Abbey was either climbing the chairs or getting more food. I don't think I saw Abbey most of the time. For a 'shy' kid she was pretty happy to leave and help herself to the food and glitter.

Tis the Season of Love

Last night my husband came home to a sink full of dirty dishes, no dinner started, no groceries in the fridge, and a wife asleep on the couch. We made a quick dinner of rice and.....yeah, there was nothing. He told me to go to bed early and get some sleep. I heard him start to get the kids to bed and then I was out until morning. I woke to a sink that looked like this,


this in the fridge,
and this on the table,

complete with a nice note. I love my husband.

I am here to issue an apology. I believe that the last time I changed the background on my blog I told my SIL, Anna, that I did not like white. Anna's blog is a white background. It was simply because my pictures seemed to be accented better against browns and blacks (which is laughable because right now I can't get my pictures to go from my camera to my computer). I am here to apologize. If I have to write one more post in white or blue I just might scream. White or light backgrounds are better. Black shows up. I like to be able to write them and post them.

Besides my background problems I can also never quite figure out what to post. This blog started as a way to post pics for distant relatives. Pretty soon those, 'write your fav movie lines and see who can guess' popped in. I have toyed with the idea of posting our homeschool days (you are suppose to keep track of what you do in case 'they' show up....still not sure who 'they' are). I have read and heard of blogs that are witty, political, practical, journals of daily life, nothing but pictures, and everything else under the sun. I love reading my friend's blogs. One of these days I will take the time to figure it out. In the meantime, I think I might get the pics to computer problem fixed. While I do that take the time to leave a comment and let me know what your favorite blogs consist of.

Saints v. Colts

Why do you watch the Super Bowl? (Come on, we know you do) Is it the game? The half-time show? The million dollar commercials? Or, more important than any other Super Bowl tradition, the food? This year we have a late church and so am opting to stay at home and enjoy in our PJ's and new TV. This doesn't mean we are skimping though. Here's our Super Bowl menu:

7 Layer Bean Dip and Velveeta Chile Con Cheso with chips (allrecipes.com)
Spinach Dip with Hawaiian Bread (allrecipes.com)
Smoked Chicken
Smoked Ribs
Root Beer (in a glass)
Pie and ice cream

Although I am dying to dip into the appetizers I am a little bummed we are missing out on my SIL's cooking. She's got a great menu going on at MyLitter

What are you all having? And I suppose it's appropriate to ask....who are you rooting for?

A Blast From the Past

Customer Service

Yesterday it was raining.
This did not deter my mood.
We ran a little late for gymnastics.
This did not deter my mood.
I had made it whole day and kept my food down. I actually had a little energy. I felt great.
Because of this I decided to finally run a few errands I had been putting off since Christmas. My kiddos had gym that ended at four and I figured that would give us time to hit the little post office that no one ever uses.
I had the boxes packed up and taped.
I had my addresses ready to go.
I took my four kids in with me in the pouring rain and put them in the corner with books to read.
They behaved beautifully the whole time.
I grabbed my black marker and wrote the addresses on most of my boxes.
I tried to find a label for the one in the Huggies box.
No labels.
I grabbed a Priority label, wrote the address and blacked out all the priority writing.
I got in line behind one person.
The lady behind the counter (we will call her lady #1) told me I could NOT use a priority label, even if it was blacked out. I apologized and asked if there were plain labels. She said no. I asked if they had a sheet of paper and some tape I could use. She said no. I asked what the difference in sending it priority over regular would be. The difference is $25 dollars. Ummm, no. I was still in a good mood. I told her I would buy a box, and some tape, repackage it and get back in line. She looked at the clock and told me they close at 5:00. It was 4:40. There was no one behind me.
At his moment a woman came rushing in and asked if the mail had gone out for the day. She had an envelope in her hand, addressed, stamped, labeled, and whatever else. It was ready to go. Enter lady #2 from the back. #2 smiled and said they had not picked it up yet.
Lady #1 said the mail was picked up at 4:30.
#2 said the guy was running late.
#1 turned to her and said that the drop off time was at 4:30 and if the woman left her envelope she would not put it in the pile to go out. She then stormed into the back.
The woman looked at #2 and explained that she had just gotten off work and had gotten over there as fast as she could. The envelope had to go out that day. #2 said she didn't know what to do. #1 was her supervisor and probably would not put it in the pile to go out.
About then I decided I could mail my own package another day.
I didn't want to be there when #1 went postal.
Amazing how one person can put a damper on your day.

Gymnastics

Wednesdays are gymnastic days. When you homeschool you always worry that your kids aren't getting enough exercise. After all, they don't have P.E. Then you remember that on warm days they spend half the day outside running around and on the trampoline. You remember that you go for morning nature walks and hit the playground when the math is just too much that day. Lately though we have been lazy. It has been rainy and cold and wet. Not things I like. In days like these I am glad we have gymnastics on Wednesday. Our gymnastics gym is awesome. There is a homeschool class at 2:50 pm. (Most YMCA's offer homeschool classes as well. Always call and check, you never know.) All three kids get to their class at that time with different levels and coaches. Our coaches are Melissa, Nicki, and Maddy. The gym is huge. The class is discounted because it is a homeschool class. They also discount for each kid. I get all three into something they love once a week at the same time and still get home before Ben does. The whole thing is $166 a month. I also noticed the first week that a lot of warm up is Pilates. I love Pilates, mostly because I can do it without giving someone else a bloody nose (not terribly coordinated). We practice with our warm ups the rest of the week and the kids show me how to do cartwheels, bridges, and forward rolls. We can even do it on rainy days. Maybe today I'll be a good mom and take my camera with me.

6 More Weeks of Winter
Alas, Phil did see his shadow today which means 6 more weeks of winter (personally, I think that's a little backward, but I'm not a groundhog). My own little groundhog's and I ventured outside a few times today but did not see our own shadows. Does this mean Houston will be heating up? Instead we stayed inside to learn a few groundhog and Groundhog Day facts and have a little fun with marbles.

1. Phil has seen his shadow 97 times, has not seen it 15, and 9 years are said to be unaccounted for
2.The National Climatic Data Center says Phil is right 39 percent of the time. Phil's Club says he is right 100% of the time
3. The groundhog hibernates for the winter so coming out of his burrow is a sign of spring.
4. On winter days when you see your shadow it is especially cold because it means there are no clouds to insulate the earth (so that's why....)
5. The average groundhog is 20 inches long and 12-15 pounds.

Groundhog Day

Will he see his shadow? Will we have 6 more weeks of winter? I'm not sure if I can take the anticipation. While you are waiting around for tomorrow here are some sites my kids and I will be checking out.

http://www.groundhog.org/

http://holidays.kaboose.com/ground-hog-day/

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/groundhog.html

Tomorrow we will be going outside at various times to see if we can see our shadows (which we can trace, and measure, and have fun with). If not, then it's back inside for hot chocolate and and blankets!