So we had a very interesting conversation for dinner tonight. But before I go into the conversation, you first need to know that we have a very HUGE golden retriever named Ginger. She is so huge because for some reason my husband likes to feed her human food and not just let her live off of dog food (which is highly recommended by any Veterinarian or dog lover out there.) I enjoy having Ginger around even though she does wake me up numerous times in the night with her outrageous snoring! But my husband, he loves his Ginger! He walks up to her first thing when he comes home from work. His normal phrase is "Oh, my precious!" Yes, I am serious!
(Ginger and our little guy Finn)
Like normal, I spent at least an hour preparing and cooking dinner for my family (even with a horrible headache!.) I finally got most of them downstairs and the little ones were starving so I served them up their dinner so we could get started. After sitting down at the table, my husband comes downstairs, picks up a plate, puts a huge amount of food on a plate, then proceeds to put the food in front of Ginger on the floor. I could feel myself almost ready to leap into action but I learned a long time ago that doesn't work with him. I did voice my opinion and told him that it makes me very upset that he wastes the food I make for the family on the dog (and personally it offends me). Then of course, I had to compare it to us eating dog food because human food is as bad for dogs as dog food is to humans. He might have understood that a little more than just my nagging for once!
The next part is what cracked me up and I wanted to share!
11 year old: Yea, Ginger is so fat! What would she do in a Zombie Apocalypse? She would get eaten immediately (indicating she is too fat to run for cover).
8 year old: She would just be eaten.
11 year old: Well, I guess we could use her to get to some of them. We could go to the top of a hill and roll her down. That would take care of a lot of them. She is so big she would just squish them all and then she will be okay.
8 year old: I don't think so because then the one at the bottom of the hill would just get her anyhow because she couldn't go anywhere. They will get her anyhow.
I really do not get them sometimes but then they come up with some pretty hilarious scenarios. They go through this type of banter numerous times a day if they are around each other. It is sometimes so funny that I actually have to laugh out loud and then they think they are so funny (which they are) and try to outdo one another. All my other boys were similar in their scenarios building skills and I just think it is hilarious how a boys brain works sometimes.
I have to say that living with boys is completely different than living with girls (yes, once upon a time I did live with girls, they are called sisters). Boys have a completely different mindset. Sometimes it can be so funny that you can not believe the things they come up with. Maybe next week I will have to record one of the conversations my 13 year old and his friend has on the way home from school. They just leave me in stitches. They are so goofy!
I almost didn't let you know how this all started. My wonderful big sister decided to post a video to my timeline on Facebook of these two boys that had destroyed their house with paint. Yes, I have had paint messes before but that is not the point. Paint you can normally just wipe up or use magic erasers on. You can use Hydrogen Peroxide. There are many fixes for that look it up on Pinterest or Google. The video is hilarious though. If you want to check that one out you can here: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152590563160267&fref=nf
No, my home was not destroyed by an avalanche today! I just thought this was a funny name for a video that was on YouTube. You have to check it out to see what I am talking about. After you watch it then you will understand how I have felt WAY TOO MANY TIMES.
Oh, my goodness! I am cracking up, almost peeing my pants this is so funny! Seriously, I can only laugh now because I can feel this woman's pain. I know that I have said all the words that came out of her mouth except one line she said at the end: "Oh, my [gosh]! It's like a snowman puked all over my living room!" Yes, yes it is! I never would have thought of that phrase, but it is!
Okay, well here goes my story. My boys were the same age the first time this happened to me. One was actually 1 1/2 and the other was 3. I had just had another baby and I am guessing I must have been putting him to bed or something like that (please remember this was 15 years ago so my recollection could be a little fuzzy).
At this time in my life I made a lot of things from scratch. You know that thing mothers do to save money. Ha ha! I made bread and other things so I had a 25 pound bag in a large white bucket in my kitchen. I had just been using it and had not secured the top on the bucket as of yet because those things are REALLY difficult to open once closed. The lid was on top so I didn't think they would figure out that they could open it. Okay, I will fess up. I really didn't think at all because who would imagine something like this could happen. Come on. Really? No, it does not even comprehend in your brain that this could happen to you. Well, it can obviously.
At this time we lived in a house that was 1700 square feet and a lot of it was wasted space due to a very large front room that was not used much except for toys. I walked downstairs to my whole downstairs covered in white. I was not sure what had happened. Everywhere I turned things were covered in this white "snow". Yes, but it smelled like flour. If you are a baker you know what I mean. As I walked into the family room in the back I saw my two little innocent boys covered in the white "snow". They were having so much fun. I have to say that I do not remember if I yelled or just laughed this time. Like I said, it has happened too many times to count. I wish I could find a picture but I doubt I have one. Just looking at the video brings back too many memories for me.
Okay, now you have to know that I feel for this woman because she has a lot of vacuuming to do. At least she has nice wooden floors. I had carpet. It was embedded in my carpet for a long time. The only thing that will really clean it is a professional cleaner. Oh, and don't sweep flour it makes it move around the house more. Once you start sweeping, the flour goes into all the little crevasses that the boys did not hit. It also goes into your lungs like you are breathing in flour dust. Not good! DO NOT SWEEP FLOUR! Please! A vacuum is your friend in this time of need. Especially those photo frames and the walls. Yes, flour actually will accumulate on walls. It looks like you have decided to make your house look like a powdered doughnut (but not as delicious). The flour will just lay there on your beautiful textured walls. So if anyone ever does go through this. Here is my advice: Start at the highest point and work down (with a vacuum only). Do not think that you can clean with rags (wet or dry), microfiber cloths, dusting tools or anything else. It will save you many, many tears.
Now one more thing that you might not even be thinking is, "What about the boys?" Well, you may not be thinking this because it didn't hurt them. I didn't hurt them! But guess what does, water and flour. What do you get when you mix water and flour? That is correct. You get glue! The first time this happened I wasn't thinking and I threw them into the bath trying to get it all off. Think about gravity. Where would the most concentrated amount be? That is correct, the head. Like I said, I wasn't really thinking straight. I started to try to clean off the flour on the head and it didn't want to come off. It stuck like what? GLUE! Yes, glue. I scrubbed and scrubbed. My boys had so much glue on their heads even with all the scrubbing. So I figured I would let it dry out and work with it that way. Luckily, I had experience with cradles cap and had my trusty little baby comb somewhere. That helped a lot. You treat it like cradles cap. It works wonders. It does take a few times to get it out, actually quite a few times, but it will eventually come out. Also, if you have it around and you trust yourself not to get it into your kids eyes, Tea Tree shampoo does wonders. Just saying, it can be a miraculous time saver in these types of situations.
So, my other piece of advice is to take your child outside as soon as this happens. Have them bend over and brush as much flour out of their hair before giving them a bath. Make sure at this time you take off their diaper (or underwear) too and throw it
outside because it will be filled to the top with flour. Do not ask how
this happens but it does. It saves a lot of time and tears also. Once you have done this, a bath or shower should be easy peasy.
Now that you have heard one of my most traumatic experiences (not really), imagine going through this numerous times in a lifetime. Yes, I have 7 boys. Every single one of them has used some type of baking product to do this with at least once (some of them numerous times, hey why not practice until you get it perfect, right?). I have seen flour, baking soda (large bag), cornstarch and even baby formula. Cornstarch is a bit heavier so it doesn't fly as high but it is just as difficult to clean up. Baby formula, you just cry because that was a week supply that ended up all over your floor.
Does anyone else have one of these wonderful "Avalanche Stories" to share or reminisce about? Good luck to all you new mothers out there. Keep an eye on your powdered goods.
I personally do not like the term bedtime routine? Why? Because it never is the same or easy, now is it? I wish it was. Doesn't every family wish it went something like this: Mom or Dad: It is time for bed, brush your teeth, get your pajamas on, say your prayers, then go to sleep. Child: Okay! (then proceeds to obey)
WHAT A JOKE!
This is how our routine happened to be tonight:
Mom: It is time for bed. Please go and start getting ready. Brush your teeth while I finish doing what I am doing. Children: Okay. (Then I hear, as they yell at each other to get ready for bed, things being thrown around the room, yelling at each other, and stomping around) Mom: I am coming in! I hope you at least got your teeth brushed! Children: Yes, yes! (I hear fast running and fighting to see who gets to grab the toothpaste first - heaven forbid the other one gets it first!) Mom: (As I walk in, I realize that they decided that the floor was a good spot for the clothes they did not want to wear this morning - I ignore the clothes and push the dirty clothes hamper out of the way so I can walk through the room! I know lazy me!) Who is ready for bed? Children: We are! (As one jumps on the bed and the other is STILL brushing his teeth) Mom: Yes, I can tell (with a chuckle) Mom: What do you have on? Child: My clothes! I am wearing them to bed. Mom: No, you are not. You don't wear jeans to bed. They will give you owies in the night and you don't want that. They are uncomfortable and you will have marks on your belly in the morning and maybe even a belly ache. Child: But I don't want to change. (After
a stern look and much coaxing my child decides it will be nice to be in warm pajamas. The other child follows suit (I think?). Of course, he can not do this with out doing the Undie Dance for 5 minutes!)
Children: Mom! I want ice cold water! (Of course, why didn't I think of that! I should have had them in my hands when I walked upstairs!) Mom: (walks downstairs to get the water *with ice, comes back upstairs, gives the water to the boys and has to wait 2 minutes for them to drink and decide whether or not they have had enough to drink. Finally, we sit down to get into bed) Child:So here is my story I was trying to tell. Long ago, when I was little like 2 years old, I took a yellow crystal and buried it in the ground. Then a coyote sneaked up on me and tried to kill me. Mom: What! Okay, scary but tell it again because you did that so cute I have to record it (on my crappy phone that doesn't do a great job!) So he tells it again. Then they both want a picture taken. Mr. 8 year old starts making funny faces and being goofy! Really goofy!
Mom: Okay, I am done. It is time for prayers. Children: Who's turn? (we have to "take turns" because both want to go first saying prayers. M,W,F is 8 year old's turn. T, Th, Sat are 5 year old's turn and Sun is whoever gets in their bed's first turn - that is usually an interesting night! Both children say beautiful prayers as always thinking of things they are grateful for.) Mom: Good night! (As I lay down with my 5 year old because he still will not go to sleep without me next to him.) DING DONG!!! DING DONG!!! Mom: What in the world! (I start down the hall toward the stairs. Daddy comes out of our bedroom half asleep and goes downstairs. He opens the door to find out it was someone ding dong ditching AGAIN! I hate that!!! Dang kids don't they know it is late!) Children: What was that? Who was that? What is going on? Anyone here? (questions and more questions) Mom: No one is here. Just kids being goofy! (Finally, we lay in bed ready to go to sleep.) 5 year old Child keeps jumping all over the bed. Decided he wants to sleep at the end of the bed. Then decides he wants to sleep sideways. Then he wants to lay on top of me. Child: I decided I am not tired anymore. I want to go do something. (I look at the time and it is 9:30pm!) Mom: Yea, no way little man! You are going to sleep and that is that! Child: But Mom! (After a very long 30 minutes of tossing and turning and fighting I hear a soft breathing coming from behind my head.) Mom: Whew it is over! Now I can go downstairs and get some housework and other things done!
Yes, my oldest baby has moved out of our house! He had decided to spend the winter in Mammoth Lakes working at the ski resort up there. He is so excited. He convinced a few of his friends to join him so now we have 5 boys in a small little apartment below our cabin up there. It is funny how things change so fast. Here I thought I would have him here at least a few more months and now this. *Sigh* I am sad but happy for him. Have a great time my big boy!
A few weeks back during Sign Language class we were learning signs for chores or "duties" around the house. It was so funny to see the young teenagers answer the question "What is your chore?" Most of them would sign one thing like take out trash or put away clothes. Some looked at here like she was crazy, "What is a chore?" I had to ask the teacher how do you sign ALL! The next question was "What is your favorite chore?" I was thinking to myself, "Did I misunderstand her signing? How could someone have a favorite chore?" I signed back "nothing." Then last but not least, she asked "What chore did we HATE?" That was easy for me. Laundry! Of course, my teacher and I had to have a conversation about this in front of everyone because she enjoys doing laundry. I believe it even was her favorite chore. I had to explain (with little knowledge of sign) that I have 9 people in my house and there is so much laundry that I could never enjoy spending hours on end doing laundry. She understood.
I am not sure about anyone else but laundry is a battle for me. I can never catch up. I even have my oldest 3 doing their own laundry (yet I still seem to fold a lot of their clothes?) About 6 months ago I was working really hard to finish and actually say that I had finished the laundry. I had cleaned, folded and put them into the children's rooms. It took a full week I believe of all day everyday to get to that point. But when I got into their rooms to put the "last" of them away, I go to find out they all had piles either in their closets, under beds, or just behind their dressers. I told myself right then and there that I would NEVER EVER try to catch up on laundry again.
Everyone has pet peeves I am sure, when it comes to laundry. I have two. One is that I find the most bizarre things in the laundry. When I was gone this past Spring to see my brother, my husband was doing the laundry (shocker!). He pulled on the clothes in the chute and a big toy came down on his head, he called to tell me and I had to laugh (of course then I was chastised by the nurse in the room at the time). I asked him what he was doing standing under the chute while trying to pull down the laundry, but then I realized it was probably the first time he actually had to pull down the laundry. Today I have found probably 10 ties. Why are ties put in the laundry? I really would like to know. They aren't dirty. They don't get wrinkly (unless you put the in the laundry all squished). They don't touch your skin and get oils on them but yet every day I find another tie in the laundry. I also have found some pretty gross things in the laundry like rotten apples, or dried dog poop. Okay, that last one was disgusting and I had a very long "discussion" with my children after that one. I think I almost got sick from that little "surprise."
The second pet peeve is finding folded clothes in amongst the dirty clothes. Once you have blended a clean shirt or pants with the stinky, boy wearing, teenage smelling clothes the clean clothes have to be cleaned again no matter what! Augh! This makes me irritated. What are they thinking? I have asked why they do that and the response usually is "Oh, I forgot to put them away" or my favorite ..... "They didn't fit me and I didn't want to put them in my drawers." Are you kidding me? So I end up cleaning them over and over not knowing that they are not ever being worn they just don't want to deal with them. How hard is it to put them on top of the dresser and tell me they no longer fit? I guess it is so difficult that they need to drag them to the laundry chute and throw them in there rather than just deal with them.
THE MOST WONDERFUL SON IN THE WORLD....
Now this is going to be the shocker of all shockers. I do have one child that LOVES, seriously loves doing laundry. Yesterday when I took him to school, he told me he wanted to do laundry with me instead of go to school. When I told him we could do it after school he got excited. Who is this you ask? My 5 year old of course! He likes to push the buttons on the machines, fill the machine with soap (of course I am holding his heavy body so he can do it), and then watching the washing machine/dryer start to spin. His favorite part though is to fold towels. I do a sanitized wash of all cleaning towels once a week usually. He loves to sit there and meticulously fold the little white towels. Today we did one of those loads and a larger towel load and he was so excited that I had left if for when he came home. He wants to do more but I needed to do more dishes too so he ran off to play and scream with his brothers. I can't bare to tell him that I really hate laundry, unless I am doing it with him that is.
So now you know my least favorite chore, what is yours? Do you have any laundry stories? Thanks for stopping by. I am off to put in another load of laundry. Catch you later!
First, I have to tell you about a conversation I overheard just a few minutes before starting this post (last week) between my youngest two.
5 year old: Did you know that if you flush the toilet you are a girl?
8 year old: What are you talking about?
5 year old: [my 13 year old] told me that if you flush a toilet you are a girl!
8 year old: Really? I guess I better not flush the toilet anymore!(like he ever did?)
Okay, now it makes sense since I am the only one that seems to flush toilets around here!
Yes, it is all about birthdays around here right now. I am tired just thinking about it. I have 4 children's birthdays within 2 weeks, two on the same day (3 years apart). My 2nd oldest just turned 17 on Thanksgiving! Augh, can you believe it? I know, I can't. A little over a week ago we celebrated my 8 year old and 11 year old birthdays. And Monday my 5 year old had his birthday! How exciting! My youngest is already 5? How did that happen?
What do you do for birthdays? We have a few traditions in our family. First, my boys get to pick out their favorite food for their birthday dinner and their favorite cake (or desert). They are all so funny about this tradition. It really shows me what their favorite things are.
If my 17 year old would have had his way (another words his birthday wasn't on Thanksgiving) he would have wanted seafood, especially Dragon Rolls! But he was very content on having Thanksgiving Dinner at Grandmas House, he just said to make sure that we had candied yams. So the following day I surprised him with sushi for dinner. Yum! I am getting hungry now! I want a Lobster Roll from Akasaka! And instead of cake he just wanted pumpkin pie and Oreo Cream Pie! Easy peasy!
My 8 year old and 11 year old agreed on bean and cheese burritos for dinner. Yay! Another easy dinner. I am on a roll! And they just wanted Oreo Cream Pie (11 year old) and chocolate cake (8 year old). That was easy too. How did I get so lucky?
It was so hard for my 5 year old to figure something out for his dinner though. After a long 10 minutes of discussing it, he finally decided on Pizza. But that 10 minutes was exhausting. I didn't want to encourage him on what his favorite meal was. I knew what it was but I was not going to tell him. So he decided on cheese pizza and pepperoni pizza. His favorite is cheese though. He was so excited when he finally decided. I had my Sign Language finals that night and I was studying all day in between all the other extras that "had" to be done that day. So after I left class I was thinking I would go get the pizzas. I didn't want to break the bank on getting RoundTable Pizza so I thought I would be thrifty and go to Sam's Club and get a few. Low and behold, I get there and it would take 30 minutes for them to take the pizza's so I opted on getting pizza and cooking it at home. Guess what? No cheese pizza! It was already late and I thought my 18 year old had to get to school so I did the rush thing and just got the take-n-bake. I was worried all the way home that he was going to be so sad that there was no cheese pizza. He was fine with pepperoni. Thank goodness! I also got his favorite chocolate cake from Sam's but nobody really ate it. Three-quarters of it wasn't even eaten and is still sitting on the table needing to be thrown out. What a waste of a perfectly good cake!
Having birthdays so close to Christmas is hard. Especially for the pocketbook. My husband, once again, was complaining about our (my) spending last night. I am not quite sure if he realizes that we have SEVEN boys that require a lot. With 4 birthdays and Christmas it is really difficult!
I feel like I have been going crazy shopping. Amazon is my best friend for the holidays. I have saved so much money both with shipping and with prices, not to mention the time saved. I am so grateful. Believe it or not, I am claustrophobic. I even have anxiety attacks in stores when there are too many people around me. I try not to go to the stores when there are a lot of people around. I will mentally make a note of when the best time to go to certain stores are. Last week I made a mistake and went to Kohl's in the middle of the day. I was desperate to finish getting sweaters for our family photos (which is more than likely my next post). I feel as if I am still having a nightmare from the experience. The isles were more crowded than usual with merchandise. The store was not packed but it was busy. When I got into line I felt myself start to feel as if the walls were closing in on me due to the amount of people around me. I survived. I just do not want to do that again. That means no more Wal-mart (if I can help it) until 2 weeks after Christmas at least! My secret? Did you know that K-mart has just as good of prices and there is normally no one there. It is one of those forgotten wonders I think. It might be another 5-10 minutes down the road but well worth it. Also, Target (a bit more expensive for everyday supplies) is busier but the crowds are not too much to handle.
So what are your special ways of celebrating birthdays? Do you have anything that you do with your kids to make the day a special day? What about your tricks for surviving the holiday rush at stores? Any suggestions? I would love to hear your take on the madness of holiday shopping.
I hope to be more active on the blog scene now that I am finally done with college classes, at least for a few weeks. Have a great day and a blessed holiday season!
First, I had a request from my dear friend across the street that I need to remind all of you that my youngest that had the incident with the motorcycle a couple days ago, is in fact, only 4 so please think of that when reading. Yes, a 4 year old that rides motorcycles, who would have thought? Uh, anyone that has motorcycle lovin' boys!
Now on to the post of the latest antics. Last night after returning from church I was so tired that I really didn't want to take two hours making dinner so I thought making tuna sandwiches would be perfect. My kids have always loved my tuna sandwiches with nobody having an issue with it. I even have a friend that says her son reminisces about the one time he had them here. I personally think that is hilarious! It has been a while since I have made them but I figured everyone still would love them like always. Well, I made up the sandwiches and placed them on the counter for everyone to come and eat. This time there was one little picky eater that was starving and had been bugging me since we had arrived home, that refused to eat. He sat there and moped. Not only did he mope but he continued to have a "little" temper tantrum at the table. This is not like him at all to actually have a temper tantrum. He is picky but not to the extent of a temper tantrum. I finally told him he could leave about 10 minutes after everyone else was gone. His fit was because all of the sudden he doesn't like tuna and how dare I make egg sandwiches with tuna in it! After all of that, he had the gall to come up to me a little bit later and say that he was hungry! Really?! You gotta laugh sometimes don't you? (at least in your mind!) *Just a side note: I do not starve my kids we have an open kitchen rule in our home. If you are hungry you can get something to eat yourself. There is always fruit and veggies or anything else they can make themselves. I just refuse to be tied to the kitchen ALL day/night long.*
This morning was a productive morning. I was able to get some fun $1 Store shopping done! Yay! Actually, this is a weekly occurrence for me around this time of year. I gave the girls in the Young Women's a challenge to watch General Conference and gave them a packet pertaining to conference to finish. I know that they more than likely will only do 1 or 2 things but I prepared for a good result. I picked up a few cute things like cute erasers that are the size of my hand shaped like cupcakes, little plush smiley faces in a few different colors, some Spiral Fat Books and a few other little odds and ends. My biggest idea is to print out this cute little Personal Monthly/Weekly Calendar for the girls. (I have no affiliation with her but I have just been a fan forever!) I plan on purchasing it for myself anyhow so I thought it would be fun to print it out for the girls. I will have to let you know if I ever finish it. Ha ha!
Since I was able to get to the $1 Store, The Bead Source, and to Trader Joe's all by 12:00 I figured I better pick up my 4 year old before nap time so I wouldn't have to juggle with the craziness later. Boy he was happy! He doesn't "love" staying for nap time but will endure it for me when needed, (sometimes). When I got to his preschool, he was standing by the door and saw me through the little glass window. I could hear him say "See I told you she would be coming for me!" Another one of those moments that you turn your head to the side and chuckle! I feel so loved sometimes! After we get into the car and all the way home, he was in his car seat singing "I didn't take a nap today!" Thank goodness it is only a 7 minute drive home!
So Mr. Four Year Old is happy and complacent at the moment. He is sitting on the flour with his dinosaurs (that I got from the $1 Store!) and excited about the new Angry Bird toothbrush I got him too!
I almost forgot to post the tuna salad sandwich recipe that a friend of mine keeps asking for. It really is simple. Please keep in mind this is for 9 people (4 of which are teenage boys)!
2 large cans of white tuna (in water), drained
18 boiled eggs
1/2 cup mayo
6-8 stalks celery, chopped finely
1 medium onion, chopped finely
a few squirts of liquid mustard + about 1-2 tsp dry mustard
a dash of vinegar to give a little tang!
Serve it on whatever type of bread you have around. I even make wraps with tortillas sometimes.
