Top 10 Things I learned at Cub Scout Day Camp

I accompanied my three oldest boys to cub scout day camp on Tuesday. Joe is the one who usually volunteers to drive and chaperone, but he's been out of town this week and one of the leaders asked me to go. The six hours spent at camp, as well as the hour drive there and back, were very informative. Here are the top ten things I learned at Day Camp this year:

1. Kids can miraculously survive being trampled on in a stampede/dog pile but it might emotionally scar them for life.
2. Eight to ten year old boys can turn anything into a weapon (OK, so I already knew that before day camp). Sticks, water bottles, pieces of paper, fishing poles, hats, cheap plastic boomerangs, you name it. Ironically, the only objects that seemed to be immune were the BB guns.
3. If you're ever blindfolded and relying on someone to guide you safely through an obstacle course, it's probably not a good idea to be guided by an 8-10 year old boy with a short attention span.
4. Somebody always ends up in tears when there are twenty boys on a bouncy suspension bridge all at the same time.
5. If you homeschool and are not used to packing a lunch for your kids, you might leave out a yummy dessert and a juice drink which are apparently staples in kids' lunches these days. Somehow a bottle of water and a handful of blueberries can't compete with a pouch of juice and a bag of oreos.
6. If one of the boys riding in your car keeps passing gas, it could be due to the fact that the only thing he ate for breakfast was Reese's Pieces candy.
7. If another little boy keeps picking his nose and flicking/wiping the contents somewhere in your car, the only way to get him to stop is by threatening to find each booger and make him eat every single one of them before he's allowed to get out of the vehicle.
8. Using my car full of boys as a study sample, only 1 out of 6 boys brush their teeth in the morning. (Yes, 50% of the boys were mine--I even reminded them three times before we left the house).
9. You can determine whether or not a boy has brushed his teeth in the morning by listening to the other boys' reactions as they smell his breath for entertainment.
10. When boys who wanted to ride in your car ONLY because they thought you were going to stop for ice cream on the way home (because that's what your husband has done in years past) find out that you refuse to do so, you will be branded the meanest lady in the world.

Thanks to my brother-in-law Jeff for watching the three youngest kidlets while I was away on this eye-opening adventure. I don't know what we're going to do without him when he leaves on his mission in two weeks!

Kool-Aid Kids

A couple days ago Hans went on an outing with his Dad and came home with some packets of Kool-Aid. He was all starry eyed and excited about opening a Kool-Aid stand with his brothers. On Thursday they kept begging me to let them set it up. I told them they had to do it all themselves and I wanted them to stay on our little street.

They excitedly put up a table, made a sign, and stirred up some Kool-Aid, only to realize that they didn't have paper cups. So, Joseph got creative and in one of our art books he found instructions on how to make origami paper cups. He made himself a cup out of printer paper and tested it out. He calculated that the cup could last about thirty seconds before it soaked through and started leaking. The boys got to work and made about 15 paper cups.

They were going to charge 25 cents, but Uncle Jeff told them it's better to let people pick their price, because some people will pay a lot more. Luckily they followed Jeff's advice. The few customers they had on our "not so busy" street paid about a dollar each and they made $5 on Thursday. I occasionally looked out the window and heard them tell the customers that they had to drink fast so it wouldn't leak. The customers looked warily down at the paper cups as the kids poured in the Kool-Aid and it was hilarious to see them chug it down as fast as they could.

The next day, Uncle Jeff came over and gave them some good business tips. He set them up in a safe place on the street around the corner that gets more traffic. He bought some real disposable cups for them to use and bought them some more Kool-Aid. He also made box signs for two of the kids to wear to catch the attention of cars driving buy.

Here are the results:

Cost of 5 gallons of Kool-Aid and paper cups: $3.00

Amount of money the boys earned on Friday: $62.00

Austin wearing a box and yelling "Kool-Aid--Pick Your Price!": Priceless!

Major Milestones

Joseph and Grant learned how to do their own laundry yesterday. Talk about exciting! I figured if they were smart enough to run complicated electronic devices, they could handle the washing machine without any problems. So now I only have to wash for four kids instead of six. It's a wonderful feeling!

Ada started walking this past week and it's been fun to see her little body toddling around, gaining strength and confidence each day.

Joe's brother Jeff got his mission call yesterday. The whole family came over for dinner and he opened his call. He then secretly wrote down the mission on a slip of paper and added it to a bowl he had already filled with other possible missions. We then each drew out a slip of paper, and as we called out what mission we had, he wrote it down on a poster. After the list was complete, he started crossing off one mission at a time. Oh, the suspense he put us through! The last mission standing was.......Argentina, Buenos Aires South mission! We're so excited for him! Both Grant and Uncle Darren guessed Argentina before he even opened the call, so they deserve some kind of prize.

And Off-Topic: Several ladies have babies due this month and I've made a diaper tote for each of them. Each tote holds a small case of wipes and a few diapers. Thanks to Marie' for the idea and for tracing the pattern for me! The pink one is for Jeanne, because she's having her first girl after two boys, and I couldn't resist making it pink. Rachel's is the denim one in the middle. Collette's is the one on the far right, made from a vintage tablecloth. Are there any other babies being born this month that I missed?

Piggyback Rides

I'm too busy to blog. I just got back from Georgia where I had a wonderful time visiting my sister Lauren this weekend while Joe took care of ALL the kids, even Ada (is he wonderful or what?). I have laundry to do, food to prepare for the Relief Society birthday dinner tonight, preparations for a baby shower which I will be hosting this Friday, the list goes on and on. But I just witnessed something that I really want to remember, so I decided to sit down quickly and write about it.

A month or so ago Jennabee wanted Joseph to give her a piggyback ride, but as soon as she was on Joseph's back, he said that he couldn't go until she rubbed his hair. She quickly rubbed his hair and he took off, running around the house with her. Today Jennabee wanted another piggyback ride from Joseph. She got on his back, and without him saying anything, rubbed his hair. I thought it was so cute and sweet that she remembered his request from so long ago. After the piggyback ride, Joseph made another request that she give him a hug after every ride. I'll be curious to know if she'll remember that request after future piggyback rides.

Behold, A Pretzel Seed!

While snacking on some pretzels this morning, Hans came up to me holding a tiny object and said,"Mom, look, a pretzel seed! Have you ever had a seed in your pretzels before?" I looked a little more closely and realized it was his formerly loose tooth. When I told him it was in fact his tooth, not a pretzel seed, he was happily surprised. He smiled, showing a bloody mess of chewed up pretzels in the hole where the tooth used to be. Luckily he didn't swallow the tooth because the tooth fairy will most likely pay him a visit tonight if he/she remembers.

Ragged Squares Quilt, Top Chef, and Name that Picture

Ragged Squares Quilt




I finally finished a quilt! Every other quilt I've ever started turns into an unfinished project because I just don't have the patience for quilting. This quilt on the other hand was small (toddler bed size), simple, and machine quilted with straight lines. The tutorial can be found at crazymomquilts blog. It's actually supposed to be 5 squares by 6 squares but I made it 4 by 5 because, like I mentioned above, I get impatient. This quilt is for Jennabee's bed.


Top Chef

A couple days ago the boys were having a cooking competition. Austin made a dish all on his own by cutting bananas, putting a little dollup of whipped cream on them, and topping them each with a cocoa puff. I thought it was very creative. Joseph was the judge and picked Austin as the winner. You can also see in the picture that he lost his first tooth.

Name That Picture

Jennabee found the camera and went crazy taking pictures again. Can you guess what these pictures are of? (answers in small print at bottom)

1. unflushed toilet
2. pointed finger
3. nasal aspirator up against an upsidedown wii box
4. roll of toilet paper

Ok, they're not THAT hard to figure out, but they are very quirky things to take pictures of.

I had to document this...

Before she starts walking, I had to put this one in the files: Ada's Famous Bum-scoot.

She does crawl, but only when she feels the need for speed. Jennabee got hold of the camera and recorded this unbeknownst to me:

This Picture Tells a lot of Stories

I took this picture yesterday and realized afterwards that it tells three stories:

1. Ada turned one yesterday and has turned into quite the adventurous toddler almost overnight. This picture is proof of her recent climbing antics. She uses this stool to climb onto the counters, table, etc. Now we have to take care to keep it folded up while not in use. She's also been getting into the toilet like nobody's business, taking after her big sister Jennabee.
2. Speaking of Jennabee, notice how sweet and innocent she looks lying on the counter. She has been climbing on the counter quite often recently. Last week I opened a new bag of chocolate chips and only used a small handful for my last dessert so I could make some chocolate shavings. Yesterday I caught Jennabee in the cupboard (the one right above her head in this picture), sneaking chocolate chips and the bag was almost empty. She is definitely her mother's daughter.
3. You may have noticed Austin has handcuffs stuck to his wrist. Uncle Jeff gave Joseph a pair of metal handcuffs which had the safety release broken off. He gave Joseph the keys, but Joseph promptly misplaced them. Austin found the handcuffs lying around, put them on (only one wrist, thankfully), and couldn't get it off. I tried everything from screwdrivers, pocket knives, to bobby pins to get it to release, but nothing worked. He walked around with the handcuffs hanging from his wrist all morning. I started to panic when he later clasped the other cuff onto the arm of one of our living room chairs. I immediately sent the kids on a thorough search for the missing keys which was like searching for a needle in a haystack. Grant saved Austin when he found them a few minutes later in his very messy, post-Christmas bedroom, and I saved all of the kids from similar fates when I immediately disposed of the handcuffs.

Carol of the Week: Little Drummer Boy

My oldest boys were asked by our church music director to sing Little Drummer Boy for our Christmas program this Sunday. The first time I practiced it with them, I couldn't hold back the tears as I read the words as they sang. The first verse is sweet enough. The second verse starts to tug at your heart strings. The third and final verse brings tears to your eyes. This song captures the feeling of inadequacy that many of us may feel when we think about "being good enough" and helps us to see that offering our best to the Lord is a gift that truly pleases him.

Here are the lyrics if you prefer to read along as you listen to the boys sing in the following video:

Little Drummer Boy

Come they told me, pa rum pum pum pum
A new born King to see, pa rum pum pum pum
Our finest gifts we bring, pa rum pum pum pum
To lay before the King, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

So to honor Him, pa rum pum pum pum,
When we come.

Little Baby, pa rum pum pum pum
I am a poor boy too, pa rum pum pum pum
I have no gift to bring, pa rum pum pum pum
That's fit to give our King, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

Shall I play for you, pa rum pum pum pum,
On my drum?

Mary nodded, pa rum pum pum pum
The ox and lamb kept time, pa rum pum pum pum
I played my drum for Him, pa rum pum pum pum
I played my best for Him, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

Then He smiled at me, pa rum pum pum pum
Me and my drum.

Art Crazed Boys

Austin and Hans have been obsessed with drawing pictures lately. They made some really cute pictures that I really didn't want to throw out, so we decided to display them in their bedroom by making a border with them.

I think I'm going to have to make these clever art cases for them for Christmas.

They love using these art books from Usborne for inspiration.

Long Time, No Blog

Another Project

I recently made these wall decorations for the girls' room out of some fabric scraps I've been hanging on to. It's a garden/flower/butterfly themed room, so I thought these would fit in nicely. Joe says they look like modern art--not my typical soft edged style.


Austin's Midnight Moment

Austin, our five year old, has never wet the bed. If we forget to take him potty before bed, he cries in the middle of the night, I wake up, take him to the bathroom, and he goes back to sleep. The other night, I heard "the cry", and was about to get up when I heard stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp (I could tell he was running in place, not towards to door). I jumped up and ran to his room. When I flipped on the light, he was standing on the area rug in the middle of the room with his pants down, peeing on the floor. He pulled up his pants and got back in bed and went to sleep. I pulled the area rug out and took it straight to the front porch so I could deal with it the next day. When morning came, Austin asked where his rug was. I told him he peed on it in the night. His confused look said it all--he had no recollection of the incident. Is that what they call sleep walking?


The Big Experiment

This month is our big food storage experiment. The rules are 1) we can't go to the store to buy anything and 2) we keep track of everything we use. At the end of the month, we'll multiply everything we used by three to make sure our three month supply will actually last three months. To help out, I made menus (breakfast, lunch, dinner) for the whole month. Before the month started I stocked up on stuff we didn't have already in our food storage, including three huge packs of TP from Costco. Our experiment will actually end next Wednesday when we leave to visit my family for Thanksgiving. It's been so nice not to have to shop for groceries--a chore I'm not fond of. I think shopping once a month is a habit I would definitely like to keep. Today we drank the last of our milk, so it's powdered milk for the rest of the month! I've also been grinding wheat and baking bread every other day with pretty good success. The other night for a treat, we let the kids take a quarter out of their piggy banks and we all went to Safeway and got a quarter pop from the machine. You wouldn't believe how happy the kids were to drink pop.

We're also not spending any money other than pay for phone, electric, water, sewer bills etc. We're not even buying gas. We filled the cars up on Oct 31, and if we run out we'll walk everywhere. Joe's been walking to work, and we've only driven to church and back, so for now I think we'll have enough gas to get by. Joe's having a hard time not ebaying and doing impulse buys at Walmart; hopefully this will break him from these habits. I can't wait to see how much money we've saved!

Independent Spirit

Austin celebrated his fifth birthday last weekend and has manifested his independent spirit several times this week to prove just what a big boy he is.

Take this picture for example:


He's capable of turning on the kitchen faucet by climbing the cupboards or getting a chair, but why work that hard when there's an easier way? I found it funny that he thought to turn it on using his "special stick".

How he found the "special stick" is another story. A very scary story. A story that I really don't want to remember but I'm sitting here posting about it anyway.

On Thursday, Joe, Hans, Joseph, and Grant walked to soccer practice which was at the park about 4 blocks away. Austin wanted to go with them, but I told him he had to stay home with me and the girls. He and Jennabee played inside the house for about 20 minutes while I worked on dinner. They eventually mosied into the backyard to jump on the trampoline and I checked on them every now and then to make sure they weren't getting into trouble.

Then the phone rang, it was Joe, and the conversation went something like this:

Me: Hi, what's up?

Joe: Not much. How are you?

Me: Great. Just working on dinner.

Joe: OK. How are Austin and Jennabee?

Me: Fine. They're outside in the backyard playing.

Joe: Oh. (pause) Actually, they're here at the park. They just showed up at soccer practice.

Me: (Cough, sputter, choke...) WHAT??? I just checked on them not that long ago and they were on the trampoline! This is bad... really, REALLY, BAD!

Joe: Yeah, I know.

Joe told me not to pick them up because there were only fifteen minutes of practice left. Those fifteen minutes seemed like an eternity to me. All of the bad things that could have happened, flooded into my mind over and over again. Run over by cars (they had to cross two fairly busy streets to get there), getting lost and wandering from street to street, getting snatched from the side of the road...the hazards seemed endless. And to think, at the precise moment they were walking to the park, I was in my happy little world, cooking and thinking "Wow, maybe we don't need to fence after all. The kids are so good about staying in the yard."

Once we were all together again, safe and sound, we asked Austin how he found the park. He said "I went bench to bench, just like Grandpa said". Grandpa had recently taught the boys that the way to find the park was to follow the benches to get there. There are several benches along the way within sight distance of one another. I'm so glad he knew the way! I shudder to think of him and Jennabee aimlessly wandering the roads trying to find Dad and the boys. It was while on the walk to the park that he found his special stick that "helped him walk when [his] legs got tired".

We had a firm chat with him and I'm keeping him on a tighter leash, but I can't help but wonder "what's next?" with him. He has had an independent spirit since his birth. His mannerisms as a baby were always different than my other babies. I've always known he was unique from Day 1.

I LOVE this kid and I never want anything bad to happen to him. Is it possible to tame such an independent spirit without destroying it completely?

And finally:

A picture of him on his birthday with his dragon cake. Thanks to Julie P. for the inspiration and for sending me the directions on how to make it.

My Night

Joe is out of town and last night was a doozy. Here's how it went down:

10:30 p.m.: I finally get the two girls to fall asleep and I put them in bed.

12:00 a.m.: Ada wakes up. I feed her and put her back in bed.

1:30 a.m.: Jennabee wakes up crying, furious that I moved her from my bed to her bed after she fell asleep. I move her back to my bed.

2:00 a.m.: Ada wakes up again; I feed her; put her back in bed.

2:45 a.m.: Hans comes into my room crying. He says his mosquito bite is itching him terribly and he wants me to make baking soda paste to put on it. (I don't know if it works or not, but my dad did it for me when I was little, so I do it for my kids). I get out of bed, make some paste, slather it over the bite that is bothering him and go back to bed.

3:00 a.m.: Ada wakes up again ( I have a feeling it was because of the commotion with Hans just before). I feed her and put her to bed.

3:20 a.m.: Hans comes back into my room and tells me that his baking soda paste fell off. I tell him to go lay down and try to forget about the itch. He walks into the corner and starts to whimper. I feel terrible. After all, my own mosquito bites are driving me nuts; especially because my kids won't let me sleep and forget about them. I relent and get up again to make more paste. After putting it on the offending bite, he asks if I can put it on a couple of other bites too, and I oblige.

4:30 a.m.: Ada wakes up AGAIN. I feed her and put her back in bed.

6:30 a.m: Ada wakes me up in the middle of a fantastic dream. Joe and I were getting ready to board an airplane to go on a romantic European vacation without any kids. Is it any wonder I dreamed that dream?

So Much to Say

Another set of mini-posts:

Five Months Old

Ada just turned 5 months old. You've probably wondered why I haven't posted many pictures of her. It's because everytime I take a picture of her, it ends up looking like this:

Our camera has a red light that turns on right before the picture is captured and it always, without fail, changes her happy smiling face into a confused/concerned/curious gaze.

I finally figured out how to get rid of the red light and was able to capture her in all her gleeful glory.

Bath Time

The other day I walked into the bathroom and found Jennabee giving her baby doll a bath in the sink. It's a beanbag baby, but luckily it's not filled with real beans or it would be sprouting by now.

Home Owners

Joe and I are now home owners! His parents decided to buy a home out in the country (the house we rented our first year here) and sold their house to us. We closed on the deal last Friday. The kids are really excited that Grandma and Grandpa's house will now be called home. And I'm excited because it's the perfect house for us. It's big, has a huge, flat, fenced backyard (rare for this town), and is full of fun memories.

Wheat Grinding Woes

I have bought all of the wheat flour that I've been using to make bread until this week when I ran out of store bought flour. I decided it was time to pull out a bucket of wheat and give our hand grinder a try. The crank was SO hard to turn. After about 20 minutes I only had a half cup of flour at most and I was drenched with sweat and out of breath. I burst into tears and called Joe on the phone at work, complaining like a whiny little baby. I told him through sobs that we had to buy an electric wheat grinder because I couldn't get enough flour to make bread for our family. He patiently talked to me when I'm sure he wanted to tell me to just suck it up and act like a woman instead of a little girl. After my venting session, nine year old Joseph helped me grind the rest of the wheat that we needed to make bread. He didn't whine or complain, he just kept going until it was done and did a fabulous job. When Joe came home he explained that the adjustable texture setting was set too fine. I guess you're supposed to grind everything through really coarse and then adjust the setting finer and put it through again until you reach the correct texture. Maybe I'll give it another shot to see if I can get it to work better next time, but I'm thinking an electric wheat grinder would be awfully nice.

The Adventures of Double Man

The other day Austin (4 years old) came out of his room with not one, but two Superman capes on. He announced, "Mom, I'm Double Man!" Joseph asked him what his powers were. He replied that he could shoot bullets out of his stomach and also shoot his eyeballs out of his head and make them come back again. Does that make Double Man a super spy? I can't think of any other use for boomerang eyeballs.

Also, during family home evening tonight, Joe, who was conducting the meeting, said, "The first thing we are going to do tonight is practice saying "Family Home Evening". Austin has always called it "Fammy Ho-neenee" and Joe decided it was time for him to learn what the real words were. I'm going to miss his cute way of saying it.

Running on Empty

The kids have been sick this past week. Especially Jennabee who has been so needy and fussy. For a few days I only averaged 2-3 hours of sleep due to Jennabee and Ada waking up in the night and I feel like I'm still trying to catch up. So today, when everything started to fall apart, I thought I was going to go insane.

It started this morning when I made the mistake of giving kids leftover doughnuts for breakfast. The kids were literally bouncing off the walls--a sign of what was to follow. The rest of the day was filled with little things that alone weren't such a big deal, but collectively drove me mad. Things like Jennabee, Austin, and Hans throwing tons of rocks from the rock bed into the middle of the lawn. Or Jennabee emptying a new box of sandwich baggies all over the floor. Austin also dumped a package of crackers onto the floor and convinced Jennabee to join him in smashing them to bits. When Jennabee took off her diaper and peed and pooped on her bedroom floor (she knows how to use the toilet, she just refuses to do it) and it got smashed into the carpet, I didn't think I could handle anything else. But less than an hour later, Austin had knocked over a full cup of water behind the stove while I was trying to get dinner started. As I pulled out the stove to wipe up the water, I was holding back tears. Just then the corner of my eye caught a glimpse of something shiny on the floor where the stove once sat. Lo and behold, a colorful, foil wrapped, Cadbury Creme Egg was resting against the wall. It was the long lost egg from our Easter egg hunt a couple months ago. It had been sitting on the back of the stove and fell down behind it before anyone could find it.

Are you wondering if I ate it? I did and it was delicious! And did it make me feel better? A resounding YES! I was in dire need of refueling and as silly or childish as it might sound, finding that egg made me feel kind of special which was the kind of fuel I needed right at that moment.

Mixed Bag

I want to let everyone that Jennabee's doing great and thank you all for your kind thoughts and comments.

Here are a few mini posts about the past week's events.

Tough Love

Joseph and Grant missed their first baseball game of the season last Monday. Not because they were sick, not because of a scheduling conflict, but because they REFUSED to write the final draft of their one page Abraham Lincoln reports. All they had to do was copy their rough draft onto a new sheet of paper and make a few minor corrections along the way.

Once I teach the kids their lessons, they only have an hour of book work (max) each day, which consists of math, spelling, and writing. We can easily finish our school day by noon every day, but the kids usually drag their feet when it comes to the book work. In the past, I became frustrated nagging the kids to get their work done, so Joe and I made a rule that they have to finish their school work by 2 p.m. or they lose a privilige (sports, computer, etc.). When Joe came home for lunch at 12:30, they were still whining about the report and hadn't picked up their pencils to write a single word. Joe told them that if they didn't finish by 2 p.m. they couldn't go to their baseball game that night. You would think that would be enough motivation for my baseball obssessed boys, but the 2:00 deadline came and went and their papers were still blank. When I informed Joe that they didn't finish their work, he had the boys call their coach and tell him they couldn't come to the game that night because they didn't finish their school work on time. Then at game time, he drove the boys to the baseball field and had them apologize to their team for not being able to play in the game. (With Joseph and Grant gone, their team was a player short and they had to forfeit). After apologizing to the team they came home, ate dinner, then went straight to bed.

It was hard seeing their disappointed and sad faces, but I know I'd rather have them learn about choice and accountability now, while they are young. If they don't finish their work by 2 p.m. once more, they have to quit the team. They've finished their schoolwork on time every day since. I hope that means they've learned their lesson!

The Empty Bottle

What would you do if you found this bottle empty when it was full the night before?



I wanted to panic, but decided that would be useless and searched for facts instead. I interrogated all of the children and I found out that after opening the so called "child safety cap", Austin had swished and spit the entire bottle into the sink. No swallowing. Phew!



Dress for Jennabee



A few weeks ago I made this dress for Jennabee. It was my first attempt at sewing clothing (besides the ugly green and black checked pajama shorts I made in middle school home ec). This was such a fun project that I made two pairs of shorts for Jennabee afterwards (and realized I should have started with those). Next up is shorts for the boys, then a skirt for me.

The Latest

The soccer season ended this week. At Joseph and Grant's last game, Austin wandered away from the family and went the goal and started pulling on the net. We didn't notice he was gone until we heard gasps from the fans and saw them pointing towards the goal. There was Austin tangled in the net of the recently collapsed soccer goal. Joe ran out there and he and the ref tried to put the goal back together. But, one of the connectors, made of PVC, had snapped, so they ended up having to use medical tape to hold the goal together for the rest of the game. To make things worse, at the end of the game, I remembered we were assigned to bring treats and had forgotten to bring any. That's a BIG "whoops"! Especially because we lost the game and the kids were looking forward to the treats as their consolation prize.

Hans' last game was on Wednesday and he went out with a bang! Before the game I thought he was being a little too hopeful when he said he wanted to score four goals. But sure enough, he got his four goals! When he puts his mind to something, he certainly gets it done.

The last little bit of news is that we took Jennabee to the ER last night. She was riding on her little foot propelled bike (no pedals) while her big brothers rode their bikes. While they were riding, Hans crashed into her, causing her to fly off her bike and land on the side of her head on the pavement. Two of her brothers tried to help her up, while another one ran inside to get me, but she was so upset she pulled back from their grip, falling this time on the back of her head. I brought her inside and tried to comfort her. Within five minutes she was vomiting and afterwards almost immediately fell asleep. I kept asking her if she could hear me and she kept nodding. Joe came home soon after the accident, and after she threw up for the fourth time, Joe took her to the ER. She continued to throw up in the hospital, so they gave her some anti-nausea medicine. She had a CT scan done and we were relieved that it showed no bleeding in the brain. She eventually started to perk up and become more her normal self. She really liked her hospital gown, getting stickers, and eating popsicles. We were also lucky that the ER nurse is from our church and took extra special care of Jennabee. At about 10 p.m., the doc said she could go home and told us to wake up in the middle of the night a few times and make sure she stirred in her sleep. He also told us to keep her from participating in activities that could reinjure her brain for at least a week (wrestling, playgrounds, bike riding, etc.). Somehow I have to keep her from trying to tackle Austin for a WEEK! This is going to be interesting.

One thing the doc told Joe that seems kind of scary, is that Jennabee now has a 1 in 200 chance of getting cancer in the next 30 years because of her CT scan. Those chances aren't small enough to make me comfortable, but knowing that the doc still thought she should have the scan done, I assume it was worth it to make sure there was no trauma to the brain.

Decisions, Decisions

This past Saturday, Grant had to choose between participating in the district races for the Pinewood Derby or playing in two (double header) soccer games. He struggled with the decision for a while but in the end chose to go to the district races. He figured he might not make it to districts next year, so this year might be his only chance. He had fun and was happy he chose to go.

While Grant was out racing, Joseph was playing in two really tough soccer games. He missed not having his soccer buddy there, especially since they know each other's moves and make great passes to one another. But Joseph managed to score a goal and had two assists, helping his team win both games.

Dinner Impossible

It's impossible for me to please everyone for dinner at our house. Everyone has something they won't eat. Grant is the only kid on the planet who won't eat mashed potatoes. Joseph can't stand onions. Austin only eats the protein I'm serving. Hans hates cooked carrots. Most of them will only eat melted cheese if it's on pizza. Joe doesn't like cooked broccoli (which I love) so I haven't had that in a meal in years. Jennabee still won't eat much unless she's spoon fed. She picks at her food and plays until we try to feed her, then she opens her mouth wide and eats until her plate is empty.

To make things even more interesting, Joe is allergic to all dairy and has been since he was a child. He had tests done and the doc says he's not lactose intolerant, he's allergic to the protein in milk (casein). So when I make food, I can't use milk, real butter, margarines that contain milk (which is most brands), milk, cheese, sour cream, whipped cream, cream cheese, most chocolate, cottage cheese, yogurt, cream of "whatever" soups, etc. Why in the world he took me out for ice cream on our first date, I will never know. He has since admitted that he got really sick that night. I have to search the ingredients on EVERYTHING I buy. I even have to check cured or processed meats (like ham, deli meats), bread, crackers, boullion, spaghetti sauces, cake mixes, and many other things that you might not expect to have dairy in it. And half the time when something is advertised as non-dairy on the front of the package, they've actually removed all of the dairy except for the casein part which Joe is allergic to. I end up making a lot of food from scratch so I know exactly what's going into his body.

Needless to say, finding a meal that pleases everyboday is extremely difficult. That's why I was thrilled when everyone liked the turkey burgers I made the other night. We all thought they were better than hamburgers. I got the recipe off of a website.

Here is the recipe:

TURKEY BURGERS

3 lb ground turkey
1/4 C bread crumbs
1/4 C finely diced onion (you can also use about 1 T of dehydrated onion flakes)
2 eggs lightly beaten
1/4 C chopped fresh parsley (or 1 T dry)
1 clove of fresh minced garlic
1 tsp season salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 T soy sauce
1 T worcestire sauce

Mix it all together, form into 1/4 lb patties, cook 7 min on each side over medium heat. If you make smaller patties for your kids, cooking time will be shorter. You can also scale down the recipe or just cook up the whole batch and have leftovers (they reheat well). Note: The mix is kind of sticky and wet (if it's REALLY wet, add more bread crumbs) but just do your best and squish the meat down onto the pan/griddle--they cook up great.

We got the ketchup out of the fridge to put on the table and dropped it not to far from the floor. I thought they started making these things out of plastic so THIS wouldn't happen. Grant happened to be walking by right when the bottle dropped and his next step went into the ketchup.