Dobson Ranch Home Tour

October 24th our HOA is having a home renovation tour and we are going to be showing off out house. Kenneth has been working really hard on the pantry doors, he has 4 (out of 18) left to sand. Then I can spray them and we can install them. I made a list of all the things that I need to do before we can have strangers wandering through our house admiring our hard work. There are many things that don't look fresh anymore. Yesterday I washed the outsides of the windows. The upstairs windows need more work. The job that really needs doing that I really don't want to do is repainting the baseboards. The caulk I used on the baseboards is a little bit tacky (as in sticky not unfashionable) and so all the dust that lands on them just sticks and has to be scrubbed off with a brush and soapy water. I do like the deadline the tour is providing to do those little things that need to be done!

Breakfast anyone?

Here is the best recipe I ever invented:
I was trying to make muffins that tasted good and were on the healthy side.
We think they are really yummy.

Applesauce muffins
makes 24 muffins

cream 1/2 cup butter and 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
add 2 cups applesauce and 3 eggs
mix well
stir in dry ingredients (all together):
1 3/4 cups wheat flour
1 cup white flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1Tbl cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Bake at 350 for 15-20 min

Weber's Report

WOOF,
Aarf, arf, growl. Barkity Bark snort snuffle snuffle humpff. GrrrArf.

Translation:
Weber here. I figured out what the people want me to do get my food. I sit and wait for the food bucket to close and the "Okay", it is a little embarrassing that I drool as soon as the lid comes off the bucket. I'll have to contact Pavlov's dogs to see what can be done about it. Also my education seems so include a bit of formal school. These kids seem to think I will be able to manipulate the etch-a-sketch better than the more traditional writing tools on account of my lack of opposable thumbs.

Barbby Mummy

Truman's 6th grade class just finished a Social Studies unit on ancient Egypt. They learned about Queen Hatshepsut (Truman warns "don't mispronounce it), King Akhanauten and Queen Nefertiti. King Tutankhamen rose to power at age 9 and died at 18. The pyramid at Giza is the tallest pyramid in Egypt. The egyptians believe that the higher the pyramid the better because it gets you closer to the sky. Truman came home one day and asked if we had any barbies that no one wanted. So we gave him one. His teacher did this cool project where the kids each made a mummy. The kids got to cut off the hair. The wrappings are paper mache. Next, they chose a base color black, red, blue, or yellow (I chose Blue) Then they painted the details. Here's a photo of Truman's. I always appreciate the teachers who go out of their way to do something extraordinary.

Don't try this at Home

Today I pressure washed my van seats!
Why? you ask... 3 reasons really 1. I didn't have time to build a trebuchet 2. Hazel likes to chew gum and 3. I never lived in Wymount

1. My brothers beat me to the trebuchet (see Ian's Blog)

2. Hazel likes to chew gum is an easy reason to explain. She dropped a piece of ABC (already been chewed) gum out the side of her car seat one day, then she couldn't reach it. She forgot about it and it melted into the upholstery. The only time I remember it's there is when we are all getting into the van and the fight breaks out about who has to sit where because of the gum on the seat.

3. I never lived in Wymount. The stereotypical resident has multiple kids and has been in school much longer than usual. At my graduation from BYU there was a husband and wife who walked together and put caps and gowns on all 5 kids and marched them across the stage too. When Kenneth finally graduated after like 10 years in school we had 4 kids. So here is the problem... I may fit the stereotype but I don't have to be stereotypical. So I think the stereotypical family with a lot of kids drives grungy vehicles. No one plans to drive a grubby van it just sneaks up on you I think. I refuse to let the stereotype sneak up on me!

So I have used my carpet cleaner to try to clean the seats before. They don't get very clean. Kenneth and the boys had to take all the seats out of the van to help a family move. So back to the gum. I decided to clean the gum off the seat and with no one responsible here to tell me I was crazy, I sprayed the gum with goo-be-gone and waited for it to dissolve. What to do while waiting... I rubbed laundry detergent into all the sticky spots and hauled out the pressure washer. It took me a few minutes to get it to start but in the end it worked great. Thank heavens I live in Arizona or they might not be dry by church tomorrow!

Closing the Books

On Monday after school I had a meeting with the other 2 remaining members of the Alma Elementary PTO. It was our closing meeting, we were going over the information we had from the last 4 years to be sure that if someone wanted to know or why it ended they could. One of the decisions we were making was what to do with the money in the PTO account. We decided to purchase some new Art for Art Masterpiece, cookies and juice for the Reading Under The Stars Event and then donate the rest to the student funds account. I have to admit that I was a little sad to be giving up but 3 people just can't run the whole show and we really did do everything we could. I will continue to run the Art Masterpiece program because I love it, and I also volunteered to help the band teacher as much as I can.

Student Teaching

Abby and Rebekah often play school with Nate and Hazel. Tonight we had music and movement classes. Feel free to join in.

Sunday Fun

While I was in Seattle Kenneth gathered milk jug lids and they all played the milk lid game. Sunday when I came home from my meetings they were all busy playing again. It is a fun game.

Back to school means more birthday parties

Friday after school Rebekah went home from school with her friend Claire for Claire's birthday party. Sydney went too as a helper. I heard much about how cool it was that Hannah Montana came.(one of the young women from church in costume)

Saturday Sydney went to a party and came home with this great face painting:


My only complaint about birthday parties is that I never know what to get other kids for gifts.

Meltdown Over

So I have been in meltdown mode lately and so has the computer. I think the worst of it is over. All I have to say for the computer is: MICROSOFT, Blechhh. As for myself, I think I will use the 7 kids destroyed my braincells excuse.

So catching up on the last 2 weeks, all the recent photos are gone to that great digital paradise in the sky. The news still exists though so here it is in Reader's Digest form.
*Nate has been throwing up every night for the last 2 weeks. (more about that later)
* Weber is going to be staying with us until he returns to Guide Dog HQ to continue his training (about a year from now)
*Last Friday I flew out in the morning to go to Seattle to my Aunt's wedding. We went to the state fair and the scones are not nearly as good as I remember from when I was a kid. In fact the scones I make at home (trying to duplicate the memory of them) is better than the real thing. Stuart, my 1st grade nephew, went on the "Ghost Pirate" ride with me, and we grown-ups rode the old wooden roller coaster. The wedding was beautiful the Bride was gorgeous and the groom was delightful! All my brothers were there too except Jake and he was sorely missed. I took a stained glass project that I was trying to finish as a wedding gift and my Dad worked with me on it. It turned out good I think, but it was more fun to work with my Dad. I went out to dinner with my brothers and their families. My Mom and I had Sunday afternoon together alone and that was really nice.
* I came home Sunday night late to a clean house, sleeping children,a welcome home sign on the door, and love notes on the bed. It sure is nice to be appreciated. Kenneth's comment was "Now I know why you are so tired at night!"
*Kenneth left Tuesday for a business trip to California. Luckily, he came home again.
*My beautiful garden was atacked by little black bugs and I finally had to give in and spray poison on it, it was challenging to find something effective and that wouldn't kill my kids or the puppy. I hope it works. Luckily the dog is really smart and the first day we talked about the fact that he wasn't to go near my garden. He is more obedient than the kids sometimes.
*Yesterday, my Visiting Teacher and I were talking about Nate's midnight trips to "Barf". She said maybe he just needs more attention. I thought about that and realized that he has been really tired and so kind of whiney so we tend to tell him to go lay down for a few minutes. But he is used to being home all day and having my (kind of) undivided attention... So we talked and he admited that he is worried about how he doesn't have anyone to play with at recess and that He wonders about what fun things Hazel and I are doing without him all day. So we made a plan and last night... No throwing up! I hope this works. I am so sad I didn't figure it out sooner. Poor little Thesbian.

Getting the Hang of it

Our live are now back in "School Mode". Truman had his first Symphony rehearsal, we had a soccer team meeting, I had a guide dog meeting, the kids had their dance classes, Nate had some stomach thing and missed a day of school. So it's been busy. Saturday morning I was trying to finish a baby dress to take to a shower for a friend of mine, I get a phone call.
"Hi Megan, I'm so excited when do you wnt me to bring him over?"
"UMM, I'm ummm"
"Oh, no one asked you yet. Let me back up. I have a guide dog puppy for you to puppy sit."
"great" I'm thinking AHHH I'm not ready I have no stuff.
"How about I bring him over and we'll go to the store together and get you set up."

I got the dress done and it turned out cute, I was trimming the threads off the button holes on the driver over. The puppy came that afternoon and the lady who brought him was tremendously helpful! She went with me to Petsmart and showed me what I would need and answered all my questions.

Meet Weber:
We took Weber to church with us and he was better behaved than Hazel. It is fun to have him here.

Loving Labor Day

We had a great Labor Day. In the morning we all went to the zoo. In the summer our zoo opens at 7 AM. We tried to be there at opening with our picnic breakfast, we didn't make it till 7:30. It was beautiful weather and we had a great time. When we got home Kenneth went to "labor on my pantry doors" and I went to "labor in my sewing room". The kids did the rest of the "laboring"; piano practicing, playing with Hazels birthday gifts, weed whacking the back yard, making lunch, practicing their instruments... We had leftovers for dinner. Then we all watched Nanny McPhee. (Kenneth recently finished reading the book the movie is based on (Nurse Matilda) to the girls. It was a very pleasant day!