Scam correction

I called the Dollar Tree Store that took my donation when I was there to clarify what I was "donating" exactly.  I feel so much better now that I did.  My friend, Jamie suggest I should do that and I am glad I did.  The lady I talked to told me I wasn't donating money but rather items.  There are two groups that they are collecting items for, one was a LDS church group that was taking things over and the other was an adoption agency/group that was taking things over.  On my reciept it said pacifiers, training cup, bath puppet, so these items would have gone to the correct bin or location where the items were collected.  Next to the cashier station they did have a basket of items and she pulled three items out and then put them to the side.  It makes more sense now.  I told the lady I was thankful for their part in helping and that it was really nice of them to do that.  (After all I didn't want to sound all complaining about it, I did want to help but afterwards it just didn't make sense to me how I helped.)

Lauren's MC and Amber's Dance

"Molluscum Contagiosum (MC) is a relatively common viral infection of the skin that most often affects children. It results in firm bumps (papules) that are painless and usually disappear within a year without treatment. If the papules are scratched or injured, the infection can spread to surrounding skin.


Molluscum contagiosum spreads through direct person-to-person contact and through contact with contaminated objects. Because it spreads easily, doctors often recommend medical treatment, especially for adults." from MayoClinic.com    I also read that it is from the poxvirus family, which I thought was interesting.

Lauren had these weird big pimple looking things on her armpit.  I had looked at them and watched them for about a month or so before I finally took her to the doctor.  It was confirmed that she had MC.  Then of course my bad mothering skills reminded me how careless I have been... having the girls share towels after bath, bathing together... Lindsey and Lauren sharing clothes constantly... even a few time when Lauren had scratched open one of her bumps...  After reading more about it all, I was like, hmm, should have checked them out before this!  It will be a miracle if we don't all break out in these little bumps. 

Dr. scheduled an appointment to poke the little pumps taking out the white core (the contagious or active part I guess you could say) and then with scraping the skin where each bump is to scrape it off.  Sounds lovely doesn't it.  Poor Lauren, she did terrific.  A few times she was like, "OUCH!" but she was brave, didn't even cry.  They did numb her a bit an hour before the procedure with a topic cream.  Dr. did say that hers where bigger than they normally see. 

Now we wait 3 weeks and hope they got them all, and if not, do the process again for any that were left behind. 

This is what her poor armpit looks like all bandage up, it looks much better then it did before.  And she got these cute boots out of the whole deal.  She is in LOVE with her boots!

As I have mentioned before, Amber is taking dance which she loves...  sorry I forgot to turn the pics and I didn't feel like doing it tonight... maybe I will go back and do it another day. 

1st position

2nd position

3rd position

And this is the "whirly whirly scrirvy scrirvy twirly position"  I am wondering about the teachers creditials...  I have never heard of that position before, and not sure what type of dance that is at all.  It is pretty cute to watch her do it, it is more of a movement than a position really. 

(Just kidding about the teacher Karen, she is great!)

Did I just get scammed?

I went to the dollar store today to get some ear buds for Lauren so she could listen to my iPod while she was at the doctors having some molluscum contagiosum (MC) removed.  It was a 2 step process at the doctors and we were in the middle of the two steps.  I thought if she could listen to the music she would not be thinking so much of the needles and scraping that was going on. 

As I checked out at the dollar store the cashier asked, "would you like to make a donation to Haiti?"  I thought and decided I would.  After all if everyone that came through the doors donated a dollar, that would be great right!?  I told her I would like to donate, and she asked how much.  I told her $3.  All she did was take a few toys sitting by the cash register and scanned them and then took my money. 

Now I am not all that familiar with how the store runs, but I have worked many years in accounting to know a little something, several years in a retail store in bookkeeping/accounting.  As I was walking out of the store, I was thinking....  so how are they going to know how much of my purchase goes to Haiti when the sales say, "Teddy bear, socks, pacifier" nothing was rang up as a donation...  How are they going to know the difference between me not buying these things, but being rang up for these things... and what about the people that really do buy those things... are they just a donation too?  I am thinking it is poor bookkeeping/accounting or I just got scammed!

Then I started to get angry, and told Lauren, "That makes no sense...  how is my money going where it is suppose to be going, how are they going to account for that?  I think I just got scammed!"  Lauren looked at me funny and said, "what?" 

Perhaps I didn't ask the questions I should have and relied on the idea that everyone is as honest and I think I am.  Bummer for me I guess.  If I had more time, I would have gone back in there and talked to them more about it and want my money back even perhaps.  And... they charged tax on the donation...  it doesnt' make any sense to me.  I am still upset about the whole thing!

One big Pizza

Robert's not one to stay home all Saturday long.  He wants to get out of the house and do something or go somewhere.  I am more content staying home... after all dragging 5 kids out somewhere is not always fun.  The car ride alone can be horrible enough.  Then there is the money of it all, taking 5 kids to dinner or an activity like bowling gets pretty expensive.

This particular Saturday was no different than any other, Robert was stir crazy and wanted to get out of the house.  We ended up at Pirate Island Pizza.  (I think.)  It is a pirate themed place with arcades and fun atmosphere.  It was kind of fun.  The kids liked it.  They have a BIG pizza, I think it said it is a 24" pizza, they call it the Kracken.  We ordered that, half cheese and olives for the kids and half something else for the adults.  When the pizza came, it was big.  When we were ready to go, we asked for a box for the left over pizza. 

When they brought the box to the table, they set it down verticle by Robert's chair it was so big.  It was HUGE!  We were laughing at how big the box was.  Robert wanted a smaller box and thought we could for sure squeeze the left over peices into a smaller box.  As we opened the monstrous box to put the pizza in it, it took box of us to hold the box and put the pizza in.  We kept cracking up how gigantic the box was.  As if it wasn't bad enough to put the pizza in the box, it was worse to carry the box to the car.  It wasn't due to its weight but just the size. 

We kept laughing and joking (and the kids were in on it too) about how it might not fit in our car if we got two of them.  The girls kept teasing me that the box wasn't going to fit through the door.  It was pretty funny. 

When we got home, the girls wanted me to get a picture of it.  Of course the pizza box wouldn't even come close to fitting in our fridge, so I had to take out the slices and cut up the peices so they would fit in a gallon size bag for the fridge.

The girls and Robert holding the box open....

Lindsey carrying it by herself...

Amber fits in the box too!

And of course, when does Amber not pose when I take her picture, even when she is in a huge pizza box!

R.I.P. little rabbit

Emily's rabbit, Angel died yesterday morning. 

Emily was ready for school and went out to feed her rabbit.  I was waiting in the car for Emily, ready to take her to school.  She came back in the garage and put the food back in the bag and looked scared or something, she had a strange look on her face.  When Em got in the car she started crying when I asked her what was wrong.  She said Angle died.

Part of me wanted to lecture her...  it could have been because she was out of water or out of food, maybe she wasn't taken care of good enough.  But then seeing Em's little tears I thought, if that is the case that she was lacking care, Emily has already recieved a concequence for her actions or lack of actions.  After I dropped off Emily at school (who was still crying on and off) I went out to take care of the rabbit, I was hoping that maybe she was just almost dead and maybe there was something to help her come back, although that was surely not the case.  I noticed her heat lamp was off... maybe that was part of the problem.  Maybe she froze?  She was nearly 4 years old.

Angel was loved, the girls loved to take her out on put her on a leash to graze in our yard.  (Until we had the Japanese beetle problem in our area and had all the pesticides on our yard, then we couldn't let her out anymore.)  The girls missed taking her out.  We were excited about letting her out at our new home now that we had grass instead of mud for her.

When Angel got a new cage, it was big enough for the kids too.  She was loved!  She was a pretty good rabbit for the amount of attention she got.  She was pretty calm. 

Emily got the rabbit for her 6th birthday.  It was her birthday morning and I got the rabbit and brought it up to my room where she was sitting on my bed watching TV.  This is the video of it.  Emily is 6 and the twins are 4.  Angel will be missed.  Emily thinks maybe we should get a new rabbit or even a different pet, a guinea pig is what she thought this morning.  I really don't want a new pet right now though.

Amber's dance and my girls night

Amber started dance yesterday.  She had a great time.  I was worried that maybe she would be too young for the class (3-5yr old class) but I guess she did great.  She was all excited to go to dance, and loved getting her little outfit on.  When we got home she kept her outfit on, took a nap in it and I finally changed her around 5 because we were eating out.  Silly girl.  She questioned me....  "why can't I keep it on?  Can I just keep my tights on then?" 

This is before we left to go to dance.

Yesterday was one of my friend's birthday.  She was having a girls night for her birthday.  I thought that was a really great idea.  Her neighbor has a daughter with a birthday on the same day too, so we all got together for food and a movie. 

Unfortunatly the movie that we picked out wasn't such a great movie, so then we stopped that one and tried another one.  The second one was better but still had quite a bit of language in it.  I wish they would keep some of the garbage out of movies so they wouldn't make you all uncomfortable watching them... especially when there are people half naked groping each other.  Why don't they just lead up to that, and then go to the next scene... I am sure people would catch on to the idea of what happened.  Does it really matter who said what or their exact position in the matter that we have to WITNESS it all and be so involved that way?  I don't like the funny uncomfortable feeling when those scenes are taking place...  I am guessing many people don't really watch them either if they feel as akward as I do.  Oh wait, this wasn't suppose to be a movie review, this was about my late night!

So.....  after the movie, we hung out and talked and had some dessert.  At this time it was just 5 of us ladies, and we talked and talked.  I got home at 3am.  When I got home, I went to check on the girls, I covered Samantha up and kissed Lauren, I went to Lindsey and Amber's room, and their beds where empty.  I looked in Emily's room, she was fast asleep.  I went to my room and there is Lindsey, Amber, and Robert all sleeping in the bed.  I had to carry Lindsey back to her bed and put Amber into her make shift bed on our floor. 

When Samantha was crying at 6 this morning... I wasn't sure if I had even fallen asleep yet, it didn't feel like it anyway.  I did have a good time.  It was just what I needed.  Thanks to great neighbors!!

It is Samantha's nap time... I am going to see about getting a nap myself.  Hope it really works.

Is it worth exercising?

I have been trying to be really good and get some exercise in EVERYDAY except for Sundays.  I have been doing really good this last couple weeks.  Then yesterday I was wondering if it is even worth it....

I put Samantha down for her nap, I got my exercise grubs on... put in my DVD that I have been working with.  I put a episode of Charlie and Lola on TV for Amber down stairs and I get to my workout. 

I hear lots of funny noises downstairs... sounds like a chair fell or a stool maybe...  I keep working out listening for signs of distress from Amber.  She is quiet, I keep on sweating...

Amber comes up to help me do my "exercise game" as she calls it.  She always has to take my weights and wants to use them.  I finish up, and am just doing the stretches and notice Amber has something yucky in her hair. 

I ask her what is in her hair.  She tells me nothing.  I tell her she has something in her hair and ask if it is yogurt (but then I remember we don't have any yogurt right now).  She replies, "oh, it's butter, I was making cinnamon toast, and it is really good!"  I ponder that for the rest of my stretches and remember I don't have bread and sent the girls to school with money to buy school lunches because of it. 

I turn off my DVD, I go downstairs. 

This is what I find....

This would be our little dish of cinnamon and sugar mixture for cinnamon toast, and ALL of the butter in the dish.  Not pictured is the butter covered drawer handles, oven handle, stool coated in a nice greasy layer of butter. 

Amber went on to tell me how she was mixing up the cinnamon for toast... and how good it was. 

She also during my workout managed to spread the cat food all over... on the couches, in the bathroom, in the entry way, all over the kitchen floor, the dinning room floor, and the family room carpet.  Last night when I was getting Samantha back into her pajamas, she had cat food in one foot of them. 

Amber also dumped out Lindsey's money (all coins) and spread it around on the carpet too.  That was the least of the messes.  I then wonder, is this all worth exercising for? 

New Old Clothes

Recently, it has seemed like Amber had NO clothes.  I couldn't see how this could even be possible since she is the 4th girl.  We had twins too, so how in the world could she NOT have clothes if there were enough clothes to put on two girls at the same time?  I was down to like 4 pants and 8 shirts, but not anything really that matched.  If felt like Amber was wearing the same thing over and over again. 

For Christmas she got some clothes, and then I realized she just needed to go up a size and finally be in 3T clothes.  I went to the basement to get her new clothes... which are really old clothes just from the other girls. 

What fun it was to go through the clothes and as I would pick up a dress I would think of how this dress use to be my sister's girl's dress that they handed down to Emily and now Amber gets to wear it.  As I pull out each piece I see each girl in it... when my neices wore it (if that is where it came from), or Emily in it, then Lindsey and Lauren... and next I will see Amber in them.  I love it!  I love going through the clothes buckets I have for that very reason.  Looking back in the last 8 years or so at least.

Here is a picture of Lindsey and Lauren with Emily.  These clothes that the twins are wearing are ones that I just pulled out.  They are 2 1/2 here in this photo and Em is almost 5. (You can't tell but Lindsey is also wearing a pair of womens high heels, I guess they go good with her lipstick that she put on herself.)

Then I pulled out a pair of pink pajama bottoms... I noticed they had reddish pink stuff on them.  Then I immediately remembered where it came from and busted out laughing. 

Then this is the memory that went through my mind....

We went to Pony Poop Farm for a visit.  The girls rode horses and played with cousins.  It is quite normal for me to stay up really late with my mom, so late that the next morning is unpleasant when the little ones wake up early.  My mom and I were up late as usual talking, we heard Lindsey crying....  I went to see what was wrong. 

Lindsey was asleep in her bed but I was confused by what I saw on her face... was she hurt, who did this and what is it?

Lindsey got up out of bed, got into my lipstick, and put a bit on.  If you noticed the picture above, she used my lipstick then too, but not as much as she did after she went to bed.

I had to wake her up so I could clean her up.  I had her walk down the hall to go show my mom... my mom was just cracking up.  I was trying not to laugh.  We spent the next little while cleaning her up and giving her a bath... in the middle of the night.

She was covered, it was up one leg past her knee, it was on her back, all over her face and hands, up one arm...  all over her belly.  It was a mess!  She still had a RED glow to her after we were done trying to clean her up.  We couldn't get it all off her skin, and not even close to getting it out of her hair line. 

Later I noticed where she must have taken my lipstick....

She came into this room (not the one she was sleeping in) and wrote on the wall and the mirror.  She probably used the mirror to make sure she was putting the lipstick on correctly.  After all that she went back to bed. 

So the pink pajama bottoms still look like they do in the picture above, with big red marks on them.  At first I was wondering why I would have kept stained clothes, but then after I went through my memory of that night with my mom and Lindsey, I was glad that I kept those stained up pajamas.  I may never want to throw out those pink pajamas. 

I surely do love looking through my containers of old clothes from all the other girls and going through the memories that go with them like this one. 

Sledding at our house

Last year Samantha wasn't really old enough to go sledding.  Or not old enough that she enjoyed sledding anyway.  She was amazed by the snow and liked to hold it for a few minutes but didn't really want much more than that.  This year, she is old enough that she sees the older girls go and and she KNOWS she is missing something.  She keeps asking to go outside when the girls get their snow stuff on.  I finally decided we should let Samantha take her turn and see if she likes it or not.

She got all dressed and was very excited.

Amber was glad to go out too.  She likes to sled, as long as it isn't too scary.

Samantha was thinking it was all good, didn't even matter what sled she had.

I think the older girls had more fun towing the little ones around.  They even fought over whose turn it was to pull the sled around the house.

Amber was having a hard time keeping her gloves on, she kept taking them off and then would cry because her hands were cold.  I tried to explain to her she needed to keep her gloves on, but everytime I turned around, her gloves where off again.

The big girls sled down the side of the driveway.  It isn't a real steep hill, but it is a bit of a slant. 

As a family one Saturday we went to the place where Emily sled on her face last year.  No harm was done this time.  Samantha was wild about going down, I don't think Amber went down once.  I went down with some of the bigger girls too.  The hill was big but not as big as the other side of the hill where some were snowboarding down or the side with the jumps on it.  Lauren got so she would just go, Emily wanted to make sure she was okay to go and Lindsey walked her sled halfway down the hill to sled just half the hill and wanted Robert to be at the bottom to catch her.

We would have stayed longer but Samantha was ready for a nap and I am sure she was cold too.  Amber wanted to go play on the playground there.  We decided to just head home. 

Amber's penguin dance

Amber is so funny. She is always doing funny things. One day she was breaking up new crayons from a art board she got from Christmas. I asked her why she was breaking them. "Because I only had a few crayons, and I wanted more. When I break them up, it makes more crayons." I guess she does have a point.

This video was taken on a Sunday, she just came out dancing like this, her own idea, she put the gloves on herself. She then started singing... "waddle, waddle, waddle, paddle, paddle paddle,... walking like a penguin"




You have to see her WHOLE costume...

Christmas 2009

As Christmas came around, I didn't really feel like I normally do.  It seems like the whole spirit was missing for me.  (Mostly my own fault)  I was so busy and distracted with so many things that I didn't feel the real meaning, the spiritual side of it all.  I feel really bad about it, and hope next year is different. 

A few weeks after Christmas I still had a stack of neighbor gifts on my counter, and my visiting teacher gifts to give out too.  I feel like such a slacker!  I had a handful of crafts/projects I was working on for Christmas gifts for my family that I never did finish.  (Still haven't)

Chirstmas still came, and we still enjoyed it.  Next year I will need to start my projects earlier or limit them to just a few. 

Amber right as we got down to open presents.

Lauren excited about a paper bead kit.

Emily happy about the rock tumbler Santa brought.

Amber said, "Santa brought me a rocket computer, I have always wanted a rocket computer!"

Turns out the hectic shopping trip to Target was worth it, Samantha took to her new blanket very well!

Lindsey can't wait to get catipillars for her new Butterfly Growing House.

Lindsey and Lauren got curtains and rods, decorative pillows for their beds, and I made a bedskirt for each of their beds too.  Emily made a huge haul of books that she got too.  Amber got drawing boards so maybe she won't need to color on my walls or tile floor.  Samantha got some books and clothes.  I think Amber and Samantha were the only ones that got toys for once!  I got handles for my kitchen cupboards and drawers.  I also got shelves for the little bathroom next to the laundry room.  Robert kind of got cheated, didn't get a whole lot of anything really... a golf Wii game, iTunes gift card, running shorts and socks.  It seems like he never gets anything good.  I am so bad at shopping for him, or maybe I am just too frugle and cheap.  As a family we got an iPod touch for the car since my tape deck and cd player doesn't work. 

I think Lindsey misunderstood what a bedskirt is for... she said her bedskirt fit good as she put it on.  Silly girl!

Chrismas Eve Masked Visitor

On Christmas Eve we went to some friends house for a party.  After we spent a wonderful evening with their family (parents and siblings of the Johnson family) we came home.  I still had tons of wrapping to do.  I was up until like 2am wrapping and finishing things.  I still didn't complete all the projects I wanted to, but I just gave up at about 1:30 and said forget it, I think this is good enough. 

As I was putting some cardboard away in the recycling container in the garage... our cat was going crazy meowing at me and all.  When I opened the door the cat let out this big HISS!  I thought it was just a neighbor cat in the garage he was upset about but when the what I thought was a cat looked up at me, it had a black mask around its eyes...  It was a big FAT racoon.  He stared at me for a few seconds and then walked back to the kitty door and escaped the same way he came in. 

I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it with my own eyes!  Then I was thinking about the garbage sack that was torn into a couple weeks prior to that, the kitty door that was broken, the cat food sack that was scratched through, no to mention the large amount of cat food we have gone through lately. 

I just hope the racoon isn't a she and decide to make a nice little home for some babies in our garage.  It is so messy in there I don't know that we would even notice her.  We have since seen little coon tracks in the snow to our garage kitty door.

We have moved the cat food inside the house but if the racoon can get in the garage kitty door, I am sure it is capable of getting into the house kitty door too.  Robert complained once that there was something LARGE in our kitchen when he came down in the middle of the night.  I told him he was just seeing things.  I am maybe not so sure now that he was maybe seeing things...   I would like to set up a camera to see what that little critter does in our garage (or house) all night. 

Church at 1PM

In 2009, we had church at 9am, which I must say isn't my favorite.  I would like to have more days to sleep in a little, although I do get to sleep in on Sundays still more than the weekdays with the girls catching the bus at 7:30. 

This year, in 2010, we now meet at 1pm.  I like that and don't like it.  I like that the kids can have a decent lunch before church unlike the 11am time.  It does seem so LATE when we get home at 4pm.  I do like that I don't have to worry about waking the kids up, they just do it naturally when they are ready to, and I think I can get Samantha to take a bit of an earlier nap before church so she will be happier.  9am church was hard on her for that, disturbing her nap time. 

This last Sunday, which was our first Sunday going at 1pm here... I was getting ready, resisting since I had a super killer head ache.  I didn't really want to go, Emily had thrown up during the night, and Lauren was complaining of a stomach ache...  Samantha still had a nose like a dripping or slow flow facet, a constant line down to her mouth and sometimes farther.  (yuck) 

Robert had gone to his meetings and I was trying to feel better, I even took a nap before church trying to sleep away my headache.  Didn't really work.  I wasn't prepared to face 12  six year old kids that possibly wouldn't be listening and that have a tendency to get out of control.  I didn't think my head could take it. 

It was almost time to go, we had decided Robert would stay home with the sick ones and I would take Lindsey and Amber to church.  Amber was going into Primary so she was excited and I was excited for her too.  (She did great by the way!)  I chase Amber down to get her some socks and shoes on again. I debate on taking another 800 mg for my head but decide to just ride it out.  We get into the car.

I call Robert to tell him the racoon had been in the garage again...  (story for later) and that it ate his cake.  I am still in the driveway just backing out and as I turned looking out the back side windows to pull out on to the street I notice, Amber has NAKED feet!  I was SO mad!  (That is such an understatement.)  We were already on the brink of being late and she took off her shoes and socks.  As we got to the building, with me talking to her and being angry about her shoes and socks the whole 2 blocks drive, I then have a hard time finding a parking spot.  I finally find one, in the farthest row out there.  I am searching and searching for her socks and her shoes.  I find a sock and both shoes, but then can't find the other sock.  There are probably a dozen socks in the car, but none are the matching to the one I have in my hand, and none of the others seem to even match each other either.  Amber giggles and points out where her missing sock is.  I  b-r-e-a-t-h  in slowly.  I am thinking, this is not funny, no part of this is funny, I am ready to snap!  I take one more deep breath and decide we are already late, that was obvious, so I need to pull myself together.  I try to calm myself down, push my head pain away and relax.  We finally go inside, find a few seats in the overflow of the overflow chairs.  Lindsey is by my side and Amber is on my lap. 

Turns out, that church was more than I remembered it being with 5 kids.  Maybe because not all 5 were there.  Amber fell asleep in my lap and Lindsey was content sitting next to me with my arm around her.  I even heard what was said during that first hour.  I can't remember the last time I heard everything and not just a piece of this and a piece of that.  It tuned out to be somewhat nice really.  I could even feel the spirit.  Something that I am ashamed to say I struggle with as I am saying, "I don't have gum... leave her alone....  trade me places.... I told you not to bring that....  put the book down....  those snacks are NOT for you... give it back to her...  don't draw on yourself...  where did you get that....  give that to me!" and other things like that to the girls.

On the other hand, Robert ended up cleaning up Lauren's vomit off the couch and floor.  I would say I felt sorry for him, but I didn't really feel sorry.  He said it was really gross and looked like she had liver for breakfast.  I secretly smiled, glad that he got a good one to clean up.  I think I have done my fair share of vomit duty.  I did have to do the throw up laundry though. 

Only about what... 51 more Sundays to go?