I think that Eco-terrorists are now authors

McKay came home from school and showed me her science test today. She missed a few questions, so I looked over them. I found the following question:

17. Burning fossil fuels in cars and factories--

A) puts oxygen into the air.
B) puts nitrogen into the air.
C) upsets the balance of the nitrogen cycle.
D) upsets the balance of the carbon dioxide - oxygen cycle.

The correct answer was D. I find the word choice rather interesting. Yes burning fossil fuels changes the O2 CO2 cycle but do they really need to personify the cycle by saying that it is "Upset"? As though by burning carbon we are killing the cycle. I am all for being green but I am not big on this kind of indoctrination disguised as a science book.

Are you ever bothered by the lesson materials that your children study?

only for the strong in stomach

Afternoon church always throws me off. It's hard to get lunch in because you are also trying to get everyone ready. By the time you come home, everyone is starving. Sunday nights are usually leftovers. Yesterday was no exception. (Kirsten finally asked yesterday, "What happen to Sunday dinners and why is it always leftovers?") Everyone chose their own meal, but McKay took it an extra creative level. She wanted some of her favorite foods. Her concoction was chili with pickles and soggy tortilla chips. I'm just glad none of the other kids thought this was the cool thing to do.

And now, with my turn of being sick and battling the stomach flu today, this is the most unpleasing picture I can think of and it makes my stomach churn that much more.

Is there any other weird combos out their that you or you kids like?

Red head

It had been over 6 months that I had a hair cut or my hair dyed. I think that's been a record. Plus, I was starting to notice more gray than I wanted to. Just a little bit here and there but still, I'm under 30. So last week, I went red with a little bit of blonde.

No pain, no brain

I played volleyball last week and I broke a blood vessel in my wrist. It didn't hurt and I don't know when I did it. By chance, I looked down and noticed a egg shaped bubble coming out of my wrist that was as blue as a robin's egg. Since it didn't hurt, I kept playing. It's my one day a week to have a couple hours of alone time and take it out on a ball. It didn't hurt until a couple hours after I stopped playing and then it was only a night of pain, so no big deal.

Five days later, it still looks like this. The bruise is going down at this point. Like I said, it's pain free. So tonight it's back to playing.

Invention Convention

Happy Friday the 13th!Yesterday McKay had her annual GATE Invention Convention. Her creative mind led her to invent razors and other bathroom toiletries that had magnets built into them so they would stick to shaving cream cans, mirrors, metal shelves, etc. With magnets you can never go wrong; they are just too much fun.

mermory lapse

A year ago today we were here in sunny California staying with Harry and Dawn and playing with the cousins. Our trip was only going to be three or four days but neither one of us wanted to go home. Finally after being there a week and knowing the kids couldn't miss anymore school we had to literally force ourselves to leave and go home. I loved being able to go across the street to the park everyday to let the children play. And now, one year later, it's snowing outside and it's still piled sky high, I wish we were there again, at LEAST for a week.

I never said it was good for you. I only said it was good.

Jake has gotten in the snack mode of mixed nuts. Last night we were discussing the "ultimate" nut mix. We decided there were just too many peanuts in the can. Even when they say, "less than 50% peanuts," 49% is still too many. They end up being the last 1/4 of the can and get thrown away. So my weekly trip to WalMart included a few extra snacks.

Here is the new concoction: cashews, almonds, macadamias, pecans, pistachios, yogurt covered raisins, plain m&m's and peanut m&m's. I think this is a good start.

One bear = One visit

Every bear on this bed equals one visit to the hospital. Whether it being a surgical or an emergency room visit. Katanya has the far right five. Yep, five. She's the leader. This doesn't count the visit to the ER when we were in Utah and ended up at Primary Children's. The lone yellow one is Kirsten's tonsillectomy. The most recent is Cruz's brown bear. He got this last Friday when he went under surgery to have......

(drum roll).......

9 cavities filled. Yes nine, my other three girls had perfect checkups but he was the unlucky one. They feared with him being so young that they would never be able to do them all without traumatizing him. He was as sweet as the come and all the nurses loved him. Recovery was fast!

Come to think of it, Cruz should technically have two bears. He had an ER visit in December of '06 when he tripped and fell against the only real wooden door in the house. Jake had been working for a neurologist at the time and he advised us, "if it was his son, he would do this." So Cruz had a CT scan done to make sure everything was okay, which it was. He missed out and didn't get a bear.

NOW, if you could only imagine how much these bears really cost.

Daughter and Son Like Father

We all know how Cruz is a spitting image of Jake. His looks, his face, right down to his smile. Yes, somehow dad's smile has been the way to go and Cruz has made it his own too. Yesterday, Jake was having me take his face shots and I told him to smile. He said, "tell me how." I've never had to instruct anybody on smiling so it was actually a difficult thing to teach. I think this is where Pete comes in. He could always get Jake to smile.

Anyway back to Cruz, I wouldn't give this up for anything.

Now onto the daughter. This one is the one that acts like Jake. She is my counter in every way. How many candies, how many minutes on the computer, especially how many pictures on the blog. We have had many sit down talks how the world isn't fair and not everything is the same, but we try to make everything equal. She is not afraid to express her opinion and what she wants. She is also very independent and stubborn. To make her happy all you have to do is let her pick her own clothes and do her own hair for school. I've bitten my lip many of times when she does her hair, but it expresses herself and I have to let her have some of the control too.Her hair is so thick and full that I love it in rollers. There are some days that I step forward and do her hair for school and church. And almost every time she isn't happy about this. I do miss her hair and how long it used to be. Many times I wished I hadn't gotten it cut. She took her ponytail for show and tell last week and it brought back all the memories.

I wouldn't trade this for anything either.

i just saved....

....over $1600 a year by not switching to Geico. Actually I shopped around lately for our farm and auto insurance policies because I wasn't pleased with the customer satisfaction (nor the price) we were getting from our current one. When the price came back, it was just to sweet we couldn't say no. So when I went in today to cancel the current policy, my adjuster couldn't even get out of his office or say hi. I guess we were only friends when he was getting my money. So long!

knock knock -part II-

After a trip to the library for some joke books and listening to a couple of songs on Kids Stuff the kids were starting to improve. You know it's serious when Jake cracks a book at dinner time to start the knock knock jokes. So here's to the kids and the endless car rides to come; filled with knock knock jokes. (Sorry ahead of time about the video. I was driving and I was going for the sound.)

knock knock? -part I-

Knock Knock? Who's There? Boo! Boo who? You don't have to cry about it. It's just a joke.

This is where it all started. Lately at our house or in the car the kids love to tell knock knock jokes. When it first started it was very hard after five or ten minutes to keep going with the kids because the jokes were so silly. I took this take a little over a month ago when they first started this routine.

To be contiuned....

practice makes perfect

We've become some of those parents.McKay normally does really well at practicing but last week she was lagging and not very motivated. Three days after her lesson and realizing she hadn't practiced at all, the words finally came out of our mouths. "McKay, you need to practice. No games or TV until it's done. All 20 minutes." I am sure of those of you related to Jake, you will be amazed that he has told McKay this plenty of times too. I guess when you get older, you can change your mind about practicing. Although....

....even with a little reminding, for the month she has been learning, she is doing a great job!

A little reminder

Katanya is now 2 1/2 years old. Jake is just now learning how to spell her full name - correctly. He's blaming me that I filled out the birth certificate without him and there was no way he would have ever spelled her middle names that way. I didn't think I would ever be that ignorant. So I did my homework.

(Story leading up to the event)

Our neighbor came over the night before Katanya had her nose cauterized to help administer with a blessing. Jake wrote down her name because he was having a hard time keeping them in order. After the blessing, I glanced at the paper and asked Jake where he had learned to spell Katanya's names? This is where he blamed me.

So tonight, he was fixing his facebook photos, and asked me again how we spelled her names. I just want to clear myself and please click here where I am putting in this little insert. Even though my name is showing as the author, Jake posted this while I was still in the hospital. This was before I filled out the birth certificate. So I know he had spelled it correctly at least once.