It's a wild world

Last week I found out after three interviews (including a test and a mock presentation) that I got a full-time job!!! If I haven't already felt like I lived in a zoo, I certainly will know what it is like to work in one! I'll be the one who gets to give presentations to kids, and I'll also do some zookeeping and maintenance duties as well. I'm really excited for this because it combines my passion for teaching kids and love for science and animals. I'll be starting in just over a week!!!

Girlie Girl

Yup, it's official, my Punkie is a Girlie Girl. Now don't get me wrong--I've known this since she was big enough to show her dainty personality and love for anything "girly." And I noticed it as she insists upon pink EVERYTHING. But her graceful prancing and dancing across the floor is somewhat tempered by her disregard for having her hair done too often (albeit she does sometimes sit rather still for it) and her occasional potty humor--a trait her bigger brother shows way too much. But today, when I was reading to my Kindergartener, she slipped off my lap and disappeared upstairs. This didn't alarm me as she often goes to her room to play, but about 5 minutes later, after I call up to her to see if she is okay (and she said yes), she arrives downstairs carrying the roll-on perfume I put on her on rare occasions. Not a big deal. The fingernail polish dried on her cheeks like blush, as well as the back of her hands, did cause me some concern. Not as much as it would have if it had been a darker color (it was rather light, but is the kind that goes a different, darker color in the sunlight). I borrowed some remover from a friend (can't find mine), and cleaned her up as she simulateously wiped my face with remover too. I guess the moral of the story is that if I have to have a girlie girl, I may as well teach her how to put on makeup the right way.

Is this obselete?

So I haven't written because facebook keeps me informed (in one sentence increments) on what's going on with multiple people. I don't know in depth, but just the surface stuff. So does that mean that nobody will check blogs anymore? Or is that just me? I noticed I don't write very much at all (mostly because it's not as private--more people see my facebook--and because I don't want to force them to see the mundane things I come up with for my blog--whereas you're reading this by choice). The bad thing about facebook, there are some things I don't care to have on my wall, too many people play games that show everyone else what score they got/who they're most like/etc., and you only get a glimpse of what is going on in a person's head. Not even that, sometimes just what they're doing: "...going to the beach." And that's all. No offense to people who do the above things, but I have to sort through it to get to what I think is important. I had to hide a "friend" I belonged to called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints because I was getting about three posts a day, none of which I ever had time to read in full--let alone the multiple comments after. Oh well. I'm rather curious though--is anyone reading this?

Long time, no...write

So I've been busy for awhile. I've been canning (does that mean I'm becoming domesticated?) peaches and veggies. Tonight we (okay, most of the work my hubby did) canned peach-orange jam. Should be good. On the 7th my hubby and I celebrated our 11th anniversary. We started out by grabbing Micky D's food for breakfast on the way to taking Red to the doctor. He has been going to the bathroom WAY too frequently (every few minutes) for the last 2 1/2 weeks. When I clocked him going 3 times in 6 minutes we knew that he should be seen. His urinanalysis was normal, so we're just giving him a smooth muscle relaxer and are trying to get him to wait for an hour between restroom visits. I'm lucky if it's 30 minutes. He did wait an hour a couple of times today (I think). Anyway, I'm trying to cure him before school starts in a couple of weeks (two weeks from today for Chief!). We didn't get to hang out much in the afternoon of our anniversary, but thanks to my family we got to go out to the Cheesecake factory for dinner. Very sadly, Chief started to get very sick right after we left him (we had no idea he would be--sorry again Mom and Sis!), but they didn't call us to come back, so we did have a great time. FYI--if you like butterfinger and/or chocolate-peanut butter, then Adam's chocolate-peanut butter cup fudge ripple cheesecake is VERY good. Very rich too though, so take it to go and only eat a couple of bites at a time. The next day I got to see my nephew baptized (way to go buddy!), which was way fun--'cause I hung out with my family after and they took me to get a bento box from Jasmine's (sooooo good!). And yesterday we went to Lagoon, thanks to my other Mom and Dad, and we had a great time. We went to Lagoon-a-beach first. Within 5 minutes I had scraped my hand, so I had to lay out in the sun without kids and stay out of the freezing-cold pool for awhile...shucks. Anyway, I did go and play with bandaids on, trying to keep my hand as dry as possible. Then we divided and conquered with the kids. Mom took Punkie to the little kid rides, Chief and hubby went to young kid rides, and Chief and I went on the young-older kid rides. We met up and switched a bit. Kind-of like musical-kids. So now here I am, taking a short breath before running off again. But definately looking forward to seeing my sis and her family soon!

Angels and Demons

No, I'm not reading a book by Dan Brown. I'm just reflecting on bringing up children and how they can switch personalities during the day. I can definately tell it's summer based upon their behavior. The boys are trying to bother each other--just for the fun of it. Yesterday brought quite the learning lesson with it for all of us. My hubby and I were downstairs in the kitchen when we heard Chief coughing and gagging. When asked what was wrong all I could understand from him was the word "mouth." I thought he must be unconscious when I first saw him--he was lying at the top of the stairs not moving. Then as we got closer, my hubby asked what happened again and Chief sprang up, led us to our bedroom, and showed us a small black canister he had apparently been playing with. Pepper spray. We shooed the kids (yep, the younger two were there too) out of the room and gave them milk to drink (milk is better than water at attempting to relieve symptoms borne from pepper spray contact). I tried airing out the upstairs rooms--particularly my own. Just from walking into the room, my hubby and I were gagging and coughing too. Not fun. Lesson for parents: don't assume that placing your personal items under piles of stuff on the dresser is a good way to hide them. Lesson for kids: don't play with stuff on your parent's dresser and don't press a button just because it says "press."
Later that day the Angel showed up in Chief. He gave a particularly enthusastic "pep talk" of why we should be 'faithful, and courageous' like the stripling warriors--willing to fight for what's right. He was very passionately into his speech, it was great! He also had us do the "love seat" again. Each member of the family got a chance to sit in the chair (love sac), be cheered for and then the other members take the opportunity to singularly tell them one compliment--one thing they love about that person. The kids just light up when it's their turn and they love to come up with things about everyone else too.

An innocent blunder

What started as a simple request led to a disastrous frenzy, leaving only destruction and visible tumult in its wake. The other day my hubby said he'd like me to take a chainsaw to the thick forest protruding from the top of his head. I've only done this once previously, about three years ago. After 1 1/2 hours, I think I did a fine job. But my hubby never did request me to cut his hair again--until now. However, the other night did not give the same results. I suppose it was because I didn't watch the hair-cutting video this time, or because I was impatient, or that I am not a perfectionist and it showed that night. Whatever the reason, at least hair grows out. I wish this were the end of the tale, but it's not. As I said, a frenzy ensued. Once my hubby was out of town (to camp with the scouts), he was unable to stop me from turning the razor and scissors on the remaining defenseless children. I couldn't help myself. First Chief fell under the blade, left with one side of his head botched when I tried to blend. Then Punkie, excited to have her first haircut, started cutting her hair with scissors. Luckily, not too much was cut, and I didn't cut more than 1 1/2 inches straight across the back. You might say she was the most unscathed of the three children. And Red was my last victim. I don't want to talk about what happened to him, it's too unbalanced. At least I had the good sense to put away the weapons before I turned them on myself.

Cub Scout Camp pics

Red left a day early with his Dad to prepare our camping expedition this weekend. He called and left a message on the phone that he forgot his emergency pack. My boys tend to pack backpacks with "emergency" supplies, just in case. So I checked out his latest pack: 4 trail mix bars, 1 gatorade bottle, jazz basketball, dinosaur toy, binoculars, 2 baseball caps, and 1 leggo toy.

At least if there is an emergency, we'll have some fun.

Here's a few pics from Chief's day camp last week:

How much fun is that?!?!