So many things ...

have happened since my last post on the 10th (I can't believe it has been that long!). I have so much to post but there is just not enough time nor would it be the best use of my time to post it in detail so here is a glimpse of the last two weeks....

1. We received a call that my grandmother was in the hospital and was not doing well. Since the hubby was on leave we loaded up the van and drove 26 hours to Nebraska to see grandma for what may be the last time. Super Mommy was impressed with her Hubby's ability to daddy-task while driving and deemed him qualified for Super Daddy status. We pulled the kids out of school for an entire week...ahhh that is a whole different story.

2. On our last night in Nebraska Moe ended up in the ER. He had to get a breathing treatment, poor lil' guy.

3. The next day we went to Iowa to see my FIL one more day before heading back to the coast. While we were there our oldest boy was involved in a 4 wheeler accident and ...yep had to get 7 stitches in his lip. 2 states, 2 ER's, 2 boys.

4. Before we left for the ER "K" was trying to talk his way out of it saying that we could just slap a bandage on it and call it good. My FIL said that sometimes we just need to do things to make moms happy and going to see the DR was going to make his mom (me) happy. "K" replied "But I thought that if I was happy she was happy, and I AM NOT HAPPY!"

5. Then at the the E.R. he asked the DR if he really needed stitches and the DR said yes that he really did need them. He tried to explain what the scar would be like and how the healing would go if he didn't get stitches and "K" my sweet spiritual son said with tears in his eyes "That doesn't' matter the only thing that matters is that I live righteously"

6. While in Kentucky the lady working at McD's referred to Moe as Lil' Bit and now my lovable hubby can't resist calling him Lil' Bit. Now the poor kid gets called Moe and Lil' Bit, neither of which are his real name.

7. My oldest started Homeschooling when we returned home from our Nebraska trip and WOW is it off to a great start! He even said that his math made more sense doing it the way I was showing him. I was thrilled as I expected a lot of resistance to my methods. We started out slow last week and will be doing a bit more each day this week. I may need a new printer for our computer by the end of the school year, I think I may wear this one out....LOL

8. We had to talk in Church today, just for that fact alone you know that something bad had to happen....yep it was a puke fest at our house last night and this morning. But we were still there "K" sat in the foyer and waited for us to be done with our talks so that the sick ones could go home. That left only me and "Biene" (pronounced Beena). The other 4 including "no time to get sick Dad" all headed home.

9. Not only did I have to talk in Sacrament meeting today but when we got to Church I realized that I was the only Primary leader there. Not just the only one in the Presidency but the only adult period! Not even one teacher was there. UGGGHHHH! Good thing I was prepared with a great sharing time and singing time. I thankfully found two wonderful ladies to teach (we only have 12 kids and 2 of mine were at home sick). We managed, but wow, there were a few stressful moments.

10. Now I am home and looking ahead to the next week, the puppies are going in to be "fixed" and my MIL is moving in. At least Homeschooling is going well thus far and I have the lessons for the week all printed out and ready to go. Should be yet one more typically busy week.

Homeschooling Help...PLEASE

We are pulling our 9 year old out of public school to homeschool him. I have been online checking out site after site trying to decide which math program to use. I think I have decided to use the Saxon program. We went to the site to night to have him take a placement test and according to the placement test he should be in the 76 book. Fine but that is for 6th graders! He is only in 4th grade and frankly struggles big time in math. One of the big reasons I am pulling him out of public school is to get him caught up in math. He uses really weird methods to come up with answers and relies WAY TOO much on his fingers. Then there is the dot method which I CAN NOT stand. The poor kid is a military child and has been in 4 different schools and has learned 4 from 4 different methods, it is no wonder to me that he is confused.

Should I buy the Saxon books for 4th grade or should I buy the one that according to the placement test he should be in. Is Saxon typically at grade level or is it a bit behind?

Any advice would be SO appreciated.

Halloween Candy GALORE!

So this year we went to the Church and participated in Trunk or Treat. The kids had great fun playing games inside while the adults chatted and ate dinner. There was dinner for the kids too but with all the games none of them wanted to eat. Then after an hour or so the adults headed out to the parking lot and stood next to their decorated trunks and waited for the parade of kids in costumes to begin. We are not in a large ward, in fact we are in a small branch and there are only 12 kids in our primary. We did invite the members of the ward we share the building with but since they had already had their trunk or treat earlier in the week only a handful of their members came. That being said I was AMAZED when my kids made it back to our truck barely able to hold their LOADED bags of candy.

When we got home they wanted to weigh their bag to see who had the most candy. I pulled out the scale and one by one they were weighed with and without their candy to find the weight of their bags o' cavities. Are you ready for this......16.2 pounds of candy!!!!! That is right each of them came home with over 5 pounds of candy! Well all except Moe, he is only 14 months old so he hung out with me handing out the candy.

What in the world do you do with 16 pounds of candy? I combined it and sorted it into piles then put it in bags for our food storage. I have kept out one bag and am rationing it out. There is no need to have that much candy just sitting around. Good grief that is a lot of candy!

I am also using the candy to get my kids to remember to turn off lights in the house when they leave a room! It drives me nuts when I have to walk around the house turning off lights that everyone has left on. So now I have told them that for every light I have to turn off they lose a piece of candy. They were horrified, by the thought of losing any candy. We shall see how this works but so far so good.

Oh and for some reason my spell check and post preview have vanished so I apologize for any errors you have had to endure *grin*

Friday Fumbles

Do you ever wake up and think wow what a great day? I did this morning and wow, how wrong could I have been.

I said that to myself before I actually looked at the clock.
Crud only 40 min to get 4 kids fed and 3 of them ready for school
No problem I can do this, I've done it many times before.
Ha, the odds were against me this morning.

I suddenly realized that 2 of my kids had to dress up like their favorite book character, and yes I knew this for two weeks but frankly I had other issues on my mind...something to do with ships and scouts.

Quickly I had to transform my 7 yr old into Junie B Jones from her favorite book in the series Junie B. Jones Loves Handsome Warren . This was not too hard because Junie never seems to match and we could do that no problem! Daughter #1 done, taken care of.

Now daughter #2 is just in Kindergarten. So when I asked her to go and grab her favorite book she just said she would be Junie like her big sis. Ummm not going to work since you just learned how to spell "THE" two days ago. I think your teacher might catch on that something is up. So I asked her once again to grab her very very favorite book and bring it to me. It needed to go to school with her so she might as well go and find it. You will not believe what she brought me...are you ready... Hey Diddle, Diddle...

Now I have to figure out how to make her one of the characters from that book. Now looking at the clock I realize I have 10 minutes to do this....NOT POSSIBLE! Well that is what I thought but I actually managed, with a bit of computer help. I got online real quick and looked up moon clipart and cow clipart. I then cut out the picture of the moon slapped it in the middle of some contact paper and pinned it to her yellow shirt.
"Tu-duh you are the moon" I declared.
Then I did the same with the cow except I fastened him to her headband with pipe cleaner and so now she was the Cow jumping over the moon.

I looked at the clock qucik grabbed the bookmarks I made last night (until 1am!)for the goody bags the girls were going to be getting at the big character party this afternoon. Grabbed Moe who was mid-bite with a spoon of oatmeal. Yes I know not the morning to let your 14 month old feed himself oatmeal, but he loves it. And out the door we went...well almost. My son all of the sudden remembered that it was PICTURE DAY at his school! UGHHHH his hair wasn't picture ready and his shirt well....

"Quick go change and fix your hair a bit more, please" I said with a tone of defeat in my voice. We were so close to making it out the door on time.

5 minutes later and 3 minutes too late to catch the bus we headed down the road not to the bus stop but first to my son's school and then to the girls school.

Once we pulled into the girls school I realized that I was going to need to go in to deliver the bookmarks as the girls didn't know what room the parent volunteers were in and they were going to be late to their classes if they had to search them out. So I parked and in I went with Moe on my hip.

Did I mention that he was still covered in oatmeal? Oh well. Into the school we went oatmeal and all, dropped off the bookmarks said our hello's, and then out the door we went.

Once home I took a deep breath and was relieved that my morning madness was OVER! There is still a chance for it to be a great day but it sure did start off a bit chaotic.

Halloween Fun

Steady...Steady.....Ahhhh I said DON'T DROP ME!

Making your own coustume can be lots of fun!

Can you tell that he is riding on someones shoulders? Well not really but that is the look we were going for. Did we pull it off?

Super Mom and the Cub Scouts

Last night Super Mom ventured into the unknown world of Rain gutter Regattas with her Bear Cub. What an adventure this has been. Since Super Dad (the real super hero) is in the military and is not around as much as we would love him to be, Super Mom has had to step in and learn all she can about the science of pinewood derbys and now rain gutter regattas.

Having had two years of practice runs (that is what we refer to them as) with the pinewood derby Super Mom and her cub were shocked and nervous when handed the familiar black box and discovered not a car kit but....a boat kit???? What in the world are we supposed to do with this? Thank goodness for directions!

Super Mom and her Cub carefully set everything out and read the directions. Ah but something was missing....the mast. Crud, Super mom is sick beyond sick, can hardly breathe out her nostrils and now she has to drive to the town over to find the Scout Shop she was told existed there. Hold the phone Batman this is Super Mom you are talking about. There has to be a better solution....right? Super Mom had to go shopping for groceries and noticed the craft store across the street, ya know the one with the great coupons in the Sunday paper. So she ventures in knowing in advance the cash in her purse is for groceries NOT crafts (bummer). For 30 minutes she searched the aisles. Finally in the aisle she had already gone up and down 2 times she found it! There it was in a clear plastic bag....a DIY boat kit complete with mast...Yee-haw! Too bad it was too short.

Super Mom had her cub get busy with the sanding and the painting and she supervised from a distance. It is always dangerous to let Super Mom get too close in these things as she tends to want to take control.

Now the paint was dry but there was still the issue of the mast. The next day Super Mom still feeling under the weather drove to the next town over and hit the local Wal-mart looking for many things including an 1/8" dowel rod. Whoo-hoo they had everything she needed even the dowel rod.

With her cape seemingly flowing behind her she raced home to cut the mast to the correct length. The amazed cub arrived home so loving his Super Mom at that moment. He trimmed the sail, put on some stickers and attached it to the mast. Super Mom was amazed too, she was amazed at the thought her handsome cub put into picking the numbers for his sail. He had chosen to put 06 on the sail for the year 2006. Super Mom would have probably just put down some random numbers without any thought. Next it was time to pose for the pictures and off we went to the Regatta and pack meeting.

Well the Regatta went well but never let it be said that Super Mom has a heart of stone because it tore her heart in two to watch her son so proud of his ship not finish first in any of the heats. He was the one and only cub to not win at least one heat. She held back the tears so as not to let on to her cub that she was sad. Instead she continued to cheer him on and tell him what a great job he was doing. He was doing a great job and she was so proud of him. He lost each race by seconds, literally one extra breath of air could have meant sailing to the finish first. He never let on that he was sad about his losses and was a Super Sport. He congratulated all the other cubs, even the ones who had just beat him. He laughed when everyone was laughing and never had a sad or mad look on his face.

Super Mom knows this cub of hers so well and knows what great restraint that took on his part and let's just say after all the babes were tucked in bed and the lights went out a tear or two were shed for this not so tiny cub, some of sadness for his losses and some of joy for the young man he is becoming.

Sometimes it is hard not to giggle...

when you are walking past another mom who is trying to discipline her kids in the store. Today I was shopping with Moe for various things and as we were walking by NOT through the toy isle I overhear a mom saying

"your behavior is outrageous"

Her cute little blond 3'ish daughter replies in a sweet little voice

"I'm not enrageous mom"

I had to pick up the pace a bit and turn the corner quick so no one saw my smile. It was just too cute. Well to me, I am sure her mom may not have seen the humor right at that moment. I am not sure what she did before that moment to make her mom upset but at that moment I couldn't see the naughty side of her at all.

Love those cute kids!

Super Mommy's Green Kryptonite

Sorry for being MIA but the Mighty Minni's have found Super Mommy's weak spot and flooded the room with this "kryptonite" (aka GERMS). Those smart little Mighty Minni's figured that if they couldn't stop Super Mommy that they would recruit others. They lured me in with 2 open houses at their schools and a scout meeting last week, all filled to the brim with fellow Mighty Minni's from their local chapter. As Super Mommy walked the hallways she was covered in a blanket of sneezes, un-washed hands, and other flying bits of "krytonite" from coughs and things of that nature.
Well they succeeded in their mission and Super Mommy has been on limited duty around the house this week. She even sent the kids to school yesterday with lunch money instead of the dreaded healthy cold lunch. Upon the Mighty Minni's return home the eldest princess informed Super Mommy she ate everything except the broccoli. The tiny princess in training exclaimed that she wanted "tray lunch" everyday. Super Mommy could only manage a weak smile as she placed the cardboard like frozen pizza in the oven. Oh yes Super Mommy would like you all to know that frozen things cook better in the oven when it is actually turned on, imagine that.

Super Mommy sat in her soft comfy chair with a blanket wrapped snugly around her, trying to find that one position where she could breathe out of at least half of her nose, as she watched her children eat cardboard for dinner. Lovely just lovely.

Super Mommy is on the mend and by Thursday should be good as new. Unless of course they bring home stronger "kryptonite".

Super-Mommy 101: How not to mommy-task

For those of you who have been following the saga of Super-Mommy you know that the art of Mommy-tasking (multi-tasking) is one that is sometimes a difficult one to master. If Super Mommy is not on the ball situations like the above picture are bound to occur.

In this particular instance Super Mommy had been busily sewing baby blankets while Mighty Moe slept quietly. Once Moe woke up Super Mommy was torn between finishing the trim on the blanket she had been pinning or just calling it quits and putting it away for another day. Well she is SUPER MOMMY and decided that Mommy-tasking would have to be put to good use. HA little did she know the pantry door had been left open. The door was not open wide, just enough for Mighty Moe to slip his pudgy little finger in and open it the rest of the way. Soon Moe emerged with a container of cereal in hand. Super Mommy was putting in that last pin when she saw Moe out of the corner of her Super Mommy eye , ya know the one on the side of her head, shake the container as hard as he could. Before she could get the pin the rest of the way through the soft red fabric he dropped the container with a thud. Of course the container hit the floor at just the perfect angle so that the cereal could be scattered all about the floor. Super Mommy gasped and Mighty Moe with a smirk on his face dropped to his bum and happily started to dig in. Super Mom giggled just a bit, singing "Happy Birthday To Me" under her breath as she went to grab the camera and the broom.

Point to this lesson....know your Mommy-tasking limitations.

The adventures of Super Mom part 4,653.....

And now the adventures of Super Mom continue....... As she tries to feed lunch to the smallest member of the Mighty Mini Gang she also makes the various phone calls of the day and loads the dishwasher all at the same time. Many would call this multi-tasking but Super Mom refers to this as Mommy-tasking.

After mastering the daily jigsaw puzzle, commonly referred to as loading the dishwasher, she turns to see that Mighty Moe has covered himself with his lunch. Knowing that this wasn't accidental Super Mom grabs the camera to capture that Kodak moment while closing the door on the jigsaw puzzle with her foot and holding the phone in place by cocking her head ever so lightly to the left pinning said phone between her ear and shoulder. Never stopping the conversation on the phone Super Mom is able to snap a picture or two and then with cape flowing behind single handily began the task of running the bath water with out making it too cold or too hot.

Knowing that removing Moe from his chair was not going to be an easy task Super Mommy excused herself from the phone and in Super Mommy fashion approached Mighty Moe in his royal chair and analyzed the situation. Upon further investigation the reality sets in....even Super Mom may get messy. Quickly she removed his bib and slowly stands him up in his chair trying to get all stray pasta pieces to fall onto the tray. Ever so carefully she removes the overalls and shirt and lets them lay on the chair until bath time is over.

Now getting him from the chair to the tub without getting Super Mom and the new carpet messy was going to take some real Super powers. Super Mom took a deep breath, picked up the Mighty Mini and made sure he didn't get too close to her Super Mom uniform (aka white t-shirt) Moving swiftly she managed to make her way into the bathroom leaving her uniform and carpet free of pasta sauce. Once there she removed the diaper and plopped Mighty Moe into the tub where he shrieked in happiness and happily splashed in the warm water.

He had once again devised a master plan to get unscheduled playtime in the tub. Ahhh but little does he know that Super Mom won as well because his master plan brought nothing but smiles to her.

Super Mom.....HA! Not today.

I woke up this morning to yet another pimple on my forehead, an over sized abdomen, and a screaming baby who was not going to give up the screams until he was able to nurse. Mommy didn't feel like nursing him but well what ya going to do when it's 5:30 am and your too dang tired to make breakfast. Plus he only nurses one time a day now and I know that will only be for a few more weeks so who am I to tell him "Not now mommy is pms'ing, maybe later".

I dropped the other 3 off at the bus stop and waved good-bye, drove back to the house and forgot to feed the puppies. How rude of me. I mean they can't exactly fill their bowls on their own. I finally remembered about a hour later and they were very forgiving.

Moe (that is what I call my youngest) didn't want to take his nap and so sadly I sat him on the floor with a bucket of mega blocks and then laid selfishly on the couch and just watched him play. What a slacker!

Finally he went down for his nap and did I do any housework? NO I did not. I instead read a magazine and watched my neighbor harvest the corn from my window.

The kids came home and the thought of cooking dinner made me want to cry but I guess they need to eat right? Is it bad to give them a choice of Spaghetti O's or Mac and Cheese? I did give them a choice so that should count for something right?

I am a married single mom right now and it is days like this when I wish my better half wasn't so far away. He is only a few hours away but it might as well be oceans away on days like today. I really miss him.

Okay that is enough sulking. Just one of those not so super days.

Super Mommy to the Rescue

Like I said in my profile, with 4 kids everyday is a new adventure and today was no exception.

....As I look frantically around the room I spot it! The blue and orange Binky had alluded me too long and now it was time to capture it and tie it down so future escape could not happen. Ah, but how was Super Mommy going to get from her uncluttered piece of floor space across the sea of toys, cheerios and other booby traps left undoubtedly by the Mighty Mini gang. The gang was notorious for making the home of Super Mommy a death trap waiting to capture its prey.

Super Mommy's motto is to Kill 'em with Kindness and thus the reason she was on the hunt for the AWOL Binky(it belongs to the smallest member of the Mighty Mini Gang). With a wide stride and little luck Super Mommy hurdled the traps that had taken over the floor and managed to grab the blue and orange binky and quickly handed it over to that tiny little man who had been screaming the entire time Super Mommy was on her important mission. With out a doubt he was trying to foil her plans of enjoying a quiet nap time by not letting her find said binky. But as usual Super Mommy could not be stopped.

Super Mommy had too many missions today including 4th grade math (the gang has recruited the teachers ...what next?), find the marker in laundry and of course the super secret Operation Dinner. She is wondering if there were any substitute Super Mommies out there? She needs a vacation!

Farm Boy's Pogo Stick

Mom said she had a fun new toy....I think it was a trick!

LOL....He just looked so cute trying to get that shovel in the ground. He was planting a tree for his Bear Badge. He can honestly say he did this one all on his own. It was hard though for mom and dad to sit by and not jump in and do most of it for him. I am excited for him to watch his tree grow.

Gotta Love this Kid!

It's moments like this that make my smashed banana on the floor mornings seem not so bad.

"Like, whatever!"

Okay now I know my parents sweet revenge came in the form of my children. I used to drive my parents up the ever lovin' wall by constantly saying Like and whatever. I remember my Dad trying SO SO hard to break me of that habit. Now my own child is showing me exactly what a pain in the neck I was. If I have to hear my son say " wha's up " or "Dude" one more time I am going to scream! I guess this is fair warning to all those in hearing range because I know as soon as he gets off the bus today I am going to be greeted with a " wha's up, Mom?" or worse he will look at the baby and say "hey wha's up dude?" GAG, PUKE, BARF!

Scissors, Lollipops, and Pencils and other Motherly Warnings

I find myself telling my little ones not to run with scissors or pencils in hand or lollipops (suckers) in their mouths all the time. I know there is very good reasoning behind these firm warnings but I have lost count of how many brushes with death I must have avoided doing these same things.

What are some of the other motherly warnings you have given while whispering in the back of your mind.... "do as I say, not as I do" ?

1 Thing I Love About You

My kids were arguing this morning and as I walked into the room it was if I walked in to a pillow fight and there were feathers falling all around, only instead of feathers the air was full of hurtful words and tears. This has been happening way too often around here especially in the mornings while getting ready for school. So I decided instead of yelling back at them to get them to stop and then sending them to their separate spaces I would try something new.

I stepped in between them looked towards my son and said okay quickly name one thing you love about your sister. It was amazing how quickly the mood changed. I told them that from now on when I have to step in on them fighting like that they are going to have to stop and tell each other one thing they love about the other person. Oh and the catch is that it can't be the same thing they said within the past 7 days. So they can't just say the same thing over and over again.

My son took a bit too long giving a response and yet he could name 100 things that bothered him about his sister in a matter of 15 sec. I told him that it is quite possible that we spend too much time focusing on the things that bother us about others and not enough time embracing the things we love about others. If we spent more time telling others what we cherish about them it would be harder to see the negative things.