Family Moments

I **think** the blog is moving.....

Just in an attempt to get rid of my typepad account and save a few extra $$ each month I'm trying moving my blog to another spot... Here's the link.  Hope to see you there.

http://www.ponderedmoments.com/familymoments

It's Georgia Washingstone!

Lincoln came rushing in today with a little stack of books in his hand saying, "Mommy look, I've been reading about Georgia Washingstone and I think he is a real person!" He was so excited about Georgia Washingstone, rofl. He's been so disappointed lately about how many "heros" aren't real. He wants things that are real and has expressed several times that there's too many exciting real things to learn about to care about pretend. He actually likes plenty of pretend things but longs for REAL. So we talked while we did the dishes about the newly discovered hero... starting with learning his correct name. He wanted to start learning about him in school right away and when I told him we wouldn't get to that till 3rd grade he was so sad. "But mom, how will I ever wait 2 whole years to learn all about him!"

and the party...

The next day we had Kara's party.  We rented a jumpy castle and slide combo and the kids loved it. 

It was set up in our driveway about 10am... the kids were on it right away.  They jumped till after dark!  Then since the company didn't make it back to pick up the castle that night we were back out there the next day after church.  The kids jumped from about 2pm till 8pm that day.  Then on Monday morning guess what we did!  Yep... right back out there till the guys showed up to collect the castle. 

The kids are still talking about how fun it was.  In fact... Lincoln summed it up perfectly when he said the only thing that was more fun was Disney World! 

I had to rub that in to Tom a little... he thought the jumpy/slide was a bad idea, lol! 

     

     

I can't believe after it was all said and done I never talked about Kara's actual adoption!

It really was a perfect day.  For that matter the entire weekend was perfect. 

Her adoption was on a Friday - my dad and his wife, Kim, and a couple caseworkers made it to the adoption.  Kara was very very specific about what she wanted to wear for her adoption.  3 times she showed me the dress she wanted.  It was a bit, ummmm, over the top.  But I finally agreed with her that it was the perfect dress.

It was certainly fun to photograph!

   

     

      

The rest of the story....

The laundry detergent experiment is a success so far....

At first I thought I'd made a gallon of detergent for about $1.50... but I was wrong.  When I went to use the detergent it had turned totally solid.  I knew something was up with that as I was told it would be a runny gel.  So I went back to my instructions and realized... OOPS.... in all the craziness of the overflowing pot I left out 1.5 gallons of extra hot water that you are supposed to add at the end of the process.  

So I added that back in and ended up with over 2.5 gallons of detergent.. that brought my price down to like 50 cents a gallon... woo hoo!  

I've washed a couple loads so far using the homemade detergent and vinegar as fabric softener.  So far I'm happy.... I know it's not long term results but overall I trust my friend who has been using this recipe the last year.  I just wanted to see, smell, and feel for myself that the clothes would be fresh smelling and soft to the touch.

So far so good!  

Doofus

So Kara comes to me with a question... her questions are always the best - I think she stays up at night thinking them up.

So here's the question, "Mom I know we can't call each other stupid and idiot even when somebody is a stupid idiot... so can we call them a doofus then?"

And just to make it a little more interesting she asks me this in a public bathroom... you should have heard all the snickers and giggles... lol.  That girl is a mess!

Today the kids sang Silent Night at a memorial service for a friends little boy..... I'm sure no one could tell but here are Kara's words to Silent Night.

Silent Night, Holy Night
All be calm it's all right
Round up your virgins mother and child
Hold your infants don't put them down
Sweep and hold your pee-eee
Sweep and hold your peeeeee

Some stories just can't be told

You really had to be there to get the full experience but.....

 Since I'm not trying to promote the business and focus on that I decided to try some things that all domestic goddesses should do.... 

So at the top of the list, homemade laundry detergent.  

It's easy right.... boil a little of this and that, add some water.... blah blah blah and you are soon a little richer because of all the $ you saved, your dh thinks you are amazing, and your kids worship you a little more....

Yeah Right... not in this house!

So here's what I learned... 

Do not... I repeat, DO NOT try to dissolve a bar of soap in a pot of water by boiling it with the lid on.  

Why?

Can you say... bubbles?  what about flood?

You might be able to buy Lincoln sure couldn't.  He walked into the kitchen to find it all overflowing and he lost all ability to speak English.  He was bouncing up and down and ran into the wall all the while sputtering some sort of mumbo jumbo...   

I was just staring at the scene and he finally managed to say "Moooo-ooooom"  in total exasperation and my lack of concern. 

The good news in all of this is my kitchen is very clean now and smells nice too!  Of course I haven't cooked supper yet.  I'm wondering if this is a good enough reason to order pizza.... wouldn't want to make another mess you know.....

Not sure who was more tickled...

I picked Holland up from her class Wednesday night and her her teacher was having Holland read her a story.  Holland was grinning ear to ear and I think I was too.  Then her teacher started complimenting her on how well she was reading.  They hadn't seen Holland since before Christmas and she really has made a huge jump in her reading since then.  

Her teacher even specifically commented on how Holland was really sounding the words out and not just memorizing words.  Yay or Holland!  

Holland was so proud of herself... and I was so proud of her too!  

Most of the time all Holland focuses on is the fact Lincoln reads better than her.  And of course she never listens to mommy point out the fact Lincoln is almost 2 years older than her.  But since it was her church teacher complimenting her, well that of course really meant something.  She's still walking around on cloud 9.

Annoyed...

When you are asking for suggestions on a Wii game why do people feel the need to post their opinions on if you should own game systems.... obviously that decision has already been made.

We almost did it again.

Back when we hosted Nastia from Belarus we were putting out flooring in the house.   We actually finished just before she arrived.  A couple days into her trip we were frantically removing the new flooring from our hallway because she flooded the bathroom!  She forgot I had started her bath and I didn't realize that she hadn't ever gotten into the bath.

Well this week we almost did it again....

Lincoln was feeling bad on Wed so he took a bath in the middle of the day.  That evening after the kids were in bed I was in their bathroom and though, "Wow, it's really warm and here.. kinda a muggy warm."  I was in there a 2nd time picking up the floor and again thought, "Why is the air so heavy in moist in here?"

On the 3rd time in the bathroom... and by this time it was after 11pm .... I stepped into the bathroom and found myself standing in water.... I quickly pulled the shower curtain back to discover an overflowing tub.  There wasn't water coming out of the faucet though.... then I saw the shower head (one of those on a hose so you can pull it down low) hanging into the tub.  I lifted it up and the tiniest trickle of water was coming out.  It was barely more than a drip!  But evidentally a drip can flood a tub in 8 hours. 

I guess when Linc turned off the water he didn't quite get the hot water off all the way.

Fortunately it didn't make it out of the bathroom so the hall floor is fine... but it came close.  And to think I'd actually already gone to bed.  That was one time I was very glad I couldn't sleep.