Guess who turned 7?

That would be our Emily-bo-bemily (8/25). We spent the day before her birthday at the Children's Museum in Saginaw (but that will have to be another post). I kept reminding her that it was her last day to be 6 years old. Each time I would say it she would smile. Her actual birthday was spent together as a family (minus Kevin who was studying for his internal medicine rotation final exam). She helped me make her birthday pancakes and really enjoyed that. She chose to have some red and green and we made swirls, smiley faces, and snowflakes. The last of the colored batter I just made a red one, and a green one, and a plain one. I put them on her plate and we made a traffic light signal (red, yellow, and green). She thought that was great. Everyone enjoyed them with vanilla ice cream and syrup.


She opened her cards after she was done eating. The first one was from her Grammy and Gaffa. Then she opened the one from Sister Rodrigez, a woman from Church. She was delighted to see money and counted out $10. Then I asked her how much she would need to pay for tithing. She held up a dollar.



After lunch we played Settlers of Catan. It was just Ben, Emily and I (Xiomara started but dropped out after a couple rounds). We had fun. She chose to have quesadillas for dinner so I cut up chicken and seasoned it up while I cooked it. Then fried up the tortillas with cheese and chicken. We ate them with sour cream and salsa, and they were yummy!

Grandma and Grandpa Nichols came with the surprise cake. (When they had asked her what kind of cake she wanted she simply said, "Surprise me.") It was Hello Kitty's head. So totally cute! Then Grandpa Nichols handed me a chocolate pie. (That had been my suggestion so he brought me one. So sweet!) They also brought two of their grown daughters who were visiting so we had lots of guests for the celebration. Emily got to blow out the candles twice because Kevin didn't video tape the first one. The funny thing was that they were almost the same - one blue candle stayed lit.






We quickly moved on to presents. Our family gave her the 3rd volume in The Work and the Glory series, Magic Tree House books, a hair brush, and the game Stratego. Grandma and Grandpa gave her the game Toppler and a jewelry making kit (10,000 beads!), as well as $7 in her card. Marissa made a sock puppet a week before and was so excited to give it to her.




I love how excited Ben is about the present - the game Stratego. They've changed it since I was a kid but it's the same idea.





We all enjoyed a wonderful celebration and yummy cake, too. We chatted for a bit and I figured we'd skip our normal nightly routine. Then Grandma Nichols said they had mentioned the routine to their daughters so Kevin decided to show it to them. It was great and we all enjoyed sharing joys, gratefuls, and what we learned in the scriptures that day, as well as singing lots of Primary songs! Sorry, no pictures of this part, although I should have.

We are so happy to have our little Emily getting so grown up. She is so sweet and loves others. She is ready to help and ready to try new things. She tries hard and loves to play around! Thanks, Emily, for being you and for putting up with us! The braids she has in her hair were done by her - she recently started braiding her own hair and thinks it's great. She's so cute!

Seriously digustingly clean

Our house has two rooms with carpet, and that's it. The stairs also have carpet. I have always thought we needed to clean them but never really wanted to pay for the machines from the grocery store. Well, my wonderful honey borrowed one from some friends of ours. He even did the first bit of cleaning. Then we moved furniture and he cleaned the entire library. The next day I moved stuff out of the living room and he worked on that last night. Today I finished up the living room. Two comments: the carpet feels so much better; the water that we kept dumping out was like a muddy river. Each time we emptied the machine the water was filthy. Makes you almost sick that your kids roll around and crawl around and play on the floor. I'm so glad we got it done, but, really, I feel like I need to do it again just to get more gunk out. Even if no one else can tell, I can and it feels better.


Can you see the difference? We sure could!

What would you feed a chicken?

I had some old alfalfa sprouts in my fridge as well as a little bit of tuna fish salad. I thought, "Toss them out to the chickens and see what happens." I tossed the alfalfa first. They looked at it, smelled it, and one even pecked at it but they were not interested. Maybe I should have rinsed them off first. Then I tossed the little bit of tuna salad. It landed in a lump and they were all over it. Really! I'm so serious. They were fighting over the tuna fish - with mayo and celery. Who'd have thunk?


Of course, if you know my chickens maybe that all makes sense. I have also tossed old shrimp and they loved that. And Kevin and I saw a couple chickens fight over a toad that entered the chicken yard. Yes, my chickens are meat eaters.


Egg update - we bought wood eggs to try and get the chickens to quick eating their own eggs. It isn't working. They are still eating them and now one of them has returned to her brooding habits (that's where she sits in the nesting box all day trying to hatch the egg). Maybe it just takes time and they'll stop soon.

Not quite a month ago...

Kevin had a birthday and we did celebrate! So I thought I would go ahead and share some pictures so that everyone else knows he turned one year older! For breakfast, the kids and I had ice cream on our pancakes in honor of him, but he was already gone to work. For dinner we had yummy Cafe Rio Pork with rice and the delicious green sauce. Believe it or not everyone likes that meal! After dinner I think we read some in The Work and the Glory, volume 2, that we read together as a family so that was fun. Then it was time for presents and cake. He asked for socks and a new white dress shirt, so we got him those. Marissa thought about licorice so we got him Good and Plenty. I saw Whoppers which are one of his favorites so we got a small box of those. Then Ben thought of Fiber One bars because we all know he LOVES fiber. (Did I ever tell you that story?) I also found a couple small additions to the game Settlers of Catan that we all enjoy playing so I got those as well. I would say he made out big time! The cake was an ice cream cake from the grocery store and it was pretty good - but I didn't get any pictures of that or of him blowing out the candles. Weird. So here's a very late happy birthday post for my sweet honey!

Busy little guys

The other day I decided to get some random pictures of my kids, just so I would have a record of the kinds of things they do as kids. Here they are...

Ben building with legos. He took two of his military things apart to build his own bomber airplane.



The girls playing with Kemiah's doll house and other random toys.



Marissa practicing piano. Some day (maybe) we can afford to have it tuned.



Domonique sleeping with her pacifier and new little buddy. He stays in bed and she loves to hold him when I put her down.

Yellow Finch and neighbor's flowers

I noticed this yellow bird just sitting in my neighbors driveway. I grabbed my camera in hopes that it wouldn't be gone by the time I got back. It stayed put and I was able to get very close to it. I'm not sure if it was injured or just tired but it was neat to get so close.

And since I was in my neighbors yard anyway, I figured I'd take some pictures of the wild flowers she has grown in her front ditch. Sure makes a pretty view, and hides the ugly ditch.

This is what stools are really made for.

I don't think she figured this out on her own. I actually think her older siblings conned her into getting in so they could push her around. But once she figured out she could climb in, she would do it all by herself and just sit in it. It was just too cute.



She has also learned to point at people and things.

It all seemed very familiar to me... and this is why.
Here is Xiomara doing the same thing at the very same age. So funny!

Interestingly enough.

I've learned a few things the past week.
1. Weeding is hard on my hamstrings.
2. Weed wacking is hard on my arms.

Saturday we all worked in the garden, trying to claim some of the land back from the weeds that I let grow taller than the kids. Fortunately, it was a cool, cloudy day so it wasn't torture. We all worked together and it was actually pretty easy because the ground was damp. That night Kevin and I both commented about our aches. Strangely enough we both had sore finger nail beds. Weird. I couldn't walk without pain for the next several days because my hamstrings hurt so much. I really need to get a stool to sit on while I'm weeding.

Today I got out the weed wacker to do some badly needed edging around the yard, swing set, garage, house, etc. The kids were using the mower to do the back yard. Yes, Ben and Marissa WANT to mow so I have started to let them. Unfortunately, we ran out of gas so they had to stop. I kept going though and my arms are so sore! I remember watching the guys in Dominica cut our entire yard with a weed wacker, gas powered. I have a whole new understanding for that sort of work. Of course, our "yard" was completely dirt after he was done with it but that meant he had at least a month before it was over grown and he had to come back and do it again. It will probably be a long time before I do that again.

May have messed up...

and I feel really bad about it. It all started yesterday. I had 5 dozen eggs that I needed to get rid of. I called the number some one gave me and told the lady there about the eggs. She said they wanted them and that her husband would come by the next day (today) to pick the up. Great. A little while later, the lady I call the drive-by lady stopped by for eggs. I knew she got them for her grandson and so I figured he had called her and she was here to get the eggs. What were the chances that they weren't related and that communication hadn't occurred? She paid for the 5 dozen and took them away, stating that 3 doz were for her grandson. So, imagine my surprise when the doorbell rang during lunch today and who should be at my door but the husband of the lady I talked to on the phone. I felt terrible because I truly thought they were related and that it had all been worked out but I didn't verify when the lady did pick them up. I spent a few minutes explaining it to him and eventually he said, "Yes, that was probably my grandma." Oh good. She has the eggs and just didn't tell him that she picked them up. I felt better, until his wife called and said, "I know you sold the eggs to someone else but I just wanted to know if you wanted the cartons back?" Yes, thank you. I then felt bad again because maybe her husband was trying to make me feel better by saying it was his grandma. I don't really know now what to think but I do feel bad that I didn't at least ask the lady I gave the eggs to about the people I had already talked to on the phone. I'm not a very good business person but will be better next time. I sure hope it all worked out.

The Unseen Fight

After dinner tonight, Kemiah ate the rest of her animal crackers that she got from her teachers at Church yesterday. When she was done she said to me, "I have a lot of animal crackers in my tummy." I said, "Did you eat them all." She said, "Yes, they are fighting in my tummy." I wonder what that feels like? Silly girl. Then she finished all her milk and said, "I'm stuffed."

Thankful

In family prayer tonight Xiomara said this: "We thank thee for fans so we don't have to be hot all the time and sweat to death."
I thought it was funny.