Washing walls

During spring break did a lot of cleaning.  A little while ago I got a ziplock bag full of magic erasers from a friend.  Since then, Samuel has been begging me to let him wash the walls.  Last Tuesday we got everything ready and Samuel, Jacque, Calista and I started washing walls.  We got the hallway and the girls' bedroom done because they were the worst.  I was impressed with how well the erasers worked with little effort.  Later that night, Jacque said, "Mom, look over here."  When I turned my head, I found Ellen washing the walls.  She had found a used magic eraser and was trying to wash the walls!  It was really cute, and she even let me take a video!

Ellen is walking!!!!

Ellen is finally walking!!  I guess she's not that old (13 1/2 months), but the others were all walking well before a year.  I liked this video because it had her babbling, and at the end she says hi.  Sorry it's sideways...just turn your head!!

Don't forget Ellen!

I didn't really forget Ellen. For the last hour I've been trying to upload a video of her, but dial-up didn't like such a big file. Sigh! But I'm too cheap for the faster Internet. I will have to wait until I go to mom's. So here's a picture instead. Notice the brown eyes and all of the hair! She is my only one with brown eyes. Ellen is 13 months old!

Cute Kids

Samuel got his glasses yesterday. He was really excited, and he seems to know the importance of taking good care of them. He quickly recited to me everything that the lady at the eye clinic told him about being careful with his glasses, from giving them to Mom and Dad at night, to cleaning them.

And since Samuel was getting his picture taken, the girls had to have their taken. Silly girls!

Jacque
Calista

Is it bad when you can smell your water BEFORE you taste it?

Ontario is known for it's bad tasting water, but in the last year and a half that we have lived here, we've actually gotten used to it. When we first moved here, I couldn't get a drink without gagging. After a few filters that broke after a month of using them, we decided to just drink it. A few weeks ago we were commenting that the only difference between our water and the water back home was that the water back home was colder. It's sad to admit that, but it is also a blessing.

Sunday we went home for the Kerns family dinner, and then came home that same night. After I brushed my teeth, I got a drink of water, and it was horrible! I didn't say anything to anyone else because I just figured it tasted weird since I just brushed my teeth. Yesterday, I started doing laundry, and as the washer was filling, it really started to stink. I had left some laundry in it over Sunday, and thought it might've been from that, but when I smelled the clothes they smelled fine.

It wasn't until after Aaron came home for lunch that I got it figured out. It was the water. It smells like a swimming pool that hasn't been chlorinated for a while in the middle of summer. Aaron called the water control people and they gave us some comforting news. They said that the water inlet from the Snake River was clogged, and so now they are taking the water from the gravel pit. I always figured we were drinking water from the Snake River, but I don't think I wanted to hear it. And now getting it from the gravel pit inlet, just doesn't sound any better. They said it will take a few days before things start tasting better, but it is safe to drink. I don't think any of us are actually going to be drinking it for a few days though. Juice and milk taste a whole lot better. Aaron even tried making orange juice with the water, and it was gross. I keep debating if I want to take a shower. Will I come out smelling better or worse? It reminds me of playing sports in Adrian!

The Bunkbed is FINISHED!!

top bed (end view)

this is how we pinned the slats in. That pin goes through the board at a diagonal, and sticks into the rail to hold it all in place.

Yeah, it is finally done!!! We moved it into Samuel's room tonight, and all of the kids are getting to sleep in it! Well almost all of them. Samuel up top, and Jacque and Calista on the bottom (sorry Ellen isn't big enough yet). They are so excited. Aaron is in there right now trying to play the guitar so they will settle down and go to sleep.

Aaron and I did most of the assembly, but everyone was eager to help where they could. Samuel, Jacque and Calista did a good job carrying in the slats and side rails. Even Ellen tried to help push the boards in. They also loved climbing all over the boards before the mattresses were put on.

Samuel can get up to the top easily, and with a little effort, Jacque can too.

Poor Melinda! (She's the one I babysit for.) She came about 20 minutes after putting the bedding on it and she got to see and hear the excitement. Her boys went to Grandma's for the weekend so we just have Meredith. Last night it all went well, and hopefully it keeps going that way.

_______________________________

Change of topic. We had our kids' eyes tested this last week. The girls are great so far. He said that they were a little far sighted but it was the same amount in each eye and they were still reading 20-20, and babies are born far sighted and it usually goes away by age 6-7. So we are supposed to go back in a year or two. Samuel has a little bit of a lazy eye. He sees just fine out of his left eye, but his right eye is 20-30 (which means he can see something at 20 feet, that others can at 30). So we are going to get him some glasses and we will need to patch his good eye for three hours every day, and try to do some sort of eye hand coordination for 1 hour of that time. We will do this for 3-6 months and hopefully that will help his eye be functional. He will still have to wear glasses or contacts for the rest of his life, but that's not too bad.

Thinking about numbers

Someone asked me once what Aaron and I do after the kids go to sleep at night since we don't have a tv or video games. I answered that sometimes we talk or read. Exciting huh?! Well last night we got thinking about genealogy, and Aaron got to wondering how many ancestors you would have in 1000 years. He calculated about 8 trillion, and said there was no way to even find that many people in a lifetime, let alone write their names down. I said why not, and he said that you couldn't even count to a trillion in your lifetime. I didn't quite believe that so he proved it. He said that if you started counting when you were five and you lived to be 75 years old and you counted a number per second (yeah for the first bit you could do a couple numbers per second, but try saying 987,654,321 in one second!), 24 hours a day, seven days a week, you could only get to 2,201,472,000. And that means you didn't sleep at all. It would take about 7 work weeks (40 hours a week) just to get to 1,000,000.

Now I'm not trying to discourage family history work. I love it.

The other day we were talking to Samuel and we told him that we had more brothers and sisters than he did. He didn't want to be out done so he quickly said, "Oh yeah, well I have more aunts and uncles than you!" That means that he also has twice as much family history as either Aaron or I have. It's just amazing to see how quickly the family history numbers increase with each generation.

So next time your kids are in bed and you are wondering if you should watch a movie or play a video game, maybe try thinking about numbers. I bet it will wind you down faster than a movie or game :)

Chore Charts

Aaron and I were talking the other day and decided it was time to start a chore chart. We've had the kids helping around the house already, but we wanted something a bit more structured. I searched the Internet and came up with a few ideas, but there was one that I really liked. It is actually a blog by an LDS lady and she goes into great detail - with pictures and everything. We started the chore charts on Tuesday and so far it seems to be going really well. Samuel usually does it without too much of a fuss, but the girls do it more when it is convenient for them. Here's the link to the blog if anyone is interested:

http://cleverhomemaking.blogspot.com/2008/11/family-economic-system-chore-charts-kid.html

This lady even offers to make everything for you for a price, or I made mine in Excel and can just email you mine.

Thanks Leslie!

We went to the temple last weekend to do some baptisms for some of James' ancestors, and to attend a sealing of two of our friends. We dropped our kids off at Nathan and Leslie's house, and returned about three hours later. It is so much fun to have family who live close to the temple and who love to have us over to play. Thanks. While we were at the temple, Leslie got out their blocks and helped the kids play. I actually stole these pictures off of her blog, thanks Leslie :) It looked like everyone had fun.

Samuel, Jacque, Josiah

Calista, Jacque, Sadie

Spaghetti Feed

Alameda had their spaghetti feed last night. We weren't sure if we were going to go, but Samuel really wanted to go because they were going to have decorations! Simple joys!! They had yummy spaghetti, bread and salad. Samuel tries to tell me that their spaghetti is better than mine, but I'm trying to convince him otherwise! We had a good time, but the people who sat across the table from us didn't have as much fun. We were all seated and eating, when Jacque's coat sleeve caught her cup full of Sprite, sending it across the table. Luckily they had a little baby booster seat on the table and it stopped the pop from getting on anyone. We got it all cleaned up, and continued eating. Not five minutes later, Calista somehow spilled her cup. Luckily it was just water (she takes after her dad and doesn't care for pop), but it dodged the chair and continued across the table to land in the lady's lap! They were really nice and even helped us clean up. You'd think the first time that it was an accident. But the second time? After that we quickly finished eating, and we took our dessert to go. We wanted to leave before anyone else made another mess. Just think mom and dad, you could've been the ones across from us!!

Bunk bed Update

I tried to get close-up pictures of the joints for you. It isn't finished yet. We have to get the slats the right length, and then we have to pin the ends of the slats, sand and stain. David, Tristin and Meredith start coming again on March 19th, so we still have a couple weeks. Hopefully we get it done before then so then all the kids have a couple of nights to sleep in it first.

Side View

End View

joint

Bottom Slats

The slats go all the way through the side rails. We want the slats to stick out just a little (the closest slat pictured, not the further ones). Enough to draw attention to it, but hopefully not enough to have anyone bump a head or scratch a leg. We are going to pin the rails on the outside like the picture below, except the dowel will not be so long. You can kind of see a chiseled recess behind the dowel, and the dowel will be about that height. The 2x4s and the dowel will be stained dark and the rails and posts will be light.

We aren't going to have a ladder on the bed because I don't want to have to spend half of the day getting Calista and Ellen off of the top. If they can't climb up to the top, then they don't belong! Samuel can get up just fine, and I think Jacque will be able to climb up easily too, she just hesitates right now since there isn't a bed below her.