Time Waster

46 words

Speed test

Mom Salary

Hello All-
For those of you who are stay at home moms, I found this website (with some help) that calculates what your annual salary would be. It is kind of cool, I even printed a check out to myself for $149,036!!! Now if only it were real


http://swz.salary.com/momsalarywizard/htmls/mswl_momcenter.html

Cereal Play

This morning I noticed that the boys were awfully quiet, which means they are looking at books, or they are in big trouble.

I went to check on them and Ben had taken an entire box of Honey Bunches of Oat cereal and dumped it all over the bedroom carpet. They had their trucks all through it. They had made paths all though the cereal and the dump trucks were full of cereal, as were the pick up trucks.

I tried really hard to be firm with them, but I had to keep ducking my head outside the door so I could laugh. Maybe it is the child in me, but it did look pretty fun!!!

Something Sophie Did

Last night Sophie put this baby shirt on her head, and her little pony tails came out the arm holes. I thought it was funny!!! Also because of the weave she could see even though it was over her eyes. She walked around like that for awhile. It seemed like she should have been saying D'oh!!! like Homer Simpson

Easter

Here are our 2008 Easter Baskets. The Easter Bunny wanted to come on Saturday to separate the commercial holiday from the religious holiday, but he got tied up, so he came Sunday instead. Maybe next year he will get his act together!!!

Let me take this space also to share how much joy the gospel of Jesus Christ brings to my life. It is my anchor in this crazy world. I am so happy to be able to share this Easter message with my children in hopes that it will bring joy to their lives too.


Ben adding his Easter money to the communal money pot.


Jacob's juicy little lips chewing a fruit snack


Sophie showing off her "hair-bops."

Sophie Asleep

I went in to check on Sophie the other night and came upon this sweet scene. I guess that she was reading until just before she fell asleep. I can't believe my first baby can READ!!!!!

#4

These are all from the butterfly room where the butterflies and moths are all around you. SOmeitmes they land on you. I have always loved butterflies and really enjoyed this room. The photos do no justice for the colors and beauty of the butterflies and moths.

This is a cobra moth (or atticus atlas.) It is the largest moth in the world with a wingspan of 12 inches. They had rows of twine hung from the ceiling and there were so many cocoons hanging off of them. The moths were literally hatching as we watched. This one was already out when we got there.

This luna moth was also newly hatched, but had flown over onto a sign and was drying or something.

#3

Sophie and Mrs. Mesa looking at an exhibit. I love how Sophie's nose is pressed right up against the glass. I also love how her fingers are placed.

I wish you all could have seen Sophie at the Biodome. Her exuberance was contagious!!! When she very first discovered the monkeys hopping around in the trees, she literally jumped up and down and laughed with sheer joy. There was nothing staged or attention seeking. I love her so much!!!!

Ben and Sophie on the otter slide. This is one of the few times that they were together. Sophie just wanted to be with her friends!!!

Ben, Kai Sophie and Mianda (I am not sure on the spelling of this, it is pronounced my-and-a,) in the Bonsai/cactus room.

#2

Caimans, penguins and a cactus I like to call the flower child cactus.

The Next Few Posts

The new few posts contain photos from Sophie, Ben and Lauren's trip to the Biodome in Montreal.


Jasmine, Kai and Sophie on the bus. These are two of Sophie's three female comrades in the kindergarten class. I am told they will be like sisters by 12th grade!!!!


Ben's first bus ride. We got stuck in the snow on the way to the bus and because of that, Ben was scared for the first 15 minutes that the tires were going to fall off the bus. Once I convinced him we were safe, he really enjoyed himself.


Some of the wildlife we saw.

Radioactive Iodine

I guess I never wrote officially that I had my radioactive iodine treatment done the last week in February. So far the effect of it has been very minor. For a few days my thyroid hurt. Now I get really hot. It doesn't feel like a hot flash, it feels woozy, like I am going to pass out and like my heart is beating too fast. I don't enjoy it, but it really is a minor side effect. Steroid treatment was WAY worse.

An interesting tid bit... The radioactivity can be detected in me for up to two months. When you cross the Canadian/U.S. border, the have some sort of thing that detects radioactivity (in case someone is trying to smuggle uranium etc... into the U.S.) I happen to be crossing the border this week for a field trip with Sophie, so I have a paper from the DR. that explains why I am setting off the alarms.

Anyway...today at church I was about halfway down the hall and a member of our branch that works on the border was at the end of the hall, and he started beeping. I am not sure if he was on his way to/from work, but he had his "detector" on him and I set it off. Fascinating huh?

Exotic Sophie

The other day Sophie had this sheet over her head. She said that she had "long, flowing, white hair." I kept trying to take a picture of her, but she kept saying that she wasn't done. That is why she has a, "Mom." look on her face. I think she looks exotic.

It's Starting to Feel Like a Zoo Around Here!!!

Hair Cut

Saturday night Ben got his hair cut. Aaron always wants to do it, but I never let him. I finally did though and he did a great job.

But then, needing some sort of "man-child" connection with his boys, he wanted to do Jacob's hair too. Jacob has only had one hair cut and I didn't want to use the clippers yet. Softie that I am...I gave in and let Aaron cut Jacob's hair.

I'll let you all be the judge of how it looks.

Another Jacob Moment

Here is another Jacob moment. I promise I don't favor him, but there do seem to be a lot of Jacob pictures lately. I think it is because he is at such a blossoming phase.

So the story here is that Jacob has a boot fetish. He adores his black winter boots and will hunt them down unless I literally lock them away from him. The problem is that he always puts them on with bare feet and his feet sweat and now the boots stink. Plus he wears them allllll the time, so his feet always stink too.

The other problem is that he will literally scream for an hour if I take them off and hide them. He will not accept any other shoes or boots, so I usually give in and put the boots back on.

However, the other night the kids were playing dress up, and Jacob found an alternative for his boots. Let's just say he has quite the fashion sense!!!

Messy Messy

On town meeting day we had pancakes with homemade raspberry, blueberry sauce. I am not exactly sure when this messy incident occurred, I think I was at town meeting. Jacob does make it look appetizing.

Sophie's Tag

I am new to this blogging thing, but Sophie was "tagged" by my friends daughter, Makenna. I think we are supposed to post on out blog 8 things about Sophie. If I am doing it wrong, sorry, but here goes.

#1 I am in kindergarten

#2 I am 5 years old

#3 I have brown hair

#4 I like to color

#5 I want to be an artist when I grow up, or an illustrator. I don't know yet.

#6 I have 2 brothers

#7 I like going to school

#8 I like to play with my friends

(tags Emma Cornelius, Brooke Johnson, Lily Johnson, Rachel Bundy...I think means that now they add 8 things about themselves on your blogs)

Wood Stove

I am so excited that we got a new wood stove. I am so tired of being freezing cold in our poorly insulated living room. Here it is. Also a portion of the gate that we got to go around it. Safety, safety, safety!!!!

The chimney guy comes on Thursday to start the chimney. It is a good thing because Ben asks about 20 times a day if we can build a fire in it.

Sleep time

Last week I did my radioactive iodine treatment. While I was gone Aaron had the kids with his mom here to help (I was gone 2 days.) I say this because it is important for you all to know that this would never happen on my watch, and if it did, I would not take time to film it.

However I am glad Aaron did, because I find it hilariously funny.

Family

My parents were over on the 22nd of February and while we were waiting for a pie to bake, my Dad read the entire Dinotopia book to the kids.

I tried to find the picture I know I have somewhere of Aaron's Dad reading to the kids, but I couldn't find it. The point of finding it and posting both photos is how lucky my kids are to have such wonderful grandparents that are so much a part of their lives. So a single photo will have to suffice, but THANKS SO MUCH MOMS AND DADS!!!!!

Avert Your Eyes if Roadkill Turns Your Stomache

Over Christmas break I took this photo of a dead opossum. It was actually quite an ordeal to take this photo. I know it is gruesome, but I didn't know that there were opossums in Vermont. I guess they are moving North, part of that global warming thing.

Anyway... I didn't originally post this because it is kind of gross, but by golly I created a scene on the roadway taking the picture, I may as well broadcast it!!!