1st morning @ the brown house

Last night we decided to sleep over @ the brown house. We had a blast. Clyde set up our new Wii and we got to play until way past our bedtime. It was a nice reward for all our hard work yesterday. Clyde assembled 2 of our new chairs and the bench that goes along with our new table. Oh- they are pretty! (There is one of the new chairs behind Penny, to the right...) Clyde and I slept on our air mattress, which BTW deflated almost completely by 2am. We had brought over the couch cushions and big pillows and those saved us from sleeping on the floor. It's time for a new air mattress!! I think that the last girly sleepover, helped with the needing of a new air mattress.

eating breakfast... if you enlarge the photo, you can see the bandages on Penny's little fingers from the hamster bites.

taking Uno out for her morning pee and poop... We forgot the leash, so Clyde's belt made do.
and sleeping in...yes, that is Jacob's foot resting by Josh's face.

yard sale and easter pics

Josh made this bunny @ school. It did have 2 eyes, but one fell off on the bus ride home. It is a to go box with about 100 cotton balls covering it. I thought it was a really clever idea. Then in it, was the cheap-o Easter grass and the candy. He was sad that the eye had fallen off. I drew another eye on it, after the picture, but he still wasn't happy. He hung his head like a sad Charlie Brown and said that it just wasn't the same. Hey- I tried to make him happy.
This is Clyde, Penny, and Uno, during our yard sale. Uno had been running around all morning and her tiredness finally caught up with her. Clyde was a good sport too, because I woke him up that morning before his alarm went off, so that we could set up for our yard sale. We didn't have a customer for an hour after set up. He just shook his head at me, but who knew that people wouldn't be up early to go yard saling?? Last yard sale, we had white haired grandmas, with flash lights digging through our stuff, before it was out of our house. Penny is learning fast how to play the gameboy. She likes to hold it and just push buttons.
Here are the Wardlings @ Pop Pop and Bubbie's house Easter Sunday. You can see the green house that they are building. They have their garden already growing...strawberries, onions, lettuce, brocoli, & several types of peas.

moving

Well, I only have a minute to update. We have been working hard to move all of our stuff these past few days. Today we have primarily worked on emptying out the kids room, 100% and our bedroom. We have moved things like our tv and stand, as well as linens and bedding. We are going to finish up that stuff today and them finish up the kitchen tomorrow. We even took over 2 of the hamsters. One of the hamsters won't be making the move with us. Princess Leia, has done a naughty thing. Penny is partly to blame, but 3 strikes and your out, literally. Leia bit Penny on Monday. Then again yesterday, twice. Usually, she will let anyone hold her and love on her. Since the Wardlings dressers have been moved to the brown house, the hamsters have found shelter, in our upstairs linen closet. Yesterday, Penny climbed outta her crib and opened the linen closet door and reached in to say hello to the hamsters. Leia bit her 2 more times, slicing her little fingers. Erin was afraid to yell down to Clyde, because she didn't want to wake Jacob up. So, she walked her downstairs, and by the time that she got to Clyde Penny's hand looked like it had been dipped in a bucket of blood. And the blood was dripped on the carpet in front of the lines closet, the girls' bed, @ the top of the stairs, and trickled down at least half of the stairs. This morning, we found some blood dripped on one of the walls as well. CSI scene for real. Penny is doing well, but seriously, 3 bites to Penny's fingers and Leia is outta here. I found out about the accident, while Libby and I were painting the trim and a 2nd coating in the kitchen. Penny is a bit protective of her sore fingers and grunts to recap the accident. It hasn't stopped her from reaching into their crates today.

weekend happenings...

Ok- so what a busy weekend. Thursday night, Rochelle and I went to the new house and painted the kitchen. It is way cool to go and paint! I am looking forward to painting the rest of the house. I actually went to Lowes with my sister, Raegen and her husband John to buy the paint, the night before. He works for Lowes so that means discount!! I bought a lawn mower and 4 gallons of paint. Two gallons were for the kitchen and 2 for the living room. I went earlier in the week and bought my little samples of colors and the vendor told me what type of paint to buy. So, when we went to Lowes they had the kitchen and bath paint that I wanted but they didn't have the brand of paint that I wanted in the living room paint. The guy, Jacob, that night told me that Olympic didn't make the type of paint that the first guy told me that I needed. So, I went to another brand paint and the guy color matched it for me, which made me nervous. After I left Lowes, I went to the new house to drop off the lawn mower and the paint. I came home excited to tell Clyde what I got. I told him that they didn't make the paint that I originally wanted yadda, yadda. I had saved the Lowes flyer and so I thumbed through it to see what else was on sale. Then it happened... I saw that Olympic did make the type of paint that the sales guy told me that Olypmic didn't. Ooohhh...I was then mad. Of course the tinted paint is non-returnable. I didn't tell Clyde my discovery, mainly for my pride, because it was hurt. The next morning, I got on-line to get Lowe's info and called as soon as the kids got on the bus. I called Lowes a smidge after 7 am and asked to speak with the manager. I told him what had happened the night before and that I felt like a chump for taking this 'experts' advice, with the non-returnable paint. Brandon, the manager, told me that I could indeed bring it back and get my money back. So, I did. I still need to go back and get the living room color in the right paint that I need to do the job.

Saturday, we had another yard sale here. We wanted to get rid of a bunch of stuff, so why not try to make a few dollars off of it. We did pretty good totaling $175, off of some old stuff. We sold our old table and 4 chairs, a hand-me-down dresser, 2 lamp side tables, knick knacks galore, a gum ball machine, bunk beds, etc., etc., etc. What was left, we hauled away to the other people's crap store...goodwill.

Easter Sunday, after church we went to the Cecil Farm and let the kids go. Mom had made a wonderful meal! She hid eggs for the babies to go find too. She even got each of the Wardlings a new Easter outfit, except for Penny...she made hers. It was/is so pretty. She did some heirloom stitches and embroidery on it. Bubbie even made her a slip to go underneath it! My Mom is so talented!! Thank You, Thank You Mom!! Later in the day, the Wardlings even helped her feed their 4 horses. Dad showed us the new greenhouse that they are building, along wit their garden. They are always making new additions to their place. It is really cool to see. We brought along Tyler, our neighbor, because Wiley, his step dad just had open heart surgery. We thought it was a nice break for them...just a bit of R & R. He is a well behaved kid to have around.

Today has been spent packing and taking things to the new house. Having all the Wardlings around today has been interesting. It hasn't helped that I woke up in the foulest mood today. Have you ever done that?? I was grumpy and miserable all day long. I am hoping that tomorrow will be better. I want to finish painting the rooms that I have started before our big move coming up. This evening didn't go as well either. Penny picked up the mama Hamster, Princess Leia and she bit Penny. Hamsters have razor sharp teeth and she got Penny good. Libby brought her down and blood was covering Libby's neck. It was everywhere. I washed it and applied pressure to it, applied some of the 2nd skin stuff and two band-aids. This is a lovely ending to a simply rotten day.

at the brown house

We went to the new house yesterday to paint a few walls. We used the samples that we got from Lowe's, just to see if we like them. While we were waiting for the first coat to dry, we had some time to kill. We went to the brown house again today, but this time it was for another reason. We had to be at the house so that our gas could be turned on. We had an appointment time of 10am-12pm. Wouldn't be great to always have a time window? We arrived at the brown house a few minutes before 10. Before our arrival, we ran out to get some cleaning supplies. I figured that if we had to be there for 2 hours, then I should be doing something productive. I swept the floors, mopped the floors, cleaned all 3 bathrooms, tubs toilets, etc... I cleaned out the fridge and freezer, washed all the cabinets, and scrubbed the counter tops. The bathrooms were pretty grubby. It wasn't as if they left it messy, it's just been empty for a year. I am ready to paint the walls and make the house more ours. The older gas man came around 11:30 this morning. He turned everything on...water heater, furnace, main line of course and our fireplace. I am so excited for the fireplace!! We most likely won't be using it alot, due to gas prices, but on those cold rainy nights or cold wintery nights, it'll be sweet!

d.c. and paint

For months now we have known about the 5h grade trip to D.C. We have said all along that Erin wouldn't be going. After talking about it more and more after our Christmas trip, Clyde and I were approached by our Erin asking and pleading if she could go. She even wrote us notes on how she'd like to go and why she'd like to go. This isn't a trip across town, this is a trip out of the state. Her teacher talked to us about it and told us that she was the only one not participating in the trip for the class. Now, not that I am trying to keep up with the Jones' however, I saw this as a self esteem issue with Erin. Having NF, she has alot of differences physically than her peers. She has learning disabilities, which, BTW 50% of all folks affected by this disorder do. She is just different. So after weighing the cause and effects of our decision not to let her go, we changed our minds. We couldn't have her stand out this much and then the consequences of this choice throughout the remaining school year. It would be a daily reminder of her differences amongst her peers. We were offered a scholarship, which was nice. We did still have to pay over $200 for her to go. I had to get medical forms for medication, which is really for the 'what if' scenerio. That was a headache. I got the release forms faxed over to our Pediatrician's office on Thursday of last week. The nurse, Meg called and said that they needed 2 of them...could they not make a copy of the first one that was sent in?? Anyway, I got another one faxed, but the dr.'s office didn't receive them. Then the dr.'s office didn't fax them back to the school. I called yesterday and made an arrangement to drop off a copy of the release form. I went into the office dropped off the form and told the gal that we needed two of them, one for each medication, and asked if she'd make a copy. Then I asked when they would be available for me to pick up...this is the kicker...she said that they usually need 48 hours notice. What?! I said to her that I have been in contact with the nurses since Thursday and I named names, so she said, that they should be available by the end of the day. I have found that if I name names, like, "I have been talking with Meg since Thursday." and "I had them faxed to Natalie yesterday." then I can generally get what I need earlier. It doesn't always happen, but in this case it did. After Blaklee left for the day, I loaded up the van full of Wardlings and went to the dr.'s office to pick up the forms. There is usually a charge for these types of papers, if they aren't filled out during a well- visit, but the gal was nice and said, that since they were only like 1/2 a form that she wouldn't charge me. Even better.

Ok- back to the trip. The little Wardlings and I ran around Monday picking the things up that Erin needed for her trip...deodorant, toothpaste, poncho, etc. I really wanted to get her a fanny pack. I know, I know, how tacky, but for Erin, she has to have a place for her sunglasses, because she has a Rx pair that she needs to carry, plus, her $, and things like her poncho, because chances are it will rain while they are there. I hadn't a clue as to how expensive a stinking fanny pack was. I guess it was a mixed blessing then that I forgot a camera for her to take. After we left the dr.'s office we went to Wal-Mart to pick up a disposable camera and lo and behold there was a fanny pack in my price range. Sweet. We spend some time last night packing her up to go. We packed everything that she needed, along with her fanny pack. Her class left this morning @ 6am to go to D.C. I do have to say that I made it a point to meet Erin's chaperone before the trip and because of me being this bold mother, her teacher assigned the PTA President to be her chaperone. Which BTW is a PA, so if anything medically happens, she'd be the one that you'd want with your child. It was way hard to get her on that big tour bus this morning. She, of course was oblivious, but I was really sad to see her go. I was one of the 5 parents left, when the bus pulled out of the school this morning. Why wouldn't you wait to see your child off? I made it a note to just stand & watch. I got the drivers name, just by standing there, and I could definitely have him drawn, or identify him in a police line-up, if he pulls some crazy crap. Boy, am I a nut. I came home all teary-eyed this morning. Clyde hugged me and gave me comfort. I know that she is having a blast, it is just hard for me. Her teacher said that Erin would be giving me a call tonight to check in. I hope all goes well. Keep Erin in your prayers!

Yesterday, we had these little errands to run for Erin's trip, which turned into several errands to run. I stopped in @ Michael's craft shop to buy some double pointed needles that I need to finish a sweater for Penny. I figured out, thanks to Shena, what I was doing wrong and fixed it. I have also nearly finished the first sleeve on it. I just needed a smaller pair of dpn's to finish the cuff. It is amazing all the different sizes of knitting needles that one needs to make a sweater. There are 4 sets of needles needed for this sweater. Then it was off to Target, then The Children's Place for some flops for Penny. I got 2 pairs of them last year. We loved them! Who can beat 2 for $5? I knew that's where we'd go to get them again this year. I saw them on-line, but was reminded of them when Shena called on Saturday. Thanks!! Penny picked a pair and I picked a pair. She chose green, white, and pink polka dot ones. They have green glitter on the strap. Penny screamed when she saw them..Who can deny that? And she is only 2 once, so what's a bit of glitter? After flop shopping, we headed back home, but the car turned itself into Lowe's. Since the van lead us there, we stopped to check out paint colors for the house. I chose one for the living room and one for the kitchen. I am so glad that Lowe's sells samples for me to see if I really like the colors or not. I'll keep you posted. While we were there, the kiddies had to go potty. Once that was over, I was putting the girls back into the cart, when Jacob decides to stand on the side, tipping it over. I caught this out of the corner of my eye and caught it before it fell to the ground. As I caught it and pulled it back, it smacked my leg and let me tell you OUCH!! There is a nasty bruise with a lump under it. It'll be pretty by the time I have to wear a skirt or a dress for Sunday.

star wars ship

Our weekend was yet again busy, busy. We spent Saturday moving things over to the new house. We took apart the bunk beds and moved them. Clyde took apart the bunk beds, while I ran the boys things over to their new room. We actually have 3 sets of bunk beds. The first set the girls use and it is pretty big and bulky. It has a twin sized bed on top and the full size bed on the bottom. As we were moving the 2nd set of bunk beds out the door, our mail gal said that she wanted them. Of course those we aren't selling, so I told her about the other ones...the big ones. She said that she was interested, and gave me her number. I'll call and if she isn't too interested, then yard sale it is. Then Clyde and I had to move the other set of bunk beds, that were still in the box. We bought them some time ago, but hadn't set them up. We have been looking at houses for a long time and we wanted the new beds, for the new house. Those things are heavy. The beds aren't heavy piece by piece, but once you have them all, they felt like 300lbs. I remember moving them up our stairs to store them. They were so heavy, that they bruised my arms while carrying them. Once those things were down the stairs, I had the front end walking backwards to the van. We just slid them in and put the other bed's pieces and their mattresses on top. Clyde called Jamie K. to help him load the beds into the new house. Thank goodness for pals! I packed 80% of the boys things and moved them. It doesn't sound like alot of work, but really it was. I think that we are going to try to have a yard sale, to maybe make a few bucks on the things that we don't need.

Between loads to the van, Clyde and the kids stop in their tracks to take a peek at an earthworm that was on the sidewalk. It was so cute to see Clyde telling them about earthworms. The Wardlings were all very interested in it. I remember dissecting one in the biology class, sophomore year of HS. It was pretty gross. My lab partner slept through the whole year, except for the dissecting classes.

While I was in the boys' room sorting through clothes and cleaning up, the phone rang. I asked Erin to grab it. She frantically starts searching for it on top of Josh's cubby. While doing so, a star wars ship falls off, smashing him in the nose. His nose just exploded with blood. It was dripping down his face, down his arms, puddled on the floor. Plus, all the shock ridden faces and tears were something else to simply add some stress to the situation. I grabbed whatever was close, a shirt or something and put it to his nose, to start applying pressure. I started a tub to wash him, since like I said, the blood was all over him. It was gross. I did, what I think any mother would have done, I grabbed a tampon and put it up his nose. Josh was amazed by it. It looked pretty funny. I would've taken a picture, but I thought that it might embarrass him later. Once Clyde came home, he cut the string off of it. It worked very nicely BTW!!

eeeww...gross!

This morning, right before the bus came, we were all running around getting things ready. Me, helping each of the children find what they were missing...a backpack, socks, shoes, snack, and remembering to give one of the girls medicine for her head cold. I do not like the unorganized fashion each morning. Each night we tell them to get their clothes ready with all their stuff. We are moving and our house is very unorganized right now, so they need to have their stuff together. I had Josh's grapes in a baggie and went to put them into his snack packet in his back pack. I reached in it to see which snack was still in there from yesterday and that's when it happened. I touched something slimey, wet, and cold. It was a banana that I had given him for snack over a week ago, rotting in his snack pocket. EEEWWW Gross! I told him when I gave it to him to eat it and not let this rotting thing happen again. That's right- this has happened once before this school year. At home, he loves bananas. Why he won't eat them @ school, is beyond me. Is it uncool to eat a banana @ school? This banana thing happened about 3 minutes before the bus came, so he had to run upstairs and find another backpack for the day. Josh is by far my fastest child, but not in the mornings. He moves slower that yertle the turtle. That boy! He is the last one up and the last one finishing his breakfast, the last one brushing his teeth etc... I was not prepared for that gross banana thing this morning. Gross!

pizza pizza

Last night we had the missionaries over for dinner. Since Clyde would be picking them up on his way home from work, he didn't have time to chef up anything. I am not the greatest of great cooks. SO, I stuck to something we all love, pizza. Plus, I know how to make the dough and the toppings speak for themselves. I started the dough around 2:45 giving them plenty of time to rise. They rose beautifully. Thankfully it was a sunny day, with no moisture in the air, so they had a chance to rise. I had Clyde call me when we was getting into town, so that I could start the first pizza. I wanted the Wardlings to be eating about the time the Elders showed up. They can be a bit, in your face, so if they are busy eating, then they won't be flopping all over the elders. The plan worked. The 1st pizza was coming out of the oven, as Clyde and the fellas pulled into the driveway.

This was our first pizza of the night pre-baked. Looks good, right?!
This is what it looked like all baked up to perfection. Looks even better!
Here, you have to make your own pizza. We laid out all the possible topping possibilities and let the Elders go for it.
This is the Elder's pizza baked up. You can see the dividing line that they made.
This is Ninja Turtle Josh putting pepperoni's on our 5th pizza of the night.

After dinner, we typically have the Elder's give us a mini lesson. Last night they talked about the importance of FHE. They had the kids tell them the things that we did for FHE and they talked about a few that I had forgotten about. We go for walks, bake cookies, fold laundry, and just try to spend some time together. Not all FHE's have a lesson, but mainly it is an opportunity to catch up with one another, as we go our separate ways each day. It has been a long time since we've had the Elder's over for dinner. Clyde has been working late nights, for a school teacher and so the timing hasn't been right. One of the Elder's had served in my home ward, so it was nice being able to talk about the same people...all nice of course! :)

As the night went on, our boys changed costumes and put on a light saber show for everyone. As if the ninja turtles weren't show enough. I love that they can dress up and use their imaginations. I like that my children can be children; that they like wearing Darth Vader costumes to go shopping. The light saber show was spectacular. Jacob was in his whitie tighties, flipping around the living room!

penny's boo boo

Last night, I was talking to my Mother-in-law, Becki, when Penny wandered over to me. I noticed that her ear was bleeding. I got a wipie to wipe away the blood. As I looked at it further, I noticed that her earlobe had been sliced open. The cut hadn't gone through her ear, but it was a nasty little gash. So, I immediately hung up with Becki to take care of this. Clyde was already on his way home. I called the urgent care on Battleground and they closed @ 5:30. Then I called the urgent care on Lees' Chapel Road. By this time it was 7:34pm. I told the guy, who answered what had happened and asked how long they were open. "We see our last patient @ 7:30." I asked if I hurried, if they would take a peek @ it. "We see our last patient @ 7:30," was his response. Well, had this happened earlier, then I could've taken her in before 7:30. This meant that we would have to take her into Moses Cone ER to see if it needed to be stitched up. Not a fan. We call her pediatrician's office to get advice. It takes them 30 minutes to return my phone call. Connie, the nurse on call, says that if we can butterfly it together, then it should be ok. Meanwhile, Clyde came home, saw her ear and went to Wal-mart to get some of the 2nd skin stuff and to look for some butterfly bandages. Wal-mart doesn't sell butterfly bandages BTW. So, he got the 2nd skin and some other bandages. The nurse said that we'd have to get the wound to touch as we bandaged it up. This wound is pretty big and it's on Penny's little earlobe. We did our best to get the cut together, as we used the 2nd skin product and covered it with a couple of bandages. Penny wasn't happy and it took alot of arm strength to hold her head down to get that stuff on her ear. Talk about stress at the end of a day.

We asked Penny where she got her boo boo and she pointed to Uno. She was probably playing with the puppy and Uno either scratched or nibbled at her ear causing the gash.

harriet tubman

February is Black History month. As an assignment, Libby had to choose a famous Black American and do a project on him or her. Libby chose Harriet Tubman and the underground railroad. We did research on her to find out more about her life and adventures. Instead of just a drawing or printing computer pictures, we decided to make a Harriet Tubman doll. We spent a few hours on Sunday sewing her and her clothes together. Yesterday, Libby was sick, so she stayed home. We used that opportunity to hand sew each strand of yarn in her hair. One strand of yarn, made two pieces of hair. We tied little knots to keep her hair in place. All of the pictures on the internet showed her hair in a bun. Some of them had her wearing a braid around her head. So, we did both. There is a braid that wraps around the top of her head and into her bun. We spent some fun time together,getting her project ready.

zoo pictures

sleeping, tired beautiful Wardlings...
by the monkeys...

taking a break...

just boys being boys!

saturday's events

Saturday was busy for us. We all went our separate ways. Clyde had to be back at the Stake Center to ref basketball games. This was his last Saturday. Boy am I thrilled! He took Erin and Libby with him. I was meeting Maylee and Mark @ 10, in Asheboro. I had a big shopping day ahead of me, and so I arrange with Maylee and Mark to take the 3 younger Wardling with them to the zoo. Once we got all the carseats and stroller, along with the 3 Wardlings in Maylee's car, I headed out to my pal, Jenn's house. Once I walked up her sidewalk, she squealed. Her husband Peter, had their 3 children for the day. We got in her truck and headed to Gastonia to hit Mary Jo's fabric shop. That is a cool place. I did find what I was looking for, some nylon to make something for Clyde. He had requested it a few times now. So, once that is finished, I'll post what I've made with it. After Mary Jo's, we drove back down 85 to go to the Concord Mill Mall. That is also another cool place! We were starving when we got there, so the first order of business was to eat lunch. We ate at Steak Escape. It's another pricey sandwich shop, but it was very filling. After lunch we headed down to one of my favorite shops for the kids, The Children's Place Outlet. We shopped around a bit and once we realized that the line was at least an hour and a half wait, there was no way I was going to wait in it, to buy a $3 polo for the boys. Had I found a huge amount of stuff for next to nothing, then I would've been glad to wait, but since we were without children and had the whole mall to hit, we were burning daylight, and the only thing that stood between us and the rest of the mall, was the $3 polo. So, we did what anyone else would do, we hid our stuff in hopes that when we came back, the lines would be shorter and then we could buy the stuff. No such luck. We did continue our shopping. We had a blast. It was way nice to catch up with a friend. We hit Old Navy, The Gap, Maidenform, Disney, KB, AC Moore, etc. We went into dozens upon dozens of shops to 'just look.' It was way cool to try bras on and not have one of my children crying as the melodic background music. I didn't get home until after 10pm. I had an entire day without family. It was a nice break, but I really missed them. I'm glad that yesterday, it was just us!

Clyde spent his Saturday with basketball and getting our new dining room table. We went on Thursday night to look at tables. I knew what I wanted. I have always wanted this picnic type table with benches on the side. When I was growing up, there was a gal in our ward, who I just loved. Due to a bad heart, she and her husband couldn't have children. He built their house with his brothers...every log. They lived in this rockin log cabin with a spiral staircase. It was sweet. He also built their table and it was this picnic table with benches. I fell in love with it. With the benches, we can fit more bottoms at the table. While looking for a dining set, I found one that I loved. It however, was the most expensive set at the shop. Clyde and I agreed on another one and bought it. It did come with a bench!! I really am excited to put it in our new dining room! So, Saturday, Clyde and the girls took the seats out of the van and got our table. They then went to the new house and put it there. They also had to run to Wal-mart for a few things. Then, they had to be back at the Stake Center for another game that Clyde was in. That game they were creamed. I'm sure they all played hard and hey- there's always next year!!

Josh, Jacob, and Penny had a blast with Maylee and Mark. The weather was sunny but oh-so windy. I'm glad that I made the kids wear hats and scarfs. They walked the kids all over the zoo...both continents. We usually hit one of them, because the kids are just so grumpy tired. Josh and Jacob walked the whole time. Penny happily rode in the stroller. I am so thankful to Maylee and Mark for helping us out on Saturday. They are wonderful!!

friday nite basketball

Friday was a busy day. The little kiddies and I took a load of stuff to our new house, in the rain. I am so glad that we have a garage. That garage is the coolest! Once we were finished with the house, we drove home, re-load the van with some goodwill stuff and took it. After Goodwill, we came home ate lunch and the kiddies took a nap, while I continued to pack and get rid of stuff. We got a phone call from Mayumi asking if the boys could go play after school. Once the big kids got off the bus, it was within 1/2 an hour Mayumi and children were here. While picking up the boys, they invited the big girls to go play as well. Erin and Libby have rarely moved that fast to get their shoes on. This meant that it was just Penny and Blaklee here with me. Due to the heavy rain on Friday, soccer practice was cancelled for Clyde and he was home early. That was the high lite of my afternoon, having my husband home before dark! Lou came to pick up Blaklee shortly after Clyde arrived home. We decided to have a mini- date. We didn't have to pick up the older kids until 5:30ish, so we had time to visit with one another. We went to Quizno's. Man, are those good sandwiches. Penny got all the attention and soaked it up. We picked up our older kids, and came home to get things ready for my sewing class. Only one gal showed up, so after a few minutes of waiting for the other gals, I cancelled the class. Our older 4 children were invited to go to our neighbor's house for a movie night. This meant, that since my sewing class was cancelled and we had a sitter-ish for the children to go to, that Penny and I could go to Clyde's basketball game at church. I have posted before about when all the children are there, so having one with me was nice. She did put on a show, as you'll see in the pictures. Clyde's team won their brutal battle with the Caswell Ward. Why are they such butt-heads on the court? Caswell...not Summit. Then the refs missed some pretty big fouls and so the sidelines were loud with roars of loyal fans. We did defeat the Caswell team. Clyde made the 1st 4 points for our team as well as the last 2. I think he had 8 total points for the team!

best loved puppy

This morning, as we were awaiting the arrival of the bus, Penny put Uno in her baby doll stroller. She pushed Uno around for several laps around our living room. Uno didn't seem to mind either. She sat there, enjoying the stroll. I should mention that Uno's paws rarely hit the floor. Once she is out and about, or awake from one of her naps, one of our children have her in their arms. Uno will be the best loved dog around. She will be the one that has ribbons on her ears and polished paw nails, thanks to the girls. She may even be a jedi, wearing a cape the next day. Who knows, but we know that she is already the best loved puppy, by 5 of the coolest children, in the land.

i'm loosing my cool

Today, I took the kiddies to Wal-Mart to buy some rubbermaid containers, to use for our move. I bought one humongous one for camping and the 5 mid to large sized ones for clothes and such. The idea is that, I load up the bins with the Wardling's clothes, then take a load to the house and while there, unpack them, hang them up and bring home the empty bins to repeat that process. We really would like to have as much stuff out of our home now as soon as possible. Once the kiddies and I got home, I fed them, while I loaded up the van with our stuff. I even bought, gulp, those icky paper plates to use. (That will have to be another post.) I loaded up our dishes and silverware, along with the 15 other boxes of stuff. We drive to the new house and I unload the van, while Jacob and Blaklee ran around the place. Penny fell asleep, and since we have a garage, I left her in the car seat, to continue her snooze. Once I unloaded the stuff and unpacked a few boxes, it was time to go home. I run down the driveway to check the mail. In it were some typical new homeowner stuff, but there was one thing that caught my attention. In it was our homeowners insurance... & it was a bill. Now Clyde and I have already paid, in full, upfront, for our year's worth of insurance before we even closed on the house. So, I am confused as to why we are getting another bill. When we get home, I call the insurance co. up and the guy won't give me any information, because my name isn't on the policy. WHAT!!! I am the one who actually set up the insurance policy and paid for it. Why the heck is my name not on it??!! It is through the same people we have our car insurance through so, one would think that they would all be connected. The guy asks if we could get my husband on the phone so that he can give verbal approval for the insurance co. to talk to me. I was breathing fire at this point. Still am really. Why is that? I understand for security purposes, but if I have all the info needed and set the dang policy up, why do I need to get my husband's approval to ask and receive an answer to a simple question? That poor guy on the other end of the phone probably added a note like this to our account: "Woman is insane, be careful when speaking to her, she might reach through the phone and choke you!"

FHE cookies

For FHE last night, we baked a box of cookies and decorated them. The kids had a blast decorating their bears.

this is what was left of Josh's bear... :)

ta da!

hop on pop and rub-a-dub

When Clyde came home last night, he was exhausted. His school soccer team had a game, so it was a long day for him. His team won 8-2. Clyde was so tired that he didn't notice the kids climbing on him.

After FHE last night, the babies needed to wash the sticky off of them.

knitting needle accident

Yesterday, Maylee and Mark came for a visit. We were having our quiet day, so no tv. The children were supposed to be cleaning up their rooms, since they failed to do it the day before. So, I sat down to work on a sweater that I have started for Penny, for Christmas. I want to throw it really. It is a k2, p2 rib, but as I increase it, under the arms, it is hard for me to remember which way to increase and in which order. I know that I am supposed to knit it to increase it, even on the purl stitches, but it just doesn't look as pretty as Shena's. I ended up with some p3's and k3's instead of 2's. So, this morning, while waiting in the dentist's office again, I ended up taking out those stitches and beginning again. Hopefully this time it'll look right. Anyway, back to last night. I have mentioned before that Maylee's friend Mark knits and crochets. So, due to boredom, he in a way asked if he could knit something. I gave him a ball of cotton yarn and some straights for him to start a dishcloth or something. We are chatting and he asks hypothetically if a knitting needle could puncture someone. I said yes, depending upon how hard it was thrusted into their body. I mean come on, it is an aluminum, pointed stick. With the right pressure it could do some serious harm. After a few minutes of knitting, he thought that crocheting the dishcloth would be faster, so he switched to a crochet hook instead. Close to 20 minutes or so roll, by and he has crocheted probably 3-5 inches already. He went to move to get comfy on the recliner and all I heard was a "Yelp!" It turned out that as he moved, he flopped back into the chair and a knitting needle that he had been using moved too and as he moved back, he jousted himself, with the knitting needle in his tailbone. It drew blood! Ouch!! So, I guess he answered his own question...and the answer is yes, it is a fact that a knitting needle can puncture skin. Just FYI!

talent show

Last night, our girls were in their school's talent show. Erin's whole class was involved. They sang and danced to Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up." There were singers, musicians, flag bearers, and dancers. It was pretty amazing to see. This was taken right before they went on stage.
Here is a soloist and the dancers in the back...see Erin?
Then, when the singer sang, "you raise me up," the dancers raised up a classmate. This boy did a great job for being in front of a big audience.
Then towards the end of the song, all the students got together and sang the chorus. This is Erin belting it out! (The girl in the front looks mad...) After they sang, they ended it with the pledge of allegiance. Again, they did a prem-o job!!
Libby was also in the talent show. She and her friend Tori drew this picture together. Libby even drew her highlights. I think that this is a beautiful drawing of friendship!! I am so proud of my talented girls!! Libby really enjoyed the talent show. Thankfully, Erin's class went first, so we didn't have to stay the whole time. However, Libby had such excitement for each of the acts that we stayed for a few more of them. There was one act, where there were four girls who did a routine to the song, "We are Family." After their cute dance, Libby leaned in and said, "They aren't really family," with such sass. She had some sassy comment after each act. Libby was totally bummed when we wanted to leave. The other children went to some friends' house, from our ward to play, so we really needed to go fetch them. We had a fun night of watching the talents of our girls!

fire!

Around 5ish yesterday evening, we heard fire trucks that were really close. We live near a fire station, so we hear them scream by, several times a week. This time they sounded alot closer. It turns out that a townhouse on our street, was on fire. There was a big crowd of neighbors outside our house. The children were all scared. To be honest, this was a bit unnerving. As we were leaving for the talent show @ school, this is what it looked like. There were several more down the street to my right, but having this many fire trucks in one spot, was a sight. We also had EMS and fire chiefs as well. There were alot of lights twinkling on our street! It's good to know that we live so close to people who would be willing to risk their lives to save ours.