Menus

I have tried to follow a menu in the past, but I always get sidetracked. Well, it's time to try again. I have a cute menu calendar for November that I plan to actually make use of. If I succeed, then I'll have a ready answer when the kiddos whine, "We're hungry, what can we have to eat?". :) I still have to work out the details, but I do know that Friday will be turkey day. Of course that depends on whether or not our twenty pound turkey thaws in time.

The Answer to the Riddle

I have grown tired of coming up with clues so here is the answer to the riddle. It was rainy and the leaves were falling the day that we were in the van and I came up with the riddle. Some leaves had fallen on the wet van and stuck fast. The leaves only came off (reluctantly) when I used the windshield wipers. None of the leaves blew off on their own. The wind wouldn't even blow them off. The leaves that were left on only came off after they had dried completely.

Fall Festival

My mom came and watched the kids' swim lessons Saturday. She then took us out to lunch and stuck around to help me with the kids at our church's Family Fall Festival. Thanks Mom!

The kids dressed up for the festival. I didn't have their animal costumes completely ready, so Froggie went as Dorothy and Baby Bear went as a lumberjack. I took a couple pictures with my camera phone. I haven't figured out how to transfer the pictures to our computer yet. I will post them when I do.

It was cold and a little rainy Saturday. They had a petting zoo and pony ride that stayed outside, but the inflatables, games, and "Trunk or Treat" were inside. The inflatables and games were in the gym and those who were going to have decorated car trunks decorated tables in the hallway instead.

On another topic:

My kids love to do their math this year. Those who have workbooks come at me with them at very inopportune times. Two of the kids have to be closely supervised or they fill in every answer in the workbook wrong and we have to erase everything. One does really well on her own (when she likes the assignment). The last one with a workbook would work through the whole workbook in one sitting (with very few mistakes) if I let him. I already have him in an advanced curriculum and I don't want him to run out of work or end up overwhelmed. One child does her work on the computer. She would sit at the computer all day if I let her.

I typed all that as an intro to this: all the kids with workbooks pulled them out this afternoon. Then when I had them put them away after a page or two they got upset. We got home from evening church and shopping tonight and they tried to pull them out again. I thought I got Sunday off from school! lol

Clue: The sticking power is not permanent.

Kat and Dogs

"When does water act like glue?"

That is the riddle, and the next clue will be at the end of this post.

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This is Midnight, a.k.a. "The Bread Thief".

Center: Kitty Kat
Left: Maggie
Right: Midnight
Kat had me take this picture so she could send
a picture of herself with her pets to her pen pals.

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Today's clue: Autumn leaves are falling.

Tonight's Clue

I about forgot to leave a clue.

Here it is: We could see an example while traveling in our van.

ugh!

That's how I feel tonight.

I'm going to bed.

Good night.

Laundry Soap and a Rowdy House

I was almost out of laundry soap, so I made a double batch this time. We go through it so quickly. I'm happy we're not paying for the commercial stuff anymore. If I'm running low, then I just whip up a batch.

Our house is so loud today that we should all be wearing ear plugs. None of the kids can find their inside voices (not even Monkey). To top it all off, I am having trouble understanding what the kids are saying because my ears feel like they have cotton in them. I've been fighting off allergies or a sinus infection for a while now. When the kids do talk quieter (while looking at the floor or somewhere other than in my general direction) I can't hear what they are saying. They get upset and clam up when I ask them to repeat themselves. It's too damp and yucky for us to be outside. A couple of the kids are fighting colds also. If it's possible, I think the dogs are worse than the kids. They don't want to be outside for long but they keep wanting my attention. Maggie keeps coming up and putting her cold nose on me to get my attention (lifting my arm with her head so I will pet her). Midnight keeps coming up and bathing my arm with her tongue -- Yech! One of these days we will cure Midnight of her constant licking. She has gotten better. Baby steps, baby steps . . .


Good try TMBMT. That answer would work but is not the answer I was looking for.

Today's clue: No human need be involved.

I Made a Deal With Kitty Kat Tonight . . .

. . . but, I just realized that I can't write about that on my blog. I didn't ask her first. I made a promise to my children that I would do my best to only type posts about them that wouldn't invade their privacy or comfort level. I aim to keep that promise.

Wow, it's been raining a lot here. It started yesterday afternoon or evening and it is still raining.
The kids and I discussed this riddle: "When does water act like glue?" Think you can figure it out? I'll add clues one at a time until someone posts the answer to our homemade riddle.

An apology

I have to apologize to my sister, TMBMT. Sorry sis! I should have warned you.

I invited my sister to come to Bible Study with me. Normally, that would not be a problem. However, my Bible study group is using the book, EVERY WOMAN'S BATTLE. Now, if it had been a Wednesday evening instead of a Sunday evening, then we would be studying the minor prophets (college lecture style). I think T. would be able to handle that better.

Once again, I apologize sis. I love you!

Biscuits

We needed a bread item or something else that would be filling to go with our lunch today. Since we were all hungry and the rest of our lunch was ready, I decided on drop biscuits. Up to this point, I have stayed away from biscuits for the most part. Dh is a little picky when it comes to biscuits (he likes the restaurant kind). Anyway, the drop biscuits were so quick and easy that I'll probably start making them on a regular basis. The kids couldn't get enough of them. It was a good thing I made a double batch.

I might make them with cinnamon and sugar for breakfast sometime.

Baby Bear says...

I asked Baby Bear what I should write about tonight. This is how our conversation went:

Me: "What should I write about tonight?"

BB: "About Gawd."

Me: "About God?"

BB: "Yeah."

Me: "What should I write about God?"

BB: "About we're going to Him."

Me: "We're going to Him?"

BB: "And fishy and animal crackers."

Me: "Are you going to eat fishy and animal crackers?"

BB: "Yeah, in my c'ass."

BB then ran off to play with Daddy.

I got to go shopping alone!

The last couple times I took my kids shopping with me, they couldn't handle themselves very well. So, I told them that I wouldn't take them with me to do our weekly shopping for a while.
I never got to the store to shop last week (good thing I had stocked up the week before). Last week when Jon was available, I was miserable with allergies or a cold or something and just didn't want to go anywhere. I digress. Anyway, Jon watched the kids today, so I could go shopping alone. Baby Bear cried when I left, but was asleep when I got home. I had to carry the groceries in by myself, but I didn't mind because Jon was playing a game with the kids who weren't napping.
I did just drop the groceries and instruct them that they were putting them away. A couple minutes after I brought the last of the groceries in, the girls had them put away. Yea, girls!

Thanks Jon!

Thanks girls!

If the kids aren't asleep soon, then "they" will be coming to take me away.

He he ha ha . . .

I didn't get much sleep last night. I think the kids got too much sleep. They have been bouncing off the walls all day. We went to dh's workplace to run an errand for him. I let the kids get out of the van to play while we waited on him to come out. Baby Bear took his football with him so we played with that. We went to Wal-mart to pick up some items for dh. I figured that since they had run around a lot, they would be calm. Nope. We went in for three items. The kids kept picking on each other. We went through the line and I couldn't watch the items as the cashier scanned them. I was too busy telling the kids that they were not getting candy and to keep their hands to themselves. We were about to leave the store when two dds had to use the restroom. While the rest of us were waiting, we noticed that someone had removed a plush toy from its box. I notified an employee who seemed to be in charge of the shift. She didn't even go look to see what I was talking about. We got back to dh's workplace and discovered that I was overcharged for one of the items. We went back to Wal-mart, double checked the display, and then claimed our refund.

By the time we got home I was too tired to cook. We had an interesting supper:

• saltine crackers with apple butter
• graham crackers with apple butter
• whole wheat bread with apple butter
• baby carrots
• a slice of cheese
• water.

I just passed the items out as I prepared it.

Next came our bedtime routine and time for bed. Now, I'm just waiting for them to fall asleep.

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We think we found all the music. Dh may have to reenter some album covers though. Thank you TMBMT for being ready to help.

Poof! It's gone! It's all gone!

Well, some of it can be found.

What is it? It is my husband's music that was on our computer. I'm not talking about a few uploaded CDs either. No, most of my husband's >600 CDs and many hours worth of music purchased and downloaded online were on our computer. The music files in the program dh uses were all wiped out today. How? Your guess is as good as mine. Where did the files go? Again, your guess is as good as mine.

This is what we do know:

One dd was given permission to listen to Jump 5 and Zoe Girl on the computer. Everything was fine and several of the kiddos were dancing around and singing when I went to wake up my dh so he could get ready for work. After a little while I quit hearing the music, but I figured the albums were done playing. I come back from waking dh and another dd was sitting in Daddy's computer chair (a big No-no when permission has not been granted). The afore mentioned dd was standing beside the chair. When I walked up, they asked me how to get out of the movies file (I didn't even realize there was a movies file in the program since we don't have any movies downloaded.) and back to the music file. Said dd then reaches over her sister clicks the mouse and says, "Oh, that's how you do it!" She then clicked play and nothing happened. I shooed her sister out of the chair and sat down to investigate. As I'm failing at finding the album the girls were looking for, dh walked up and said why isn't my music on there. Huh! He was right. All the music was gone! Of course, neither daughter knows what was done to delete all those files. Needless to say, our household once again has the rule that no child is allowed on the computer without very close supervision.

The good news is that dh's old media player still has a lot of his music in it's files, he thinks he can download the music on his ipod back onto the computer, and he has a back-up disc or two that we can put back on the computer. We're still not sure how we can retrieve any of the albums he bought and downloaded online. No joke, there was probably about a full week's worth of downloading (we have dial-up). He also had over three days worth of CDs downloaded.

Only disbelief registered with both of us at first. I guess I'll get to learn more about our computer while I try to retrieve his music!

I think I found dh's music in our recycle bin!

The memories didn't get thrown away.

When I was about nine years old, my grandmother took me with her to visit an elderly friend. Her friend thought I was cute or something. She gave this pretty little dish/container. It was a delicate piece similar to pottery or china. It stood on three small curved "legs" and had a three dimensional violet on its lid. The lid must have been dropped before, because the violet had been glued back on. When I was young, I kept the dish in the box that my grandmother's friend had placed it in for safe keeping. Anytime I wanted to admire it's beauty or remember the visit I would take it out of the box. I was always very careful to replace it. I didn't want to break it.

After I got married, I pulled the dish out of its box and set it out for everyone to see. After my grandmother died, the dish became even more special to me.

For approximately twenty-three years I have kept that little dish safe. I'm a little sad to say that the little dish now resides in the trash. Baby Bear (who was in desperate need of his nap) knocked the dish off the buffet it was on and the bowl part of the dish broke. The lid also went into the trash. After all, what good is a lid without it's dish?

Poor little Baby Bear went right down for his nap after that. I think he was too upset about breaking the dish to argue.

I gave Baby Bear a big smile and asked him if he had a good nap when he woke up. He grinned and said he did. Nothing more was said about the dish.

I will no longer glance at that pretty little dish and remember my visit with Grandma. However, I can still visit the memory from time to time. No one can take that from me.

Welcome to My Blog!

Thanks for visiting my blog.

My name is Brandi. I started this blog for many reasons. I plan to use this blog to share my thoughts, my family's adventures, and much more.

I have a wonderful husband who works really hard so that I can stay home with our children.

Our children have animal nicknames, so I will refer to the kids by their animal names. I have four daughters: Froggie is 12, Kitty Kat is 11, Birdie is 9, and Monkey is 7. My two sons are Puppy Dog who is 5 and Baby Bear who is 2. I may post some pictures of the kids dressed in costumes that mimic their nicknames at a later date.