Home's Jewels: May 2008

Noisy Boys

>> Saturday, May 31, 2008 – Baby of the family, Boys will be boys, On the homefront

The middle boys were taking turns reading to me when I heard singing noises coming from the backyard. I'm not surprised to hear one singing voice, but two???? Little Jonathan rarely talks, rarely vocalizes anything, so when we looked outside and these two munchkins, I quickly grabbed the camera. This is a rare treat for our family. For any "normal" family with babbling children, this is no big deal, but it made us smile very big smiles when seeing Jonathan carry on like this:

Amazing Mother

>> Thursday, May 22, 2008 – Mama loves

I love this story:

Amazing Mother

Here's the video of same story:

Amazing Mother Video

It's very sad that she has to be separated from her own baby, but what a precious gift she is giving to other babies in their time of crisis!

Frugal Queen

>> Tuesday, May 20, 2008 – Always learning, Traveling escapades

We went to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) today and had a blast. Last summer, I bought a family membership to AC Gilbert's Discovery Village which is about an hour's drive from home. OMSI is only 30 minutes from home. You may ask why we purchased the Discovery Village membership when OMSI is closer. Okay, you might not ask, but I'll tell you why.

The basic cost for family membership at OMSI is $135. The cost for a family membership at AC Gilbert is only $65. These memberships last a year and are reciprocal. Which means that I can use my AC Gilbert membership card and walk in to OMSI for FREE. And AC Gilbert membership is less than half the price! If we walked into OMSI today and paid full price, it would have been $58 . . . . just for ONE visit. This, folks, is a no-brainer!

So, if you have children's museums, zoos, etc, around your area, before plunking down the $$ for membership for the attraction closest to your house, why not check and see if there are any other places just a bit further that have a reciprocal program and might be less expensive.

Missing Ingredient

>> Sunday, May 18, 2008 – Baby of the family, Boys will be boys, On the homefront

We had to go to the store today for one missing ingredient. The grocery store is a about 1/2 mile away, so I decided to take the youngest 2 boys for a walk. They were thrilled to go. As soon as I said "go for a walk", Jonathan went back to the house and grabbed his red wagon - - - - because last time we went for a walk, he took his little wagon, so perhaps all future walks will be with the wagon?? who knows!

So, off we went with Jonathan holding the wagon handle with one hand and my hand in the other. This is what it looked like from my very tall perspective:

As I took the picture, the thought ran through my mind that pretty soon he will not want to hold my hand. He will be little Mr. Independent and have no need for mama's hand (so he thinks). There will be battles. He will be coerced into holding my hand - in parking lots, busy streets, but for the most part, he will be able to walk by himself. And so, I'm very aware of the fact that this season - - - of loving to hold mama's hand - - - will soon come to a close. I want to savor every minute of this.

. . . because before you know it, they will be independent and on their own.

It was supposed to rain yesterday

>> Wednesday, May 14, 2008 – Traveling escapades

but the weathermen were wrong. Yesterday was $2 day at the Oregon Zoo and because the weather was threatening rain, hardly anyone was there. Gotta love a crowd-free day at the zoo.

Growin' Up

>> Saturday, May 10, 2008 – Boys will be boys, On the homefront

Bunny is growing up and lost his first tooth. I have mixed feelings about this. If I could bottle him up this age, I would!

The tooth fairy (shhh - dh) was obviously a little sentimental this time and wrote the following note which was left under the pillow with a gold dollar coin, a quarter, and a piece of candy.

Friday, May 09, 2008

Dear B,

Your Papa called me (Miss Tooth Fairy) to say Mommie had pulled out your first tooth and there it was under your pillow tonight! Thank you for such a nice white tooth for me to use.

Wow – I heard you were so brave when the tooth came out, and you didn’t even cry! Thank you, B, for being a big brave boy and letting Mommie pull it out. Since it was your very first tooth, I didn’t want to wait for tomorrow so I came all the way from California to leave a surprise for you.

When will you give me the next tooth? Good-bye for now!

Love,

Boys and Their Toys

>> Thursday, May 08, 2008 – Boys will be boys

There's no excuse for boredom when you have a big yard, dirt, sticks, and snakes!

The Doughnut Process

>> Tuesday, May 06, 2008 – Baby of the family, On the homefront, What's cookin'?

I've had children "helping" me cook since they were able to sit on the counter or grab a stool. Tonight one of those children - who happens to be 6'7" tall decided he wanted to make doughnuts when he heard about the raves of this recipe Crispy and Creamy Doughnuts. Just the mere mention of the word doughnuts and it was all over. Here is a little glimpse of the process. Notice the 2-yr old on the counter. Yep, this is a familiar place for him. I figure his future wife will thank me one day when she's suffering from morning sickness and he prepares a feast for her.

If you happen to watch the video (click the arrow on the second picture), you will see my very stoic child who does not talk. Well, he does talk, but only when he wants to talk. As the youngest of seven children, there is no need for him to talk. It's interesting, as we are doing school, he will copy the children when they read words outloud, but if you ask him to talk, forget it.