The power of TV

It amazes me what a boy Michael is! He runs, he yells, he shoots, he makes motorcycle and big truck noises, he picks his nose, he gets into kung fu fighting positions, he pees in the yard. . . I think a lot of it must come from TV. . . I should have done this from the beginning, but I have finally put a huge restriction on what he watches. The kids favorite show used to be SpongeBob Squarepants!!! Now I will admit there is some funny shit on that show, but most of it is soo disgusting! Before the restriction we were watching it while we ate breakfast and SpongeBob got some kind of fungus disease. . . It was soooo disgusting I couldn't eat my breakfast!!!

Now Michael loves watching Super Why and Syd the Science kid on PBS. I work weekday mornings so I don't get to watch them with him, but one episode of Syd the Science Kid that I did see, was all about simple machines. This episode was about levers and it looked like there were more episodes to cover the rest of the simple machines. I was so excited to see that episode! I tutor 6th and 7th graders in science and math and my 7th graders had just finished the section about simple machines. I wonder if they would watch Syd the Science Kid, because they sure seemed like they didn't get it. lol

Now he runs around yelling "Super Why to the rescue!" and "Me Super Michael with the power to help!" His favorite book right now is Let's be Helpful . I am trying to really capitalize on his helpful attitude. He loves vacuuming. ( I really should take advantage of this love a little more)

I suppose I have some more restrictions to enforce, afterall my 3 year olds favorite movie is Mall Cop. . . just today he was walking around saying "mall cop don't drink"
hmmm . . .
On second thought maybe that has some good lessons in there. LOL

Michael is 3!!!

For Michaels birthday this year we took him jet-skiing. He absolutely loves going jet-skiing! He thinks he is the one driving and he loves going on the "bump bumps"



All day long Michael would get really excited, jump up and down and exclaim "its bithdie pah-tee day!" Finally it was time for cake and candles.



We all started singing. . . and before we could finish. . . He blew the candles out! Grandpa re-lit them so that we could finish singing and tell him about birthday wishes.




He couldn't wait to dig in!



Here he is with Grandpa, showing us how old he is now.



Yesterday Michael and I were talking about how old he is again. I had him show me on his fingers. . . he held up 3 fingers and looked at them and said "one, two, tee. . . me almost 4!"

Man's (Michael's) Best Friend

The other day I got the camera out to take a pic of something, Michael saw it, and got all excited saying "take my picture Mom" So I followed him outside and this is the pose he took. . .



Then Buddy came along and picture time was over,



and they were off to continue their play in the backyard.

The following pics are from the day before. . . Michael kept bringing me popsicles wanting me to open them for him. So I did, the kid plays outside soo much and I can't get him to drink enough water. . . so I am glad that he will eat popsicles. I was busy doing something, then I hear the silverware drawer open and someone looking for a spoon or something. I go out on the patio to find Michael with a half gallon of ice cream. He took a bite. . .

then gave Buddy a bite.

Luckily the camera was right there, so I took a few shots then quickly took the spoon and the ice cream away.

Michael cried, but Buddy liked it cuz she got the rest of the container of ice cream.

I want Pancakes!

Yesterday morning Michael and I made pancakes and eggs for breakfast. Then
I went and took my shower and was putting my makeup on when I heard some clanking in the kitchen.

I went into the kitchen to find. . .


Michael washing his hands at the sink with hand sanitizer. and. . .

A trail of pancake mix from the cupboard with the mixing bowls. . .

. . . to the stovetop where he had poured the mix in with water and into the frying pan to cook the pancakes.


Notice the splat of margarine on the floor.


I almost lost it. . . then realized this was a great "kodak moment"


(It took me more than half an hour to clean all this up.)

Michael Loves Kai

Cindy won't let me keep Kai, so I am thinking of adopting a toddler! Michael absolutely adores Kai and loved being the "big brother" while Kai was here! Michael tried to teach him everything he knows and when he wanted Kai's attention he would say in a sweet voice "Elmer Kai come here." and when it didn't work the first time he would say in a stern loud voice "Elmer Kai! Come here!"


The first thing Michael had to teach Kai was how to drive!


Kai didn't quite get what Michael was trying to teach, so Cindy took over.


Kai liked the real thing much better than just driving on Mario Kart!


The next lesson was mowing the lawn. (Michael, corporal punishment was done away with years ago)

Kai was a natural at lawnmowing!


Uh oh! Is it out of gas?


After all the work was done it was time for Grandpas banana pancakes!


MMMM MMMM MMMMMMMMM banana pancakes!

Red Light Green Light

Michael is an extremely active 2 year old boy! He loves to run around the backyard with Buddy, Mommy, Daddy, Aunt Sara, or Grandpa! A couple months ago I taught him about traffic lights. . .
He took what he learned about traffic lights and turned it into a game. We had never played Red Light Green Light with him, but one day when he and I were running around in circles on the trampoline he stops dead in his tracks puts both hands out to stop me and yells out "Red light!" Then when he wanted us to go again he put his hands down and yelled out "Green Light!" He does the same thing when I take him out to ride his bike.

What a cute smart kid!

Through a Window

Through a window she saw the world

People came and people went
To each one her love she sent
Many things she couldn't do
Like pick her nose or tie her shoe
The things she could, she did the best
The lives she touched she truly blessed
As children, she taught us how to knit,
reading, writing, arithmetic
As we got older, and times were rough
Her life lessons she shared with us
She always lent a listening ear
and in our hearts we hold her dear
She suffered pain and poor health
She lived for others and Not herself
There are no words to express our gratitude
Instead we will live our lives with her good attitude
Through a window she saw the world
Through a window she changed our world



In honor of our aunt, Linda, Cindy and I wrote that poem. Linda's funeral was held today in Springville, Utah. We were unable to go, but we wanted to do something to show Aunt Linda that we care, and to express how grateful we are for all that she is. We love you Aunt Linda and we are so happy for you, that you are now doing cartwheels in heaven!

Backseat Driver!

Lately Michael has been doing this thing where he sticks his hand out and yells "stop" whenever I am not listening to him, or getting after him about something. So, the other day, Michael and I are going to the store and I am singing along with the radio. He sticks his hand out and yells "Stop Mommy stop!" I quit singing. Again he sticks his hand out and yells "Stop Mommy stop!" "Too fast!" I then realize he wants me to stop the car. So I explain some traffic rules to him. ie stop at a red light go on a green light.

Now, whenever we come to a red light he tells me to stop. If the light is green he yells "go." I am trying to teach him how lights work when making turns. Because whenever I go to make a right turn at a red light he freaks out yelling "Stop Mommy, red light!"

Work Work Work

I think in my last posts I was looking for work. Well, as you may have guessed from my lack of posts, I found work. I am now working at an adult family home 2 24 hour shifts a week and tutoring at a middle school another 24 hours a week. So, I think that has been a good excuse for abandoning my blog.

Just recently I found that there is a wifi connection somewhere near my work, so in the evening when all the patients have gone to bed, I have been able to get online which has been awesome catching up with everyone on Facebook! Anyhow, since I realized this, I will start posting some stories about Michael again. As long as this person keeps their wifi unsecured.

Wishful Wednesday

I am getting back to blogging, I guess. To kick it off I will do a Wishful Wednesday then if I feel like it I will do a lil update, but most importantly I will be posting some more stories about Michael.

1. I have all the energy I need, to do anything I choose!

2. I have all the money I need, to do anything I choose! : )

3. I have all the time I need, to do anything I choose!

A day late

Happy Belated Birthday Cindy! I did sing to you on your voicemail yesterday, but I wanted to post a Happy Birthday post to you. Cindy turned 24 yesterday, I can't believe how old we are all getting. When we were kids all of my friends thought that she was a grown up trapped in a kids body. Now we think she is a kid trapped in a grown ups body. LOL

I love you Cindy and I hope you had a wonderful Birthday!

When it rains it pours!

As many of you know Todd lost his decent paying job and so I am now desperately looking for work. I finally got an interview on Friday, but on Thursday (last week) I bent over to pick up a toy and threw my back out. I had to scream for Todd to come help me. He basically had to carry me to bed. I went to the interview on Friday, on some pretty heavy medication, needless to say I did not hear back.
I have been in the most excruciating pain I have ever had. This is worse than broken tailbones, surgeries or even childbirth. It hurts to lay down it hurts to sit, hurts to stand and hurts to walk. It was finally letting up last Monday, then I reached for a diet coke, and again had to scream for Todd to help straighten me up and get me into bed.
So I have been trying to nurse my back back into working order, and trying to find work. Freaking out about how I am going to find work let alone work with my back this way, and how is my back going to get better if I can't see a doctor because I don't have money to pay for that let alone any of our other bills!

Anyone wanna buy a boat?

Apple Heaven

Don't these look scrumpsious?!


Todd made the best apple pie!


Jamie dried some apples in her fancy food dehydrator.


I dried 3 times as many apples in Russ's homemade food dehydrator.

Then I made some yummy Apple Jelly. Here's how:

First wash the apples


Then cut them in quarters


Juice them (Russ has a juicer so I just used his, if you don't have a juicer then put the quarters in a large pot, add ten cups water and cook them. Once cooked strain the juice through cheesecloth. I used Sure Jell pectin so I needed 7 cups of juice)
I put the apple quarters in the juicer, filled it halfway then sprinkled on some apple pie spice filled it the rest of the way and sprinkled on some more spices. I thought this would give an extra yummy to the jelly.



I didn't take pictures of the next step because I had to do it quickly and according to the directions "exact."
I sent Todd to the store for the pectin and asked him to get the no sugar one, needless to say he got the one that you have to use sugar. But hey, he found the pectin. So whatever type of pectin you get just follow the directions exactly as they say.

Here is the finished product.




Note* If you don't have a generous uncle with an apple orchard I think it would be more cost effective to make the jelly out of apple juice you buy at the store.

A is for Apple

Last year Michael and Todd went with Grandma and Grandpa out to Karls apple orchard to pick apples. He grows the most delicious gala and fuji apples I have ever had! I thought that would be fun for us to do again this year so we got permission from Karl, who so kindly let us come and pick some apples. Thanks Karl


We tried to teach them to twist then pull to preserve the twigg for next years crop.


They weren't really interested in picking apples, but they loved running up and down the row of trees!


Look at all the apples we got! On the way home we thought of all the things we would make with them.

Cousins

Michael absolutely loves having his cousin Genesee here with us! They have had so much fun together. Here are some pictures of the fun things they have been up to.

Michael and Genesee somehow got Grandpa to jump on the tramp with them, or as Michael would say "Grandpa fump."


Every year the neighbors sell discount pumpkins in their driveway. So we walked over and bought some pumpkins to carve. Michael loves their dog Bandit.

They love playing together in the backyard. Todd rigged up a wagon to the back of Michaels truck so that he could pull her instead of run over her.

This is my favorite, laying on my bed, watching a movie, settling down for the night.

Thankful Thursday. . . a little early

I am having a really rough day so I am making a thankful list a couple days early in hopes that I will feel better about life.

1. I am thankful for our health
2. I am thankful for vacuum cleaners
3. I am thankful for comfortable clothes
4. I am thankful for DVD players and DVDs like Finding Nemo
5. I am thankful for indoor plumbing

Wow that took me 20 minutes to come up with that list!

Economic Crisis. . . Who is at fault?

Wow am I ticked off right now! I just finished watching the VP debate and then started thinking about the "economic crisis." The GREED of the wealthy is so aggravating!

As lower middle class Americans, my husband and I have struggled with our credit for as long as we have been married. Due to periods of unemployment we were unable to pay some medical bills and cell phone bills, which then went to collections. Thus accruing more fines and debt and delinquencies reporting to our credit reports. I must also add that money mismanagement in early adulthood also aided in lowering our credit scores to below 600.

We have experienced first hand how having poor credit leaves you prey to predatory lenders. When you have poor credit the only auto loans you can get are at extremely high interest rates. The only credit cards you can get have large fees and high interest rates attached to them. Now days many employers look at your credit reports before hiring you.

When trying to fix your credit score the only advice you can find is pay your bills on time and pay off your collections. How does one do this if they can't find a job because they have poor credit?

Like most Americans it has been our dream to have our own home. To pay a mortgage on a property that would be ours rather than pay rent to a wealthy landlord. Two years ago we looked for a mortgage through Countrywide. We received one offer from a bank with incredibly ridiculous terms, high interest, and balloon payments. Thank God that my husband talked with his boss about this and she advised against this. We were thinking of going through with it because we really wanted a house of our own, a yard for our son to play in, and a garden to grow vegetables.

In the debate tonight the question was asked in regards to the economic crisis "Who do you think was at fault? . . . Was it the greedy lenders? Was it the risky home-buyers who shouldn't have been buying a home in the first place? And what should you be doing about it?"

HMMMM!!! let me think about that. The risky home-buyers who shouldn't have been buying a home in the first place! OH PLEASE! It was the greed of the filthy rich!!!

OH that urks me! Extremely greedy lenders took advantage of people with poor credit. They probably used the term "less than perfect credit" to lure them in. These "risky home-buyers" wanted to live the American Dream. A bank was willing to lend to them. Sure there was a balloon payment or it was an interest only payment plan. (WHO THE HELL CAME UP WITH THAT?) Of course they went for it. Mortgage brokers were probably telling them that this was their chance. They could agree to these terms now and in a little while they could refinance to a conventional fixed rate, or they probably pumped them up on how they could make money on this, in a year they could sell that house for tens of thousands more than they were getting it for that day.

So the greed of the lenders, the greed of the sales people, and the failure to regulate lending practices lead to this crisis!

And now they hope to pass a $700 billion bailout bill. Since government is considering stepping in and it will be my tax dollars that go to pay for this I demand that they consider helping the "risky home-buyer" get out of the grasp of the predatory greedy lenders, by getting them out of interest only loans, or crazy balloon payments, and into conventional loans.

THANKFUL THURSDAY

I can't believe a week has come and gone already. I am especially filled with gratitude today.

1. I am thankful for my mom and Russ and the support that they have given us. My mom is an extremely caring person who worries about her kids non-stop and would do anything to help us.

2. I am thankful to live in this great country! Even though it has its problems it is still the "Land of Opportunity"

3. I am thankful that Todd did well at his interview and was offered the position at Coinstar.

4. I am thankful for hard times because they really make me appreciate the good times.

5. I am thankful for Karl's apple orchard. His Organic Fuji apples are so delicious!

While I was on the phone with my dad

The other day I called my dad and just as the phone was ringing Michael picked up the other phone and started talking. I couldn't hear my dad and he couldn't hear me over Michaels blabbering. Finally he quieted down and let us talk. Just as I was about to get off the phone I found out why he was suddenly quiet. He walked out of Sara's room looking like this.




The kid loves lotion! For some reason he thinks it is conditioner.

WISHFUL WEDNESDAY

I have a dream board or vision board and on it I have a lot of long term dreams or goals. I look at it everyday and go over what my dreams are. I started the dream board in January and since then about half of them have happened.

I thought it would be fun to do a Wishful Wednesday to focus me on some short term goals and to let you all know what some of my dreams are.

My three wishes this week are. . .

1. I wish that Todd does well at his interview with CoinStar and that he gets hired right away.

2. I wish that ESD123 will call and tell me that they want to hire me to be a Prevention/Intervention Specialist.

3. I wish Michael would easily go to sleep at naptime and bedtime.