Roll Call

Roll Call… It’s time for a kid update

Samantha—aka Saimee (Say-me), Essie (es-see), and mostly Hermonie. Since the end of the summer Samantha has read nothing but Harry Potter. She has read the 3rd book four times (that one is her favorite) and she is slowly reading the 5th book with Scott (so he can edit). Before bed she often asks for me to braid her hair so it will be wavy the next day. Ironically I have the perfect Hermonie wavy hair and I straighten it most days. She has offered to trade hair, but we haven’t figured out how to make that one work yet. Although Harry Potter has been great fun for her imagination, I think I am ready to see her reading other books again. Her birthday is in 4 months and she has been planning her Harry Potter party. I am not sure what is really involved, but she has been making props over the last month and it seems pretty elaborate.

Jacob—is our second grader. He has the same teacher Samantha had in second grade so we expect great things from him. I finally started Samantha and Jacob with a piano teacher this summer and it has been fun to watch them progress. Jacob obviously has a natural talent and is catching up to Samantha. He wants to play everything turbo fast, and I constantly have to remind him that not everything sounds good that fast. The biggest problem with going fast is that it is really hard to fill a half hour of practicing every day. He lost his first front tooth a week before school started. It was super cute! But I never took a picture. The next week we were at the pool and he knocked his other tooth out. I took a picture right away. Ironically it is the second tooth that is growing in. At this rate I will get the one tooth missing picture after all.

Joshua—is a smartee. A few weeks ago he got to be King for the Day at school. He wore his crown all day at home and then snuck it in his backpack and took it back to school the next day. When I picked him up from school, he was wearing his crown again. I wonder what the teacher thought about that. He loves that kind of attention. One of his favorite tee-shirts is the one I brought back from Washington in April; it says “Future President!”

Matthew—is really coming out of his shell. Granted both twins are plenty noisy and rambunctious at home, out in the real world they are a little more quiet. In Sunday school they just sit like perfect angels and never talk (well maybe not always). Well with the start of school that changed for this guy. His Sunday school teacher says that he completely changed. He is constantly raising his hand and wants to talk and answer questions. Apparently he is the same way at school.

Funny story: When we were getting ready to go to the beach a few weeks ago he was dressed ready to go, but I mentioned he needed to bring an extra pair of clothes. 10 minutes later I found him double dressed with underwear and all over his swim suit. I tried hard not to laugh, but he got the hint and took them off.

Alexander—our little boy. He decided that he didn’t need his crib anymore. I was ready to keep him in there forever after all there was no rush to put him in a bed. He could climb in and out anytime he wanted, and that is what he did. He started climbing out of his crib after we put him to bed and I would find him in the guest bed in his room. It only took one fall before Scott pulled the toddler bed out of storage. I haven’t seen him use his crib since.

The other day Alexander really needed a hair cut. He did a great job last time sitting still, but I was short on time so it seemed easier to buzz. After all it will grow back. Well I hope it grows back fast, I miss his hair. He looks cute, but I swear it made him look younger. I thought hair cuts made kids look older.
He really is talking these days. His favorite phrase is “What?” He will say it over and over and then once he comprehends what you are saying he repeats back what you said. He is a little parrot. The kids have fun telling him things to say.
He has discovered the world of Thomas the tank engine. I cleared out a lot of toys a couple of years ago and since we had plenty of Geotrax that is the train system that won. We only kept a few trains, but those are like gold around here. He loves the books and insists on a story every time he goes to sleep. He tries to take them with us everywhere, but I have already lost 2 library books, so now they stay home.

What is most important?

Thursday, September, 10, 2009

Most nights I feel like I am scrambling to get kids to bed, I tuck one in then move on to the next, but the first is out of bed before I know it. With five kids this game seems to goes on for a while, needless to say bed time has been a struggle around here for years. By the end of the day I just want kids to jump in bed and stay there. Quick hugs and kisses are all I need. Then I have those random days where I stop and really take advantage of the special time at night.

Last night Jacob was just lying in bed when I came into his room, surprise, surprise. How could I not stop and talk to him, I didn’t have to tell him to do anything. He already has his P.J.’s on, brushed his teeth and was just laying there (no toys hiding under the pillow either). --so I laid down next to him for a chat.

One of the questions I asked him was what was most important in his life right now. I was expecting an answer like, friends or Xbox but he said money. That got my curiosity. Of course the Nerf gun and the huge $100 Lego set he has been asking for pops into my mind.

Me: “Why money?”
Jacob: “Well I need it for my mission, and to buy a house… do you need money to get married?”

Those are pretty deep thoughts for a little second grader. Apparently Jacob wants to be a doctor, because my brother is a doctor and Scott told him that Craig makes more money than he does.

We really didn’t get to talk too long, because after awhile there were plenty of interruptions and once everyone knew I was talking on Jacob’s bed they all wanted me to lay on their beds.

I guess I should take more time at bed time, but it just always seems like a crazy time and by the time I win the game with all 5 in a bed I am done. I am glad Scott takes more time with them when tucking in, I guess I should learn from his example.

School has started

Pictures and stories HERE!

Out Past Curfew

I guess I will forgo the long post about our pet bird in the microwave vent, since things didn’t end to well for him. Apparently birds get dehydrated after 24 hours and you have to feed them with a syringe of water to nurse them back to health. Ignorant, we released our trapped bird of 2 days and put him outside; happy to have him free but then he didn’t make it. (We didn’t know he was trapped, we thought he had found a nice home--just a little to close for our comfort). Anyway that is old news, on to today happenings. Last night I stayed out past curfew. In fact I was up so late I had a hard time finding a grocery store that was open. I am a night person and work graveyard shifts, so pulling an all nighter isn’t that big of a deal. However, usually I am earning money not spending it.

I have only been couponing for a year now, but I got excited when I heard that for one day only Kroger would be doubling all coupons up to one dollar. It took me a while to get organized, cut my coupons and get my spreadsheet ready. I meant to go at midnight, but it was 2am before all was put in order. As I pulled into the store lot there were a good handful of cars, but I was told the store wasn’t open. I had 4 more stores to choose from, but I didn’t want to guess wrong at which were 24hr. stores so I decided to back track home and look up them up to avoid any further delays. Apparently, the Kroger site was not accurate. Kroger stop #2 was also closed. At this point I was ready to call it a night, but I pushed on to store #3.

The store was hopping with activity. The lines were long, there was beeping everywhere, a girl was even sorting coupons on the floor. I grabbed my two carts and took it slow. I knew I had all night, and I didn’t want to back track. 3 hours and 25 minutes later I exited the store. What a fun night! Remember I work nights so at 6:30 am I was still chipper. I bought $400 worth of groceries for $160. Sorry I am too lazy to pull the receipts and get exact numbers. I took a picture (frozen and fridge stuff excluded) but not a good one with everything stacked nice and neat. It was the most groceries I have ever brought home. The kids were amazed, and excited and at the goodies. Surprisingly even though I was 3 hours late to the start of the sale, there were some items that were already gone. No fruit snacks for us. Plus I didn’t make the best decisions. Who buys oversized sandwich baggies? Those aren’t going to work in school lunches.

Couponing is a fun hobby. Scott pointed out that I would have had a bigger profit if I had just spent the night at work and skipped the coupons hassle, but where is the fun in that? It would have been just as fun holding little babies at the hospital, but the accomplished feeling of being organized and walking out of the store a head my game is hard to beat. Plus checking out at 6:30 had some benefits. The late night frustrated people were gone, and the early birds were just getting started, so I had no competition at the cash register.

As a closing note, Alexander wanted to let everyone know that he appreciated the gifts and calls and that he and Scott had great birthdays last week. Click Here for the Birthday Post.

A picture is worth a thousand words

If a picture is worth a thousand words, what do you do if you have a thousand pictures. My hard drive is on over load. While visiting Salt Lake last month I took a couple hundred pictures, Scott took over 200 in just one weekend, then I shared my pics with my family and collected a few more. The result---not what you might think. I had to simplify which means this is just the tip the highlights and the rest of the pictures will just have to wait for scrapbook. Which might be a few years. I still owe my mom her Christmas present, my 2007 scrapbook.

One of the reasons for my desire to drive to Salt Lake involved two new little family members, so I gave these girls their own page. So visit the New Cousins first and then check out what we did last month. Salt Lake 2009

A lot of two's

Two days ago my hubby celebrated his birthday and in two days my baby will turn two. It is always fun to have birthdays come in two’s. Alex has already had two parties and I still don’t think he has a clue. Of course both of those parties were combined with his daddies so maybe when he is the center of attention he will enjoy the day.

He is not a baby anymore though he loves to still be cuddled. Last night he crawled into bed with me somewhere around two and it took me a while it register there was a little boy sleeping next to me. He was not happy when I put him back in his crib and it took two more times and a gate before he settled back to sleep. We are trying to get back into a schedule since our trip, so I put the kids to bed at a decent bedtime but they took over two hours to go to sleep. Unfortunately I think Alex got out of bed more than two times tonight, it was more like twenty. This is going to be a fun year of terrific twos.

As for Scott, I hope he had a good day. I got up some decorations up but we were recovering from our drive and trip so there was no cake/ice cream on his special day. He is a wonderful husband and great dad. Alex jumps to hug him anytime he comes home. He really didn’t want to do the whole drive to Utah thing, but he really was sweet to drive and then fly back home to work while we played. We missed him this last month and are glad to be back home. Be looking for more updates, but it may be a day or two.

Happy
Birthday Boys!

Salt Lake Party

Houston Party

Eat my bubbles!

That is the kind of trash talk you hear at swim meets these days. My kids thought it was funny. It was fun to hear them learn all the team cheers and have some team spirit. After 8 weeks we have a lot of stories and a million pictures. Here is the recap...Swim Team.

I think it came with a warning?

A few years ago I bought the coolest slicer from Pampered Chef with my birthday money. I was so excited! My sister in-law had one and I loved it. Can you guess the first thing it cut? My thumb- I guess I wasn't holding it right and my thumb slipped over the blade cutting a diagonal line from the top middle down to my corner of my nail. Luckily back then we lived .2 miles from the ER, but 6 hours and a few stitches later I returned home. No dinner was served that night. I thought I would always have a lopsided thumb, but now you I don't even notice it. My thumb has grown back nicely, although I have no feeling on that side.

The next Thanksgiving it took out Scott's thumb. Well who wants to spend Thanksgiving in the ER, so we just did our best to bandage it tight to stop the bleeding and Scott managed and suffered for the next few weeks.

Since it has been years since either of these incidents, I am sure you can guess where this is going. We had a third incident this week. Joshua has acquired the new job of unloading the dishwasher once a week (minus the glass and now anything sharp). A sharp blade was tucked underneath and he held it just right and whacked half his nail off. I thought for sure it would be another ER trip, but after a Popsicle, we got a good look. Then we put pressure on it for a while as Josh ate a bowl of ice-cream. Then after consulting with the family Doctor (aka Uncle Craig) and sending him a photo I used my rusty nursing skills to bandage the thumb up. Joshua got a piece of gum for that procedure.

Now that we have digressed to just a band aide it doesn't seem that big of a deal. But he was glad to have a no-swim pass for a day. He is getting better at the swimming, but 8 weeks of swimming 5-6 days a week has not been his favorite. We are on the count down. One more practice and one more meet, then swim team will be over.

On a side note-- At first I went to the Pampered Chef site to get a picture and they have made some cool improvements. I also noted that all extra blades are now stored in their own enclosed casings. I guess our warning only applies to the older models.

**Here is the first installment of our family vacation...The Beach.**

Mr. Personality

A month ago today I was in Epcot enjoying fireworks! Where are my pictures you may ask? Well, I put a little teaser up on the family page and played around with some video, but it is a huge project that has hit a major complication.

Meet Mr. Personality.


This little guy who has been flying under the radar as the sweetest baby in the world is approaching his 2nd birthday and finding his place in our family. This past week he mastered escaping the play pen. He has gotten out before, but usually only when he was really mad or when the play pen was close to something that could give him leverage. This week I tried to set up a little schedule of school time/reading time with the older group and that became playpen time. Alex lasted two days and realized he was not where the action was.

Normally his nap time is my work time since I don’t get much done with him either in my arms/or hanging on my legs. This is really a fun phase. :) But with kids at home we are still adjusting, so it took me a little bit longer to clean up morning stuff and lunch before I sat down for me time. However with his new skill nap times are taking a hit because he realized that if he can climb out of the play pen why not try the crib. It is a little bit higher but really all you have to do is lower yourself down.

So I am going to have to find a different time to work on those photos that haven’t been touched recently. In the meantime at least I processed Preschool Graduation, and the Triathlon that I participated in a few weeks back.

Those will have to do for now; in addition to the little clip that I uploaded of Alexander’s new favorite word. It is actually more of an expression. Alex makes the best face- but it is so unpredictable that I had a very hard time capturing it. He will purse his lips together and say “OOUUU” when he hears or sees something that surprises him. He really likes rumble noises like the other day when a tractor when by cutting the grass. I was finally able to catch him because we had a thunder storm and that noise at least became a little predictable. This little kid is talking in 4-5 word sentences now, of course I don’t catch 75% of it, but he knows what he is saying and he can repeat it syllable for syllable.

Today was a Big Day

Today was a big day! Besides the fact that Samantha and Jacob are finishing up their last hour of school for the year, today I submitted all the paper work and registered the twins for Kindergarten. I can't believe they are done with preschool. We missed the round-up when our family was out of town, so they gave me a folder to take home a week ago.

It was a lot of fun riding to school today with Samantha and Jacob. We escorted them inside and then went to the office. I talked to the counselors and introduce the twins to some of the staff. Some were surprised, they know me from volunteering but had never realized I had twins (that's because I only volunteer when they were at school).

On one of the forms they left two lines for you to provide any extra information to take into consideration when placing the child. Only two lines! The last two years, for their preschool, I have been required to write an essay and now all I get is two lines. It was one thing to send my oldest to kindergarten, but this is going to be a whole new game. Samantha was ready for kindergarten at three, we were both happy when that day came. Matthew and Joshua have never been separated from each other for more than a few hours. How are they going to handle being in separate classrooms with all new kids and teachers.

Today starts our summer but we have 11 weeks to get them ready to go. Samantha told me this morning that she has mixed feelings about the end of school. She has always had wonderful teachers, but this year her teacher was exceptional. I loved to go visit their classroom because I loved her teacher too. She was a great example to me on how you can always take the opportunity to teach. I loved how she handled her students and her enthusiasm and interest for what they had to say. Samantha would always tell me about days where they would have group discussions and just sit and talk as a class. Samantha has always loved reading and learning, but this year she really has learned to love Math and Science too.

Last week their class put on a poetry program. Everyone was to choose a poem and memorize it for the program. Samantha was so excited she had her poem memorized even before we left on our trip. This year she has pulled excellent grades, passed the TAKS tests and in the 3rd term she was named Coyote Champion of her class.

Jacob is really excited for summer. He too has had a good teacher this year. I got to know the students in his class each week as I would take them and have them read to me. I was surprised at the improvement that all the students made over the year. He doesn't quite have the love of learning that Samantha has, but he knows how to get his stuff done so that he can play. He pulled "All A's" every term this year. I was really proud of him and his progress. He thinks he is going to have a fun summer full of x-box and friends but he won't get it for free. I know how to motivate him and he will may have to earn some of those privileges.

I don't think I have heard him practice the piano for a while...

Life in the Fast Lane

When I was in fifth grade I wanted to take gymnastic like my friend, but our family had just recently moved into a bigger house the year before. I remember making the decision that when I grew up I would live in a small house so that my kids could take all the lessons they wanted. My family had 6 kids and I was already taking violin lessons. My mom would spend hours in the car chauffeuring kids everywhere as she dropped us off at different music, dance and singing lessons. I am sure I never realized her sacrifice at the time; I only remembered that I couldn’t do everything that I wanted.

Now I am a mom of 5 kids, we live in a comfortable house, and lessons are not a free for all. I don’t know how my mom did it, but I hate driving and I don’t know how I will survive when my kids get older and the schedule gets more demanding. So far I have let my children choose what they want to do. Samantha has tried a lot of things, but only one at a time. I am all about convenience and I have tried hard to keep things coordinated or at least on the same night. The YMCA was great for our family because it offered such a variety of sports and I would drop kids off for dance/soccer/swim lessons all in the same time frame.

This last spring, I talked Jacob out of playing soccer and put him in gymnastics. Samantha wanted gymnastics, the twins needed gymnastics (we are working on coordination), and Jacob was left in the middle. Soccer didn’t fit. He was a good sport, and when he liked it, I told myself to stop feeling guilty about my victory with the schedule. Having all four kids at the gym every Tuesday at 4:15 was a dream, but it was a short lived. (The week before Easter we withdrew and started the crazy stuff again. We have had visitors, I have been off visiting, and we still have a family vacation coming, and babysitting cousins lined up. Looks like the month of May will go by in a blink.)

The nice once-a-week gymnastics class has been replaced with swim team. We have 3 (I am so lucky I have twins or it would be 4) different practice times every weekday and Saturday meets. The twins just figured out the swimming thing so I am not sure if we are ready to commit-or if they will be kicked out. I have an all or nothing mentality, so Samantha is really cheering them on because she loves it and doesn’t want to quit. Today she swam a lap without stopping. We are all beginners at this, but she had to stop multiple times last week when she first started. Jacob has noticed that he is always the last in his lane, even if he starts first. I tried to point out that with practices everyday he is going to get a lot faster. However he was just as quick to point out that everyone is practicing, so he will still be last.

I just keep telling myself I can do anything for 2 months even though it is affecting our entire family. I didn’t choose the team for its reputation; I chose it for its location; nice and close. I know in the future I will probably end up like my mom, driving all over sending kids off everywhere. As a teenager I didn’t mind driving around with my mom, she was my best friend and I attribute that to our time in the car chatting. I know it can be a good time to be with kids, but there needs to be a balance and I don’t want to over due it. I want them to succeed and enjoy themselves and I know that everyone can’t do everything. I am sure someone will have a moment like I did and be disappointed when I say “No,” but for now I will enjoy everyone happy to be doing the same thing.

"It's your money!"

I am not sure if it is the age or if a little responsibility has just gone a long way, but Samantha has earned her allowance three weeks in a row. This may be a record. I was afraid the story that she stayed up until midnight completing her jobs a few weeks ago would get out and that Child Protective Services would be knocking on my door, however, I am glad I held my ground that day and it seems to have paid off.

Background info:

There is a famous story/embarrassing moment in our family about Samantha. When she was little every time we went to the grocery store and she wanted something a little extra like a candy bar near the check-out. My response was always, “We don’t have any money for that!” However just before a trip to visit family I told her to pick something that she wanted as a special treat for the airplane ride. After years of telling her “No” she was floored. In her sweet excited and loud voice she exclaimed, “WE HAVE MONEY?” Everyone turned and giggled and I have never forgotten that moment.

Not long after that Scott brought home a video Called “Your Money, Your Children, Your Life.” By Neale Godfrey. We have only watched that video once, but we incorporated the theories and that is how we came up with the system we use to help our children manage and learn about money. In short, our kids get a dollar per year of age, if they earn it. They have chores that are just expected because they are part of the family like cleaning their rooms, making their beds, clearing their dishes and toy clean-up. But if they choose to do their extra jobs, and they complete all of them, they can get paid. Then their money goes into 4 different categories: 10% tithing; 30% Quick Cash (wallet); 30% Medium-Term Savings (savings jar); and 30% Long- Term Savings (bank).



Now when Samantha was 5 and Jacob was 3 years old, $8 didn’t seem like that much. Four years later however, paying a 9, 7 and two 5 years olds every week I sometimes question the system. $26 a week or $104 a month is getting a little pricey. Granted I have never paid out that much. I don’t have perfect children and I have never paid everyone, every week. If that became the trend we really would have to find a different system.

Over time the system has been “Ethingtonized” and I have tied jobs to other privileges such as TV, Xbox, and friend time. I often take away toys/clothes that don’t get picked up and then charge the kids .05 per item to get their things back. Sometimes they spend it too fast, and then their toys stay up high till the next week. Their Quick Cash is their money to use for what ever they want. I try hard not to interfere, but the frugal side of me sometimes puts my foot down. Like last week when Jacob tried buying a package of Oreo’s at the pharmacy for $4.59. That one just didn’t fly. He did find a smaller package for $1.19 that made it through check out, but I laughed when we got home to find that there were only 4 Oreo’s and he didn’t even have the money to pay me back. Due to the circumstance, Samantha and the twins each paid .30 for a chocolate covered Oreo and it seems Alex found his way up on the counter and ate the last one. Sometimes things just don’t work out.

Jacob actually has the most money in the bank. The privileges tied to jobs seem to be the right motivation for him and often he quickly does his homework and jobs to earn such privileges, the money is just an extra benefit. (With the clarification since his birthday he has had plenty of toys to keep him occupied so he hasn’t been paid the last 2 weeks). He takes on the responsibility and thinks it is easy; a few months ago he was given the same work load as Samantha. Since Samantha has a hard time completing her three jobs everyday I was worried, but Jacob is motivated and has kept the pace. I am not kidding when he actually asked for 4 jobs a day, but we will wait for that one.

Samantha has a hard time with our system. From her perspective, she always had more to do (she is two years older) than anyone which obviously isn’t fair. She doesn’t play Xbox, she doesn’t care about TV, and it is hard to play with friends during the week so why do jobs. She likes money, but she has expressed frustration when her money gets divided up and she doesn’t feel like it is worth the effort for a small amount of spending cash. When she doesn’t do her 3 jobs per day they stack up and by Saturday it is just too overwhelming. Sometimes she will get close to finishing, but because her room isn’t clean she doesn’t qualify for the allowance. She has given me a lot of free work over the years.

She knows that the boys often get more treats to than her, but they normally share or she finds other ways to pay. Last week with the Oreo incident I found out that she had “borrowed” a quarter (Matthew now has a nice IOU note in his wallet-probably not a habit to encourage but the Oreo had already been eaten). The tooth fairy has also been a nice supplemental income for the last year, until her teeth stopped falling out.

In the past I have looked for the right button to push and help encourage Samantha to do her work. She doesn’t care about TV, or Xbox, and friends and outside playtime only motivate her some of the time. One thing she does care about is books. She reads all the time and can’t wait till I go the library every other week to check her out more. If she goes with me to the library she always has her bag overflowing with books. I have toyed with the idea of making reading time a privilege but that always seemed a little backwards. Thankfully the school library had no problem helping us in that area.

A few weeks ago at school Samantha didn’t screw her water bottle tight enough and it leaked all over her backpack, including a school library book. The book was completely soaked. When she returned it to the library they assessed the damage and tried to fix it but they decided that she would need to replace the book. All library privileges were revoked until the $10.71 fine was paid. Samantha was devastated and wanted to bring the money in right away. This is where our little money management system comes in. Obviously it is not fair to make me pay for a book I never even saw, so I told her it was her responsibility.

Now we come full circle to the day before Jacob’s birthday when Samantha said “she had too big of a problem and too much to pay for,” an exact quote with a lot of drama. I refused to pay for her book and she needed to pay for her present to Jacob. She knows that she gets a big allowance, but that day she said that she would rather have only .50 a week and then she wouldn’t have to pay for anything extra. The other kids were on their way to bed. I stood my ground on not helping her out financially and allowed her to stay up as long as it took to finish her chores.

She was slow and took a lot of breaks but she was proud when I paid her. She had enough to cover her present and this Monday she will be able to pay off her library fine. Now she wants to start saving for an American Girl doll, we figured it is going to take a few months. I see a lot of bumps in our future and I am not sure how our system will continue to work. When she gets older I expect her to pay for fun outing with friends and extra clothes. Will she be a smart money manager and financially self-sufficient? Maybe we should pull out that video and out and see if we are on track, a month ago I don’t think so, but maybe we have moved in the right direction.

A new Game!

Samanatha announced that she had a new girl in her class the other day. Her name is “Lizzy” then she went on to say that she actually was in her kindergarten class and had moved away, but back then her name was "Erin". We are not sure why she has changed her name but we came to the conclusion that maybe she had switched to a middle name. This lead to a funny conversation where for the rest of the afternoon we tried to call everyone in our family by their middle names. It was weird and nothing fit; I guess we don’t have good middle names. Which isn’t surprising because Scott and I really have a hard enough time finding names we like, so that would be a feat if we could come up with two great names for our kids.

For a little bit of history; my mom hated her middle name, never used it and dropped it altogether when she got married. She decided to not curse her girls with the same fate and none of my sisters have middle names. I have a really long first name, but no middle name, which does sometimes cause confusion. Kimberly is a nickname; my real name is KimberlyAnn (no space. Kimberleanne was the original spelling on my birth certificate but was legally changed when I was five.

When Scott and I were dating he gave me 4 different middle names and proceeded to give middle names to all my sisters too. I have many love letters addressed to Gertrude, and one of my sisters will still answer to Bertha. My only brother has followed my mom’s tradition and has not given middle name to his girls. Obviously with the naming spree that Scott went on when we were dating, when our first girl was born she did get a middle name.

Samantha Dawn. I love the sound of her name when you put the two together. Dawn was one of Scott’s sister’s middle name and we said that Samantha was the dawn or the beginning of our family. She likes her middle name too, but when I tried just calling her the other day for our game she got really mad. Together we decided it was kind of short and ugly by itself, but really goes well with her first name.

As our first born son, Jacobwas given Scott as his middle name. Once again the two sound nice together, and it really rolls of my tongue when he is in trouble. There are a lot of Jacob’s in his school and I told him if he ever wanted a different name he could go for Scott. But we decided that having two Scott’s in the house was more confusing that have 2-3 Jacob’s in his class. Besides, he really doesn't look like a "Scott," he would have to start growing red hair.

Then there are the twins. These poor boy’s didn’t even have names when they came into the world and it wasn’t because they weren’t born early (they stated in so long the doctor finally induced). The first day they were Twin A and Twin B, no joke. That night we took a list of a hundred names and played a matching game. We came up with Joshua Kent and Matthew Kyle . Kent was Scott’s father’s middle name; and I regretted that we didn’t use my Dad’s middle name for Matthew. (It has been five years but if you go back to their birth announcement page there is still a warning stating, “Names subject to change without notice.) So watch out! I wasn’t happy with our choice but since we were not doing the cute twin naming thing with the first names I thought we should do it with the middle names. Kyle is a random name that got picked just because it started with a "K".


As a complete side note I will tell you that when they were tiny everyone wanted to know what their names were. Many strangers were disappointed to hear "Joshua and Matthew". What kind of twin names are those? So I went through a phase where I would respond “Kent and Kyle” It seemed to be a better crowd pleaser, but I really always did cringe when I said it.

Once again when we played our middle name game the other day didn’t seem to fit. Maybe I just have a hard time with change but we got some laughs. I don’t think they will ever go by their middle names. Especially now that no one cares what their names are, we will never get much use of those names. Not even when they are in trouble. Since they are together when they get into trouble “Joshua and Matthew” is already a mouth full. I was five when my mom had my name legally changed. Maybe it is time to visit the records office and give Matthew a nice family name; Matthew Ernest doesn’t sound as bad as I thought. I does take away from the one syllable pattern that we created in all our middle names, but at least it will have meaning. This is a well used name in my Dad’s family and my mom broke the tradition when she didn’t name my brother Ernest—not even as middle. Five years ago when we were deciding I figured if they didn’t use it for my brother then my dad couldn’t fell bad when I didn’t use it for one of my boys; but I do feel bad.

Lastly we have Alexander James; another beautiful name that I love and use often even when he is not in trouble. James is a strong family name on my mom’s side, but I liked it even before I knew that. I even have proof these names go well together because there is a boy in our ward close to Alexander’s age who has the same first and middle name.

Alex is a cute nick name but the kids have shorted it to “Alli” which we all know is a girls name--however, even Alex can say that. So we have played with his name over the last few weeks. Other nick names that I have tried calling him are Andy, Lex, or A.J. -which I really like, but none of those are any easier. We just don’t want Alli to stick. So on with the game... the other day we tried James or Jimmy for this little guy and decided it was another middle name dud. We had a fun afternoon, but we probably should have been doing something more important like homework.

My new recipe

A few weeks ago I made these great new muffins. Normally corn muffins are really dry, crumbly and they always make a mess. But this one night I noticed that I had made moist muffins and the kids didn’t make that much of a mess either. I also noticed that the batch hadn’t made as many as it normally does, but the kids didn’t eat them up like they normally do either, so it evened out. As I was cleaning up the kitchen I realized that I had attempted to double the recipe but I had only doubled the eggs and milk, the rest was normal. I would love to elude you into thinking that I had made these from scratch, but alas they were just the boxed variety, and my clue was the other unopened box sitting on the counter.

Unfortunately this is a common occurrence at our house. After years of marriage Scott has learned that if he wants a good Sunday dinner or if we have company he is going to have to do things himself. I am not ashamed to admit that he is a better cook than me. Especially after years of trying I just know it is a gift that I just don’t have. In addition to being forgetful or distracted I swear there is just a “kitchen common sense” area in my brain that never developed.

For all my guests a month ago at book club I truly apologized. I sabotaged the best rice crispy recipe, twice. I made the yummy treats a few hours before, but when I went to cut them moments before the everyone was about to arrive, they were as hard as rock. I had enough ingredients, so then as people were coming I was in the kitchen trying to make them again. Immediately I could tell they were going to harden too. Instead of waiting until the end of book club, I served them gooey and hot. The leftovers were bricks an hour later. I followed the recipe exactly; I guess this is one that I will have to leave to Scott.

Maybe I am giving too much information, but here is a lovely sample from last week. Do you really want to know the history of this beef? First I defrosted this roast and another roast at the same time and thought I could put them both in the crock pot. Cook once with lots of leftovers. Of course it didn’t fit, so I put the extra roast in the fridge for anther day, a few days went by and every morning I forgot to start the second roast. Finally at 2 pm a one day, I decided I couldn’t leave it in the fridge another day and put it in knowing it wouldn’t be done by dinner time. Scott joked that I would have to get up at 2 am to get it, but I just planned to put it away before I went to bed. I am sure you can guess where this is going. I found it still in the crock pot the next morning, a little dry but very well done. Next I shredded it up for barbequed beef, added the sauce and thought I had redeemed this poor roast. As a quick dinner later in the week, I pulled it out and thought I just had to warm it up. With my impatience with cooking I sometimes turn the burner up high to get it going and then turn it down. One of the kids had a question in the other room and I went to help and forgot about our yummy dinner. Scott wasn’t home that night to be a good advocate for the kids, anything not stuck to the bottom I deemed as good and still fed to my family. I have scrubbed and soaked that pan but there still seems to be a few charred remains that may never come off.

Mind you I don’t ruin everything, but it is those random times that blow my confidence. Today I made sugar cookies, and after a little coaching from Scott’s mom I think I cooked them just right. They are just barely brown on the bottom, and as soft as can be. I have yet to finish the frosting, so we won’t call it a success yet. Samantha’s birthday cake turned out alright but she did notice that the frosting looked a little melted; I will try to add more sugar for the cookies. Wish me luck!

Happy Half-Birthday!

When Samantha was about 3 1/2 she was sent a random package by her grandma. She wanted to know what was so special and looking at the calendar I realized that it was her half birthday! A random coincidence, but that is when the little tradition in our family began. Back then I think we were also looking for a good reason to make desserts so we also made a cake that day.

Well today is Alexander's half birthday. Apparently Scott's was a few days ago, but sometimes the adults get missed. We had a busy fun day so we never got around to the fun dessert part, but he is little and really there are no expectations for these days. Just a fun day to say you’re special.

Today he turned 18 months old... going onto three or four. This little guy has no clue that he just walked out of the baby phase and should now be in the toddler phase. He sees his older siblings and thinks he should be doing what they are doing.

Just a few examples:

• When we are in the kitchen close to dinner time or if I am cooking, he grabs plates out of the dish washer places them on the table (not in the right spots yet) and then climbs on a chair and waits. I always feel bad when I have to put him in the high chair, but he is not quite ready for table manners anyway.
• When the kids pile in the car he tries to hid out in the back seat, and throws a fit when he has to sit in the car seat.
• At the store, he never wants to sit in the seat but he wants to hang on the side and ride like the big kids.
• Tonight out of convenience Alex got a shower with the rest of the kids. At first he was screaming but as soon as Jacob and the twins joined him he was as happy as could be.

He is talking up a storm and we are making a game out of interpreting what he is saying. Some of the gibberish actually comes close to real sentences and so we treat them as such. If it sounds like he just asked where something is, we will tell him. Sometimes he plays with our game, but true to his age he is starting to get really frustrated when we really don't understand what he wants. As a mother even if I do understand, I won't give in to the temper tantrums, so hopefully he will figure out they don't work soon.

This week my parents are in town to meet their new grand-daughter, Noelle and to attend her blessing tomorrow. They have made a lot of trips to Houston before and we thought we would show them something new. It was the perfect day to be outside and so we went to Brazos Bend. They did a little fishing before we got there and then we brought some bikes and the kids went Alligator hunting. We only found 4, but after the cold front this week I was surprised to find that many.
Following our adventures on the trails we went to Ci Ci's to satisfy little hungry tummies. Although Alex didn't get a fun home made dessert for his special day, at least he got a variety of choices. I think he liked the brownies best. I am excited for this next half year to come. Last week he spent half of church in the halls, next week I think we will try the nursery!