Trout Farm 2008

Despite the cold rain, the kids had a fun time at the trout farm. Jack helped Dad catch the smallest fish in the pond.
Mia enjoyed getting to know the fish. Check out this fish kiss video

Vacuuming

The smallest monster loves it when I vacuum. She chases the vacuum, then lies down in front or sits on it.

Columns

Finally, the reason the carpet has been delayed for so long is gone. The columns were put up yesterday. Tonight Dave and I put on the "grey coat" to make the styrofoam columns sturdy. Saturday we'll put on a hard finish, then we'll be ready for the carpet next week.

We all have our days...

Yesterday I was reminded of a time when Lydia was three or four years old.

We have an electric piano and a Light-Bright toy. (You know the toy with little colored pegs that you push into a device that is covered with black paper.) Well Lydia noticed a little hole on the front of the piano that was the exact size for a Light-Bright peg to fit. This hole just happened to be the jack for head phones. Well, when she put the peg in, the piano thought there were head phones in, and stopped making any noise at all. When I found the peg stuck in the hole I had no idea how to get it out. The peg was stuck tight, so even if I could tip the huge piano over, there was no way it would come out. Then my one brilliant idea of my life struck me. I took the rubber tips off a small bobby-pin. Then I used a lighter and heated the tips until they were red hot. I shoved the hot bobby-pin into the plastic peg, and left it there until the plastic cooled, then pulled out the bobby-pin with the peg stuck to it. I still have the bobby-pin/Light-Bright peg to remind myself on those days when I am feeling like a complete lump of useless goo, that if I just hang on and keep trying I can have great moments.


On another topic, Mia has had a runny nose all week, and I wondered if it was from teething. Sure enough, she has 4 teeth coming in. Poor kid

Thanks for the party

Jack enjoyed his party. He's been looking forward to it since Jenny's birthday in March.

Today Dave's family came over and helped us clean and install electrical stuff in the basement

Check out Jack's first attempt at movie making

Happy Birthday, Jack

Today is Jack's third birthday. We celebrated this morning by taking the mini-van in to have the brakes fixed. Jack, Mia, and I walked to Krispy Kreme's and had some yummy birthday doughnuts. Then we walked to Shopko and got new Spiderman shoes, Spiderman sunglasses, and a cool Spiderman hat. Tonight we had Jack's birthday dinner. His choice was hot dogs and french fries

Front Runner

Yesterday we took the Front Runner down to Salt Lake and walked around Temple Square. The train was FULL, but we had fun anyway.

Gloves

A guy in the neighborhood picks up stray gloves while he runs and places them on the fence post at the top of Fort Lane. In the spring of 2007 someone removed them all, but almost all of them have gloves on them again. Check them out next time you drive this way. There are a lot of gloveless workers out there!

Soccer Season Again

Jenny scored two goals in Saturday's game! Hurray for soccer season starting again. The cold winter months of playing indoor are finally over and we get to go out and brave the elements, whether rain, snow, or sunshine, to see our kids play soccer.

Dave's leg

Dave went in to have his ACL repaired on March 27. Everything went well and he is back up and walking around. Not quite back to normal, but the doctor said it would be about 6 months.

Easter morning

Saturday night we decorated eggs. The kids had a blast hunting them in the morning.

Spring Break 2008

Friday afternoon we had fun hiking.

Science Fair 2008

Jenny's Science Fair Project:

WHAT CURES SPICY FOODS?

I learned that what makes chili peppers spicy is a flavorless, colorless, and odorless alkaloid found in the tissue around the seeds called capsaicin. Capsaicin does not actually burn but tricks the taste buds into thinking they are being burned when it stimulates the nerve endings in the mouth.

Capsaicin is not soluble in water, but it is soluble in alcohols, fats, and oils. Milk has fats and a protein called casein that neutralizes capsaicin. Edger Hegyes, a medical scientist, discovered that capsaicin “stimulated the mucous membranes of the mouth and stomach and increased the secretion of gastric juices.”

Capsaicin is measured in Scoville units. This is based on how much it is diluted before it isn’t hot anymore. Something that isn’t hot would be 0 Scovilles, while the jalapeno peppers that my dad uses to make his salsa are at 55,000 Scovilles.

The bread and milk were both successful in stopping the spicy affect. The soda also reduced the spicy affect, but not as much as the bread and milk.




Lydia's Science Fair Project:

DO GREEN BAGS REALLY WORK?

Debbie Meyer’s green bags claim
“Scientists searching for ways to prolong the freshness of produce for Antarctic exploration became aware of a region in Japan known for thousands of years for storing produce for extended periods of time.
Farmers in the region had been warehousing their produce in mountain caves with amazing results. The caves were dark, consistently cool, dry and, it was discovered, the caves themselves were in a mountain of clay called oya. The oya absorbed the ethylene gas that the produce gave off as it matured, significantly prolonging the freshness. Debbie Meyer’s Green Bags' special film is made with that mineral, oya.”

We have learned that the Oya stone contains zeolite, which will absorb gasses. There is no scientific proof that the ethylene gas will actually be absorbed by the green bags. However, we’ve read that the holes caused by the Oya clay particles, increases the gas exchange from inside the bag and outside the bag. The ethylene is able to escape the plastic bag through the holes.


We found that the green bags do work to help keep the fruits and vegetables from ripening faster. However, the bags also hold in the moisture, increasing the growth of mold and fungus. We also found several other people's experiments with the green bags. They had similar results as ours.

Valentine's Day

I'm feeling good about my thriftiness today. I sent the girls off to school with valentines for their classmates, and I didn't spend any money on them. I took some 9X12 envelopes and folded them in half. I hole punched the folded edge and put some folded printer paper inside to create a booklet. We then decorated the front with red, pink, and white paper, fabric, buttons, lace, and ribbons that were left over from other projects.

Of course, Jenny didn't want to give the boys these "cute" valentines, so she bought some Shrek valentines from the store.


I've been thinking of a way to prevent Jack from sucking his thumb. I took Jack's "silky" (a pair of silky pajama bottoms of Jenny's that Jack used to drag around with him wherever he went). I made a thumb template and sewed up the "silky" as a thumb cover. He only complained a little at nap time.

Yesterday I took Jack and Mia with me to the indoor soccer arena. I left Mia in her stroller and Jack on a blanket in front of the portable DVD player. The other kids enjoyed it for a while, too. But it wasn't too long before I looked over, and Jack was stripping down to his diaper. I don't remember how I was entertained before I had kids. Those of you without are really missing out!

SICK!

Saturday morning Mia was sick (the stomach flu kind). Monday night Jack started. The rest of us were feeling bad, but Jenny and Lydia didn't start vomiting until Tuesday morning.

Hope everyone else has evaded this one.

Jack decided he wanted to wear make-up Monday. This is the result

A New Year Tradition

We sure enjoyed going to Grandma Barker's for FHE Monday night. Jack ate all his candy before we got home. It was a noisy ride home.

Jack's cup runneth over...........with personality

Today I put batteries in the bumble ball. You know, the ball that has rubber bumpers on it and some sort of mechanism inside that makes it jump around like it's possessed. Those of you who know Jack...........


Well, when the tapers got here to work in the basement, I decided I should take the little ones out of the house to run errands. We drove up to Costco to buy groceries and a piece of pizza for Jack. When we sat down to eat the piece of pizza, Jack noticed I hadn't gotten a cup for a drink. (I had left my water bottle back at the check stand where I checked out a few minutes earlier. But I wasn't about to push the overstuffed cart with two kids back through the crowds to get a water bottle that's been refilled with tap water too many times to count. I also wasn't going to buy soda for a kid who needs no sugar to act like, well the bumble ball.) So after noticing I had no cup, Jack said "Big Helper!" jumped down and ran over to the lady at the counter. I couldn't hear what was being said, but the lady was leaning down and listening while Jack pointed to the soda fountain. Now if I could just get my 11-year-old to be so helpful. She won't go up and ask for mustard at Burger King.

This evening Jenny, Lydia, and I were sitting around the computer looking for bedding sets for their new room downstairs. Jack came in and wanted to look, too. So I picked him up and sat him on my lap. A few minutes later Jack said "Diaper change, mom!" It was that moment that I remembered he had gone into the bathroom a while ago to go "Poop in the potty." I set him down really quick, and you can probably guess that I had a present on my lap. He's really into using toilet paper (a whole role in one sitting most times). But he's not really very good at using the toilet paper correctly.

So now I have a load of laundry going, and the timer just sounded for dinner.

ta-ta for now

NDPA Choir Concert

Jenny and Lydia sang duets at the concert last night. They did a great job!

Speaking of jobs, Dave got the job at Challenger schools! His first day was today.

DRYWALL!!!!

We worked hard and finally finished the girls room today.

First real snow of the season

Jenny and Jack really enjoyed the snow yesterday. Most of it has melted today :(