Listening to: Silence… so quiet I can hear the clock ticking. Hmmm… must be trouble brewing in the other room.
Weather: 91 HOT!
Site of the day: Here is a site that lists shelf life of unopened, opened, refrigerated, frozen, misc. food items. Good reference!
Dinner tonight: BBQ - grilled burgers, hot dogs, chips, watermelon, corn on the cob
TV Tonight: Beach Girls starts tonight, based on the book by LuAnne Rice. I haven’t read this one but I have read a few of her books and liked them! So I will see how it is.

Just got a phone call from my dad, they called about 5 hours ago and said they were moving the trailer and getting ready to leave the cabin. Just now, they tell me that there is a sewage problem. Katie told me this, and my dad is just telling me about how the kids are having a blast, the boat is running good, etc. etc. Tanner was just telling me how much he misses me too. They’ve been gone a week!

Yah, the little stinkers drove up a few minutes later - they tricked me! I was all sad and wondering why they didn’t want to come home….. Not very funny! I’m so happy to have them home though! I missed Tanner’s good night hugs!

I got my hair cut today by my friend Crystal…. we fed her family steak dinner and she gave David and I both cuts. I told her to have at it.. didn’t really care about the style, just wanted something easy and SHORT. Wow, it certainly is SHORT. I love it though, just a little shocking at first. (see picture below).

Well… 4 more days til the fair starts. Things are starting to get busy - lots of things to get done. The kids are getting excited. They love to help out and also it’s a great opportunity for them to earn some summer cash. That way Katie can really get that huge back to school wardrobe she’s dreaming about that I’m rolling my eyes over!!

:::Yawn::: It may be a little bit before I update again…. busy busy days ahead. So this is the “new” me.. hahahaha.

PICTURE REMOVED BECAUSE MY HUSBAND SAYS I LOOK GOOFY!!!

Listening To: Bailey slurping on her sippy and my squeaky dryer.
Weather: 88
Site of the Day: David sent this to me today from work - very cute…. To Make You Smile - make sure your speakers are on!
Dinner Tonight: Cheese Quesadilla pizzas with fresh raspberries & Marion berries.
TV Tonight: Nothing noteworthy.
Website updates: Added a new photo album “Misc. Summer 2005 Pics” to our Photo Gallery! And I changed the layout of the journal archives.

Woke up to a beautiful gorgeous morning which inspired us to go downtown to Farmer’s Market. We bought some corn on the cob, fresh fruits, and the kids played on the playground. Plain Grandma met us down there and bought Bailey and McKenzie each some doll clothes - they are SO cute too. McKenzie was given this little bouquet of daises by one of the flower vendors down there. She handed them to Bailey as I was buying her a gladiola since Bailey didn’t get flowers and had her feelings hurt. McKenzie wanted the gladiola anyway, but we noticed people were sort of laughing as they walked by. We turned around and Bailey had pulled all the petals of the daisies and scattered them on the ground. My mom joked that she was playing the “he loves me, he loves me not” game. LOL…. it was pretty funny, good thing we were in the process of buying McKenzie a new flower!

Bailey also discovered her shadow today (see pictures below) on the swings. It was so funny. She was staring at it, waving at it…. then realizing it was her in the shadow, she was just cracking up over it…. Her newest phrases are: “I like this” or “I hate this” or even “I hate you”. Everything she either likes or hates.. and she isn’t shy about telling you the truth. If she tells me she hates me, I just pretend like she’s saying “hey you” instead of “hate you” and I say “heyyyy yooououu” back to her. LOL. I’m trying to get that hate word out of her vocabulary. Drives me nuts!

David took the van to work and the girls and I hung out with my mom. We played in Lane’s pool at her house and the girls of course, love all of Lane’s toys. They didn’t want to leave! But we went to Target and the opening of Famous Footwear. They were giving a 2 minute shopping spree as we walked in. There were maybe 25 people in the store, and of course neither of us won, but we watched the gal that did win. It was fun! She grabbed 7 or 8 pairs of shoes in 2 minutes. She could pick any size (they’d exchange them for her later) but had to grab one at a time and return each one to the sales person at the front of the store. I would have been in heaven with that…. 2 minutes is a lot of time to grab shoes!!!

The kids come home tomorrow. Yipee! I just got done talking to them and they are ready to come home I think. We are having our friends over for a BBQ and to play down at the creek. Crystal is cutting our hair - I’m sooo looking forward to it. I am thinking I would look pretty good bald? Whatcha think?

Here are a few pictures - the ones of Bailey are new ones of her haircut - but with a SMILE… see she is a happy girl LOL. Everyone tells me how she looks so sad in the other pics I posted…

Listening To: Barney “We’re on the way to Grandpa’s Farm”
Weather: 85
Site of the Day: YakPak I just ordered this a few days ago and it arrived today. I got 3 really cute bags, a large Dickies tote, a small Dickies tote (both in fall colors) and a small purse. All 3 would make great Christmas gifts for my girls, but I’m not sure I will hold out that long (and as soon as they read this they will be asking LOL). Anyway, good deal and it was a fun surprise. 3 bags for $15 shipped . They also have a footwear offer - I’m almost curious enough to try that one!
Today’s To Do’s: Vacuum upstairs, clean my master bathroom
Dinner Tonight: Potato Crusted Chicken, Macaroni & Cheese, Green Beans and biscuits
TV Tonight: Catch up on Tivo I think. I have several episodes of “Wildfire” I’d like to get caught up on My aunt recommended this to my mom and it looks really good!
Experimenting with our website format a little bit. I want to make this easy to read, because I know there must be someone out there reading LOL. And… well, I get bored with these things quickly!

Let’s see today… the girls were playing for a couple of hours this morning, so well together. They of course made a huge mess in McKenzie’s bedroom, but I was able to watch a show on Tivo and tackle my master bathroom and vacuum the entire upstairs. Finally got all the darn beads that Bailey spilled into my shag area rug vacuumed up.

The highlight of our day was as we were driving home from town today, a deer walked out in front of our van. I was going 50 MPH and I had to brake and slow down to about 20 to avoid hitting him. He was just taking his sweet ole time too crossing the street. I could literally have stuck my hand out my window and almost touched him with my fingertips. And it was one of those moments, that he LOOKED at us (McKenzie was loving it) and acted as if we were trespassing on HIS territory. He finally crossed and we looked out our back window and another one crossed a few seconds later. Perks of living in the country

I am so proud of myself — I haven’t played Zuma once today. I was becoming so addicted to that game while the kids were gone (thanks to my mother in law). It’s fun, though. Might have to get my fix later this evening.

I don’t cook good meals very often anymore. 1) it’s summertime, who wants to cook a big meal in the summer just to have one or two kids turn their noses up at it anyway (picky boogers)… 2) David isn’t here for dinner so I’m just cooking for me and the kids. 3) I’ve just gotten into a lazy rut. So it’s convenience, prepackaged ho-hum foods. I hate this. So today I tried to break out of it. A friend of mine told me of a dinner she had last night and it sounded good so I google’d it and found this recipe. I didn’t have oregano so I used johnny’s seasoning salt. It came out sooo good!

Potato Crusted Chicken - courtesy of Idahoan Potatoes
Ingredients:

3/4 cup IDAHOAN® Buttery Homestyle Mashed Potatoes, dry

1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese

1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

1 pound boneless, skinless, chicken breast halves (approx. 4 pieces)

1/4 cup mayonnaise

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400°F.

Combine dry potatoes, grated cheddar cheese and oregano in shallow bowl. Brush chicken breasts on both sides with mayonnaise and then dip into potato mixture to coat well on both sides.

Place chicken on greased cookie sheet. Bake about 25 minutes, or until chicken is golden brown and cooked through.

Makes 4 servings

Site of the Day: Free Sample of Pantene Expressions - this stuff is great!
Today’s To Do’s: Not much on the list today, sit around and wait for my bebe to get ho me! List some ebay auctions.
Dinner Tonight: Cowboy Mac N Cheese and Cinnamon Applesauce
TV Tonight: Big Brother Eviction night - YIPEE! Then I will probably read while Bailey (who napped on the way home from Central OR) will probably be up all night watching tv in my bedroom!

My baby girl is home!! She was so excited to be home. She went up and took a quick shower, got her jammies on and is snuggled into my lap. Such a little sweetie. I felt bad for Elaine because as soon as I picked her up into my arms, she wanted NOTHING to do with her. Silly girl. She had a great time though, she’s telling me alll about the “wa wa” and the “baby piggies”.

The other kiddos don’t come home until Saturday or Sunday. My mom and I are going to try to take the girls to a movie tomorrow or Saturday. I haven’t taken Bailey to one since she was nursing and I would nurse her to sleep through the whole thing. We shall see how she does! If it was Barney, she wouldn’t move an inch!

Nothing much else to report. It was a slow, lazy day. We did get up and go to breakfast (David, Kenzie and I) at the cafe in our little town. (the only cafe LOL)… it was the first time we made it in there. So cute and cozy and the food was phenomenal complete with FRESH squeezed orange juice! Thanks for breakfast honey!

Site of the Day: I found this cute website today - a calendar of kids’ activities. It looks like they put a new one up each month… some NEAT ideas on here! Click Here: A Mom’s Love
Today’s To Do’s: Light housework, pay bills, post office.
Dinner Tonight: KFC!
TV Tonight: The Cut and So You Think You Can Dance will be tivo’d. What else? Is Brat Camp on tonight? I have so many things to catch up on!! Big Brother was SOOOO good. And I got to catch up on Iron Chef America just before my afternoon nap (LOL) - it was good too!

I could have slept in this morning, not having Bailey in bed with me, but I woke up promptly at 7:00am and watched some tivo’d shows. It was sooo nice. McKenzie woke up and came and played with Daddy and I. We teamed up and kicked his butt! Lots of fun. McKenzie and I couldn’t decide what to do today…. go catch a movie, go to the mall… etc. I got the housework out of the way early in the day so I wouldn’t have to worry about it… It was way too hot to do anything outside (94 high). So, we went into town and did a little bit of shopping. She asked to go to “Play Donalds” (McDonalds w/Play Place - they don’t have one in Battle Ground). We did that and hit the custard stand on the way home. She got dirt n worms concrete, which she got a kick out of the “dirt” and the “worms”.

Came home and she watched Parent Trap while I took a little nap. I was sooo exhausted and a nap sounded good. But I forget that if it’s not a 20 minute power nap, then I’m just worse off. I slept for about 90 minutes and woke up with EHS (Exploding Head Syndrome). Yuck.

We played for a bit and headed to KFC (yes, heavy fast food day - but it was nice not having to cook or dirty up the kitchen!). It was 50% off Kids Lap Packs. Of course McKenzie wanted a cheeseburger, (A&W and KFC are combined). I talked her into the lap pack though, with all the goodies you get (fruit snacks, granola bar, etc).

I gave her the movie Ice Princesses that I had bought last week. She was so stoked to get that. She’d been begging to see it when it was in the theaters. It’s a cute movie too… tomorrow we may go see a movie with Plain Grandma… Charlie And Chocolate Factory, Herbie or a penguin movie that I’m still not quite sure what it’s all about LOL.

Anyhoo…. Bailey comes back tomorrow. I talked to the kids tonight - they are all having a blast. Bailey was having a good time, just a 6 months ago she wouldn’t have left my side willingly for 30 minutes, let alone 3 days. I’m happy and sad at the same time. A little bit of separation anxiety for mom, but I’m getting over it quickly. At least I have a few years before she starts school! The kids went boating and on the sea biscuit today….. K went 23 MPH, Tanner went 11 MPH, Ashlyn went 24 MPH and Bailey went on with Elaine at what they called VERY SLOW. Good thing I wasn’t there (can we say hyperventilate?!). But she was so excited when I talked to her. They were on the way to the fair…and all she could say was “baby pigs” over and over again , then just quick “I love you bye”. haha… such a cutie.

Today’s To Dos: Summer School, Get Food Handlers Permits for the CC Fair, Laundry - wash rugs, Take garbage out for tomorrow (garbage day)
Today’s Dinner: Rib Eye steak (who can afford to feed 7 people this - gotta enjoy it when the kids are gone :), pasta, and baked potatoes. Slight carb overload, but that’s okay. McKenzie and I will have steamed broccoli too, David doesn’t like it.
TV Tonight: Big Brother - YAH! A couple of shows to Tivo I Wanna Be A Hilton and Real World. I think David and I are going to get Be Cool on PPV. Then there is Katie’s 5 page list of things she’s asked me to tivo for her! Ha! I don’t think so!
Late night snack: NY Cheesecake w/strawberries for me, popsicles for David and Kenzie.
We got up and about early. Watched the space shuttle launch this morning, all of us gathered in the living room, saying prayers and crossing fingers that all would go smoothly. The kids loved watching it…

Then we were off to take Ashlyn to Summer School and get our food handlers permits for the CC Fair. We had to go to the Health Dept. to do this. David watched the two youngest girls outside while the 2 oldest went inside with me. They were pretty nervous about it, had been studying the manual since yesterday. We watched a 30 minute video and took a 32 question test. It was pretty easy, with a couple of harder questions thrown in. Tanner & Katie both scored a 30/32. I got a 31/32.. so now we are officially able to handle food. I told Tanner he could go get a job at McD’s now - McKenzie was so jealous LOL.

We noticed in the van that there was a strong odor of Clean Linen - Glade Scented Oil. I love this scent and have them in several rooms of my home - not to mention candles of the same type. Anyhoo, we finally figure out it was Katie… she changed the one in her bathroom and apparently spilled some of it. You know how there are times that you want to steer clear of miss jabber jaws? Not today, I wanted my little portable air freshner with me everywhere. She smelled sooo good and her next duty was to freshen up Elaine’s car and Grandpa’s cabin. ROFL..

We then went to Walgreens to get some more of their 10 cent deals… poster board - this is such a great deal. I’ve gotten 7 pieces so far for 70 cents, they are normally 79 cents EACH piece! The kids go through this alot during the school year for various projects. Got a few other little school supply things. Speaking of school supplies, I am obsessed with buying Crayola crayons. I’m sure some of you can relate here…. we have been to the store to buy crayons (off season) and looking at the price tag for $ 1.99 for 1 small 24 ct box of crayons make me nauseous. I can buy the 64ct ones at the Dollar Tree, but c’mon those are nothing compared to Crayola - the solid bright color you achieve when you are using Crayolas just can’t be duplicated. My kids LOOOOVE to color. They color EVERY day, so naturally they get lost, broken, left outside to melt on my deck, used to decorate walls and then hiding the evidence - you get the picture. So, we do go through quite a lot of crayons throughout the year. David just is ashamed of my collection of 28 boxes of 24 ct crayons LOL. He comments every time I tell him I have to pick up some more crayons…. . I am still planning to buy more too! Maybe 5 or 6 more boxes and then wait for the 48ct boxes to go on sale. What can I say? I can’t believe how much I’ve just rambled about CRAYONS. haha!

Grandpa came to pick up K, T, A and B for a trip to the cabin. Bailey is coming home on Thursday and K, T, and A are coming home this weekend. It’s so quiet! Just McKenzie to keep us company. We haven’t had just McKenzie since before Bailey was born David took her down to the creek today to go for a dip. Myndi came over with my beautiful nephew Lane and we went down there for a bit. My camera battery died But Lane sat and threw rocks in the water - McKenzie got on her ducky swimmy and paddled around a bit. It was SO hot today! 91 degrees I think. Here are some pic…. click each one to enlarge!

Myndi and I went up to Pizza Country and got lunch… and now David, McKenzie and I are just enjoying the evening… No real big plans this week for Kenzie and I… I’ll probably take her to a movie or something tomorrow - maybe get some school clothes…. she’s sooo excited about Kindergarten!

Today’s To Do’s: Summer School for Ashlyn. Post Office Day. Library Day (Ashlyn completed her summer reading booklet and got 5 prizes!). Cleaned Ashlyn’s room since she is just refusing to do it herself (she missed out on a movie today with Elaine because of it too!) Listed some ebay auctions.
What’s on TV Tonight: Big Brother 6 (eviction night!) and I think I’ll try to catch primetime live. Something about crimes against children.
What’s for dinner: Just Ashlyn, Bailey and I, we decided on rotini pasta w/some garlic butter sauce, parmesan cheese and a salad.
Big Brother Snack: Mini Bites throw in the oven chocolate chip cookies

I just added two photo albums to our photo gallery page. Bailey’s Haircut/Playing at the Houstons AND…. Hot July Nights. Oh and while I was gushing about my baby girl’s bootiful haircut, David wanted to make sure and comment “I’m not sold on it” and my mother in law made sure to say she doesn’t like it at all. Oh well. I LOVE it and that’s all that REALLY matters!

Just going to ramble for a minute here. Being a mom of 5 kids, I often wonder how other large (or larger) families “work”. I often wonder about budgeting, groceries, chores, getting along, basically the entire family dynamic. We are still perfecting our “large family”. Maybe by the time #5 is graduating high school, we will have it down. Yikes… let’s hope things fall into place sooner rather than later. I’m constantly googling large family secrets, ideas, tips, etc. and I try new things or ways of doing things all the time. I’d really like to find a way to make things just FLOW better. We aren’t “FLOWING” lol.

I will notice a large van in the parking lot and think to myself… wow, see there is another large family. It’s like a secret pact type of thing, you see someone in the grocery store with 2 kids in the cart and 3 hanging off the sides and think “she’s one of us”. LOL> Of course, there are other situations as well… not every group of kids belongs to just one person. True.

My favorite comment from friends, family members, acquaintances, people at the store, etc. is “I don’t know how you do it”. I think the magic number of kids for our friends/family/etc is 2. Most of them have just 1 or 2 kids and are struggling. Many times I’m thinking “I don’t know how I do it”… I really “don’t”. LOL. I try hard to get organized, get the kids into routines that work well, keep them happy most of the time and insanity moments down to a minimum… but how do you do it?!?! Email me if you have something to share. I will post comments here on a future update.

Just a real quick update. Bailey got her hair chopped! It looks so darn cute. You know how some little kids just look cute with short hair and others don’t and vice versa. Something about her face… and how fine her hair is, it looks SO much cuter short. We ran in quick to Crystal this afternoon and came home with a “bob”. She didn’t have time to curl it, but said once it was washed and stuff, it would curl under. I looooooove it. It reminds me so much of when Katie was just a little over 3 and we chopped her hair in a bob (for the SAME reason). I know I have a picture around here somewhere!

We also went and visited with Rick, Michele & Simone and Scott, Becca, Emma and Sara today. It was fun! We ordered Baja Fresh (chicken quesadilla - YUM - my new favorite!) and the kiddos all played outside in the Houstons’ backyard. My photo software isn’t working right now, but I will add links to our gallery by tomorrow (hopefully). But for now here are Miss Priss’s haircut pictures!

On a side note: McKenzie, Tanner & Katie are all in Central Oregon with Grandpa. I am sure they are having a blast, but I miss them already! Bailey gets to go up next week when Elaine goes

My little stinker CUT HER HAIR! People would probably ask how or why she got a hold of a pair of scissors, but I swear no matter how hard I have tried to keep every pair of scissors picked up or put away, they are found by one of the kids and left out. With my artsy craftsy bunch ‘o’ kids - there is always one of them cutting something!

I am thinking possibly — Bailey may have a future in hair design. She’s cut her hair twice now in the last couple of months. The first time she cut equal chunks of both sides of her hair. It didn’t look bad at all and was easily fixable by trimming the back. No biggie. Now, this time, she was a little more daring. It was almost as though she had started pulling her ponytail out and got frustrated with it and decided to chop it off. The ponytail and scissors were sitting at the bottom of our staircase (and the little rugrat was supposed to be napping!).

Anyhow, she did a very nice job, cut a huge chunk right off the right side of her hair, but it’s totally even. Not too much shorter than her chin and the only thing that makes me feel a little bit okay and not hysterical about it — is the fact that I think she will look adorable with a bob cut. My friend Tabitha and I (though we live thousands of miles apart) decided we’d both take our February 2003 beauties in for a cut and our other friend Heather and her little boy Evan are joining us as well. Bailey doesn’t start Kindergarten for what 3 more years…. so she’ll have time to grow it back

Now I’m not completely sure WHAT this facial expression is all about (other than her trying to make me smile I guess for being so sad about the whole ordeal)… but here is a pic of the “damage”. Gotta call Crystal tomorrow. The thing is, we were just in there 2 weeks ago for a trim! OYVEY!

I’ve been working on putting some ebay auctions up and getting the kids ready to go to the cabin with Grandpa. Ashlyn starts summer school next week (for reading). She’s not happy about missing the cabin for a week, but she’s gotta go!

Last night we went to Hot July Nights and saw Loverboy in concert. I didn’t recognize any of their music (I was practically still in diapers when they were popular but David did. The girls had a great time dancing the night away and it was such a gorgeous night at that. PERFECT for an outdoor concert.

I have to share this link with you all, because I’m really hoping I can get 5 referrals on this account and get a free $250 gift card to Toys R Us. It would make Christmas shopping a little less stressful and a little easier on the checkbook! We know how expensive it can be to buy gifts for FIVE kids! I completed one of these offers a few months ago and got a free $250 gift card to Gymboree, which I’m going to use for some of the two youngest girls’ Fall clothes! So here is my little spiel to PLEASE HELP ME GET THIS FREE GIFT CARD!!!!

If you sign up through this link and complete an offer, then refer 5 friends to do the same, you can get a $250 gfit card to your choice of stores: Baby Gap, Toys R Us, Babies R Us, or KB Toys. There are many offers to choose from. Some are credit card applications, some are memberships to different online sites (there is one for diet.com too!). What WE are going to use for our offer is a free trial of Netflix. This is only available to new customers, but it’s a free trial and then just $17.99/mo after that. You can cancel at any time. We did subscribe to Blockbuster.com not too long ago and it was actually quite handy! If you want to look at it as just helping me out to get MY free gift card, then you’ll be getting 2 months worth of rentals delivered to your mailbox for $17.99. Not too bad! Here is my referral link Thank you to anyone who helps me out!!!

http://www.duojack.com/app/invite/r/43449/i/5-54/z/1

I will be uploading pictures to our photo collage page of Hot July Nights after while. Have a good weekend! Oh and if you want to check out our ebay auctions, here is a link

She did it! McKenzie finally jumped into the water all by herself, without holding Miss Mo’s hands! We’ve been encouraging her for 5 days, and she finally did it. WOOHOO!! We were so proud of her. In fact, the other 3 mommies of kids in swimming lessons with her were standing up cheering as well. It’s been a struggle to get her to not be so afraid of the water, but she’s progressed so much it’s amazing!! Go McKenzie!! We are SOOO proud of you big girl!

Yesterday, we went to Westmoreland park to celebrate Aunt Barb’s 29th? Birthday. The kids got to feed the ducks, play at the playground (Bailey was LOVING the “sfeengs” (swings) lol). I added a photo album to our gallery page. Check it out! Go! Run! Now! See our pictures!!

I guess that’s it for now. Nothing major going on here. Katie is visiting Great Grandma for the week. The kids and I are just hanging out. I found this cute game online (thanks Monica!) http://www.brookviewcottage.com/miles/cards/noah/noah.html

Have a great week everyone!!

Not too much to report. We had a good 4th of July weekend with family and friends. The weather was perfect, the kids were really good, and we had lots of good food. McKenzie started swimming lessons this week and my little girl who was afraid to get water in her eyes is now bobbing underwater. She has 4 more lessons next week and hopefully she’ll have conquered her fear of jumping in the pool. She will hold onto Mo’s (instructor) hands and jump in but has refused to jump in on her own so far. We will see what next week brings! She loves it, though.

We set up the pool she got for her birthday from Aunt Myndi and they’ve been playing in it every day. Lots of fun. But…. we have a rainy weekend ahead, so they will be bummed about that!

I have lots of pictures to share from the 4th of July. Click the picture below to go to our photo gallery to see all the new links (3 added today).